sition relating to religion. With great and sincere esteem and affection, I am, &c. B. FRANKLIN. P. S. Had not your College some present of books from the King of France? Please to let me know, if you had an expectation given you of more, and the nature of that expectation? I have a reason for the inquiry. I confide, that you will not expose me to criticisms and censures by publishing any part of this communication to you. I have ever let others enjoy their religious sentiments, without reflecting on them for those that appeared to me unsupportable or even absurd. All sects here, and we have a great variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them with subscriptions for the building their new places of worship; and, as I have never opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out of the world in peace with them all. TO MRS. JANE MECOM. MY DEAR SISTER, Philadelphia, 24 March, 1790. I received your kind letter by your good neighbour, Captain Rich. The information it contained, that you continue well, gave me, as usual, great pleasure. As to myself, I have been quite free from pain for near three weeks past; and therefore not being obliged to take any laudanum, my appetite has returned, and I have recovered some part of my strength. Thus I continue to live on, while all the friends of my youth have left me, and gone to join the majority. I have, however, the pleasure of continued friendship and con versation with their children and grandchildren. I do not repine at my malady, though a severe one, when I consider how well I am provided with every convenience to palliate it, and to make me comfortable under it; and how many more horrible evils the human body is subject to; and what a long life of health I have been blessed with, free from them all. You have done well not to send me any more fish at present. These continue good, and give me pleasure. Do you know any thing of our sister Scott's daughter; whether she is still living, and where? This family join in love to you and yours, and to cousins Williams, with your affectionate brother, B. FRANKLIN. P. S. It is early in the morning, and I write in bed. The awkward position has occasioned the crooked lines. THE letters in the following SUPPLEMENT were obtained too late to be inserted in the order of their dates. Those addressed to CHARLES THOMSON have been obligingly communicated by Mr. William B. Reed, of Philadelphia, who received the originals from Mr. John Thomson, of Newark, Delaware. They have never before been printed. The letter to JANE MECOM, near the end of the SUPPLEMENT, has recently been published for the first time in the New York "Evening Signal." SUPPLEMENT. TO CHARLES THOMSON. Proprietary Government in Philadelphia. - Stamp Act. London, 11 July, 1765. DEAR FRIEND, I am extremely obliged by your kind letters of April 12th and 14th, and thank you for the intelligence they contain. The outrages continually committed by those misguided people, will doubtless tend to convince all the considerate on your side of the water, of the weakness of our present government, and the necessity of a change. I am sure it will contribute towards hastening that change here, so that, upon the whole, good will be brought out of evil; and yet I grieve to hear of such horrid disorders. The letters and accounts boasted of from the Proprietor, of his being sure of his retaining the government, as well as those of the sums offered for it, which the people will be obliged to pay, &c., are all idle tales, fit only for knaves to propagate, and fools to believe. A little time will dissipate all the smoke they can raise to conceal the real state of things. The unsettled state of the ministry, ever since the Parliament rose, has stopped all proceeding in public affairs, and ours amongst the rest; but, change being now made, we shall immediately proceed, and with a greater cheerfulness, as some we had reason to doubt of are removed, and some particular friends are put in place. What What you mentioned of the Lower Counties is |