larly the good Bishop of St. Asaph and family, who staid with me to the last, In short I am now so well as to think it possible that I may once more have the pleasure of seeing you both perhaps at New York, with my dear young friends (who I hope may not have quite forgotten me); for I imagine, that on the sandy road between Burlington and Amboy I could bear an easy coach, and the rest is water. I rejoice to hear that you continue well; being with true and great esteem and affection, your most obedient servant,

DEAR SIR,

ཟ ཅན་ཕ་མིས་ཟིན་ན

B. FRANKLIN.

TO DAVID HARTLEY, ESQ.

State of America.

Philadelphia, Oct. 27, 1785. I received at Havre de Grace 6 copies of your print, which I brought with me hither. I shall frame and keep one of them in my best room, I shall send one to Mr. Jay, and give the others among some friends who esteem and respect you as we do.

Your newspapers are filled with accounts of distresses and miseries that these states are plunged into since their separation from Britain. You may believe me when I tell you that there is no truth in those accounts. I find all property in lands and houses augmented vastly in value; that of houses and towns at least four-fold. The crops have been plentiful, and yet the produce sells high, to the great profit of the farmer. At the same time all imported goods sell at low rates, some cheaper than the first cost. Working employ and high pay for their labor. as certain signs of public prosperity. >complain that trade is dead; but this an effect of inability in the people to buy, pay for, and consume the usual articles of commerce, as far as they have

people have plenty of These appear to me Some traders indeed pretended evil is not

will afford me room to put all in order, I hope soon to be able to comply with such a request; but I hope Mr. Dilly will have a good understanding in the affair with Henry and Johnson, who having risked the former impressions, may suppose they thereby acquired some right in the copy. As to the life proposed to be written, if it be by the same hand who furnished a sketch to Dr. Lettsom, which he sent me, I am afraid it will be found too full of errors for either you or ine to correct: and having been persuaded by my friends, Messrs. Vaughan and Monsieur Le Veillard, Mr. James of this place, and some others, that such a life, written by myself, may be useful to the rising generation, I have made some progress in it, and hope to finish it this winter; so I cannot but wish that project of Mr. Dilly's biographer may be laid aside. I am nevertheless thankful to you for your friendly offer of correcting it.

As to public affairs, it is long since I gave over all expectations of a commercial treaty between us and Britain; and I think we can do as well, or better without one than she can. Our harvests are plenty, our produce fetches a high price in hard money, and there is in every part of our country incontestable marks of public felicity. We discover, indeed, somè errors in our general and particular constitutions, which it is no wonder they should have, the time in which they were formed being considered. But these we shall soon mend. The little disorders you have heard of in some of the states, raised by a few wrong heads, are subsiding, and will probably soon be extinguished. My best wishes and those of my family attend you. We shall be happy to see you here, when it suits you to visit us; being with sincere and great esteem, my dear friend, yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN.

2

T

TO DR. SHIPLEY, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH.

DEAR FRIEND,

Various matter.

Philadelphia, Feb. 24, 1786.

I received lately your kind letter of November 27. My reception here was, as you have heard, very honorable indeed; but I was betrayed by it and by some remains of ambition, from which I had imagined myself free, to accept of the chair of government for the state of Pennsylvania, when the proper thing for me was repose and a private life. I hope however to be able to bear the fatigue for one year, and then to retire.

I have much regretted our having so little opportunity for conversation when we last met.' You could have given me informations and counsels that I wanted; but we were scarce a minute together without being broken in upon. I am to thank you however for the pleasure I had after our parting, in reading the new book you gave me, which I think generally well written and likely to do good; though the reading time of most people is of late so taken up with newspapers and little periodical pamphlets, that few now-a-days venture to attempt reading a quarto volume. I have admired to see that in the last century a folio, Burton on Melancholy, went through six editions in about forty years. We have, I believe, more readers now, but not of such large books.

You seem desirous of knowing what progress we make here in improving our governments. We are I think in the right road of improvement, for we are making experiments. I do not oppose all that seem wrong, for the multitude are more effectually set right by experience, than kept from going

At Southampton, previous to Dr. Franklin's embarking for the United States. See Memoirs of his Life, part iv. p. 372. 4to. ed. 2 Paley's Moral Philosophy.

will afford me room to put all in order, I hope soon to be able to comply with such a request; but I hope Mr. Dilly will have a good understanding in the affair with Henry and Johnson, who having risked the former impressions, may suppose they thereby acquired some right in the copy. As to the life proposed to be written, if it be by the same hand who furnished a sketch to Dr. Lettsom, which he sent me, I am afraid it will be found too full of errors for either you or me to correct: and having been persuaded by my friends, Messrs. Vaughan and Monsieur Le Veillard, Mr. James of this place, and some others, that such a life, written by myself, may be useful to the rising generation, I have made some progress in it, and hope to finish it this winter; so I cannot but wish that project of Mr. Dilly's biographer may be laid aside. I am nevertheless thankful to you for your friendly offer of correcting it.

As to public affairs, it is long since I gave over all expectations of a commercial treaty between us and Britain; and I think we can do as well, or better without one than she can. Our harvests are plenty, our produce fetches a high price in hard money, and there is in every part of our country incontestable marks of public felicity. We discover, indeed, some errors in our general and particular constitutions, which it is no wonder they should have, the time in which they were formed being considered. But these we shall soon mend. The little disorders you have heard of in some of the states, raised by a few wrong heads, are subsiding, and will probably soon be extinguished. My best wishes and those of my family attend you. We shall be happy to see you here, when it suits you to visit us; being with sincere and great esteem, my dear friend, yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN,

1

To DR. SHIPLEY, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH.

DEAR FRIEND,

Various matter.

Philadelphia, Feb. 24, 1786.

very

some

I received lately your kind letter of November 27. My reception here was, as you have heard, honorable indeed; but I was betrayed by it and by remains of ambition, from which I had imagined myself free, to accept of the chair of government for the state of Pennsylvania, when the proper thing for me was repose and a private life. I hope however to be able to bear the fatigue for one year, and then to retire.

2

I have much regretted our having so little opportunity for conversation when we last met. You could have given me informations and counsels that I wanted; but we were scarce a minute together without being broken in upon. I am to thank you however for the pleasure I had after our parting, in reading the new book you gave me, which I think generally well written and likely to do good; though the reading time of most people is of late so taken up with newspapers) and little periodical pamphlets, that few now-a-days venture to attempt reading a quarto volume. I have admired to see that in the last century a folio, Burton on Melancholy, went through six editions in about forty years. We have, I believe, more readers now, but not of such large books.

You seem desirous of knowing what progress we make here in improving our governments. We are I think in the right road of improvement, for we are making experiments. I do not oppose all that seem wrong, for the multitude are more effectually set right by experience, than kept from

11

going27

• At Southampton, previous to Dr. Franklin's embarking for the United States. See Memoirs of his Life, part iv. p. 372. 4to. ed. 2 Paley's Moral Philosophy.