they were in effect included in the best wishes and happiness which
followed.
Library of State Department, Washington, 11 R, 63:
LONDON Mar. 3, 73
MR. FOXCROFT,
Dear Friend--
I am favoured with yours of June 5, and am glad to hear that you
and yours are well. The Flour and Bisket came to hand in good
order. I am much obliged to you and your brother for your care
in sending them.
I believe I wrote you before that the Demand made upon us on
Acct. of the Packet Letters was withdrawn as being without
Foundation. As to the Ohio Affair we are daily amused with
Expectations that it is to be compleated at this and T'other
time, but I see no Progress made in it. And I think more and
more that I was right in never placing any great dependence on
it. Mr. Todd has received your 200£.
Mr. Finlay sailed yesterday for New York. Probably you will have
seen him before this comes to hand.
You misunderstood me if you thought I meant in so often
mentioning our Acct. to press an immediate Payment of the
Ballance. My Wish only was, that you would inspect the Account
and satisfy yourself that I had paid you when here that large
supposed Ballance in my own wrong. If you are now satisfied
about it and transmit me the Account you promise with the
Ballance stated I shall be easy and you will pay it when
convenient.
With my Love to my Daughter &c I am ever Dear Friend
Yours most affectionately
B. FRANKLIN
Bigelow's "Works of Franklin," vol. v. p. 201:
LONDON, 14 July, 1773.
TO MR. FOXCROFT.
Dear Friend:--I received yours of June 7th, and am glad to find
by it that you are safely returned from your Virginia journey,
having settled your affairs there to satisfaction, and that you
found your family well at New York.
I feel for you in the fall you had out of your chair. I have had
three of those squelchers in different journeys, and never
desire a fourth.
I do not think it was without reason that you continued so long
one of St. Thomas' disciples: for there was always some cause
for doubting. Some people always ride before the horse's head.
The draft of the patent is at length got into the hands of the
Attorney General, who must approve the form before it passes the
seals, so one would think much more time can scarce be required
to complete the business: but 'tis good not to be too sanguine.
He may go into the country, and the Privy Councillors likewise,
and some months elapse before they get together again:
therefore, if you have any patience, use it.
I suppose Mr. Finlay will be some time at Quebec in settling his
affairs. By the next packet you will receive a draft of
instructions for him.
In mine of December 2d, upon the post-office accounts to April,
1772, I took notice to you that I observed I had full credit for
my salary: but no charge appeared against me for money paid on
my account to Mrs. Franklin from the Philadelphia office. I
supposed the thirty pounds currency per month was regularly
paid, because I had had no complaint from her for want of money,
and I expected to find the charge in the accounts of the last
year--that is, to April 3, 1773: but nothing of it appearing
there, I am at a loss to understand it, and you take no notice
of my observation above mentioned. The great balance due from
that office begins to be remarked here, and I should have
thought the officer would, for his own sake, not have neglected
to lessen it by showing what he had paid on my account. Pray, my
dear friend, explain this to me.
I find by yours to Mr. Todd that you expected soon another
little one. God send my daughter a good time, and you a good
boy. Mrs. Stevenson is pleased with your remembrance of her, and
joins with Mr. and Mrs. Hewson and myself in best wishes for you
and yours.
I am ever yours affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
American Philosophical Society Collection, vol. xlv., No. 80:
LONDON Feb. 18, 1774
MR. FOXCROFT,
Dear Friend--
It is long since I have heard from you. I hope
nothing I have written has occasioned any coolness. We are no
longer Colleagues, but let us part as we have lived so long in
Friendship.
I am displaced unwillingly by our masters who were obliged to
comply with the orders of the Ministry. It seems I am too much
of an American. Take care of yourself for you are little less.
I hope my daughter continues well. My blessing to her. I
shall soon, God willing, have the Pleasure of seeing you, intending
homewards in May next. I shall only wait the Arrival of the April
Pacquet with the accounts, that I may settle them here before I go.
I beg you will not fail of forwarding them by that Opportunity,
which will greatly oblige.
Dear Friend
Yours most affectionately
It is to be observed of all these letters that, like the original letter
of Foxcroft, they are entirely serious. They are business letters. They
are not letters of amusement and pleasure, in which Franklin might joke
and laugh with a young girl and in sport call her his daughter. They are
not addressed to the woman in question but to her husband, and at the
close of long details about business matters he simply says "give my
love to my daughter," or he refers to her, as in the letter next to the
last, as about to have another child. Read in connection with Foxcroft's
original letter, they form very strong proof that Franklin believed Mrs.
Foxcroft to be his daughter.
But the reviewer says that Mr. Fisher notes in two places that women
correspondents in writing to Franklin called him father and signed
themselves "your daughter." Mr. Fisher notes on page 332 the letter of a
girl written to Franklin in broken French and English, in which she
begins by calling him "My dear father Americain," and signs herself
"your humble servant and your daughter J. B. J. Conway." The letter is
obviously childish and sportive. We do not find the other instance of a
similar letter to which the reviewer alludes. The Conway letter is such
a frivolous one that it amounts to nothing as proof to overcome the
serious, solemn statements by Franklin and Foxcroft in their letters. A
light-minded French girl calling Franklin her father is very different
from serious, business-like statements by Franklin saying that a certain
woman was his daughter.
The reviewer goes on to say that "a little more research would have
shown him [Mr. Fisher] letters of Franklin couched in the same parental
terms." The meaning of this is presumably that Franklin was in the habit
of calling the young women he corresponded with his daughters. This,
however, it will be observed, is quite a different matter from
Franklin's writing to a husband and sending love to the husband's wife
as his daughter. But there are some letters to young girls on which a
reckless, slap-dash reviewer would be likely to base the statement that
Franklin habitually called women his daughters. Let us look into these
letters and see what they are.
Franklin's first correspondent of this sort was Miss Catherine Ray, of
Rhode Island. They were great friends and exchanged some beautiful
letters, almost unequalled in the English language. They are collected
in Bigelow's "Works of Franklin," vol. ii. pp. 387, 414, 495. The letter
at page 387 begins "Dear Katy," and ends "believe me, my dear girl, your
affectionate faithful friend and humble servant." The letter at page 414
begins "My Katy," speaks of her as "dear girl," and ends with the same
phrase as the previous one, except that the word "faithful" is left out.
The one at page 495 begins "Dear Katy," and closes "Adieu dear good girl
and believe me ever your affectionate friend." In none of these letters
does he speak of her as his daughter.
The letters to Miss Catherine Louisa Shipley and to Miss Georgiana
Shipley, the daughters of the Bishop of St. Asaph, are friendly but not
very endearing in the terms used. He once calls Georgiana "My dear
friend," and in the famous letter on the squirrel addresses her as "My
dear Miss." He nowhere calls them his daughters.
The letters that come nearest to what the reviewer wants are those to
Miss Mary Stevenson. There are quite a number of them, and she and
Franklin were on the most affectionate terms. We will give the citations
of them in Bigelow, although any one can look them up in the index: In
vol. iii. pp. 34, 46, 54, 56, 62, 139, 151, 186, 187, 195, 209, 232,
238, 245; in vol. iv. pp. 17, 33, 212, 258, 264, 287, 332, 339; in vol.
x. p. 285. These letters call Miss Stevenson "Dear Polly," "My dear
friend," "My good girl," and "My dear good girl." The first of them,
vol. iii. p. 34, begins by addressing her as "dear child," and another,
vol. iii. p. 209, closes by saying "Adieu my dear child. I will call you
so. Why should I not call you so, since I love you with all the
tenderness of a father."
This may be what the reviewer had in his mind. But Franklin nowhere
calls Miss Stevenson his daughter. The word daughter and child are very
different. We all of us often call children we fancy "my child."
Franklin's use of the word child as applied to Miss Stevenson has from
the context of the letters a perfectly obvious meaning,--no one can
mistake it; just as his use of the word daughter in the Foxcroft letters
has, from the context and all the circumstances, a perfectly obvious
meaning.
It would be endless to discuss all the reviewer's irrelevant and
extravagant statements. We shall call attention to only one other
illustration of his methods. He closes one of his wild paragraphs by
saying that if "Mr. Fisher wishes further knowledge on this subject for
'speculation,' we recommend him to read Franklin's letter to Foxcroft of
September 7, 1774."
The reviewer is careful not to quote from this letter or even to say
where it may be found, and the inference the ordinary reader would draw
from the way it is paraded is that it contains some very positive denial
that Mrs. Foxcroft was Franklin's daughter. But when it is examined, it
is found to be a business letter like the others, referring to the lady
in question as "Mrs. Foxcroft" instead of as "my daughter," a perfectly
natural way of referring to her and entirely consistent with the other
letters. We give the letter in full. It is in the American Philosophical
Society Collection, vol. xlv., No. 94:
LONDON Sept. 7, 1774.
MR. FOXCROFT,
Dear Friend--
Mr. Todd called to see me yesterday. I perceive there is good
deal of uneasiness at the office concerning the Delay of the
Accounts. He sent me in the Evening to read and return to him a
Letter he had written to you for the Mail. Friendship requires
me to urge earnestly your Attention to the contents, if you
value the Continuance of your Appointment; for these are times
of uncertainty, and I think it not unlikely that there is some
Person in view ready to step into your Shoes, if a tolerable
reason could be given for dismissing you. Mr. Todd is
undoubtedly your Friend. But everything is not always done as he
would have it This to yourself; and I confide that you will take
it as I mean it for your Good.
Several Packets are arrived since I have had a Line from you.
But I had the pleasure of seeing by yours to Mr. Todd that you
and Mrs. Foxcroft with your little Girl are all in good Health
which I pray may continue.
I am ever my dear old friend
Yours most affectionately
B. FRANKLIN.
Index
Academy established by Franklin, 74-5.
---- of Madame Helvetius, 330.
ADAMS, John, 295, 297, 303-5;
criticisms of Franklin, 306-12;
his difficulties with Vergennes, 321;
opposed to France, 322-3, 341-6;
Franklin criticises, 345-6.
----, Mrs. John, 328-9.
Advertising, Franklin's methods of, 141-2.
Air-baths, 25-6.
Albany Conference, 201, 352-3.
ALLEN, Chief-Justice, 122.
Alliance, treaty of, 299-303.
Almanac, Franklin's, 143-52.
American Philosophical Society, 196.
Amusements as a youth, 18, 20.
Ancestors of Franklin, 42, 132.
Aristocracy, colonial, opposed to Franklin, 124.
Arithmetic, Franklin learns, 51.
"Armonica," the, 185.
Asaph, St., the Bishop of, 227, 348;
his daughters, 227-8.
Asbestos purse, the, 63.
Assembly, Franklin clerk of, 159;
elected a member of, 199.
"Associators," the, 199.
AUSTIN, Jonathan, 301.
Autobiography, Franklin's, 158.
BACHE, Sarah, 119, 265.
BAKER, Polly, 139.
Ballads by Franklin, 45.
BANCROFT, Dr. Edward, 288.
BARTRAM, John, 192.
BEAUMARCHAIS, 279-83.
Black Prince, the, 315.
BLAGDEN, Dr. Charles, 182.
Blood, causes of heat of, 29.
Books read by Franklin, 44.
Bows and arrows, Franklin suggests use of, 266.
BRADDOCK, Franklin visits, 200.
BRILLON, Madame, 325-7.
Broad jokes of Franklin, 125.
Broom-corn, 184.
BURGOYNE, surrender of, 301.
"Busy Body" papers, 135.
Canada, cession of, 336;
Franklin's journey to, 267-9.
CARROLL, Rev. John, 96, 267.
Celibacy, Franklin's dislike of, 106, 349.
CHATHAM, Lord, assists the Americans, 261.
CHAUMONT, Ray de, 275, 347.
Chevaux-de-frise devised by Franklin, 266.
Chimneys, smoky, 183.
Claims for extra service, 164-5.
Clerk of the Assembly, 159, 197.
COBBETT, his attack on Franklin, 123.
Colds, Franklin's theory of, 27-9.
College of Philadelphia founded, 74-6.
COLLINS, John, 19-20, 45, 57.
COLLINSON, Peter, 172-3, 177.
Constitution of Pennsylvania, 349, 353-4.
----, signing of, 361-2.
Constitutional Convention of 1787, 356.
Constitution-making, 349-63.
Constitutions, American, translated into French, 355.
Contentment of Franklin, 21.
CONWAY, Mademoiselle, 332.
_Courant, New England_, 80-1.
COVERLEY, Sir Roger de, 144-5.
Creed, Franklin's, 88-91.
DEANE, Silas, 270, 278, 288, 289-91.
Death of Franklin, 39-40.
Deep water, effect of, on vessels, 181.
DE FOE'S "Essay upon Projects," 193.
Deism, Franklin's, 80, 84, 91.
DENHAM, Mr., befriends Franklin, 59, 65, 133.
DESPENCER, Lord le, 98, 242.
Diseases of Franklin, 34-40.
Diurnal motion of the earth, 186-7.
"Dogood, Silence," 135.
Dreams, Franklin's fondness for, 26.
Edict of the King of Prussia, 241-2.
Education, defects of modern, 47-50.
Electricity, 172-8.
ELIOT, Jared, 170.
"Ephemera, The," 154-5, 325-6.
Epitaph of Franklin on himself, 153;
comic epitaphs, 154;
on the Penns, 223;
on Franklin, 224;
on the squirrel, 228.
Examination before Parliament, 234-9.
Exercise, Franklin's opinion of, 37.
"Fireplace, Pennsylvania," 170.
Fisheries, the, 337, 340-2.
FORD, Paul Leicester, his essay on the mother of Franklin's son,
106-7.
FOTHERGILL, Dr., 213.
FOXCROFT, John, 104-5.
France, willingness of, to assist America, 277-8;
loans from, 317-18;
Franklin's love for, 346;
appointed commissioner to, 270;
subserviency to, 343;
departure from, 347.
FRANKLIN, Mrs., 114-18, 120-1, 137.
----, William, 105-7, 113, 214.
----, William Temple, 106, 214.
Free ships, 316.
French, enthusiasm of the, for Franklin, 273-5.
----, Franklin's knowledge of, 71, 74, 325-6.
Fur cap, Franklin's, 274.
_Gazette, Pennsylvania_, founded by Franklin, 135-42;
advertisements in, 142.
Girls, Franklin's fondness for, 128-9, 332-3.
GODFREY, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, 134, 143.
Gout, dialogue of the, with Franklin, 35.
Governor, the Assembly's contests with the, 204.
Governor's salary, contests about, 201.
"Great Empire, Rules for Reducing a," 240-1.
Gulf Stream, 181-2.
HALL, David, Franklin's partner, 160.
HARTLEY, David, 319.
"Hat Honor," 82-3.
HELVETIUS, Madame, 327-30.
HOPKINSON, Thomas, 173.
Hospital, the Pennsylvania, 123, 195.
HOUDETOT, Countess d', 332-4.
HOWE, Lord, 262, 269.
HUGHES, John, 232.
Hutchinson Letters, the, 245-60.
Illegitimate children of Franklin, 104.
Immorality, Franklin's, 103.
Indolence, Franklin's, 21.
IZARD, Ralph, 286-7.
"Jacobite, The Genealogy of a," 139.
JAY, John, 318, 338-9, 341-2.
Junto, the, 66-70.
KAMES, Lord, 158, 186, 215.
KEIMER, 54-5, 65, 133-5.
KEITH, Governor, 55, 56-9.
KINNERSLEY, Ebenezer, 173-4, 178.
Kite experiment, 175-6.
Languages, modern, 71-2.
Latin, Franklin learns, 71;
wants to abolish the study of, 72.
LEE, Arthur, 286, 291-5.
LEEDS, Titan, 145-6.
Legislature, Franklin clerk of, 159;
elected a member of, 199.
Lehigh Valley, expedition to, 207-9.
"Liberty and Necessity," Franklin's pamphlet on, 60-3, 85-6.
Library, the Philadelphia, 193-4.
Liturgy, Franklin's, 89-90.
Loans from France, 317-18.
London, Franklin's first visit to, 59;
his life there, 60-5.
LOUIS XVI. gives his portrait to Franklin, 347.
Love of money, Franklin's, 160.
MALTHUS, 190.
Manures, mineral, 184.
MARBOIS, 342.
Maritime suggestions, 188-90.
Marriage, Franklin favors, 106, 349;
attempts it for himself, 109, 111;
marries Mrs. Rogers, 112-13.
MATHER, Cotton, 66, 68, 81, 158, 193.
MAURY, 187-8.
MECOM, Jane, 130.
_Mercury_, the, 134-5, 142.
MEREDITH, Hugh, 133, 136.
Militia, Franklin organizes the, 198.
---- law drafted by Franklin, 206.
Mississippi, navigation of the, 341.
Mistress, Franklin's advice on the choice of a, 126-7.
Modern languages, 71-2.
Molasses, export duty on, 302-3.
Money, Franklin's love of, 160.
Moral code, Franklin's, 102, 108.
Music, 185.
Nepotism, 164, 293.
Northeast storms, origin of, 169.
Nuncio, the papal, 96-7.
Oil, effect of, on waves, 182-3.
Ordination of bishops, 96-7.
OSWALD, commission of, 337-9.
Paper money, Franklin's pamphlet on, 70.
Parable against persecution, 155-8.
Paralytic people brought to Franklin, 331.
PARKER, Theodore, 106.
Passy, Franklin at, 275.
PASSY, Mademoiselle de, 306.
"Paxton Boys," 219-20.
Peace, proposals of, 319;
treaty of, 335.
"Pennsylvania Fireplace," 170.
---- Hospital, 195.
Peopling of countries, 190.
Perfumes, Franklin's letter on, 126.
Persecution, parable against, 155-8.
Philadelphia, Franklin's first journey to, 52-4.
---- Library, 193-4.
Plagiarism, 26, 152.
Plan of life, Franklin's, 85.
Polly Baker's speech, 139.
PONTIAC, conspiracy of, 218.
"Poor Richard," 143-52.
Portraits of Franklin, 30-3.
Postmaster of Philadelphia, 159.
Postmaster-General of the colonies, 162;
under Congress, 265.
Prayer-book, Franklin's revision of, 98-101.
PRIESTLEY, Joseph, 213.
Privateering, Franklin opposed to, 317.
Profits of business, 159-61, 163-5.
Proprietary estates, taxing of, 204-5, 209-10, 216-17, 221.
Proprietorship, abolition of, 221-6, 231.
RALPH, a friend of Franklin, 59, 64.
RAY, Miss Catharine, 128.
READ, Miss, 54, 58, 60, 65-6, 112.
Reading as a boy, 42.
Recommendation, letters of, 319-20.
"Reprisal," the, 271-2.
Retirement from business, 160-1.
RITTENHOUSE, David, 168.
Rolls, Franklin's story of the, 54.
ROMILLY, Sir Samuel, visits Franklin, 350.
Royal government, petition to, 221-6, 231.
"Rules for Reducing a Great Empire," 240-1.
Sabbath-breaker, Franklin as a, 78, 93.
Salaries of Franklin's offices, 163-4.
Salary of the President, Franklin opposes, 357.
School-days, 41.
Scotch-Irish, the, 219-20.
Sedentary life of Franklin, 22.
Self-made man, Franklin as a, 41.
Senate, composition of the, 360.
Shallow water, effect of, 181.
SLOANE, Sir Hans, 63.
Small-pox, inoculation for, 81.
SMITH, Rev. William, 76, 122.
Smoke-consuming stove, 184.
Smoky chimneys, 183.
Soldier, Franklin as a, 207.
Spain, her interests in the Mississippi, 340.
_Spectator, The_, analyzed by Franklin, 46.
Stamp Act, 231-9.
States, the smaller, 358.
STEVENSON, Miss Mary, 129.
----, Mrs., 211-12.
Storms from the northeast, 169.
STRAHAN, William, 213, 267.
Street-cleaning, 196.
Subserviency to France, 334-5, 343.
Swimming, 18-19.
SYNG, Philip, 173.
Taxing the estates, 204-5, 209-10, 216-17, 221.
Temperance, 24-5.
TEMPLE, John, his duel with Whately, 249.
THOMPSON, Mrs., calls Franklin a rebel, 331.
THUNDER, Marquis of, 306.
TRUXTON, Captain, 348.
TURGOT, 311-12.
Union, plans of, 352-3.
Vegetarianism, 22.
VEILLARD, Le, 347.
Ventilation, 29.
Venus, transit of, 168.
VERGENNES, 277, 281, 303, 321-2, 324, 338, 341, 344.
"Virtue, The Art of," planned by Franklin, 109.
VOLTAIRE, resemblance of, to Franklin, 280;
embraces Franklin, 306.
War, Franklin's opinion of, 191.
War, Quaker opinion of, 203.
Water, depth of, as affecting vessels, 181.
Water-drinking, 23.
Water-spouts, 180.
Wealth of Franklin, 165.
WEDDERBURN, 256-9.
WHATELY, Thomas, his duel with Temple, 249.
Whistle, story of the, 60.
WHITEFIELD, Rev. George, 94-5.
WILLIAMS, Jonathan, 293-8.
Writing, Franklin trains himself in, 46.
THE END.
Transcriber's Note.
Irregular spelling in quoted material is as per the original. Minor
errors in punctuation corrected without note. The following
typographical errors have been corrected:
Page 23: Original: "... other projects, to form a religous ..."
(changed to "religious")
Page 35: Original: "... ate and drank too freeely, and ..."
(changed to "freely")
Page 139: Original: "... American newsapers for half a ..."
(changed to "newspapers")
Page 291: Original: "... publication of Beamarchais's life ..."
(changed to "Beaumarchais's")
Page 293: Original: "... in a phamphlet, entitled ..."
(changed to "pamphlet")
Page 349: Original: "... Eripuit coelo fulmen septrumque ..."
(changed to "sceptrumque")
The section of text comparing Taylor's and Franklin's language (pp.
156-7) was printed side by side in the original. Oe ligatures in the
original replaced with "oe" in this version.
End of Project Gutenberg's The True Benjamin Franklin, by Sydney George Fisher