the silk has been thoroughly examined. In the mean time he tells me, the best sort appears to him to be worth in itself twenty-seven or twenty-eight shillings a pound, and will fetch that price when some imperfections in the reeling it are remedied. He tells me farther, that the best eggs are to be had from Valencia in Spain, whence he will procure some for you against the next year; the worms from those eggs being the strongest, healthiest, and producing the finest silk of any others; and he thinks you should get some reelers from Italy, which he would likewise undertake to do for you if desired. He is one of the most opulent and noble-spirited merchants of this kingdom. I shall write to you fully by Osborne, with all the information I can procure. In the mean time, please to present my respects to the gentlemen concerned in the affair, and assure them of my best services. I am, my dear friend, yours affectionately, B. FRANKLIN. TO JONATHAN WILLIAMS. London, 5 March, 1771 LOVING COUSIN, I suppose Jonathan has told you, that the lottery is drawn, and your two new tickets had the same success as the former, namely, one twenty-pound prize, and one blank. Would you go on any further? Josiah is very happy in being under the tuition of Mr. Stanley, who very kindly undertook him at my request, though he had left off teaching. Josiah goes constantly, too, to several concerts, besides operas and oratorios, so that his thirst for music is in a way of being thoroughly satiated. This is the principal expense; for, in all other respects, I never saw two young men from America more prudent and frugal, than he and his brother are. Jonathan seems to have an excellent turn for business, and to be a perfect master of accounts. In the latter he has been of great use to me, having put all mine in order for me. There is a proposal from his uncle of his going to East India, as a writer in the Company's service, which I wish may take place, as I think, if he lives, he cannot fail bringing home a fortune. He had ordered a cargo of goods to be sent you for cousin Wood's shop, and had given expectations of paying ready money. But, one of your bills being protested, there seemed a necessity of asking some credit of the merchant. I advised him to take what was wanting of me, rather than fail in punctuality to his word, which is sacred here among all that would maintain a character in trade. He did so; and thereby also saved the discount without putting me to the least inconvenience, provided the money is replaced in six months; and I was glad I had it in my power to accommodate him. I hope you have before this time got another tenant for your house, and at the former rent. However, I would have you go on advancing to my sister the amount of it, as I am persuaded she cannot well do without it. She has, indeed, been very unfortunate in her children.* I am glad to hear, that, as soon as the weather permits, the tomb will receive a thorough repair. Your kind care in this matter will greatly oblige your affectionate uncle, B. FRANKLIN. • His sister, Mrs. Jane Mecom, was married very young, and became a widow in early life. She was left in narrow circumstances, but these were repaired, as far as they could be, by the generous and constant bounty of her brother. The sickness and death of some of her TO MRS. WILLIAMS. DEAR COUSIN, London, 5 March, 1771. I received your kind letter by your sons. They are, I assure you, exceeding welcome to me; and they behave with so much prudence, that no two young men could possibly less need the advice you would have me give them. Josiah is very happily employed in his musical pursuits. And as you hinted to me, that it would be agreeable to you, if I employed Jonathan in writing, I requested him to put my accounts in order, which had been much neglected. He undertook it with the utmost cheerfulness and readiness, and executed it with the greatest diligence, making me a complete new set of books, fairly written out and settled in a mercantile manner, which is a great satisfaction to me, and a very considerable service. I mention this, that you may not be in the least uneasy from an apprehension of their visit being burdensome to me; it being, I assure you, quite the contrary. It has been wonderful to me to see a young man from America, in a place so full of various amusements as London is, as attentive to business, as diligent in it, and keeping as close at home till it was children, and the ill success of others in their worldly affairs, caused her much affliction. Her deep feeling on the death of a daughter, is forcibly expressed in a letter written soon afterwards. "Sorrows roll upon me like the waves of the sea. I am hardly allowed time to fetch my breath. I am broken with breach upon breach, and I have now, in the first flow of my grief, been almost ready to say, 'What have I more?' But God forbid, that I should indulge that thought, though I have lost another child. God is sovereign, and I submit." She was remarkable for her strength of mind and character, her good sense and practical views of life, resembling in these respects, more than any others of the family, her brother Benjamin, whom she survived, being the youngest of seventeen children, and the last that died. finished, as if it had been for his own profit; and as if he had been at the public diversións so often, as to be tired of them. I pray God to keep and preserve you, and give you again, in due time, a happy sight of these valuable sons; being your affectionate uncle, B. FRANKLIN. TO WILLIAM FRANKLIN. Severe Winter.-Walpole's Grant. - Acts of the New Jersey Assembly. DEAR Son, London, 20 April, 1771. It is long since I have heard from you. The last packet brought me no letter, and there are two packets now due. It is supposed that the long easterly winds have kept them back. We have had a severe and tedious winter. There is not yet the smallest appearance of spring. of spring. Not a bud has pushed out, nor a blade of grass. The turnips, that used to feed the cattle, have been destroyed by the frost. The hay in most parts of the country is gone, and the cattle perishing for want, the lambs dying by thousands through cold and scanty nourishment. On Tuesday last I went to dine at our friend Sir Matthew Featherstone's through a heavy storm of snow. His windows, you know, look into the park. Towards evening, I observed the snow still lying over all the park, for the ground was before too cold to thaw, it being itself frozen, and ice in the canal. You cannot imagine a more winterlike prospect. Sir Matthew and Lady Featherstone always inquire kindly of your welfare, as do Mr. and Mrs. Sargent. Sir John Pringle has heard from Mr. Bowman of your kindness to that gentleman, and desires I would present his particular acknowledgments for the attention you have paid to his recommendation. The Ohio affair seems now near a conclusion, and, if the present ministry stand a little longer, I think it will be completed to our satisfaction. Mr. Wharton has been indefatigable, and I think scarce any one I know besides would have been equal to the task, so difficult it is to get business forward here, in which some party purpose is not to be served. But he is always among them, and leaves no stone unturned.* I have attended several times this winter upon your acts of Assembly. The Board are not favorably disposed towards your insolvent acts, pretending to doubt whether distant creditors, particularly such as reside in England, may not sometimes be injured by them. I have had a good deal of conversation with Mr. Jackson about them, who remarks, that, whatever care the Assembly may, according to my representation of their practice, take in examining into the cases to prevent injustice, yet upon the face of the acts nothing of that care appears. The preambles only say, that such and such persons have petitioned and set forth the hardship of their imprisonment, but not a word of the Assembly's having inquired into the allegations contained in such petitions and found them true; not a word of the general consent of the principal creditors, or of any public notice given of the debtor's intention to apply for such an act; all which, he thinks, should appear in the preambles. And then those acts would be subject to less objection and difficulty in getting them through the offices here. I would have you For an account of this "Ohio affair," see Vol. IV. pp. 233, 302. |