83 



time, contemporaneous existence of the Franklin and 

 Society-Juntos. From the autumn of 1727 until 

 1750, the Franklin- Junto can be traced, unembar- 

 rassed by the alleged existence of another Associa- 

 tion of the same name. From that year, being the 

 time of the establishment, according to Thomson, 

 of the Society- Junto, the difficulty begins. On the 

 16th of July, 1753, and the 16th of September 1758, 

 Franklin, in writing to Roberts, refers to the 

 " Junto' 7 ; but as these dates occur between 1750, 

 and September 22nd, 1758, for which interval we 

 possess no minutes of the Society-Junto, these refer- 

 ences throw no light on the question of the identity, 

 or non-identity of the two Juntos. The next letter 

 in which Franklin refers to "the Junto" is dated 

 February 26th, 1761; and the Committee have 

 already given their opinion that the allusion in it 

 could not refer to the Society-Junto, as it mentions 

 the occasional attendance of Hugh Eoberts, who is 

 not noticed as present or absent at any meeting pre- 

 ceding the date of the letter, though the minutes for 

 that period are extant. Franklin was in Philadel- 

 phia from November 1762, to November 1764, but, 

 unfortunately, these two years occur within the long 

 interval for which we possess no Junto Minutes. 

 The Committee have already given their reasons for 

 believing that the allusions to "the Junto " that 

 occur in the correspondence of Roberts & Syng with 

 Franklin, in 1765-66, could not have meant the 



