126 Letters to Benjamin Franklin 



From de Leidenfal [?]. 1783. November 10. Gotha. 



Believes his services will prove an acquisition to the United States; 

 offers himself as their Minister at the Court of Saxony; enclosing a bill 

 on the Baron d'Arendt due his friend Mr. Fritsch ; asks if Franklin 

 or some other Ambassador will undertake the payment. A. L. S. 3 p. 

 (In French.) XXX, 83. 



From Tho[ma]s Collinson. 

 1783. November 12. Southgate, Middlesex. 



Account of the failure of the bank and his own ruin ; his present 

 residence in a small house in the country. Talk of philosophical sub- 

 jects; Mitchell's success with his large spectrum; size of the one 

 effected by [Sir William] Herschel; suggests some experiments on stars 

 with a prism; the wonderful nature of light; quotes Franklin's re- 

 mark that there was nothing he was so much in the dark about as light ; 

 lacks knowledge of Herschel's experiments. Kindness of Sir Joseph 

 Banks in offering him the use of his library. Marriage of his nephew, 

 Tritton. A. L. S. 3 p. XXX, 8314. 



i^roOT Samuel Mather. 1783. November 13. Boston. 



Being in his seventy-eighth year and thinking what he could do for 

 the benefit and comfort of his country, decided to write The Dying 

 Legacy which he now sends to Dr. Franklin; acknowledgment of it he 

 received from the President of Congress. A. L. S. i p. XXX, 84. 



From [Jean Charles Pierre] Lenoir. 1783. November 13. 



Sending Franklin the necessary permission to obtain his books from 

 the custom-house. L. S. i p. (In French.) XXX, 85. 



i^ro OT Du Demain Grandais. 1783. November 13. Paris. 



Offers the homage of a young ecclesiastic; wishes to take charge of 

 a young person's education; likelihood of the Americans sending their 

 children to France to be educated; hopes Franklin will aid him. A. 

 L. S. I p. (In French.) XXX, 86. 



From Pecoul. 1783. November 14. Paris. 



Concerning a debt due him by M. John Schaffer of Philadelphia, 

 detained in the prisons of the Grand Chatelet; hears that Franklin 



