Beschreibung:

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, Signer (Pennsylvania) . Autograph letter signed ("B Franklin") to Jonathan Williams of Boston; Philadelphia, 25 November 1762. 1 page, 4to, careful repairs at folds [ with ] Autograph free frank ("Free B Franklin") on integral cover sheet addressed in Franklin's hand to Williams, no postmark, recipient's docket, some soiling and a few neat repairs. A friendly letter (with intact free frank), expressing Franklin's pleasure at being back in America; he had arrived early this month from a five-year stay in England. "I thank you for your kind Congratulations on my Arrival & the Promotion of my Son. I am in hopes I shall be able to see Boston the next Spring, and to have the pleasure of finding you & my other Friends well. I congratulate you on your having such a Number of Sons. You remember the Blessing on him that has his Quiver full of them. My love to your good Wife [Franklin's niece], & to the Children: Let me know how the eldest does, who had the Misfortune of losing his Sight. I was acquainted with Mr. Stanley in London [a blind man], who is an excellent Musician, & what is stranger, plays at Cards extremely well & readily. I should be glad to know what you have done in my Affairs relating to Sister Douse...." In a postscript, he adds: "I thank you for your kind Invitation to your House, but doubt I should incommode you too much...." Franklin had just returned from England, where he had been since 1757, as a commissioner of the Pennsylvania Assembly in a tax dispute with the crown. Jonathan Williams Sr., to whom Franklin writes, was a prosperous Boston merchant who married the daughter of Franklin's sister, Anne. In 1770 Jonathan Williams Jr. and another brother accompanied Franklin to London; in 1776, the younger Jonathan joined Franklin, now commissioner to France from the Continental Congress, in Paris. Williams later became the first Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point.