which the English have carried on the war in America, expressing every abominable circumstance of their cruelty and inhumanity, that figures can express, to make an impression on the minds of posterity as strong and durable as that on the copper. This resolution has been a long: time forborne, but the late burning of defenceless towns in Connecticut, on the flimsy pretence that the people fired from behind their houses, when it is known to have been premeditated and ordered from England, will probably give the finishing provocation, and may occasion a vast demand for your metal,

"

I thank you for your kind wishes respecting my health, I return them most cordially fourfold into your own bosom. Adieu. B. FRANKLIN.

TO B. VAUGHAN, ESQ.

grid 900 7 ***

On his Edition of some of Dr. Franklin's Writings.

DEAR SIR, D

Passy, Nov. 9, 1779. mi.

I have received several kind letters from

you, which I have not regularly answered. They gave me however great pleasure, as they acquainted, me with your welfare, and that of your family, and other friends: and I hope you will continue writing to me as often as you can do it conveniently.

I thank you much for the great care and pains you have taken in regulating and correcting the edition of those papers. Your friendship for me appears in almost every page; and if the preservation of any of them should prove of use to the public, it is to you that the public will owe the obligation. In looking them over, I have noted some faults of impression that hurt the sense, and some other little matters, which you will find all in a sheet under the

title of Errata. You can best judge whether it may be worth while to add any of them to the errata already printed, or whether it may not be as well to reserve the whole for correction in another edition, if such should ever j i be, Inclosed I send a more perfect copy of the chapter.

9

If I should ever recover the pieces that were in the hands of my son, and those I left among my papers in America, I think there may be enough to make three moré such volumes, of which a great part would be more inte resting. .29tasmomoN As to the time of publishing, of which you ask my opinion; I am not furnished with any reasons, or ideas of my reasons on which to form any opinion. Naturally I should suppose the bookseller to be from experience the best judge, and I should be for leaving it to him.dre om evaded I did not write the pamphlet you mention, I know nothing of it. I suppose it is the same, concerning which Dr. Priestley formerly asked me the same question. That for which he took it, was intitled, A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, with these lines I in the title-page open

Loy to bred sɔniz smit smoɛ gove

"Whatever is, is right. But purblind man zrazil Whatever is, is right, B Sees but a part of the chain, the nearest link ;

rogods on body) Mein

His eye not carrying to that equal beam

That poises all above

to loode ad London! printed MDCCXXV?"

Dryden

A parable against Persecution.
etrus edi ai boqolqme asw bas

Subjects

2

betival, ed of sig beayed

See Papers on Miscellaneous 1st stages o

ang boshroq291109 2ill ylus levoЯed: to'esdɔnsıd end See a full account of this Pamphlet in Memoirs of the Life of Doctor Franklin.

I return the manuscripts you were so obliging as to send me; I am concerned at your having no other copies, I hope these will get safe to your hands; I do not remember the Duke de Chartres showing me the letter you mention. I have received Dr. Crawford's book, but not your abstract, which I wait for as you desire.

I send you also Mr. Dupont's Table Economique, which I think an excellent thing, as it contains in a clear method all the principles of that new sect, called here les Economistes.

Poor Henley's dying in that manner is inconceivable to me. Is any reason given to account for it, besides insanity?

ཎྜཉྙཾ

Remember me affectionately to all my good family, and believe me, with great esteem, my dear friend,

Yours, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

DEAR SIR,

To PE'RE BECCARIA. 1

Passy, November 19, 1779. Having some time since heard of your illness with great concern, it gave me infinite pleasure to learn this day from M. Chantel, (who did me the honor

1 GIOVANNI BATTISBE BECCARIA, a religious of the school of Piety, was a native of Mondovi. His celebrity as a teacher of mathematics and philosophy, first at Palermo, and afterwards at Rome, caused him to be invited to Turin, where he filled the chair of experimental lecturer, and was employed in the tuition of some branches of the Royal Family. His correspondence was sought by men of letters in various countries; and he imparted

VOL. I.

D

of a visit) that you were so far recovered as to be able to make little excursions on horseback, I pray God that your convalescence may be quick and perfect, and your health be again firmly established: science would lose too much in losing one so zealous and active in its cause, and so capable of accelerating its progress and augmenting its dominions.

I find myself here immersed in affairs, which absorb my attention, and prevent my pursuing those studies in which I always found the highest satisfaction: and I am now grown so old as hardly to hope for a return of that leisure and tranquillity so necessary for philosophical disquisitions. Í have, however, not long since thrown a few thoughts on paper relative to the Aurora Borealis,' which I would send you, but that I suppose you may have seen them in the Journal of l'Abbé Rozier. If not I will make out a copy and send it to you; perhaps with some corrections.

0.1

Every thing of your writing is always very welcome to me; if, therefore, you have lately published any new experiments or observations in physics, I shall be happy to see them, when you have an opportunity of sending them to me. With the highest esteem, respect, and affection, I am, &c. B. FRANKLIN

to Dr. Franklin in particular, many important facts on philosophical subjects. Father Beccaria died at Turin, in an advanced age, in 1781. His "Dissertations on Electricity" have been published; but the most curious of his pieces is an “ Essay on the Cause of Storms and Tempests."

See" Papers on Philosophical Subjects."

DEAR SIR,

To DR. PRICE, LONDON.

Passy, February 6, 1780.

C

I received but very lately your kind favor of October 14th, Dr. Ingenhousz, who brought it, having staid long in Holland. I sent that enclosed directly to Mr. L. It gave me great pleasure to understand that you continue well. Your writings, after all the abuse you and they have met with, begin to make serious impressions on those who at first rejected the counsels you gave; and they will acquire new weight every day, and be in high esteem when the cavils against them are dead and forgotten. Please to present my, affectionate respects to that honest, sensible, and intelligent society,' who did me so long the honor of admitting me to share in their instructive conversations. I never think of the hours I so happily spent in that company, without regretting that they are never to be repeated; for I see no prospect of an end to this unhappy war in my time. Dr. Priestley, you tell me, continues his experiments with success. make daily great improvements in natural there is one I wish to see in moral Philosophy; the discovery of a plan that would induce and oblige nations to settle their disputes without first cutting one another's throats. When will human reason be sufficiently improved to see the advantage of this? When will men be convinced that even successful wars at length become misfortunes to thoseq who unjustly commenced them, and who triumphed blindly in their success, not seeing all its consequences. Your

We

Supposed to allude to a club at the London Coffee-house.