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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). Autograph letter signed (“B. Franklin”) to Mary “Polly” Hewson, Passy, 13 April 1782.
Details
FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). Autograph letter signed (“B. Franklin”) to Mary “Polly” Hewson, Passy, 13 April 1782.
Two pages, 228 x 185mm.
Franklin on the end of the War of Independence: “You may imagine that I begin to grow happy in my Prospects. I should be quite so, if I could see Peace & Good Will restored between our Countries, for I enjoy Health, Competence, & Reputation; Peace is the only Ingredient wanting to my Felicity." Polly Hewson (née Stevenson) was the daughter of Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, the widowed, sophisticated, and well-to-do landlady of Franklin’s Craven Street flat during his final stay in London from 1764 to 1775. Polly was by all accounts charming and intelligent, and Franklin harbored hopes of having her as a daughter-in-law. But in 1770 she married William Hewson, a brilliant young physician and anatomist who would famously fill the Craven Street basement with skeletons – all in the name of scientific research. Polly and Franklin enjoyed a long, affectionate friendship; they exchanged around 170 letters spanning 1758-1783 and Polly crossed the ocean to be at his deathbed in 1790.
Two pages, 228 x 185mm.
Franklin on the end of the War of Independence: “You may imagine that I begin to grow happy in my Prospects. I should be quite so, if I could see Peace & Good Will restored between our Countries, for I enjoy Health, Competence, & Reputation; Peace is the only Ingredient wanting to my Felicity." Polly Hewson (née Stevenson) was the daughter of Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, the widowed, sophisticated, and well-to-do landlady of Franklin’s Craven Street flat during his final stay in London from 1764 to 1775. Polly was by all accounts charming and intelligent, and Franklin harbored hopes of having her as a daughter-in-law. But in 1770 she married William Hewson, a brilliant young physician and anatomist who would famously fill the Craven Street basement with skeletons – all in the name of scientific research. Polly and Franklin enjoyed a long, affectionate friendship; they exchanged around 170 letters spanning 1758-1783 and Polly crossed the ocean to be at his deathbed in 1790.