Details
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, Signer (Pennsylvania). Autograph letter signed ("BFranklin," with flourish), to his brother John Franklin, Postmaster of Boston; Philadelphia, 16 March 1755. 1 full page, large folio, 330 x 210mm. (13 x 8 1/4 in.), 4 lines, closing and signature written across left-hand margin, integral blank, repaired, backed, silked, address panel (neatly inlaid), addressed in Franklin's hand.
"LET HIM THAT HATH STOLE, STEEL NO MORE"
An unusual, humorous letter detailing an amusing incident and concluding with two puns on biblical passages: "...Having nothing else to make a Letter of, let me complain a little of your Smith that shod our Horses. We order'd them to be sharp shod...But he never did it; for as soon as we set out from Boston, I perceive'd the Horses to slip on the Ice, and...with...great Difficulty we got them up a little Icy Hill...We were oblig'd to alight and lead them, and they could no more stand than if they had been shod with Skates, but were upon their Knees & Noses every Step. When I came to Tower Hill, I had them examin'd. And the Smith offer'd to take his Oath, that there was not a Grain of Steel in all the 16 Shoes. There I was, oblig'd to have them steel'd in earnest, and they were well done, and lasted me all the way home, over all the Stones of Connecticut. And yet the Charge was but £2.80...as you will see by the Bill which I send you with Barker's. Now do me the favor to learn that Smith's Name, and tell all your Friends and mine what a Rogue he is, that no body may wrest him for the future. Somebody at Cafe's told me they knew him, and that he was a New Light; but I thought that could not well be, he had shown such a strict Regard to the old moral Law in the 8th Commandment, Thou shall not steel: I rather take him to have been a Thief, and if he minds any Scripture...that in the Revelations, let him that hath stole, Steel no more; and So the Rascal only cheats..."
"LET HIM THAT HATH STOLE, STEEL NO MORE"
An unusual, humorous letter detailing an amusing incident and concluding with two puns on biblical passages: "...Having nothing else to make a Letter of, let me complain a little of your Smith that shod our Horses. We order'd them to be sharp shod...But he never did it; for as soon as we set out from Boston, I perceive'd the Horses to slip on the Ice, and...with...great Difficulty we got them up a little Icy Hill...We were oblig'd to alight and lead them, and they could no more stand than if they had been shod with Skates, but were upon their Knees & Noses every Step. When I came to Tower Hill, I had them examin'd. And the Smith offer'd to take his Oath, that there was not a Grain of Steel in all the 16 Shoes. There I was, oblig'd to have them steel'd in earnest, and they were well done, and lasted me all the way home, over all the Stones of Connecticut. And yet the Charge was but £2.80...as you will see by the Bill which I send you with Barker's. Now do me the favor to learn that Smith's Name, and tell all your Friends and mine what a Rogue he is, that no body may wrest him for the future. Somebody at Cafe's told me they knew him, and that he was a New Light; but I thought that could not well be, he had shown such a strict Regard to the old moral Law in the 8th Commandment, Thou shall not steel: I rather take him to have been a Thief, and if he minds any Scripture...that in the Revelations, let him that hath stole, Steel no more; and So the Rascal only cheats..."