Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed, Volume 1 (of 2): A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own WritingsBruce, Wiliam Cabell
History
Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed, Volume 1 (of 2): A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings
Bruce, Wiliam Cabell
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
They are, I assure you, exceeding welcome to me; and
they behave with so much Prudence, that no two young
Men could possibly less need the Advice you would have
me give them. Josiah is very happily employ'd in his
Musical Pursuits. And as you hinted to me, that it
would be agreeable to you, if I employ'd Johnathan in
Writing, I requested him to put my Accounts in Order,
which had been much neglected. He undertook it with the
utmost chearfulness and Readiness, and executed it with
the greatest Diligence, making me a compleat new Set of
Books, fairly written out and settled in a Mercantile
Manner, which is a great Satisfaction to me, and a very
considerable service. I mention this, that you may not
be in the least Uneasy from an Apprehension of their
Visit being burthensome to me; it being, I assure you,
quite the contrary.
It has been wonderful to me to see a young Man from
America, in a Place so full of various Amusements as
London is, as attentive to Business, as diligent in it,
and keeping as close at home till it was finished, as
if it had been for his own Profit; and as if he had
been at the Public Diversions so often, as to be tired
of them.
I pray God to keep and preserve you and yours, and give
you again, in due time, a happy Sight of these valuable
Sons.
The same favorable opinion of these two grandnephews found expression in a
letter from Franklin to his sister Jane. Josiah, he said, had attained his
heart's desire in being under the tuition of Mr. Stanley (the musical
composer), who, though he had long left off teaching, kindly undertook, at
Franklin's request, to instruct him, and was much pleased with his
quickness of apprehension, and the progress he was making, and Jonathan
appeared a very valuable young man, sober, regular and inclined to industry
and frugality, which were promising signs of success in business. "I am
very happy in their Company," the letter further stated.
With the help of Franklin, Jonathan, one of these two young men, became the
naval agent of the United States at Nantes, when Franklin was in France.
Later, he was charged by Arthur Lee with improperly retaining in his hands
in this capacity upwards of one hundred thousand livres due to the United
States, and Franklin insisted that Arthur Lee should make good his charge.
I have no desire to screen Mr. Williams on acct of
his being my Nephew [he said] if he is guilty of what
you charge him with. I care not how soon he is
deservedly punish'd and the family purg'd of him; for I
take it that a Rogue living in (a) Family is a greater
Disgrace to it than one _hang'd out_ of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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