I received your favor of the 17th past, and the two samples of copper are since come to hand. The metal seems to be very good, and the price reasonable, but I have not yet received the orders necessary to justify my making the purchase proposed. There has, indeed, been an intention to strike copper coin, that may not only be useful as small change, but serve other purposes. Instead of repeating continually upon every half penny, the dull story, that every body knows, and what it would have been no loss to mankind if nobody had ever known, that George the Third is King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c. &c. to put on one side some important proverb of Solomon, some pious moral, some prudential or economical precept, the frequent inculcation of which, by seeing it every time one receives a piece of money, might make an impression upon the mind, especially of young persons, and tend to regulate their conduct; such as on some, _The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom_; on others, _Honesty is the best policy_; on others, _He that by the plough would thrive, himself must either lead or drive_; on others, _Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee_; on others, _A penny saved is a penny got_; on others, _He that buys what he has no need of, will soon be forced to sell his necessaries_; on others, _Early to bed and early to rise, will make a man healthy, wealthy, and wise_; and so on, to a great variety. The other side it was proposed to fill with good designs, drawn and engraved by the best artists in France, of all the different species of barbarity with 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 JOHN JAY, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Passy, October 4, 1779. Sir,