The kindness and indulgence you have ever shewn me and which have been the chief pride of my life encourages me to trouble you on this occasion when I very much want your friendship and advice—Mr. Franklin will have told you of my marriage with Mr. Hare, but I had no opportunity of informing him of our future plans and it is on that subject I wish to consult you—Mr. Hare had once the prospect of possessing an exceeding good fortune but the unkind and unjust conduct of his father, who has defrauded him of great part of the estates settled, joined to his own negligence of his affairs, have so much reduced his expectations, that we can not hope to live in England with the affluence and comforts to which we have hitherto been accustomed—We naturally therefore turn our thoughts to America as a safe and honorable Retreat to all those who have any motives for renouncing their native Country, the accounts we have heard of Pensilvania incline us to give that Colony the preference—at present we can depend on no more than £300 per Annum and about £1000 in money; on the death of Mr. Hare’s father I should hope we can not fail to have at least 10, or 15000 £ to receive—Now, my dear Doctor Franklin, I wish to know whether with such an income in present and such expectations in future, we should have a prospect of establishing ourselves with any degree of comfort in Pensilvania and which part of that province you would recommend, whether the Capital, or any of the smaller towns—when we have money sufficient to make any considerable purchase the cultivation of land is what Mr. Hare would prefer, but in the interim we wish to be informed whether there is any profession a Gentleman could follow in that Country with a moderate prospect of gain—Mr. Hare himself inclines to the study of the law, and is desirous to know whether any great knowledge of the English Law be requisite, and whether the same process is observed [in] your Courts; also, about what income a person might acquire by close application for a few years and how long he must be an inhabitant of the Country, before he be admitted to practice. It is impossible to express what I felt at quitting my beloved father and mine own dear family, it was long before I could take the resolution and my health suffered so much from the conflict, I doubt whether I shall ever recover it—it must depend on letters from England, whether we go to America this spring or the next. I wish it had been in our power to have come to Paris but since that is impossible, I flatter myself with the idea of our settling the other side the Atlantic—to find there a friend whom we so much venerate and esteem will in part console me for the absence of those dear parents I must ever regret. I beg my Compliments to Mr. Franklin and am dear Sir Your very grateful and affectionate