To the honourable John Penn Thomas Penn and Richard Penn Esquires, true and absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania &c.

The humble Address of the Directors of the Library Company of Philadelphia, in Behalf of themselves and Others the Members of the said Company

May it please the Proprietaries, We the Directors of the Library Company of Philadelphia, by the Appointment and Direction of a general Meeting of the said Company, return your Honours most sincere Thanks for the Charter of Privileges to them granted. It is with the greatest Satisfaction we receive this extraordinary Mark of your Favour and Regard; and what heightens the Obligation is, that it was purely the Effect of your own Goodness and Generosity without being solicited: But we have the pleasure to observe, this is not the first Instance of your kind Concern for the Advancement of the Library, even beyond what the Company could have hoped for; And tho’ we may be wanting in Expression and suitable Acknowledgments, yet we assure your Honours we have the most grateful Sense of the Benefits received, and of the favourable Regard of our Proprietaries towards us.

The Powers and Privileges now granted us will, without Doubt, very much conduce to the Increase and Reputation of the Library; and as valuable Books come to be in more general Use and Esteem, we hope they will have very good Effects on the Minds of the People of this Province, and furnish them with the most useful kind of Knowledge, that which renders Men benevolent and helpful to one another. Our unhappy Divisions and Animosities, of late, have too much interrupted that charitable and friendly Intercourse which formerly subsisted among all Societies in this Place; but as all Parties come to understand their true Interest, we hope these Animosities will cease, and that Men of all Denominations will mutually assist in carrying on the publick Affairs in such manner as will most tend to the Peace and Welfare of the Province.