Benjamin Vaughan to William Temple Franklin (unpublished)
April 12, 1785,
My dear sir,

Having obtained a letter from the French Embasador here & the Marquis de la Fayette to the Govr. of Martinique, and from the Marquess of Lansdown to the Governor of Tobago his particular acquaintance, I shall spare you the trouble of any application for similar letters in favor of my brother in law Wm. Manning Jan. now departed for the West Indies. I must yet add that Mrs V:, who wrote you the letter, desiring the favor of such application, (which I signed,) says she expected that as a man of gallantry, you would have given attended to her correspondence.

I am sorry to have been obliged to give a letter in favor of Mr. Perry to you, but things sometimes come pressed upon one in a way that one cannot refuse.—A fresh instance offers in the case of Mr Long, Author of the history of Jamaica in 3 Vol. 4to.; whose son is by this time arrived at Paris, & to whom in favor of his son I am requested to give a letter of introduction. I shall mention only two of the circumstances urging me to take this liberty with your grandfather; the one, that Mr Long has spoken with admiration of your grandfather in it. This admiration he carries to great lengths in conversation.—I know nothing of his son, farther than is to be learnt from his father’s character of him; nor do I ask for more attention to him, than the passing attention shewn to a stranger.

Dr. P. is this day arrived in London but the cold weather has made him idle of late in his laboratory.—In the mean time he has been hard at work upon the evidence of the fathers respecting the nature of Jesus Christ, on which subject he has just finished two large 8vo. volumes, in which there are 1500 references (most of them tra[torn] to the fathers, of whose works he has [torn] near 300 volumes. I am, my dear friend, ever yours affect[torn]

Benjn. Vaughan

The Marquess of Lansdown is gone into the country for a time. Pray do you decide to open your commission here?
Addressed: A Monsieur / Monsieur W T Franklin / &c &c &c / a Passy, / pres Paris.
Notation: B. Vaughan April 12th 1785
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