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CCXVIII: TO MISS MARY STEVENSON - Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. III Letters and Misc. Writings 1753-1763 [1904]

Edition used:

The Works of Benjamin Franklin, including the Private as well as the Official and Scientific Correspondence, together with the Unmutilated and Correct Version of the Autobiography, compiled and edited by John Bigelow (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). The Federal Edition in 12 volumes. Vol. III (Letters and Misc. Writings 1753-1763).

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CCXVIII

TO MISS MARY STEVENSON

Portsmouth, 11 August, 1762.

My Dear Polly:—

This is the best paper I can get at this wretched inn, but it will convey what is intrusted to it as faithfully as the finest. It will tell my Polly how much her friend is afflicted that he must, perhaps, never again see one for whom he has so sincere an affection, joined to so perfect an esteem, who he once flattered himself might become his own, in the tender relation of a child, but can now entertain such pleasing hopes no more. Will it tell how much he is afflicted? No, it cannot.

Adieu, my dearest child. I will call you so. Why should I not call you so, since I love you with all the tenderness of a father? Adieu. May the God of all goodness shower down his choicest blessings upon you, and make you infinitely happier than that event would have made you. And wherever I am, believe me to be, with unalterable affection, my dear Polly, your sincere friend,1

B. Franklin.

[1 ]Franklin had earnestly desired his son to marry Miss Stevenson. William, however, became too much interested in a young West Indian girl named Downs, and was already affianced to her. The tone of this letter shows that it was a bitter disappointment to the father, as it was no doubt a misfortune to the son.