These pictures have never been in commerce, and the only one of them which has ever been published-that giving the side view of Franklin-appeared for the first time, and only, in the Fifth Edition of my Life of Franklin, published in April last. You will agree with me, I think, in regarding these photographs, taken from the only plate ever made of the original, as not only a striking likeness of one of our most distinguished men, but also a work of art of no ordinary merit.

While in Paris last summer I took occasion to visit the two statuettes of Voltaire referred to by Mme. de Vaux as possibly being the work of the same sculptor. Of these I send you also photographs, by which I think you will readily agree with me that while the one in the Musée Carnavalet is unquestionably by the same artist as the Franklin, and was wrought in the same atelier with precisely the same accessories, the other was wrought in a different atelier, with entirely different accessories, and by a very inferior artist. M. Henri d'Allemagne, its proprietor, told me that he bought it in Germany-I think in Hamburg and deemed it to be probably the work of a German and also the work of the same artist that wrought the Voltaire in the Musée Carnavalet. Neither Mme. de Vaux nor the Directors of the Musée Carnavalet nor M. d'Allemagne had any information nor offered any conjectures as to the author of either of these works. This was largely due, I presume, to the fact that neither of them knew much if anything more about Franklin than his name.

I was not long in reaching the conclusion that Madame de Vaux's statuette of Franklin and the Carnavalet statuette of Voltaire were the work of Nini, an Italian, whose medallions, as you doubtless are well aware, are among the most famous of his period; and that none among them are more valued by connoisseurs and collectors than his medallions of Franklin. I will briefly state the grounds of my faith.

Jean Baptiste Nini was a native of Urbino in Italy and was born in 1716, one year after the death of Louis the Fourteenth. He died in 1786. The latter half of his life he resided in France. When about forty years of age, he established himself in the humble village of Chaumont. Le Ray de Chaumont, while Intendant of the Hotel Royal des Invalides, acquired the seigneurie of Chaumont, on which he discovered a remarkably fine quality of clay for artistic purposes. He also discovered in Nini, who had already acquired reputation as an engraver on glass, peculiar talents for utilizing that clay. He attached Nini to him on a salary of 1,200 francs a year, with lodging, heat and light. Nini began there with engraving on glass and in amusing himself in reproducing on glass the compositions of Boucher. The remarkable plasticity of the clay at Chaumont at length led him to turn his attention to medallions, which he baked in a pottery established on the estate and which were put on the market at the moderate price of 20 sols (cents) apiece. In 1778, as this business with his fame extended, Nini became Director (Regisseur) of the establishment founded at Chaumont by Le Ray, as his patron was usually called. This position he retained until his death.

During Franklin's entire sojourn in Paris he occupied a house on the estate at Passy of Mre. Le Ray, Chevalier Seigneur de Chaumont-sur-Loire et autres

lieues, Conseillier du Roy en ses Conseils, Grand Maitre Honoraire des Eaux et forets, Intendant de l'hotel des Invalides y dem't. Paroisse Saint Louis-for it took all these titles to properly describe him in his contract with Nini-and it was through Le Ray that Franklin, until recognized as Minister of the United States, held what intercourse he had with the government of France. Their relations therefore were of the most intimate character. He necessarily fell into correspondingly intimate relations with Nini, who appears to have found him his most profitable model.

The most recent and the most detailed account of this eccentric artist* gives the record of 109 of his medallions, sixty of which are in the Collection of the late Prince A. de Broglie. There are nine medallions of Franklin alone, and five of these belong to the de Broglie collection. None of the eminent sitters for Nini are represented by half as many pieces as Franklin; yet among these were Maria Theresa of Austria, her daughter, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France; three of Louis XV.; Louis XVI.; Duc de Berry; the Empress Catherine of Russia; Voltaire; Le Ray de Chaumont and Therese his wife; the Count de Caylies; Charles III. of Spain; and three heads in one medallion of Nini himself, his wife and daughter.

The resources of Nini's genius are nowhere better illustrated than in the variety of his portraitures of Franklin. Four of these portraits have the same features but their dates and legends are different. They have in some sort the air of being official portraits of the Savant and the Statesman. Others represent him in a more intimate and familiar guise. In one he wears a fur cap, the reproduction of which has made his features universally known. Another in all respects similar but much rarer shows him with spectacles on his nose. This differs from the two first in the coiffure. The fur cap is exchanged for a long bonnet of liberty like those worn by the Neapolitan fishermen.

It deserves to be remarked here that in the statuette at the Carnavalet Museum, obviously the work of the same artist as that of Franklin, Voltaire's head is covered with a Liberty Cap, showing that it was a kind of head dress. which the artist was fond of using with sitters like Voltaire and Franklin whose political principles would permit him to use it occasionally.

The medallion of Franklin in the fur bonnet is quite the most wide-spread of Nini's work. It was sent to the United States by thousands in barrels. Some of these barrels have since his death been found at Chaumont and some at Nantes, which had never progressed farther toward their destination.

Nini spent fourteen years of his life at Chaumont and they covered all of the years of Franklin's official residence in France. Nothing could be more natural than for Franklin to be drawn into close relations with Fournier-le-Jeune, who was unquestionably the most original and the most famous type-founder that France has ever produced,-obeying the same laws of attraction which had bound him in such intimate relations with William Strahan, a leading printer in England during Franklin's residence there, and nothing more natural than that Franklin should have presented to Fournier-le-Jeune the statuette which is now the priceless inheritance of Mme. de Vaux.

*Jean-Baptiste Nini: Sa Vie, Son Œuvre. 1717-1786. A Storelli. Tours: Imprimerie A. Mame et fils, 1895.

Franklin left Paris in 1785, the year before Nini's death. During the pre-
vious nine years Nini made more medallions of Franklin than of any other per-
son, and must therefore have come into such relations with him as could scarcely
fail to have been familiar if not intimate, and which at least dispel any im-
probability of this statuette being his work; for Nini was a dwarf, barely four
feet in height. He was original to eccentricity; he was fond of good cheer and
dreaded the cold. His dress was exceedingly conspicuous and was worn in a
way to give his person a most bizarre and grotesque appearance. He cultivated
nails excessively long. When once asked if they had anything to do with
his success as an Artist, he drew from a shabby armoire a psalterion—a sort of
harp or zither-on which he played delightfully with his nails. It is not sur-
prising that a person who was in so many ways an exception to his species
should have amused himself in leisure moments by making these statuettes of
sitters like Voltaire and Franklin who were intelligent enough to appreciate
his genius and wise enough to appear blind to his peculiarities.

If circumstantial evidence alone can ever prove anything, I think I have said
enough to conclusively settle the authorship of this statuette and its value as a
memorial of Franklin. This presumption is strengthened by the fact that no other
artist's name has been or can be suggested whose relations with Franklin or with
Nini would justify even a suspicion that either of these statuettes was his work.
Should you, Mr. Director, after these explanations, think the accompanying
photographs worthy of being included in the Collection of Frankliniana which
you are making for the Bulletin, they are quite at your service.

Yours truly,

JOHN BIGELOW.

LETTERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS,

1773-1787.

Printed from the manuscripts in the New York Public Library.

TO WILLIAM COOPER.

LONDON, March 9, 1773.

SIR,

I received duly your Favour of Dec. 8. with a Copy for myself of the Pro-
ceedings of your Town Meeting,* for which please to present my respectful
Thanks to the Committee. I received also a Number more for different Persons,
here, which I immediately delivered as directed. I have also reprinted the
Pamphlet to make your Grievances more generally known here, a few Copies of
which I send herewith.

I received the Honour of your Letter dated Dec 21. containing a distinct
Account of the Proceedings at Boston relative to the Tea imported there, and of
the Circumstances that occassioned its Destruction. I communicated the same
to Lord Dartmouth, with some other Advices of the same Import. It is yet un-
known what Measures will be taken here on the Occasion; but the Clamour
against the Proceeding is high and general. I am truly concern'd, as I believe
all considerate Men are with you, that there should seem to any a Necessity for
carrying Matters to such Extremity, as, in a Dispute about Publick Rights, to
destroy private Property: This (notwithstanding the Blame justly due to those
who obstructed the Return of the Tea) it is impossible to justify with People
so prejudiced in favour of the Power of Parliament to tax America, as most
are in this Country. As the India Company however are not our Adversaries,

*The Votes and Proceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston,
Printed at Boston by Edes & Gill, and reprinted in London by J. Wilkie.

and the offensive Measure of sending their Teas did not take its Rise with them, but was an Expedient of the Ministry to serve them and yet avoid a Repeal of the old Act, I cannot but wish & hope that before any compulsive Measures are thought of here, our General Court will have shewn a Disposition to repair the Damage and make Compensation to the Company. This all our Friends here wish with me; and that if War is finally to be made upon us, which some threaten, an Act of violent Injustice on our part, unrectified, may not give a colourable Pretence for it. A speedy Reparation will immediately set us right in the Opinion of all Europe. And tho' the Mischief was the Act of Persons unknown, yet as probably they cannot be found or brought to answer for it, there seems to be some reasonable Claim on the Society at large in which it happened. Making voluntarily such Reparation can be no Dishonour to us or Prejudice to our Claim of Rights, since Parliament here has frequently considered in the same Light similar Cases; and only a few Years since, when a valuable Saw-mill, which had been erected at a great Expence was violently destroyed by a Number of Persons supposed to be Sawyers, but unknown, a Grant was made out of the Publick Treasury of Two Thousand Pounds to the Owner as a Compensation. I hope in this freely (and perhaps too forwardly) expressing my Sentiments & Wishes, I shall not give Offence to any. I am sure I mean well; being ever with sincere Affection to my native Country, and great Respect to the Assembly and yourselves,

Gentlemen,

Your most obedient

and most humble Servant B. FRANKLIN

Honble THOMAS CUSHING

SAML. ADAMS

JOHN HANCOCK

WILLIAM PHILLIPS J

Esquires

Endorsed on reverse side: Letter from Dr Franklin to a Come Lond. Feb 2-74

TO THOMAS CUSHING.

LONDON, SEPT. 3. 1774.

SIR,

It is a long time since I have been favoured by a Line from you. I suppose you thought me on my Return to America, & that your Letters would probably not reach me here: But I have been advised by our Friends to stay till the Result of your Congress should arrive. The Coolness, Temper, & Firm-. ness of the American Proceedings; the Unanimity of all the Colonies, in the same Sentiments of their Rights, & of the Injustice offered to Boston; and the Patience with which those Injuries are at Present borne, without the least Appearance of Submission; have a good deal surprized and disappointed our