PRICE OF MEMOIRS 17 the shores of perfidious Albion, I write to say what I am willing to do, provided always the step shall receive the approval of your maturer - you dare not deny that you are much older than I am & more enlightened judgment. If then you find the Autobiography genuine and "all your fancy painted it," if it embraces all that was ever printed, if the letters are also genuine and the portrait is what it was represented to you, I give you full discretion to buy the lot at any price you may think fit to pay for it not exceeding 25000 francs; or you may let it alone. I enclose an order to Munroe' to accept your drafts to that am't. I am rather in hopes of receiving by Wednesday night's mail a full report of what will occur on that day on or about 12 o'clock, and, by the aid of the telegraph, may be able to countermand these instructions before they can be executed if I should be so disposed. I do not suppose I should ever get my money back, and yet I feel that I should derive some satisfaction from being the actual proprietor of old Benny's story of his life. Should you arrange for the purchase, I wish you to procure from de Senarmont a history of the several articles, how & when they came into the ancestor's possession, & their subsequent fortunes. I need not explain to you more fully what I want in that way nor why. He will no doubt be happy to furnish such a statement. I propose to commit myself to the oceano dissociabili, as your friend Mr. Flaccus terms the waste of waters between Liverpool and Yankeedom, on the 30th inst. I shall leave London for Liverpool D. V. on Monday the 28th. Packages liable to arrive here after Monday mg. therefore should be addressed to me at the Consulate at Liverpool. Now presuming that I have marked out work enough for you to keep you out of mischief for the rest of this week and to satisfy you that you have gained little or nothing as yet by my quitting France, I commit "the premises" to your discretion and friendly ingérence. Whatever you decide to do or to leave undone will be sure of the approval of your humble servant. at As I came across a file of the Tribune for Dec. 1866 Morley's [Hotel] the other mg. For two or three amiable allusions to myself I hope you will not mind accepting my thanks. you do not sell compliments, I know the value of those you bestow. Good night. 'John Munroe, the banker. HUNTINGTON TO BIGELOW Dear Mr. Bigelow: PARIS [8 RUE DE BOURSAULT], I have seen the Frankliniseries (say Franklinicnacs). The Autobiography is writ on large folio foolscap, bound very simply but without the slightest lesion of the pages. This is undoubtedly the original MS., with interlinings, erasures, marginal notes and blots [of which one smasher, that was smutched thin over one whole page,] of B. F. of the period. It is complete in both parts the French publication of 1791 stops with the first part, you recollect and more complete than the "clean copy," from which W. T. Franklin printed the two parts: i. e. it has several more pages after the arrival in London in 1757, where W. F.'s print stops. I should think there are other passages in this MS. omitted by W. T. F. or by the writer of the clean copy. The MS. closes with these words: "They were never put in execution." Of the letters only two or three are from B. F. — one dated Philadelphia 1787- another, ditto 1788; -16 (or 14) are from W. Temple Franklin, 2 from Sarah Bache, 2 from B. F. Bache: all addressed to Mr. [Le] Veillard. I judge from what Mr. Paul de Senarmont said that they do not relate to political subjects. I had not time to read any of them, having to go to Mr. Georges de Senarmont, the cousin, to see the portrait. It is nearly a half length, life size, pastel, perfectly well preserved, under glass, not a franc of additional value from the frame. It is not signed. A labelled black and gilt statement, which is undoubtedly true, is attached to the bottom of the frame and runneth nearly as follows: "Portrait de Benjamin Franklin âgé 77 ans, donné par lui-même a M. [Le] Veillard. Peint par J. S. Duplessis 1783." I have no doubt of the genuineness of the portrait. Mr. de S. says that the family tradition is that this was the original and the other one [which was in possession of W. T. Franklin (?)] the replica. Duplessis had a good reputation as a portrait painter. The Biographie Nouvelle cites, among twelve of his most esteemed portraits, one of Franklin in the "Galerie PRICE OF MEMOIRS ACCEPTED 19 Pamard à Avignon." The one that Mr. Edward Brooks of Janey de Moncy or his heirs a few years ago was claimed to be by Duplessis. That was in oils - it was offered to me by old de Moncy in 1852 for 2000 francs. There was a break in his history of it, that led me to suspect that it might be a copy. Mr. de Senarmont holds firmly to the fixed price of 25000 francs: agrees that it may be an extravagant one, but will not set any other till after the Exposition: he means to advertise Americans here next summer of the MSS. & portrait and where they may be seen depositing them for that end with some bookseller or other party. Meantime he is quite willing to keep my address, and, in case he does not sell at Exposition season, to talk further about the matter. The MSS. & Portrait are, as I understand him, an undivided family property. BIGELOW TO HUNTINGTON No. 15 CLEAVELAND SQUARE, HYDE PARK, My dear Huntington: Please say nothing of the price I pay, for if it became known, my character in Yankeeland might suffer. I should be reminded perpetually of the relations - time-honored of a fool and his money. I make no apology for the trouble I give you, my dear friend, because I am too anxious to be ceremonious. Besides I do not think the chase is without its attractions to you. Of course I shall indemnify you for all expenses you incur. I dined yesterday with John Forster, the historian of the Commonwealth &c. and former literary editor of the Examiner. (I am writing with one of my wife's pens which makes me write like a woman.) Browning the poet, and Merrivale, brother of the historian, actual Under Secretary for the Colonies, & two or three other good talkers, made the company. He is a charming fellow, is Forster, 55 yrs. old, hale, solid, lively, with a purely English combination of muscle & brain and a library that drove me to despair. In his working room alone he has 15,000 vols. nicely bound. He told me he had nearly as many more above stairs. He showed me autograph letters first published by himself or unpublished of Stafford, O. Cromwell, Charles I & II, James II. A presentation copy from Addison to Dean Swift of his Italy, in which he speaks of Jonathan as "the truest friend & greatest genius of the age"; the proof sheets of Dr. Sam Johnson's Lives of the Poets; the mem. books or journals of Leonardo da Vinci; and lots more that I can't remember. He seems to be comfortable in his worldly position, and gave us a good dinner. He appeared to be so much a man "of like infirmities with ourselves" that I mentioned what a stir you and I were making among old Franklin's bones. He was greatly interested, and said he would stay at home all Sunday to see them in the hope that I would call on him with them. Hence the hope I expressed in the early chapters of this volume that the "Franklinicnacs" may reach me in time to comply with his wish. If you can tell me who will be President when I get home, assuming that our voyage shall be of reasonable duration, you will oblige me by doing so. At present it looks as if the respective incumbents of the White House and of the Capitol were playing at brag, each hoping to break the other & not without a reasonable chance of success for one of the parties; which one does not yet appear. Good night. Your sincere friend HUNTINGTON TO BIGELOW Ever Honoured: PARIS, 8 RUE DE BOURSAULT, 27 Jany, '67. My passage out from appartment in search of breakfast this morning was obstructed by the concierge handing [me] your letter of 24th. Yours of 22nd leaving all to my discretion, I thought it discreetest not to spend so large a sum as 25 M francs without PURCHASE OF MEMOIRS 21 positive orders. These last instructions being decisive, I gat myself Onely, to Munroe & Co's, where I showed Mr. Richards,1 (who had his hat on), your enabling act authorizing note to them for my drawing of Pactolean draughts to the amount of 25 M frs. 2ly, to Legoupy, a print seller of my acquaintance on Blvd. de la Madeleine to ask how best the portrait of B. F. could be safely packed, with or without the glass "With" quoth he decidedly - Then I asked if he would charge himself with the packing, he being much in the way of sending large framed and glazed engravings out of the city; and he said he would. Threely, to the S. E. R. way and package Xpress office to ask at what latest minute they would receive and forward packages to London, which proved to be 5 o'clock P. M. Fourmostly to breakfast.. Presently after that refection and its consequence, I girded up my loins and took voiture for 98 Rue de Varennes, where, coming into the presence of Mr. Paul de Senarmont, I spoke, saying: "I will take the Franklineanments and MSS. on these 3 conditions: I. That I take them immediately. II. That you deduct 200 francs from the 25000 frs. to pay my expenses for going with them to London. III. That you furnish-sending it to me hereafter-for Mr. Bigelow, the history of the transitions of the three Franklinicnacs from Mr. [Le] Veillard's to your hands. All of which being agreed to, I wrote then and there an order, draught, draft or whatever the proper name of the paper may be, on J. M. & Co. for 24,800 francs in his favour at 3 day's vision. Then P. de S. and the literary remains of B. F., and self with cane, being bestowed in the voiture, no. of the same not preserved, we careered away to Cousin Georges de Senarmont's, No. 23 Rue de Sèvres. While Paul went in unto Georges, to the bedroom of him — for Georges was poorly it seems this morning and late abed, leastways late to breakfast - I ventured to relieve B. F. from the state of suspense he was in on the wall of the salon; screwed out of his frame the iron ring and, in the distraction of the moment, gave it to Cousin Georges' housekeeper. That was what B. F. calls an erratum, for I have often use for that sort of screw-which the housekeeper, let us hope, could not care for. Repacking, now, "The senior member of the bankers' firm of John Munroe & Co. had a queer habit of sitting in his office with his hat perched on the back of his head. |