Franklin Writes to One of His Closest and Lifelong Friends

(London), Friday Morning, October 9, 1767. Single sheet (integral leaf likely perished), 9 x 7 1/2 in. (229 x 190 mm). One-page autograph letter, signed by Benjamin Franklin to Mary (Polly) Stevenson (later Mary Hewson), daughter of Franklin's landlady, Mrs. Margaret Stevenson: "I write this Line just to acquaint our dear Polly, that I left her amiable friend Miss Henckel well at Calais on Wednesday noon, waiting for good Weather to come over. She has been four Months at Spa. She enquir’d concerning Miss Stevenson’s Health & Welfare in the most tender and affectionate Manner; and will be disappointed in not finding you at Bromley. We got home well last Night. My respectful Compliments to Mrs. Tickell. I am, as ever, my dear Friend, Yours affectionately B Franklin". Manuscript notation on verso; creasing from old folds. Published in Vol. 14 of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (p. 275).

Benjamin Franklin writes to his close friend and confidant, Mary "Polly" Stevenson (1739–1795), the daughter of Franklin's London landlady and companion, Mrs. Margaret Stevenson. Charming, intelligent, and spirited, Polly and Franklin first met upon Franklin's arrival to London to serve as the middle colonies agent to the Crown. Drawn to Franklin's charm, Polly was greatly influenced by him, and spent numerous hours in his company in what has been described as an almost filial devotion. While Franklin had hoped his son William would marry Polly, she instead married William Hewson (1739-74), a gifted young physician and anatomist, remembered as the "father of hematology". Polly and Franklin maintained a lifelong friendship whose correspondence reached some 170 letters, and that ranged in topics from public affairs and marriage counselling, to scientific and philosophical discussions. In 1775, following Franklin's return to America, he tried to persuade her and her family to move to Philadelphia, but she apparently declined. While Franklin served as minister plenipotentiary to France, she visited him in Passy. Finally, in 1786, she moved to Philadelphia, and was at Franklin's bedside when he died in 1790.

According to Founders, Miss Henckel has not been conclusively identified, but is probably the daughter of one of a number of London merchants surnamed Henckell, who were active in trade with the Continent, especially with Hamburg and Lisbon. Miss Tickell was an Aunt with whom Polly lived with in Kensington.