fancy that this Universal French-Exposition idea stands more in the way of reducing the price than any thing else.
I write you all these things so that, if you see fit, you can let me know before Wednesday noon whether 15,000 francs is your last price. Please write me by mail any suggestions or directions you will: also how, in case he does yield to the charm of 15,000 down, and I can get the MSS. and portrait in time, I am to send them to you. Suppose M. de S. yields on Wednesday the 23d, I get your money Saturday the 26th, and the articles that night. I express them Sunday morning the 27th. And seeing we are in France, that is the quickest time we could hope to make. I must hurry now to catch the mail. Yours truly,
W. H. Huntington.
On the 24th of January I received a second letter from Huntington, giving the results of his first view of what he terms the ‘Franklinienacs.’
Paris(8 Rue de Boursault),23 January, 1867.
Dear Mr. Bigelow:
I have seen the Frankliniseries (say Franklinienacs). The autobiography is writ on large foolscap, bound very simply, but without the slightest lesion of the pages. This is undoubtedly the original manuscript, with interlining, erasures, marginal notes, and blots (of which one smasher, that was smatched thin nearly 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. T. 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 M. Veillard. I judge, from what M. 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 M. George 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 reads nearly as follows: “Portrait de Benjamin Franklin, âge 77, donné par lui même à M. Veillard. Peint par J. S. Duplessis, 1783.” I have no doubt of the genuineness of the portrait. M. 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 Pamard à Avignon.” The one that Mr. Edward Brooks bought of J. de Mancy, 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 Mancy, in 1852, for 2,000 francs. There was a break in his history of it, that led me to suspect that it might be a copy.
M. de Senarmont holds firmly to the fixed price of 25,000 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 of the manuscripts and 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 manuscripts and portrait are, as I understand him, an undivided family property. . . .
Immediately upon the receipt of the foregoing I sent Mr. Huntington a check on John Munroe & Co., in Paris, for 25,000 francs, and told him to buy the collection on as favorable terms as possible, but not to leave without it, and when bought, to forward by the first conveyance to London, that it might be sure to reach me before I sailed.
To this I received, on the 28th, the following letter:
Paris(8 Rue de Boursault),January 27, 1867.
Ever Honored:
My passage out from apartment in search of breakfast this morning was obstructed by the concierge handing your letter of 24th. Yours of 22d, leaving all to my discretion, I thought it discreetest not to spend so large a sum as 25 m. frs. without positive orders. These last instructions being decisive, I gat myself;
Onely, to Munroe & Co.’s, where I showed Mr. Richards (who had his hat on) your enabling act to them for my drawing of Pactolian draughts to the amount of 25 m. frs.
2ly, to Legoupy, a printseller 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 and express office, to ask at what latest minute they would receive and forward packages to London, which proved to be 5 o’clock p.m.
Four mostly to breakfast. Presently after that refection I girded up my loins and took voiture for 98 Rue de Varennes, where, coming into the presence of M. Paul de Senarmont, I spake, saying: “I will take the Franklineaments and MSS. on these three conditions: I. That I take them immediately; II. That you deduct 200 francs from the 25,000 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 Franklinienacs from M. Veillard’s to your hands.
All of which being agreed to, I wrote then and there an order, draught, draft, or whatever the name of the paper may be, on J. M. & Co. for 24,800 francs in his favor at 3 days’ 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 George de Senarmont’s, No. 23 Rue de Sèvres. While Paul went in unto George, to the bedroom of him—for George was poorly, it seems, this morning, and late abed; leastway, 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 George’s 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, Paul de S., the MSS., umbrella, cane, and B. F. his eidolon, which I sustained ever with one hand, into the carriage, I bade cocher drive to 7 Rue Scribe, where I presented M. P. de S. to Mr. J. Munroe, to whom I committed your enabling note and identified Paul. Then P. de S. wished good voyage to London, and the cocher asked, as I was delicately handling B. F.’s portrait, if that was the Franklin who perished in the Northern Seas. Queer but disappointing. Cocher evidently took a lively interest in the frozen party, and but a cold, indifferent one in the to him unheard-of philosopher. Now straight to Legoupy’s whose packer declared he could have all ready by 4 o’clock. I did not believe him, but by way of encouragement pretended to, and held out to him as reward, in case of success, that I would gladly contribute something to the Washington Monument, which, let us hope, will never be completed.
There was time enough between this and five o’clock to go to the Legation, but small chance of finding Mr. Dix there. So I went to the consulate and offered David Ref. 015 to pay his passage and expenses if he would go with B. F. to London to-night. David would gladly but could not; had infrangible pre-engagements for this evening; I almost found, but missed another man, who would, it was thought, take charge of the box and surely deliver it Sunday, for 50 francs. During these entrefaites, four o’clock sounded. At ¼ past, the caisse was on the back of Legoupy’s boy following your servant up the Boulevard. The very best I could do at the R. and express office was to obtain the most positive assurance, that a special messenger should take the box from Cannon Street to Cleveland Square Ref. 016 before noon on Monday. There is no delivery at any price on Sunday. I was on the point of deciding—what I had