Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/127

117 and when you are ſettled in England, we may occaſionally make uſe of your friendſhip and judgment.— If it ſuits your conveniency to viſit Philadelphia before your return to Europe, I mall be extremely glad to ſee and converſe with you here, as well as to correſpond with you after your ſettlement in England; for an acquaintance and communication with men of learning, virtue, and public ſpirit, is one of my greateſt enjoyments. I do not know whether you ever happened to ſee the firſt proposals I made for erecting this academy. I ſend them incloſed. They had (however imperfect) the deſired ſucceſs, being followed by a ſubſcription of four thouſand pounds, towards carrying them into execution. And as we are fond of receiving advice, and are daily improving by experience, I am in hopes we ſhall, in a few years, ſee a perfect inſtitution. I am very reſpectfully, &c. B. FRANKLIN. Mr. W. Smith, Long-Iſland.

Philad. May 3d, 1753.

Mr. Peters has juſt now been with me, and we have compared notes on your new piece. We find nothing in the ſcheme of education, however excellent, but what is, in our opinion, very practicable. The great difficulty will be to find the Aratus, and other ſuitable perſons, to carry it