Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/47

37 none but very ignorant printers, and that if I were to ſet up for myſelf, he had no doubt of my ſucceſs; that, for his own part, he would procure me all the public buſineſs, and would render me every other ſervice in his power. My brother-in-law related all this to me afterwards at Bofton; but I knew nothing of it at the time; when one day Keimer and I being at work together near the window, we ſaw the governor and another gentleman, colonel French of Newcaſtle, handſomely dreſſed, croſs the ſtreet, and make directly for our houſe. We heard them at the door, and Keimer, believing it to be a viſit to himſelf, went immediately down: but the governor enquired for me, came up ſtairs, and, with a condeſcenſion and politeneſs to which I had not at all been accuſtomed, paid me many compliments, deſired to be acquainted with me, obligingly reproached me for not having made myſelf known to him on my arrival in the town, and wiſhed me to accompany him to a tavern, where he and colonel French were going to taſte ſome excellent Madeira wine.

I was, I confeſs, ſomewhat ſurpriſed, and Keimer appeared thunderſtruck. I went however with the governor and the colonel to a tavern at the corner of Third ſtreet, where, while we were drinking the Madeira, he propoſed to me to eſtabliſh a printing-houſe. He ſet forth the probabilities of ſucceſs, and himſelf and colonel French aſſured me that I ſhould have their protection and influence in obtaining the printing of the public papers of both governments: and as I appeared to doubt whether my father would aſſiſt me in this enterprize, Sir William ſaid that he would give me a letter to him, in which he would repreſent the advantages of the ſcheme, in a light which he had no doubt would determine