Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/95

85 We reprinted it with accuracy and neatneſs, and ſent a copy to every member. They perceived the difference; and it ſo ſtrengthened the influence of our friends in the aſſembly, that we were nominated its printer for the following year.

Among theſe friends I ought not to forget one member in particular, Mr. Hamilton, whom I have mentioned in a former part of my narrative, and who was now returned from England. He warmly intereſted himſelf for me on this occaſion, as he did likewiſe on many others afterwards; having continued his kindneſs to me till his death. About this period Mr. Vernon reminded me of the debt I owed him, but without preſſing me for payment. I wrote a handſome letter on the occaſion, begging him to wait a little longer, to which he consented; and as ſoon as I was able I paid him, principal and intereſt, with many expreſſions of gratitude; ſo that this error of my life was in a manner atoned for.

But another trouble now happened to me, which I had not the ſmalleſt reaſon to expect Meredith's father, who, according to our agreement, was to defray the whole expence of our printing materials, had only paid a hundred pounds. Another hundred was ſtill due, and the merchant being tired of waiting, commenced a ſuit againſt us. We bailed the action, but with the melancholy proſpect, that, if the money was not forth-coming at the time fixed, the affair would come to iſſue, judgment be put in execution, our delightful hopes be annihilated, and ourſelves entirely ruined; as the type and preſs muſt be ſold, perhaps at half their value, to pay the debt. In this diſtreſs, two real friends, whoſe generous conduct I have never forgotten, and never ſhall forget while I retain the remembrance of