To Benjamin Franklin from Jean-Paul Marat, 1 August 1783
From Jean-Paul Marat9
AL: American Philosophical Society
Paris ce I. Aoust 1783.
M. Marat prie Monsieur Franklin de vouloir bien lui accorder un quart d’heure d’audience lundy ou mercredy prochains dans la matinée. M. Marat desireroit Savoir l’heure de la comodité de Monsieur Franklin, au quel il à l’honneur de renouveller les assurances de Son respectueux attachement.
Notation: Marat 1er. Aout 1783.
9. To the best of our knowledge, this is the last time Marat’s name appears in BF’s papers. The purpose of his proposed visit is not known, but he was at this time campaigning to be appointed director of a proposed academy of sciences in Madrid. The conde de Aranda was charged with gathering information about him, and it is possible that Marat was seeking BF’s recommendation. In the meantime, Marat continued his scientific work; on Aug. 6 his Mémoire sur l’électricité médicale won a prize from the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen: Charles Vellay, ed., La Correspondance de Marat … (Paris, 1908), pp. 16–24, 34–5, 37, 74–9; Charles C. Gillispie, Science and Polity in France at the End of the Old Regime (Princeton, 1980), pp. 315–16, 318–19.