To Benjamin Franklin from Anthony Tissington, 13 June 1769
From Anthony Tissington5
ALS: American Philosophical Society
Alfreton 13th June 1769
Dear Sir
After two Months of Illness and Hurry, I cannot help inquiring if you and Mrs. Stevenson are well, and if you think of visiting Dirbyshire this Summer.
For three weeks after I left London I lay Ill of its Smoak;6 have been since in North Wales; and about the end of this month must go into Scotland, so shall have the benefit of change of Air.
Inclosed I send you a Letter from Richard Parkin the young man who din’d with you, to which You’l be so kind as to give such answer as you think proper, to me here, or to him at Middleton Tyas near Richmond Yorkshire. If I shou’d go too, you’d soon people America: but I’ve heared nothing of the mining scheme since I left London.7
My Wife is much better; can walk a mile or two; and now hopes a compleat recovery.8 This She desires you’l tell Mrs. Stevenson—to whom and to your Self She joins in best wishes with Dear Sir Yours very affectionately
Anth Tissington
I’m very glad to learn that the American affairs will be settled to your wish.
Addressed: To / Benjamin Franklin Esqr / in Cravenstreet——Strand / London
5. For Tissington, an owner or manager of mines in Derbyshire, see above, IX, 42 n, and subsequent volumes. This seems to have been his first letter to BF in more than two years.
6. He must have been singularly allergic to London smoke, for this had happened before. See above, XIII, 402.
7. Parkin has not been identified; his home, Middleton Tyas, a small town six miles from Richmond, was once famous for its copper mines. Thomas Allen, A New and Complete History of the County of York (6 vols., London, 1829–32), VI, 358. Tissington’s mining scheme may have been related to his “farm” of 10,000 acres in East Florida, to which, two years before, he had thought of retiring: XIV, 163.
8. His wife, Margaret Bunting Tissington, had apparently been ill for the past two years. See above, XIII, 403; XIV, 162.