From Benjamin Franklin to the President and Council of the Royal Society, 29 May 1754

To the President and Council of the Royal Society

ALS: The Royal Society

Philada. May 29. 1754

Gentlemen,

The very great Honour you have done me, in adjudging me your Medal for 1753,3 demands my grateful Acknowledgements, which I beg you would accept as the only Return at present in my Power.

I know not whether any of your learned Body have attain’d the ancient boasted Art of multiplying Gold; but you have certainly found the Art of making it infinitely more valuable.

You may easily bestow your Favours on Persons of more Merit; but on none who can have a higher Sense of the Honour, or a more perfect Respect for your Society and Esteem of its excellent Institution, than Gentlemen, Your most obliged and most obedient Servant

B Franklin

President and Council of the Royal Society.

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

3. For Lord Macclesfield’s speech announcing the award of the Copley Medal, Nov. 30, 1753, see above, pp. 126–34.

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Source Project: Franklin Papers
Title: From Benjamin Franklin to the President and Council of the Royal Society, 29 May 1754
Author: Franklin, Benjamin
Recipient: President and Council of the Royal Society
Date: 29 May 1754

Reference

Cite as: “From Benjamin Franklin to the President and Council of the Royal Society, 29 May 1754,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-05-02-0091. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 5, July 1, 1753, through March 31, 1755, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962, p. 334.]