8. On Dec. 19 Fitzherbert wrote to Strachey that Townshend had advised him to “cultivate” the American commissioners, and that this “great dinner” for 20 guests was part of his attempt. It “went off very cheerfully,” he wrote, “and Dr. Franklin in particular was (in his usual oracular & sententious strain) uncommonly full of conversation.” New York Public Library. JA noted in his diary that the guests included all four commissioners, along with Baron Mountnorris, a member of the Irish House of Lords, and “several English gentlemen”: Butterfield, John Adams Diary, III, 96.