Beschreibung:

FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Autograph letter signed ("B Franklin" with flourish) to Sir Bart Grey Cooper (1765-1783), n.p., n.d. 1 page, 4to, neatly tipped to a larger sheet, with early note "John Brand 1802 Sold at the sale of Sir Grey Cooper's Books...The recipe on the Back of the next Leaf is all in the Hand writing of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin " verso silked, otherwise fine. A MEDICINAL RECIPE FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Probably in response to an inquiry from Cooper, Franklin recommends wine infused with an unnamed bark: "I used to put two Ounces of Bark finely powdered into a Bottle of Wine, and let it stand 24 Hours, in which time it will have given...a sufficient Quantity of its Virtue...When I had drank two or three Glasses out of the Bottle, I used to fill it up with fresh Wine, because the Bark will not give forth all its Virtue to the First Quantity of Wine, but continues communicating more as fresh Wine offers to receive it, so that on the whole I suppose I may have drank a Gallon of Wine off the first Quantity of Bark. Every time I pour'd out a Glass to drink, I us'd to shake the Bottle, generally not 'till I had fill'd my Glass;" or before, if there was any hint of "feverish Indisposition," as "some of the Substance of the Bark expecting thence greater or more speedy Effects." Sir Grey Cooper was a member of the Rockingham ministry in 1765, and may have become acquainted with Franklin then, while Franklin was in London (1764-1775) as representative of various colonies. Cooper served as joint Secretary of the Treasury from 1765 until 1782 under successive ministries and in 1783 became Lord of the Treasury.