Note 55 — Part I (continued 4)

Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782). See Dictionary of National Biography, XXVII, 232-4; A. F. Tytler's Memoirs of Lord Kames, 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1814 (2d ed.). Franklin writes an interesting letter to Kames (London, Jan. 3, 1760) affirming that he rejoices "on the reduction of Canada; and this is not merely as I am a colonist, but as I am a Briton. I have long been of opinion, that the foundations of the future grandeur and stability of the British empire lie in America; and though, like other foundations, they are low and little seen, they are, nevertheless, broad and strong enough to support the greatest political structure human wisdom ever yet erected." Concerning his recent visit to Kames in Scotland he writes, "On the whole, I must say, I think the time we spent there, was six weeks of the densest happiness I have met with in any part of my life ..." (Writings, IV, 3-7). In a letter (London, Nov., 1761) he praises Kames's Introduction to the Art of Thinking and inquires "after your Elements of Criticism." He also tells Kames about his plans to write an Art of Virtue (ibid., IV, 120-3). From Portsmouth, Aug. 17, 1762, he sends his farewell: "I am going from the old world to the new; and I fancy I feel like those, who are leaving this world for the next: grief at the parting; fear of the passage; hope of the future" (ibid., IV, 174).