Note 1 — Chapter III · • Benjamin Franklin • Our First Ambassador
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“You know,” wrote Franklin to his wife on the eve of his departure, “that I have many enemies ... and very bitter ones; and you must expect their enmity will extend in some degree to you.” He was forced to slip away and get secretly on board the vessel. His activities were reproved thus by a certain Tory lady:
Oh! had he been wise to pursue The track for his talents designed, What a tribute of praise had been due To the teacher and friend of mankind. But to covet political fame Was in him a degrading ambition, The spark that from Lucifer came, And kindled the blaze of sedition. (In Works, Vol. VII, p. 267.)
In Sargent’s Loyal Verses of Joseph Stansbury and Doctor Jonathan Odell, these verses are attributed to a less likely source.