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natural, so it is allowable for me to entertain such a wish & it is still
the more so as its' view is truly philosophical in that it is directed to
the Information & the good of Mankind, & Society in general without
restriction to Place or Country.
My youngest Son, to gratify a mechanical Genius, wch wou'd not
otherwise be Satisfied, I bred a Ship builder but his great opinion
of his Brother, and the warmth of affection accompanying it, has
given him also a tincture of Philosophy, tho' in a different way.
In the Course of his apprenticeship, he struck out some Improvements
in that Profession, that met with an approbation: which established his
Credit for Ingenuity, & gave him an Ambition to aim at something by
which he might be distinguished in a Profession wch had never before in
any distance, the advantages of so liberal & so scientific an Education as he had
himself. Upon this Basis, & by the Encouragement of his Friends; he
conceived a Design of going abroad, for the purpose of giving himself
an opportunity of seeing the State of Naval Architecture or Ship Building
among the more Northern Maritime Powers, & from which Quarters
we ourselves are chiefly supplied with all the other materials for
Shipbuilding except Oak Timber. — accordingly, having procured
a number of Letters of Recommendation, very Short of a hundred in all,
from Persons of great Consideration here at home, to Persons of the greatest
Eminence at the different places he meant to go abroad,
He set out upon the 24th August last, alone by himself, for
Holland, where he stay'd about Six Weeks & where he was honoured by
the Particular Civilities he received from Sir Joseph York, our Ambassador
at the Hague, as also from the Principal Ship Builders, & Merchants of
the first Eminence at Amsterdam. From thence he went to Hamburg
where he found himself quite at home by the friendly reception
he met with, at the best Houses, & Persons of the first Consideration there
From thence he went to Dantzig, but being disappointed of going
thither as he intended to do chiefly be Sea, He went by Land, & took
in his way Berlin & Koningsburg the two Principal Cities in Prussia —
From Dantzig, He went to Mittau, the Capital of the Dutchy of
Coursland, where he was honoured with very extraordinary civility
and attention by the Duke and his Dutchess and of course by the
nobility of their Court, which detained him these near two months
during which time, he dined almost every day with the Duke &
Dutchess, was at all their Concerts, & Balls, danced with them
and by particular Invitation, went to the Duke's Country Houses
at each of which he stay'd several Days and in short was treated
with more civility & marks of attention than any Stranger (as
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Identifier: | JB/539/043/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 539.
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1780-05-04 |
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539 |
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043 |
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001 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremiah Bentham |
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