Thank you very much!! I stand corrected. And with this to search with, I found the complete original on Google Books (along with what seems to be a complete set of Journal de Paris from the 18th century; I'm going to waste the whole day reading bits of these.)
I'm not surprised at all that Jefferson and Franklin spoke French -- I always assumed they did -- what surprises me is that we (at least in the US) see so little evidence of it and that translations are presented as originals so often.
This letter is a good example. Is the English translation even Franklin's? And yet it's everywhere, while this French original doesn't even show up on the Library of Congress Franklin site. That's what I find bizarre.
I'm not surprised at all that Jefferson and Franklin spoke French -- I always assumed they did -- what surprises me is that we (at least in the US) see so little evidence of it and that translations are presented as originals so often.
This letter is a good example. Is the English translation even Franklin's? And yet it's everywhere, while this French original doesn't even show up on the Library of Congress Franklin site. That's what I find bizarre.