offense of Conyngham could not be winked at; his prize was taken from him, and he himself was flung into jail. Nothing daunted, Deane and Hodge bought and armed a swift cutter, and applied to the French minister for Conyngham's release. Vergennes was assured that the vessel should sail at once for the United States. But Conyngham was scarcely out of sight of land when he began to make prizes of every English ship that came in his way, and even threatened to burn Lynn. Vergennes now made another show of harshness and for a time Mr. Hodge was in the Bastille.

The day for such severity was soon to end. Nothing could check the growing popularity of the American rebels. Vergennes forbade the crowds in the coffee-houses to discuss "des insurgens;" but the people called him a fool, a dolt, a tool of England, and the discussions went on. Vergennes objected to the publication of Dubourg's translations of the State constitutions. The government would not give a license; but the book came out. Letters and Mémoires, songs and catches, the caricatures, the nicknames, the street phrases, all bear witness to the popularity of the American cause. Lafayette joined the rebels, and the nobility of France was thrown into excitement. The Hessians were captured at Trenton, and all Paris

rushed for maps of America that they might follow the line of the retreat through the Jerseys, and locate the scene of the yet more famous victory. Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, and the joy at Paris could not have been greater had the victory been won by France. "When shall we arm in favor of the rebels?" was asked on every hand. The king was forced to answer, "At once." News of the surrender was brought to Vergennes on December 4, 1777. December 16, the commissioners were told the king would recognize the independence of America and make a treaty of alliance at once. February 6, 1778, the treaty was made. In March, Franklin, wigless, swordless, in buckleless shoes and the plainest clothes, made his way with Deane and Lee through a crowd of fops and painted beauties to the dressingroom of the king, to be formally received as a commissioner from America. April 13, 1778, D'Estaing sailed with his fleet from Toulon.

In the flagship with D'Estaing went Silas Deane. Congress had recalled him and in his place sent John Adams, who landed at Bordeaux the very day the fleet left Toulon. There he was received with every manifestation of delight: saw the city lit up in his honor, was visited by innumerable men of note, read with amusement in the "Courier d'Avignon" that he

was brother to Samuel Adams, and went on to Passy to add one more to the little company of wrangling Americans. That little band was then made up of Ralph Izard, minister to the Duke of Tuscany, who would not receive him; of William Lee, envoy to the courts of Vienna and Berlin; William Carmichael, once secretary to Silas Deane; Benjamin Franklin, and Arthur Lee. Neither of the Lees could abide Franklin. Franklin in turn detested Ralph Izard ; while Arthur Lee never wearied of abusing Deane.

From these disputes Adams wisely kept aloof, turned himself into a drudging clerk, brought order into the office of the commissioners, and joined with all in urging Congress to abolish the commission and make one man minister to France. Congress for once took the advice, recalled Izard, passed over Arthur Lee and Adams, and chose Franklin to be minister to France. Lafayette brought out the commission, and with it came a letter bidding the agents in Europe quarrel no more. But the command was not heeded, and to the last hour of their stay in France, Arthur Lee and Izard lost no opportunity to thwart and annoy Franklin.

After the alliance time became more plentiful with Franklin, and he once more began to write. To this he was prompted by a wish to

amuse two fine women, Madame Helvetius and Madame Brillon, whose company he greatly enjoyed. Madame Brillon was the wife of a man of wealth, and the mother of two daughters who played and sang. She dwelt not far from Passy, and to her home Franklin went twice each week to play chess, to hear the music, and sup tea which it was the fashion for the young women to serve. Madame Helvetius dwelt at Auteuil. She was a widow of ample means; for her husband, though a man of letters, had been a farmer-general of France, and to her Franklin seems to have been bound by more than common friendship. Indeed, there are not wanting some to say that, had the lady been willing, he would gladly have made her his wife. To know something concerning her would therefore be of interest; but we are forced to be content with two portraits drawn the one by a man of the world, the other by a woman of New England. In the first, Madame Helvetius is presented to us by Franklin as a woman blessed with many and various friends. Statesmen and philosophers, poets and historians, learned men of every sort, were drawn around her, not because of likeness of taste, for she affected none of their sciences; not because she took pains to engage them, for artless simplicity was a part of her nature; but

because of a charming benevolence, an amiable desire to oblige, and a disposition to please and to be pleased they could not find in one another.

To the wife of John Adams, however, Madame Helvetius seemed a very different creature. Mrs. Adams had joined her husband at Passy, and had gone with him, one Sunday evening, to dine with Franklin. As the assembled company sat waiting for the Doctor, the French woman suddenly entered the room, and is thus described in a letter by Mrs. Adams:

"She entered the room with a careless, jaunty air. Upon seeing ladies who were strangers to her, she bawled out: Ah, mon Dieu! where is Franklin? Why did you not tell me there were ladies here? How I look!' she said, taking hold of a chemise made of tiffany, which she had on over a blue lutestring, and which looked as much upon the decay as her beauty, for she was once a handsome woman. Her hair was frizzled; over it she had a small straw hat, with a dirty gauze half-handkerchief round it, and a bit of dirtier gauze scarf thrown over her shoulders. She ran out of the room. When she returned the Doctor entered at one door, she at the other; upon which she ran forward to him, caught him by the hand: 'Hélas, Franklin!' then gave him a double kiss, one upon each cheek, and another upon his forehead. When we went into the room to dine, she