The first toast was to the venerable philosopher.
"My Ladies, Lords and gentlemen," said the host, "we must look to our conduct in the presence of one who talked with Sir William Wyndham and was a visitor in the house of Sir Hans Sloane before we were born; whose tireless intellect has been a confidant of Nature, a playmate of the Lightning and an inventor of ingenious and useful things; whose wisdom has given to Philadelphia a public library, a work house, good paving, excellent schools, a protection against fire as efficient as any in the world and the best newspaper in the colonies.

Good health and long life to him and may his love of the old sod increase with his years." The toast was drunk with expressions of approval, and Franklin only arose and bowed and briefly spoke his acknowledgments in a single sentence, and then added: "Lord Howe can assure you that public men receive more praise and more blame than they really merit.

I have heard much said for and against Benjamin Franklin, but there could be no better testimony in his favor than the good opinion of Lord Howe, for which I can never cease to be grateful.

For years I have been weighing the evidence, and my verdict is that Franklin has meant well." He said to Jack that he felt the need of being "as discreet as a tombstone." A member of that party has told in his memoirs how he kept the ladies laughing with his merry jests.
"I see by _The Observer_ they are going to open cod and whale fisheries in the great lakes of the Northwest," Lady Howe said to him.
He answered very gently: "Your Ladyship, has it never occurred to you that it would be a sublime spectacle to stand at the foot of the great falls of Niagara and see the whales leaping over them ?" "What do you regard as your most important discovery ?" one of the ladies inquired.
"Well, first, I naturally think of the hospitality of this house and the beauty and charm of the Lady Howe and her friends," Franklin answered with characteristic diplomacy.

"Then there is this wine," he added, lifting his glass.