1. Jones, at Lorient preparing for the planned assault on the English and Irish coasts (see Benjamin Franklin to JA, 24 April, note 1, above), lost no time in consulting JA, who had arrived on the previous day in the Alliance (JA, Diary and Autobiography , 2:369). JA indicated that he continued to hold the opinion expressed in his letter to Benjamin Franklin of 13 April (above) and then stated that “these little unhappinesses appear to me to be so little essential, that I fancy the shortest and surest way to cure them is to get to Sea, and find something else to think of.” (JA to Jones, 13 May, offered for sale by Anderson Galleries, First Editions, Autograph Letters and Manuscripts, cat. 4135, N.Y., 1934, p. 4. The current location of this letter is unknown to the editors.)

2. The letter is unidentified, but Jones may have shown it to JA when the two men dined together on 13 May. JA's Diary entry for that day contains a description of the dinner and a brief character sketch of Jones ( Diary and Autobiography , 2:370–371).