Franklin would have been the happiest man in Europe at the conclusion of peace negotiations, but for his increasing bodily infirmities, especially the gout, from which at times he suffered excruciating agonies.  He was a universal favorite, admired and honored as one of the most illustrious men living.  His house in Paris was the scene of perpetual hospitalities.  Among his visitors were the younger Pitt, Wilberforce, Romilly, and a host of other celebrities, French and English, especially eminent scientific men.  He was then seventy-eight years of age, but retained all the vivacity of youth.  His conversation is said to have been as enchanting as it was instructive.  His wit and humor never ceased to flow.  His pregnant sentences were received as oracles.  He was a member of the French Academy and attended most of its meetings.  He was a regular correspondent of the most learned societies of Europe.

When the time came for him to return home he was too ill to take leave of the king, or even of the minister of foreign affairs.  But Louis XVI, ordered one of the royal litters to convey the venerable sufferer to the coast, as he could not bear the motion of a carriage.  In his litter, swung between two mules, Franklin slowly made his way to Havre, and thence proceeded to Southampton to embark for America.  The long voyage agreed with him, and he arrived in Philadelphia in September, in improved health, after an absence of nine years.  No one would have thought him old except in his walk, his feet being tender and swollen with the gout.  His voice was still firm, his cheeks were ruddy, his eyes bright, and his spirits high.

Settled in his fine house in Market Street, surrounded by his grandchildren, and idolatrous neighbors and friends, he was a rare exception to the rule that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country.  He had fortune, friends, fame, and a numerous family who never disgraced his name.  Of all the great actors in the stormy times in which he lived, he was one of the most fortunate.  He had both genius and character which the civilized world appreciated, and so prudent had been his early business life and his later investments, that he left a fortune of about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars,—­a great sum to accumulate in his times.

The last important service rendered by Franklin to his country was as a member of the memorable convention which gave the Constitution to the American nation in 1787.  Of this assembly, in which sat Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Dickinson, Livingstone, Ellsworth, Sherman, and other great men, Franklin was the Nestor, in wisdom as well as years.  He was too feeble to take a conspicuous part in the discussions, but his opinions and counsel had great weight whenever he spoke, for his judgment was never clearer than when he had passed fourscore years.  The battle of words had to be fought by younger and more vigorous men, of whom, perhaps, Madison was the most prominent.  At no time of his life, however, was Franklin a great speaker, except in conversation, but his mind was vigorous to the end.