And the I did a show back in February on Benjamin Franklin which primarily discussed a letter that he wrote when he was 39 years old which he sent to a younger friend.

And the subject matter of this letter highlighted a side of Franklin that not many knew existed.

Now to most, Franklin is the scientist, the inventor, the statesman, and one of our most cherished founding fathers.

But this letter also showed us that Franklin devoted a fair amount of thought to the fairer sex, more specifically to the carnal and temporal

talents of women behind closed doors.

In essence, the letter as the title of the episode betrays was Franklin's guide for taking

a lover.

And from a download perspective, that episode is one of the most popular that I've published and as I said

in that episode I found that letter in a book titled The World's Great Letters

so I said to myself after that, why not every now and again publish an episode that explores

other letters from that book that give us insight into other historical figures that were

covering.

After all, biographies and historical accounts of figures give us one insight into these individuals,

but letters written in their own hand, give us another.

And most would agree that the letters provide the better look inside.

So as a supplement to the Lincoln Show we just published, there was a short letter in this book

that Abraham Lincoln wrote when he was also 39 years old.

Lincoln wrote the letter on Christmas Eve, 1848, just about two months shy of his 40th

birthday.

He was also just 13 years away from becoming President of the United States.

Now at the time of the letter's composition, Lincoln was at the tail end of serving a two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

His term as a congressman would end two and a half months after this letter was written.

...