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+Project Gutenberg's Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
+
+Author: Benjamin Franklin
+
+Editor: Frank Woodworth Pine
+
+Illustrator: E. Boyd Smith
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2006 [EBook #20203]
+[Last updated: October 19, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Brian Sogard and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: FRANKLIN ARMS]
+
+[Illustration: FRANKLIN SEAL]
+
+[Illustration: Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI
+
+    "He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court
+    parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
+    Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force,
+    they very generally played together. Happening once to
+    put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says
+    she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,' said
+    the Doctor."--Thomas Jefferson.]
+
+
+
+
+AUTOBIOGRAPHY
+
+OF
+
+BENJAMIN
+
+FRANKLIN
+
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
+_by_
+E. BOYD SMITH
+
+EDITED
+_by_
+FRANK WOODWORTH PINE
+
+
+[Illustration: Printers Mark]
+
+
+_New York_
+HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+1916
+
+Copyright, 1916,
+
+BY
+HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+
+
+June, 1922
+
+
+THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
+RAHWAY, N. J.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+
+                                                             PAGE
+Introduction                                                  vii
+
+The Autobiography
+
+      I. Ancestry and Early Life in Boston                      3
+     II. Beginning Life as a Printer                           21
+    III. Arrival in Philadelphia                               41
+     IV. First Visit to Boston                                 55
+      V. Early Friends in Philadelphia                         69
+     VI. First Visit to London                                 77
+    VII. Beginning Business in Philadelphia                    99
+   VIII. Business Success and First Public Service            126
+     IX. Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection                  146
+      X. _Poor Richard's Almanac_ and Other Activities        169
+     XI. Interest in Public Affairs                           188
+    XII. Defense of the Province                              201
+   XIII. Public Services and Duties                           217
+    XIV. Albany Plan of Union                                 241
+     XV. Quarrels with the Proprietary Governors              246
+    XVI. Braddock's Expedition                                253
+   XVII. Franklin's Defense of the Frontier                   274
+  XVIII. Scientific Experiments                               289
+    XIX. Agent of Pennsylvania in London                      296
+
+Appendix
+
+         Electrical Kite                                      327
+         The Way to Wealth                                    331
+         The Whistle                                          336
+         A Letter to Samuel Mather                            34O
+
+Bibliography                                                  343
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI                 _Frontispiece_
+
+  "He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court
+  parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
+  Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force,
+  they very generally played together. Happening once to
+  put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says
+  she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,'
+  said the Doctor."--Thomas Jefferson.
+
+
+                                                             PAGE
+Portrait of Franklin                                          vii
+
+Pages 1 and 4 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_, Number
+  XL, the first number after Franklin took control            xxi
+
+First page of _The New England Courant_ of December
+  4-11, 1721                                                   33
+
+"I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets
+  to the customers"                                            36
+
+"She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I
+  made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous
+  appearance"                                                  48
+
+"I took to working at press"                                   88
+
+"I see him still at work when I go home from club"            120
+
+Two pages from _Poor Richard's Almanac_ for 1736              171
+
+"I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common
+  soldier"                                                    204
+
+"In the evening, hearing a great noise among them,
+  the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the
+  matter"                                                     224
+
+"Our axes ... were immediately set to work to
+  cut down trees"                                             278
+
+"We now appeared very wide, and so far from each
+  other in our opinions as to discourage all hope
+  of agreement"                                               318
+
+"You will find it stream out plentifully from the key
+  on the approach of your knuckle"                            328
+
+Father Abraham in his study                                   330
+
+The end papers show, at the front, the Franklin arms and
+  the Franklin seal; at the back, the medal given by the
+  Boston public schools from the fund left by Franklin for
+  that purpose as provided in the following extract from his
+  will:
+
+
+  "I was born in Boston, New England, and owe my first
+  instructions in literature to the free grammar-schools
+  established there. I therefore give one hundred pounds
+  sterling to my executors, to be by them ... paid over to
+  the managers or directors of the free schools in my native
+  town of Boston, to be by them ... put out to interest, and
+  so continued at interest forever, which interest annually
+  shall be laid out in silver medals, and given as honorary
+  rewards annually by the directors of the said free schools
+  belonging to the said town, in such manner as to the
+  discretion of the selectmen of the said town shall seem
+  meet."
+
+[Illustration: B. Franklin From an engraving by J. Thomson from the
+original picture by J. A. Duplessis]
+
+[Illustration: B. Franklin's signature]
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+We Americans devour eagerly any piece of writing that purports to tell
+us the secret of success in life; yet how often we are disappointed to
+find nothing but commonplace statements, or receipts that we know by
+heart but never follow. Most of the life stories of our famous and
+successful men fail to inspire because they lack the human element
+that makes the record real and brings the story within our grasp.
+While we are searching far and near for some Aladdin's Lamp to give
+coveted fortune, there is ready at our hand if we will only reach out
+and take it, like the charm in Milton's _Comus_,
+
+  "Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain
+   Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;"
+
+the interesting, human, and vividly told story of one of the wisest
+and most useful lives in our own history, and perhaps in any history.
+In Franklin's _Autobiography_ is offered not so much a ready-made
+formula for success, as the companionship of a real flesh and blood
+man of extraordinary mind and quality, whose daily walk and
+conversation will help us to meet our own difficulties, much as does
+the example of a wise and strong friend. While we are fascinated by
+the story, we absorb the human experience through which a strong and
+helpful character is building.
+
+The thing that makes Franklin's _Autobiography_ different from every
+other life story of a great and successful man is just this human
+aspect of the account. Franklin told the story of his life, as he
+himself says, for the benefit of his posterity. He wanted to help them
+by the relation of his own rise from obscurity and poverty to eminence
+and wealth. He is not unmindful of the importance of his public
+services and their recognition, yet his accounts of these achievements
+are given only as a part of the story, and the vanity displayed is
+incidental and in keeping with the honesty of the recital. There is
+nothing of the impossible in the method and practice of Franklin as he
+sets them forth. The youth who reads the fascinating story is
+astonished to find that Franklin in his early years struggled with the
+same everyday passions and difficulties that he himself experiences,
+and he loses the sense of discouragement that comes from a
+realization of his own shortcomings and inability to attain.
+
+There are other reasons why the _Autobiography_ should be an intimate
+friend of American young people. Here they may establish a close
+relationship with one of the foremost Americans as well as one of the
+wisest men of his age.
+
+The life of Benjamin Franklin is of importance to every American
+primarily because of the part he played in securing the independence
+of the United States and in establishing it as a nation. Franklin
+shares with Washington the honors of the Revolution, and of the events
+leading to the birth of the new nation. While Washington was the
+animating spirit of the struggle in the colonies, Franklin was its
+ablest champion abroad. To Franklin's cogent reasoning and keen
+satire, we owe the clear and forcible presentation of the American
+case in England and France; while to his personality and diplomacy as
+well as to his facile pen, we are indebted for the foreign alliance
+and the funds without which Washington's work must have failed. His
+patience, fortitude, and practical wisdom, coupled with
+self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of his country, are hardly less
+noticeable than similar qualities displayed by Washington. In fact,
+Franklin as a public man was much like Washington, especially in the
+entire disinterestedness of his public service.
+
+Franklin is also interesting to us because by his life and teachings
+he has done more than any other American to advance the material
+prosperity of his countrymen. It is said that his widely and
+faithfully read maxims made Philadelphia and Pennsylvania wealthy,
+while Poor Richard's pithy sayings, translated into many languages,
+have had a world-wide influence.
+
+Franklin is a good type of our American manhood. Although not the
+wealthiest or the most powerful, he is undoubtedly, in the versatility
+of his genius and achievements, the greatest of our self-made men. The
+simple yet graphic story in the _Autobiography_ of his steady rise
+from humble boyhood in a tallow-chandler shop, by industry, economy,
+and perseverance in self-improvement, to eminence, is the most
+remarkable of all the remarkable histories of our self-made men. It is
+in itself a wonderful illustration of the results possible to be
+attained in a land of unequaled opportunity by following Franklin's
+maxims.
+
+Franklin's fame, however, was not confined to his own country.
+Although he lived in a century notable for the rapid evolution of
+scientific and political thought and activity, yet no less a keen
+judge and critic than Lord Jeffrey, the famous editor of the
+_Edinburgh Review_, a century ago said that "in one point of view
+the name of Franklin must be considered as standing higher than any of
+the others which illustrated the eighteenth century. Distinguished as
+a statesman, he was equally great as a philosopher, thus uniting in
+himself a rare degree of excellence in both these pursuits, to excel
+in either of which is deemed the highest praise."
+
+Franklin has indeed been aptly called "many-sided." He was eminent in
+science and public service, in diplomacy and in literature. He was the
+Edison of his day, turning his scientific discoveries to the benefit
+of his fellow-men. He perceived the identity of lightning and
+electricity and set up the lightning rod. He invented the Franklin
+stove, still widely used, and refused to patent it. He possessed a
+masterly shrewdness in business and practical affairs. Carlyle called
+him the father of all the Yankees. He founded a fire company, assisted
+in founding a hospital, and improved the cleaning and lighting of
+streets. He developed journalism, established the American
+Philosophical Society, the public library in Philadelphia, and the
+University of Pennsylvania. He organized a postal system for the
+colonies, which was the basis of the present United States Post
+Office. Bancroft, the eminent historian, called him "the greatest
+diplomatist of his century." He perfected the Albany Plan of Union for
+the colonies. He is the only statesman who signed the Declaration of
+Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace
+with England, and the Constitution. As a writer, he has produced, in
+his _Autobiography_ and in _Poor Richard's Almanac_, two works that
+are not surpassed by similar writing. He received honorary degrees
+from Harvard and Yale, from Oxford and St. Andrews, and was made a
+fellow of the Royal Society, which awarded him the Copley gold medal
+for improving natural knowledge. He was one of the eight foreign
+associates of the French Academy of Science.
+
+The careful study of the _Autobiography_ is also valuable because of
+the style in which it is written. If Robert Louis Stevenson is right
+in believing that his remarkable style was acquired by imitation then
+the youth who would gain the power to express his ideas clearly,
+forcibly, and interestingly cannot do better than to study Franklin's
+method. Franklin's fame in the scientific world was due almost as much
+to his modest, simple, and sincere manner of presenting his
+discoveries and to the precision and clearness of the style in which
+he described his experiments, as to the results he was able to
+announce. Sir Humphry Davy, the celebrated English chemist, himself an
+excellent literary critic as well as a great scientist, said: "A
+singular felicity guided all Franklin's researches, and by very small
+means he established very grand truths. The style and manner of his
+publication on electricity are almost as worthy of admiration as the
+doctrine it contains."
+
+Franklin's place in literature is hard to determine because he was not
+primarily a literary man. His aim in his writings as in his life work
+was to be helpful to his fellow-men. For him writing was never an end
+in itself, but always a means to an end. Yet his success as a
+scientist, a statesman, and a diplomat, as well as socially, was in no
+little part due to his ability as a writer. "His letters charmed all,
+and made his correspondence eagerly sought. His political arguments
+were the joy of his party and the dread of his opponents. His
+scientific discoveries were explained in language at once so simple
+and so clear that plow-boy and exquisite could follow his thought or
+his experiment to its conclusion."[1]
+
+    [1] _The Many-Sided Franklin._ Paul L. Ford.
+
+As far as American literature is concerned, Franklin has no
+contemporaries. Before the _Autobiography_ only one literary work of
+importance had been produced in this country--Cotton Mather's
+_Magnalia_, a church history of New England in a ponderous, stiff
+style. Franklin was the first American author to gain a wide and
+permanent reputation in Europe. The _Autobiography_, _Poor Richard_,
+_Father Abraham's Speech_ or _The Way to Wealth_, as well as some of
+the _Bagatelles_, are as widely known abroad as any American writings.
+Franklin must also be classed as the first American humorist.
+
+English literature of the eighteenth century was characterized by the
+development of prose. Periodical literature reached its perfection
+early in the century in _The Tatler_ and _The Spectator_ of Addison
+and Steele. Pamphleteers flourished throughout the period. The
+homelier prose of Bunyan and Defoe gradually gave place to the more
+elegant and artificial language of Samuel Johnson, who set the
+standard for prose writing from 1745 onward. This century saw the
+beginnings of the modern novel, in Fielding's _Tom Jones_,
+Richardson's _Clarissa Harlowe_, Sterne's _Tristram Shandy_, and
+Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_. Gibbon wrote _The Decline and Fall
+of the Roman Empire_, Hume his _History of England_, and Adam Smith
+the _Wealth of Nations_.
+
+In the simplicity and vigor of his style Franklin more nearly
+resembles the earlier group of writers. In his first essays he was not
+an inferior imitator of Addison. In his numerous parables, moral
+allegories, and apologues he showed Bunyan's influence. But Franklin
+was essentially a journalist. In his swift, terse style, he is most
+like Defoe, who was the first great English journalist and master of
+the newspaper narrative. The style of both writers is marked by
+homely, vigorous expression, satire, burlesque, repartee. Here the
+comparison must end. Defoe and his contemporaries were authors. Their
+vocation was writing and their success rests on the imaginative or
+creative power they displayed. To authorship Franklin laid no claim.
+He wrote no work of the imagination. He developed only incidentally a
+style in many respects as remarkable as that of his English
+contemporaries. He wrote the best autobiography in existence, one of
+the most widely known collections of maxims, and an unsurpassed series
+of political and social satires, because he was a man of unusual scope
+of power and usefulness, who knew how to tell his fellow-men the
+secrets of that power and that usefulness.
+
+
+The Story of the Autobiography
+
+The account of how Franklin's _Autobiography_ came to be written and
+of the adventures of the original manuscript forms in itself an
+interesting story. The _Autobiography_ is Franklin's longest work,
+and yet it is only a fragment. The first part, written as a letter to
+his son, William Franklin, was not intended for publication; and the
+composition is more informal and the narrative more personal than in
+the second part, from 1730 on, which was written with a view to
+publication. The entire manuscript shows little evidence of revision.
+In fact, the expression is so homely and natural that his grandson,
+William Temple Franklin, in editing the work changed some of the
+phrases because he thought them inelegant and vulgar.
+
+Franklin began the story of his life while on a visit to his friend,
+Bishop Shipley, at Twyford, in Hampshire, southern England, in 1771.
+He took the manuscript, completed to 1731, with him when he returned
+to Philadelphia in 1775. It was left there with his other papers when
+he went to France in the following year, and disappeared during the
+confusion incident to the Revolution. Twenty-three pages of closely
+written manuscript fell into the hands of Abel James, an old friend,
+who sent a copy to Franklin at Passy, near Paris, urging him to
+complete the story. Franklin took up the work at Passy in 1784 and
+carried the narrative forward a few months. He changed the plan to
+meet his new purpose of writing to benefit the young reader. His work
+was soon interrupted and was not resumed until 1788, when he was at
+home in Philadelphia. He was now old, infirm, and suffering, and was
+still engaged in public service. Under these discouraging conditions
+the work progressed slowly. It finally stopped when the narrative
+reached the year 1757. Copies of the manuscript were sent to friends
+of Franklin in England and France, among others to Monsieur Le
+Veillard at Paris.
+
+The first edition of the _Autobiography_ was published in French at
+Paris in 1791. It was clumsily and carelessly translated, and was
+imperfect and unfinished. Where the translator got the manuscript is
+not known. Le Veillard disclaimed any knowledge of the publication.
+From this faulty French edition many others were printed, some in
+Germany, two in England, and another in France, so great was the
+demand for the work.
+
+In the meantime the original manuscript of the _Autobiography_ had
+started on a varied and adventurous career. It was left by Franklin
+with his other works to his grandson, William Temple Franklin, whom
+Franklin designated as his literary executor. When Temple Franklin
+came to publish his grandfather's works in 1817, he sent the original
+manuscript of the _Autobiography_ to the daughter of Le Veillard in
+exchange for her father's copy, probably thinking the clearer
+transcript would make better printer's copy. The original manuscript
+thus found its way to the Le Veillard family and connections, where it
+remained until sold in 1867 to Mr. John Bigelow, United States
+Minister to France. By him it was later sold to Mr. E. Dwight Church
+of New York, and passed with the rest of Mr. Church's library into the
+possession of Mr. Henry E. Huntington. The original manuscript of
+Franklin's _Autobiography_ now rests in the vault in Mr. Huntington's
+residence at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street, New York City.
+
+When Mr. Bigelow came to examine his purchase, he was astonished to
+find that what people had been reading for years as the authentic
+_Life of Benjamin Franklin by Himself_, was only a garbled and
+incomplete version of the real _Autobiography_. Temple Franklin had
+taken unwarranted liberties with the original. Mr. Bigelow says he
+found more than twelve hundred changes in the text. In 1868,
+therefore, Mr. Bigelow published the standard edition of Franklin's
+_Autobiography_. It corrected errors in the previous editions and was
+the first English edition to contain the short fourth part,
+comprising the last few pages of the manuscript, written during the
+last year of Franklin's life. Mr. Bigelow republished the
+_Autobiography_, with additional interesting matter, in three volumes
+in 1875, in 1905, and in 1910. The text in this volume is that of Mr.
+Bigelow's editions.[2]
+
+    [2] For the division into chapters and the chapter
+    titles, however, the present editor is responsible.
+
+The _Autobiography_ has been reprinted in the United States many
+scores of times and translated into all the languages of Europe. It
+has never lost its popularity and is still in constant demand at
+circulating libraries. The reason for this popularity is not far to
+seek. For in this work Franklin told in a remarkable manner the story
+of a remarkable life. He displayed hard common sense and a practical
+knowledge of the art of living. He selected and arranged his material,
+perhaps unconsciously, with the unerring instinct of the journalist
+for the best effects. His success is not a little due to his plain,
+clear, vigorous English. He used short sentences and words, homely
+expressions, apt illustrations, and pointed allusions. Franklin had a
+most interesting, varied, and unusual life. He was one of the greatest
+conversationalists of his time.
+
+His book is the record of that unusual life told in Franklin's own
+unexcelled conversational style. It is said that the best parts of
+Boswell's famous biography of Samuel Johnson are those parts where
+Boswell permits Johnson to tell his own story. In the _Autobiography_
+a no less remarkable man and talker than Samuel Johnson is telling his
+own story throughout.
+
+F. W. P.
+
+The Gilman Country School,
+Baltimore, September, 1916.
+
+[Illustration: Pages 1 and 4 of The Pennsylvania Gazette, the first
+number after Franklin took control. Reduced nearly one-half.
+Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public Library.]
+
+[Transcriber's note: Transcription of these pages are given at the end
+of the text.]
+
+
+
+
+AUTOBIOGRAPHY
+OF
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+ANCESTRY AND EARLY YOUTH IN
+BOSTON
+
+
+  Twyford,[3] _at the Bishop of St. Asaph's_, 1771.
+
+Dear son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes
+of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the
+remains of my relations when you were with me in England, and the
+journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally
+agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which
+you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's
+uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I sit down to
+write them for you. To which I have besides some other inducements.
+Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and
+bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the
+world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share
+of felicity, the conducing means I made use of, which with the
+blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as
+they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and
+therefore fit to be imitated.
+
+    [3] A small village not far from Winchester in
+    Hampshire, southern England. Here was the country seat
+    of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Jonathan Shipley, the
+    "good Bishop," as Dr. Franklin used to style him. Their
+    relations were intimate and confidential. In his pulpit,
+    and in the House of Lords, as well as in society, the
+    bishop always opposed the harsh measures of the Crown
+    toward the Colonies.--Bigelow.
+
+That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to
+say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to
+a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the
+advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of
+the first. So I might, besides correcting the faults, change some
+sinister accidents and events of it for others more favourable. But
+though this were denied, I should still accept the offer. Since such a
+repetition is not to be expected, the next thing most like living
+one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to
+make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in
+writing.
+
+Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to
+be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall
+indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, through respect to
+age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since
+this may be read or not as anyone pleases. And, lastly (I may as well
+confess it, since my denial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps
+I shall a good deal gratify my own _vanity_.[4] Indeed, I scarce ever
+heard or saw the introductory words, "_Without vanity I may say_,"
+etc., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike
+vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I
+give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it
+is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are
+within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would
+not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity
+among the other comforts of life.
+
+    [4] In this connection Woodrow Wilson says, "And yet the
+    surprising and delightful thing about this book (the
+    _Autobiography_) is that, take it all in all, it has not
+    the low tone of conceit, but is a staunch man's sober
+    and unaffected assessment of himself and the
+    circumstances of his career."
+
+    Gibbon and Hume, the great British historians, who were
+    contemporaries of Franklin, express in their
+    autobiographies the same feeling about the propriety of
+    just self-praise.
+
+And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to
+acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His
+kind providence, which lead me to the means I used and gave them
+success. My belief of this induces me to _hope_, though I must not
+_presume_, that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me,
+in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse,
+which I may experience as others have done; the complexion of my
+future fortune being known to Him only in whose power it is to bless
+to us even our afflictions.
+
+The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of curiosity in
+collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished me with
+several particulars relating to our ancestors. From these notes I
+learned that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in
+Northamptonshire,[5] for three hundred years, and how much longer he
+knew not (perhaps from the time when the name of Franklin, that before
+was the name of an order of people,[6] was assumed by them as a
+surname when others took surnames all over the kingdom), on a freehold
+of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's business, which had
+continued in the family till his time, the eldest son being always
+bred to that business; a custom which he and my father followed as to
+their eldest sons. When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an
+account of their births, marriages and burials from the year 1555
+only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time
+preceding. By that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of
+the youngest son for five generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who
+was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow
+business longer, when he went to live with his son John, a dyer at
+Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship.
+There my grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in
+1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it
+with the land to his only child, a daughter, who, with her husband,
+one Fisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the
+manor there. My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas,
+John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what account I can of them
+at this distance from my papers, and if these are not lost in my
+absence, you will among them find many more particulars.
+
+    [5] See _Introduction_.
+
+    [6] A small landowner.
+
+Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and
+encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer,
+then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for
+the business of scrivener; became a considerable man in the county;
+was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county
+or town of Northampton, and his own village, of which many instances
+were related of him; and much taken notice of and patronized by the
+then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, January 6, old style,[7] just four
+years to a day before I was born. The account we received of his life
+and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as
+something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of mine.
+"Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have supposed a
+transmigration."
+
+    [7] January 17, new style. This change in the calendar
+    was made in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, and adopted in
+    England in 1752. Every year whose number in the common
+    reckoning since Christ is not divisible by 4, as well as
+    every year whose number is divisible by 100 but not by
+    400, shall have 365 days, and all other years shall have
+    366 days. In the eighteenth century there was a
+    difference of eleven days between the old and the new
+    style of reckoning, which the English Parliament
+    canceled by making the 3rd of September, 1752, the 14th.
+    The Julian calendar, or "old style," is still retained
+    in Russia and Greece, whose dates consequently are now
+    13 days behind those of other Christian countries.
+
+John was bred a dyer, I believe of woollens, Benjamin was bred a silk
+dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious man. I
+remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in
+Boston, and lived in the house with us some years. He lived to a
+great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left
+behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, consisting of
+little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and relations, of
+which the following, sent to me, is a specimen.[8] He had formed a
+short-hand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it, I
+have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a
+particular affection between him and my father. He was very pious, a
+great attender of sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in
+his short-hand, and had with him many volumes of them. He was also
+much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station. There fell
+lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the
+principal pamphlets relating to public affairs, from 1641 to 1717;
+many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering, but
+there still remain eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto
+and in octavo. A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing me by
+my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. It seems my uncle
+must have left them here when he went to America, which was about
+fifty years since. There are many of his notes in the margins.
+
+    [8] The specimen is not in the manuscript of the
+    _Autobiography_.
+
+This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation, and
+continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary, when they were
+sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal against
+popery. They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it,
+it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a
+joint-stool. When my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he
+turned up the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then
+under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door to give notice
+if he saw the apparitor coming, who was an officer of the spiritual
+court. In that case the stool was turned down again upon its feet,
+when the Bible remained concealed under it as before. This anecdote I
+had from my uncle Benjamin. The family continued all of the Church of
+England till about the end of Charles the Second's reign, when some of
+the ministers that had been outed for non-conformity, holding
+conventicles[9] in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Josiah adhered to
+them, and so continued all their lives: the rest of the family
+remained with the Episcopal Church.
+
+    [9] Secret gatherings of dissenters from the established
+    Church.
+
+[Illustration: Birthplace of Franklin. Milk Street, Boston.]
+
+Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three
+children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles having been
+forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable
+men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was
+prevailed with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy
+their mode of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four
+children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all
+seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his
+table, who all grew up to be men and women, and married; I was the
+youngest son, and the youngest child but two, and was born in Boston,
+New England.[10] My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger,
+daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of
+whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather,[11] in his church
+history of that country, entitled _Magnalia Christi Americana_, as "_a
+godly, learned Englishman_," if I remember the words rightly. I have
+heard that he wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only one of
+them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was written in
+1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and addressed to
+those then concerned in the government there. It was in favour of
+liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and
+other sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian
+wars, and other distresses that had befallen the country, to that
+persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish so heinous an
+offense, and exhorting a repeal of those uncharitable laws. The whole
+appeared to me as written with a good deal of decent plainness and
+manly freedom. The six concluding lines I remember, though I have
+forgotten the two first of the stanza; but the purport of them was,
+that his censures proceeded from good-will, and, therefore, he would
+be known to be the author.
+
+  "Because to be a libeller (says he)
+    I hate it with my heart;
+  From Sherburne town,[12] where now I dwell
+    My name I do put here;
+  Without offense your real friend,
+    It is Peter Folgier."
+
+    [10] Franklin was born on Sunday, January 6, old style,
+    1706, in a house on Milk Street, opposite the Old South
+    Meeting House, where he was baptized on the day of his
+    birth, during a snowstorm. The house where he was born
+    was burned in 1810.--Griffin.
+
+    [11] Cotton Mather (1663-1728), clergyman, author, and
+    scholar. Pastor of the North Church, Boston. He took an
+    active part in the persecution of witchcraft.
+
+    [12] Nantucket.
+
+My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was
+put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending
+to devote me, as the tithe[13] of his sons, to the service of the
+Church. My early readiness in learning to read (which must have been
+very early, as I do not remember when I could not read), and the
+opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good
+scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin,
+too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all his short-hand
+volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would
+learn his character.[14] I continued, however, at the grammar-school
+not quite one year, though in that time I had risen gradually from the
+middle of the class of that year to be the head of it, and farther was
+removed into the next class above it, in order to go with that into
+the third at the end of the year. But my father, in the meantime, from
+a view of the expense of a college education, which having so large a
+family he could not well afford, and the mean living many so educated
+were afterwards able to obtain--reasons that he gave to his friends in
+my hearing--altered his first intention, took me from the
+grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic,
+kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very successful in
+his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. Under
+him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the
+arithmetic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was taken
+home to assist my father in his business, which was that of a
+tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but
+had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his dyeing
+trade would not maintain his family, being in little request.
+Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick for the candles, filling
+the dipping mould and the moulds for cast candles, attending the shop,
+going of errands, etc.
+
+    [13] Tenth.
+
+    [14] System of short-hand.
+
+I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my
+father declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much
+in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and
+when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was commonly allowed to
+govern, especially in any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions
+I was generally a leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into
+scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an early
+projecting public spirit, tho' not then justly conducted.
+
+There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge
+of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much
+trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a
+wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large
+heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the marsh,
+and which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, in the
+evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of my
+playfellows, and working with them diligently like so many emmets,
+sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built
+our little wharf. The next morning the workmen were surprised at
+missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. Inquiry was made
+after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of
+us were corrected by our fathers; and, though I pleaded the usefulness
+of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not
+honest.
+
+I think you may like to know something of his person and character. He
+had an excellent constitution of body, was of middle stature, but well
+set, and very strong; he was ingenious, could draw prettily, was
+skilled a little in music, and had a clear, pleasing voice, so that
+when he played psalm tunes on his violin and sung withal, as he
+sometimes did in an evening after the business of the day was over, it
+was extremely agreeable to hear. He had a mechanical genius too, and,
+on occasion, was very handy in the use of other tradesmen's tools; but
+his great excellence lay in a sound understanding and solid judgment
+in prudential matters, both in private and publick affairs. In the
+latter, indeed, he was never employed, the numerous family he had to
+educate and the straitness of his circumstances keeping him close to
+his trade; but I remember well his being frequently visited by leading
+people, who consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of
+the church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect for his
+judgment and advice: he was also much consulted by private persons
+about their affairs when any difficulty occurred, and frequently
+chosen an arbitrator between contending parties. At his table he liked
+to have, as often as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor to
+converse with, and always took care to start some ingenious or useful
+topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his
+children. By this means he turned our attention to what was good,
+just, and prudent in the conduct of life; and little or no notice was
+ever taken of what related to the victuals on the table, whether it
+was well or ill dressed, in or out of season, of good or bad flavor,
+preferable or inferior to this or that other thing of the kind, so
+that I was bro't up in such a perfect inattention to those matters as
+to be quite indifferent what kind of food was set before me, and so
+unobservant of it, that to this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a
+few hours after dinner what I dined upon. This has been a convenience
+to me in traveling, where my companions have been sometimes very
+unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of their more delicate,
+because better instructed, tastes and appetites.
+
+My mother had likewise an excellent constitution: she suckled all her
+ten children. I never knew either my father or mother to have any
+sickness but that of which they dy'd, he at 89, and she at 85 years of
+age. They lie buried together at Boston, where I some years since
+placed a marble over their grave,[15] with this inscription:
+
+                     Josiah Franklin,
+                           and
+                     Abiah his wife,
+                   lie here interred.
+         They lived lovingly together in wedlock
+                    fifty-five years.
+       Without an estate, or any gainful employment,
+             By constant labor and industry,
+                  with God's blessing,
+             They maintained a large family
+                      comfortably,
+            and brought up thirteen children
+                 and seven grandchildren
+                       reputably.
+               From this instance, reader,
+        Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling,
+               And distrust not Providence.
+             He was a pious and prudent man;
+           She, a discreet and virtuous woman.
+                 Their youngest son,
+            In filial regard to their memory,
+                  Places this stone.
+          J. F. born 1655, died 1744, �tat 89.
+          A. F. born 1667, died 1752,----85.
+
+    [15] This marble having decayed, the citizens of Boston
+    in 1827 erected in its place a granite obelisk,
+    twenty-one feet high, bearing the original inscription
+    quoted in the text and another explaining the erection
+    of the monument.
+
+By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd
+to write more methodically. But one does not dress for private company
+as for a publick ball. 'Tis perhaps only negligence.
+
+To return: I continued thus employed in my father's business for two
+years, that is, till I was twelve years old; and my brother John, who
+was bred to that business, having left my father, married, and set up
+for himself at Rhode Island, there was all appearance that I was
+destined to supply his place, and become a tallow-chandler. But my
+dislike to the trade continuing, my father was under apprehensions
+that if he did not find one for me more agreeable, I should break away
+and get to sea, as his son Josiah had done, to his great vexation. He
+therefore sometimes took me to walk with him, and see joiners,
+bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc., at their work, that he might
+observe my inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some trade or other
+on land. It has ever since been a pleasure to me to see good workmen
+handle their tools; and it has been useful to me, having learnt so
+much by it as to be able to do little jobs myself in my house when a
+workman could not readily be got, and to construct little machines for
+my experiments, while the intention of making the experiment was fresh
+and warm in my mind. My father at last fixed upon the cutler's trade,
+and my uncle Benjamin's son Samuel, who was bred to that business in
+London, being about that time established in Boston, I was sent to be
+with him some time on liking. But his expectations of a fee with me
+displeasing my father, I was taken home again.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+BEGINNING LIFE AS A PRINTER
+
+
+From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came
+into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the _Pilgrim's
+Progress_, my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate
+little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's
+_Historical Collections_; they were small chapmen's books,[16] and
+cheap, 40 or 50 in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly
+of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have since
+often regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for
+knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way, since it was
+now resolved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarch's _Lives_ there was
+in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great
+advantage. There was also a book of DeFoe's, called an _Essay on
+Projects_, and another of Dr. Mather's, called _Essays to do Good_,
+which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on
+some of the principal future events of my life.
+
+    [16] Small books, sold by chapmen or peddlers.
+
+This bookish inclination at length determined my father to make me a
+printer, though he had already one son (James) of that profession. In
+1717 my brother James returned from England with a press and letters
+to set up his business in Boston. I liked it much better than that of
+my father, but still had a hankering for the sea. To prevent the
+apprehended effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient to
+have me bound to my brother. I stood out some time, but at last was
+persuaded, and signed the indentures when I was yet but twelve years
+old. I was to serve as an apprentice till I was twenty-one years of
+age, only I was to be allowed journeyman's wages during the last year.
+In a little time I made great proficiency in the business, and became
+a useful hand to my brother. I now had access to better books. An
+acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes
+to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean.
+Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when
+the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the
+morning, lest it should be missed or wanted.
+
+And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Mr. Matthew Adams, who
+had a pretty collection of books, and who frequented our
+printing-house, took notice of me, invited me to his library, and
+very kindly lent me such books as I chose to read. I now took a fancy
+to poetry, and made some little pieces; my brother, thinking it might
+turn to account, encouraged me, and put me on composing occasional
+ballads. One was called _The Lighthouse Tragedy_, and contained an
+account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, with his two daughters:
+the other was a sailor's song, on the taking of _Teach_ (or
+Blackbeard) the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in the
+Grub-street-ballad style;[17] and when they were printed he sent me
+about the town to sell them. The first sold wonderfully, the event
+being recent, having made a great noise. This flattered my vanity; but
+my father discouraged me by ridiculing my performances, and telling me
+verse-makers were generally beggars. So I escaped being a poet, most
+probably a very bad one; but as prose writing has been of great use to
+me in the course of my life, and was a principal means of my
+advancement, I shall tell you how, in such a situation, I acquired
+what little ability I have in that way.
+
+    [17] Grub-street: famous in English literature as the
+    home of poor writers.
+
+There was another bookish lad in the town, John Collins by name, with
+whom I was intimately acquainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond
+we were of argument, and very desirous of confuting one another,
+which disputatious turn, by the way, is apt to become a very bad
+habit, making people often extremely disagreeable in company by the
+contradiction that is necessary to bring it into practice; and thence,
+besides souring and spoiling the conversation, is productive of
+disgusts and, perhaps enmities where you may have occasion for
+friendship. I had caught it by reading my father's books of dispute
+about religion. Persons of good sense, I have since observed, seldom
+fall into it, except lawyers, university men, and men of all sorts
+that have been bred at Edinborough.
+
+A question was once, somehow or other, started between Collins and me,
+of the propriety of educating the female sex in learning, and their
+abilities for study. He was of opinion that it was improper, and that
+they were naturally unequal to it. I took the contrary side, perhaps a
+little for dispute's sake. He was naturally more eloquent, had a ready
+plenty of words, and sometimes, as I thought, bore me down more by his
+fluency than by the strength of his reasons. As we parted without
+settling the point, and were not to see one another again for some
+time, I sat down to put my arguments in writing, which I copied fair
+and sent to him. He answered, and I replied. Three or four letters of
+a side had passed, when my father happened to find my papers and read
+them. Without entering into the discussion, he took occasion to talk
+to me about the manner of my writing; observed that, though I had the
+advantage of my antagonist in correct spelling and pointing (which I
+ow'd to the printing-house), I fell far short in elegance of
+expression, in method and in perspicuity, of which he convinced me by
+several instances. I saw the justice of his remarks, and thence grew
+more attentive to the manner in writing, and determined to endeavor at
+improvement.
+
+About this time I met with an odd volume of the _Spectator_.[18] It was
+the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it
+over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing
+excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I
+took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in
+each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at
+the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each
+hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed
+before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I
+compared my _Spectator_ with the original, discovered some of my
+faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or
+a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should
+have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since
+the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different
+length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme,
+would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for
+variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make
+me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them
+into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the
+prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections
+of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce
+them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences
+and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement
+of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I
+discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the
+pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I
+had been lucky enough to improve the method of the language, and this
+encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable
+English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these
+exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began
+in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the
+printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance
+on public worship which my father used to exact of me when I was under
+his care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, thought I could
+not, as it seemed to me, afford time to practise it.
+
+    [18] A daily London journal, comprising satirical essays
+    on social subjects, published by Addison and Steele in
+    1711-1712. The _Spectator_ and its predecessor, the
+    _Tatler_ (1709), marked the beginning of periodical
+    literature.
+
+When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by
+one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it.
+My brother, being yet unmarried, did not keep house, but boarded
+himself and his apprentices in another family. My refusing to eat
+flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my
+singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing
+some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty
+pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he
+would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would
+board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I
+could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for
+buying books. But I had another advantage in it. My brother and the
+rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I remained there
+alone, and, dispatching presently my light repast, which often was no
+more than a bisket or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart
+from the pastry-cook's, and a glass of water, had the rest of the time
+till their return for study, in which I made the greater progress,
+from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which
+usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.
+
+And now it was that, being on some occasion made asham'd of my
+ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed in learning when at
+school, I took Cocker's book of Arithmetick, and went through the
+whole by myself with great ease. I also read Seller's and Shermy's
+books of Navigation, and became acquainted with the little geometry
+they contain; but never proceeded far in that science. And I read
+about this time Locke _On Human Understanding_,[19] and the _Art of
+Thinking_, by Messrs. du Port Royal.[20]
+
+    [19] John Locke (1632-1704), a celebrated English
+    philosopher, founder of the so-called "common-sense"
+    school of philosophers. He drew up a constitution for
+    the colonists of Carolina.
+
+    [20] A noted society of scholarly and devout men
+    occupying the abbey of Port Royal near Paris, who
+    published learned works, among them the one here
+    referred to, better known as the _Port Royal Logic_.
+
+While I was intent on improving my language, I met with an English
+grammar (I think it was Greenwood's), at the end of which there were
+two little sketches of the arts of rhetoric and logic, the latter
+finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic[21] method; and
+soon after I procur'd Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein
+there are many instances of the same method. I was charm'd with it,
+adopted it, dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive argumentation,
+and put on the humble inquirer and doubter. And being then, from
+reading Shaftesbury and Collins, become a real doubter in many points
+of our religious doctrine, I found this method safest for myself and
+very embarrassing to those against whom I used it; therefore I took a
+delight in it, practis'd it continually, and grew very artful and
+expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into
+concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee,
+entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not extricate
+themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither myself nor my
+cause always deserved. I continu'd this method some few years, but
+gradually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing myself in
+terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced anything that
+may possibly be disputed, the words _certainly_, _undoubtedly_, or any
+others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather
+say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to
+me, or _I should think it so or so_, for such and such reasons; or _I
+imagine it to be so_; or _it is so, if I am not mistaken_. This habit,
+I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion
+to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have
+been from time to time engaged in promoting; and, as the chief ends of
+conversation are to _inform_ or to be _informed_, to _please_ or to
+_persuade_, I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their
+power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails
+to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat everyone of
+those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or
+receiving information or pleasure. For, if you would inform, a
+positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may
+provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you wish
+information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at
+the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present
+opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will
+probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error. And by
+such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in _pleasing_
+your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.
+Pope[22] says, judiciously:
+
+  _"Men should be taught as if you taught them not,
+   And things unknown propos'd as things forgot;"_
+
+farther recommending to us
+
+  "To speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence."
+
+And he might have coupled with this line that
+which he has coupled with another, I think,
+less properly,
+
+  "For want of modesty is want of sense."
+
+If you ask, Why less properly? I must repeat the lines,
+
+  "Immodest words admit of no defense,
+   For want of modesty is want of sense."
+
+Now, is not _want of sense_ (where a man is so unfortunate as to want
+it) some apology for his _want of modesty_? and would not the lines
+stand more justly thus?
+
+  "Immodest words admit _but_ this defense,
+   That want of modesty is want of sense."
+
+This, however, I should submit to better judgments.
+
+    [21] Socrates confuted his opponents in argument by
+    asking questions so skillfully devised that the answers
+    would confirm the questioner's position or show the
+    error of the opponent.
+
+    [22] Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the greatest English
+    poet of the first half of the eighteenth century.
+
+My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a newspaper. It was
+the second that appeared in America,[23] and was called the New England
+Courant. The only one before it was the Boston News-Letter. I remember
+his being dissuaded by some of his friends from the undertaking, as
+not likely to succeed, one newspaper being, in their judgment, enough
+for America. At this time (1771) there are not less than
+five-and-twenty. He went on, however, with the undertaking, and after
+having worked in composing the types and printing off the sheets, I
+was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets to the customers.
+
+    [23] Franklin's memory does not serve him correctly here.
+    The _Courant_ was really the fifth newspaper established
+    in America, although generally called the fourth,
+    because the first, _Public Occurrences_, published in
+    Boston in 1690, was suppressed after the first issue.
+    Following is the order in which the other four papers
+    were published: _Boston News Letter_, 1704; _Boston
+    Gazette_, December 21, 1719; _The American Weekly
+    Mercury_, Philadelphia, December 22, 1719; _The New
+    England Courant_, 1721.
+
+[Illustration: First page of The New England Courant of Dec. 4-11,
+1721. Reduced about one-third. From a copy in the Library of the
+Massachusetts Historical Society.]
+
+[Transcriber's note: Transcription given at the end of the text.]
+
+He had some ingenious men among his friends, who amus'd themselves by
+writing little pieces for this paper, which gain'd it credit and made
+it more in demand, and these gentlemen often visited us. Hearing their
+conversations, and their accounts of the approbation their papers were
+received with, I was excited to try my hand among them; but, being
+still a boy, and suspecting that my brother would object to printing
+anything of mine in his paper if he knew it to be mine, I contrived to
+disguise my hand, and, writing an anonymous paper, I put it in at
+night under the door of the printing-house. It was found in the
+morning, and communicated to his writing friends when they call'd in
+as usual. They read it, commented on it in my hearing, and I had the
+exquisite pleasure of finding it met with their approbation, and that,
+in their different guesses at the author, none were named but men of
+some character among us for learning and ingenuity. I suppose now that
+I was rather lucky in my judges, and that perhaps they were not really
+so very good ones as I then esteem'd them.
+
+Encourag'd, however, by this, I wrote and conveyed in the same way to
+the press several more papers which were equally approv'd; and I kept
+my secret till my small fund of sense for such performances was pretty
+well exhausted, and then I discovered[24] it, when I began to be
+considered a little more by my brother's acquaintance, and in a manner
+that did not quite please him, as he thought, probably with reason,
+that it tended to make me too vain. And, perhaps, this might be one
+occasion of the differences that we began to have about this time.
+Though a brother, he considered himself as my master, and me as his
+apprentice, and, accordingly, expected the same services from me as he
+would from another, while I thought he demean'd me too much in some he
+requir'd of me, who from a brother expected more indulgence. Our
+disputes were often brought before our father, and I fancy I was
+either generally in the right, or else a better pleader, because the
+judgment was generally in my favor. But my brother was passionate,
+and had often beaten me, which I took extreamly amiss; and, thinking
+my apprenticeship very tedious, I was continually wishing for some
+opportunity of shortening it, which at length offered in a manner
+unexpected.
+
+    [24] Disclosed.
+
+[Illustration: "I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets
+to the customers"]
+
+One of the pieces in our newspaper on some political point, which I
+have now forgotten, gave offense to the Assembly. He was taken up,
+censur'd, and imprison'd for a month, by the speaker's warrant, I
+suppose, because he would not discover his author. I too was taken up
+and examin'd before the council; but, tho' I did not give them any
+satisfaction, they contented themselves with admonishing me, and
+dismissed me, considering me, perhaps, as an apprentice, who was bound
+to keep his master's secrets.
+
+During my brother's confinement, which I resented a good deal,
+notwithstanding our private differences, I had the management of the
+paper; and I made bold to give our rulers some rubs in it, which my
+brother took very kindly, while others began to consider me in an
+unfavorable light, as a young genius that had a turn for libeling and
+satyr. My brother's discharge was accompany'd with an order of the
+House (a very odd one), that "_James Franklin should no longer print
+the paper called the New England Courant_."
+
+There was a consultation held in our printing-house among his friends,
+what he should do in this case. Some proposed to evade the order by
+changing the name of the paper; but my brother, seeing inconveniences
+in that, it was finally concluded on as a better way, to let it be
+printed for the future under the name of Benjamin Franklin; and to
+avoid the censure of the Assembly, that might fall on him as still
+printing it by his apprentice, the contrivance was that my old
+indenture should be return'd to me, with a full discharge on the back
+of it, to be shown on occasion, but to secure to him the benefit of my
+service, I was to sign new indentures for the remainder of the term,
+which were to be kept private. A very flimsy scheme it was; however,
+it was immediately executed, and the paper went on accordingly, under
+my name for several months.
+
+At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me, I
+took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not venture
+to produce the new indentures. It was not fair in me to take this
+advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first errata of my
+life; but the unfairness of it weighed little with me, when under the
+impressions of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged
+him to bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill-natur'd man:
+perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.
+
+When he found I would leave him, he took care to prevent my getting
+employment in any other printing-house of the town, by going round and
+speaking to every master, who accordingly refus'd to give me work. I
+then thought of going to New York, as the nearest place where there
+was a printer; and I was rather inclin'd to leave Boston when I
+reflected that I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the
+governing party, and, from the arbitrary proceedings of the Assembly
+in my brother's case, it was likely I might, if I stay'd, soon bring
+myself into scrapes; and farther, that my indiscreet disputations
+about religion began to make me pointed at with horror by good people
+as an infidel or atheist. I determin'd on the point, but my father now
+siding with my brother, I was sensible that, if I attempted to go
+openly, means would be used to prevent me. My friend Collins,
+therefore, undertook to manage a little for me. He agreed with the
+captain of a New York sloop for my passage, under the notion of my
+being a young acquaintance of his. So I sold some of my books to raise
+a little money, was taken on board privately, and as we had a fair
+wind, in three days I found myself in New York, near 300 miles from
+home, a boy of but 17, without the least recommendation to, or
+knowledge of, any person in the place, and with very little money in
+my pocket.
+
+[Illustration: Sailboat]
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+ARRIVAL IN PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+My inclinations for the sea were by this time worne out, or I might
+now have gratify'd them. But, having a trade, and supposing myself a
+pretty good workman, I offer'd my service to the printer in the place,
+old Mr. William Bradford, who had been the first printer in
+Pennsylvania, but removed from thence upon the quarrel of George
+Keith. He could give me no employment, having little to do, and help
+enough already; but says he, "My son at Philadelphia has lately lost
+his principal hand, Aquilla Rose, by death; if you go thither, I
+believe he may employ you." Philadelphia was a hundred miles further;
+I set out, however, in a boat for Amboy, leaving my chest and things
+to follow me round by sea.
+
+In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that tore our rotten sails
+to pieces, prevented our getting into the Kill,[25] and drove us upon
+Long Island. In our way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a passenger too,
+fell overboard; when he was sinking, I reached through the water to
+his shock pate, and drew him up, so that we got him in again. His
+ducking sobered him a little, and he went to sleep, taking first out
+of his pocket a book, which he desir'd I would dry for him. It proved
+to be my old favorite author, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in Dutch,
+finely printed on good paper, with copper cuts, a dress better than I
+had ever seen it wear in its own language. I have since found that it
+has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and suppose
+it has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps
+the Bible. Honest John was the first that I know of who mix'd
+narration and dialogue; a method of writing very engaging to the
+reader, who in the most interesting parts finds himself, as it were,
+brought into the company and present at the discourse. De Foe in his
+Cruso, his Moll Flanders, Religious Courtship, Family Instructor, and
+other pieces, has imitated it with success; and Richardson[26] has done
+the same in his Pamela, etc.
+
+    [25] Kill van Kull, the channel separating Staten Island
+    from New Jersey on the north.
+
+    [26] Samuel Richardson, the father of the English novel,
+    wrote _Pamela_, _Clarissa Harlowe_, and the _History of
+    Sir Charles Grandison_, novels published in the form of
+    letters.
+
+When we drew near the island, we found it was at a place where there
+could be no landing, there being a great surff on the stony beach. So
+we dropt anchor, and swung round towards the shore. Some people came
+down to the water edge and hallow'd to us, as we did to them; but the
+wind was so high, and the surff so loud, that we could not hear so as
+to understand each other. There were canoes on the shore, and we made
+signs, and hallow'd that they should fetch us; but they either did not
+understand us, or thought it impracticable, so they went away, and
+night coming on, we had no remedy but to wait till the wind should
+abate; and, in the meantime, the boatman and I concluded to sleep, if
+we could; and so crowded into the scuttle, with the Dutchman, who was
+still wet, and the spray beating over the head of our boat, leak'd
+thro' to us, so that we were soon almost as wet as he. In this manner
+we lay all night, with very little rest; but, the wind abating the
+next day, we made a shift to reach Amboy before night, having been
+thirty hours on the water, without victuals, or any drink but a bottle
+of filthy rum, and the water we sail'd on being salt.
+
+In the evening I found myself very feverish, and went in to bed; but,
+having read somewhere that cold water drank plentifully was good for a
+fever, I follow'd the prescription, sweat plentifully most of the
+night, my fever left me, and in the morning, crossing the ferry, I
+proceeded on my journey on foot, having fifty miles to Burlington,
+where I was told I should find boats that would carry me the rest of
+the way to Philadelphia.
+
+[Illustration: It rained very hard all the day]
+
+It rained very hard all the day; I was thoroughly soak'd, and by noon
+a good deal tired; so I stopt at a poor inn, where I staid all night,
+beginning now to wish that I had never left home. I cut so miserable a
+figure, too, that I found, by the questions ask'd me, I was suspected
+to be some runaway servant, and in danger of being taken up on that
+suspicion. However, I proceeded the next day, and got in the evening
+to an inn, within eight or ten miles of Burlington, kept by one Dr.
+Brown. He entered into conversation with me while I took some
+refreshment, and, finding I had read a little, became very sociable
+and friendly. Our acquaintance continu'd as long as he liv'd. He had
+been, I imagine, an itinerant doctor, for there was no town in
+England, or country in Europe, of which he could not give a very
+particular account. He had some letters, and was ingenious, but much
+of an unbeliever, and wickedly undertook, some years after, to
+travesty the Bible in doggrel verse, as Cotton had done Virgil. By
+this means he set many of the facts in a very ridiculous light, and
+might have hurt weak minds if his work had been published; but it
+never was.
+
+At his house I lay that night, and the next morning reach'd
+Burlington, but had the mortification to find that the regular boats
+were gone a little before my coming, and no other expected to go
+before Tuesday, this being Saturday; wherefore I returned to an old
+woman in the town, of whom I had bought gingerbread to eat on the
+water, and ask'd her advice. She invited me to lodge at her house till
+a passage by water should offer; and being tired with my foot
+traveling, I accepted the invitation. She understanding I was a
+printer, would have had me stay at that town and follow my business,
+being ignorant of the stock necessary to begin with. She was very
+hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great good will,
+accepting only of a pot of ale in return; and I thought myself fixed
+till Tuesday should come. However, walking in the evening by the side
+of the river, a boat came by, which I found was going towards
+Philadelphia, with several people in her. They took me in, and, as
+there was no wind, we row'd all the way; and about midnight, not
+having yet seen the city, some of the company were confident we must
+have passed it, and would row no farther; the others knew not where we
+were; so we put toward the shore, got into a creek, landed near an old
+fence, with the rails of which we made a fire, the night being cold,
+in October, and there we remained till daylight. Then one of the
+company knew the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above
+Philadelphia, which we saw as soon as we got out of the creek, and
+arriv'd there about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday morning, and
+landed at the Market-street wharf.
+
+I have been the more particular in this description of my journey, and
+shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you may in your
+mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since
+made there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come
+round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuff'd out
+with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for
+lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest, I
+was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch
+dollar, and about a shilling in copper. The latter I gave the people
+of the boat for my passage, who at first refus'd it, on account of my
+rowing; but I insisted on their taking it. A man being sometimes more
+generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty,
+perhaps thro' fear of being thought to have but little.
+
+Then I walked up the street, gazing about till near the market-house I
+met a boy with bread. I had made many a meal on bread, and, inquiring
+where he got it, I went immediately to the baker's he directed me to,
+in Second-street, and ask'd for bisket, intending such as we had in
+Boston; but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. Then I
+asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. So not
+considering or knowing the difference of money, and the greater
+cheapness nor the names of his bread, I bade him give me three-penny
+worth of any sort. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I
+was surpris'd at the quantity, but took it, and, having no room in my
+pockets, walk'd off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other.
+Thus I went up Market-street as far as Fourth-street, passing by the
+door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the
+door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward,
+ridiculous appearance. Then I turned and went down Chestnut-street and
+part of Walnut-street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming round,
+found myself again at Market-street wharf, near the boat I came in, to
+which I went for a draught of the river water; and, being filled with
+one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and her child that came
+down the river in the boat with us, and were waiting to go farther.
+
+[Illustration: "She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made,
+as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance"]
+
+Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which by this time had
+many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same way. I
+joined them, and thereby was led into the great meeting-house of the
+Quakers near the market. I sat down among them, and, after looking round
+awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy thro' labour and want
+of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continu'd so till
+the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was,
+therefore, the first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia.
+
+Walking down again toward the river, and, looking in the faces of
+people, I met a young Quaker man, whose countenance I lik'd, and,
+accosting him, requested he would tell me where a stranger could get
+lodging. We were then near the sign of the Three Mariners. "Here,"
+says he, "is one place that entertains strangers, but it is not a
+reputable house; if thee wilt walk with me, I'll show thee a better."
+He brought me to the Crooked Billet in Water-street. Here I got a
+dinner; and, while I was eating it, several sly questions were asked
+me, as it seemed to be suspected from my youth and appearance, that I
+might be some runaway.
+
+After dinner, my sleepiness return'd, and being shown to a bed, I lay
+down without undressing, and slept till six in the evening, was call'd
+to supper, went to bed again very early, and slept soundly till next
+morning. Then I made myself as tidy as I could, and went to Andrew
+Bradford the printer's. I found in the shop the old man his father,
+whom I had seen at New York, and who, traveling on horseback, had got
+to Philadelphia before me. He introduc'd me to his son, who receiv'd
+me civilly, gave me a breakfast, but told me he did not at present
+want a hand, being lately suppli'd with one; but there was another
+printer in town, lately set up, one Keimer, who, perhaps, might employ
+me; if not, I should be welcome to lodge at his house, and he would
+give me a little work to do now and then till fuller business should
+offer.
+
+The old gentleman said he would go with me to the new printer; and
+when we found him, "Neighbour," says Bradford, "I have brought to see
+you a young man of your business; perhaps you may want such a one." He
+ask'd me a few questions, put a composing stick in my hand to see how
+I work'd, and then said he would employ me soon, though he had just
+then nothing for me to do; and, taking old Bradford, whom he had never
+seen before, to be one of the town's people that had a good will for
+him, enter'd into a conversation on his present undertaking and
+prospects; while Bradford, not discovering that he was the other
+printer's father, on Keimer's saying he expected soon to get the
+greatest part of the business into his own hands, drew him on by
+artful questions, and starting little doubts, to explain all his
+views, what interest he reli'd on, and in what manner he intended to
+proceed. I, who stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one of
+them was a crafty old sophister, and the other a mere novice. Bradford
+left me with Keimer, who was greatly surpris'd when I told him who the
+old man was.
+
+Keimer's printing-house, I found, consisted of an old shatter'd press,
+and one small, worn-out font of English, which he was then using
+himself, composing an Elegy on Aquilla Rose, before mentioned, an
+ingenious young man, of excellent character, much respected in the
+town, clerk of the Assembly, and a pretty poet. Keimer made verses
+too, but very indifferently. He could not be said to write them, for
+his manner was to compose them in the types directly out of his head.
+So there being no copy,[27] but one pair of cases, and the Elegy likely
+to require all the letter, no one could help him. I endeavour'd to put
+his press (which he had not yet us'd, and of which he understood
+nothing) into order fit to be work'd with; and, promising to come and
+print off his Elegy as soon as he should have got it ready, I
+return'd to Bradford's, who gave me a little job to do for the
+present, and there I lodged and dieted. A few days after, Keimer sent
+for me to print off the Elegy. And now he had got another pair of
+cases,[28] and a pamphlet to reprint, on which he set me to work.
+
+These two printers I found poorly qualified for their business.
+Bradford had not been bred to it, and was very illiterate; and Keimer,
+tho' something of a scholar, was a mere compositor, knowing nothing of
+presswork. He had been one of the French prophets,[29] and could act
+their enthusiastic agitations. At this time he did not profess any
+particular religion, but something of all on occasion; was very
+ignorant of the world, and had, as I afterward found, a good deal of
+the knave in his composition. He did not like my lodging at Bradford's
+while I work'd with him. He had a house, indeed, but without
+furniture, so he could not lodge me; but he got me a lodging at Mr.
+Read's before mentioned, who was the owner of his house; and, my chest
+and clothes being come by this time, I made rather a more respectable
+appearance in the eyes of Miss Read than I had done when she first
+happen'd to see me eating my roll in the street.
+
+    [27] Manuscript.
+
+    [28] The frames for holding type are in two sections, the
+    upper for capitals and the lower for small letters.
+
+    [29] Protestants of the South of France, who became
+    fanatical under the persecutions of Louis XIV, and
+    thought they had the gift of prophecy. They had as
+    mottoes "No Taxes" and "Liberty of Conscience."
+
+I began now to have some acquaintance among the young people of the
+town, that were lovers of reading, with whom I spent my evenings very
+pleasantly; and gaining money by my industry and frugality, I lived
+very agreeably, forgetting Boston as much as I could, and not desiring
+that any there should know where I resided, except my friend Collins,
+who was in my secret, and kept it when I wrote to him. At length, an
+incident happened that sent me back again much sooner than I had
+intended. I had a brother-in-law, Robert Holmes, master of a sloop
+that traded between Boston and Delaware. He being at Newcastle, forty
+miles below Philadelphia, heard there of me, and wrote me a letter
+mentioning the concern of my friends in Boston at my abrupt departure,
+assuring me of their good will to me, and that everything would be
+accommodated to my mind if I would return, to which he exhorted me
+very earnestly. I wrote an answer to his letter, thank'd him for his
+advice, but stated my reasons for quitting Boston fully and in such a
+light as to convince him I was not so wrong as he had apprehended.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+FIRST VISIT TO BOSTON
+
+
+Sir William Keith, governor of the province, was then at Newcastle,
+and Captain Holmes, happening to be in company with him when my letter
+came to hand, spoke to him of me, and show'd him the letter. The
+governor read it, and seem'd surpris'd when he was told my age. He
+said I appear'd a young man of promising parts, and therefore should
+be encouraged; the printers at Philadelphia were wretched ones; and,
+if I would set up there, he made no doubt I should succeed; for his
+part, he would procure me the public business, and do me every other
+service in his power. This my brother-in-law afterwards told me in
+Boston, but I knew as yet nothing of it; when, one day, Keimer and I
+being at work together near the window, we saw the governor and
+another gentleman (which proved to be Colonel French, of Newcastle),
+finely dress'd, come directly across the street to our house, and
+heard them at the door.
+
+Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it a visit to him; but the
+governor inquir'd for me, came up, and with a condescension and
+politeness I had been quite unus'd to, made me many compliments,
+desired to be acquainted with me, blam'd me kindly for not having made
+myself known to him when I first came to the place, and would have me
+away with him to the tavern, where he was going with Colonel French to
+taste, as he said, some excellent Madeira. I was not a little
+surprised, and Keimer star'd like a pig poison'd.[30] I went, however,
+with the governor and Colonel French to a tavern, at the corner of
+Third-street, and over the Madeira he propos'd my setting up my
+business, laid before me the probabilities of success, and both he and
+Colonel French assur'd me I should have their interest and influence
+in procuring the public business of both governments.[31] On my
+doubting whether my father would assist me in it, Sir William said he
+would give me a letter to him, in which he would state the advantages,
+and he did not doubt of prevailing with him. So it was concluded I
+should return to Boston in the first vessel, with the governor's
+letter recommending me to my father. In the meantime the intention was
+to be kept a secret, and I went on working with Keimer as usual, the
+governor sending for me now and then to dine with him, a very great
+honour I thought it, and conversing with me in the most affable,
+familiar, and friendly manner imaginable.
+
+    [30] Temple Franklin considered this specific figure
+    vulgar and changed it to "stared with astonishment."
+
+    [31] Pennsylvania and Delaware.
+
+About the end of April, 1724, a little vessel offer'd for Boston. I
+took leave of Keimer as going to see my friends. The governor gave me
+an ample letter, saying many flattering things of me to my father, and
+strongly recommending the project of my setting up at Philadelphia as
+a thing that must make my fortune. We struck on a shoal in going down
+the bay, and sprung a leak; we had a blustering time at sea, and were
+oblig'd to pump almost continually, at which I took my turn. We
+arriv'd safe, however, at Boston in about a fortnight. I had been
+absent seven months, and my friends had heard nothing of me; for my
+br. Holmes was not yet return'd, and had not written about me. My
+unexpected appearance surpris'd the family; all were, however, very
+glad to see me, and made me welcome, except my brother. I went to see
+him at his printing-house. I was better dress'd than ever while in his
+service, having a genteel new suit from head to foot, a watch, and my
+pockets lin'd with near five pounds sterling in silver. He receiv'd me
+not very frankly, look'd me all over, and turn'd to his work again.
+
+[Illustration: The journeymen were inquisitive]
+
+The journeymen were inquisitive where I had been, what sort of a
+country it was, and how I lik'd it. I prais'd it much, and the happy
+life I led in it, expressing strongly my intention of returning to it;
+and, one of them asking what kind of money we had there, I produc'd a
+handful of silver, and spread it before them, which was a kind of
+raree-show[32] they had not been us'd to, paper being the money of
+Boston.[33] Then I took an opportunity of letting them see my watch;
+and, lastly (my brother still grum and sullen), I gave them a piece
+of eight[34] to drink, and took my leave. This visit of mine offended
+him extreamly; for, when my mother some time after spoke to him of a
+reconciliation, and of her wishes to see us on good terms together,
+and that we might live for the future as brothers, he said I had
+insulted him in such a manner before his people that he could never
+forget or forgive it. In this, however, he was mistaken.
+
+    [32] A peep-show in a box.
+
+    [33] There were no mints in the colonies, so the metal
+    money was of foreign coinage and not nearly so common as
+    paper money, which was printed in large quantities in
+    America, even in small denominations.
+
+    [34] Spanish dollar about equivalent to our dollar.
+
+My father received the governor's letter with some apparent surprise,
+but said little of it to me for some days, when Capt. Holmes returning
+he show'd it to him, asked him if he knew Keith, and what kind of man
+he was; adding his opinion that he must be of small discretion to
+think of setting a boy up in business who wanted yet three years of
+being at man's estate. Holmes said what he could in favour of the
+project, but my father was clear in the impropriety of it, and at
+last, gave a flat denial to it. Then he wrote a civil letter to Sir
+William, thanking him for the patronage he had so kindly offered me,
+but declining to assist me as yet in setting up, I being, in his
+opinion, too young to be trusted with the management of a business so
+important, and for which the preparation must be so expensive.
+
+My friend and companion Collins, who was a clerk in the post-office,
+pleas'd with the account I gave him of my new country, determined to
+go thither also; and, while I waited for my father's determination, he
+set out before me by land to Rhode Island, leaving his books, which
+were a pretty collection of mathematicks and natural philosophy, to
+come with mine and me to New York, where he propos'd to wait for me.
+
+My father, tho' he did not approve Sir William's proposition, was yet
+pleas'd that I had been able to obtain so advantageous a character
+from a person of such note where I had resided, and that I had been so
+industrious and careful as to equip myself so handsomely in so short a
+time; therefore, seeing no prospect of an accommodation between my
+brother and me, he gave his consent to my returning again to
+Philadelphia, advis'd me to behave respectfully to the people there,
+endeavour to obtain the general esteem, and avoid lampooning and
+libeling, to which he thought I had too much inclination; telling me,
+that by steady industry and a prudent parsimony I might save enough by
+the time I was one-and-twenty to set me up; and that, if I came near
+the matter, he would help me out with the rest. This was all I could
+obtain, except some small gifts as tokens of his and my mother's love,
+when I embark'd again for New York, now with their approbation and
+their blessing.
+
+The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode Island, I visited my brother
+John, who had been married and settled there some years. He received
+me very affectionately, for he always lov'd me. A friend of his, one
+Vernon, having some money due to him in Pennsylvania, about
+thirty-five pounds currency, desired I would receive it for him, and
+keep it till I had his directions what to remit it in. Accordingly, he
+gave me an order. This afterwards occasion'd me a good deal of
+uneasiness.
+
+At Newport we took in a number of passengers for New York, among
+which were two young women, companions, and a grave, sensible,
+matronlike Quaker woman, with her attendants. I had shown an obliging
+readiness to do her some little services, which impress'd her I
+suppose with a degree of good will toward me; therefore, when she saw
+a daily growing familiarity between me and the two young women, which
+they appear'd to encourage, she took me aside, and said, "Young man, I
+am concern'd for thee, as thou hast no friend with thee, and seems not
+to know much of the world, or of the snares youth is expos'd to;
+depend upon it, those are very bad women; I can see it in all their
+actions; and if thee art not upon thy guard, they will draw thee into
+some danger; they are strangers to thee, and I advise thee, in a
+friendly concern for thy welfare, to have no acquaintance with them."
+As I seem'd at first not to think so ill of them as she did, she
+mentioned some things she had observ'd and heard that had escap'd my
+notice, but now convinc'd me she was right. I thank'd her for her kind
+advice, and promis'd to follow it. When we arriv'd at New York, they
+told me where they liv'd, and invited me to come and see them; but I
+avoided it, and it was well I did; for the next day the captain miss'd
+a silver spoon and some other things, that had been taken out of his
+cabin, and, knowing that these were a couple of strumpets, he got a
+warrant to search their lodgings, found the stolen goods, and had the
+thieves punish'd. So, tho' we had escap'd a sunken rock, which we
+scrap'd upon in the passage, I thought this escape of rather more
+importance to me.
+
+At New York I found my friend Collins, who had arriv'd there some time
+before me. We had been intimate from children, and had read the same
+books together; but he had the advantage of more time for reading and
+studying, and a wonderful genius for mathematical learning, in which
+he far outstript me. While I liv'd in Boston, most of my hours of
+leisure for conversation were spent with him, and he continu'd a sober
+as well as an industrious lad; was much respected for his learning by
+several of the clergy and other gentlemen, and seemed to promise
+making a good figure in life. But, during my absence, he had acquir'd
+a habit of sotting with brandy; and I found by his own account, and
+what I heard from others, that he had been drunk every day since his
+arrival at New York, and behav'd very oddly. He had gam'd, too, and
+lost his money, so that I was oblig'd to discharge his lodgings, and
+defray his expenses to and at Philadelphia, which prov'd extremely
+inconvenient to me.
+
+The then governor of New York, Burnet (son of Bishop Burnet), hearing
+from the captain that a young man, one of his passengers, had a great
+many books, desir'd he would bring me to see him. I waited upon him
+accordingly, and should have taken Collins with me but that he was not
+sober. The gov'r. treated me with great civility, show'd me his
+library, which was a very large one, and we had a good deal of
+conversation about books and authors. This was the second governor who
+had done me the honour to take notice of me; which, to a poor boy like
+me, was very pleasing.
+
+We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received on the way Vernon's money,
+without which we could hardly have finish'd our journey. Collins
+wished to be employ'd in some counting-house; but, whether they
+discover'd his dramming by his breath, or by his behaviour, tho' he
+had some recommendations, he met with no success in any application,
+and continu'd lodging and boarding at the same house with me, and at
+my expense. Knowing I had that money of Vernon's, he was continually
+borrowing of me, still promising repayment as soon as he should be in
+business. At length he had got so much of it that I was distress'd to
+think what I should do in case of being call'd on to remit it.
+
+His drinking continu'd, about which we sometimes quarrel'd; for, when
+a little intoxicated, he was very fractious. Once, in a boat on the
+Delaware with some other young men, he refused to row in his turn. "I
+will be row'd home," says he. "We will not row you," says I. "You
+must, or stay all night on the water," says he, "just as you please."
+The others said, "Let us row; what signifies it?" But, my mind being
+soured with his other conduct, I continu'd to refuse. So he swore he
+would make me row, or throw me overboard; and coming along, stepping
+on the thwarts, toward me, when he came up and struck at me, I clapped
+my hand under his crutch, and, rising, pitched him head-foremost into
+the river. I knew he was a good swimmer, and so was under little
+concern about him; but before he could get round to lay hold of the
+boat, we had with a few strokes pull'd her out of his reach; and ever
+when he drew near the boat, we ask'd if he would row, striking a few
+strokes to slide her away from him. He was ready to die with
+vexation, and obstinately would not promise to row. However, seeing
+him at last beginning to tire, we lifted him in and brought him home
+dripping wet in the evening. We hardly exchang'd a civil word
+afterwards, and a West India captain, who had a commission to procure
+a tutor for the sons of a gentleman at Barbados, happening to meet
+with him, agreed to carry him thither. He left me then, promising to
+remit me the first money he should receive in order to discharge the
+debt; but I never heard of him after.
+
+The breaking into this money of Vernon's was one of the first great
+errata of my life; and this affair show'd that my father was not much
+out in his judgment when he suppos'd me too young to manage business
+of importance. But Sir William, on reading his letter, said he was too
+prudent. There was great difference in persons; and discretion did not
+always accompany years, nor was youth always without it. "And since he
+will not set you up," says he, "I will do it myself. Give me an
+inventory of the things necessary to be had from England, and I will
+send for them. You shall repay me when you are able; I am resolv'd to
+have a good printer here, and I am sure you must succeed." This was
+spoken with such an appearance of cordiality, that I had not the least
+doubt of his meaning what he said. I had hitherto kept the proposition
+of my setting up, a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept it. Had
+it been known that I depended on the governor, probably some friend,
+that knew him better, would have advis'd me not to rely on him, as I
+afterwards heard it as his known character to be liberal of promises
+which he never meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as he was by me, how
+could I think his generous offers insincere? I believ'd him one of the
+best men in the world.
+
+I presented him an inventory of a little print'-house, amounting by my
+computation to about one hundred pounds sterling. He lik'd it, but
+ask'd me if my being on the spot in England to chuse the types, and
+see that everything was good of the kind, might not be of some
+advantage. "Then," says he, "when there, you may make acquaintances,
+and establish correspondences in the bookselling and stationery way."
+I agreed that this might be advantageous. "Then," says he, "get
+yourself ready to go with Annis;" which was the annual ship, and the
+only one at that time usually passing between London and Philadelphia.
+But it would be some months before Annis sail'd, so I continued
+working with Keimer, fretting about the money Collins had got from me,
+and in daily apprehensions of being call'd upon by Vernon, which,
+however, did not happen for some years after.
+
+I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voyage from
+Boston, being becalm'd off Block Island, our people set about catching
+cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution
+of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I consider'd, with my
+master Tryon, the taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder,
+since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might
+justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had
+formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of
+the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanc'd some time between
+principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were
+opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought
+I, "If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I
+din'd upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people,
+returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So
+convenient a thing is it to be a _reasonable creature_, since it
+enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to
+do.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+EARLY FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+Keimer and I liv'd on a pretty good familiar footing, and agreed
+tolerably well, for he suspected nothing of my setting up. He retained
+a great deal of his old enthusiasms and lov'd argumentation. We
+therefore had many disputations. I used to work him so with my
+Socratic method, and had trepann'd him so often by questions
+apparently so distant from any point we had in hand, and yet by
+degrees led to the point, and brought him into difficulties and
+contradictions, that at last he grew ridiculously cautious, and would
+hardly answer me the most common question, without asking first,
+"_What do you intend to infer from that_?" However, it gave him so
+high an opinion of my abilities in the confuting way, that he
+seriously proposed my being his colleague in a project he had of
+setting up a new sect. He was to preach the doctrines, and I was to
+confound all opponents. When he came to explain with me upon the
+doctrines, I found several conundrums which I objected to, unless I
+might have my way a little too, and introduce some of mine.
+
+Keimer wore his beard at full length, because somewhere in the Mosaic
+law it is said, "_Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy beard_." He
+likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and these two points were
+essentials with him. I dislik'd both; but agreed to admit them upon
+condition of his adopting the doctrine of using no animal food. "I
+doubt," said he, "my constitution will not bear that." I assur'd him
+it would, and that he would be the better for it. He was usually a
+great glutton, and I promised myself some diversion in half starving
+him. He agreed to try the practice, if I would keep him company. I did
+so, and we held it for three months. We had our victuals dress'd, and
+brought to us regularly by a woman in the neighborhood, who had from
+me a list of forty dishes, to be prepar'd for us at different times,
+in all which there was neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and the whim
+suited me the better at this time from the cheapness of it, not
+costing us above eighteenpence sterling each per week. I have since
+kept several Lents most strictly, leaving the common diet for that,
+and that for the common, abruptly, without the least inconvenience, so
+that I think there is little in the advice of making those changes by
+easy gradations. I went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer suffered
+grievously, tired of the project, long'd for the flesh-pots of Egypt,
+and order'd a roast pig. He invited me and two women friends to dine
+with him; but, it being brought too soon upon table, he could not
+resist the temptation, and ate the whole before we came.
+
+I had made some courtship during this time to Miss Read. I had a great
+respect and affection for her, and had some reason to believe she had
+the same for me; but, as I was about to take a long voyage, and we
+were both very young, only a little above eighteen, it was thought
+most prudent by her mother to prevent our going too far at present, as
+a marriage, if it was to take place, would be more convenient after my
+return, when I should be, as I expected, set up in my business.
+Perhaps, too, she thought my expectations not so well founded as I
+imagined them to be.
+
+My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles Osborne, Joseph
+Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers of reading. The two first were
+clerks to an eminent scrivener or conveyancer in the town, Charles
+Brockden; the other was clerk to a merchant. Watson was a pious,
+sensible young man, of great integrity; the others rather more lax in
+their principles of religion, particularly Ralph, who, as well as
+Collins, had been unsettled by me, for which they both made me suffer.
+Osborne was sensible, candid, frank; sincere and affectionate to his
+friends; but, in literary matters, too fond of criticizing. Ralph was
+ingenious, genteel in his manners, and extremely eloquent; I think I
+never knew a prettier talker. Both of them were great admirers of
+poetry, and began to try their hands in little pieces. Many pleasant
+walks we four had together on Sundays into the woods, near
+Schuylkill, where we read to one another, and conferr'd on what we
+read.
+
+[Illustration: "Many pleasant walks we four had together"]
+
+Ralph was inclin'd to pursue the study of poetry, not doubting but he
+might become eminent in it, and make his fortune by it, alleging that
+the best poets must, when they first began to write, make as many
+faults as he did. Osborne dissuaded him, assur'd him he had no genius
+for poetry, and advis'd him to think of nothing beyond the business he
+was bred to; that, in the mercantile way, tho' he had no stock, he
+might, by his diligence and punctuality, recommend himself to
+employment as a factor, and in time acquire wherewith to trade on his
+own account. I approv'd the amusing one's self with poetry now and
+then, so far as to improve one's language, but no farther.
+
+On this it was propos'd that we should each of us, at our next
+meeting, produce a piece of our own composing, in order to improve by
+our mutual observations, criticisms, and corrections. As language and
+expression were what we had in view, we excluded all considerations of
+invention by agreeing that the task should be a version of the
+eighteenth Psalm, which describes the descent of a Deity. When the
+time of our meeting drew nigh, Ralph called on me first, and let me
+know his piece was ready. I told him I had been busy, and, having
+little inclination, had done nothing. He then show'd me his piece for
+my opinion, and I much approv'd it, as it appear'd to me to have great
+merit. "Now," says he, "Osborne never will allow the least merit in
+anything of mine, but makes 1000 criticisms out of mere envy. He is
+not so jealous of you; I wish, therefore, you would take this piece,
+and produce it as yours; I will pretend not to have had time, and so
+produce nothing. We shall then see what he will say to it." It was
+agreed, and I immediately transcrib'd it, that it might appear in my
+own hand.
+
+We met; Watson's performance was read; there were some beauties in it,
+but many defects. Osborne's was read; it was much better; Ralph did it
+justice; remarked some faults, but applauded the beauties. He himself
+had nothing to produce. I was backward; seemed desirous of being
+excused; had not had sufficient time to correct, etc.; but no excuse
+could be admitted; produce I must. It was read and repeated; Watson
+and Osborne gave up the contest, and join'd in applauding it. Ralph
+only made some criticisms, and propos'd some amendments; but I
+defended my text. Osborne was against Ralph, and told him he was no
+better a critic than poet, so he dropt the argument. As they two went
+home together, Osborne expressed himself still more strongly in favor
+of what he thought my production; having restrain'd himself before, as
+he said, lest I should think it flattery. "But who would have
+imagin'd," said he, "that Franklin had been capable of such a
+performance; such painting, such force, such fire! He has even
+improv'd the original. In his common conversation he seems to have no
+choice of words; he hesitates and blunders; and yet, good God! how he
+writes!" When we next met, Ralph discovered the trick we had plaid
+him, and Osborne was a little laughed at.
+
+This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolution of becoming a poet. I
+did all I could to dissuade him from it, but he continued scribbling
+verses till _Pope_ cured him.[35] He became, however, a pretty good
+prose writer. More of him hereafter. But, as I may not have occasion
+again to mention the other two, I shall just remark here, that Watson
+died in my arms a few years after, much lamented, being the best of
+our set. Osborne went to the West Indies, where he became an eminent
+lawyer and made money, but died young. He and I had made a serious
+agreement, that the one who happen'd first to die should, if possible,
+make a friendly visit to the other, and acquaint him how he found
+things in that separate state. But he never fulfill'd his promise.
+
+    [35] "In one of the later editions of the _Dunciad_ occur
+    the following lines:
+
+       'Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,
+       And makes night hideous--answer him, ye owls.'
+
+    To this the poet adds the following note:
+
+    'James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions,
+    not known till he writ a swearing-piece called _Sawney_,
+    very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and myself.'"
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+FIRST VISIT TO LONDON
+
+
+The governor, seeming to like my company, had me frequently to his
+house, and his setting me up was always mention'd as a fixed thing. I
+was to take with me letters recommendatory to a number of his friends,
+besides the letter of credit to furnish me with the necessary money
+for purchasing the press and types, paper, etc. For these letters I
+was appointed to call at different times, when they were to be ready;
+but a future time was still named. Thus he went on till the ship,
+whose departure too had been several times postponed, was on the point
+of sailing. Then, when I call'd to take my leave and receive the
+letters, his secretary, Dr. Bard, came out to me and said the governor
+was extremely busy in writing, but would be down at Newcastle, before
+the ship, and there the letters would be delivered to me.
+
+Ralph, though married, and having one child, had determined to
+accompany me in this voyage. It was thought he intended to establish a
+correspondence, and obtain goods to sell on commission; but I found
+afterwards, that, thro' some discontent with his wife's relations, he
+purposed to leave her on their hands, and never return again. Having
+taken leave of my friends, and interchang'd some promises with Miss
+Read, I left Philadelphia in the ship, which anchor'd at Newcastle.
+The governor was there; but when I went to his lodging, the secretary
+came to me from him with the civillest message in the world, that he
+could not then see me, being engaged in business of the utmost
+importance, but should send the letters to me on board, wished me
+heartily a good voyage and a speedy return, etc. I returned on board a
+little puzzled, but still not doubting.
+
+Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a famous lawyer of Philadelphia, had taken
+passage in the same ship for himself and son, and with Mr. Denham, a
+Quaker merchant, and Messrs. Onion and Russel, masters of an iron work
+in Maryland, had engaged the great cabin; so that Ralph and I were
+forced to take up with a berth in the steerage, and none on board
+knowing us, were considered as ordinary persons. But Mr. Hamilton and
+his son (it was James, since governor) return'd from Newcastle to
+Philadelphia, the father being recall'd by a great fee to plead for a
+seized ship; and, just before we sail'd, Colonel French coming on
+board, and showing me great respect, I was more taken notice of, and,
+with my friend Ralph, invited by the other gentlemen to come into the
+cabin, there being now room. Accordingly, we remov'd thither.
+
+Understanding that Colonel French had brought on board the governor's
+despatches, I ask'd the captain for those letters that were to be
+under my care. He said all were put into the bag together and he could
+not then come at them; but, before we landed in England, I should have
+an opportunity of picking them out; so I was satisfied for the
+present, and we proceeded on our voyage. We had a sociable company in
+the cabin, and lived uncommonly well, having the addition of all Mr.
+Hamilton's stores, who had laid in plentifully. In this passage Mr.
+Denham contracted a friendship for me that continued during his life.
+The voyage was otherwise not a pleasant one, as we had a great deal of
+bad weather.
+
+When we came into the Channel, the captain kept his word with me, and
+gave me an opportunity of examining the bag for the governor's
+letters. I found none upon which my name was put as under my care. I
+picked out six or seven, that, by the handwriting, I thought might be
+the promised letters, especially as one of them was directed to
+Basket, the king's printer, and another to some stationer. We arriv'd
+in London the 24th of December, 1724. I waited upon the stationer, who
+came first in my way, delivering the letter as from Governor Keith. "I
+don't know such a person," says he; but, opening the letter, "O! this
+is from Riddlesden. I have lately found him to be a compleat rascal,
+and I will have nothing to do with him, nor receive any letters from
+him." So, putting the letter into my hand, he turn'd on his heel and
+left me to serve some customer. I was surprized to find these were not
+the governor's letters; and, after recollecting and comparing
+circumstances, I began to doubt his sincerity. I found my friend
+Denham, and opened the whole affair to him. He let me into Keith's
+character; told me there was not the least probability that he had
+written any letters for me; that no one, who knew him, had the
+smallest dependence on him; and he laught at the notion of the
+governor's giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit
+to give. On my expressing some concern about what I should do, he
+advised me to endeavour getting some employment in the way of my
+business. "Among the printers here," said he, "you will improve
+yourself, and when you return to America, you will set up to greater
+advantage."
+
+[Illustration: "So, putting the letter into my hand"]
+
+We both of us happen'd to know, as well as the stationer, that
+Riddlesden, the attorney, was a very knave. He had half ruin'd Miss
+Read's father by persuading him to be bound for him. By this letter it
+appear'd there was a secret scheme on foot to the prejudice of
+Hamilton (suppos'd to be then coming over with us); and that Keith was
+concerned in it with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a friend of
+Hamilton's, thought he ought to be acquainted with it; so, when he
+arriv'd in England, which was soon after, partly from resentment and
+ill-will to Keith and Riddlesden, and partly from good-will to him, I
+waited on him, and gave him the letter. He thank'd me cordially, the
+information being of importance to him; and from that time he became
+my friend, greatly to my advantage afterwards on many occasions.
+
+But what shall we think of a governor's playing such pitiful tricks,
+and imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a habit he had
+acquired. He wish'd to please everybody; and, having little to give,
+he gave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, sensible man, a
+pretty good writer, and a good governor for the people, tho' not for
+his constituents, the proprietaries, whose instructions he sometimes
+disregarded. Several of our best laws were of his planning and passed
+during his administration.
+
+Ralph and I were inseparable companions. We took lodgings together in
+Little Britain[36] at three shillings and sixpence a week--as much as
+we could then afford. He found some relations, but they were poor, and
+unable to assist him. He now let me know his intentions of remaining
+in London, and that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. He had
+brought no money with him, the whole he could muster having been
+expended in paying his passage. I had fifteen pistoles;[37] so he
+borrowed occasionally of me to subsist, while he was looking out for
+business. He first endeavoured to get into the play-house, believing
+himself qualify'd for an actor; but Wilkes,[38] to whom he apply'd,
+advis'd him candidly not to think of that employment, as it was
+impossible he should succeed in it. Then he propos'd to Roberts, a
+publisher in Paternoster Row,[39] to write for him a weekly paper like
+the Spectator, on certain conditions, which Roberts did not approve.
+Then he endeavoured to get employment as a hackney writer, to copy for
+the stationers and lawyers about the Temple,[40] but could find no
+vacancy.
+
+    [36] One of the oldest parts of London, north of St.
+    Paul's Cathedral, called "Little Britain" because the
+    Dukes of Brittany used to live there. See the essay
+    entitled "Little Britain" in Washington Irving's _Sketch
+    Book_.
+
+    [37] A gold coin worth about four dollars in our money.
+
+    [38] A popular comedian, manager of Drury Lane Theater.
+
+    [39] Street north of St. Paul's, occupied by publishing
+    houses.
+
+    [40] Law schools and lawyers' residences situated
+    southwest of St. Paul's, between Fleet Street and the
+    Thames.
+
+I immediately got into work at Palmer's, then a famous printing-house
+in Bartholomew Close, and here I continu'd near a year. I was pretty
+diligent, but spent with Ralph a good deal of my earnings in going to
+plays and other places of amusement. We had together consumed all my
+pistoles, and now just rubbed on from hand to mouth. He seem'd quite
+to forget his wife and child, and I, by degrees, my engagements with
+Miss Read, to whom I never wrote more than one letter, and that was to
+let her know I was not likely soon to return. This was another of the
+great errata of my life, which I should wish to correct if I were to
+live it over again. In fact, by our expenses, I was constantly kept
+unable to pay my passage.
+
+At Palmer's I was employed in composing for the second edition of
+Wollaston's "Religion of Nature." Some of his reasonings not appearing
+to me well founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece in which I
+made remarks on them. It was entitled "A Dissertation on Liberty and
+Necessity, Pleasure and Pain." I inscribed it to my friend Ralph; I
+printed a small number. It occasion'd my being more consider'd by Mr.
+Palmer as a young man of some ingenuity, tho' he seriously
+expostulated with me upon the principles of my pamphlet, which to him
+appear'd abominable. My printing this pamphlet was another erratum.
+
+While I lodg'd in Little Britain, I made an acquaintance with one
+Wilcox, a bookseller, whose shop was at the next door. He had an
+immense collection of second-hand books. Circulating libraries were
+not then in use; but we agreed that, on certain reasonable terms,
+which I have now forgotten, I might take, read, and return any of his
+books. This I esteem'd a great advantage, and I made as much use of it
+as I could.
+
+My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands of one Lyons, a
+surgeon, author of a book entitled "The Infallibility of Human
+Judgment," it occasioned an acquaintance between us. He took great
+notice of me, called on me often to converse on those subjects,
+carried me to the Horns, a pale alehouse in----Lane, Cheapside,
+and introduced me to Dr. Mandeville, author of the "Fable of the
+Bees," who had a club there, of which he was the soul, being a most
+facetious, entertaining companion. Lyons, too, introduced me to Dr.
+Pemberton, at Batson's Coffee-house, who promis'd to give me an
+opportunity, sometime or other, of seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of which I
+was extreamly desirous; but this never happened.
+
+I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the principal was a
+purse made of the asbestos, which purifies by fire. Sir Hans Sloane
+heard of it, came to see me, and invited me to his house in Bloomsbury
+Square, where he show'd me all his curiosities, and persuaded me to
+let him add that to the number, for which he paid me handsomely.
+
+In our house there lodg'd a young woman, a milliner, who, I think, had
+a shop in the Cloisters. She had been genteelly bred, was sensible and
+lively, and of most pleasing conversation. Ralph read plays to her in
+the evenings, they grew intimate, she took another lodging, and he
+followed her. They liv'd together some time; but, he being still out
+of business, and her income not sufficient to maintain them with her
+child, he took a resolution of going from London, to try for a country
+school, which he thought himself well qualified to undertake, as he
+wrote an excellent hand, and was a master of arithmetic and accounts.
+This, however, he deemed a business below him, and confident of future
+better fortune, when he should be unwilling to have it known that he
+once was so meanly employed, he changed his name, and did me the
+honour to assume mine; for I soon after had a letter from him,
+acquainting me that he was settled in a small village (in Berkshire, I
+think it was, where he taught reading and writing to ten or a dozen
+boys, at sixpence each per week), recommending Mrs. T---- to my care,
+and desiring me to write to him, directing for Mr. Franklin,
+schoolmaster, at such a place.
+
+He continued to write frequently, sending me large specimens of an
+epic poem which he was then composing, and desiring my remarks and
+corrections. These I gave him from time to time, but endeavour'd
+rather to discourage his proceeding. One of Young's Satires[41] was
+then just published. I copy'd and sent him a great part of it, which
+set in a strong light the folly of pursuing the Muses with any hope of
+advancement by them. All was in vain; sheets of the poem continued to
+come by every post. In the meantime, Mrs. T----, having on his account
+lost her friends and business, was often in distresses, and us'd to
+send for me and borrow what I could spare to help her out of them. I
+grew fond of her company, and, being at that time under no religious
+restraint, and presuming upon my importance to her, I attempted
+familiarities (another erratum) which she repuls'd with a proper
+resentment, and acquainted him with my behaviour. This made a breach
+between us; and, when he returned again to London, he let me know he
+thought I had cancell'd all the obligations he had been under to me.
+So I found I was never to expect his repaying me what I lent to him or
+advanc'd for him. This, however, was not then of much consequence, as
+he was totally unable; and in the loss of his friendship I found
+myself relieved from a burthen. I now began to think of getting a
+little money beforehand, and, expecting better work, I left Palmer's
+to work at Watts's, near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a still greater
+printing-house.[42] Here I continued all the rest of my stay in London.
+
+    [41] Edward Young (1681-1765), an English poet. See his
+    satires, Vol. III, Epist. ii, page 70.
+
+    [42] The printing press at which Franklin worked is
+    preserved in the Patent Office at Washington.
+
+At my first admission into this printing-house I took to working at
+press, imagining I felt a want of the bodily exercise I had been us'd
+to in America, where presswork is mix'd with composing. I drank only
+water; the other workmen, near fifty in number, were great guzzlers of
+beer. On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types
+in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They wondered
+to see, from this and several instances, that the _Water-American_, as
+they called me, was _stronger_ than themselves, who drank _strong_
+beer! We had an alehouse boy who attended always in the house to
+supply the workmen. My companion at the press drank every day a pint
+before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a
+pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the
+afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had done his day's
+work. I thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, he
+suppos'd, to drink _strong_ beer, that he might be _strong_ to labour.
+I endeavoured to convince him that the bodily strength afforded by
+beer could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley
+dissolved in the water of which it was made; that there was more flour
+in a pennyworth of bread; and therefore, if he would eat that with a
+pint of water, it would give him more strength than a quart of beer.
+He drank on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay out of his
+wages every Saturday night for that muddling liquor; an expense I was
+free from. And thus these poor devils keep themselves always under.
+
+[Illustration: "I took to working at press"]
+
+Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in the composing-room,[43]
+I left the pressmen; a new bien venu or sum for drink, being five
+shillings, was demanded of me by the compositors. I thought it an
+imposition, as I had paid below; the master thought so too, and forbade
+my paying it. I stood out two or three weeks, was accordingly considered
+as an excommunicate, and had so many little pieces of private mischief
+done me, by mixing my sorts, transposing my pages, breaking my matter,
+etc., etc., if I were ever so little out of the room, and all ascribed
+to the chappel ghost, which they said ever haunted those not regularly
+admitted, that, notwithstanding the master's protection, I found myself
+oblig'd to comply and pay the money, convinc'd of the folly of being on
+ill terms with those one is to live with continually.
+
+    [43] Franklin now left the work of operating the printing
+    presses, which was largely a matter of manual labor, and
+    began setting type, which required more skill and
+    intelligence.
+
+I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon acquir'd considerable
+influence. I propos'd some reasonable alterations in their chappel
+laws,[44] and carried them against all opposition. From my example, a
+great part of them left their muddling breakfast of beer, and bread,
+and cheese, finding they could with me be supply'd from a neighbouring
+house with a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with
+pepper, crumb'd with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the price
+of a pint of beer, viz., three half-pence. This was a more comfortable
+as well as cheaper breakfast, and keep their heads clearer. Those who
+continued sotting with beer all day, were often, by not paying, out of
+credit at the alehouse, and us'd to make interest with me to get beer;
+their _light_, as they phrased it, _being out_. I watch'd the
+pay-table on Saturday night, and collected what I stood engag'd for
+them, having to pay sometimes near thirty shillings a week on their
+accounts. This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good _riggite_, that
+is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the
+society. My constant attendance (I never making a St. Monday)[45]
+recommended me to the master; and my uncommon quickness at composing
+occasioned my being put upon all work of dispatch, which was generally
+better paid. So I went on now very agreeably.
+
+    [44] A printing house is called a chapel because Caxton,
+    the first English printer, did his printing in a chapel
+    connected with Westminster Abbey.
+
+    [45] A holiday taken to prolong the dissipation of
+    Saturday's wages.
+
+My lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found another in
+Duke-street, opposite to the Romish Chapel. It was two pair of stairs
+backwards, at an Italian warehouse. A widow lady kept the house; she
+had a daughter, and a maid servant, and a journeyman who attended the
+warehouse, but lodg'd abroad. After sending to inquire my character at
+the house where I last lodg'd she agreed to take me in at the same
+rate, 3s. 6d. per week; cheaper, as she said, from the protection she
+expected in having a man lodge in the house. She was a widow, an
+elderly woman; had been bred a Protestant, being a clergyman's
+daughter, but was converted to the Catholic religion by her husband,
+whose memory she much revered; had lived much among people of
+distinction, and knew a thousand anecdotes of them as far back as the
+times of Charles the Second. She was lame in her knees with the gout,
+and, therefore, seldom stirred out of her room, so sometimes wanted
+company; and hers was so highly amusing to me, that I was sure to
+spend an evening with her whenever she desired it. Our supper was
+only half an anchovy each, on a very little strip of bread and butter,
+and half a pint of ale between us; but the entertainment was in her
+conversation. My always keeping good hours, and giving little trouble
+in the family, made her unwilling to part with me, so that, when I
+talk'd of a lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, for two
+shillings a week, which, intent as I now was on saving money, made
+some difference, she bid me not think of it, for she would abate me
+two shillings a week for the future; so I remained with her at one
+shilling and sixpence as long as I staid in London.
+
+In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady of seventy, in the
+most retired manner, of whom my landlady gave me this account: that
+she was a Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when young, and lodg'd
+in a nunnery with an intent of becoming a nun; but, the country not
+agreeing with her, she returned to England, where, there being no
+nunnery, she had vow'd to lead the life of a nun, as near as might be
+done in those circumstances. Accordingly, she had given all her estate
+to charitable uses, reserving only twelve pounds a year to live on,
+and out of this sum she still gave a great deal in charity, living
+herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire but to boil it. She had
+lived many years in that garret, being permitted to remain there
+gratis by successive Catholic tenants of the house below, as they
+deemed it a blessing to have her there. A priest visited her to
+confess her every day. "I have ask'd her," says my landlady, "how she,
+as she liv'd, could possibly find so much employment for a confessor?"
+"Oh," said she, "it is impossible to avoid _vain thoughts_." I was
+permitted once to visit her. She was cheerful and polite, and
+convers'd pleasantly. The room was clean, but had no other furniture
+than a matras, a table with a crucifix and book, a stool which she
+gave me to sit on, and a picture over the chimney of Saint Veronica
+displaying her handkerchief, with the miraculous figure of Christ's
+bleeding face on it,[46] which she explained to me with great
+seriousness. She look'd pale, but was never sick; and I give it as
+another instance on how small an income, life and health may be
+supported.
+
+At Watts's printing-house I contracted an acquaintance with an
+ingenious young man, one Wygate, who, having wealthy relations, had
+been better educated than most printers; was a tolerable Latinist,
+spoke French, and lov'd reading. I taught him and a friend of his to
+swim at twice going into the river, and they soon became good
+swimmers. They introduc'd me to some gentlemen from the country, who
+went to Chelsea by water to see the College and Don Saltero's
+curiosities.[47] In our return, at the request of the company, whose
+curiosity Wygate had excited, I stripped and leaped into the river,
+and swam from near Chelsea to Blackfriar's,[48] performing on the way
+many feats of activity, both upon and under water, that surpris'd and
+pleas'd those to whom they were novelties.
+
+    [46] The story is that she met Christ on His way to
+    crucifixion and offered Him her handkerchief to wipe the
+    blood from His face, after which the handkerchief always
+    bore the image of Christ's bleeding face.
+
+    [47] James Salter, a former servant of Hans Sloane, lived
+    in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. "His house, a barber-shop, was
+    known as 'Don Saltero's Coffee-House.' The curiosities
+    were in glass cases and constituted an amazing and
+    motley collection--a petrified crab from China, a
+    'lignified hog,' Job's tears, Madagascar lances, William
+    the Conqueror's flaming sword, and Henry the Eighth's
+    coat of mail."--Smyth.
+
+    [48] About three miles.
+
+I had from a child been ever delighted with this exercise, had studied
+and practis'd all Thevenot's motions and positions, added some of my
+own, aiming at the graceful and easy as well as the useful. All these
+I took this occasion of exhibiting to the company, and was much
+flatter'd by their admiration; and Wygate, who was desirous of
+becoming a master, grew more and more attach'd to me on that account,
+as well as from the similarity of our studies. He at length proposed
+to me traveling all over Europe together, supporting ourselves
+everywhere by working at our business. I was once inclined to it; but,
+mentioning it to my good friend Mr. Denham, with whom I often spent an
+hour when I had leisure, he dissuaded me from it, advising me to think
+only of returning to Pennsylvania, which he was now about to do.
+
+I must record one trait of this good man's character. He had formerly
+been in business at Bristol, but failed in debt to a number of people,
+compounded and went to America. There, by a close application to
+business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful fortune in a few
+years. Returning to England in the ship with me, he invited his old
+creditors to an entertainment, at which he thank'd them for the easy
+composition they had favoured him with, and, when they expected
+nothing but the treat, every man at the first remove found under his
+plate an order on a banker for the full amount of the unpaid
+remainder with interest.
+
+He now told me he was about to return to Philadelphia, and should
+carry over a great quantity of goods in order to open a store there.
+He propos'd to take me over as his clerk, to keep his books, in which
+he would instruct me, copy his letters, and attend the store. He
+added, that, as soon as I should be acquainted with mercantile
+business, he would promote me by sending me with a cargo of flour and
+bread, etc., to the West Indies, and procure me commissions from
+others which would be profitable; and, if I manag'd well, would
+establish me handsomely. The thing pleas'd me; for I was grown tired
+of London, remembered with pleasure the happy months I had spent in
+Pennsylvania, and wish'd again to see it; therefore I immediately
+agreed on the terms of fifty pounds a year,[49] Pennsylvania money;
+less, indeed, than my present gettings as a compositor, but affording
+a better prospect.
+
+    [49] About $167.
+
+I now took leave of printing, as I thought, forever, and was daily
+employed in my new business, going about with Mr. Denham among the
+tradesmen to purchase various articles, and seeing them pack'd up,
+doing errands, calling upon workmen to dispatch, etc.; and, when all
+was on board, I had a few days' leisure. On one of these days, I was,
+to my surprise, sent for by a great man I knew only by name, a Sir
+William Wyndham, and I waited upon him. He had heard by some means or
+other of my swimming from Chelsea to Blackfriars, and of my teaching
+Wygate and another young man to swim in a few hours. He had two sons,
+about to set out on their travels; he wish'd to have them first taught
+swimming, and proposed to gratify me handsomely if I would teach them.
+They were not yet come to town, and my stay was uncertain, so I could
+not undertake it; but, from this incident, I thought it likely that,
+if I were to remain in England and open a swimming-school, I might get
+a good deal of money; and it struck me so strongly, that, had the
+overture been sooner made me, probably I should not so soon have
+returned to America. After many years, you and I had something of more
+importance to do with one of these sons of Sir William Wyndham,
+become Earl of Egremont, which I shall mention in its place.
+
+Thus I spent about eighteen months in London; most part of the time I
+work'd hard at my business, and spent but little upon myself except in
+seeing plays and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me poor; he owed
+me about twenty-seven pounds, which I was now never likely to receive;
+a great sum out of my small earnings! I lov'd him, notwithstanding,
+for he had many amiable qualities. I had by no means improv'd my
+fortune; but I had picked up some very ingenious acquaintance, whose
+conversation was of great advantage to me; and I had read
+considerably.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+BEGINNING BUSINESS IN
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+We sail'd from Gravesend on the 23rd of July, 1726. For the incidents
+of the voyage, I refer you to my Journal, where you will find them all
+minutely related. Perhaps the most important part of that journal is
+the _plan_[50] to be found in it, which I formed at sea, for
+regulating my future conduct in life. It is the more remarkable, as
+being formed when I was so young, and yet being pretty faithfully
+adhered to quite thro' to old age.
+
+    [50] "Not found in the manuscript journal, which was left
+    among Franklin's papers."--Bigelow.
+
+We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, where I found sundry
+alterations. Keith was no longer governor, being superseded by Major
+Gordon. I met him walking the streets as a common citizen. He seem'd a
+little asham'd at seeing me, but pass'd without saying anything. I
+should have been as much asham'd at seeing Miss Read, had not her
+friends, despairing with reason of my return after the receipt of my
+letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a potter, which
+was done in my absence. With him, however, she was never happy, and
+soon parted from him, refusing to cohabit with him or bear his name,
+it being now said that he had another wife. He was a worthless fellow,
+tho' an excellent workman, which was the temptation to her friends. He
+got into debt, ran away in 1727 or 1728, went to the West Indies, and
+died there. Keimer had got a better house, a shop well supply'd with
+stationery, plenty of new types, a number of hands, tho' none good,
+and seem'd to have a great deal of business.
+
+Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street, where we open'd our goods; I
+attended the business diligently, studied accounts, and grew, in a
+little time, expert at selling. We lodg'd and boarded together; he
+counsell'd me as a father, having a sincere regard for me. I respected
+and loved him, and we might have gone on together very happy; but, in
+the beginning of February, 1726/7, when I had just pass'd my
+twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My distemper was a
+pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off. I suffered a good deal,
+gave up the point in my own mind, and was rather disappointed when I
+found myself recovering, regretting, in some degree, that I must now,
+some time or other, have all that disagreeable work to do over again.
+I forget what his distemper was; it held him a long time, and at
+length carried him off. He left me a small legacy in a nuncupative
+will, as a token of his kindness for me, and he left me once more to
+the wide world; for the store was taken into the care of his
+executors, and my employment under him ended.
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street"]
+
+My brother-in-law, Holmes, being now at Philadelphia, advised my
+return to my business; and Keimer tempted me, with an offer of large
+wages by the year, to come and take the management of his
+printing-house, that he might better attend his stationer's shop. I
+had heard a bad character of him in London from his wife and her
+friends, and was not fond of having any more to do with him. I tri'd
+for farther employment as a merchant's clerk; but, not readily meeting
+with any, I clos'd again with Keimer. I found in his house these
+hands: Hugh Meredith, a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of age, bred
+to country work; honest, sensible, had a great deal of solid
+observation, was something of a reader, but given to drink. Stephen
+Potts, a young countryman of full age, bred to the same, of uncommon
+natural parts, and great wit and humor, but a little idle. These he
+had agreed with at extream low wages per week to be rais'd a shilling
+every three months, as they would deserve by improving in their
+business; and the expectation of these high wages, to come on
+hereafter, was what he had drawn them in with. Meredith was to work at
+press, Potts at book-binding, which he, by agreement, was to teach
+them, though he knew neither one nor t'other. John----, a wild
+Irishman, brought up to no business, whose service, for four
+years, Keimer had purchased from the captain of a ship; he, too, was
+to be made a pressman. George Webb, an Oxford scholar, whose time for
+four years he had likewise bought, intending him for a compositor, of
+whom more presently; and David Harry, a country boy, whom he had taken
+apprentice.
+
+I soon perceiv'd that the intention of engaging me at wages so much
+higher than he had been us'd to give, was, to have these raw, cheap
+hands form'd thro' me; and, as soon as I had instructed them, then
+they being all articled to him, he should be able to do without me. I
+went on, however, very chearfully, put his printing-house in order,
+which had been in great confusion, and brought his hands by degrees to
+mind their business and to do it better.
+
+It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in the situation of a
+bought servant. He was not more than eighteen years of age, and gave
+me this account of himself; that he was born in Gloucester, educated
+at a grammar-school there, had been distinguish'd among the scholars
+for some apparent superiority in performing his part, when they
+exhibited plays; belong'd to the Witty Club there, and had written
+some pieces in prose and verse, which were printed in the Gloucester
+newspapers; thence he was sent to Oxford; where he continued about a
+year, but not well satisfi'd, wishing of all things to see London, and
+become a player. At length, receiving his quarterly allowance of
+fifteen guineas, instead of discharging his debts he walk'd out of
+town, hid his gown in a furze bush, and footed it to London, where,
+having no friend to advise him, he fell into bad company, soon spent
+his guineas, found no means of being introduc'd among the players,
+grew necessitous, pawn'd his cloaths, and wanted bread. Walking the
+street very hungry, and not knowing what to do with himself, a crimp's
+bill[51] was put into his hand, offering immediate entertainment and
+encouragement to such as would bind themselves to serve in America. He
+went directly, sign'd the indentures, was put into the ship, and came
+over, never writing a line to acquaint his friends what was become of
+him. He was lively, witty, good-natur'd, and a pleasant companion, but
+idle, thoughtless, and imprudent to the last degree.
+
+    [51] A crimp was the agent of a shipping company. Crimps
+    were sometimes employed to decoy men into such service
+    as is here mentioned.
+
+John, the Irishman, soon ran away; with the rest I began to live very
+agreeably, for they all respected me the more, as they found Keimer
+incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learned something
+daily. We never worked on Saturday, that being Keimer's Sabbath, so I
+had two days for reading. My acquaintance with ingenious people in the
+town increased. Keimer himself treated me with great civility and
+apparent regard, and nothing now made me uneasy but my debt to Vernon,
+which I was yet unable to pay, being hitherto but a poor �conomist.
+He, however, kindly made no demand of it.
+
+Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no letter-founder
+in America; I had seen types cast at James's in London, but without
+much attention to the manner; however, I now contrived a mould, made
+use of the letters we had as puncheons, struck the mattrices in lead,
+and thus supply'd in a pretty tolerable way all deficiencies. I also
+engrav'd several things on occasion; I made the ink; I was
+warehouseman, and everything, and, in short, quite a fac-totum.
+
+But, however serviceable I might be, I found that my services became
+every day of less importance, as the other hands improv'd in the
+business; and, when Keimer paid my second quarter's wages, he let me
+know that he felt them too heavy, and thought I should make an
+abatement. He grew by degrees less civil, put on more of the master,
+frequently found fault, was captious, and seem'd ready for an
+outbreaking. I went on, nevertheless, with a good deal of patience,
+thinking that his encumber'd circumstances were partly the cause. At
+length a trifle snapt our connections; for, a great noise happening
+near the court-house, I put my head out of the window to see what was
+the matter. Keimer, being in the street, look'd up and saw me, call'd
+out to me in a loud voice and angry tone to mind my business, adding
+some reproachful words, that nettled me the more for their publicity,
+all the neighbours who were looking out on the same occasion being
+witnesses how I was treated. He came up immediately into the
+printing-house, continu'd the quarrel, high words pass'd on both
+sides, he gave me the quarter's warning we had stipulated, expressing
+a wish that he had not been oblig'd to so long a warning. I told him
+his wish was unnecessary, for I would leave him that instant; and so,
+taking my hat, walk'd out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I saw
+below, to take care of some things I left, and bring them to my
+lodgings.
+
+Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we talked my affair
+over. He had conceiv'd a great regard for me, and was very unwilling
+that I should leave the house while he remain'd in it. He dissuaded me
+from returning to my native country, which I began to think of; he
+reminded me that Keimer was in debt for all he possess'd; that his
+creditors began to be uneasy; that he kept his shop miserably, sold
+often without profit for ready money, and often trusted without
+keeping accounts; that he must therefore fail, which would make a
+vacancy I might profit of. I objected my want of money. He then let me
+know that his father had a high opinion of me, and, from some
+discourse that had pass'd between them, he was sure would advance
+money to set us up, if I would enter into partnership with him. "My
+time," says he, "will be out with Keimer in the spring; by that time
+we may have our press and types in from London. I am sensible I am no
+workman; if you like it, your skill in the business shall be set
+against the stock I furnish, and we will share the profits equally."
+
+The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; his father was in town
+and approv'd of it; the more as he saw I had great influence with his
+son, had prevailed on him to abstain long from dram-drinking, and he
+hop'd might break him of that wretched habit entirely, when we came to
+be so closely connected. I gave an inventory to the father, who
+carry'd it to a merchant; the things were sent for, the secret was to
+be kept till they should arrive, and in the meantime I was to get
+work, if I could, at the other printing-house. But I found no vacancy
+there, and so remained idle a few days, when Keimer, on a prospect of
+being employ'd to print some paper money in New Jersey, which would
+require cuts and various types that I only could supply, and
+apprehending Bradford might engage me and get the jobb from him, sent
+me a very civil message, that old friends should not part for a few
+words, the effect of sudden passion, and wishing me to return.
+Meredith persuaded me to comply, as it would give more opportunity for
+his improvement under my daily instructions; so I return'd, and we
+went on more smoothly than for some time before. The New Jersey jobb
+was obtained, I contriv'd a copperplate press for it, the first that
+had been seen in the country; I cut several ornaments and checks for
+the bills. We went together to Burlington, where I executed the whole
+to satisfaction; and he received so large a sum for the work as to be
+enabled thereby to keep his head much longer above water.
+
+At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many principal people of the
+province. Several of them had been appointed by the Assembly a
+committee to attend the press, and take care that no more bills were
+printed than the law directed. They were therefore, by turns,
+constantly with us, and generally he who attended, brought with him a
+friend or two for company. My mind having been much more improv'd by
+reading than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that reason my
+conversation seem'd to be more valu'd. They had me to their houses,
+introduced me to their friends, and show'd me much civility; while he,
+tho' the master, was a little neglected. In truth, he was an odd fish;
+ignorant of common life, fond of rudely opposing receiv'd opinions,
+slovenly to extream dirtiness, enthusiastic in some points of
+religion, and a little knavish withal.
+
+We continu'd there near three months; and by that time I could reckon
+among my acquired friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary
+of the Province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several of the
+Smiths, members of Assembly, and Isaac Decow, the surveyor-general.
+The latter was a shrewd, sagacious old man, who told me that he began
+for himself, when young, by wheeling clay for brick-makers, learned to
+write after he was of age, carri'd the chain for surveyors, who taught
+him surveying, and he had now by his industry, acquir'd a good
+estate; and says he, "I foresee that you will soon work this man out
+of his business, and make a fortune in it at Philadelphia." He had not
+then the least intimation of my intention to set up there or anywhere.
+These friends were afterwards of great use to me, as I occasionally
+was to some of them. They all continued their regard for me as long as
+they lived.
+
+Before I enter upon my public appearance in business, it may be well
+to let you know the then state of my mind with regard to my principles
+and morals, that you may see how far those influenc'd the future
+events of my life. My parents had early given me religious
+impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the
+Dissenting way. But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by
+turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different
+books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books
+against Deism[52] fell into my hands; they were said to be the
+substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that
+they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by
+them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be
+refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short,
+I soon became a thorough Deist. My arguments perverted some others,
+particularly Collins and Ralph; but, each of them having afterwards
+wrong'd me greatly without the least compunction, and recollecting
+Keith's conduct towards me (who was another free-thinker), and my own
+towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me great trouble, I
+began to suspect that this doctrine, tho' it might be true, was not
+very useful. My London pamphlet, which had for its motto these lines
+of Dryden:[53]
+
+  "Whatever is, is right. Though purblind man
+   Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest link:
+   His eyes not carrying to the equal beam,
+   That poises all above;"
+
+and from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness and
+power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world,
+and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things
+existing, appear'd now not so clever a performance as I once thought
+it; and I doubted whether some error had not insinuated itself
+unperceiv'd into my argument, so as to infect all that follow'd, as is
+common in metaphysical reasonings.
+
+    [52] The creed of an eighteenth century theological sect
+    which, while believing in God, refused to credit the
+    possibility of miracles and to acknowledge the validity
+    of revelation.
+
+    [53] A great English poet, dramatist, and critic
+    (1631-1700). The lines are inaccurately quoted from
+    Dryden's OEdipus, Act III, Scene I, line 293.
+
+I grew convinc'd that _truth_, _sincerity_ and _integrity_ in dealings
+between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of
+life; and I form'd written resolutions, which still remain in my
+journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had
+indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertain'd an opinion that,
+though certain actions might not be bad _because_ they were forbidden
+by it, or good _because_ it commanded them, yet probably these actions
+might be forbidden _because_ they were bad for us, or commanded
+_because_ they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the
+circumstances of things considered. And this persuasion, with the kind
+hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or accidental favourable
+circumstances and situations, or all together, preserved me, thro'
+this dangerous time of youth, and the hazardous situations I was
+sometimes in among strangers, remote from the eye and advice of my
+father, without any willful gross immorality or injustice, that might
+have been expected from my want of religion. I say willful, because
+the instances I have mentioned had something of _necessity_ in them,
+from my youth, inexperience, and the knavery of others. I had
+therefore a tolerable character to begin the world with; I valued it
+properly, and determin'd to preserve it.
+
+We had not been long return'd to Philadelphia before the new types
+arriv'd from London. We settled with Keimer, and left him by his
+consent before he heard of it. We found a house to hire near the
+market, and took it. To lessen the rent, which was then but
+twenty-four pounds a year, tho' I have since known it to let for
+seventy, we took in Thomas Godfrey, a glazier, and his family, who
+were to pay a considerable part of it to us, and we to board with
+them. We had scarce opened our letters and put our press in order,
+before George House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a countryman to
+us, whom he had met in the street inquiring for a printer. All our
+cash was now expended in the variety of particulars we had been
+obliged to procure, and this countryman's five shillings, being our
+first-fruits, and coming so seasonably, gave me more pleasure than any
+crown I have since earned; and the gratitude I felt toward House has
+made me often more ready than perhaps I should otherwise have been to
+assist young beginners.
+
+There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin. Such a
+one then lived in Philadelphia; a person of note, an elderly man, with
+a wise look and a very grave manner of speaking; his name was Samuel
+Mickle. This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopt one day at my door,
+and asked me if I was the young man who had lately opened a new
+printing-house. Being answered in the affirmative, he said he was
+sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertaking, and the expense
+would be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking place, the people
+already half-bankrupts, or near being so; all appearances to the
+contrary, such as new buildings and the rise of rents, being to his
+certain knowledge fallacious; for they were, in fact, among the things
+that would soon ruin us. And he gave me such a detail of misfortunes
+now existing, or that were soon to exist, that he left me half
+melancholy. Had I known him before I engaged in this business,
+probably I never should have done it. This man continued to live in
+this decaying place, and to declaim in the same strain, refusing for
+many years to buy a house there, because all was going to
+destruction; and at last I had the pleasure of seeing him give five
+times as much for one as he might have bought it for when he first
+began his croaking.
+
+I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding
+year, I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of
+mutual improvement, which was called the Junto;[54] we met on Friday
+evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his
+turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals,
+Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and
+once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on
+any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of
+a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry
+after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and,
+to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or
+direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and
+prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.
+
+    [54] A Spanish term meaning a combination for political
+    intrigue; here a club or society.
+
+The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copyer of deeds for the
+scriveners, a good-natur'd, friendly middle-ag'd man, a great lover
+of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some that was
+tolerable; very ingenious in many little Nicknackeries, and of
+sensible conversation.
+
+Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great in his way, and
+afterward inventor of what is now called Hadley's Quadrant. But he
+knew little out of his way, and was not a pleasing companion; as, like
+most great mathematicians I have met with, he expected universal
+precision in everything said, or was forever denying or distinguishing
+upon trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. He soon left us.
+
+Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterwards surveyor-general, who lov'd
+books, and sometimes made a few verses.
+
+William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but, loving reading, had acquir'd a
+considerable share of mathematics, which he first studied with a view
+to astrology, that he afterwards laught at it. He also became
+surveyor-general.
+
+William Maugridge, a joiner, a most exquisite mechanic, and a solid,
+sensible man.
+
+Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb I have characteriz'd
+before.
+
+Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, generous, lively, and
+witty; a lover of punning and of his friends.
+
+And William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, about my age, who had
+the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the exactest morals of
+almost any man I ever met with. He became afterwards a merchant of
+great note, and one of our provincial judges. Our friendship continued
+without interruption to his death, upwards of forty years; and the
+club continued almost as long, and was the best school of philosophy,
+morality, and politics that then existed in the province; for our
+queries, which were read the week preceding their discussion, put us
+upon reading with attention upon the several subjects, that we might
+speak more to the purpose; and here, too, we acquired better habits of
+conversation, everything being studied in our rules which might
+prevent our disgusting each other. From hence the long continuance of
+the club, which I shall have frequent occasion to speak further of
+hereafter.
+
+But my giving this account of it here is to show something of the
+interest I had, everyone of these exerting themselves in recommending
+business to us. Breintnal particularly procur'd us from the Quakers
+the printing forty sheets of their history, the rest being to be done
+by Keimer; and upon this we work'd exceedingly hard, for the price was
+low. It was a folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long primer
+notes.[55] I compos'd of it a sheet a day, and Meredith worked it off
+at press; it was often eleven at night, and sometimes later, before I
+had finished my distribution for the next day's work, for the little
+jobbs sent in by our other friends now and then put us back. But so
+determin'd I was to continue doing a sheet a day of the folio, that
+one night, when, having impos'd[56] my forms, I thought my day's work
+over, one of them by accident was broken, and two pages reduced to
+pi,[57] I immediately distribut'd and composed it over again before I
+went to bed; and this industry, visible to our neighbors, began to
+give us character and credit; particularly, I was told, that mention
+being made of the new printing-office at the merchants' Every-night
+club, the general opinion was that it must fail, there being already
+two printers in the place, Keimer and Bradford; but Dr. Baird (whom
+you and I saw many years after at his native place, St. Andrew's in
+Scotland) gave a contrary opinion: "For the industry of that
+Franklin," says he, "is superior to anything I ever saw of the kind; I
+see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is at work
+again before his neighbors are out of bed." This struck the rest, and
+we soon after had offers from one of them to supply us with
+stationery; but as yet we did not chuse to engage in shop business.
+
+    [55] A sheet 8-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches, having the words
+    _pro patria_ in translucent letters in the body of the
+    paper. Pica--a size of type; as, A B C D: Long Primer--a
+    smaller size of type; as, A B C D.
+
+    [56] To arrange and lock up pages or columns of type in a
+    rectangular iron frame, ready for printing.
+
+    [57] Reduced to complete disorder.
+
+I mention this industry the more particularly and the more freely,
+tho' it seems to be talking in my own praise, that those of my
+posterity, who shall read it, may know the use of that virtue, when
+they see its effects in my favour throughout this relation.
+
+George Webb, who had found a female friend that lent him wherewith to
+purchase his time of Keimer, now came to offer himself as a
+journeyman to us. We could not then employ him; but I foolishly let
+him know as a secret that I soon intended to begin a newspaper, and
+might then have work for him. My hopes of success, as I told him, were
+founded on this, that the then only newspaper, printed by Bradford,
+was a paltry thing, wretchedly manag'd, no way entertaining, and yet
+was profitable to him; I therefore thought a good paper would scarcely
+fail of good encouragement. I requested Webb not to mention it; but he
+told it to Keimer, who immediately, to be beforehand with me,
+published proposals for printing one himself, on which Webb was to be
+employ'd. I resented this; and, to counteract them, as I could not yet
+begin our paper, I wrote several pieces of entertainment for
+Bradford's paper, under the title of the Busy Body, which Breintnal
+continu'd some months. By this means the attention of the publick was
+fixed on that paper, and Keimer's proposals, which we burlesqu'd and
+ridicul'd, were disregarded. He began his paper, however, and, after
+carrying it on three quarters of a year, with at most only ninety
+subscribers, he offered it to me for a trifle; and I, having been
+ready some time to go on with it, took it in hand directly; and it
+prov'd in a few years extremely profitable to me.
+
+I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular number, though our
+partnership still continu'd; the reason may be that, in fact, the
+whole management of the business lay upon me. Meredith was no
+compositor, a poor pressman, and seldom sober. My friends lamented my
+connection with him, but I was to make the best of it.
+
+[Illustration: "I see him still at work when I go home from club"]
+
+Our first papers made a quite different appearance from any before in
+the province; a better type, and better printed; but some spirited
+remarks of my writing, on the dispute then going on between Governor
+Burnet and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the principal people,
+occasioned the paper and the manager of it to be much talk'd of, and
+in a few weeks brought them all to be our subscribers.
+
+Their example was follow'd by many, and our number went on growing
+continually. This was one of the first good effects of my having
+learnt a little to scribble; another was, that the leading men, seeing
+a newspaper now in the hands of one who could also handle a pen,
+thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me. Bradford still
+printed the votes, and laws, and other publick business. He had
+printed an address of the House to the governor, in a coarse,
+blundering manner; we reprinted it elegantly and correctly, and sent
+one to every member. They were sensible of the difference: it
+strengthened the hands of our friends in the House, and they voted us
+their printers for the year ensuing.
+
+Among my friends in the House I must not forget Mr. Hamilton, before
+mentioned, who was then returned from England, and had a seat in it.
+He interested himself for me strongly in that instance, as he did in
+many others afterward, continuing his patronage till his death.[58]
+
+    [58] I got his son once �500.--_Marg. note_.
+
+Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of the debt I ow'd him,
+but did not press me. I wrote him an ingenuous letter of
+acknowledgment, crav'd his forbearance a little longer, which he
+allow'd me, and as soon as I was able, I paid the principal with
+interest, and many thanks; so that erratum was in some degree
+corrected.
+
+But now another difficulty came upon me which I had never the least
+reason to expect. Mr. Meredith's father, who was to have paid for our
+printing-house, according to the expectations given me, was able to
+advance only one hundred pounds currency, which had been paid; and a
+hundred more was due to the merchant, who grew impatient, and su'd us
+all. We gave bail, but saw that, if the money could not be rais'd in
+time, the suit must soon come to a judgment and execution, and our
+hopeful prospects must, with us, be ruined, as the press and letters
+must be sold for payment, perhaps at half price.
+
+In this distress two true friends, whose kindness I have never
+forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remember any thing, came
+to me separately, unknown to each other, and, without any application
+from me, offering each of them to advance me all the money that should
+be necessary to enable me to take the whole business upon myself, if
+that should be practicable; but they did not like my continuing the
+partnership with Meredith, who, as they said, was often seen drunk in
+the streets, and playing at low games in alehouses, much to our
+discredit. These two friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace. I
+told them I could not propose a separation while any prospect remain'd
+of the Meredith's fulfilling their part of our agreement, because I
+thought myself under great obligations to them for what they had done,
+and would do if they could; but, if they finally fail'd in their
+performance, and our partnership must be dissolv'd, I should then
+think myself at liberty to accept the assistance of my friends.
+
+Thus the matter rested for some time, when I said to my partner,
+"Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you have undertaken
+in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for you and me
+what he would for you alone. If that is the case, tell me, and I will
+resign the whole to you, and go about my business." "No," said he, "my
+father has really been disappointed, and is really unable; and I am
+unwilling to distress him farther. I see this is a business I am not
+fit for. I was bred a farmer, and it was a folly in me to come to
+town, and put myself, at thirty years of age, an apprentice to learn a
+new trade. Many of our Welsh people are going to settle in North
+Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclin'd to go with them, and
+follow my old employment. You may find friends to assist you. If you
+will take the debts of the company upon you; return to my father the
+hundred pounds he has advanced; pay my little personal debts, and give
+me thirty pounds and a new saddle, I will relinquish the partnership,
+and leave the whole in your hands." I agreed to this proposal: it was
+drawn up in writing, sign'd, and seal'd immediately. I gave him what
+he demanded, and he went soon after to Carolina, from whence he sent
+me next year two long letters, containing the best account that had
+been given of that country, the climate, the soil, husbandry, etc.,
+for in those matters he was very judicious. I printed them in the
+papers, and they gave great satisfaction to the publick.
+
+As soon as he was gone, I recurr'd to my two friends; and because I
+would not give an unkind preference to either, I took half of what
+each had offered and I wanted of one, and half of the other; paid off
+the company's debts, and went on with the business in my own name,
+advertising that the partnership was dissolved. I think this was in or
+about the year 1729.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FIRST
+PUBLIC SERVICE
+
+
+About this time there was a cry among the people for more paper money,
+only fifteen thousand pounds being extant in the province, and that
+soon to be sunk.[59] The wealthy inhabitants oppos'd any addition,
+being against all paper currency, from an apprehension that it would
+depreciate, as it had done in New England, to the prejudice of all
+creditors. We had discuss'd this point in our Junto, where I was on
+the side of an addition, being persuaded that the first small sum
+struck in 1723 had done much good by increasing the trade, employment,
+and number of inhabitants in the province, since I now saw all the old
+houses inhabited, and many new ones building: whereas I remembered
+well, that when I first walk'd about the streets of Philadelphia,
+eating my roll, I saw most of the houses in Walnut Street, between
+Second and Front streets,[60] with bills on their doors, "To be let";
+and many likewise in Chestnut-street and other streets, which made me
+then think the inhabitants of the city were deserting it one after
+another.
+
+    [59] Recalled to be redeemed.
+
+    [60] This part of Philadelphia is now the center of the
+    wholesale business district.
+
+Our debates possess'd me so fully of the subject, that I wrote and
+printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, entitled "_The Nature and
+Necessity of a Paper Currency_." It was well receiv'd by the common
+people in general; but the rich men dislik'd it, for it increas'd and
+strengthen'd the clamor for more money, and they happening to have no
+writers among them that were able to answer it, their opposition
+slacken'd, and the point was carried by a majority in the House. My
+friends there, who conceiv'd I had been of some service, thought fit
+to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable
+jobb and a great help to me. This was another advantage gain'd by my
+being able to write.
+
+The utility of this currency became by time and experience so evident
+as never afterwards to be much disputed; so that it grew soon to
+fifty-five thousand pounds, and in 1739 to eighty thousand pounds,
+since which it arose during war to upwards of three hundred and fifty
+thousand pounds, trade, building, and inhabitants all the while
+increasing, tho' I now think there are limits beyond which the
+quantity may be hurtful.[61]
+
+    [61] Paper money is a promise to pay its face value in
+    gold or silver. When a state or nation issues more such
+    promises than there is a likelihood of its being able to
+    redeem, the paper representing the promises depreciates
+    in value. Before the success of the Colonies in the
+    Revolution was assured, it took hundreds of dollars of
+    their paper money to buy a pair of boots.
+
+I soon after obtain'd, thro' my friend Hamilton, the printing of the
+Newcastle paper money, another profitable jobb as I then thought it;
+small things appearing great to those in small circumstances; and
+these, to me, were really great advantages, as they were great
+encouragements. He procured for me, also, the printing of the laws and
+votes of that government, which continu'd in my hands as long as I
+follow'd the business.
+
+I now open'd a little stationer's shop. I had in it blanks of all
+sorts, the correctest that ever appear'd among us, being assisted in
+that by my friend Breintnal. I had also paper, parchment, chapmen's
+books, etc. One Whitemash, a compositor I had known in London, an
+excellent workman, now came to me, and work'd with me constantly and
+diligently; and I took an apprentice, the son of Aquilla Rose.
+
+[Illustration: "I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the
+stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow"]
+
+I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was under for the
+printing-house. In order to secure my credit and character as a
+tradesman, I took care not only to be in _reality_ industrious and
+frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I drest plainly;
+I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing
+or shooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauch'd me from my work, but
+that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and, to show that I was
+not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd
+at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem'd
+an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought,
+the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others
+proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the
+meantime, Keimer's credit and business declining daily, he was at last
+forc'd to sell his printing-house to satisfy his creditors. He went to
+Barbadoes, and there lived some years in very poor circumstances.
+
+His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed while I work'd with
+him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having bought his materials.
+I was at first apprehensive of a powerful rival in Harry, as his
+friends were very able, and had a good deal of interest. I therefore
+propos'd a partnership to him, which he, fortunately for me, rejected
+with scorn. He was very proud, dress'd like a gentleman, liv'd
+expensively, took much diversion and pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and
+neglected his business; upon which, all business left him; and,
+finding nothing to do, he followed Keimer to Barbadoes, taking the
+printing-house with him. There this apprentice employ'd his former
+master as a journeyman; they quarrell'd often; Harry went continually
+behindhand, and at length was forc'd to sell his types and return to
+his country work in Pennsylvania. The person that bought them employ'd
+Keimer to use them, but in a few years he died.
+
+There remained now no competitor with me at Philadelphia but the old
+one, Bradford; who was rich and easy, did a little printing now and
+then by straggling hands, but was not very anxious about the business.
+However, as he kept the post-office, it was imagined he had better
+opportunities of obtaining news; his paper was thought a better
+distributer of advertisements than mine, and therefore had many more,
+which was a profitable thing to him, and a disadvantage to me; for,
+tho' I did indeed receive and send papers by the post, yet the publick
+opinion was otherwise, for what I did send was by bribing the riders,
+who took them privately, Bradford being unkind enough to forbid it,
+which occasion'd some resentment on my part; and I thought so meanly
+of him for it, that, when I afterward came into his situation, I took
+care never to imitate it.
+
+I had hitherto continu'd to board with Godfrey, who lived in part of
+my house with his wife and children, and had one side of the shop for
+his glazier's business, tho' he worked little, being always absorbed
+in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected a match for me with a
+relation's daughter, took opportunities of bringing us often together,
+till a serious courtship on my part ensu'd, the girl being in herself
+very deserving. The old folks encourag'd me by continual invitations
+to supper, and by leaving us together, till at length it was time to
+explain. Mrs. Godfrey manag'd our little treaty. I let her know that I
+expected as much money with their daughter as would pay off my
+remaining debt for the printing-house, which I believe was not then
+above a hundred pounds. She brought me word they had no such sum to
+spare; I said they might mortgage their house in the loan-office. The
+answer to this, after some days, was, that they did not approve the
+match; that, on inquiry of Bradford, they had been informed the
+printing business was not a profitable one; the types would soon be
+worn out, and more wanted; that S. Keimer and D. Harry had failed one
+after the other, and I should probably soon follow them; and,
+therefore, I was forbidden the house, and the daughter shut up.
+
+Whether this was a real change of sentiment or only artifice, on a
+supposition of our being too far engaged in affection to retract, and
+therefore that we should steal a marriage, which would leave them at
+liberty to give or withhold what they pleas'd, I know not; but I
+suspected the latter, resented it, and went no more. Mrs. Godfrey
+brought me afterward some more favorable accounts of their
+disposition, and would have drawn me on again; but I declared
+absolutely my resolution to have nothing more to do with that family.
+This was resented by the Godfreys; we differed, and they removed,
+leaving me the whole house, and I resolved to take no more inmates.
+
+But this affair having turned my thoughts to marriage, I look'd round
+me and made overtures of acquaintance in other places; but soon found
+that, the business of a printer being generally thought a poor one, I
+was not to expect money with a wife, unless with such a one as I
+should not otherwise think agreeable. A friendly correspondence as
+neighbours and old acquaintances had continued between me and Mrs.
+Read's family, who all had a regard for me from the time of my first
+lodging in their house. I was often invited there and consulted in
+their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of service. I piti'd poor Miss
+Read's unfortunate situation, who was generally dejected, seldom
+chearful, and avoided company. I considered my giddiness and
+inconstancy when in London as in a great degree the cause of her
+unhappiness, tho' the mother was good enough to think the fault more
+her own than mine, as she had prevented our marrying before I went
+thither, and persuaded the other match in my absence. Our mutual
+affection was revived, but there were now great objections to our
+union. The match was indeed looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife
+being said to be living in England; but this could not easily be
+prov'd, because of the distance; and, tho' there was a report of his
+death, it was not certain. Then, tho' it should be true, he had left
+many debts, which his successor might be call'd upon to pay. We
+ventured, however, over all these difficulties, and I took her to
+wife, September 1st, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened that we
+had apprehended; she proved a good and faithful helpmate,[62] assisted
+me much by attending the shop; we throve together, and have ever
+mutually endeavour'd to make each other happy. Thus I corrected that
+great _erratum_ as well as I could.
+
+    [62] Mrs. Franklin survived her marriage over forty
+    years. Franklin's correspondence abounds with evidence
+    that their union was a happy one. "We are grown old
+    together, and if she has any faults, I am so used to
+    them that I don't perceive them." The following is a
+    stanza from one of Franklin's own songs written for the
+    Junto:
+
+      "Of their Chloes and Phyllises poets may prate,
+         I sing my plain country Joan,
+       These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my life,
+         Blest day that I made her my own."
+
+About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, but in a little
+room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that purpose, a proposition was
+made by me, that, since our books were often referr'd to in our
+disquisitions upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have
+them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be
+consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we
+should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the
+advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be
+nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole. It was lik'd and
+agreed to, and we fill'd one end of the room with such books as we
+could best spare. The number was not so great as we expected; and tho'
+they had been of great use, yet some inconveniences occurring for want
+of due care of them, the collection, after about a year, was
+separated, and each took his books home again.
+
+And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a
+subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form
+by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of my friends in
+the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin
+with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company
+was to continue. We afterwards obtain'd a charter, the company being
+increased to one hundred: this was the mother of all the North
+American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It is become a great
+thing itself, and continually increasing. These libraries have
+improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common
+tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other
+countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so
+generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their
+privileges.[63]
+
+_Mem�._ Thus far was written with the intention express'd in the
+beginning and therefore contains several little family anecdotes of no
+importance to others. What follows was written many years after in
+compliance with the advice contain'd in these letters, and accordingly
+intended for the public. The affairs of the Revolution occasion'd the
+interruption.[64]
+
+    [63] Here the first part of the _Autobiography_, written
+    at Twyford in 1771, ends. The second part, which
+    follows, was written at Passy in 1784.
+
+    [64] After this memorandum, Franklin inserted letters
+    from Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan, urging him to
+    continue his _Autobiography_.
+
+[_Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near Paris,
+1784._]
+
+It is some time since I receiv'd the above letters, but I have been
+too busy till now to think of complying with the request they contain.
+It might, too, be much better done if I were at home among my papers,
+which would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates; but my return
+being uncertain, and having just now a little leisure, I will
+endeavour to recollect and write what I can; if I live to get home, it
+may there be corrected and improv'd.
+
+Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not
+whether an account is given of the means I used to establish the
+Philadelphia public library, which, from a small beginning, is now
+become so considerable, though I remember to have come down to near
+the time of that transaction (1730). I will therefore begin here with
+an account of it, which may be struck out if found to have been
+already given.
+
+At the time I establish'd myself in Pennsylvania, there was not a good
+bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston.
+In New York and Philad'a the printers were indeed stationers; they
+sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common
+school-books. Those who lov'd reading were obliged to send for their
+books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had
+left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our
+club in. I propos'd that we should all of us bring our books to that
+room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our
+conferences, but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty
+to borrow such as he wish'd to read at home. This was accordingly
+done, and for some time contented us.
+
+Finding the advantage of this little collection, I propos'd to render
+the benefit from books more common, by commencing a public
+subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would
+be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to
+put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed, by
+which each subscriber engag'd to pay a certain sum down for the first
+purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So
+few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of
+us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry, to find more
+than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for
+this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On
+this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was
+opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their
+promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The
+institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns,
+and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations;
+reading became fashionable; and our people, having no publick
+amusements to divert their attention from study, became better
+acquainted with books, and in a few years were observ'd by strangers
+to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same
+rank generally are in other countries.
+
+When we were about to sign the above mentioned articles, which were
+to be binding on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden,
+the scrivener, said to us, "You are young men, but it is scarcely
+probable that any of you will live to see the expiration of the term
+fix'd in the instrument." A number of us, however, are yet living; but
+the instrument was after a few years rendered null by a charter that
+incorporated and gave perpetuity to the company.
+
+The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the
+subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's
+self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be suppos'd to
+raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's
+neighbours, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that
+project. I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and
+stated it as a scheme of a _number of friends_, who had requested me
+to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading.
+In this way my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after
+practis'd it on such occasions; and, from my frequent successes, can
+heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity
+will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to
+whom the merit belongs, someone more vain than yourself will be
+encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you
+justice by plucking those assumed feathers, and restoring them to
+their right owner.
+
+This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study,
+for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repair'd in
+some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended
+for me. Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no
+time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in
+my business continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was
+indebted for my printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be
+educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers, who
+were established in the place before me. My circumstances, however,
+grew daily easier. My original habits of frugality continuing, and my
+father having, among his instructions to me when a boy, frequently
+repeated a proverb of Solomon, "Seest thou a man diligent in his
+calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean
+men," I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth
+and distinction, which encourag'd me, tho' I did not think that I
+should ever literally _stand before kings_, which, however, has since
+happened; for I have stood before _five_, and even had the honor of
+sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.
+
+We have an English proverb that says, "_He that would thrive, must ask
+his wife_." It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to
+industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me chearfully in my
+business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing
+old linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle
+servants, our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the
+cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long time break and milk
+(no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a
+pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families, and make a
+progress, in spite of principle: being call'd one morning to
+breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon of silver! They
+had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost
+her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had
+no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought _her_ husband
+deserv'd a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his
+neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China in our
+house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increas'd,
+augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.
+
+I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and though some of
+the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the _eternal decrees of God_,
+_election_, _reprobation_, _etc._, appeared to me unintelligible,
+others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public
+assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was
+without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the
+existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his
+Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good
+to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be
+punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I
+esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in
+all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho'
+with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd
+with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote,
+or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us, and make us
+unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an opinion that
+the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid all discourse
+that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his
+own religion; and as our province increas'd in people, and new places
+of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary
+contribution, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect,
+was never refused.
+
+Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of
+its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I
+regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only
+Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to
+visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonished me to attend his
+administrations, and I was now and then prevail'd on to do so, once
+for five Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion a good
+preacher, perhaps I might have continued,[65] notwithstanding the
+occasion I had for the Sunday's leisure in my course of study; but his
+discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of
+the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very dry,
+uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was
+inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be rather to make us
+Presbyterians than good citizens.
+
+    [65] Franklin expressed a different view about the duty
+    of attending church later.
+
+At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth chapter of
+Philippians, "_Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest,
+just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any virtue, or any
+praise, think on these things._" And I imagin'd, in a sermon on such a
+text, we could not miss of having some morality. But he confin'd
+himself to five points only, as meant by the apostle, viz.: 1. Keeping
+holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy
+Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the publick worship. 4. Partaking of the
+Sacrament. 5. Paying a due respect to God's ministers. These might be
+all good things; but, as they were not the kind of good things that I
+expected from that text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from
+any other, was disgusted, and attended his preaching no more. I had
+some years before compos'd a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my
+own private use (viz., in 1728), entitled, _Articles of Belief and
+Acts of Religion_. I return'd to the use of this, and went no more to
+the public assemblies. My conduct might be blameable, but I leave it,
+without attempting further to excuse it; my present purpose being to
+relate facts, and not to make apologies for them.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+PLAN FOR ATTAINING MORAL
+PERFECTION
+
+
+It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of
+arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any
+fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural
+inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or
+thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might
+not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had
+undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined.[66] While my
+care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised
+by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was
+sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere
+speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely
+virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the
+contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and
+established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform
+rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the
+following method.
+
+    [66] Compare Philippians iv, 8.
+
+In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my
+reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different
+writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance,
+for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by
+others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure,
+appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our
+avarice and ambition. I propos'd to myself, for the sake of clearness,
+to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annex'd to each, than a few
+names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues
+all that at that time occurr'd to me as necessary or desirable, and
+annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I
+gave to its meaning.
+
+These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
+
+1. Temperance.
+
+Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
+
+2. Silence.
+
+Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling
+conversation.
+
+3. Order.
+
+Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business
+have its time.
+
+4. Resolution.
+
+Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you
+resolve.
+
+5. Frugality.
+
+Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; _i. e._, waste
+nothing.
+
+6. INDUSTRY.
+
+Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all
+unnecessary actions.
+
+7. Sincerity.
+
+Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you speak,
+speak accordingly.
+
+8. Justice.
+
+Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your
+duty.
+
+9. Moderation.
+
+Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they
+deserve.
+
+10. Cleanliness.
+
+Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
+
+11. Tranquillity.
+
+Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
+
+12. Chastity.
+
+Rarely use venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation.
+
+13. Humility.
+
+Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
+
+My intention being to acquire the _habitude_ of all these virtues, I
+judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the
+whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I
+should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till
+I should have gone thro' the thirteen; and, as the previous
+acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain
+others, I arrang'd them with that view, as they stand above.
+Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness
+of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept
+up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient
+habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir'd
+and establish'd, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to
+gain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in virtue, and
+considering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use of
+the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I
+was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me
+acceptable to trifling company, I gave _Silence_ the second place.
+This and the next, _Order_, I expected would allow me more time for
+attending to my project and my studies. _Resolution_, once become
+habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavours to obtain all the
+subsequent virtues; _Frugality_ and Industry freeing me from my
+remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make
+more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving
+then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras[67] in his Golden
+Verses, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the
+following method for conducting that examination.
+
+I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the
+virtues.[68] I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven
+columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a
+letter for the day. I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines,
+marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the
+virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a
+little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been
+committed respecting that virtue upon that day.
+
+    [67] A famous Greek philosopher, who lived about 582-500
+    B. C. The _Golden Verses_ here ascribed to him are
+    probably of later origin. "The time which he recommends
+    for this work is about even or bed-time, that we may
+    conclude the action of the day with the judgment of
+    conscience, making the examination of our conversation
+    an evening song to God."
+
+    [68] This "little book" is dated July 1, 1733.--W. T. F.
+
+_Form of the pages._
+
+TEMPERANCE.
+
+EAT NOT TO DULLNESS.
+DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION.
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+|              TEMPERANCE.              |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+|          EAT NOT TO DULLNESS.         |
+|        DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION.        |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+|    | S. | M. | T. | W. | T. | F. | S. |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| T. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| S. |  * |  * |    |  * |    |  * |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| O. | ** |  * |  * |    |  * |  * |  * |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| R. |    |    |  * |    |    |  * |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| F. |    |  * |    |    |  * |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| I. |    |    |  * |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| S. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| J. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| M. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| C. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| T. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| C. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+
+I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues
+successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid
+every the least offense against _Temperance_, leaving the other
+virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the
+faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first
+line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit of that virtue so
+much strengthen'd, and its opposite weaken'd, that I might venture
+extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week
+keep both lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could
+go thro' a course compleat in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a
+year. And like him who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to
+eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and
+his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having
+accomplish'd the first, proceeds to a second, so I should have, I
+hoped, the encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I
+made in virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till
+in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a
+clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination.
+
+This my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's
+_Cato_:
+
+  "Here will I hold. If there's a power above us
+   (And that there is, all nature cries aloud
+   Thro' all her works), He must delight in virtue;
+   And that which he delights in must be happy."
+
+Another from Cicero,
+
+"O vit� Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque
+vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex pr�ceptis tuis
+actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus."[69]
+
+    [69] "O philosophy, guide of life! O searcher out of
+    virtue and exterminator of vice! One day spent well and
+    in accordance with thy precepts is worth an immortality
+    of sin."--_Tusculan Inquiries_, Book V.
+
+Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or virtue:
+
+"Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand
+riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
+and all her paths are peace." iii. 16, 17.
+
+And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right
+and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end
+I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables
+of examination, for daily use.
+
+"_O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful
+Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my
+truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what
+that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other
+children as the only return in my power for thy continual
+favours to me_."
+
+I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
+Poems, viz.:
+
+  "Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
+   O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
+   Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
+   From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
+   With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
+   Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"
+
+The precept of _Order_ requiring that _every part of my business
+should have its allotted time_, one page in my little book contain'd
+the following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a
+natural day.
+
+                            { 5}  Rise, wash, and address
+                            { 6}  _Powerful Goodness_!
+The Morning.                {  }  Contrive day's
+_Question._ What good       {  }  business, and take the
+shall I do this day?        {  }  resolution of the day;
+                            { 7}  prosecute the present
+                            {  }  study, and breakfast.
+
+                              8}
+                              9}  Work.
+                             10}
+                             11}
+
+Noon.              {12}  Read, or overlook my
+                            { 1}  accounts, and dine.
+
+                              2}
+                              3}  Work.
+                              4}
+                              5}
+Evening.                    { 6} Put things in their
+_Question._ What good       { 7} places. Supper. Music
+have I done to-day?         { 8} or diversion, or conversation.
+                            { 9} Examination of
+                            {  } the day.
+
+
+Night.                      {10} Sleep.
+                            {11}
+                            {12}
+                            { 1}
+                            { 2}
+                            { 3}
+                            { 4}
+
+I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and
+continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was
+surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined;
+but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the
+trouble of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping
+out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in
+a new course, became full of holes, I transferr'd my tables and
+precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines
+were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines
+I mark'd my faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could
+easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I went thro' one
+course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till
+at length I omitted them entirely, being employ'd in voyages and
+business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I
+always carried my little book with me.
+
+My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble;[70] and I found that, tho'
+it might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave
+him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for
+instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who
+must mix with the world, and often receive people of business at their
+own hours. _Order_, too, with regard to places for things, papers,
+etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been early
+accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so
+sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article,
+therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it
+vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had
+such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the
+attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect,
+like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbour, desired to
+have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. The smith
+consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he
+turn'd, while the smith press'd the broad face of the ax hard and
+heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The
+man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went
+on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without farther
+grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on, turn on; we shall have it
+bright by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled." "Yes," says the man,
+"_but I think I like a speckled ax best_." And I believe this may have
+been the case with many, who, having, for want of some such means as I
+employ'd, found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad
+habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle,
+and concluded that "_a speckled ax was best_"; for something, that
+pretended to be reason, was every now and then suggesting to me that
+such extream nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind of foppery
+in morals, which, if it were known, would make me ridiculous; that a
+perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being
+envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults
+in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.
+
+[Illustration: "The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he
+would turn the wheel"]
+
+    [70] Professor McMaster tells us that when Franklin was
+    American Agent in France, his lack of business order was
+    a source of annoyance to his colleagues and friends.
+    "Strangers who came to see him were amazed to behold
+    papers of the greatest importance scattered in the most
+    careless way over the table and floor."
+
+In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I
+am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it.
+But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been
+so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the
+endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have
+been if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by
+imitating the engraved copies, tho' they never reach the wish'd-for
+excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavour, and
+is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.
+
+It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little
+artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor ow'd the constant
+felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, in which this is written.
+What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand of Providence;
+but, if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoy'd ought to
+help his bearing them with more resignation. To Temperance he ascribes
+his long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good
+constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of his
+circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge
+that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some
+degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the
+confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon
+him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues,[71]
+even in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that
+evenness of temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes
+his company still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger
+acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may
+follow the example and reap the benefit.
+
+    [71] While there can be no question that Franklin's moral
+    improvement and happiness were due to the practice of
+    these virtues, yet most people will agree that we shall
+    have to go back of his plan for the impelling motive to
+    a virtuous life. Franklin's own suggestion that the
+    scheme smacks of "foppery in morals" seems justified.
+    Woodrow Wilson well puts it: "Men do not take fire from
+    such thoughts, unless something deeper, which is missing
+    here, shine through them. What may have seemed to the
+    eighteenth century a system of morals seems to us
+    nothing more vital than a collection of the precepts of
+    good sense and sound conduct. What redeems it from
+    pettiness in this book is the scope of power and of
+    usefulness to be seen in Franklin himself, who set these
+    standards up in all seriousness and candor for his own
+    life." See _Galatians_, chapter V, for the Christian
+    plan of moral perfection.
+
+It will be remark'd that, tho' my scheme was not wholly without
+religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets
+of any particular sect. I had purposely avoided them; for, being fully
+persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method, and that it
+might be serviceable to people in all religions, and intending some
+time or other to publish it, I would not have anything in it that
+should prejudice anyone, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a
+little comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the
+advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite
+vice; and I should have called my book The Art of Virtue,[72] because
+it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which
+would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that
+does not instruct and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's
+man of verbal charity, who only without showing to the naked and
+hungry how or where they might get clothes or victuals, exhorted them
+to be fed and clothed.--James ii. 15, 16.
+
+    [72] Nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as
+    virtue.--_Marg. note_.
+
+But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this
+comment was never fulfilled. I did, indeed, from time to time, put
+down short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, etc., to be made use
+of in it, some of which I have still by me; but the necessary close
+attention to private business in the earlier part of my life, and
+public business since, have occasioned my postponing it; for, it being
+connected in my mind with _a great and extensive project_, that
+required the whole man to execute, and which an unforeseen succession
+of employs prevented my attending to, it has hitherto remain'd
+unfinish'd.
+
+In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this doctrine,
+that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but
+forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature of man alone
+considered; that it was, therefore, everyone's interest to be virtuous
+who wish'd to be happy even in this world; and I should, from this
+circumstance (there being always in the world a number of rich
+merchants, nobility, states, and princes, who have need of honest
+instruments for the management of their affairs, and such being so
+rare), have endeavoured to convince young persons that no qualities
+were so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and
+integrity.
+
+My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend
+having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my
+pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content
+with being in the right when discussing any point, but was
+overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by
+mentioning several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure
+myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added
+_Humility_ to my list, giving an extensive meaning to the word.
+
+I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the _reality_ of this
+virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the _appearance_ of it. I
+made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments
+of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself,
+agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or
+expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as
+_certainly, undoubtedly_, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, _I
+conceive, I apprehend_, or _I imagine_ a thing to be so or so; or it
+_so appears to me at present_. When another asserted something that I
+thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him
+abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his
+proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain
+cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present
+case there _appear'd_ or _seem'd_ to me some difference, etc. I soon
+found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I
+engag'd in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd
+my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction;
+I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I
+more easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join
+with me when I happened to be in the right.
+
+And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural
+inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that
+perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical
+expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of
+integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much
+weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions, or
+alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when
+I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent,
+subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in
+language, and yet I generally carried my points.
+
+In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard
+to subdue as _pride_. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down,
+stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and
+will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it,
+perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I
+had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
+
+[Thus far written at Passy, 1784.]
+
+[_"I am now about to write at home, August, 1788, but cannot have the
+help expected from my papers, many of them being lost in the war. I
+have, however, found the following."_][73]
+
+    [73] This is a marginal memorandum.--B.
+
+Having mentioned _a great and extensive project_ which I had
+conceiv'd, it seems proper that some account should be here given of
+that project and its object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the
+following little paper, accidentally preserv'd, viz.:
+
+_Observations_ on my reading history, in Library, May 19th, 1731.
+
+"That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are
+carried on and effected by parties.
+
+"That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or
+what they take to be such.
+
+"That the different views of these different parties occasion all
+confusion.
+
+"That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his
+particular private interest in view.
+
+"That as soon as a party has gain'd its general point, each member
+becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others,
+breaks that party into divisions, and occasions more confusion.
+
+"That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their
+country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho' their actings bring real
+good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and
+their country's interest was united, and did not act from a principle
+of benevolence.
+
+"That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of
+mankind.
+
+"There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a
+United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all
+nations into a regular body, to be govern'd by suitable good and wise
+rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their
+obedience to, than common people are to common laws.
+
+"I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well
+qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success.
+
+B. F."
+
+Revolving this project in my mind, as to be undertaken hereafter, when
+my circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure, I put down
+from time to time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurr'd to me
+respecting it. Most of these are lost; but I find one purporting to be
+the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the
+essentials of every known religion, and being free of everything that
+might shock the professors of any religion. It is express'd in these
+words, viz.:
+
+"That there is one God, who made all things.
+
+"That he governs the world by his providence.
+
+"That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and
+thanksgiving.
+
+"But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.
+
+"That the soul is immortal.
+
+"And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either
+here or hereafter."
+
+My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun and spread
+at first among young and single men only; that each person to be
+initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should
+have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination and
+practice of the virtues, as in the beforemention'd model; that the
+existence of such a society should be kept a secret, till it was
+become considerable, to prevent solicitations for the admission of
+improper persons, but that the members should each of them search
+among his acquaintance for ingenuous, well-disposed youths, to whom,
+with prudent caution, the scheme should be gradually communicated;
+that the members should engage to afford their advice, assistance, and
+support to each other in promoting one another's interests, business,
+and advancement in life; that, for distinction, we should be call'd
+_The Society of the Free and Easy_: free, as being, by the general
+practice and habit of the virtues, free from the dominion of vice;
+and particularly by the practice of industry and frugality, free from
+debt, which exposes a man to confinement, and a species of slavery to
+his creditors.
+
+This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I
+communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it with some
+enthusiasm; but my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was
+under of sticking close to my business, occasioned my postponing the
+further prosecution of it at that time; and my multifarious
+occupations, public and private, induc'd me to continue postponing, so
+that it has been omitted till I have no longer strength or activity
+left sufficient for such an enterprise; though I am still of opinion
+that it was a practicable scheme, and might have been very useful, by
+forming a great number of good citizens; and I was not discourag'd by
+the seeming magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought
+that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and
+accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan,
+and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert
+his attention, makes the execution of that same plan his sole study
+and business.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC AND
+OTHER ACTIVITIES
+
+
+In 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of _Richard
+Saunders_; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five years, commonly
+call'd _Poor Richard's Almanac_.[74] I endeavour'd to make it both
+entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand,
+that I reap'd considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten
+thousand. And observing that it was generally read, scarce any
+neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a
+proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who
+bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little
+spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar with
+proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and
+frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing
+virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always
+honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, _it is hard for an
+empty sack to stand upright_.
+
+    [74] The almanac at that time was a kind of periodical as
+    well as a guide to natural phenomena and the weather.
+    Franklin took his title from _Poor Robin_, a famous
+    English almanac, and from Richard Saunders, a well-known
+    almanac publisher. For the maxims of Poor Richard, see
+    pages 331-335.
+
+These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages and nations, I
+assembled and form'd into a connected discourse prefix'd to the Almanack
+of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an
+auction. The bringing all these scatter'd councils thus into a focus
+enabled them to make greater impression. The piece, being universally
+approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Continent; reprinted
+in Britain on a broadside, to be stuck up in houses; two translations
+were made of it in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy and
+gentry, to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants.
+In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign
+superfluities, some thought it had its share of influence in producing
+that growing plenty of money which was observable for several years
+after its publication.
+
+Two pages from _Poor Richard's Almanac_ for 1736. Size of original.
+Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public Library.
+
+    _IV Mon._ June hath xxx days.
+
+    Things that are bitter, bitterrer than Gall Physicians
+    say are always physical: Now Women's Tongues if into
+    Powder beaten, May in a Potion or a Pill be eaten, And
+    as there's nought more bitter, I do muse, That Women's
+    Tongues in Physick they ne'er use. My self and others
+    who lead restless Lives, Would spare that bitter Member
+    of our Wives.
+
+ 1 3 _fine weather_,                4  Le   4 36 8  Moon set 10 12 aft
+ 2 4  Ascension Day                 5  19   4 35 8 _He that can have_
+ 3 5  Mars Sat. Ven. _Sudden_       6  Vi   4 35 8 _Patience, can_
+ 4 6 _showers_                      6h 19   4 35 8 _have what he_
+ 5 7 _of Rain_.                     7  Li   4 35 8  First Quarter.
+ 6 C  Eraudi                        8  19   4 35 8 _will._
+ 7 2  Trine Mars Merc. _thunder_,   9  Sc   4 35 8  Le. Vi. Li.
+ 8 3 _perhaps hail._               10  17   4 35 8  Sun ent. Cn. today
+ 9 4  7* rise 2 15                 10  Sa   4 34 8  making longest
+10 5 _very hot_,                   11  13   4 34 8  day 14 h. 51 m.
+11 6  St. Barnabas.                12  26   4 34 8  Full Moon 12 day,
+12 7 _then rain_.                   1  Cp   4 34 8  at 1 morn.
+13 C  Whitsunday.                   2  20   4 35 8  Moon rise 8 20 aft.
+14 2                                2h Aq   4 35 8 _Now I've a sheep_
+15 3  K. Geo. II. procl             3  15   4 35 8 _and a cow, every_
+16 4  ff. Sun Sat. _wind, rain_,    4  27   4 35 8 _body bids me good_
+17 5  Sxtil Sat. Merc. _hail and_   5  Pi   4 35 8 _morrow._
+18 6 _thunder_                      6  21   4 35 8  Moon rise 11 10 af.
+19 7  Day shorter 2 m.              6h Ar   4 35 8
+20 C  Trinity Sund.                 7  15   4 36 8  Last Quarter
+21 2 _If we have rain about_        8  27   4 36 8 _God helps them_
+22 3 _the Change_,                  9  Ta   4 36 8 _that help themselves_
+23 4 _Let not my reader_           10  22   4 36 8
+24 5  St. John Bap.                10  Gm   4 36 8  Moon rise 2 morn.
+25 6  7* rise 1  8                 11  18   4 37 8 _Why does the_
+26 7  vc Sun Jup. _think it_       12  Cn   4 37 8 _blind man's wife_
+27 C _strange._                     1  16   4 38 8  New moon 27 day,
+28 2  Sxtil Sat. Mars _hail and_    2  Le   4 38 8  near noon.
+29 3  St. Peter & Paul              2h 15   4 39 8 _paint herself._
+30 4  Square Mars Ven. _rain_.      3  Vi   4 40 8  Moon sets 9 30
+
+
+    _V Mon._ July hath xxxi days.
+
+    Who can charge _Ebrio_ with Thirst of Wealth? See he
+    consumes his Money, Time and Health, In drunken Frolicks
+    which will all confound, Neglects his Farm, forgets to
+    till his Ground, His Stock grows less that might be kept
+    with ease; In nought but Guts and Debts he finds
+    Encrease. In Town reels as if he'd shove down each Wall,
+    Yet Walls must stand, poor Soul, or he must fall.
+
+ 1 5   Day short 11 mi.             4  15   4 40 8 _None preaches_
+ 2 6   7* rise 12 32                5  Li   4 41 8 _better than the_
+ 3 7  _windy weather._              6  15   4 41 8 _ant, and she says_
+ 4 C   2 Sund. p Trinit             6h Sc   4 42 8  First Quarter.
+ 5 2   Vc Jup. Ven. _now_           7  14   4 43 8 _nothing._
+ 6 3  _pleasant weather_            8  27   4 44 8  Moon sets 12 30 m
+ 7 4  _some days_                   9  Sa   4 45 8 _The absent are_
+ 8 5  _together,_                  10  23   4 48 8 _never without_
+ 9 6  _but inclines to_            10  Cp   4 47 8 _fault, nor the_
+10 7  _falling_                    11  18   4 48 8 _present without_
+11 C   3 Sund. p. Trin.            12  Aq  4 49 8  Full moon 11 day,
+12 2   Sxtil Sat. Merc. weather.    1  13   4 50 8  2 afternoon.
+13 3   Dog-days begin               2  25   4 50 8  sun in Leo
+14 4   Days 14h. 20 m               2h Pi   4 51 8  Moon rise 8 35 aft.
+15 5   St. _Swithin_.               3  19   4 52 8 _excuse._
+16 6   Le 1 Li                      4  Ar   4 53 8
+17 7   conj. Sun Merc. _rain_       5  13   4 54 8 _Gifts burst_
+18 C   7* rise 11 40                6  25   4 55 8 _rocks_
+19 2  _hail or rain,_               6h Ta   4 56 8  Last Quarter.
+20 3   Sxtil Sun Sat. thunder.      7  19   4 57 8  Moon rise 11 52 af
+21 4   7* rise 11 18                8  Gm   4 57 8 _If wind blows on_
+22 5  _then high_                   9  14   4 58 8 _you thro' a hole,_
+23 6  _wind._                      10  27   4 59 8 _Make your will_
+24 7   opp. Sun Jupiter            10  Cn   4 59 8 _and take care of_
+25 C   St. James.                  11  25   5  0 7 _your soul._
+26 2  _hail_                       12  Le   5  1 7  New moon 26 day,
+27 3   Moon near cor Leo            1  24   5  2 7  near 8 aftern
+28 4   opp. Jup. Ven. _a clear_     2  Vi   5  3 7  Moon sets 8 aftern
+29 5  _air; and fine_               2h 24   5  4 7 _The rotten Apple_
+30 6  _weather_                     3  Li   5  5 7 _spoils his_
+31 7   7* rise 10 40                4  23   5  6 7 _Companion._
+
+[Transcriber's note: Zodiac signs, aspects and symbols of the planets
+have been replaced by their names and/or by their standard
+abbreviations.
+
+Ar=Aries, Ta=Taurus, Gm=Gemini, Cn=Cancer, Le=Leo, Vi=Virgo,
+Li=Libra, Sc=Scorpio, Sa=Sagittarius, Cp=Capricorn, Aq=Aqua,
+Pi=Pisces, Oppos=Opposition, Trine=Trine, Squr=Square,
+Conj=Conjunction, Sxtil=Sextile, Qucnx= Quincunx.
+
+Merc=Mercury, Ven=Venus, Mars=Mars, Jup=Jupiter, Sat=Saturn
+Ura=Uranus, Nep=Neptune, Plu=Pluto.]
+
+I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of communicating
+instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from
+the Spectator, and other moral writers; and sometimes publish'd little
+pieces of my own, which had been first composed for reading in our
+Junto. Of these are a Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that,
+whatever might be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not
+properly be called a man of sense; and a discourse on self-denial,
+showing that virtue was not secure till its practice became a
+habitude, and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations.
+These may be found in the papers about the beginning of 1735.[75]
+
+    [75] June 23 and July 7, 1730.--Smyth.
+
+In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all libeling and
+personal abuse, which is of late years become so disgraceful to our
+country. Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind, and
+the writers pleaded, as they generally did, the liberty of the press,
+and that a newspaper was like a stage-coach, in which anyone who would
+pay had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the
+piece separately if desired, and the author might have as many copies
+as he pleased to distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me
+to spread his detraction; and that, having contracted with my
+subscribers to furnish them with what might be either useful or
+entertaining, I could not fill their papers with private altercation,
+in which they had no concern, without doing them manifest injustice.
+Now, many of our printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of
+individuals by false accusations of the fairest characters among
+ourselves, augmenting animosity even to the producing of duels; and
+are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on the
+government of neighboring states, and even on the conduct of our best
+national allies, which may be attended with the most pernicious
+consequences. These things I mention as a caution to young printers,
+and that they may be encouraged not to pollute their presses and
+disgrace their profession by such infamous practices, but refuse
+steadily, as they may see by my example that such a course of conduct
+will not, on the whole, be injurious to their interests.
+
+In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charleston, South Carolina,
+where a printer was wanting. I furnish'd him with a press and letters,
+on an agreement of partnership, by which I was to receive one-third of
+the profits of the business, paying one-third of the expense. He was a
+man of learning, and honest but ignorant in matters of account; and,
+tho' he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from
+him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived. On
+his decease, the business was continued by his widow, who, being born
+and bred in Holland, where, as I have been inform'd, the knowledge of
+accounts makes a part of female education, she not only sent me as
+clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but
+continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every
+quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that
+she not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at the
+expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house,
+and establish her son in it.
+
+I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending that branch
+of education for our young females, as likely to be of more use to
+them and their children, in case of widowhood, than either music or
+dancing, by preserving them from losses by imposition of crafty men,
+and enabling them to continue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house,
+with establish'd correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to
+undertake and go on with it, to the lasting advantage and enriching of
+the family.
+
+About the year 1734 there arrived among us from Ireland a young
+Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who delivered with a good
+voice, and apparently extempore, most excellent discourses, which drew
+together considerable numbers of different persuasions, who join'd in
+admiring them. Among the rest, I became one of his constant hearers,
+his sermons pleasing me, as they had little of the dogmatical kind,
+but inculcated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in the
+religious stile are called good works. Those, however, of our
+congregation, who considered themselves as orthodox Presbyterians,
+disapprov'd his doctrine, and were join'd by most of the old clergy,
+who arraign'd him of heterodoxy before the synod, in order to have him
+silenc'd. I became his zealous partisan, and contributed all I could
+to raise a party in his favour, and we combated for him awhile with
+some hopes of success. There was much scribbling pro and con upon the
+occasion; and finding that, tho' an elegant preacher, he was but a
+poor writer, I lent him my pen and wrote for him two or three
+pamphlets, and one piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. Those
+pamphlets, as is generally the case with controversial writings, tho'
+eagerly read at the time, were soon out of vogue, and I question
+whether a single copy of them now exists.[76]
+
+    [76] See "A List of Books written by, or relating to
+    Benjamin Franklin," by Paul Leicester Ford. 1889. p.
+    15.--Smyth.
+
+During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his cause exceedingly.
+One of our adversaries having heard him preach a sermon that was much
+admired, thought he had somewhere read the sermon before, or at least
+a part of it. On search, he found that part quoted at length, in one
+of the British Reviews, from a discourse of Dr. Foster's.[77] This
+detection gave many of our party disgust, who accordingly abandoned
+his cause, and occasion'd our more speedy discomfiture in the synod. I
+stuck by him, however, as I rather approv'd his giving us good sermons
+composed by others, than bad ones of his own manufacture, tho' the
+latter was the practice of our common teachers. He afterward
+acknowledg'd to me that none of those he preach'd were his own;
+adding, that his memory was such as enabled him to retain and repeat
+any sermon after one reading only. On our defeat, he left us in search
+elsewhere of better fortune, and I quitted the congregation, never
+joining it after, tho' I continu'd many years my subscription for the
+support of its ministers.
+
+    [77] Dr. James Foster (1697-1753):--
+
+        "Let modest Foster, if he will excel
+         Ten metropolitans in preaching well."
+
+              --Pope (Epilogue to the Satires, I, 132).
+
+    "Those who had not heard Farinelli sing and Foster
+    preach were not qualified to appear in genteel company,"
+    Hawkins. "History of Music."--Smyth.
+
+I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much a
+master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease. I then
+undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also learning it, us'd
+often to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding this took up too
+much of the time I had to spare for study, I at length refus'd to play
+any more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every game
+should have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the grammar
+to be got by heart, or in translations, etc., which tasks the
+vanquish'd was to perform upon honour, before our next meeting. As we
+play'd pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language. I
+afterwards with a little painstaking, acquir'd as much of the Spanish
+as to read their books also.
+
+I have already mention'd that I had only one year's instruction in a
+Latin school, and that when very young, after which I neglected that
+language entirely. But, when I had attained an acquaintance with the
+French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpris'd to find, on looking over
+a Latin Testament, that I understood so much more of that language
+than I had imagined, which encouraged me to apply myself again to the
+study of it, and I met with more success, as those preceding languages
+had greatly smooth'd my way.
+
+From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some
+inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages. We are told
+that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having acquir'd
+that, it will be more easy to attain those modern languages which are
+deriv'd from it; and yet we do not begin with the Greek, in order more
+easily to acquire the Latin. It is true that, if you can clamber and
+get to the top of a staircase without using the steps, you will more
+easily gain them in descending; but certainly, if you begin with the
+lowest you will with more ease ascend to the top; and I would
+therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the
+education of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin with
+the Latin quit the same after spending some years without having made
+any great proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes almost
+useless, so that their time has been lost, it would not have been
+better to have begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc.;
+for, tho', after spending the same time, they should quit the study of
+languages and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have
+acquired another tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be
+serviceable to them in common life.[78]
+
+    [78] "The authority of Franklin, the most eminently
+    practical man of his age, in favor of reserving the
+    study of the dead languages until the mind has reached a
+    certain maturity, is confirmed by the confession of one
+    of the most eminent scholars of any age.
+
+    "'Our seminaries of learning,' says Gibbon, 'do not
+    exactly correspond with the precept of a Spartan king,
+    that the child should be instructed in the arts which
+    will be useful to the man; since a finished scholar may
+    emerge from the head of Westminster or Eton, in total
+    ignorance of the business and conversation of English
+    gentlemen in the latter end of the eighteenth century.
+    But these schools may assume the merit of teaching all
+    that they pretend to teach, the Latin and Greek
+    languages.'"--Bigelow.
+
+After ten years' absence from Boston, and having become easy in my
+circumstances, I made a journey thither to visit my relations, which I
+could not sooner well afford. In returning, I call'd at Newport to see
+my brother, then settled there with his printing-house. Our former
+differences were forgotten, and our meeting was very cordial and
+affectionate. He was fast declining in his health, and requested of me
+that, in case of his death, which he apprehended not far distant, I
+would take home his son, then but ten years of age, and bring him up
+to the printing business. This I accordingly perform'd, sending him a
+few years to school before I took him into the office. His mother
+carried on the business till he was grown up, when I assisted him with
+an assortment of new types, those of his father being in a manner worn
+out. Thus it was that I made my brother ample amends for the service I
+had depriv'd him of by leaving him so early.
+
+[Illustration: "Our former differences were forgotten, and our
+meeting was very cordial and affectionate"]
+
+In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the
+small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and
+still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I
+mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the
+supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died
+under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either
+way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.
+
+Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and afforded such
+satisfaction to the members, that several were desirous of introducing
+their friends, which could not well be done without exceeding what we
+had settled as a convenient number, viz., twelve. We had from the
+beginning made it a rule to keep our institution a secret, which was
+pretty well observ'd; the intention was to avoid applications of
+improper persons for admittance, some of whom, perhaps, we might find
+it difficult to refuse. I was one of those who were against any
+addition to our number, but, instead of it, made in writing a
+proposal, that every member separately should endeavour to form a
+subordinate club, with the same rules respecting queries, etc., and
+without informing them of the connection with the Junto. The
+advantages proposed were, the improvement of so many more young
+citizens by the use of our institutions; our better acquaintance with
+the general sentiments of the inhabitants on any occasion, as the
+Junto member might propose what queries we should desire, and was to
+report to the Junto what pass'd in his separate club; the promotion of
+our particular interests in business by more extensive recommendation,
+and the increase of our influence in public affairs, and our power of
+doing good by spreading thro' the several clubs the sentiments of the
+Junto.
+
+The project was approv'd, and every member undertook to form his club,
+but they did not all succeed. Five or six only were compleated, which
+were called by different names, as the Vine, the Union, the Band, etc.
+They were useful to themselves, and afforded us a good deal of
+amusement, information, and instruction, besides answering, in some
+considerable degree, our views of influencing the public opinion on
+particular occasions, of which I shall give some instances in course
+of time as they happened.
+
+My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, clerk of the General
+Assembly. The choice was made that year without opposition; but the
+year following, when I was again propos'd (the choice, like that of
+the members, being annual), a new member made a long speech against
+me, in order to favour some other candidate. I was, however, chosen,
+which was the more agreeable to me, as, besides the pay for the
+immediate service as clerk, the place gave me a better opportunity of
+keeping up an interest among the members, which secur'd to me the
+business of printing the votes, laws, paper money, and other
+occasional jobbs for the public, that, on the whole, were very
+profitable.
+
+I therefore did not like the opposition of this new member, who was a
+gentleman of fortune and education, with talents that were likely to
+give him, in time, great influence in the House, which, indeed,
+afterwards happened. I did not, however, aim at gaining his favour by
+paying any servile respect to him, but, after some time, took this
+other method. Having heard that he had in his library a certain very
+scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire
+of perusing that book, and requesting he would do me the favour of
+lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, and I
+return'd it in about a week with another note, expressing strongly my
+sense of the favour. When we next met in the House, he spoke to me
+(which he had never done before), and with great civility; and he ever
+after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we
+became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death. This
+is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which
+says, _"He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do
+you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged."_ And it shows
+how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent,
+return, and continue inimical proceedings.
+
+In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Virginia, and then
+postmaster-general, being dissatisfied with the conduct of his deputy
+at Philadelphia, respecting some negligence in rendering, and
+inexactitude of his accounts, took from him the commission and offered
+it to me. I accepted it readily, and found it of great advantage; for,
+tho' the salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence that
+improv'd my newspaper, increas'd the number demanded, as well as the
+advertisements to be inserted, so that it came to afford me a
+considerable income. My old competitor's newspaper declin'd
+proportionately, and I was satisfy'd without retaliating his refusal,
+while postmaster, to permit my papers being carried by the riders.
+Thus he suffer'd greatly from his neglect in due accounting; and I
+mention it as a lesson to those young men who may be employ'd in
+managing affairs for others, that they should always render accounts,
+and make remittances, with great clearness and punctuality. The
+character of observing such a conduct is the most powerful of all
+recommendations to new employments and increase of business.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS
+
+
+I began now to turn my thoughts a little to public affairs, beginning,
+however, with small matters. The city watch was one of the first
+things that I conceiv'd to want regulation. It was managed by the
+constables of the respective wards in turn; the constable warned a
+number of housekeepers to attend him for the night. Those who chose
+never to attend, paid him six shillings a year to be excus'd, which
+was suppos'd to be for hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, much
+more than was necessary for that purpose, and made the constableship a
+place of profit; and the constable, for a little drink, often got such
+ragamuffins about him as a watch, that respectable housekeepers did
+not choose to mix with. Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected,
+and most of the nights spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper to
+be read in Junto, representing these irregularities, but insisting
+more particularly on the inequality of this six-shilling tax of the
+constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it, since a
+poor widow housekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by the watch
+did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as much as the
+wealthiest merchant, who had thousands of pounds' worth of goods in
+his stores.
+
+On the whole, I proposed as a more effectual watch, the hiring of
+proper men to serve constantly in that business; and as a more
+equitable way of supporting the charge, the levying a tax that should
+be proportion'd to the property. This idea, being approv'd by the
+Junto, was communicated to the other clubs, but as arising in each of
+them; and though the plan was not immediately carried into execution,
+yet, by preparing the minds of people for the change, it paved the way
+for the law obtained a few years after, when the members of our clubs
+were grown into more influence.
+
+About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in Junto, but it was
+afterward publish'd) on the different accidents and carelessnesses by
+which houses were set on fire, with cautions against them, and means
+proposed of avoiding them. This was much spoken of as a useful piece,
+and gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a
+company for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual
+assistance in removing and securing of goods when in danger.
+Associates in this scheme were presently found, amounting to thirty.
+Our articles of agreement oblig'd every member to keep always in good
+order, and fit for use, a certain number of leather buckets, with
+strong bags and baskets (for packing and transporting of goods), which
+were to be brought to every fire; and we agreed to meet once a month
+and spend a social evening together, in discoursing and communicating
+such ideas as occurred to us upon the subjects of fires, as might be
+useful in our conduct on such occasions.
+
+The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more desiring
+to be admitted than we thought convenient for one company, they were
+advised to form another, which was accordingly done; and this went on,
+one new company being formed after another, till they became so
+numerous as to include most of the inhabitants who were men of
+property; and now, at the time of my writing this, tho' upward of
+fifty years since its establishment, that which I first formed, called
+the Union Fire Company, still subsists and flourishes, tho' the first
+members are all deceas'd but myself and one, who is older by a year
+than I am. The small fines that have been paid by members for absence
+at the monthly meetings have been apply'd to the purchase of
+fire-engines, ladders, fire-hooks, and other useful implements for
+each company, so that I question whether there is a city in the world
+better provided with the means of putting a stop to beginning
+conflagrations; and, in fact, since these institutions, the city has
+never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time, and the
+flames have often been extinguished before the house in which they
+began has been half consumed.
+
+[Illustration: "the flames have often been extinguished"]
+
+In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield,[79]
+who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was
+at first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy,
+taking a dislike to him, soon refus'd him their pulpits, and he was
+oblig'd to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and
+denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was
+matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the
+extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much
+they admir'd and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of
+them, by assuring them they were naturally _half beasts and half
+devils_. It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners
+of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about
+religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so
+that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing
+psalms sung in different families of every street.
+
+    [79] George Whitefield, pronounced Hwit'field
+    (1714-1770), a celebrated English clergyman and pulpit
+    orator, one of the founders of Methodism.
+
+And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air, subject
+to its inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was no sooner
+propos'd, and persons appointed to receive contributions, but
+sufficient sums were soon receiv'd to procure the ground and erect the
+building, which was one hundred feet long and seventy broad, about the
+size of Westminster Hall;[80] and the work was carried on with such
+spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time than could have been
+expected. Both house and ground were vested in trustees, expressly for
+the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire
+to say something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building
+not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in
+general; so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a
+missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at
+his service.
+
+    [80] A part of the palace of Westminster, now forming the
+    vestibule to the Houses of Parliament in London.
+
+Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all the way thro' the
+colonies to Georgia. The settlement of that province had lately been
+begun, but, instead of being made with hardy, industrious husbandmen,
+accustomed to labour, the only people fit for such an enterprise, it
+was with families of broken shop-keepers and other insolvent debtors,
+many of indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being
+set down in the woods, unqualified for clearing land, and unable to
+endure the hardships of a new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving
+many helpless children unprovided for. The sight of their miserable
+situation inspir'd the benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield with the
+idea of building an Orphan House there, in which they might be
+supported and educated. Returning northward, he preach'd up this
+charity, and made large collections, for his eloquence had a wonderful
+power over the hearts and purses of his hearers, of which I myself was
+an instance.
+
+I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia was then destitute
+of materials and workmen, and it was proposed to send them from
+Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it would have been better
+to have built the house here, and brought the children to it. This I
+advis'd; but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my
+counsel, and I therefore refus'd to contribute. I happened soon after
+to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he
+intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he
+should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper
+money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he
+proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers.
+Another stroke of his oratory made me asham'd of that, and determin'd
+me to give the silver; and he finish'd so admirably, that I empty'd my
+pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. At this sermon
+there was also one of our club, who, being of my sentiments respecting
+the building in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be
+intended, had, by precaution, emptied his pockets before he came from
+home. Towards the conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt a
+strong desire to give, and apply'd to a neighbour who stood near him,
+to borrow some money for the purpose. The application was
+unfortunately [made] to perhaps the only man in the company who had
+the firmness not to be affected by the preacher. His answer was, "_At
+any other time, Friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not
+now, for thee seems to be out of thy right senses._"
+
+Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to suppose that he would
+apply these collections to his own private emolument; but I, who was
+intimately acquainted with him (being employed in printing his Sermons
+and Journals, etc.), never had the least suspicion of his integrity,
+but am to this day decidedly of opinion that he was in all his conduct
+a perfectly _honest man_; and methinks my testimony in his favour
+ought to have the more weight, as we had no religious connection. He
+us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the
+satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere
+civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to his death.
+
+The following instance will show something of the terms on which we
+stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote to me
+that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he could
+lodge when there, as he understood his old friend and host, Mr.
+Benezet was removed to Germantown. My answer was, "You know my house;
+if you can make shift with its scanty accommodations, you will be most
+heartily welcome." He reply'd, that if I made that kind offer for
+Christ's sake, I should not miss of a reward. And I returned, "_Don't
+let me be mistaken; it was not for Christ's sake, but for your sake._"
+One of our common acquaintance jocosely remark'd, that, knowing it to
+be the custom of the saints, when they received any favour, to shift
+the burden of the obligation from off their own shoulders, and place
+it in heaven, I had contriv'd to fix it on earth.
+
+The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he consulted me
+about his Orphan House concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to
+the establishment of a college.
+
+He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences
+so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great
+distance, especially as his auditories, however numerous, observ'd the
+most exact silence. He preach'd one evening from the top of the
+Courthouse steps, which are in the middle of Market-street, and on the
+west side of Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both
+streets were fill'd with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being
+among the hindmost in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how
+far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards
+the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near
+Front-street, when some noise in that street obscur'd it. Imagining
+then a semicircle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that
+it were fill'd with auditors, to each of whom I allow'd two square
+feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty
+thousand. This reconcil'd me to the newspaper accounts of his having
+preach'd to twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the
+ancient histories of generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had
+sometimes doubted.
+
+By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily between sermons
+newly compos'd, and those which he had often preach'd in the course of
+his travels. His delivery of the latter was so improv'd by frequent
+repetitions that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of
+voice, was so perfectly well turn'd and well plac'd, that, without
+being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleas'd with
+the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that receiv'd
+from an excellent piece of musick. This is an advantage itinerant
+preachers have over those who are stationary, as the latter cannot
+well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals.
+
+His writing and printing from time to time gave great advantage to his
+enemies; unguarded expressions, and even erroneous opinions, delivered
+in preaching, might have been afterwards explain'd or qualifi'd by
+supposing others that might have accompani'd them, or they might have
+been deny'd; but _litera scripta manet_. Critics attack'd his writings
+violently, and with so much appearance of reason as to diminish the
+number of his votaries and prevent their increase; so that I am of
+opinion if he had never written anything, he would have left behind
+him a much more numerous and important sect, and his reputation might
+in that case have been still growing, even after his death, as there
+being nothing of his writing on which to found a censure and give him
+a lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty to feign
+for him as great a variety of excellences as their enthusiastic
+admiration might wish him to have possessed.
+
+My business was now continually augmenting, and my circumstances
+growing daily easier, my newspaper having become very profitable, as
+being for a time almost the only one in this and the neighbouring
+provinces. I experienced, too, the truth of the observation, "_that
+after getting the first hundred pound, it is more easy to get the
+second_," money itself being of a prolific nature.
+
+The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I was encourag'd to
+engage in others, and to promote several of my workmen, who had
+behaved well, by establishing them with printing-houses in different
+colonies, on the same terms with that in Carolina. Most of them did
+well, being enabled at the end of our term, six years, to purchase the
+types of me and go on working for themselves, by which means several
+families were raised. Partnerships often finish in quarrels; but I was
+happy in this, that mine were all carried on and ended amicably,
+owing, I think, a good deal to the precaution of having very
+explicitly settled, in our articles, everything to be done by or
+expected from each partner, so that there was nothing to dispute,
+which precaution I would therefore recommend to all who enter into
+partnerships; for, whatever esteem partners may have for, and
+confidence in each other at the time of the contract, little
+jealousies and disgusts may arise, with ideas of inequality in the
+care and burden of the business, etc., which are attended often with
+breach of friendship and of the connection, perhaps with lawsuits and
+other disagreeable consequences.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+DEFENSE OF THE PROVINCE
+
+
+I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with my being
+established in Pennsylvania. There were, however, two, things that I
+regretted, there being no provision for defense, nor for a compleat
+education of youth; no militia, nor any college. I therefore, in 1743,
+drew up a proposal for establishing an academy; and at that time,
+thinking the Reverend Mr. Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person
+to superintend such an institution, I communicated the project to him;
+but he, having more profitable views in the service of the
+proprietaries, which succeeded, declin'd the undertaking; and, not
+knowing another at that time suitable for such a trust, I let the
+scheme lie awhile dormant. I succeeded better the next year, 1744, in
+proposing and establishing a Philosophical Society. The paper I wrote
+for that purpose will be found among my writings, when collected.
+
+With respect to defense, Spain having been several years at war
+against Great Britain, and being at length join'd by France, which
+brought us into great danger; and the laboured and long-continued
+endeavour of our governor, Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker Assembly
+to pass a militia law, and make other provisions for the security of
+the province, having proved abortive, I determined to try what might
+be done by a voluntary association of the people. To promote this, I
+first wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled Plain Truth, in which I
+stated our defenceless situation in strong lights, with the necessity
+of union and discipline for our defense, and promis'd to propose in a
+few days an association, to be generally signed for that purpose. The
+pamphlet had a sudden and surprising effect. I was call'd upon for the
+instrument of association, and having settled the draft of it with a
+few friends, I appointed a meeting of the citizens in the large
+building before mentioned. The house was pretty full; I had prepared a
+number of printed copies, and provided pens and ink dispers'd all over
+the room. I harangued them a little on the subject, read the paper,
+and explained it, and then distributed the copies, which were eagerly
+signed, not the least objection being made.
+
+When the company separated, and the papers were collected, we found
+above twelve hundred hands; and, other copies being dispersed in the
+country, the subscribers amounted at length to upward of ten thousand.
+These all furnished themselves as soon as they could with arms, formed
+themselves into companies and regiments, chose their own officers, and
+met every week to be instructed in the manual exercise, and other
+parts of military discipline. The women, by subscriptions among
+themselves, provided silk colours, which they presented to the
+companies, painted with different devices and mottos, which I
+supplied.
+
+[Illustration: One of the flags of the Pennsylvania Association, 1747.
+Designed by Franklin and made by the women of Philadelphia.]
+
+The officers of the companies composing the Philadelphia regiment,
+being met, chose me for their colonel; but, conceiving myself unfit, I
+declin'd that station, and recommended Mr. Lawrence, a fine person,
+and man of influence, who was accordingly appointed. I then propos'd a
+lottery to defray the expense of building a battery below the town,
+and furnishing it with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and the
+battery was soon erected, the merlons being fram'd of logs and fill'd
+with earth. We bought some old cannon from Boston, but, these not
+being sufficient, we wrote to England for more, soliciting, at the
+same time, our proprietaries for some assistance, tho' without much
+expectation of obtaining it.
+
+Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence, William Allen, Abram Taylor, Esqr., and
+myself were sent to New York by the associators, commission'd to
+borrow some cannon of Governor Clinton. He at first refus'd us
+peremptorily; but at dinner with his council, where there was great
+drinking of Madeira wine, as the custom of that place then was, he
+softened by degrees, and said he would lend us six. After a few more
+bumpers he advanc'd to ten; and at length he very good-naturedly
+conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon, eighteen-pounders, with
+their carriages, which we soon transported and mounted on our battery,
+where the associators kept a nightly guard while the war lasted, and
+among the rest I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common
+soldier.
+
+[Illustration: "I regularly took my turn of duty there as a
+common soldier"]
+
+My activity in these operations was agreeable to the governor and
+council; they took me into confidence, and I was consulted by them in
+every measure wherein their concurrence was thought useful to the
+association. Calling in the aid of religion, I propos'd to them the
+proclaiming a fast, to promote reformation, and implore the blessing
+of Heaven on our undertaking. They embrac'd the motion; but, as it was
+the first fast ever thought of in the province, the secretary had no
+precedent from which to draw the proclamation. My education in New
+England, where a fast is proclaimed every year, was here of some
+advantage: I drew it in the accustomed stile, it was translated into
+German,[81] printed in both languages, and divulg'd thro' the province.
+This gave the clergy of the different sects an opportunity of
+influencing their congregations to join in the association, and it
+would probably have been general among all but Quakers if the peace
+had not soon interven'd.
+
+    [81] Wm. Penn's agents sought recruits for the colony of
+    Pennsylvania in the low countries of Germany, and there
+    are still in eastern Pennsylvania many Germans,
+    inaccurately called Pennsylvania Dutch. Many of them use
+    a Germanized English.
+
+It was thought by some of my friends that, by my activity in these
+affairs, I should offend that sect, and thereby lose my interest in
+the Assembly of the province, where they formed a great majority. A
+young gentleman who had likewise some friends in the House, and wished
+to succeed me as their clerk, acquainted me that it was decided to
+displace me at the next election; and he, therefore, in good will,
+advis'd me to resign, as more consistent with my honour than being
+turn'd out. My answer to him was, that I had read or heard of some
+public man who made it a rule never to ask for an office, and never to
+refuse one when offer'd to him. "I approve," says I, "of his rule, and
+will practice it with a small addition; I shall never _ask_, never
+_refuse_, nor ever _resign_ an office. If they will have my office of
+clerk to dispose of to another, they shall take it from me. I will
+not, by giving it up, lose my right of some time or other making
+reprisals on my adversaries." I heard, however, no more of this; I was
+chosen again unanimously as usual at the next election. Possibly, as
+they dislik'd my late intimacy with the members of council, who had
+join'd the governors in all the disputes about military preparations,
+with which the House had long been harass'd, they might have been
+pleas'd if I would voluntarily have left them; but they did not care
+to displace me on account merely of my zeal for the association, and
+they could not well give another reason.
+
+Indeed I had some cause to believe that the defense of the country was
+not disagreeable to any of them, provided they were not requir'd to
+assist in it. And I found that a much greater number of them than I
+could have imagined, tho' against offensive war, were clearly for the
+defensive. Many pamphlets _pro and con_ were publish'd on the subject,
+and some by good Quakers, in favour of defense, which I believe
+convinc'd most of their younger people.
+
+A transaction in our fire company gave me some insight into their
+prevailing sentiments. It had been propos'd that we should encourage
+the scheme for building a battery by laying out the present stock,
+then about sixty pounds, in tickets of the lottery. By our rules, no
+money could be dispos'd of till the next meeting after the proposal.
+The company consisted of thirty members, of which twenty-two were
+Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions. We eight punctually
+attended the meeting; but, tho' we thought that some of the Quakers
+would join us, we were by no means sure of a majority. Only one
+Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appear'd to oppose the measure. He expressed
+much sorrow that it had ever been propos'd, as he said _Friends_ were
+all against it, and it would create such discord as might break up the
+company. We told him that we saw no reason for that; we were the
+minority, and if _Friends_ were against the measure, and outvoted us,
+we must and should, agreeably to the usage of all societies, submit.
+When the hour for business arriv'd it was mov'd to put the vote; he
+allow'd we might then do it by the rules, but, as he could assure us
+that a number of members intended to be present for the purpose of
+opposing it, it would be but candid to allow a little time for their
+appearing.
+
+While we were disputing this, a waiter came to tell me two gentlemen
+below desir'd to speak with me. I went down, and found they were two
+of our Quaker members. They told me there were eight of them assembled
+at a tavern just by; that they were determin'd to come and vote with
+us if there should be occasion, which they hop'd would not be the
+case, and desir'd we would not call for their assistance if we could
+do without it, as their voting for such a measure might embroil them
+with their elders and friends. Being thus secure of a majority, I went
+up, and after a little seeming hesitation, agreed to a delay of
+another hour. This Mr. Morris allow'd to be extreamly fair. Not one of
+his opposing friends appear'd, at which he express'd great surprize;
+and, at the expiration of the hour, we carri'd the resolution eight to
+one; and as, of the twenty-two Quakers, eight were ready to vote with
+us, and thirteen, by their absence, manifested that they were not
+inclin'd to oppose the measure, I afterward estimated the proportion
+of Quakers sincerely against defense as one to twenty-one only; for
+these were all regular members of that society, and in good reputation
+among them, and had due notice of what was propos'd at that meeting.
+
+The honorable and learned Mr. Logan, who had always been of that sect,
+was one who wrote an address to them, declaring his approbation of
+defensive war, and supporting his opinion by many strong arguments. He
+put into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out in lottery tickets for
+the battery, with directions to apply what prizes might be drawn
+wholly to that service. He told me the following anecdote of his old
+master, William Penn, respecting defense. He came over from England,
+when a young man, with that proprietary, and as his secretary. It was
+war-time, and their ship was chas'd by an armed vessel, suppos'd to be
+an enemy. Their captain prepar'd for defense; but told William Penn,
+and his company of Quakers, that he did not expect their assistance,
+and they might retire into the cabin, which they did, except James
+Logan,[82] who chose to stay upon deck, and was quarter'd to a gun. The
+suppos'd enemy prov'd a friend, so there was no fighting; but when the
+secretary went down to communicate the intelligence, William Penn
+rebuk'd him severely for staying upon deck, and undertaking to assist
+in defending the vessel, contrary to the principles of _Friends_,
+especially as it had not been required by the captain. This reproof,
+being before all the company, piqu'd the secretary, who answer'd, _"I
+being thy servant, why did thee not order me to come down? But thee
+was willing enough that I should stay and help to fight the ship when
+thee thought there was danger."_
+
+    [82] James Logan (1674-1751) came to America with William
+    Penn in 1699, and was the business agent for the Penn
+    family. He bequeathed his valuable library, preserved at
+    his country seat, "Senton", to the city of
+    Philadelphia.--Smyth.
+
+My being many years in the Assembly, the majority of which were
+constantly Quakers, gave me frequent opportunities of seeing the
+embarrassment given them by their principle against war, whenever
+application was made to them, by order of the crown, to grant aids for
+military purposes. They were unwilling to offend government, on the
+one hand, by a direct refusal; and their friends, the body of the
+Quakers, on the other, by compliance contrary to their principles;
+hence a variety of evasions to avoid complying, and modes of
+disguising the compliance when it became unavoidable. The common mode
+at last was, to grant money under the phrase of its being "_for the
+king's use_," and never to inquire how it was applied.
+
+But, if the demand was not directly from the crown, that phrase was
+found not so proper, and some other was to be invented. As, when
+powder was wanting (I think it was for the garrison at Louisburg), and
+the government of New England solicited a grant of some from
+Pennsylvania, which was much urg'd on the House by Governor Thomas,
+they could not grant money to buy powder, because that was an
+ingredient of war; but they voted an aid to New England of three
+thousand pounds, to be put into the hands of the governor, and
+appropriated it for the purchasing of bread, flour, wheat or _other
+grain_. Some of the council, desirous of giving the House still
+further embarrassment, advis'd the governor not to accept provision,
+as not being the thing he had demanded; but he repli'd, "I shall take
+the money, for I understand very well their meaning; other grain is
+gunpowder," which he accordingly bought, and they never objected to
+it.[83]
+
+    [83] See the votes.--_Marg. note_.
+
+It was in allusion to this fact that, when in our fire company we
+feared the success of our proposal in favour of the lottery, and I had
+said to my friend Mr. Syng, one of our members, "If we fail, let us
+move the purchase of a fire-engine with the money; the Quakers can
+have no objection to that; and then, if you nominate me and I you as a
+committee for that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is
+certainly a _fire-engine_." "I see," says he, "you have improv'd by
+being so long in the Assembly; your equivocal project would be just a
+match for their wheat or _other grain_."
+
+These embarrassments that the Quakers suffer'd from having establish'd
+and published it as one of their principles that no kind of war was
+lawful, and which, being once published, they could not afterwards,
+however they might change their minds, easily get rid of, reminds me
+of what I think a more prudent conduct in another sect among us, that
+of the Dunkers. I was acquainted with one of its founders, Michael
+Welfare, soon after it appear'd. He complain'd to me that they were
+grievously calumniated by the zealots of other persuasions, and
+charg'd with abominable principles and practices to which they were
+utter strangers. I told him this had always been the case with new
+sects, and that, to put a stop to such abuse, I imagin'd it might be
+well to publish the articles of their belief, and the rules of their
+discipline. He said that it had been propos'd among them, but not
+agreed to, for this reason: "When we were first drawn together as a
+society," says he, "it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far
+as to see that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were
+errors; and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real
+truths. From time to time He has been pleased to afford us farther
+light, and our principles have been improving, and our errors
+diminishing. Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of
+this progression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological
+knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once print our confession of
+faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and confin'd by it, and
+perhaps be unwilling to receive further improvement, and our
+successors still more so, as conceiving what we their elders and
+founders had done, to be something sacred, never to be departed from."
+
+This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history
+of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in possession of all
+truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong; like a man
+traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the
+road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and
+also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears
+clear, tho' in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them. To avoid
+this kind of embarrassment, the Quakers have of late years been
+gradually declining the public service in the Assembly and in the
+magistracy, choosing rather to quit their power than their principle.
+
+In order of time, I should have mentioned before, that having, in
+1742, invented an open stove[84] for the better warming of rooms, and
+at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in
+entering, I made a present of the model to Mr. Robert Grace, one of my
+early friends, who, having an iron-furnace,[85] found the casting of
+the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing
+in demand. To promote that demand, I wrote and published a pamphlet,
+entitled "_An Account of the new-invented Pennsylvania Fireplaces;
+wherein their Construction and Manner of Operation is particularly
+explained; their Advantages above every other Method of warming Rooms
+demonstrated; and all Objections that have been raised against the Use
+of them answered and obviated_," etc. This pamphlet had a good effect.
+Gov'r. Thomas was so pleas'd with the construction of this stove, as
+described in it, that he offered to give me a patent for the sole
+vending of them for a term of years; but I declin'd it from a
+principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz.,
+_That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we
+should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of
+ours; and this we should do freely and generously._
+
+    [84] The Franklin stove is still in use.
+
+    [85] Warwick Furnace, Chester County, Pennsylvania,
+    across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown.
+
+An ironmonger in London however, assuming a good deal of my pamphlet,
+and working it up into his own, and making some small changes in the
+machine, which rather hurt its operation, got a patent for it there,
+and made, as I was told, a little fortune by it. And this is not the
+only instance of patents taken out for my inventions by others, tho'
+not always with the same success, which I never contested, as having
+no desire of profiting by patents myself, and hating disputes. The use
+of these fireplaces in very many houses, both of this and the
+neighbouring colonies, has been, and is, a great saving of wood to the
+inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+PUBLIC SERVICES AND DUTIES
+
+(1749-1753)
+
+
+Peace being concluded, and the association business therefore at an
+end, I turn'd my thoughts again to the affair of establishing an
+academy. The first step I took was to associate in the design a number
+of active friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good part; the next
+was to write and publish a pamphlet, entitled _Proposals Relating to
+the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania_. This I distributed among the
+principal inhabitants gratis; and as soon as I could suppose their
+minds a little prepared by the perusal of it, I set on foot a
+subscription for opening and supporting an academy; it was to be paid
+in quotas yearly for five years; by so dividing it, I judg'd the
+subscription might be larger, and I believe it was so, amounting to no
+less, if I remember right, than five thousand pounds.
+
+In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their publication,
+not as an act of mine, but of some _publick-spirited gentlemen_,
+avoiding as much as I could, according to my usual rule, the
+presenting myself to the publick as the author of any scheme for their
+benefit.
+
+The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate execution, chose
+out of their number twenty-four trustees, and appointed Mr.
+Francis,[86] then attorney-general, and myself to draw up constitutions
+for the government of the academy; which being done and signed, a
+house was hired, masters engag'd, and the schools opened, I think, in
+the same year, 1749.
+
+    [86] Tench Francis, uncle of Sir Philip Francis,
+    emigrated from England to Maryland, and became attorney
+    for Lord Baltimore. He removed to Philadelphia and was
+    attorney-general of Pennsylvania from 1741 to 1755. He
+    died in Philadelphia August 16, 1758.--Smyth.
+
+The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon found too small, and
+we were looking out for a piece of ground, properly situated, with
+intention to build, when Providence threw into our way a large house
+ready built, which, with a few alterations, might well serve our
+purpose. This was the building before mentioned, erected by the
+hearers of Mr. Whitefield, and was obtained for us in the following
+manner.
+
+It is to be noted that the contributions to this building being made
+by people of different sects, care was taken in the nomination of
+trustees, in whom the building and ground was to be vested, that a
+predominancy should not be given to any sect, lest in time that
+predominancy might be a means of appropriating the whole to the use of
+such sect, contrary to the original intention. It was therefore that
+one of each sect was appointed, viz., one Church-of-England man, one
+Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Moravian, etc., those, in case of
+vacancy by death, were to fill it by election from among the
+contributors. The Moravian happen'd not to please his colleagues, and
+on his death they resolved to have no other of that sect. The
+difficulty then was, how to avoid having two of some other sect, by
+means of the new choice.
+
+Several persons were named, and for that reason not agreed to. At
+length one mention'd me, with the observation that I was merely an
+honest man, and of no sect at all, which prevailed with them to chuse
+me. The enthusiasm which existed when the house was built had long
+since abat'd, and its trustees had not been able to procure fresh
+contributions for paying the ground-rent, and discharging some other
+debts the building had occasion'd, which embarrass'd them greatly.
+Being now a member of both sets of trustees, that for the building and
+that for the academy, I had a good opportunity of negotiating with
+both, and brought them finally to an agreement, by which the trustees
+for the building were to cede it to those of the academy, the latter
+undertaking to discharge the debt, to keep forever open in the
+building a large hall for occasional preachers, according to the
+original intention, and maintain a free-school for the instruction of
+poor children. Writings were accordingly drawn, and on paying the
+debts the trustees of the academy were put in possession of the
+premises; and by dividing the great and lofty hall into stories, and
+different rooms above and below for the several schools, and
+purchasing some additional ground, the whole was soon made fit for our
+purpose, and the scholars remov'd into the building. The care and
+trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing materials, and
+superintending the work, fell upon me; and I went thro' it the more
+cheerfully, as it did not then interfere with my private business,
+having the year before taken a very able, industrious, and honest
+partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose character I was well acquainted,
+as he had work'd for me four years. He took off my hands all care of
+the printing-office, paying me punctually my share of the profits. The
+partnership continued eighteen years, successfully for us both.
+
+The trustees of the academy, after a while, were incorporated by a
+charter from the governor; their funds were increas'd by contributions
+in Britain and grants of land from the proprietaries, to which the
+Assembly has since made considerable addition; and thus was
+established the present University of Philadelphia.[87] I have been
+continued one of its trustees from the beginning, now near forty
+years, and have had the very great pleasure of seeing a number of the
+youth who have receiv'd their education in it, distinguish'd by their
+improv'd abilities, serviceable in public stations, and ornaments to
+their country.
+
+    [87] Later called the University of Pennsylvania.
+
+When I disengaged myself, as above mentioned, from private business, I
+flatter'd myself that, by the sufficient tho' moderate fortune I had
+acquir'd, I had secured leisure during the rest of my life for
+philosophical studies and amusements. I purchased all Dr. Spence's
+apparatus, who had come from England to lecture here, and I proceeded
+in my electrical experiments with great alacrity; but the publick, now
+considering me as a man of leisure, laid hold of me for their
+purposes, every part of our civil government, and almost at the same
+time, imposing some duty upon me. The governor put me into the
+commission of the peace; the corporation of the city chose me of the
+common council, and soon after an alderman; and the citizens at large
+chose me a burgess to represent them in Assembly. This latter station
+was the more agreeable to me, as I was at length tired with sitting
+there to hear debates, in which, as clerk, I could take no part, and
+which were often so unentertaining that I was induc'd to amuse myself
+with making magic squares or circles, or anything to avoid weariness;
+and I conceiv'd my becoming a member would enlarge my power of doing
+good. I would not, however, insinuate that my ambition was not
+flatter'd by all these promotions; it certainly was; for, considering
+my low beginning, they were great things to me; and they were still
+more pleasing, as being so many spontaneous testimonies of the public
+good opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited.
+
+The office of justice of the peace I try'd a little, by attending a
+few courts, and sitting on the bench to hear causes; but finding that
+more knowledge of the common law than I possess'd was necessary to act
+in that station with credit, I gradually withdrew from it, excusing
+myself by my being oblig'd to attend the higher duties of a legislator
+in the Assembly. My election to this trust was repeated every year for
+ten years, without my ever asking any elector for his vote, or
+signifying, either directly or indirectly, any desire of being chosen.
+On taking my seat in the House, my son was appointed their clerk.
+
+The year following, a treaty being to be held with the Indians at
+Carlisle, the governor sent a message to the House, proposing that
+they should nominate some of their members, to be join'd with some
+members of council, as commissioners for that purpose.[88] The House
+named the speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself; and, being commission'd, we
+went to Carlisle, and met the Indians accordingly.
+
+    [88] See the votes to have this more correctly.--_Marg.
+    note._
+
+As those people are extreamly apt to get drunk, and, when so, are very
+quarrelsome and disorderly, we strictly forbade the selling any
+liquor to them; and when they complain'd of this restriction, we told
+them that if they would continue sober during the treaty, we would
+give them plenty of rum when business was over. They promis'd this,
+and they kept their promise, because they could get no liquor, and the
+treaty was conducted very orderly, and concluded to mutual
+satisfaction. They then claim'd and received the rum; this was in the
+afternoon: they were near one hundred men, women, and children, and
+were lodg'd in temporary cabins, built in the form of a square, just
+without the town. In the evening, hearing a great noise among them,
+the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter. We found they
+had made a great bonfire in the middle of the square; they were all
+drunk, men and women, quarreling and fighting. Their dark-colour'd
+bodies, half naked, seen only by the gloomy light of the bonfire,
+running after and beating one another with firebrands, accompanied by
+their horrid yellings, form'd a scene the most resembling our ideas of
+hell that could well be imagin'd; there was no appeasing the tumult,
+and we retired to our lodging. At midnight a number of them came
+thundering at our door, demanding more rum, of which we took no
+notice.
+
+The next day, sensible they had misbehav'd in giving us that
+disturbance, they sent three of their old counselors to make their
+apology. The orator acknowledg'd the fault, but laid it upon the rum;
+and then endeavoured to excuse the rum by saying, "_The Great Spirit,
+who made all things, made everything for some use, and whatever use he
+design'd anything for, that use it should always be put to. Now, when_
+_he made rum, he said, 'Let this be for the Indians to get drunk
+with,' and it must be so._" And, indeed, if it be the design of
+Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for
+cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable that rum may be the
+appointed means. It has already annihilated all the tribes who
+formerly inhabited the sea-coast.
+
+[Illustration: "In the evening, hearing a great noise among them, the
+commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter"]
+
+In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of mine, conceived the
+idea of establishing a hospital in Philadelphia (a very beneficent
+design, which has been ascrib'd to me, but was originally his), for
+the reception and cure of poor sick persons, whether inhabitants of
+the province or strangers. He was zealous and active in endeavouring
+to procure subscriptions for it, but the proposal being a novelty in
+America, and at first not well understood, he met but with small
+success.
+
+At length he came to me with the compliment that he found there was no
+such thing as carrying a public-spirited project through without my
+being concern'd in it. "For," says he, "I am often ask'd by those to
+whom I propose subscribing, Have you consulted Franklin upon this
+business? And what does he think of it? And when I tell them that I
+have not (supposing it rather out of your line), they do not
+subscribe, but say they will consider of it." I enquired into the
+nature and probable utility of his scheme, and receiving from him a
+very satisfactory explanation, I not only subscrib'd to it myself, but
+engag'd heartily in the design of procuring subscriptions from others.
+Previously, however, to the solicitation, I endeavoured to prepare the
+minds of the people by writing on the subject in the newspapers, which
+was my usual custom in such cases, but which he had omitted.
+
+The subscriptions afterwards were more free and generous; but,
+beginning to flag, I saw they would be insufficient without some
+assistance from the Assembly, and therefore propos'd to petition for
+it, which was done. The country members did not at first relish the
+project; they objected that it could only be serviceable to the city,
+and therefore the citizens alone should be at the expense of it; and
+they doubted whether the citizens themselves generally approv'd of it.
+My allegation on the contrary, that it met with such approbation as to
+leave no doubt of our being able to raise two thousand pounds by
+voluntary donations, they considered as a most extravagant
+supposition, and utterly impossible.
+
+On this I form'd my plan; and, asking leave to bring in a bill for
+incorporating the contributors according to the prayer of their
+petition, and granting them a blank sum of money, which leave was
+obtained chiefly on the consideration that the House could throw the
+bill out if they did not like it, I drew it so as to make the
+important clause a conditional one, viz., "And be it enacted, by the
+authority aforesaid, that when the said contributors shall have met
+and chosen their managers and treasurer, _and shall have raised by
+their contributions a capital stock of----value_ (the yearly
+interest of which is to be applied to the accommodating of the
+sick poor in the said hospital, free of charge for diet, attendance,
+advice, and medicines), _and shall make the same appear to the
+satisfaction of the speaker of the Assembly for the time being_, that
+_then_ it shall and may be lawful for the said speaker, and he is
+hereby required, to sign an order on the provincial treasurer for the
+payment of two thousand pounds, in two yearly payments, to the
+treasurer of the said hospital, to be applied to the founding,
+building, and finishing of the same."
+
+This condition carried the bill through; for the members, who had
+oppos'd the grant, and now conceiv'd they might have the credit of
+being charitable without the expense, agreed to its passage; and then,
+in soliciting subscriptions among the people, we urg'd the conditional
+promise of the law as an additional motive to give, since every man's
+donation would be doubled; thus the clause work'd both ways. The
+subscriptions accordingly soon exceeded the requisite sum, and we
+claim'd and receiv'd the public gift, which enabled us to carry the
+design into execution. A convenient and handsome building was soon
+erected; the institution has by constant experience been found useful,
+and flourishes to this day; and I do not remember any of my political
+manoeuvers, the success of which gave me at the time more pleasure,
+or wherein, after thinking of it, I more easily excus'd myself for
+having made some use of cunning.
+
+It was about this time that another projector, the Rev. Gilbert
+Tennent[89], came to me with a request that I would assist him in
+procuring a subscription for erecting a new meeting-house. It was to
+be for the use of a congregation he had gathered among the
+Presbyterians, who were originally disciples of Mr. Whitefield.
+Unwilling to make myself disagreeable to my fellow-citizens by too
+frequently soliciting their contributions, I absolutely refus'd. He
+then desired I would furnish him with a list of the names of persons I
+knew by experience to be generous and public-spirited. I thought it
+would be unbecoming in me, after their kind compliance with my
+solicitations, to mark them out to be worried by other beggars, and
+therefore refus'd also to give such a list. He then desir'd I would at
+least give him my advice. "That I will readily do," said I; "and, in
+the first place, I advise you to apply to all those whom you know will
+give something; next, to those whom you are uncertain whether they
+will give anything or not, and show them the list of those who have
+given; and, lastly, do not neglect those who you are sure will give
+nothing, for in some of them you may be mistaken." He laugh'd and
+thank'd me, and said he would take my advice. He did so, for he ask'd
+of _everybody_, and he obtain'd a much larger sum than he expected,
+with which he erected the capacious and very elegant meeting-house
+that stands in Arch-street.
+
+    [89] Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) came to America with his
+    father, Rev. William Tennent, and taught for a time in
+    the "Log College," from which sprang the College of New
+    Jersey.--Smyth.
+
+Our city, tho' laid out with a beautiful regularity, the streets
+large, straight, and crossing each other at right angles, had the
+disgrace of suffering those streets to remain long unpav'd, and in wet
+weather the wheels of heavy carriages plough'd them into a quagmire,
+so that it was difficult to cross them; and in dry weather the dust
+was offensive. I had liv'd near what was call'd the Jersey Market, and
+saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud while purchasing their
+provisions. A strip of ground down the middle of that market was at
+length pav'd with brick, so that, being once in the market, they had
+firm footing, but were often over shoes in dirt to get there. By
+talking and writing on the subject, I was at length instrumental in
+getting the street pav'd with stone between the market and the brick'd
+foot-pavement, that was on each side next the houses. This, for some
+time, gave an easy access to the market dry-shod; but, the rest of the
+street not being pav'd, whenever a carriage came out of the mud upon
+this pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was soon
+cover'd with mire, which was not remov'd, the city as yet having no
+scavengers.
+
+After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious man, who was willing
+to undertake keeping the pavement clean, by sweeping it twice a week,
+carrying off the dirt from before all the neighbours' doors, for the
+sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each house. I then wrote and
+printed a paper setting forth the advantages to the neighbourhood that
+might be obtain'd by this small expense; the greater ease in keeping
+our houses clean, so much dirt not being brought in by people's feet;
+the benefit to the shops by more custom, etc., etc., as buyers could
+more easily get at them; and by not having, in windy weather, the dust
+blown in upon their goods, etc., etc. I sent one of these papers to
+each house, and in a day or two went round to see who would subscribe
+an agreement to pay these sixpences; it was unanimously sign'd, and
+for a time well executed. All the inhabitants of the city were
+delighted with the cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded the
+market, it being a convenience to all, and this rais'd a general
+desire to have all the streets paved, and made the people more willing
+to submit to a tax for that purpose.
+
+After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, and brought it into
+the Assembly. It was just before I went to England, in 1757, and did
+not pass till I was gone,[90] and then with an alteration in the mode
+of assessment, which I thought not for the better, but with an
+additional provision for lighting as well as paving the streets, which
+was a great improvement. It was by a private person, the late Mr. John
+Clifton, his giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing one
+at his door, that the people were first impress'd with the idea of
+enlighting all the city. The honour of this public benefit has also
+been ascrib'd to me, but it belongs truly to that gentleman. I did but
+follow his example, and have only some merit to claim respecting the
+form of our lamps, as differing from the globe lamps we were at first
+supply'd with from London. Those we found inconvenient in these
+respects: they admitted no air below; the smoke, therefore, did not
+readily go out above, but circulated in the globe, lodg'd on its
+inside, and soon obstructed the light they were intended to afford;
+giving, besides, the daily trouble of wiping them clean; and an
+accidental stroke on one of them would demolish it, and render it
+totally useless. I therefore suggested the composing them of four flat
+panes, with a long funnel above to draw up the smoke, and crevices
+admitting air below, to facilitate the ascent of the smoke; by this
+means they were kept clean, and did not grow dark in a few hours, as
+the London lamps do, but continu'd bright till morning, and an
+accidental stroke would generally break but a single pane, easily
+repair'd.
+
+I have sometimes wonder'd that the Londoners did not, from the effect
+holes in the bottom of the globe lamps us'd at Vauxhall[91] have in
+keeping them clean, learn to have such holes in their street lamps.
+But, these holes being made for another purpose, viz., to communicate
+flame more suddenly to the wick by a little flax hanging down thro'
+them, the other use, of letting in air, seems not to have been thought
+of; and therefore, after the lamps have been lit a few hours, the
+streets of London are very poorly illuminated.
+
+    [90] See votes.
+
+    [91] Vauxhall Gardens, once a popular and fashionable
+    London resort, situated on the Thames above Lambeth. The
+    Gardens were closed in 1859, but they will always be
+    remembered because of Sir Roger de Coverley's visit to
+    them in the _Spectator_ and from the descriptions in
+    Smollett's _Humphry Clinker_ and Thackeray's _Vanity
+    Fair_.
+
+The mention of these improvements puts me in mind of one I propos'd,
+when in London, to Dr. Fothergill, who was among the best men I have
+known, and a great promoter of useful projects. I had observ'd that
+the streets, when dry, were never swept, and the light dust carried
+away; but it was suffer'd to accumulate till wet weather reduc'd it to
+mud, and then, after lying some days so deep on the pavement that
+there was no crossing but in paths kept clean by poor people with
+brooms, it was with great labour rak'd together and thrown up into
+carts open above, the sides of which suffered some of the slush at
+every jolt on the pavement to shake out and fall, sometimes to the
+annoyance of foot-passengers. The reason given for not sweeping the
+dusty streets was that the dust would fly into the windows of shops
+and houses.
+
+[Illustration: "a poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch
+broom"]
+
+An accidental occurrence had instructed me how much sweeping might be
+done in a little time. I found at my door in Craven-street,[92] one
+morning, a poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch broom; she
+appeared very pale and feeble, as just come out of a fit of sickness.
+I ask'd who employ'd her to sweep there; she said, "Nobody, but I am
+very poor and in distress, and I sweeps before gentle-folkses doors,
+and hopes they will give me something." I bid her sweep the whole
+street clean, and I would give her a shilling; this was at nine
+o'clock; at 12 she came for the shilling. From the slowness I saw at
+first in her working, I could scarce believe that the work was done so
+soon, and sent my servant to examine it, who reported that the whole
+street was swept perfectly clean, and all the dust plac'd in the
+gutter, which was in the middle; and the next rain wash'd it quite
+away, so that the pavement and even the kennel were perfectly clean.
+
+    [92] A short street near Charing Cross, London.
+
+I then judg'd that, if that feeble woman could sweep such a street in
+three hours, a strong, active man might have done it in half the time.
+And here let me remark the convenience of having but one gutter in
+such a narrow street, running down its middle, instead of two, one on
+each side, near the footway; for where all the rain that falls on a
+street runs from the sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a
+current strong enough to wash away all the mud it meets with; but when
+divided into two channels, it is often too weak to cleanse either, and
+only makes the mud it finds more fluid, so that the wheels of
+carriages and feet of horses throw and dash it upon the foot-pavement,
+which is thereby rendered foul and slippery, and sometimes splash it
+upon those who are walking. My proposal, communicated to the good
+doctor, was as follows:
+
+"For the more effectual cleaning and keeping clean the streets of
+London and Westminster, it is proposed that the several watchmen be
+contracted with to have the dust swept up in dry seasons, and the mud
+rak'd up at other times, each in the several streets and lanes of his
+round; that they be furnish'd with brooms and other proper instruments
+for these purposes, to be kept at their respective stands, ready to
+furnish the poor people they may employ in the service.
+
+"That in the dry summer months the dust be all swept up into heaps at
+proper distances, before the shops and windows of houses are usually
+opened, when the scavengers, with close-covered carts, shall also
+carry it all away.
+
+"That the mud, when rak'd up, be not left in heaps to be spread abroad
+again by the wheels of carriages and trampling of horses, but that the
+scavengers be provided with bodies of carts, not plac'd high upon
+wheels, but low upon sliders, with lattice bottoms, which, being
+cover'd with straw, will retain the mud thrown into them, and permit
+the water to drain from it, whereby it will become much lighter, water
+making the greatest part of its weight; these bodies of carts to be
+plac'd at convenient distances, and the mud brought to them in
+wheelbarrows; they remaining where plac'd till the mud is drain'd, and
+then horses brought to draw them away."
+
+I have since had doubts of the practicability of the latter part of
+this proposal, on account of the narrowness of some streets, and the
+difficulty of placing the draining-sleds so as not to encumber too
+much the passage; but I am still of opinion that the former, requiring
+the dust to be swept up and carry'd away before the shops are open, is
+very practicable in the summer, when the days are long; for, in
+walking thro' the Strand and Fleet-street one morning at seven
+o'clock, I observ'd there was not one shop open, tho' it had been
+daylight and the sun up above three hours; the inhabitants of London
+chusing voluntarily to live much by candle-light, and sleep by
+sunshine, and yet often complain, a little absurdly, of the duty on
+candles, and the high price of tallow.
+
+Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding or relating;
+but when they consider that tho' dust blown into the eyes of a single
+person, or into a single shop on a windy day, is but of small
+importance, yet the great number of the instances in a populous city,
+and its frequent repetitions give it weight and consequence, perhaps
+they will not censure very severely those who bestow some attention to
+affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is produced not
+so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by
+little advantages that occur every day. Thus, if you teach a poor
+young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may
+contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a
+thousand guineas. The money may be soon spent, the regret only
+remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he
+escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their
+sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors; he shaves
+when most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its
+being done with a good instrument. With these sentiments I have
+hazarded the few preceding pages, hoping they may afford hints which
+some time or other may be useful to a city I love, having lived many
+years in it very happily, and perhaps to some of our towns in America.
+
+Having been for some time employed by the postmaster-general of
+America as his comptroller in regulating several offices, and bringing
+the officers to account, I was, upon his death in 1753, appointed,
+jointly with Mr. William Hunter, to succeed him, by a commission from
+the postmaster-general in England. The American office never had
+hitherto paid anything to that of Britain. We were to have six hundred
+pounds a year between us, if we could make that sum out of the profits
+of the office. To do this, a variety of improvements were necessary;
+some of these were inevitably at first expensive, so that in the first
+four years the office became above nine hundred pounds in debt to us.
+But it soon after began to repay us; and before I was displac'd by a
+freak of the ministers, of which I shall speak hereafter, we had
+brought it to yield _three times_ as much clear revenue to the crown
+as the post-office of Ireland. Since that imprudent transaction, they
+have receiv'd from it--not one farthing!
+
+The business of the post-office occasion'd my taking a journey this
+year to New England, where the College of Cambridge, of their own
+motion, presented me with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale College,
+in Connecticut, had before made me a similar compliment. Thus, without
+studying in any college, I came to partake of their honours. They were
+conferr'd in consideration of my improvements and discoveries in the
+electric branch of natural philosophy.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+ALBANY PLAN OF UNION
+
+
+In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a congress of
+commissioners from the different colonies was, by an order of the
+Lords of Trade, to be assembled at Albany, there to confer with the
+chiefs of the Six Nations concerning the means of defending both their
+country and ours. Governor Hamilton, having receiv'd this order,
+acquainted the House with it, requesting they would furnish proper
+presents for the Indians, to be given on this occasion; and naming the
+speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself to join Mr. Thomas Penn and Mr.
+Secretary Peters as commissioners to act for Pennsylvania. The House
+approv'd the nomination, and provided the goods for the present, and
+tho' they did not much like treating out of the provinces; and we met
+the other commissioners at Albany about the middle of June.
+
+In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for the union of all
+the colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary for
+defense, and other important general purposes. As we pass'd thro' New
+York, I had there shown my project to Mr. James Alexander and Mr.
+Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and,
+being fortified by their approbation, I ventur'd to lay it before the
+Congress. It then appeared that several of the commissioners had
+form'd plans of the same kind. A previous question was first taken,
+whether a union should be established, which pass'd in the affirmative
+unanimously. A committee was then appointed, one member from each
+colony, to consider the several plans and report. Mine happen'd to be
+preferr'd, and, with a few amendments, was accordingly reported.
+
+[Illustration: JOIN, or DIE.]
+
+By this plan the general government was to be administered by a
+president-general, appointed and supported by the crown, and a grand
+council was to be chosen by the representatives of the people of the
+several colonies, met in their respective assemblies. The debates upon
+it in Congress went on daily, hand in hand with the Indian business.
+Many objections and difficulties were started, but at length they were
+all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed to, and copies
+ordered to be transmitted to the Board of Trade and to the assemblies
+of the several provinces. Its fate was singular; the assemblies did
+not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much _prerogative_ in
+it, and in England it was judg'd to have too much of the _democratic_.
+The Board of Trade therefore did not approve of it, nor recommend it
+for the approbation of his majesty; but another scheme was form'd,
+supposed to answer the same purpose better, whereby the governors of
+the provinces, with some members of their respective councils, were to
+meet and order the raising of troops, building of forts, etc., and to
+draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense, which was
+afterwards to be refunded by an act of Parliament laying a tax on
+America. My plan, with my reasons in support of it, is to be found
+among my political papers that are printed.
+
+Being the winter following in Boston, I had much conversation with
+Governor Shirley upon both the plans. Part of what passed between us
+on the occasion may also be seen among those papers. The different and
+contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes me suspect that it was
+really the true medium; and I am still of opinion it would have been
+happy for both sides the water if it had been adopted. The colonies,
+so united, would have been sufficiently strong to have defended
+themselves; there would then have been no need of troops from England;
+of course, the subsequent pretence for taxing America, and the bloody
+contest it occasioned, would have been avoided. But such mistakes are
+not new; history is full of the errors of states and princes.
+
+  "Look round the habitable world, how few
+   Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!"
+
+Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not
+generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into
+execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom
+_adopted from previous wisdom, but forc'd by the occasion_.
+
+The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down to the Assembly,
+expressed his approbation of the plan, "as appearing to him to be
+drawn up with great clearness and strength of judgment, and therefore
+recommended it as well worthy of their closest and most serious
+attention." The House, however, by the management of a certain member,
+took it up when I happen'd to be absent, which I thought not very
+fair, and reprobated it without paying any attention to it at all, to
+my no small mortification.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+QUARRELS WITH THE PROPRIETARY
+GOVERNORS
+
+
+In my journey to Boston this year, I met at New York with our new
+governor, Mr. Morris, just arriv'd there from England, with whom I had
+been before intimately acquainted. He brought a commission to
+supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tir'd with the disputes his proprietary
+instructions subjected him to, had resign'd. Mr. Morris ask'd me if I
+thought he must expect as uncomfortable an administration. I said,
+"No; you may, on the contrary, have a very comfortable one, if you
+will only take care not to enter into any dispute with the Assembly."
+"My dear friend," says he, pleasantly, "how can you advise my avoiding
+disputes? You know I love disputing; it is one of my greatest
+pleasures; however, to show the regard I have for your counsel, I
+promise you I will, if possible, avoid them." He had some reason for
+loving to dispute, being eloquent, an acute sophister, and, therefore,
+generally successful in argumentative conversation. He had been
+brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I have heard, accustoming
+his children to dispute with one another for his diversion, while
+sitting at table after dinner; but I think the practice was not wise;
+for, in the course of my observation, these disputing, contradicting,
+and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They
+get victory sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of
+more use to them. We parted, he going to Philadelphia, and I to
+Boston.
+
+In returning, I met at New York with the votes of the Assembly, by
+which it appear'd that, notwithstanding his promise to me, he and the
+House were already in high contention; and it was a continual battle
+between them as long as he retain'd the government. I had my share of
+it; for, as soon as I got back to my seat in the Assembly, I was put
+on every committee for answering his speeches and messages, and by the
+committees always desired to make the drafts. Our answers, as well as
+his messages, were often tart, and sometimes indecently abusive; and,
+as he knew I wrote for the Assembly, one might have imagined that,
+when we met, we could hardly avoid cutting throats; but he was so
+good-natur'd a man that no personal difference between him and me was
+occasion'd by the contest, and we often din'd together.
+
+[Illustration: "One afternoon, in the height of this
+public quarrel, we met in the street"]
+
+One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in the
+street. "Franklin," says he, "you must go home with me and spend the
+evening; I am to have some company that you will like;" and, taking me
+by the arm, he led me to his house. In gay conversation over our wine,
+after supper, he told us, jokingly, that he much admir'd the idea of
+Sancho Panza,[93] who, when it was proposed to give him a government,
+requested it might be a government of _blacks_, as then, if he could
+not agree with his people, he might sell them. One of his friends, who
+sat next to me, says, "Franklin, why do you continue to side with
+these damn'd Quakers? Had not you better sell them? The proprietor
+would give you a good price." "The governor," says I, "has not yet
+_blacked_ them enough." He, indeed, had laboured hard to blacken the
+Assembly in all his messages, but they wip'd off his colouring as fast
+as he laid it on, and plac'd it, in return, thick upon his own face;
+so that, finding he was likely to be negrofied himself, he, as well as
+Mr. Hamilton, grew tir'd of the contest, and quitted the government.
+
+These public quarrels[94] were all at bottom owing to the
+proprietaries, our hereditary governors, who, when any expense was to
+be incurred for the defense of their province, with incredible
+meanness instructed their deputies to pass no act for levying the
+necessary taxes, unless their vast estates were in the same act
+expressly excused; and they had even taken bonds of these deputies to
+observe such instructions. The Assemblies for three years held out
+against this injustice, tho' constrained to bend at last. At length
+Captain Denny, who was Governor Morris's successor, ventured to
+disobey those instructions; how that was brought about I shall show
+hereafter.
+
+    [93] The "round, selfish, and self-important" squire of
+    Don Quixote in Cervantes' romance of that name.
+
+    [94] My acts in Morris's time, military, etc.--_Marg.
+    note_.
+
+But I am got forward too fast with my story: there are still some
+transactions to be mention'd that happened during the administration
+of Governor Morris.
+
+War being in a manner commenced with France, the government of
+Massachusetts Bay projected an attack upon Crown Point,[95] and sent
+Mr. Quincy to Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pownall, afterward Governor
+Pownall, to New York, to solicit assistance. As I was in the Assembly,
+knew its temper, and was Mr. Quincy's countryman, he appli'd to me for
+my influence and assistance. I dictated his address to them, which was
+well received. They voted an aid of ten thousand pounds, to be laid
+out in provisions. But the governor refusing his assent to their bill
+(which included this with other sums granted for the use of the
+crown), unless a clause were inserted exempting the proprietary estate
+from bearing any part of the tax that would be necessary, the
+Assembly, tho' very desirous of making their grant to New England
+effectual, were at a loss how to accomplish it. Mr. Quincy labored
+hard with the governor to obtain his assent, but he was obstinate.
+
+    [95] On Lake Champlain, ninety miles north of Albany. It
+    was captured by the French in 1731, attacked by the
+    English in 1755 and 1756, and abandoned by the French in
+    1759. It was finally captured from the English by the
+    Americans in 1775.
+
+I then suggested a method of doing the business without the governor,
+by orders on the trustees of the Loan office, which, by law, the
+Assembly had the right of drawing. There was, indeed, little or no
+money at that time in the office, and therefore I propos'd that the
+orders should be payable in a year, and to bear an interest of five
+per cent. With these orders I suppos'd the provisions might easily be
+purchas'd. The Assembly, with very little hesitation, adopted the
+proposal. The orders were immediately printed, and I was one of the
+committee directed to sign and dispose of them. The fund for paying
+them was the interest of all the paper currency then extant in the
+province upon loan, together with the revenue arising from the excise,
+which being known to be more than sufficient, they obtain'd instant
+credit, and were not only receiv'd in payment for the provisions, but
+many money'd people, who had cash lying by them, vested it in those
+orders, which they found advantageous, as they bore interest while
+upon hand, and might on any occasion be used as money; so that they
+were eagerly all bought up, and in a few weeks none of them were to be
+seen. Thus this important affair was by my means completed. Mr. Quincy
+return'd thanks to the Assembly in a handsome memorial, went home
+highly pleas'd with this success of his embassy, and ever after bore
+for me the most cordial and affectionate friendship.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION
+
+
+The British government, not chusing to permit the union of the
+colonies as propos'd at Albany, and to trust that union with their
+defense, lest they should thereby grow too military, and feel their
+own strength, suspicions and jealousies at this time being entertain'd
+of them, sent over General Braddock with two regiments of regular
+English troops for that purpose. He landed at Alexandria, in Virginia,
+and thence march'd to Frederictown, in Maryland, where he halted for
+carriages. Our Assembly apprehending, from some information, that he
+had conceived violent prejudices against them, as averse to the
+service, wish'd me to wait upon him, not as from them, but as
+postmaster-general, under the guise of proposing to settle with him
+the mode of conducting with most celerity and certainty the despatches
+between him and the governors of the several provinces, with whom he
+must necessarily have continual correspondence, and of which they
+propos'd to pay the expense. My son accompanied me on this journey.
+
+We found the general at Frederictown, waiting impatiently for the
+return of those he had sent thro' the back parts of Maryland and
+Virginia to collect waggons. I stayed with him several days, din'd
+with him daily, and had full opportunity of removing all his
+prejudices, by the information of what the Assembly had before his
+arrival actually done, and were still willing to do, to facilitate his
+operations. When I was about to depart, the returns of waggons to be
+obtained were brought in, by which it appear'd that they amounted only
+to twenty-five, and not all of those were in serviceable condition.
+The general and all the officers were surpris'd, declar'd the
+expedition was then at an end, being impossible, and exclaim'd against
+the ministers for ignorantly landing them in a country destitute of
+the means of conveying their stores, baggage, etc., not less than one
+hundred and fifty waggons being necessary.
+
+I happen'd to say I thought it was pity they had not been landed
+rather in Pennsylvania, as in that country almost every farmer had his
+waggon. The general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said, "Then
+you, sir, who are a man of interest there, can probably procure them
+for us; and I beg you will undertake it." I ask'd what terms were to
+be offer'd the owners of the waggons, and I was desir'd to put on
+paper the terms that appeared to me necessary. This I did, and they
+were agreed to, and a commission and instructions accordingly prepar'd
+immediately. What those terms were will appear in the advertisement I
+publish'd as soon as I arriv'd at Lancaster, which being, from the
+great and sudden effect it produc'd, a piece of some curiosity, I
+shall insert it at length, as follows:
+
+  "Advertisement.
+
+   "Lancaster, _April_ 26, 1755.
+
+"Whereas, one hundred and fifty waggons, with four horses to each
+waggon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack horses, are wanted for the
+service of his majesty's forces now about to rendezvous at Will's
+Creek, and his excellency General Braddock having been pleased to
+empower me to contract for the hire of the same, I hereby give notice
+that I shall attend for that purpose at Lancaster from this day to
+next Wednesday evening, and at York from next Thursday morning till
+Friday evening, where I shall be ready to agree for waggons and teams,
+or single horses, on the following terms, viz.: 1. That there shall be
+paid for each waggon, with four good horses and a driver, fifteen
+shillings per diem; and for each able horse with a pack-saddle, or
+other saddle and furniture, two shillings per diem; and for each able
+horse without a saddle, eighteen pence per diem. 2. That the pay
+commence from the time of their joining the forces at Will's Creek,
+which must be on or before the 20th of May ensuing, and that a
+reasonable allowance be paid over and above for the time necessary for
+their travelling to Will's Creek and home again after their discharge.
+3. Each waggon and team, and every saddle or pack horse, is to be
+valued by indifferent persons chosen between me and the owner; and in
+case of the loss of any waggon, team, or other horse in the service,
+the price according to such valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4.
+Seven days' pay is to be advanced and paid in hand by me to the owner
+of each waggon and team, or horse, at the time of contracting, if
+required, and the remainder to be paid by General Braddock, or by the
+paymaster of the army, at the time of their discharge, or from time to
+time, as it shall be demanded. 5. No drivers of waggons, or persons
+taking care of the hired horses, are on any account to be called upon
+to do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise employed than in
+conducting or taking care of their carriages or horses. 6. All oats,
+Indian corn, or other forage that waggons or horses bring to the camp,
+more than is necessary for the subsistence of the horses, is to be
+taken for the use of the army, and a reasonable price paid for the
+same.
+
+"Note.--My son, William Franklin, is empowered to enter into like
+contracts with any person in Cumberland county.
+
+"B. Franklin."
+
+
+  _"To the inhabitants of the Counties of Lancaster,
+           York, and Cumberland._
+
+"Friends and Countrymen,
+
+"Being occasionally[96] at the camp at Frederic a few days since, I
+found the general and officers extremely exasperated on account of
+their not being supplied with horses and carriages, which had been
+expected from this province, as most able to furnish them; but,
+through the dissensions between our governor and Assembly, money had
+not been provided, nor any steps taken for that purpose.
+
+    [96] By chance.
+
+"It was proposed to send an armed force immediately into these
+counties, to seize as many of the best carriages and horses as should
+be wanted, and compel as many persons into the service as would be
+necessary to drive and take care of them.
+
+"I apprehended that the progress of British soldiers through these
+counties on such an occasion, especially considering the temper they
+are in, and their resentment against us, would be attended with many
+and great inconveniences to the inhabitants, and therefore more
+willingly took the trouble of trying first what might be done by fair
+and equitable means. The people of these back counties have lately
+complained to the Assembly that a sufficient currency was wanting; you
+have an opportunity of receiving and dividing among you a very
+considerable sum; for, if the service of this expedition should
+continue, as it is more than probable it will, for one hundred and
+twenty days, the hire of these waggons and horses will amount to
+upward of thirty thousand pounds, which will be paid you in silver and
+gold of the king's money.
+
+"The service will be light and easy, for the army will scarce march
+above twelve miles per day, and the waggons and baggage-horses, as
+they carry those things that are absolutely necessary to the welfare
+of the army, must march with the army, and no faster; and are, for the
+army's sake, always placed where they can be most secure, whether in a
+march or in a camp.
+
+"If you are really, as I believe you are, good and loyal subjects to
+his majesty, you may now do a most acceptable service, and make it
+easy to yourselves; for three or four of such as cannot separately
+spare from the business of their plantations a waggon and four horses
+and a driver, may do it together, one furnishing the waggon, another
+one or two horses, and another the driver, and divide the pay
+proportionately between you; but if you do not this service to your
+king and country voluntarily, when such good pay and reasonable terms
+are offered to you, your loyalty will be strongly suspected. The
+king's business must be done; so many brave troops, come so far for
+your defense, must not stand idle through your backwardness to do what
+may be reasonably expected from you; waggons and horses must be had;
+violent measures will probably be used, and you will be left to seek
+for a recompense where you can find it, and your case, perhaps, be
+little pitied or regarded.
+
+"I have no particular interest in this affair, as, except the
+satisfaction of endeavouring to do good, I shall have only my labour
+for my pains. If this method of obtaining the waggons and horses is
+not likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word to the general in
+fourteen days; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the hussar, with a
+body of soldiers, will immediately enter the province for the purpose,
+which I shall be sorry to hear, because I am very sincerely and truly
+your friend and well-wisher,
+
+"B. Franklin."
+
+I received of the general about eight hundred pounds, to be disbursed
+in advance-money to the waggon owners, etc.; but that sum being
+insufficient, I advanc'd upward of two hundred pounds more, and in two
+weeks the one hundred and fifty waggons, with two hundred and
+fifty-nine carrying horses, were on their march for the camp. The
+advertisement promised payment according to the valuation, in case any
+waggon or horse should be lost. The owners, however, alleging they did
+not know General Braddock, or what dependence might be had on his
+promise, insisted on my bond for the performance, which I accordingly
+gave them.
+
+While I was at the camp, supping one evening with the officers of
+Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he represented to me his concern for the
+subalterns, who, he said, were generally not in affluence, and could
+ill afford, in this dear country, to lay in the stores that might be
+necessary in so long a march, thro' a wilderness, where nothing was to
+be purchas'd. I commiserated their case, and resolved to endeavour
+procuring them some relief. I said nothing, however, to him of my
+intention, but wrote the next morning to the committee of the
+Assembly, who had the disposition of some public money, warmly
+recommending the case of these officers to their consideration, and
+proposing that a present should be sent them of necessaries and
+refreshments. My son, who had some experience of a camp life, and of
+its wants, drew up a list for me, which I enclos'd in my letter. The
+committee approv'd, and used such diligence that, conducted by my son,
+the stores arrived at the camp as soon as the waggons. They consisted
+of twenty parcels, each containing
+
+6 lbs. loaf sugar.
+6 lbs. good Muscovado do.
+1 lb. good green tea.
+1 lb. good bohea do.
+6 lbs. good ground coffee.
+6 lbs. chocolate.
+1-2 cwt. best white biscuit.
+1-2 lb. pepper.
+1 quart best white wine
+vinegar.
+1 Gloucester cheese.
+1 kegg containing 20 lbs.
+good butter.
+2 doz. old Madeira wine.
+2 gallons Jamaica spirits.
+1 bottle flour of mustard.
+2 well-cur'd hams.
+1-2 dozen dry'd tongues.
+6 lbs. rice.
+6 lbs. raisins.
+
+These twenty parcels, well pack'd, were placed on as many horses, each
+parcel, with the horse, being intended as a present for one officer.
+They were very thankfully receiv'd, and the kindness acknowledg'd by
+letters to me from the colonels of both regiments, in the most
+grateful terms. The general, too, was highly satisfied with my conduct
+in procuring him the waggons, etc., and readily paid my account of
+disbursements, thanking me repeatedly, and requesting my farther
+assistance in sending provisions after him. I undertook this also, and
+was busily employ'd in it till we heard of his defeat, advancing for
+the service of my own money, upwards of one thousand pounds sterling,
+of which I sent him an account. It came to his hands, luckily for me,
+a few days before the battle, and he return'd me immediately an order
+on the paymaster for the round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the
+remainder to the next account. I consider this payment as good luck,
+having never been able to obtain that remainder, of which more
+hereafter.
+
+This general was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have made a
+figure as a good officer in some European war. But he had too much
+self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular
+troops, and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George
+Croghan, our Indian interpreter, join'd him on his march with one
+hundred of those people, who might have been of great use to his army
+as guides, scouts, etc., if he had treated them kindly; but he
+slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left him.
+
+In conversation with him one day, he was giving me some account of his
+intended progress. "After taking Fort Duquesne,"[97] says he, "I am to
+proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that, to Frontenac,[98] if the
+season will allow time; and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly
+detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing that can
+obstruct my march to Niagara." Having before revolv'd in my mind the
+long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to
+be cut for them thro' the woods and bushes, and also what I had read
+of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French, who invaded the Iroquois
+country, I had conceiv'd some doubts and some fears for the event of
+the campaign. But I ventur'd only to say, "To be sure, sir, if you
+arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well provided
+with artillery, that place not yet completely fortified, and as we
+hear with no very strong garrison, can probably make but a short
+resistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march
+is from ambuscades of Indians, who, by constant practice, are
+dexterous in laying and executing them; and the slender line, near
+four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be
+attack'd by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into
+several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up in time to
+support each other."
+
+    [97] Pittsburg.
+
+    [98] Kingston, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario.
+
+He smil'd at my ignorance, and reply'd, "These savages may, indeed, be
+a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the king's
+regular and disciplin'd troops, sir, it is impossible they should make
+any impression." I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing
+with a military man in matters of his profession, and said no more.
+The enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his army which I
+apprehended its long line of march expos'd it to, but let it advance
+without interruption till within nine miles of the place; and then,
+when more in a body (for it had just passed a river, where the front
+had halted till all were come over), and in a more open part of the
+woods than any it had pass'd, attack'd its advanced guard by heavy
+fire from behind trees and bushes, which was the first intelligence
+the general had of an enemy's being near him. This guard being
+disordered, the general hurried the troops up to their assistance,
+which was done in great confusion, thro' waggons, baggage, and cattle;
+and presently the fire came upon their flank: the officers, being on
+horseback, were more easily distinguish'd, pick'd out as marks, and
+fell very fast; and the soldiers were crowded together in a huddle,
+having or hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till
+two-thirds of them were killed; and then, being seiz'd with a panick,
+the whole fled with precipitation.
+
+[Illustration: "The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your
+march is from ambuscades of Indians"]
+
+The waggoners took each a horse out of his team and scamper'd; their
+example was immediately followed by others; so that all the waggons,
+provisions, artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The general,
+being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, Mr.
+Shirley, was killed by his side; and out of eighty-six officers,
+sixty-three were killed or wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men
+killed out of eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been picked men
+from the whole army; the rest had been left behind with Colonel
+Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier part of the stores,
+provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being pursu'd, arriv'd at
+Dunbar's camp, and the panick they brought with them instantly seiz'd
+him and all his people; and, tho' he had now above one thousand men,
+and the enemy who had beaten Braddock did not at most exceed four
+hundred Indians and French together, instead of proceeding, and
+endeavouring to recover some of the lost honour, he ordered all the
+stores, ammunition, etc., to be destroy'd, that he might have more
+horses to assist his flight towards the settlements, and less lumber
+to remove. He was there met with requests from the governors of
+Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on
+the frontier, so as to afford some protection to the inhabitants; but
+he continued his hasty march thro' all the country, not thinking
+himself safe till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants
+could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first
+suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regulars
+had not been well founded.[99]
+
+    [99] Other accounts of this expedition and defeat may be
+    found in Fiske's _Washington and his Country_, or
+    Lodge's _George Washington_, Vol. 1.
+
+In their first march, too, from their landing till they got beyond the
+settlements, they had plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally
+ruining some poor families, besides insulting, abusing, and confining
+the people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put us out of
+conceit of such defenders, if we had really wanted any. How different
+was the conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march
+thro' the most inhabited part of our country from Rhode Island to
+Virginia, near seven hundred miles, occasioned not the smallest
+complaint for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple.
+
+Captain Orme, who was one of the general's aids-de-camp, and, being
+grievously wounded, was brought off with him, and continu'd with him
+to his death, which happen'd in a few days, told me that he was
+totally silent all the first day, and at night only said, "_Who would
+have thought it?_" That he was silent again the following day, saying
+only at last, "_We shall better know how to deal with them another
+time_"; and dy'd in a few minutes after.
+
+The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders, instructions,
+and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, they selected and
+translated into French a number of the articles, which they printed,
+to prove the hostile intentions of the British court before the
+declaration of war. Among these I saw some letters of the general to
+the ministry, speaking highly of the great service I had rendered the
+army, and recommending me to their notice. David Hume,[100] too, who was
+some years after secretary to Lord Hertford, when minister in France,
+and afterward to General Conway, when secretary of state, told me he
+had seen among the papers in that office, letters from Braddock highly
+recommending me. But, the expedition having been unfortunate, my
+service, it seems, was not thought of much value, for those
+recommendations were never of any use to me.
+
+    [100] A famous Scotch philosopher and historian
+    (1711-1776).
+
+As to rewards from himself, I ask'd only one, which was, that he would
+give orders to his officers not to enlist any more of our bought
+servants, and that he would discharge such as had been already
+enlisted. This he readily granted, and several were accordingly
+return'd to their masters, on my application. Dunbar, when the command
+devolv'd on him, was not so generous. He being at Philadelphia, on his
+retreat, or rather flight, I apply'd to him for the discharge of the
+servants of three poor farmers of Lancaster county that he had
+enlisted, reminding him of the late general's orders on that head. He
+promised me that, if the masters would come to him at Trenton, where
+he should be in a few days on his march to New York, he would there
+deliver their men to them. They accordingly were at the expense and
+trouble of going to Trenton, and there he refus'd to perform his
+promise, to their great loss and disappointment.
+
+As soon as the loss of the waggons and horses was generally known, all
+the owners came upon me for the valuation which I had given bond to
+pay. Their demands gave me a great deal of trouble, my acquainting
+them that the money was ready in the paymaster's hands, but that
+orders for paying it must first be obtained from General Shirley,[101]
+and my assuring them that I had apply'd to that general by letter;
+but, he being at a distance, an answer could not soon be receiv'd, and
+they must have patience, all this was not sufficient to satisfy, and
+some began to sue me. General Shirley at length relieved me from this
+terrible situation by appointing commissioners to examine the claims,
+and ordering payment. They amounted to near twenty thousand pound,
+which to pay would have ruined me.
+
+    [101] Governor of Massachusetts and commander of the
+    British forces in America.
+
+Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doctors Bond came to me
+with a subscription paper for raising money to defray the expense of a
+grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a rejoicing on
+receipt of the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I looked grave, and
+said it would, I thought, be time enough to prepare for the rejoicing
+when we knew we should have occasion to rejoice. They seem'd surpris'd
+that I did not immediately comply with their proposal. "Why the
+d----l!" says one of them, "you surely don't suppose that the
+fort will not be taken?" "I don't know that it will not be taken, but
+I know that the events of war are subject to great uncertainty." I
+gave them the reasons of my doubting; the subscription was dropt, and
+the projectors thereby missed the mortification they would have
+undergone if the firework had been prepared. Dr. Bond, on some other
+occasion afterward, said that he did not like Franklin's forebodings.
+
+Governor Morris, who had continually worried the Assembly with message
+after message before the defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the
+making of acts to raise money for the defense of the province, without
+taxing, among others, the proprietary estates, and had rejected all
+their bills for not having such an exempting clause, now redoubled his
+attacks with more hope of success, the danger and necessity being
+greater. The Assembly, however, continu'd firm, believing they had
+justice on their side, and that it would be giving up an essential
+right if they suffered the governor to amend their money-bills. In one
+of the last, indeed, which was for granting fifty thousand pounds, his
+propos'd amendment was only of a single word. The bill express'd "that
+all estates, real and personal, were to be taxed, those of the
+proprietaries _not_ excepted." His amendment was, for _not_ read
+_only_: a small, but very material alteration. However, when the news
+of this disaster reached England, our friends there whom we had taken
+care to furnish with all the Assembly's answers to the governor's
+messages, rais'd a clamor against the proprietaries for their meanness
+and injustice in giving their governor such instructions; some going
+so far as to say that, by obstructing the defense of their province,
+they forfeited their right to it. They were intimidated by this, and
+sent orders to their receiver-general to add five thousand pounds of
+their money to whatever sum might be given by the Assembly for such
+purpose.
+
+This, being notified to the House, was accepted in lieu of their share
+of a general tax, and a new bill was form'd, with an exempting clause,
+which passed accordingly. By this act I was appointed one of the
+commissioners for disposing of the money, sixty thousand pounds. I had
+been active in modelling the bill and procuring its passage, and had,
+at the same time, drawn a bill for establishing and disciplining a
+voluntary militia, which I carried thro' the House without much
+difficulty, as care was taken in it to leave the Quakers at their
+liberty. To promote the association necessary to form the militia, I
+wrote a dialogue,[102] stating and answering all the objections I could
+think of to such a militia, which was printed, and had, as I thought,
+great effect.
+
+    [102] This dialogue and the militia act are in the
+    Gentleman's Magazine for February and March,
+    1756.--_Marg. note._
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+FRANKLIN'S DEFENSE OF THE
+FRONTIER
+
+
+While the several companies in the city and country were forming, and
+learning their exercise, the governor prevail'd with me to take charge
+of our North-western frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and
+provide for the defense of the inhabitants by raising troops and
+building a line of forts. I undertook this military business, tho' I
+did not conceive myself well qualified for it. He gave me a commission
+with full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to
+be given to whom I thought fit. I had but little difficulty in raising
+men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my command. My son, who
+had in the preceding war been an officer in the army rais'd against
+Canada, was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me. The Indians had
+burned Gnadenhut,[103] a village settled by the Moravians, and massacred
+the inhabitants; but the place was thought a good situation for one of
+the forts.
+
+    [103] Pronounced Gna�-den-hoot.
+
+In order to march thither, I assembled the companies at Bethlehem, the
+chief establishment of those people. I was surprised to find it in so
+good a posture of defense; the destruction of Gnadenhut had made them
+apprehend danger. The principal buildings were defended by a stockade;
+they had purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New York,
+and had even plac'd quantities of small paving stones between the
+windows of their high stone houses, for their women to throw down upon
+the heads of any Indians that should attempt to force into them. The
+armed brethren, too, kept watch, and reliev'd as methodically as in
+any garrison town. In conversation with the bishop, Spangenberg, I
+mention'd this my surprise; for, knowing they had obtained an act of
+Parliament exempting them from military duties in the colonies, I had
+suppos'd they were conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He
+answer'd me that it was not one of their established principles, but
+that, at the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought to be a
+principle with many of their people. On this occasion, however, they,
+to their surprise, found it adopted by but a few. It seems they were
+either deceiv'd in themselves, or deceiv'd the Parliament; but common
+sense, aided by present danger, will sometimes be too strong for
+whimsical opinions.
+
+It was the beginning of January when we set out upon this business of
+building forts. I sent one detachment toward the Minisink, with
+instructions to erect one for the security of that upper part of the
+country, and another to the lower part, with similar instructions; and
+I concluded to go myself with the rest of my force to Gnadenhut, where
+a fort was tho't more immediately necessary. The Moravians procur'd me
+five waggons for our tools, stores, baggage, etc.
+
+Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been driven
+from their plantations by the Indians, came to me requesting a supply
+of firearms, that they might go back and fetch off their cattle. I
+gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition. We had not march'd many
+miles before it began to rain, and it continued raining all day; there
+were no habitations on the road to shelter us, till we arriv'd near
+night at the house of a German, where, and in his barn, we were all
+huddled together, as wet as water could make us. It was well we were
+not attack'd in our march, for our arms were of the most ordinary
+sort, and our men could not keep their gun locks[104] dry. The Indians
+are dexterous in contrivances for that purpose, which we had not. They
+met that day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned, and killed ten
+of them. The one who escap'd inform'd that his and his companions'
+guns would not go off, the priming being wet with the rain.
+
+    [104] Flint-lock guns, discharged by means of a spark
+    struck from flint and steel into powder (priming) in an
+    open pan.
+
+[Illustration: "We had not march'd many miles before it began to rain"]
+
+The next day being fair, we continu'd our march, and arriv'd at the
+desolated Gnadenhut. There was a saw-mill near, round which were left
+several piles of boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves; an
+operation the more necessary at that inclement season, as we had no
+tents. Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found
+there, who had been half interr'd by the country people.
+
+The next morning our fort was plann'd and mark'd out, the
+circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would
+require as many palisades to be made of trees, one with another, of a
+foot diameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were
+immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men being
+dexterous in the use of them, great despatch was made. Seeing the
+trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch when two
+men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it upon the
+ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine made
+three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While these
+were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round, of three feet
+deep, in which the palisades were to be planted; and, our waggons, the
+bodies being taken off, and the fore and hind wheels separated
+by taking out the pin which united the two parts of the perch,[105] we
+had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring the palisades from
+the woods to the spot. When they were set up, our carpenters built a
+stage
+
+[Illustration: "Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut down
+trees"]
+
+of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the men to stand
+on when to fire thro' the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we
+mounted on one of the angles, and fir'd it as soon as fix'd, to let
+the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had such pieces;
+and thus our fort, if such a magnificent name may be given to so
+miserable a stockade, was finish'd in a week, though it rain'd so hard
+every other day that the men could not work.
+
+    [105] Here the pole connecting the front and rear wheels
+    of a wagon.
+
+This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men are employ'd, they
+are best content'd; for on the days they worked they were good-natur'd
+and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's
+work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were
+mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their pork, the bread,
+etc., and in continual ill-humour, which put me in mind of a
+sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work;
+and, when his mate once told him that they had done everything, and
+there was nothing further to employ them about, _"Oh," says he, "make
+them scour the anchor."_
+
+This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defense
+against Indians, who have no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted
+securely, and having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventur'd
+out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with no Indians,
+but we found the places on the neighbouring hills where they had lain
+to watch our proceedings. There was an art in their contrivance of
+those places that seems worth mention. It being winter, a fire was
+necessary for them; but a common fire on the surface of the ground
+would by its light have discover'd their position at a distance. They
+had therefore dug holes in the ground about three feet diameter, and
+somewhat deeper; we saw where they had with their hatchets cut off the
+charcoal from the sides of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these
+coals they had made small fires in the bottom of the holes, and we
+observ'd among the weeds and grass the prints of their bodies, made by
+their laying all round, with their legs hanging down in the holes to
+keep their feet warm, which, with them, is an essential point. This
+kind of fire, so manag'd, could not discover them, either by its
+light, flame, sparks, or even smoke: it appear'd that their number was
+not great, and it seems they saw we were too many to be attacked by
+them with prospect of advantage.
+
+We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty,
+who complained to me that the men did not generally attend his prayers
+and exhortations. When they enlisted, they were promised, besides pay
+and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which was punctually serv'd out
+to them, half in the morning, and the other half in the evening; and I
+observed they were as punctual in attending to receive it; upon which
+I said to Mr. Beatty, "It is, perhaps, below the dignity of your
+profession to act as steward of the rum, but if you were to deal it
+out and only just after prayers, you would have them all about you."
+He liked the tho't, undertook the office, and, with the help of a few
+hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and
+never were prayers more generally and more punctually attended; so
+that I thought this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by
+some military laws for non-attendance on divine service.
+
+I had hardly finish'd this business, and got my fort well stor'd with
+provisions, when I receiv'd a letter from the governor, acquainting me
+that he had call'd the Assembly, and wished my attendance there, if
+the posture of affairs on the frontiers was such that my remaining
+there was no longer necessary. My friends, too, of the Assembly,
+pressing me by their letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, and
+my three intended forts being now compleated, and the inhabitants
+contented to remain on their farms under that protection, I resolved
+to return; the more willingly, as a New England officer, Colonel
+Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit to our
+establishment, consented to accept the command. I gave him a
+commission, and, parading the garrison, had it read before them, and
+introduc'd him to them as an officer who, from his skill in military
+affairs, was much more fit to command them than myself; and, giving
+them a little exhortation, took my leave. I was escorted as far as
+Bethlehem, where I rested a few days to recover from the fatigue I had
+undergone. The first night, being in a good bed, I could hardly sleep,
+it was so different from my hard lodging on the floor of our hut at
+Gnaden wrapt only in a blanket or two.
+
+While at Bethlehem, I inquir'd a little into the practice of the
+Moravians: some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind to
+me. I found they work'd for a common stock, ate at common tables, and
+slept in common dormitories, great numbers together. In the
+dormitories I observed loopholes, at certain distances all along just
+under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of
+air. I was at their church, where I was entertain'd with good musick,
+the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, clarinets,
+etc. I understood that their sermons were not usually preached to
+mixed congregations of men, women, and children, as is our common
+practice, but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other
+times their wives, then the young men, the young women, and the little
+children, each division by itself. The sermon I heard was to the
+latter, who came in and were plac'd in rows on benches; the boys under
+the conduct of a young man, their tutor, and the girls conducted by a
+young woman. The discourse seem'd well adapted to their capacities,
+and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it
+were, to be good. They behav'd very orderly, but looked pale and
+unhealthy, which made me suspect they were kept too much within doors,
+or not allow'd sufficient exercise.
+
+I inquir'd concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the report was
+true that they were by lot. I was told that lots were us'd only in
+particular cases; that generally, when a young man found himself
+dispos'd to marry, he inform'd the elders of his class, who consulted
+the elder ladies that govern'd the young women. As these elders of the
+different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions
+of their respective pupils, they could best judge what matches were
+suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesc'd in; but if,
+for example, it should happen that two or three young women were found
+to be equally proper for the young man, the lot was then recurred to.
+I objected, if the matches are not made by the mutual choice of the
+parties, some of them may chance to be very unhappy. "And so they
+may," answer'd my informer, "if you let the parties chuse for
+themselves;" which, indeed, I could not deny.
+
+Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the association went on
+swimmingly, the inhabitants that were not Quakers having pretty
+generally come into it, formed themselves into companies, and chose
+their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to the new law.
+Dr. B. visited me, and gave me an account of the pains he had taken to
+spread a general good liking to the law, and ascribed much to those
+endeavours. I had had the vanity to ascribe all to my _Dialogue_;
+however, not knowing but that he might be in the right, I let him
+enjoy his opinion, which I take to be generally the best way in such
+cases. The officers, meeting, chose me to be colonel of the regiment,
+which I this time accepted. I forget how many companies we had, but we
+paraded about twelve hundred well-looking men, with a company of
+artillery, who had been furnished with six brass field-pieces, which
+they had become so expert in the use of as to fire twelve times in a
+minute. The first time I reviewed my regiment they accompanied me to
+my house, and would salute me with some rounds fired before my door,
+which shook down and broke several glasses of my electrical apparatus.
+And my new honour proved not much less brittle; for all our
+commissions were soon after broken by a repeal of the law in England.
+
+During this short time of my colonelship, being about to set out on a
+journey to Virginia, the officers of my regiment took it into their
+heads that it would be proper for them to escort me out of town, as
+far as the Lower Ferry. Just as I was getting on horseback they came
+to my door, between thirty and forty, mounted, and all in their
+uniforms. I had not been previously acquainted with the project, or I
+should have prevented it, being naturally averse to the assuming of
+state on any occasion; and I was a good deal chagrin'd at their
+appearance, as I could not avoid their accompanying me. What made it
+worse was, that, as soon as we began to move, they drew their swords
+and rode with them naked all the way. Somebody wrote an account of
+this to the proprietor, and it gave him great offense. No such honour
+had been paid him when in the province, nor to any of his governors;
+and he said it was only proper to princes of the blood royal, which
+may be true for aught I know, who was, and still am, ignorant of the
+etiquette in such cases.
+
+This silly affair, however, greatly increased his rancour against me,
+which was before not a little, on account of my conduct in the
+Assembly respecting the exemption of his estate from taxation, which I
+had always oppos'd very warmly, and not without severe reflections on
+his meanness and injustice of contending for it. He accused me to the
+ministry as being the great obstacle to the King's service,
+preventing, by my influence in the House, the proper form of the bills
+for raising money, and he instanced this parade with my officers as a
+proof of my having an intention to take the government of the province
+out of his hands by force. He also applied to Sir Everard Fawkener,
+the postmaster-general, to deprive me of my office; but it had no
+other effect than to procure from Sir Everard a gentle admonition.
+
+Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the governor and the
+House, in which I, as a member, had so large a share, there still
+subsisted a civil intercourse between that gentleman and myself, and
+we never had any personal difference. I have sometimes since thought
+that his little or no resentment against me, for the answers it was
+known I drew up to his messages, might be the effect of professional
+habit, and that, being bred a lawyer, he might consider us both as
+merely advocates for contending clients in a suit, he for the
+proprietaries and I for the Assembly. He would, therefore, sometimes
+call in a friendly way to advise with me on difficult points, and
+sometimes, tho' not often, take my advice.
+
+We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army with provisions; and,
+when the shocking news arrived of his defeat, the governor sent in
+haste for me, to consult with him on measures for preventing the
+desertion of the back counties. I forget now the advice I gave; but I
+think it was, that Dunbar should be written to, and prevail'd with, if
+possible, to post his troops on the frontiers for their protection,
+till, by reinforcements from the colonies, he might be able to proceed
+on the expedition. And, after my return from the frontier, he would
+have had me undertake the conduct of such an expedition with
+provincial troops, for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, Dunbar and his
+men being otherwise employed; and he proposed to commission me as
+general. I had not so good an opinion of my military abilities as he
+profess'd to have, and I believe his professions must have exceeded
+his real sentiments; but probably he might think that my popularity
+would facilitate the raising of the men, and my influence in Assembly,
+the grant of money to pay them, and that, perhaps, without taxing the
+proprietary estate. Finding me not so forward to engage as he
+expected, the project was dropt, and he soon after left the
+government, being superseded by Captain Denny.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS
+
+
+Before I proceed in relating the part I had in public affairs under
+this new governor's administration, it may not be amiss here to give
+some account of the rise and progress of my philosophical reputation.
+
+In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. Spence, who was
+lately arrived from Scotland, and show'd me some electric experiments.
+They were imperfectly perform'd, as he was not very expert; but, being
+on a subject quite new to me, they equally surpris'd and pleased me.
+Soon after my return to Philadelphia, our library company receiv'd
+from Mr. P. Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society[106] of London, a
+present of a glass tube, with some account of the use of it in making
+such experiments. I eagerly seized the opportunity of repeating what I
+had seen at Boston; and, by much practice, acquired great readiness in
+performing those, also, which we had an account of from England,
+adding a number of new ones. I say much practice, for my house was
+continually full, for some time, with people who came to see these new
+wonders.
+
+    [106] The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural
+    Knowledge was founded in 1660 and holds the foremost
+    place among English societies for the advancement of
+    science.
+
+To divide a little this incumbrance among my friends, I caused a
+number of similar tubes to be blown at our glass-house, with which
+they furnish'd themselves, so that we had at length several
+performers. Among these, the principal was Mr. Kinnersley, an
+ingenious neighbour, who, being out of business, I encouraged to
+undertake showing the experiments for money, and drew up for him two
+lectures, in which the experiments were rang'd in such order, and
+accompanied with such explanations in such method, as that the
+foregoing should assist in comprehending the following. He procur'd an
+elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which all the little machines
+that I had roughly made for myself were nicely form'd by
+instrument-makers. His lectures were well attended, and gave great
+satisfaction; and after some time he went thro' the colonies,
+exhibiting them in every capital town, and pick'd up some money. In
+the West India islands, indeed, it was with difficulty the experiments
+could be made, from the general moisture of the air.
+
+Oblig'd as we were to Mr. Collinson for his present of the tube, etc.,
+I thought it right he should be inform'd of our success in using it,
+and wrote him several letters containing accounts of our experiments.
+He got them read in the Royal Society, where they were not at first
+thought worth so much notice as to be printed in their Transactions.
+One paper, which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the sameness of
+lightning with electricity,[107] I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an acquaintance
+of mine, and one of the members also of that society, who wrote me
+word that it had been read, but was laughed at by the connoisseurs.
+The papers, however, being shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of
+too much value to be stifled, and advis'd the printing of them. Mr.
+Collinson then gave them to _Cave_ for publication in his Gentleman's
+Magazine; but he chose to print them separately in a pamphlet, and Dr.
+Fothergill wrote the preface. Cave, it seems, judged rightly for his
+profit, for by the additions that arrived afterward, they swell'd to a
+quarto volume, which has had five editions, and cost him nothing for
+copy-money.
+
+    [107] See page 327.
+
+It was, however, some time before those papers were much taken notice
+of in England. A copy of them happening to fall into the hands of the
+Count de Buffon,[108] a philosopher deservedly of great reputation in
+France, and, indeed, all over Europe, he prevailed with M. Dalibard[109]
+to translate them into French, and they were printed at Paris. The
+publication offended the Abb� Nollet, preceptor in Natural Philosophy
+to the royal family, and an able experimenter, who had form'd and
+publish'd a theory of electricity, which then had the general vogue.
+He could not at first believe that such a work came from America, and
+said it must have been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to decry
+his system. Afterwards, having been assur'd that there really existed
+such a person as Franklin at Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he
+wrote and published a volume of Letters, chiefly address'd to me,
+defending his theory, and denying the verity of my experiments, and of
+the positions deduc'd from them.
+
+    [108] A celebrated French naturalist (1707-1788).
+
+    [109] Dalibard, who had translated Franklin's letters to
+    Collinson into French, was the first to demonstrate, in
+    a practical application of Franklin's experiment, that
+    lightning and electricity are the same. "This was May
+    10th, 1752, one month before Franklin flew his famous
+    kite at Philadelphia and proved the fact
+    himself."--McMaster.
+
+I once purpos'd answering the abb�, and actually began the answer;
+but, on consideration that my writings contained a description of
+experiments which anyone might repeat and verify, and if not to be
+verifi'd, could not be defended; or of observations offer'd as
+conjectures, and not delivered dogmatically, therefore not laying me
+under any obligation to defend them; and reflecting that a dispute
+between two persons, writing in different languages, might be
+lengthened greatly by mistranslations, and thence misconceptions of
+one another's meaning, much of one of the abb�'s letters being founded
+on an error in the translation, I concluded to let my papers shift for
+themselves, believing it was better to spend what time I could spare
+from public business in making new experiments, than in disputing
+about those already made. I therefore never answered M. Nollet, and
+the event gave me no cause to repent my silence; for my friend M. le
+Roy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and refuted
+him; my book was translated into the Italian, German, and Latin
+languages; and the doctrine it contain'd was by degrees universally
+adopted by the philosophers of Europe, in preference to that of the
+abb�; so that he lived to see himself the last of his sect, except
+Monsieur B----, of Paris, his _�l�ve_ and immediate disciple.
+
+What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, was the
+success of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messrs. Dalibard
+and De Lor at Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This
+engag'd the public attention everywhere. M. de Lor, who had an
+apparatus for experimental philosophy, and lectur'd in that branch of
+science, undertook to repeat what he called the _Philadelphia
+Experiments_; and, after they were performed before the king and
+court, all the curious of Paris flocked to see them. I will not swell
+this narrative with an account of that capital experiment, nor of the
+infinite pleasure I receiv'd in the success of a similar one I made
+soon after with a kite at Philadelphia, as both are to be found in the
+histories of electricity.
+
+Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to a friend,
+who was of the Royal Society, an account of the high esteem my
+experiments were in among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that
+my writings had been so little noticed in England. The society, on
+this, resum'd the consideration of the letters that had been read to
+them; and the celebrated Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of them,
+and of all I had afterwards sent to England on the subject, which he
+accompanied with some praise of the writer. This summary was then
+printed in their Transactions; and some members of the society in
+London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. Canton, having verified
+the experiment of procuring lightning from the clouds by a pointed
+rod, and acquainting them with the success, they soon made me more
+than amends for the slight with which they had before treated me.
+Without my having made any application for that honour, they chose me
+a member, and voted that I should be excus'd the customary payments,
+which would have amounted to twenty-five guineas; and ever since have
+given me their Transactions gratis. They also presented me with the
+gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley[110] for the year 1753, the delivery of
+which was accompanied by a very handsome speech of the president, Lord
+Macclesfield, wherein I was highly honoured.
+
+    [110] An English baronet (died in 1709), donator of a fund
+    of �100, "in trust for the Royal Society of London for
+    improving natural knowledge."
+
+[Illustration: Gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley.]
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+AGENT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN
+LONDON
+
+
+Our new governor, Captain Denny, brought over for me the
+before mentioned medal from the Royal Society, which he presented to
+me at an entertainment given him by the city. He accompanied it with
+very polite expressions of his esteem for me, having, as he said, been
+long acquainted with my character. After dinner, when the company, as
+was customary at that time, were engag'd in drinking, he took me aside
+into another room, and acquainted me that he had been advis'd by his
+friends in England to cultivate a friendship with me, as one who was
+capable of giving him the best advice, and of contributing most
+effectually to the making his administration easy; that he therefore
+desired of all things to have a good understanding with me, and he
+begged me to be assured of his readiness on all occasions to render me
+every service that might be in his power. He said much to me, also, of
+the proprietor's good disposition towards the province, and of the
+advantage it might be to us all, and to me in particular, if the
+opposition that had been so long continu'd to his measures was dropt,
+and harmony restor'd between him and the people; in effecting which,
+it was thought no one could be more serviceable than myself; and I
+might depend on adequate acknowledgments and recompenses, etc., etc.
+The drinkers, finding we did not return immediately to the table, sent
+us a decanter of Madeira, which the governor made liberal use of, and
+in proportion became more profuse of his solicitations and promises.
+
+My answers were to this purpose: that my circumstances, thanks to God,
+were such as to make proprietary favours unnecessary to me; and that,
+being a member of the Assembly, I could not possibly accept of any;
+that, however, I had no personal enmity to the proprietary, and that,
+whenever the public measures he propos'd should appear to be for the
+good of the people, no one should espouse and forward them more
+zealously than myself; my past opposition having been founded on this,
+that the measures which had been urged were evidently intended to
+serve the proprietary interest, with great prejudice to that of the
+people; that I was much obliged to him (the governor) for his
+professions of regard to me, and that he might rely on everything in
+my power to make his administration as easy as possible, hoping at the
+same time that he had not brought with him the same unfortunate
+instruction his predecessor had been hampered with.
+
+On this he did not then explain himself; but when he afterwards came
+to do business with the Assembly, they appear'd again, the disputes
+were renewed, and I was as active as ever in the opposition, being the
+penman, first, of the request to have a communication of the
+instructions, and then of the remarks upon them, which may be found in
+the votes of the time, and in the Historical Review I afterward
+publish'd. But between us personally no enmity arose; we were often
+together; he was a man of letters, had seen much of the world, and was
+very entertaining and pleasing in conversation. He gave me the first
+information that my old friend Jas. Ralph was still alive; that he was
+esteem'd one of the best political writers in England; had been
+employed in the dispute[111] between Prince Frederic and the king, and
+had obtain'd a pension of three hundred a year; that his reputation
+was indeed small as a poet, Pope having damned his poetry in the
+_Dunciad_,[112] but his prose was thought as good as any man's.
+
+    [111] Quarrel between George II and his son, Frederick,
+    Prince of Wales, who died before his father.
+
+    [112] A satirical poem by Alexander Pope directed against
+    various contemporary writers.
+
+The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obstinately persisted in
+manacling their deputies with instructions inconsistent not only with
+the privileges of the people, but with the service of the crown,
+resolv'd to petition the king against them, and appointed me their
+agent to go over to England, to present and support the petition. The
+House had sent up a bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty
+thousand pounds for the king's use (ten thousand pounds of which was
+subjected to the orders of the then general, Lord Loudoun), which the
+governor absolutely refus'd to pass, in compliance with his
+instructions.
+
+I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet at New York, for my
+passage, and my stores were put on board, when Lord Loudoun arriv'd at
+Philadelphia, expressly, as he told me, to endeavour an accommodation
+between the governor and Assembly, that his majesty's service might
+not be obstructed by their dissensions. Accordingly, he desir'd the
+governor and myself to meet him, that he might hear what was to be
+said on both sides. We met and discussed the business. In behalf of
+the Assembly, I urged all the various arguments that may be found in
+the public papers of that time, which were of my writing, and are
+printed with the minutes of the Assembly; and the governor pleaded his
+instructions, the bond he had given to observe them, and his ruin if
+he disobey'd, yet seemed not unwilling to hazard himself if Lord
+Loudoun would advise it. This his lordship did not chuse to do, though
+I once thought I had nearly prevail'd with him to do it; but finally
+he rather chose to urge the compliance of the Assembly; and he
+entreated me to use my endeavours with them for that purpose,
+declaring that he would spare none of the king's troops for the
+defense of our frontiers, and that, if we did not continue to provide
+for that defense ourselves, they must remain expos'd to the enemy.
+
+I acquainted the House with what had pass'd, and, presenting them with
+a set of resolutions I had drawn up, declaring our rights, and that we
+did not relinquish our claim to those rights, but only suspended the
+exercise of them on this occasion thro' _force_, against which we
+protested, they at length agreed to drop that bill, and frame another
+conformable to the proprietary instructions. This of course the
+governor pass'd, and I was then at liberty to proceed on my voyage.
+But, in the meantime, the packet had sailed with my sea-stores, which
+was some loss to me, and my only recompense was his lordship's thanks
+for my service, all the credit of obtaining the accommodation falling
+to his share.
+
+He set out for New York before me; and, as the time for dispatching
+the packet-boats was at his disposition, and there were two then
+remaining there, one of which, he said, was to sail very soon, I
+requested to know the precise time, that I might not miss her by any
+delay of mine. His answer was, "I have given out that she is to sail
+on Saturday next; but I may let you know, _entre nous_, that if you
+are there by Monday morning, you will be in time, but do not delay
+longer." By some accidental hindrance at a ferry, it was Monday noon
+before I arrived, and I was much afraid she might have sailed, as the
+wind was fair; but I was soon made easy by the information that she
+was still in the harbor, and would not move till the next day. One
+would imagine that I was now on the very point of departing for
+Europe. I thought so; but I was not then so well acquainted with his
+lordship's character, of which _indecision_ was one of the strongest
+features. I shall give some instances. It was about the beginning of
+April that I came to New York, and I think it was near the end of June
+before we sail'd. There were then two of the packet-boats, which had
+been long in port, but were detained for the general's letters, which
+were always to be ready to-morrow. Another packet arriv'd; she too was
+detain'd; and, before we sail'd, a fourth was expected. Ours was the
+first to be dispatch'd, as having been there longest. Passengers were
+engaged in all, and some extremely impatient to be gone, and the
+merchants uneasy about their letters, and the orders they had given
+for insurance (it being war time) for fall goods; but their anxiety
+avail'd nothing; his lordship's letters were not ready; and yet
+whoever waited on him found him always at his desk, pen in hand, and
+concluded he must needs write abundantly.
+
+Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I found in his
+antechamber one Innis, a messenger of Philadelphia, who had come from
+thence express with a packet from Governor Denny for the general. He
+delivered to me some letters from my friends there, which occasion'd
+my inquiring when he was to return, and where he lodg'd, that I might
+send some letters by him. He told me he was order'd to call to-morrow
+at nine for the general's answer to the governor, and should set off
+immediately. I put my letters into his hands the same day. A fortnight
+after I met him again in the same place. "So, you are soon return'd,
+Innis?" "_Return'd_! no, I am not _gone_ yet." "How so?" "I have
+called here by order every morning these two weeks past for his
+lordship's letter, and it is not yet ready." "Is it possible, when he
+is so great a writer? for I see him constantly at his escritoire."
+"Yes," says Innis, "but he is like St. George on the signs, _always on
+horseback, and never rides on_." This observation of the messenger
+was, it seems, well founded; for, when in England, I understood that
+Mr. Pitt[113] gave it as one reason for removing this general, and
+sending Generals Amherst and Wolfe, _that the minister never heard
+from him, and could not know what he was doing_.
+
+    [113] William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), a
+    great English statesman and orator. Under his able
+    administration, England won Canada from France. He was a
+    friend of America at the time of our Revolution.
+
+This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three packets going
+down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet there, the passengers thought it
+best to be on board, lest by a sudden order the ships should sail, and
+they be left behind. There, if I remember right, we were about six
+weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and oblig'd to procure more. At
+length the fleet sail'd, the general and all his army on board, bound
+to Louisburg, with the intent to besiege and take that fortress; all
+the packet-boats in company ordered to attend the general's ship,
+ready to receive his dispatches when they should be ready. We were out
+five days before we got a letter with leave to part, and then our ship
+quitted the fleet and steered for England. The other two packets he
+still detained, carried them with him to Halifax, where he stayed some
+time to exercise the men in sham attacks upon sham forts, then altered
+his mind as to besieging Louisburg, and returned to New York, with all
+his troops, together with the two packets above mentioned, and all
+their passengers! During his absence the French and savages had taken
+Fort George, on the frontier of that province, and the savages had
+massacred many of the garrison after capitulation.
+
+I saw afterwards in London Captain Bonnell, who commanded one of those
+packets. He told me that, when he had been detain'd a month, he
+acquainted his lordship that his ship was grown foul, to a degree that
+must necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a point of consequence for a
+packet-boat, and requested an allowance of time to heave her down and
+clean her bottom. He was asked how long time that would require. He
+answered, three days. The general replied, "If you can do it in one
+day, I give leave; otherwise not; for you must certainly sail the day
+after to-morrow." So he never obtain'd leave, though detained
+afterwards from day to day during full three months.
+
+I saw also in London one of Bonnell's passengers, who was so enrag'd
+against his lordship for deceiving and detaining him so long at New
+York, and then carrying him to Halifax and back again, that he swore
+he would sue him for damages. Whether he did or not, I never heard;
+but, as he represented the injury to his affairs, it was very
+considerable.
+
+On the whole, I wonder'd much how such a man came to be intrusted[114]
+with so important a business as the conduct of a great army; but,
+having since seen more of the great world, and the means of obtaining,
+and motives for giving places, my wonder is diminished. General
+Shirley, on whom the command of the army devolved upon the death of
+Braddock, would, in my opinion, if continued in place, have made a
+much better campaign than that of Loudoun in 1757, which was
+frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful to our nation beyond conception;
+for, tho' Shirley was not a bred soldier, he was sensible and
+sagacious in himself, and attentive to good advice from others,
+capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and active in carrying
+them into execution. Loudoun, instead of defending the colonies with
+his great army, left them totally expos'd while he paraded idly at
+Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost, besides, he derang'd all
+our mercantile operations, and distress'd our trade, by a long embargo
+on the exportation of provisions, on pretence of keeping supplies from
+being obtain'd by the enemy, but in reality for beating down their
+price in favour of the contractors, in whose profits, it was said,
+perhaps from suspicion only, he had a share. And, when at length the
+embargo was taken off, by neglecting to send notice of it to
+Charlestown, the Carolina fleet was detain'd near three months longer,
+whereby their bottoms were so much damaged by the worm that a great
+part of them foundered in their passage home.
+
+    [114] This relation illustrates the corruption that
+    characterized English public life in the eighteenth
+    century. (See page 308). It was gradually overcome in
+    the early part of the next century.
+
+Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being relieved from so
+burdensome a charge as the conduct of an army must be to a man
+unacquainted with military business. I was at the entertainment given
+by the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his taking upon him the
+command. Shirley, tho' thereby superseded, was present also. There was
+a great company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, some chairs
+having been borrowed in the neighborhood, there was one among them
+very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. Perceiving it as I sat
+by him, I said, "They have given you, sir, too low a seat." "No
+matter," says he, "Mr. Franklin, I find _a low seat_ the easiest."
+
+While I was, as afore mention'd, detain'd at New York, I receiv'd all
+the accounts of the provisions, etc., that I had furnish'd to
+Braddock, some of which accounts could not sooner be obtain'd from the
+different persons I had employ'd to assist in the business. I
+presented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be paid the balance. He
+caus'd them to be regularly examined by the proper officer, who, after
+comparing every article with its voucher, certified them to be right;
+and the balance due for which his lordship promis'd to give me an
+order on the paymaster. This was, however, put off from time to time;
+and tho' I call'd often for it by appointment, I did not get it. At
+length, just before my departure, he told me he had, on better
+consideration, concluded not to mix his accounts with those of his
+predecessors. "And you," says he, "when in England, have only to
+exhibit your accounts at the treasury, and you will be paid
+immediately."
+
+I mention'd, but without effect, the great and unexpected expense I
+had been put to by being detain'd so long at New York, as a reason for
+my desiring to be presently paid; and on my observing that it was not
+right I should be put to any further trouble or delay in obtaining the
+money I had advanc'd, as I charged no commission for my service, "O,
+Sir," says he, "you must not think of persuading us that you are no
+gainer; we understand better those affairs, and know that every one
+concerned in supplying the army finds means, in the doing it, to fill
+his own pockets." I assur'd him that was not my case, and that I had
+not pocketed a farthing; but he appear'd clearly not to believe me;
+and, indeed, I have since learnt that immense fortunes are often made
+in such employments. As to my balance, I am not paid it to
+this day, of which more hereafter.
+
+Our captain of the paquet had boasted much, before we sailed, of the
+swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she proved
+the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his no small mortification. After
+many conjectures respecting the cause, when we were near another ship
+almost as dull as ours, which, however, gain'd upon us, the captain
+ordered all hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as
+possible. We were, passengers included, about forty persons. While we
+stood there, the ship mended her pace, and soon left her neighbour far
+behind, which prov'd clearly what our captain suspected, that she was
+loaded too much by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had been
+all plac'd forward; these he therefore order'd to be mov'd further
+aft, on which the ship recover'd her character, and proved the best
+sailer in the fleet.
+
+The captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen knots,
+which is accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had on board, as a
+passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who contended that it was
+impossible, and that no ship ever sailed so fast, and that there must
+have been some error in the division of the log-line, or some mistake
+in heaving the log.[115] A wager ensu'd between the two captains, to be
+decided when there should be sufficient wind. Kennedy thereupon
+examin'd rigorously the log-line, and, being satisfi'd with that, he
+determin'd to throw the log himself. Accordingly some days after, when
+the wind blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of the
+paquet, Lutwidge, said he believ'd she then went at the rate of
+thirteen knots, Kennedy made the experiment, and own'd his wager lost.
+
+    [115] A piece of wood shaped and weighted so as to keep it
+    stable when in the water. To this is attached a line
+    knotted at regular distances. By these devices it is
+    possible to tell the speed of a ship.
+
+The above fact I give for the sake of the following observation. It
+has been remark'd, as an imperfection in the art of ship-building,
+that it can never be known, till she is tried, whether a new ship will
+or will not be a good sailer; for that the model of a good-sailing
+ship has been exactly follow'd in a new one, which has prov'd, on the
+contrary, remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly be
+occasion'd by the different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of
+lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the
+same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders of one captain, shall
+sail better or worse than when by the orders of another. Besides, it
+scarce ever happens that a ship is form'd, fitted for the sea, and
+sail'd by the same person. One man builds the hull, another rigs her,
+a third lades and sails her. No one of these has the advantage of
+knowing all the ideas and experience of the others, and, therefore,
+cannot draw just conclusions from a combination of the whole.
+
+Even in the simple operation of sailing when at sea, I have often
+observ'd different judgments in the officers who commanded the
+successive watches, the wind being the same. One would have the sails
+trimm'd sharper or flatter than another, so that they seem'd to have
+no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of experiments might
+be instituted; first, to determine the most proper form of the hull
+for swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for
+the masts; then the form and quantity of sails, and their position, as
+the wind may be; and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is
+an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combin'd
+would be of great use. I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some
+ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish success.
+
+[Illustration: Sailing ship]
+
+We were several times chas'd in our passage, but out-sail'd every
+thing, and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good observation,
+and the captain judg'd himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if we
+made a good run in the night, we might be off the mouth of that harbor
+in the morning, and by running in the night might escape the notice of
+the enemy's privateers, who often cruis'd near the entrance of the
+channel. Accordingly, all the sail was set that we could possibly
+make, and the wind being very fresh and fair, we went right before it,
+and made great way. The captain, after his observation, shap'd his
+course, as he thought, so as to pass wide of the Scilly Isles; but it
+seems there is sometimes a strong indraught setting up St. George's
+Channel, which deceives seamen and caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley
+Shovel's squadron. This indraught was probably the cause of what
+happened to us.
+
+We had a watchman plac'd in the bow, to whom they often called, "_Look
+well out before there_," and he as often answered, "_Ay, ay_"; but
+perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time, they
+sometimes answering, as is said, mechanically; for he did not see a
+light just before us, which had been hid by the studding-sails from
+the man at the helm, and from the rest of the watch, but by an
+accidental yaw of the ship was discover'd, and occasion'd a great
+alarm, we being very near it, the light appearing to me as big as a
+cartwheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast asleep; but Captain
+Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship to
+wear round, all sails standing; an operation dangerous to the masts,
+but it carried us clear, and we escaped shipwreck, for we were running
+right upon the rocks on which the lighthouse was erected. This
+deliverance impressed me strongly with the utility of lighthouses, and
+made me resolve to encourage the building more of them in America if I
+should live to return there.
+
+In the morning it was found by the soundings, etc., that we were near
+our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About nine
+o'clock the fog began to rise, and seem'd to be lifted up from the
+water like the curtain at a play-house, discovering underneath, the
+town of Falmouth, the vessels in its harbor, and the fields that
+surrounded it. This was a most pleasing spectacle to those who had
+been so long without any other prospects than the uniform view of a
+vacant ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure as we were now free
+from the anxieties which the state of war occasion'd.
+
+I set out immediately, with my son, for London, and we only stopt a
+little by the way to view Stonehenge[116] on Salisbury Plain, and Lord
+Pembroke's house and gardens, with his very curious antiquities at
+Wilton. We arrived in London the 27th of July, 1757.[117]
+
+    [116] A celebrated prehistoric ruin, probably of a temple
+    built by the early Britons, near Salisbury, England. It
+    consists of inner and outer circles of enormous stones,
+    some of which are connected by stone slabs.
+
+    [117] "Here terminates the _Autobiography_, as published
+    by Wm. Temple Franklin and his successors. What follows
+    was written in the last year of Dr. Franklin's life, and
+    was never before printed in English."--Mr. Bigelow's
+    note in his edition of 1868.
+
+As soon as I was settled in a lodging Mr. Charles had provided for me,
+I went to visit Dr. Fothergill, to whom I was strongly recommended,
+and whose counsel respecting my proceedings I was advis'd to obtain.
+He was against an immediate complaint to government, and thought the
+proprietaries should first be personally appli'd to, who might
+possibly be induc'd by the interposition and persuasion of some
+private friends, to accommodate matters amicably. I then waited on my
+old friend and correspondent, Mr. Peter Collinson, who told me that
+John Hanbury, the great Virginia merchant, had requested to be
+informed when I should arrive, that he might carry me to Lord
+Granville's,[118] who was then President of the Council and wished to
+see me as soon as possible. I agreed to go with him the next morning.
+Accordingly Mr. Hanbury called for me and took me in his carriage to
+that nobleman's, who receiv'd me with great civility; and after some
+questions respecting the present state of affairs in America and
+discourse thereupon, he said to me: "You Americans have wrong ideas of
+the nature of your constitution; you contend that the king's
+instructions to his governors are not laws, and think yourselves at
+liberty to regard or disregard them at your own discretion. But those
+instructions are not like the pocket instructions given to a minister
+going abroad, for regulating his conduct in some trifling point of
+ceremony. They are first drawn up by judges learned in the laws; they
+are then considered, debated, and perhaps amended in Council, after
+which they are signed by the king. They are then, so far as they
+relate to you, the _law of the land_, for the king is the Legislator
+of the Colonies,"[119] I told his lordship this was new doctrine to me.
+I had always understood from our charters that our laws were to be
+made by our Assemblies, to be presented indeed to the king for his
+royal assent, but that being once given the king could not repeal or
+alter them. And as the Assemblies could not make permanent laws
+without his assent, so neither could he make a law for them without
+theirs. He assur'd me I was totally mistaken. I did not think so,
+however, and his lordship's conversation having a little alarm'd me as
+to what might be the sentiments of the court concerning us, I wrote it
+down as soon as I return'd to my lodgings. I recollected that about 20
+years before, a clause in a bill brought into Parliament by the
+ministry had propos'd to make the king's instructions laws in the
+colonies, but the clause was thrown out by the Commons, for which we
+adored them as our friends and friends of liberty, till by their
+conduct towards us in 1765 it seem'd that they had refus'd that point
+of sovereignty to the king only that they might reserve it for
+themselves.
+
+    [118] George Granville or Grenville (1712-1770). As
+    English premier from 1763 to 1765, he introduced the
+    direct taxation of the American Colonies and has
+    sometimes been called the immediate cause of the
+    Revolution.
+
+    [119] This whole passage shows how hopelessly divergent
+    were the English and American views on the relations
+    between the mother country and her colonies. Grenville
+    here made clear that the Americans were to have no voice
+    in making or amending their laws. Parliament and the
+    king were to have absolute power over the colonies. No
+    wonder Franklin was alarmed by this new doctrine. With
+    his keen insight into human nature and his consequent
+    knowledge of American character, he foresaw the
+    inevitable result of such an attitude on the part of
+    England. This conversation with Grenville makes these
+    last pages of the _Autobiography_ one of its most
+    important parts.
+
+After some days, Dr. Fothergill having spoken to the proprietaries,
+they agreed to a meeting with me at Mr. T. Penn's house in Spring
+Garden. The conversation at first consisted of mutual declarations of
+disposition to reasonable accommodations, but I suppose each party had
+its own ideas of what should be meant by _reasonable_. We then went
+into consideration of our several points of complaint, which I
+enumerated. The proprietaries justify'd their conduct as well as they
+could, and I the Assembly's. We now appeared very wide, and so far
+from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of
+agreement. However, it was concluded that I should give them the heads
+of our complaints in writing, and they promis'd then to consider them.
+I did so soon after, but they put the paper into the hands of their
+solicitor, Ferdinand John Paris, who managed for them all their law
+business in their great suit with the neighbouring proprietary of
+Maryland, Lord Baltimore, which had subsisted 70 years, and wrote for
+them all their papers and messages in their dispute with the Assembly.
+He was a proud, angry man, and as I had occasionally in the answers of
+the Assembly treated his papers with some severity, they being really
+weak in point of argument and haughty in expression, he had conceived a
+mortal enmity to me, which discovering itself whenever we met, I
+declin'd the proprietary's proposal that he and I should discuss the
+heads of complaint between our two selves, and refus'd treating with
+anyone but them. They then by his advice put the paper into the hands
+of the Attorney and Solicitor-General for their opinion and counsel
+upon it, where it lay unanswered a year wanting eight days, during
+which time I made frequent demands of an answer from the
+proprietaries, but without obtaining any other than that they had not
+yet received the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. What
+it was when they did receive it I never learnt, for they did not
+communicate it to me, but sent a long message to the Assembly drawn
+and signed by Paris, reciting my paper, complaining of its want of
+formality, as a rudeness on my part, and giving a flimsy justification
+of their conduct, adding that they should be willing to accommodate
+matters if the Assembly would send out _some person of candour_ to
+treat with them for that purpose, intimating thereby that I was not
+such.
+
+[Illustration: "We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other
+in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement"]
+
+The want of formality or rudeness was, probably, my not having
+address'd the paper to them with their assum'd titles of True and
+Absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, which I
+omitted as not thinking it necessary in a paper, the intention of
+which was only to reduce to a certainty by writing, what in
+conversation I had delivered _viva voce_.
+
+But during this delay, the Assembly having prevailed with Gov'r Denny
+to pass an act taxing the proprietary estate in common with the
+estates of the people, which was the grand point in dispute, they
+omitted answering the message.
+
+When this act however came over, the proprietaries, counselled by
+Paris, determined to oppose its receiving the royal assent.
+Accordingly they petitioned the king in Council, and a hearing was
+appointed in which two lawyers were employ'd by them against the act,
+and two by me in support of it. They alledg'd that the act was
+intended to load the proprietary estate in order to spare those of the
+people, and that if it were suffer'd to continue in force, and the
+proprietaries, who were in odium with the people, left to their mercy
+in proportioning the taxes, they would inevitably be ruined. We
+reply'd that the act had no such intention, and would have no such
+effect. That the assessors were honest and discreet men under an oath
+to assess fairly and equitably, and that any advantage each of them
+might expect in lessening his own tax by augmenting that of the
+proprietaries was too trifling to induce them to perjure themselves.
+This is the purport of what I remember as urged by both sides, except
+that we insisted strongly on the mischievous consequences that must
+attend a repeal, for that the money, �100,000, being printed and given
+to the king's use, expended in his service, and now spread among the
+people, the repeal would strike it dead in their hands to the ruin of
+many, and the total discouragement of future grants, and the
+selfishness of the proprietors in soliciting such a general
+catastrophe, merely from a groundless fear of their estate being taxed
+too highly, was insisted on in the strongest terms. On this, Lord
+Mansfield, one of the counsel, rose, and beckoning me took me into the
+clerk's chamber, while the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I
+was really of opinion that no injury would be done the proprietary
+estate in the execution of the act. I said certainly. "Then," says he,
+"you can have little objection to enter into an engagement to assure
+that point." I answer'd, "None at all." He then call'd in Paris, and
+after some discourse, his lordship's proposition was accepted on both
+sides; a paper to the purpose was drawn up by the Clerk of the
+Council, which I sign'd with Mr. Charles, who was also an Agent of the
+Province for their ordinary affairs, when Lord Mansfield returned to
+the Council Chamber, where finally the law was allowed to pass. Some
+changes were however recommended and we also engaged they should be
+made by a subsequent law, but the Assembly did not think them
+necessary; for one year's tax having been levied by the act before the
+order of Council arrived, they appointed a committee to examine the
+proceedings of the assessors, and on this committee they put several
+particular friends of the proprietaries. After a full enquiry, they
+unanimously sign'd a report that they found the tax had been assess'd
+with perfect equity.
+
+The Assembly looked into my entering into the first part of the
+engagement, as an essential service to the Province, since it secured
+the credit of the paper money then spread over all the country. They
+gave me their thanks in form when I return'd. But the proprietaries
+were enraged at Governor Denny for having pass'd the act, and turn'd
+him out with threats of suing him for breach of instructions which he
+had given bond to observe. He, however, having done it at the instance
+of the General, and for His Majesty's service, and having some
+powerful interest at court, despis'd the threats and they were never
+put in execution.... [unfinished]
+
+[Illustration: Medal with inscription: BENJ. FRANLIN NATUS BOSTON XVII,
+JAN. MDCCVI.]
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+ELECTRICAL KITE
+
+
+To Peter Collinson
+
+[Philadelphia], Oct. 19, 1752.
+
+Sir,
+
+As frequent mention is made in public papers from Europe of the
+success of the _Philadelphia_ experiment for drawing the electric fire
+from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high
+buildings, &c., it may be agreeable to the curious to be informed,
+that the same experiment has succeeded in _Philadelphia_, though made
+in a different and more easy manner, which is as follows:
+
+Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as
+to reach to the four corners of a large, thin silk handkerchief when
+extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of
+the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which being properly
+accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like
+those made of paper; but this being of silk, is fitter to bear the wet
+and wind of a thunder-gust without tearing. To the top of the upright
+stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a
+foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand,
+is to be tied a silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key
+may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust appears
+to be coming on, and the person who holds the string must stand within
+a door or window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not
+be wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame
+of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over
+the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and
+the kite, with all the twine will be electrified, and the loose
+filaments of the twine will stand out every way and be attracted by an
+approaching finger. And when the rain has wet the kite and twine, so
+that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream
+out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this
+key the phial may be charged; and from electric fire thus obtained,
+spirits may be kindled, and all the electric experiments be performed,
+which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube,
+and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning
+completely demonstrated.
+
+B. Franklin.
+
+[Illustration: "You will find it stream out plentifully from the key
+on the approach of your knuckle"]
+
+[Illustration: Father _Abraham_ in his STUDY with the following text:
+
+    The Shade of Him who Counsel can bestow, Still pleas'd
+    to teach, and yet not proud to know; Unbias'd or by
+    Favour or by Spite; Nor dully prepossess'd, nor blindly
+    right; Th� learn'd, well-bred; and, th� well-bred,
+    sincere; Modestly bold, and humanely severe; Who to a
+    Friend his Faults can sweetly show. And gladly praise
+    the Merit of a Foe. Here, there he sits, his chearful
+    Aid to lend; A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted Friend,
+    Averse alike to flatter or offend.
+
+_Printed by_ Benjamin Mecom, _at the_ New
+Printing-Office, (_near the_ Town-House, _in_ Boston) _where_
+BOOKS _are Sold, and_ PRINTING-WORK _done, Cheap_.
+
+He's rarely _warm_ in Censure or in Praise:
+
+_Good-Nature, Wit_, and _Judgment_ round him wait;
+And thus he sits _inthron'd_ in _Classick-State_:
+
+To Failings mild, but zealous for Desert;
+The clearest Head, and the sincerest Heart.
+
+Few Men deserve our _Passion_ either Ways.]
+
+From "Father Abraham's Speech," 1760. Reproduced from
+a copy at the New York Public Library.
+
+
+
+
+THE WAY TO WEALTH
+
+(From "Father Abraham's Speech," forming
+the preface to Poor _Richard's Almanac_ for 1758.)
+
+It would be thought a hard Government that should tax its People
+one-tenth Part of their _Time_, to be employed in its Service. But
+_Idleness_ taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all that is spent
+in absolute _Sloth_, or doing of nothing, with that which is spent in
+idle Employments or Amusements, that amount to nothing. _Sloth_, by
+bringing on Diseases, absolutely shortens Life. _Sloth, like Rust,
+consumes faster than Labor wears; while the used key is always bright,
+as Poor Richard says. But dost thou love Life, then do not squander
+Time, for that's the stuff Life is made of, as Poor Richard_ says. How
+much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that _The
+sleeping Fox catches no Poultry_, and that _There will be sleeping
+enough in the Grave_, as _Poor Richard_ says.
+
+_If Time be of all Things the most precious, wasting Time must be, as
+Poor Richard_ says, _the_ _greatest Prodigality_; since, as he
+elsewhere tells us, _Lost Time is never found again; and what we call
+Time enough, always proves little enough_: Let us then up and be
+doing, and doing to the Purpose; so by Diligence shall we do more with
+less Perplexity. _Sloth makes all Things difficult, but Industry all
+easy_, as _Poor Richard_ says; and _He that riseth late must trot all
+Day, and shall scarce overtake his Business at Night; while Laziness
+travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him_, as we read in
+_Poor Richard_, who adds, _Drive thy Business, let not that drive
+thee_; and _Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy,
+wealthy, and wise._
+
+_Industry need not wish, and he that lives upon Hope will die
+fasting._
+
+_There are no Gains without Pains._
+
+_He that hath a Trade hath an Estate; and he that hath a Calling, hath
+an Office of Profit and Honor_; but then the _Trade_ must be worked
+at, and the _Calling_ well followed, or neither the _Estate_ nor the
+_Office_ will enable us to pay our Taxes.
+
+What though you have found no Treasure, nor has any rich Relation left
+you a Legacy, _Diligence is the Mother of Good-luck_, as _Poor
+Richard_ says, _and God gives all Things to Industry_.
+
+_One To-day is worth two To-morrows_, and farther, _Have you somewhat
+to do To-morrow, do it To-day_.
+
+If you were a Servant, would you not be ashamed that a good Master
+should catch you idle? Are you then your own Master, _be ashamed to
+catch yourself idle_.
+
+Stick to it steadily; and you will see great Effects, for _Constant
+Dropping wears away Stones_, and by _Diligence and Patience the Mouse
+ate in two the Cable_; and _Little Strokes fell great Oaks_.
+
+Methinks I hear some of you say, _Must a Man afford himself no
+Leisure_? I will tell thee, my friend, what _Poor Richard_ says,
+_Employ thy Time well, if thou meanest to gain Leisure; and, since
+thou art not sure of a Minute, throw not away an Hour_. Leisure, is
+Time for doing something useful; this Leisure the diligent Man will
+obtain, but the lazy Man never; so that, as _Poor Richard_ says, _A
+Life of Leisure and a Life of Laziness are two things_.
+
+_Keep thy Shop, and thy Shop will keep thee_; and again, _If you would
+have your business done, go; if not, send._
+
+If you would have a faithful Servant, and one that you like, serve
+yourself.
+
+_A little Neglect may breed great Mischief:_ adding, _for want of a
+Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for
+want of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the
+Enemy; all for the want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail_.
+
+So much for Industry, my Friends, and Attention to one's own Business;
+but to these we must add _Frugality_.
+
+_What maintains one Vice, would bring up two Children_. You may think
+perhaps, that a _little_ Tea, or a _little_ Punch now and then, Diet a
+_little_ more costly, Clothes a _little_ finer, and a _little_
+Entertainment now and then, can be no _great_ Matter; but remember
+what _Poor Richard_ says, _Many a Little makes a Mickle._
+
+_Beware of little expenses; A small Leak will sink a great Ship_; and
+again, _Who Dainties love, shall Beggars prove_; and moreover, _Fools
+make Feasts, and wise Men eat them._
+
+Buy what thou hast no Need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy
+Necessaries.
+
+If you would know the Value of Money, go and try to borrow some; for,
+he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
+
+The second Vice is Lying, the first is running in Debt.
+
+_Lying rides upon Debt's Back_.
+
+Poverty often deprives a Man of all Spirit and Virtue: '_Tis hard for
+an empty Bag to stand upright_.
+
+And now to conclude, _Experience keeps a dear School, but Fools will
+learn in no other, and scarce in that_; for it is true, _we may give
+Advice, but we cannot give Conduct_, as _Poor Richard_ says: However,
+remember this, _They that won't be counseled, can't be helped_, as
+_Poor Richard_ says: and farther, That _if you will not hear Reason,
+she'll surely rap your Knuckles_.
+
+
+
+
+THE WHISTLE
+
+
+To Madame Brillon
+
+Passy, November 10, 1779.
+
+I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of
+living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that, in the
+meantime, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my
+opinion, we might all draw more good from it than we do, and suffer
+less evil, if we would take care not to give too much for whistles.
+For to me it seems, that most of the unhappy people we meet with, are
+become so by neglect of that caution.
+
+You ask what I mean? You love stories, and will excuse my telling one
+of myself.
+
+When I was a child of seven year old, my friends, on a holiday, filled
+my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys
+for children; and being charmed with the sound of a _whistle_, that I
+met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and
+gave all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all
+over the house, much pleased with my _whistle_, but disturbing all the
+family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the
+bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as
+it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with
+the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I
+cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the
+_whistle_ gave me pleasure.
+
+This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing
+on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary
+thing, I said to myself, _Don't give too much for the whistle_; and I
+saved my money.
+
+As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I
+thought I met with many, very many, who _gave too much for the
+whistle_.
+
+When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, sacrificing his time in
+attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps
+his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, _This man gives too
+much for his whistle_.
+
+When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in
+political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by
+neglect, _He pays, indeed_, said I, _too much for his whistle_.
+
+If I knew a miser who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all
+the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow
+citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of
+accumulating wealth, _Poor man_, said I, _you pay too much for your
+whistle_.
+
+When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable
+improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal
+sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, _Mistaken man_,
+said I, _you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you
+give too much for your whistle_.
+
+If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine
+furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he
+contracts debts, and ends his career in a prison, _Alas_! say I, _he
+has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle_.
+
+When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured
+brute of a husband, _What a pity_, say I, _that she should pay so much
+for a whistle_!
+
+In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are
+brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value
+of things, and by their _giving too much for their whistles_.
+
+Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I consider,
+that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there are certain
+things in the world so tempting, for example, the apples of King John,
+which happily are not to be bought; for if they were put to sale by
+auction, I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase,
+and find that I had once more given too much for the _whistle_.
+
+Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely and
+with unalterable affection,
+
+B. Franklin.
+
+
+
+
+A LETTER TO SAMUEL MATHER
+
+Passy, May 12, 1784.
+
+Revd Sir,
+
+It is now more than 60 years since I left Boston, but I remember well
+both your father and grandfather, having heard them both in the
+pulpit, and seen them in their houses. The last time I saw your father
+was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip
+to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and on my taking leave
+showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage,
+which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I
+withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him,
+when he said hastily, "_Stoop, stoop!_" I did not understand him, till
+I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed
+any occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, "_You
+are young, and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it,
+and you will miss many hard thumps_." This advice, thus beat into my
+head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it, when
+I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their
+carrying their heads too high.
+
+B. Franklin.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+The last and most complete edition of Franklin's works is that by the
+late Professor Albert H. Smyth, published in ten volumes by the
+Macmillan Company, New York, under the title, _The Writings of
+Benjamin Franklin_. The other standard edition is the _Works of
+Benjamin Franklin_ by John Bigelow (New York, 1887). Mr. Bigelow's
+first edition of the _Autobiography_ in one volume was published by
+the J. B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia in 1868. The life of
+Franklin as a writer is well treated by J. B. McMaster in a volume of
+_The American Men of Letters Series_; his life as a statesman and
+diplomat, by J. T. Morse, _American Statesmen Series_, one volume;
+Houghton, Mifflin Company publish both books. A more exhaustive
+account of the life and times of Franklin may be found in James
+Parton's _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_ (2 vols., New York,
+1864). Paul Leicester Ford's _The Many-Sided Franklin_ is a most
+chatty and readable book, replete with anecdotes and excellently and
+fully illustrated. An excellent criticism by Woodrow Wilson introduces
+an edition of the _Autobiography_ in _The Century Classics_ (Century
+Co., New York, 1901). Interesting magazine articles are those of E. E.
+Hale, _Christian Examiner_, lxxi, 447; W. P. Trent, _McClure's
+Magazine_, viii, 273; John Hay, _The Century Magazine_, lxxi, 447.
+
+See also the histories of American literature by C. F. Richardson,
+Moses Coit Tyler, Brander Matthews, John Nichol, and Barrett Wendell,
+as well as the various encyclopedias. An excellent bibliography of
+Franklin is that of Paul Leicester Ford, entitled _A List of Books
+Written by, or Relating to Benjamin Franklin_ (New York, 1889).
+
+The following list of Franklin's works contains the more interesting
+publications, together with the dates of first issue.
+
+
+_1722. Dogood Papers._
+
+Letters in the style of Addison's _Spectator_, contributed to
+James Franklin's newspaper and signed "Silence Dogood."
+
+_1729. The Busybody._
+
+A series of essays published in Bradford's Philadelphia
+_Weekly Mercury_, six of which only are ascribed to Franklin.
+They are essays on morality, philosophy and politics,
+similar to the _Dogood Papers_.
+
+_1729. A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper
+Currency._
+
+_1732. to 1757. Prefaces to Poor Richard's Almanac._
+
+Among these are _Hints for those that would be Rich_, 1737;
+and _Plan for saving one hundred thousand pounds to New
+Jersey, 1756_.
+
+1_743. A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the
+British Plantations in America._
+
+"This paper appears to contain the first suggestion, in
+any public form, for an _American Philosophical Society_."
+Sparks.
+
+_1744. An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania Fire-Places._
+
+_1749. Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania._
+
+Contains the plan for the school which later became the
+University of Pennsylvania.
+
+_1752. Electrical Kite._
+
+A description of the famous kite experiment, first written in
+a letter to Peter Collinson, dated Oct. 19, 1752, which was
+published later in the same year in _The Gentleman's Magazine_.
+
+_1754. Plan of Union._
+
+A plan for the union of the colonies presented to the
+colonial convention at Albany.
+
+_1755. A Dialogue Between X, Y and Z._
+
+An appeal to enlist in the provincial army for the defense
+of Pennsylvania.
+
+_1758. Father Abraham's Speech._
+
+Published as a preface to Poor Richard's Almanac and
+gathering into one writing the maxims of Poor Richard,
+which had already appeared in previous numbers of the
+Almanac. _The Speech_ was afterwards published in pamphlet
+form as the _Way to Wealth_.
+
+_1760. Of the Means of disposing the Enemy to Peace._
+
+A satirical plea for the prosecution of the war against
+France.
+
+_1760. The Interest of Great Britain Considered, with regard to her
+Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe._
+
+_1764. Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our Public Affairs._
+
+A pamphlet favoring a Royal Government for Pennsylvania
+in exchange for that of the Proprietors.
+
+_1766. The Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, etc., in The
+British House of Commons, Relative to The Repeal of The
+American Stamp Act._
+
+_1773. Rules by which A Great Empire May Be Reduced to a
+Small One._
+
+Some twenty satirical rules embodying the line of conduct
+England was pursuing with America.
+
+_1773. An Edict of The King of Prussia._
+
+A satire in which the King of Prussia was made to treat
+England as England was treating America because England
+was originally settled by Germans.
+
+_1777. Comparison of Great Britain and the United States in Regard
+to the Basis of Credit in The Two Countries._
+
+One of several similar pamphlets written to effect loans
+for the American cause.
+
+_1782. On the Theory of the Earth._
+
+The best of Franklin's papers on geology.
+
+_1782. Letter purporting to emanate from a petty German Prince
+and to be addressed to his officer in Command in America._
+
+_1785. On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys._
+
+_1786. Retort Courteous._
+
+_Sending Felons to America._
+
+Answers to the British clamor for the payment of American
+debts.
+
+1789. _Address to the Public from the Pennsylvania Society for
+           Promoting Abolition of Slavery._
+
+1789. _An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania,
+           viz. The Court of the Press._
+
+1790. _Martin's Account of his Consulship._
+
+           A parody of a pro-slavery speech in Congress.
+
+1791. _Autobiography._
+
+           The first edition.
+
+1818. _Bagatelles._
+
+           The Bagatelles were first published in 1818 in William
+           Temple Franklin's edition of his grandfather's works. The
+           following are the most famous of these essays and the
+           dates when they were written:
+
+
+           1774? _A Parable Against Persecution._
+
+                     Franklin called this the LI Chapter of Genesis.
+
+           1774? _A Parable on Brotherly Love._
+
+           1778. _The Ephemera, an Emblem of Human Life._
+
+                     A new rendition of an earlier essay on Human
+                     Vanity.
+
+           1779. _The Story of the Whistle._
+
+           1779? _The Levee._
+
+           1779? _Proposed New Version of the Bible._
+
+                     Part of the first chapter of _Job_ modernized.
+
+           (1779. Published) _The Morals of Chess._
+
+           1780? _The Handsome and Deformed Leg._
+
+           1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._
+
+                    (Published in 1802.)
+
+1802. _A Petition of the Left Hand._
+
+1806. _The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams._
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL GIVEN BY THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM THE
+FRANKLIN FUND]
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriptions of newspaper pages]
+
+
+[Page 1 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_,].
+
+
+Numb. XL.
+
+THE
+
+Pennsylvania _GAZETTE_.
+Containing the freshest Advices Foreign and Domestick.
+
+From Thursday, September 25. to Thursday, October 2. 1729.
+
+_The_ Pennsylvania Gazette _being now to
+be carry'd on by other Hands, the Reader
+may expect some Account of the Method we
+design to proceed in._
+
+_Upon a View of Chambers's great Dictionaries,
+from whence were taken the Materials of the_
+Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences,
+_which usually made the First Part of this Paper,
+we find that besides their containing many Things
+abstruse or insignificant to us, it will probably
+be fifty Years before the Whole can be gone thro'
+in this Manner of Publication. There are likewise
+in those Books continual References from
+Things under one Letter of the Alphabet to those
+under another, which relate to the same Subject,
+and are necessary to explain and compleat it;
+those are taken in their Turn may perhaps be Ten
+Years distant; and since it is likely that they who
+desire to acquaint themselves with any particular
+Art or Science, would gladly have the whole before
+them in a much less Time, we believe our
+Readers will not think such a Method of communicating
+Knowledge to be a proper One._
+
+_However, tho' we do not intend to continue the
+Publication of those Dictionaries in a regular
+Alphabetical Method, as has hitherto been done;
+yet as several Things exhibited from them in the
+Course of these Papers, have been entertaining
+to such of the Curious, who never had and cannot
+have the Advantage of good Libraries; and
+as there are many Things still behind, which being
+in this Manner made generally known, may
+perhaps become of considerable Use, by giving such
+Hints to the excellent natural Genius's of our
+Country, as may contribute either to the Improvement
+of our present Manufactures, or towards
+the Invention of new Ones; we propose
+from Time to Time to communicate such particular
+Parts as appear to be of the most general
+Consequence._
+
+_As to the_ Religious Courtship, _Part of
+which has been retal'd to the Publick in these
+Papers, the Reader may be inform'd, that the
+whole Book will probably in a little Time be
+printed and bound up by it-self; and those who
+approve of it, will doubtless be better pleas'd to
+have it entire, than in this broken interrupted
+Manner._
+
+_There are many who have long desired to see a
+good News-Paper in_ Pennsylvania; _and we hope
+those Gentlemen who are able, will contribute towards
+the making This such. We ask Assistance,
+because we are fully sensible, that to publish a
+good New-Paper is not so easy an Undertaking
+as many People imagine it to be. The Author of
+a Gazette (in the Opinion of the Learned) ought
+to be qualified with an extensive Acquaintance
+with Languages, a great Easiness and Command
+of Writing and Relating Things cleanly and intelligibly,
+and in few Words; he should be able
+to speak of War both by Land and Sea; be well
+acquainted with Geography, with the History of
+the Time, with the several Interests of Princes
+and States, the Secrets of Courts, and the Manners
+and Customs of all Nations. Men thus accomplish'd
+are very rare in this remote Part of
+the World; and it would be well if the Writer
+of these Papers could make up among his Friends
+what is wanting in himself._
+
+_Upon the Whole, we may assure the Publick,
+that as far as the Encouragement we meet with
+will enable us, no Care and Pains shall be omitted,
+that may make the_ Pennsylvania Gazette
+_as agreeable and useful an Entertainment as the
+Nature of the Thing will allow._
+
+The Following is the last Message sent by
+his Excellency Governor _Burnet_, to the
+House of Representatives in _Boston_.
+
+_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,_
+
+It is not with so vain a Hope as to convince you, that
+I take the Trouble to answer your Messages, but, if
+possible, to open the Eyes of the deluded People whom
+you represent, and whom you are at so much Pains to keep
+in Ignorance of the true State of their Affairs. I need not
+go further for an undeniable Proof of this Endeavour to
+blind them, than your ordering the Letter of Messieurs
+_Wilks_ and _Belcher_ of the 7th of _June_ last to your Speaker to
+be published. This Letter is said (in _Page_ 1. of your
+Votes) _to inclose a Copy of the Report of the Lords of the Committee
+of His Majesty's Privy Council, with his Majesty's Approbation
+and Orders thereon in Council_; Yet these Gentlemen
+had at the same time the unparallell'd Presumption to
+write to the Speaker in this Manner; _You'll observe by the
+Conclusion, what is proposed to be the Consequence of your not complying
+with his Majesty's Instruction (the whole Matter to be
+laid_
+
+
+
+
+[Page 4 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_.]
+
+*terfeited but those of 13 _d_. And it is remarkable that all
+Attempts of this Kind upon the Paper Money of this and
+the neighbouring Provinces, have been detected and met
+with ill Success.
+
+_Custom-House, Philadelphia_, Entred Inwards.
+
+Sloop Hope, Elias Naudain, from Boston.
+Sloop Dove, John Howel, from Antigua.
+Brigt, Pennswood, Thomas Braly, from Madera.
+
+_Entred Outwards._
+
+Scooner John, Thomas Wright, to Boston.
+Brigt. Richard and William, W. Mayle, for Lisbon.
+Ship Diligence, James Bayley, for Maryland
+
+_Cleared for Departure._
+
+Ship London Hope, Thomas Annis, for London.
+Ship John and Anna, James Sherley, for Plymouth.
+
+Advertisements.
+
+To be Sold by _Edward Shippen_, choice
+Hard Soap, very Reasonable.
+
+Run away on the 25th of _September_ past,
+from _Rice Prichard_ of _Whiteland_ in _Chester_ County, a
+Servant Man named _John Cresswel_, of a middle Stature and
+ruddy Countenance, his Hair inclining to Red: He had on
+when he went away, a little white short Wig, an old Hat,
+Drugget Wastcoat, the Body lined with Linnen; coarse
+Linnen Breeches, grey woollen Stockings, and round toe'd
+Shoes.
+
+Whoever shall secure the said Servant so that his Master
+may have him again, shall have _Three Pounds_ Reward, and
+reasonable Charges paid, by
+
+_Rice Prichard._
+
+Run away on the 10th of _September_ past,
+from _William Dewees_ of _Germantown_ Township, in
+_Philadelphia_ County, a Servant Man named _Mekbizedarh
+Arnold_, of a middle Stature and reddish curled Hair:
+He had on when he went away, a good Felt Hat, a dark
+Cinnamon-colour'd Coat, black Drugget Jacket, mouse-colour'd
+drugget Breeches, grey Stockings, and new Shoes.
+
+Whoever secures the said Runaway, so that his Master
+may have him again, shall have _Twenty Shillings_ Reward,
+and reasonable Charges paid, by me
+
+_William Dewees._
+
+_Lately Re-printed and Sold at the New Printing-Office
+near the Market._
+
+The _PSALMS_ of _David_, Imitated
+in the Language of the _New Testament_, and apply'd
+to the Christian State and Worship  By _I. Watts_,
+V D M  The Seventh Edition.
+
+N. B. _This Work has met with such a general good Reception
+and Esteem among the Protestant Dissenters in_ Great Britain, &c.
+_whether_ Presbyterians, Independents, _or_ Baptists, _that Six
+large Impressions before This have been sold off in a very short Time._
+
+_The chief Design of this excellent Performance (as the Author
+acquaints us in his Advertisement to the Reader) is "to improve_
+Psalmody _or_ Religious Singing," _and so encourage and
+assist the frequent Practice of it in publick Assemblies and private
+Families with more Honour and Delight; yet the
+Reading of it may also entertain the Parlour and the Closet
+with devout Pleasure and holy Meditations. Therefore he would
+request his Readers, at proper Seasons, to peruse it thro', and
+among 340 sacred Hymns they may find out several that suit
+their own Case and Temper, or the Circumstances of their Families
+or Friends, they may teach their Children such as are
+proper for their Age and by treasuring them in their Memory
+they may be furnish'd for pious Retirement, or may entertain
+their Friends with holy Melody._
+
+Lately Imported from _London_, by _Johu
+Le_, and are to be sold by him at the lowest Prices,
+either by Wholesale or Retale, at his Shop in _Market Street_,
+over against the _Presbyterian_ Meeting-House, these Goods
+following, _viz._
+
+Callicoes, divers Sorts. Hollands, and several sorts of
+Sheeting Linnen. Several sorts of Diapers and Table-Cloths.
+Several sorts of Cambricks. Mantua Silks, and Grassets.
+Beryllan, and plain Callimanco. Tamie yard-wide. Men's
+dyed shammie Gloves. Women's _Ditto_, Lamb. Stitching
+Silk, Thread and Silk. Twist for Women. Silk and Ribbands.
+Double Thread Stockings. Men's white shammie
+Gloves. Silk Handkerchiefs, & other sorts of Handkerchiefs.
+Men's glaz'd Gloves, Topp'd. Men's Shoe-Buckles, Bath-metal.
+Masks for Women. Several sorts of Penknives.
+Plain metal Buttons for Men's Coats and Jackets. Ivory
+Case-Knives, and several sorts of Pocket-Knives. Dowlasses
+several sorts. Huckabags, and Russia Linnen. Oznaburghs.
+Several sorts of Looking Glasses. Garlicks and brown Holland.
+Bag-Holland _Ditto_. Several sorts of Druggets. Fine
+Kerseys. Superfine double-mill'd Drab. Broad-Cloths.
+London Shalloons. Fine and coarse Hats. Men and Women's
+_English_ Shoes. Stockings, several sorts, for Men, Women
+and Children. Several sorts of Caps. Women's Bonnets.
+Several sorts of Horn and Ivory Combs. Gun-powder,
+Shot, and Flints. Bibles of several sorts. Testaments,
+Psalters and Primers. Large Paper Books, and small ones,
+with Pocket-Books, and other Stationary Ware. Several
+sorts of Checquer'd Linnen. Flannels and Duroys. Scots-Snuff.
+
+_To be LET by the above Person. One Half of the House he
+now possesseth._ Enquire of him and know further.
+
+Bibles, Testaments, Psalters, Psalm-Books,
+Accompt-Books, Bills of Lading bound and
+unbound, Common Blank Bonds for Money, Bonds with
+Judgment, Counterbonds, Arbitration Bonds, Arbitration
+Bonds with Umpirage, Bail Bonds, Counterbonds to save
+Bail harmless, Bills of Sale, Powers of Attorney, Writs,
+Summons, Apprentices Indentures, Servants Indentures,
+Penal Bills, Promisory Notes, &c. all the Blanks in the
+most authentick Forms, and correctly printed; may be had
+At the Publishers of this Paper, who perform all above sorts
+of Printing at reasonable Rates.
+
+Very good Live-Geese Feathers to be sold
+at _Evan Powel's_ in Chesnut-street, next Door but one
+to _Andrew Hamilton_, Esq;
+
+_Just Published:_
+
+Titan Leeds's Almanack,
+for the Year, 1730 in his usual plain Method; being
+far preferable to any yet published in _America_  To be
+Sold by _David Harry_ at the late Printing Office of _Samuel
+Keimer_, at Three Shillings and nine-pence per Dozen.
+
+N. B. _As this Almanack for its Worth has met with universal
+Reception, it has raised the Price of the Copy to 25l. a year,
+for which Reason the Printer cannot afford them under the above-mentioned
+Price: But gives this Friendly Caution to the Publick,
+That when they buy Almanacks for 3s. a Dozen they must not
+expect Titan Leeds's, or any so valuable._
+
+_Speedily will be Published:_
+
+Godfrey's Almanack, for the
+Year 1730. Containing the Lunations, Eclipses,
+Judgment of the Weather, the Spring Tides, _Moon's Rising
+and Setting_, Sun's Rising and Setting, Length of Days,
+Seven Stars Rising, Southing and Setting, Time of High-Water,
+Fairs, Courts, and observable Days. Fitted to
+the Latitude of 40 Degrees, and a Meridian of Five Hours
+West from London. _Beautifully Printed in Red and Black,
+on One Side of a large Demi Sheet of Paper, after the London
+Mariner_.  To be Sold by the Printers hereof, at the New
+Printing-Office near the Market, for 3 _s._ per Dozen.
+
+_Philadelphia_: Printed by _B. Franklin_ and _H. Meredith_, at the New
+Printing-Office near the Market, where Advertisements are taken in, and
+all Persons may be supplied with this Paper, at _Ten Shillings_ a Year.
+
+
+
+
+[First page of _The New England Courant_.]
+
+
+[N^{o} 19
+
+THE
+
+New-England Courant.
+
+From MONDAY December 4. to MONDAY December 11. 1721.
+
+
+_On_ SYLVIA _the Fair_. A Jingle.
+
+A Swarm of Sparks, young, gay, and bold,
+Lov'd _Sylvia_ long, but she was cold;
+In'trest and Pride the Nymph control'd,
+So they in vain their Passion told.
+At last came Dalman, he was old;
+Nay, he was ugly, but had Gold.
+He came, and saw, and took the Hold,
+While t'other Beaux their Loss Condol'd.
+Some say, she's Wed; I say, she's sold.
+
+_The Letter against Inoculating the Small Pox, (Sign'd
+Absinthium) giving an Account of the Number of
+Persons who have dy'd under that Operation, will be
+Inserted in our next._
+
+FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
+
+_Ispahan, March 6._ The Conspiracy form'd by the
+Grand Vizir last January was Twelvemonth, with design
+to make himself King of Persia, was seasonably
+discover'd, and himself and Accomplices secured; since
+which the State hath enjoy'd its former Tranquility,
+and a new Vizir is appointed in his room, The old
+one's Eyes being both put out, he is kept alive (but
+in Prison) to make him discover all his Riches;
+which must be immensely great, since they found in
+one of his Chests four hundred thousand Persian Ducats,
+beside Foreign Coin, and in another Place abundance
+of Jewels, Gold and Silver; and so in proportion
+among several of his Accomplices; by the help of
+which Treasure they hoped to compass their Ends.
+
+_Tripoli, July 12._ As soon as our Squadron fitted out
+against the Famous Baffaw Gianur, Cogia, appear'd off
+Dasna and Bengan, with two thousand five hundred
+Moorish Horse, and a thousand Foot, and skirmish'd
+a little with his Squadron, he abandon'd both those
+Places, and fled to the Island of Serby in the Territories
+of Tunis; But the Bey of that Place having deny'd
+him Shelter, he sail'd farther away, in a French
+Barque, we know not whether; and his own Galleys
+and Barques, are gone after him, so that we are now
+entirely rid of that troublesome Guest. Our Rovers
+keep all in Port, for Fear of the Malteze.
+
+_Cadiz, Aug. 12._ The Flota is expected Home from
+the West-Indies before the End of this Month.
+Thirteen Pieces of Cannon and two Mortars were lately
+sent from hence to Ceuta. The three Spanish Men
+of War of 50 to 60 Guns each, which carried the Spanish
+Cardinals to Italy, are now at Alicant: It is said
+they are to join the Dutch Vice-Admiral, who is now
+in this Bay with four Ships of his Squadron of 50
+Guns each, and cruize against the Algerines. Wheat
+and Barley being very cheap in these Parts, great
+Quantities have been sent lately to the Canaries,
+where for some Time past the Inhabitants have been
+in great Want of Corn. On the 9th Instant died Mr.
+Charles, His Britannick Majesty's Consul at St.
+Lucas.
+
+_Berne, Aug. 20._ The Deputies of this Canton who
+went to the Diet at Frawenfeldt, are now assembled
+at Baden with those of Zurich and Glaris, to regulate
+certain Affairs relating to the Town and County of
+Baden, which formerly belonged to the Eight Eldest
+Cantons, but in the last Swiss War was given up to
+Zurich and Berne in Propriety, with a Reservation to
+the Canton of Glaris (which is mostly Protestant) of
+the Share it had before in the Sovereignty of that
+District. The three Deputies of Zurich, Lucern &c
+Ury, who were commissioned by the late General Dyet
+to go to Wilchingen, to try to compose the Differences
+which have been long standing between the Inhabitants
+of that Place and the Canton of Schafhuysen
+whose Subjects they are, have offered those Inhabitonts
+a full Pardon for all past Misbehavior, and
+the Maintenance of their Privileges for the future,
+provided they forthwith return to their Duty; but
+it is advised that those of Wilchingen persist hitherto
+in this Disobedience.
+
+_Schaffhausen Sept. 1._ They write from Italy, that
+the Plague is no longer observ'd at Marseilles, Aix, &
+several other Places; and that at Toulon it is very
+much decreas'd: But alas! how should it be otherwise,
+when the Distemper hath hardly any Objects
+left to work upon? At Arles it is likewise abated,
+we fear for the same Reason. Mean while, it spreads
+in the Gevaudan; and two large Villages in the
+Neighbourhood of Frejus were attack'd the beginning
+of this Month. The French Court hath prohibited
+all communication with the Gevaudan upon severe
+Penalties. The Plague is certainly got into the
+small Town of  Marvegue in that District, which
+Town is shut in by eight hundred Men. Letters from
+Geneva say, the two Battalions employ'd in surrounding
+La Canourgue, are infected; and that Maages is
+very much suspected. The Marquis de Quelus had
+retired to a Castle near Avignon; but the Sickness
+being got among his Domesticks, he was fled farther
+away.
+
+_Paris, Sept. 5._ The District over which the Duke
+of Berwick is to have the Command, extends to the
+Borders of the Bourbonnois; and the Court puts a
+great Confidence in the Care of that General to hinder
+the Infection from spreading. The Marquis de
+Verceil is actually drawing Lines to shut in the Gevaudan;
+and twelve Regiments of Foot, and as many
+of Dragoons, are marching to reinforce the Troops
+already posted on that side. The Plague seems to
+have almost spent itself in Provence. Tho' it is yet
+a great way off of us, Men talk nevertheless of laying
+up Magazines of all sort of Provisions here, and of making
+twenty thousand Beds, to be set up in the Hospitals
+and Tennis-Courts.
+
+_Hague, Sept. 9._ The Deputies of our Admiralties
+had, last Saturday, an extraordinary Conference with
+those of the States General, upon the spreading of a
+Report, that ten or twelve Persons died daily at a certain
+Place in Normandy, which was therefore suspected
+to have received the Contagion; But upon the
+matter, it doth not appear there was the least Foundation
+for such a Report; tho' it is too plain the
+Distemper gains ground space in the Southern Parts
+of France.
+
+We can by no means penetrate into the Designs of
+the Czar; who, notwithstanding 'tis confidently
+written that the Peace between him and Sweden is as
+good as concluded, hath a Fleet of thirty Men of War
+and two hundred Galleys at Sea near Aland. However,
+an Express gone by from Stockholm, doth not
+confirm.
+
+[End of trancriptions.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by 
+Benjamin Franklin
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ***
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+***** This file should be named 20203-8.txt or 20203-8.zip *****
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+
+Project Gutenberg's Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
+
+Author: Benjamin Franklin
+
+Editor: Frank Woodworth Pine
+
+Illustrator: E. Boyd Smith
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2006 [EBook #20203]
+[Last updated: October 19, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Brian Sogard and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/imgcover.jpg" alt="Cover" /></div>
+<p><br /><br /></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/img001.jpg" alt="FRANKLIN ARMS" /></div>
+
+
+<h4>FRANKLIN ARMS</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="25%" src=
+"images/img002.jpg" alt="FRANKLIN SEAL" title=
+"FRANKLIN SEAL" /></div>
+
+<h4>FRANKLIN SEAL</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="FRONTISPIECE" id="FRONTISPIECE" />
+<a href="images/illus-003-red.jpg"><img src=
+"images/illus-003thumb.jpg" alt="FRONTISPIECE" title=
+"FRONTISPIECE" /></a></div>
+
+<p class="two_small">"He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the
+court parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
+Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force, they very
+generally played together. Happening once to put her king into
+prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says she, 'we do not take kings
+so.' 'We do in America,' said the Doctor."&mdash;<span class=
+"smcap">Thomas Jefferson</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>
+A&nbsp;U&nbsp;T&nbsp;O&nbsp;B&nbsp;I&nbsp;O&nbsp;G&nbsp;R&nbsp;A&nbsp;P&nbsp;H&nbsp;Y</h3>
+
+<h3>OF</h3>
+
+<h1>B&nbsp;E&nbsp;N&nbsp;J&nbsp;A&nbsp;M&nbsp;I&nbsp;N</h1>
+
+<h1>F&nbsp;R&nbsp;A&nbsp;N&nbsp;K&nbsp;L&nbsp;I&nbsp;N</h1>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="center">WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
+
+<div class="center"><i>by</i></div>
+
+<div class="center_big">E. BOYD SMITH,<br />
+&nbsp;</div>
+
+<div class="center">EDITED</div>
+
+<div class="center"><i>by</i></div>
+
+<div class="center_medium">FRANK WOODWORTH PINE</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="15%" src=
+"images/illus-004-red.jpg" alt="Printers Mark" title=
+"Printers Mark" /></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="center"><i>New York</i></div>
+
+<div class="center">HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</div>
+
+<div class="center">1916<br />
+&nbsp;</div>
+
+<div class="center_small"><span class="smcap">Copyright,
+1916,</span></div>
+
+<div class="center_small">BY</div>
+
+<div class="center_small">HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</div>
+
+<div class="center_small">June, 1922<br />
+&nbsp;</div>
+
+<div class="center_small">THE QUINN &amp; BODEN CO. PRESS</div>
+
+<div class="center_small">RAHWAY, N. J.</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+
+<table summary="Page" width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="2"
+cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt" colspan="2"></td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="90%" summary="Introduction" border="0" cellpadding=
+"2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">The
+Autobiography</span></td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#AUTOBIOGRAPHY">1</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="90%" summary="TOC" border="0" cellpadding="2"
+cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">I.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Ancestry and Early Life in Boston</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#I">3</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">II.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Beginning Life as a Printer</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#II">21</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">III.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Arrival in Philadelphia</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#III">41</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">IV.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">First Visit to Boston</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#III">55</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">V.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Early Friends in Philadelphia</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#V">69</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">VI.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">First Visit to London</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#VI">77</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">VII.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Beginning Business in Philadelphia</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#VII">99</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">VIII.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Business Success and First Public Service</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#VIII">126</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">IX.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#IX">146</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">X.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new"><i>Poor Richard's Almanac</i> and Other
+Activities</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#X">169</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XI.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Interest in Public Affairs</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XI">188</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XII.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Defense of the Province</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XII">201</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XIII.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Public Services and Duties</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XIII">217</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XIV.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Albany Plan of Union</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XIV">241</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XV.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Quarrels with the Proprietary Governors</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XV">246</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XVI.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Braddock's Expedition</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XVI">253</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XVII.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Franklin's Defense of the Frontier</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XVII">274</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XVIII.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Scientific Experiments</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XVIII">289</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">XIX.</td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Agent of Pennsylvania in London</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#XIX">296</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="90%" summary="Appendix" border="0" cellpadding="2"
+cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1"><span class="smcap">Appendix</span></td>
+<td class="cell_rt1"></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="90%" summary="Appendix2" border="0" cellpadding="2"
+cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0"></td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">Electrical Kite</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#ELECTRICAL_KITE">327</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0"></td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">The Way to Wealth</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#THE_WAY_TO_WEALTH">331</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0"></td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">The Whistle</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href="#THE_WHISTLE">336</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0"></td>
+<td class="cell_mid0">
+<p class="new">A Letter to Samuel Mather</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt0"><p class="new2"><a href=
+"#A_LETTER_TO_SAMUEL_MATHER">340</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="90%" summary="Bibliography" border="0" cellpadding=
+"2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1"><span class="smcap">Bibliography</span></td>
+<td class="cell_mid"></td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#BIBLIOGRAPHY">343</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+
+<table style="width: 90%;" summary="Frontispiece" border="0"
+cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><span class="smcap">Franklin at the Court of Louis
+XVI</span></p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#FRONTISPIECE">Frontispiece</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="two">"He was therefore, feasted and invited to
+all the court parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
+Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force, they very
+generally played together. Happening once to put her king into
+prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says she, 'we do not take kings
+so.' 'We do in America,' said the Doctor."&mdash;<span class=
+"smcap">Thomas Jefferson</span></p></div>
+
+<table style="width: 90%;" summary="Page" border="0" cellpadding=
+"2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><span class="smcap">Page</span></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">Portrait of Franklin</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#vii">vii</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">Pages 1 and 4 of <i>The Pennsylvania Gazette</i>,
+Number XL, the first number after Franklin took control</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#xxi">xxi</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">First page of <i>The New England Courant</i> of
+December 4-11, 1721</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p33">33</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"I was employed to carry the papers thro' the
+streets to the customers"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p36">36</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I
+made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous
+appearance"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p48">48</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"I took to working at press"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p88">88</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"I see him still at work when I go home from
+club"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p120">120</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">Two pages from <i>Poor Richard's Almanac</i> for
+1736</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p171">171</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common
+soldier"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p204">204</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"In the evening, hearing a great noise among them,
+the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p224">224</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut
+down trees"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p278">278</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"We now appeared very wide, and so far from each
+other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p318">318</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">"You will find it stream out plentifully from the
+key on the approach of your knuckle"</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p328">328</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new">Father Abraham in his study</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_rt"><p class="new2"><a href="#p330">330</a></p></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1"><p class="new">The end papers show, at the front, the
+Franklin arms and the Franklin seal; at the back, the medal given
+by the Boston public schools from the fund left by Franklin for
+that purpose as provided in the following extract from his
+will:</p>
+<p class="new3">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="new3">"I was born in Boston, New England, and owe my
+first instructions in literature to the free grammar-schools
+established there. I therefore give one hundred pounds sterling to
+my executors, to be by them ... paid over to the managers or
+directors of the free schools in my native town of Boston, to be by
+them ... put out to interest, and so continued at interest forever,
+which interest annually shall be laid out in silver medals, and
+given as honorary rewards annually by the directors of the said
+free schools belonging to the said town, in such manner as to the
+discretion of the selectmen of the said town shall seem meet."</p>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_mid"></td>
+<td class="cell_rt"></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p class="new">&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="vii" id="vii" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-005-red.jpg"><img width="50%" src="images/illus-005thumb.jpg"
+alt="B. FRANKLIN" title="B. FRANKLIN" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="30%" src="images/signature.jpg"
+alt="B. Franklin's signature" title=
+"B. Franklin's signature" /></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption"><small>From an engraving by J. Thomson
+from the original picture by J. A. Duplessis.</small></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION" />INTRODUCTION</h3>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-w.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt="block-W" />
+E Americans devour eagerly any piece of writing that purports to
+tell us the secret of success in life; yet how often we are
+disappointed to find nothing but commonplace statements, or
+receipts that we know by heart but never follow. Most of the life
+stories of our famous and successful men fail to inspire because
+they lack the human element that makes the record real and brings
+the story within our grasp. While we are searching far and near for
+some Aladdin's Lamp to give coveted fortune, there is ready at our
+hand if we will only reach out and take it, like the charm in
+Milton's <i>Comus</i>,</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull
+swain</div>
+
+<div class="i0">&nbsp;&nbsp;Treads on it daily with his clouted
+shoon;"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>the interesting, human, and vividly told story of one of the
+wisest and most useful lives in our own history, and perhaps in any
+history. In Franklin's <i>Autobiography</i> is offered not so much
+a ready-made formula for success, as the companionship of a real
+flesh and blood man of extraordinary mind and quality, whose daily
+walk and conversation will help us to meet our own difficulties,
+much as does the example of a wise and strong friend. While we are
+fascinated by the story, we absorb the human experience through
+which a strong and helpful character is building.</p>
+
+<p>The thing that makes Franklin's <i>Autobiography</i> different
+from every other life story of a great and successful man is just
+this human aspect of the account. Franklin told the story of his
+life, as he himself says, for the benefit of his posterity. He
+wanted to help them by the relation of his own rise from obscurity
+and poverty to eminence and wealth. He is not unmindful of the
+importance of his public services and their recognition, yet his
+accounts of these achievements are given only as a part of the
+story, and the vanity displayed is incidental and in keeping with
+the honesty of the recital. There is nothing of the impossible in
+the method and practice of Franklin as he sets them forth. The
+youth who reads the fascinating story is astonished to find that
+Franklin in his early years struggled with the same everyday
+passions and difficulties that he himself experiences, and he loses
+the sense of discouragement that comes from a realization of his
+own shortcomings and inability to attain.</p>
+
+<p>There are other reasons why the <i>Autobiography</i> should be
+an intimate friend of American young people. Here they may
+establish a close relationship with one of the foremost Americans
+as well as one of the wisest men of his age.</p>
+
+<p>The life of Benjamin Franklin is of importance to every American
+primarily because of the part he played in securing the
+independence of the United States and in establishing it as a
+nation. Franklin shares with Washington the honors of the
+Revolution, and of the events leading to the birth of the new
+nation. While Washington was the animating spirit of the struggle
+in the colonies, Franklin was its ablest champion abroad. To
+Franklin's cogent reasoning and keen satire, we owe the clear and
+forcible presentation of the American case in England and France;
+while to his personality and diplomacy as well as to his facile
+pen, we are indebted for the foreign alliance and the funds without
+which Washington's work must have failed. His patience, fortitude,
+and practical wisdom, coupled with self-sacrificing devotion to the
+cause of his country, are hardly less noticeable than similar
+qualities displayed by Washington. In fact, Franklin as a public
+man was much like Washington, especially in the entire
+disinterestedness of his public service.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin is also interesting to us because by his life and
+teachings he has done more than any other American to advance the
+material prosperity of his countrymen. It is said that his widely
+and faithfully read maxims made Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
+wealthy, while Poor Richard's pithy sayings, translated into many
+languages, have had a world-wide influence.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin is a good type of our American manhood. Although not
+the wealthiest or the most powerful, he is undoubtedly, in the
+versatility of his genius and achievements, the greatest of our
+self-made men. The simple yet graphic story in the
+<i>Autobiography</i> of his steady rise from humble boyhood in a
+tallow-chandler shop, by industry, economy, and perseverance in
+self-improvement, to eminence, is the most remarkable of all the
+remarkable histories of our self-made men. It is in itself a
+wonderful illustration of the results possible to be attained in a
+land of unequaled opportunity by following Franklin's maxims.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin's fame, however, was not confined to his own country.
+Although he lived in a century notable for the rapid evolution of
+scientific and political thought and activity, yet no less a keen
+judge and critic than Lord Jeffrey, the famous editor of the
+<i>Edinburgh Review</i>, a century ago said that "in one point of
+view the name of Franklin must be considered as standing higher
+than any of the others which illustrated the eighteenth century.
+Distinguished as a statesman, he was equally great as a
+philosopher, thus uniting in himself a rare degree of excellence in
+both these pursuits, to excel in either of which is deemed the
+highest praise."</p>
+
+<p>Franklin has indeed been aptly called "many-sided." He was
+eminent in science and public service, in diplomacy and in
+literature. He was the Edison of his day, turning his scientific
+discoveries to the benefit of his fellow-men. He perceived the
+identity of lightning and electricity and set up the lightning rod.
+He invented the Franklin stove, still widely used, and refused to
+patent it. He possessed a masterly shrewdness in business and
+practical affairs. Carlyle called him the father of all the
+Yankees. He founded a fire company, assisted in founding a
+hospital, and improved the cleaning and lighting of streets. He
+developed journalism, established the American Philosophical
+Society, the public library in Philadelphia, and the University of
+Pennsylvania. He organized a postal system for the colonies, which
+was the basis of the present United States Post Office. Bancroft,
+the eminent historian, called him "the greatest diplomatist of his
+century." He perfected the Albany Plan of Union for the colonies.
+He is the only statesman who signed the Declaration of
+Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of
+Peace with England, and the Constitution. As a writer, he has
+produced, in his <i>Autobiography</i> and in <i>Poor Richard's
+Almanac</i>, two works that are not surpassed by similar writing.
+He received honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale, from Oxford and
+St. Andrews, and was made a fellow of the Royal Society, which
+awarded him the Copley gold medal for improving natural knowledge.
+He was one of the eight foreign associates of the French Academy of
+Science.</p>
+
+<p>The careful study of the <i>Autobiography</i> is also valuable
+because of the style in which it is written. If Robert Louis
+Stevenson is right in believing that his remarkable style was
+acquired by imitation then the youth who would gain the power to
+express his ideas clearly, forcibly, and interestingly cannot do
+better than to study Franklin's method. Franklin's fame in the
+scientific world was due almost as much to his modest, simple, and
+sincere manner of presenting his discoveries and to the precision
+and clearness of the style in which he described his experiments,
+as to the results he was able to announce. Sir Humphry Davy, the
+celebrated English chemist, himself an excellent literary critic as
+well as a great scientist, said: "A singular felicity guided all
+Franklin's researches, and by very small means he established very
+grand truths. The style and manner of his publication on
+electricity are almost as worthy of admiration as the doctrine it
+contains."</p>
+
+<p>Franklin's place in literature is hard to determine because he
+was not primarily a literary man. His aim in his writings as in his
+life work was to be helpful to his fellow-men. For him writing was
+never an end in itself, but always a means to an end. Yet his
+success as a scientist, a statesman, and a diplomat, as well as
+socially, was in no little part due to his ability as a writer.
+"His letters charmed all, and made his correspondence eagerly
+sought. His political arguments were the joy of his party and the
+dread of his opponents. His scientific discoveries were explained
+in language at once so simple and so clear that plow-boy and
+exquisite could follow his thought or his experiment to its
+conclusion." <a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<p>As far as American literature is concerned, Franklin has no
+contemporaries. Before the <i>Autobiography</i> only one literary
+work of importance had been produced in this country&mdash;Cotton
+Mather's <i>Magnalia</i>, a church history of New England in a
+ponderous, stiff style. Franklin was the first American author to
+gain a wide and permanent reputation in Europe. The
+<i>Autobiography</i>, <i>Poor Richard</i>, <i>Father Abraham's
+Speech</i> or <i>The Way to Wealth</i>, as well as some of the
+<i>Bagatelles</i>, are as widely known abroad as any American
+writings. Franklin must also be classed as the first American
+humorist.</p>
+
+<p>English literature of the eighteenth century was characterized
+by the development of prose. Periodical literature reached its
+perfection early in the century in <i>The Tatler</i> and <i>The
+Spectator</i> of Addison and Steele. Pamphleteers flourished
+throughout the period. The homelier prose of Bunyan and Defoe
+gradually gave place to the more elegant and artificial language of
+Samuel Johnson, who set the standard for prose writing from 1745
+onward. This century saw the beginnings of the modern novel, in
+Fielding's <i>Tom Jones</i>, Richardson's <i>Clarissa Harlowe</i>,
+Sterne's <i>Tristram Shandy</i>, and Goldsmith's <i>Vicar of
+Wakefield</i>. Gibbon wrote <i>The Decline and Fall of the Roman
+Empire</i>, Hume his <i>History of England</i>, and Adam Smith the
+<i>Wealth of Nations</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the simplicity and vigor of his style Franklin more nearly
+resembles the earlier group of writers. In his first essays he was
+not an inferior imitator of Addison. In his numerous parables,
+moral allegories, and apologues he showed Bunyan's influence. But
+Franklin was essentially a journalist. In his swift, terse style,
+he is most like Defoe, who was the first great English journalist
+and master of the newspaper narrative. The style of both writers is
+marked by homely, vigorous expression, satire, burlesque, repartee.
+Here the comparison must end. Defoe and his contemporaries were
+authors. Their vocation was writing and their success rests on the
+imaginative or creative power they displayed. To authorship
+Franklin laid no claim. He wrote no work of the imagination. He
+developed only incidentally a style in many respects as remarkable
+as that of his English contemporaries. He wrote the best
+autobiography in existence, one of the most widely known
+collections of maxims, and an unsurpassed series of political and
+social satires, because he was a man of unusual scope of power and
+usefulness, who knew how to tell his fellow-men the secrets of that
+power and that usefulness.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Story of the Autobiography</span></h4>
+
+<p>The account of how Franklin's <i>Autobiography</i> came to be
+written and of the adventures of the original manuscript forms in
+itself an interesting story. The <i>Autobiography</i> is Franklin's
+longest work, and yet it is only a fragment. The first part,
+written as a letter to his son, William Franklin, was not intended
+for publication; and the composition is more informal and the
+narrative more personal than in the second part, from 1730 on,
+which was written with a view to publication. The entire manuscript
+shows little evidence of revision. In fact, the expression is so
+homely and natural that his grandson, William Temple Franklin, in
+editing the work changed some of the phrases because he thought
+them inelegant and vulgar.</p>
+
+<p>Franklin began the story of his life while on a visit to his
+friend, Bishop Shipley, at Twyford, in Hampshire, southern England,
+in 1771. He took the manuscript, completed to 1731, with him when
+he returned to Philadelphia in 1775. It was left there with his
+other papers when he went to France in the following year, and
+disappeared during the confusion incident to the Revolution.
+Twenty-three pages of closely written manuscript fell into the
+hands of Abel James, an old friend, who sent a copy to Franklin at
+Passy, near Paris, urging him to complete the story. Franklin took
+up the work at Passy in 1784 and carried the narrative forward a
+few months. He changed the plan to meet his new purpose of writing
+to benefit the young reader. His work was soon interrupted and was
+not resumed until 1788, when he was at home in Philadelphia. He was
+now old, infirm, and suffering, and was still engaged in public
+service. Under these discouraging conditions the work progressed
+slowly. It finally stopped when the narrative reached the year
+1757. Copies of the manuscript were sent to friends of Franklin in
+England and France, among others to Monsieur Le Veillard at
+Paris.</p>
+
+<p>The first edition of the <i>Autobiography</i> was published in
+French at Paris in 1791. It was clumsily and carelessly translated,
+and was imperfect and unfinished. Where the translator got the
+manuscript is not known. Le Veillard disclaimed any knowledge of
+the publication. From this faulty French edition many others were
+printed, some in Germany, two in England, and another in France, so
+great was the demand for the work.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the original manuscript of the
+<i>Autobiography</i> had started on a varied and adventurous
+career. It was left by Franklin with his other works to his
+grandson, William Temple Franklin, whom Franklin designated as his
+literary executor. When Temple Franklin came to publish his
+grandfather's works in 1817, he sent the original manuscript of the
+<i>Autobiography</i> to the daughter of Le Veillard in exchange for
+her father's copy, probably thinking the clearer transcript would
+make better printer's copy. The original manuscript thus found its
+way to the Le Veillard family and connections, where it remained
+until sold in 1867 to Mr. John Bigelow, United States Minister to
+France. By him it was later sold to Mr. E. Dwight Church of New
+York, and passed with the rest of Mr. Church's library into the
+possession of Mr. Henry E. Huntington. The original manuscript of
+Franklin's <i>Autobiography</i> now rests in the vault in Mr.
+Huntington's residence at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street,
+New York City.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Bigelow came to examine his purchase, he was astonished
+to find that what people had been reading for years as the
+authentic <i>Life of Benjamin Franklin by Himself</i>, was only a
+garbled and incomplete version of the real <i>Autobiography</i>.
+Temple Franklin had taken unwarranted liberties with the original.
+Mr. Bigelow says he found more than twelve hundred changes in the
+text. In 1868, therefore, Mr. Bigelow published the standard
+edition of Franklin's <i>Autobiography</i>. It corrected errors in
+the previous editions and was the first English edition to contain
+the short fourth part, comprising the last few pages of the
+manuscript, written during the last year of Franklin's life. Mr.
+Bigelow republished the <i>Autobiography</i>, with additional
+interesting matter, in three volumes in 1875, in 1905, and in 1910.
+The text in this volume is that of Mr. Bigelow's editions.<a name=
+"FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2" /><a href="#Footnote_2" class=
+"fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>The <i>Autobiography</i> has been reprinted in the United States
+many scores of times and translated into all the languages of
+Europe. It has never lost its popularity and is still in constant
+demand at circulating libraries. The reason for this popularity is
+not far to seek. For in this work Franklin told in a remarkable
+manner the story of a remarkable life. He displayed hard common
+sense and a practical knowledge of the art of living. He selected
+and arranged his material, perhaps unconsciously, with the unerring
+instinct of the journalist for the best effects. His success is not
+a little due to his plain, clear, vigorous English. He used short
+sentences and words, homely expressions, apt illustrations, and
+pointed allusions. Franklin had a most interesting, varied, and
+unusual life. He was one of the greatest conversationalists of his
+time.</p>
+
+<p>His book is the record of that unusual life told in Franklin's
+own unexcelled conversational style. It is said that the best parts
+of Boswell's famous biography of Samuel Johnson are those parts
+where Boswell permits Johnson to tell his own story. In the
+<i>Autobiography</i> a no less remarkable man and talker than
+Samuel Johnson is telling his own story throughout.</p>
+
+<p class="right">F. W. P.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap2">&nbsp;&nbsp;The Gilman Country
+School</span>,<br />
+<small>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Baltimore, September,
+1916.</small></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="center">
+<table width="70%" summary="The Pennsylvania GAZETTE" border="1" cellpadding=
+"2">
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_poor"><a name="xxi" id="xxi" /> <a href=
+"images/028-red.jpg"><img src="images/028thumb.jpg" alt=
+"The Pennsylvania GAZETTE Page 1" title=
+"The Pennsylvania GAZETTE Page 1" /></a></td>
+<td class="cell_poor"><a href="images/029-red.jpg"><img src=
+"images/029thumb.jpg" alt="The Pennsylvania GAZETTE Page 4" title=
+"The Pennsylvania GAZETTE Page 4" /></a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+<p class="four">Pages 1 and 4 of <i>The Pennsylvania Gazette</i>,
+the first number after Franklin took control. Reduced nearly
+one-half. Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public
+Library.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>The Many-Sided
+Franklin.</i> Paul L. Ford.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> For the division
+into chapters and the chapter titles, however, the present editor
+is responsible.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="AUTOBIOGRAPHY" id="AUTOBIOGRAPHY" />AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h3>
+
+<h3>OF</h3>
+
+<h3>BENJAMIN FRANKLIN</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="I" id="I" />I</h4>
+
+<h4>ANCESTRY AND EARLY YOUTH IN BOSTON</h4>
+
+<p class="right"><b><small><span class="smcap">Twyford</span>,<a
+name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3" /><a href="#Footnote_3" class=
+"fnanchor">[3]</a> <i>at the Bishop of St. Asaph's</i>,
+1771.</small></b></p>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-d.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt="block-d" />
+EAR SON: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes
+of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the
+remains of my relations when you were with me in England, and the
+journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally
+agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of
+which you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of
+a week's uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I
+sit down to write them for you. To which I have besides some other
+inducements. Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which
+I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of
+reputation in the world, and having gone so far through life with a
+considerable share of felicity, the conducing means I made use of,
+which with the blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may
+like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own
+situations, and therefore fit to be imitated.</p>
+
+<p>That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes
+to say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no
+objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only
+asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct
+some faults of the first. So I might, besides correcting the
+faults, change some sinister accidents and events of it for others
+more favourable. But though this were denied, I should still accept
+the offer. Since such a repetition is not to be expected, the next
+thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a
+recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable
+as possible by putting it down in writing.</p>
+
+<p>Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old
+men, to be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I
+shall indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, through
+respect to age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a
+hearing, since this may be read or not as anyone pleases. And,
+lastly (I may as well confess it, since my denial of it will be
+believed by nobody), perhaps I shall a good deal gratify my own
+<i>vanity</i>.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Indeed, I scarce ever heard
+or saw the introductory words, "<i>Without vanity I may say</i>,"
+etc., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike
+vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I
+give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that
+it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that
+are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it
+would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his
+vanity among the other comforts of life.</p>
+
+<p>Gibbon and Hume, the great British historians, who were
+contemporaries of Franklin, express in their autobiographies the
+same feeling about the propriety of just self-praise.</p>
+
+<p>And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to
+acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to
+His kind providence, which lead me to the means I used and gave
+them success. My belief of this induces me to <i>hope</i>, though I
+must not <i>presume</i>, that the same goodness will still be
+exercised toward me, in continuing that happiness, or enabling me
+to bear a fatal reverse, which I may experience as others have
+done; the complexion of my future fortune being known to Him only
+in whose power it is to bless to us even our afflictions.</p>
+
+<p>The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of curiosity
+in collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished
+me with several particulars relating to our ancestors. From these
+notes I learned that the family had lived in the same village,
+Ecton, in Northamptonshire,<a name="FNanchor_5" id=
+"FNanchor_5" /><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> for
+three hundred years, and how much longer he knew not (perhaps from
+the time when the name of Franklin, that before was the name of an
+order of people,<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> was assumed by them as a
+surname when others took surnames all over the kingdom), on a
+freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's business,
+which had continued in the family till his time, the eldest son
+being always bred to that business; a custom which he and my father
+followed as to their eldest sons. When I searched the registers at
+Ecton, I found an account of their births, marriages and burials
+from the year 1555 only, there being no registers kept in that
+parish at any time preceding. By that register I perceived that I
+was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back.
+My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he
+grew too old to follow business longer, when he went to live with
+his son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom my
+father served an apprenticeship. There my grandfather died and lies
+buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived
+in the house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child,
+a daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of Wellingborough,
+sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the manor there. My grandfather
+had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and
+Josiah. I will give you what account I can of them at this distance
+from my papers, and if these are not lost in my absence, you will
+among them find many more particulars.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious,
+and encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire
+Palmer, then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified
+himself for the business of scrivener; became a considerable man in
+the county; was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings
+for the county or town of Northampton, and his own village, of
+which many instances were related of him; and much taken notice of
+and patronized by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, January
+6, old style,<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> just four years to a day
+before I was born. The account we received of his life and
+character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as
+something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of
+mine. "Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have
+supposed a transmigration."</p>
+
+<p>John was bred a dyer, I believe of woollens, Benjamin was bred a
+silk dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious
+man. I remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my
+father in Boston, and lived in the house with us some years. He
+lived to a great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in
+Boston. He left behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own
+poetry, consisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his
+friends and relations, of which the following, sent to me, is a
+specimen.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> He had formed a short-hand
+of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it, I have
+now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a
+particular affection between him and my father. He was very pious,
+a great attender of sermons of the best preachers, which he took
+down in his short-hand, and had with him many volumes of them. He
+was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station.
+There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had
+made of all the principal pamphlets relating to public affairs,
+from 1641 to 1717; many of the volumes are wanting as appears by
+the numbering, but there still remain eight volumes in folio, and
+twenty-four in quarto and in octavo. A dealer in old books met with
+them, and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought them
+to me. It seems my uncle must have left them here when he went to
+America, which was about fifty years since. There are many of his
+notes in the margins.</p>
+
+<p>This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation, and
+continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary, when they
+were sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal
+against popery. They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and
+secure it, it was fastened open with tapes under and within the
+cover of a joint-stool. When my great-great-grandfather read it to
+his family, he turned up the joint-stool upon his knees, turning
+over the leaves then under the tapes. One of the children stood at
+the door to give notice if he saw the apparitor coming, who was an
+officer of the spiritual court. In that case the stool was turned
+down again upon its feet, when the Bible remained concealed under
+it as before. This anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin. The
+family continued all of the Church of England till about the end of
+Charles the Second's reign, when some of the ministers that had
+been outed for non-conformity, holding conventicles<a name=
+"FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9" /><a href="#Footnote_9" class=
+"fnanchor">[9]</a> in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Josiah adhered
+to them, and so continued all their lives: the rest of the family
+remained with the Episcopal Church.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="80%" src=
+"images/illus-006-red.jpg" alt=
+"Birthplace of Franklin. Milk Street, Boston" title=
+"Birthplace of Franklin. Milk Street, Boston" /></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">Birthplace of Franklin. Milk Street,
+Boston.</div>
+
+<p>Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with
+three children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles
+having been forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced
+some considerable men of his acquaintance to remove to that
+country, and he was prevailed with to accompany them thither, where
+they expected to enjoy their mode of religion with freedom. By the
+same wife he had four children more born there, and by a second
+wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I remember thirteen
+sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be men and
+women, and married; I was the youngest son, and the youngest child
+but two, and was born in Boston, New England.<a name="FNanchor_10"
+id="FNanchor_10" /><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter
+Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable
+mention is made by Cotton Mather,<a name="FNanchor_11" id=
+"FNanchor_11" /><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> in
+his church history of that country, entitled <i>Magnalia Christi
+Americana</i>, as "<i>a godly, learned Englishman</i>," if I
+remember the words rightly. I have heard that he wrote sundry small
+occasional pieces, but only one of them was printed, which I saw
+now many years since. It was written in 1675, in the home-spun
+verse of that time and people, and addressed to those then
+concerned in the government there. It was in favour of liberty of
+conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other
+sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian
+wars, and other distresses that had befallen the country, to that
+persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish so heinous an
+offense, and exhorting a repeal of those uncharitable laws. The
+whole appeared to me as written with a good deal of decent
+plainness and manly freedom. The six concluding lines I remember,
+though I have forgotten the two first of the stanza; but the
+purport of them was, that his censures proceeded from good-will,
+and, therefore, he would be known to be the author.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Because to be a libeller (says he)</div>
+
+<div class="i2b">I hate it with my heart;</div>
+
+<div class="i2">From Sherburne town,<a name="FNanchor_12" id=
+"FNanchor_12" /><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+where now I dwell</div>
+
+<div class="i2b">My name I do put here;</div>
+
+<div class="i2">Without offense your real friend,</div>
+
+<div class="i2b">It is Peter Folgier."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades.
+I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father
+intending to devote me, as the tithe<a name="FNanchor_13" id=
+"FNanchor_13" /><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> of
+his sons, to the service of the Church. My early readiness in
+learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not
+remember when I could not read), and the opinion of all his
+friends, that I should certainly make a good scholar, encouraged
+him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it,
+and proposed to give me all his short-hand volumes of sermons, I
+suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would learn his
+character.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> I continued, however, at
+the grammar-school not quite one year, though in that time I had
+risen gradually from the middle of the class of that year to be the
+head of it, and farther was removed into the next class above it,
+in order to go with that into the third at the end of the year. But
+my father, in the meantime, from a view of the expense of a college
+education, which having so large a family he could not well afford,
+and the mean living many so educated were afterwards able to
+obtain&mdash;reasons that he gave to his friends in my
+hearing&mdash;altered his first intention, took me from the
+grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic,
+kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very successful in
+his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods.
+Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the
+arithmetic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was
+taken home to assist my father in his business, which was that of a
+tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but
+had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his
+dyeing trade would not maintain his family, being in little
+request. Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick for the
+candles, filling the dipping mould and the moulds for cast candles,
+attending the shop, going of errands, etc.</p>
+
+<p>I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea,
+but my father declared against it; however, living near the water,
+I was much in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to
+manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was
+commonly allowed to govern, especially in any case of difficulty;
+and upon other occasions I was generally a leader among the boys,
+and sometimes led them into scrapes, of which I will mention one
+instance, as it shows an early projecting public spirit, tho' not
+then justly conducted.</p>
+
+<p>There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on
+the edge of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for
+minnows. By much trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My
+proposal was to build a wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I
+showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which were intended for
+a new house near the marsh, and which would very well suit our
+purpose. Accordingly, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, I
+assembled a number of my playfellows, and working with them
+diligently like so many emmets, sometimes two or three to a stone,
+we brought them all away and built our little wharf. The next
+morning the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, which
+were found in our wharf. Inquiry was made after the removers; we
+were discovered and complained of; several of us were corrected by
+our fathers; and, though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine
+convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest.</p>
+
+<p>I think you may like to know something of his person and
+character. He had an excellent constitution of body, was of middle
+stature, but well set, and very strong; he was ingenious, could
+draw prettily, was skilled a little in music, and had a clear,
+pleasing voice, so that when he played psalm tunes on his violin
+and sung withal, as he sometimes did in an evening after the
+business of the day was over, it was extremely agreeable to hear.
+He had a mechanical genius too, and, on occasion, was very handy in
+the use of other tradesmen's tools; but his great excellence lay in
+a sound understanding and solid judgment in prudential matters,
+both in private and publick affairs. In the latter, indeed, he was
+never employed, the numerous family he had to educate and the
+straitness of his circumstances keeping him close to his trade; but
+I remember well his being frequently visited by leading people, who
+consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of the
+church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect for his
+judgment and advice: he was also much consulted by private persons
+about their affairs when any difficulty occurred, and frequently
+chosen an arbitrator between contending parties. At his table he
+liked to have, as often as he could, some sensible friend or
+neighbor to converse with, and always took care to start some
+ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend to
+improve the minds of his children. By this means he turned our
+attention to what was good, just, and prudent in the conduct of
+life; and little or no notice was ever taken of what related to the
+victuals on the table, whether it was well or ill dressed, in or
+out of season, of good or bad flavor, preferable or inferior to
+this or that other thing of the kind, so that I was bro't up in
+such a perfect inattention to those matters as to be quite
+indifferent what kind of food was set before me, and so unobservant
+of it, that to this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a few hours
+after dinner what I dined upon. This has been a convenience to me
+in traveling, where my companions have been sometimes very unhappy
+for want of a suitable gratification of their more delicate,
+because better instructed, tastes and appetites.</p>
+
+<p>My mother had likewise an excellent constitution: she suckled
+all her ten children. I never knew either my father or mother to
+have any sickness but that of which they dy'd, he at 89, and she at
+85 years of age. They lie buried together at Boston, where I some
+years since placed a marble over their grave,<a name="FNanchor_15"
+id="FNanchor_15" /><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>
+with this inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="center"><span class="smcap2">Josiah
+Franklin</span>,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">and</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2"><span class="smcap2">Abiah</span> his
+wife,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">lie here interred.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">They lived lovingly together in
+wedlock</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">fifty-five years.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">Without an estate, or any gainful
+employment,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">By constant labor and industry,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">with God's blessing,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">They maintained a large family</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">comfortably,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">and brought up thirteen children</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">and seven grandchildren</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">reputably.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">From this instance, reader,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">Be encouraged to diligence in thy
+calling,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">And distrust not Providence.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">He was a pious and prudent man;</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">She, a discreet and virtuous
+woman.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">Their youngest son,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">In filial regard to their memory,</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">Places this stone.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">J. F. born 1655, died 1744, &AElig;tat
+89.</div>
+
+<div class="center_small2">A. F. born 1667, died 1752,
+&mdash;&mdash; 85.</div>
+
+<p>By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I
+us'd to write more methodically. But one does not dress for private
+company as for a publick ball. 'Tis perhaps only negligence.</p>
+
+<p>To return: I continued thus employed in my father's business for
+two years, that is, till I was twelve years old; and my brother
+John, who was bred to that business, having left my father,
+married, and set up for himself at Rhode Island, there was all
+appearance that I was destined to supply his place, and become a
+tallow-chandler. But my dislike to the trade continuing, my father
+was under apprehensions that if he did not find one for me more
+agreeable, I should break away and get to sea, as his son Josiah
+had done, to his great vexation. He therefore sometimes took me to
+walk with him, and see joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers,
+etc., at their work, that he might observe my inclination, and
+endeavor to fix it on some trade or other on land. It has ever
+since been a pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their tools;
+and it has been useful to me, having learnt so much by it as to be
+able to do little jobs myself in my house when a workman could not
+readily be got, and to construct little machines for my
+experiments, while the intention of making the experiment was fresh
+and warm in my mind. My father at last fixed upon the cutler's
+trade, and my uncle Benjamin's son Samuel, who was bred to that
+business in London, being about that time established in Boston, I
+was sent to be with him some time on liking. But his expectations
+of a fee with me displeasing my father, I was taken home again.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> A small village
+not far from Winchester in Hampshire, southern England. Here was
+the country seat of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Jonathan Shipley,
+the "good Bishop," as Dr. Franklin used to style him. Their
+relations were intimate and confidential. In his pulpit, and in the
+House of Lords, as well as in society, the bishop always opposed
+the harsh measures of the Crown toward the
+Colonies.&mdash;Bigelow.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> In this connection
+Woodrow Wilson says, "And yet the surprising and delightful thing
+about this book (the <i>Autobiography</i>) is that, take it all in
+all, it has not the low tone of conceit, but is a staunch man's
+sober and unaffected assessment of himself and the circumstances of
+his career."</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See <a href=
+"#INTRODUCTION"><i>Introduction</i></a>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> A small
+landowner.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> January 17, new
+style. This change in the calendar was made in 1582 by Pope Gregory
+XIII, and adopted in England in 1752. Every year whose number in
+the common reckoning since Christ is not divisible by 4, as well as
+every year whose number is divisible by 100 but not by 400, shall
+have 365 days, and all other years shall have 366 days. In the
+eighteenth century there was a difference of eleven days between
+the old and the new style of reckoning, which the English
+Parliament canceled by making the 3rd of September, 1752, the 14th.
+The Julian calendar, or "old style," is still retained in Russia
+and Greece, whose dates consequently are now 13 days behind those
+of other Christian countries.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The specimen is
+not in the manuscript of the <i>Autobiography</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Secret gatherings
+of dissenters from the established Church.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Franklin was
+born on Sunday, January 6, old style, 1706, in a house on Milk
+Street, opposite the Old South Meeting House, where he was baptized
+on the day of his birth, during a snowstorm. The house where he was
+born was burned in 1810.&mdash;Griffin.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Cotton Mather
+(1663-1728), clergyman, author, and scholar. Pastor of the North
+Church, Boston. He took an active part in the persecution of
+witchcraft.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Nantucket.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Tenth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> System of
+short-hand.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> This marble
+having decayed, the citizens of Boston in 1827 erected in its place
+a granite obelisk, twenty-one feet high, bearing the original
+inscription quoted in the text and another explaining the erection
+of the monument.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="II" id="II" />II</h4>
+
+<h4>BEGINNING LIFE AS A PRINTER</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-f.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt="block-F" />
+ROM a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that
+came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the
+<i>Pilgrim's Progress</i>, my first collection was of John Bunyan's
+works in separate little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable
+me to buy R. Burton's <i>Historical Collections</i>; they were
+small chapmen's books, <a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16" /><a
+href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and cheap, 40 or 50
+in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly of books in
+polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have since often
+regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for knowledge,
+more proper books had not fallen in my way, since it was now
+resolved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarch's <i>Lives</i> there
+was in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent
+to great advantage. There was also a book of DeFoe's, called an
+<i>Essay on Projects</i>, and another of Dr. Mather's, called
+<i>Essays to do Good</i>, which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking
+that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my
+life.</p>
+
+<p>This bookish inclination at length determined my father to make
+me a printer, though he had already one son (James) of that
+profession. In 1717 my brother James returned from England with a
+press and letters to set up his business in Boston. I liked it much
+better than that of my father, but still had a hankering for the
+sea. To prevent the apprehended effect of such an inclination, my
+father was impatient to have me bound to my brother. I stood out
+some time, but at last was persuaded, and signed the indentures
+when I was yet but twelve years old. I was to serve as an
+apprentice till I was twenty-one years of age, only I was to be
+allowed journeyman's wages during the last year. In a little time I
+made great proficiency in the business, and became a useful hand to
+my brother. I now had access to better books. An acquaintance with
+the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a
+small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean. Often I
+sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when the
+book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the
+morning, lest it should be missed or wanted.</p>
+
+<p>And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Mr. Matthew Adams,
+who had a pretty collection of books, and who frequented our
+printing-house, took notice of me, invited me to his library, and
+very kindly lent me such books as I chose to read. I now took a
+fancy to poetry, and made some little pieces; my brother, thinking
+it might turn to account, encouraged me, and put me on composing
+occasional ballads. One was called <i>The Lighthouse Tragedy</i>,
+and contained an account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake,
+with his two daughters: the other was a sailor's song, on the
+taking of <i>Teach</i> (or Blackbeard) the pirate. They were
+wretched stuff, in the Grub-street-ballad style;<a name=
+"FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17" /><a href="#Footnote_17" class=
+"fnanchor">[17]</a> and when they were printed he sent me about the
+town to sell them. The first sold wonderfully, the event being
+recent, having made a great noise. This flattered my vanity; but my
+father discouraged me by ridiculing my performances, and telling me
+verse-makers were generally beggars. So I escaped being a poet,
+most probably a very bad one; but as prose writing has been of
+great use to me in the course of my life, and was a principal means
+of my advancement, I shall tell you how, in such a situation, I
+acquired what little ability I have in that way.</p>
+
+<p>There was another bookish lad in the town, John Collins by name,
+with whom I was intimately acquainted. We sometimes disputed, and
+very fond we were of argument, and very desirous of confuting one
+another, which disputatious turn, by the way, is apt to become a
+very bad habit, making people often extremely disagreeable in
+company by the contradiction that is necessary to bring it into
+practice; and thence, besides souring and spoiling the
+conversation, is productive of disgusts and, perhaps enmities where
+you may have occasion for friendship. I had caught it by reading my
+father's books of dispute about religion. Persons of good sense, I
+have since observed, seldom fall into it, except lawyers,
+university men, and men of all sorts that have been bred at
+Edinborough.</p>
+
+<p>A question was once, somehow or other, started between Collins
+and me, of the propriety of educating the female sex in learning,
+and their abilities for study. He was of opinion that it was
+improper, and that they were naturally unequal to it. I took the
+contrary side, perhaps a little for dispute's sake. He was
+naturally more eloquent, had a ready plenty of words, and
+sometimes, as I thought, bore me down more by his fluency than by
+the strength of his reasons. As we parted without settling the
+point, and were not to see one another again for some time, I sat
+down to put my arguments in writing, which I copied fair and sent
+to him. He answered, and I replied. Three or four letters of a side
+had passed, when my father happened to find my papers and read
+them. Without entering into the discussion, he took occasion to
+talk to me about the manner of my writing; observed that, though I
+had the advantage of my antagonist in correct spelling and pointing
+(which I ow'd to the printing-house), I fell far short in elegance
+of expression, in method and in perspicuity, of which he convinced
+me by several instances. I saw the justice of his remarks, and
+thence grew more attentive to the manner in writing, and determined
+to endeavor at improvement.</p>
+
+<p>About this time I met with an odd volume of the
+<i>Spectator</i>.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> It was the third. I had
+never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over,
+and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent,
+and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some
+of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each
+sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the
+book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted
+sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before,
+in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my
+<i>Spectator</i> with the original, discovered some of my faults,
+and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a
+readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should
+have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses;
+since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of
+different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for
+the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of
+searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in
+my mind, and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of the
+tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had
+pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also
+sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after
+some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I
+began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper. This was
+to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my
+work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and
+amended them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in
+certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to
+improve the method of the language, and this encouraged me to think
+I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of
+which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these exercises and
+for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the
+morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the
+printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common
+attendance on public worship which my father used to exact of me
+when I was under his care, and which indeed I still thought a duty,
+thought I could not, as it seemed to me, afford time to practise
+it.</p>
+
+<p>When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book,
+written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined
+to go into it. My brother, being yet unmarried, did not keep house,
+but boarded himself and his apprentices in another family. My
+refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was
+frequently chid for my singularity. I made myself acquainted with
+Tryon's manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as boiling
+potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then
+proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the
+money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly
+agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he
+paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books. But I had
+another advantage in it. My brother and the rest going from the
+printing-house to their meals, I remained there alone, and,
+dispatching presently my light repast, which often was no more than
+a bisket or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart from
+the pastry-cook's, and a glass of water, had the rest of the time
+till their return for study, in which I made the greater progress,
+from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which
+usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.</p>
+
+<p>And now it was that, being on some occasion made asham'd of my
+ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed in learning when at
+school, I took Cocker's book of Arithmetick, and went through the
+whole by myself with great ease. I also read Seller's and Shermy's
+books of Navigation, and became acquainted with the little geometry
+they contain; but never proceeded far in that science. And I read
+about this time Locke <i>On Human Understanding</i>,<a name=
+"FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19" /><a href="#Footnote_19" class=
+"fnanchor">[19]</a> and the <i>Art of Thinking</i>, by Messrs. du
+Port Royal.<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>While I was intent on improving my language, I met with an
+English grammar (I think it was Greenwood's), at the end of which
+there were two little sketches of the arts of rhetoric and logic,
+the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic<a
+name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21" /><a href="#Footnote_21" class=
+"fnanchor">[21]</a> method; and soon after I procur'd Xenophon's
+Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein there are many instances of
+the same method. I was charm'd with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt
+contradiction and positive argumentation, and put on the humble
+inquirer and doubter. And being then, from reading Shaftesbury and
+Collins, become a real doubter in many points of our religious
+doctrine, I found this method safest for myself and very
+embarrassing to those against whom I used it; therefore I took a
+delight in it, practis'd it continually, and grew very artful and
+expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into
+concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee,
+entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not
+extricate themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither
+myself nor my cause always deserved. I continu'd this method some
+few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the habit of
+expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never using, when
+I advanced anything that may possibly be disputed, the words
+<i>certainly</i>, <i>undoubtedly</i>, or any others that give the
+air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, I conceive or
+apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to me, or <i>I should
+think it so or so</i>, for such and such reasons; or <i>I imagine
+it to be so</i>; or <i>it is so, if I am not mistaken</i>. This
+habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had
+occasion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures
+that I have been from time to time engaged in promoting; and, as
+the chief ends of conversation are to <i>inform</i> or to be
+<i>informed</i>, to <i>please</i> or to <i>persuade</i>, I wish
+well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their power of doing
+good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust,
+tends to create opposition, and to defeat everyone of those
+purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or
+receiving information or pleasure. For, if you would inform, a
+positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may
+provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you wish
+information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet
+at the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present
+opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will
+probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error. And
+by such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in
+<i>pleasing</i> your hearers, or to persuade those whose
+concurrence you desire. Pope<a name="FNanchor_22" id=
+"FNanchor_22" /><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>
+says, judiciously:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0"><i>"Men should be taught as if you taught them
+not,</i></div>
+
+<div class="i0b"><i>And things unknown propos'd as things
+forgot;"</i></div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>farther recommending to us</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"To speak, tho' sure, with seeming
+diffidence."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>And he might have coupled with this line that which he has
+coupled with another, I think, less properly,</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"For want of modesty is want of sense."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>If you ask, Why less properly? I must repeat the lines,</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Immodest words admit of no defense,</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">For want of modesty is want of sense."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now, is not <i>want of sense</i> (where a man is so unfortunate
+as to want it) some apology for his <i>want of modesty</i>? and
+would not the lines stand more justly thus?</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Immodest words admit <i>but</i> this
+defense,</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">That want of modesty is want of sense."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>This, however, I should submit to better judgments.</p>
+
+<p>My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a newspaper. It
+was the second that appeared in America,<a name="FNanchor_23" id=
+"FNanchor_23" /><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+and was called the New England Courant. The only one before it was
+the Boston News-Letter. I remember his being dissuaded by some of
+his friends from the undertaking, as not likely to succeed, one
+newspaper being, in their judgment, enough for America. At this
+time (1771) there are not less than five-and-twenty. He went on,
+however, with the undertaking, and after having worked in composing
+the types and printing off the sheets, I was employed to carry the
+papers thro' the streets to the customers.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table width="40%" summary="The New England Courant" border="1" cellpadding=
+"2">
+<tr>
+<td><a name="p33" id="p33" /> <a href=
+"images/062-red.jpg"><img src="images/062thumb.jpg" alt=
+"First page of The New England Courant of Dec. 4-11, 1721." title=
+"First page of The New England Courant of Dec. 4-11, 1721." /></a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">First page of <i>The New England
+Courant</i> of Dec. 4-11, 1721. Reduced about one-third. From a
+copy in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society</div>
+
+<p>He had some ingenious men among his friends, who amus'd
+themselves by writing little pieces for this paper, which gain'd it
+credit and made it more in demand, and these gentlemen often
+visited us. Hearing their conversations, and their accounts of the
+approbation their papers were received with, I was excited to try
+my hand among them; but, being still a boy, and suspecting that my
+brother would object to printing anything of mine in his paper if
+he knew it to be mine, I contrived to disguise my hand, and,
+writing an anonymous paper, I put it in at night under the door of
+the printing-house. It was found in the morning, and communicated
+to his writing friends when they call'd in as usual. They read it,
+commented on it in my hearing, and I had the exquisite pleasure of
+finding it met with their approbation, and that, in their different
+guesses at the author, none were named but men of some character
+among us for learning and ingenuity. I suppose now that I was
+rather lucky in my judges, and that perhaps they were not really so
+very good ones as I then esteem'd them.</p>
+
+<p>Encourag'd, however, by this, I wrote and conveyed in the same
+way to the press several more papers which were equally approv'd;
+and I kept my secret till my small fund of sense for such
+performances was pretty well exhausted, and then I discovered<a
+name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24" /><a href="#Footnote_24" class=
+"fnanchor">[24]</a> it, when I began to be considered a little more
+by my brother's acquaintance, and in a manner that did not quite
+please him, as he thought, probably with reason, that it tended to
+make me too vain. And, perhaps, this might be one occasion of the
+differences that we began to have about this time. Though a
+brother, he considered himself as my master, and me as his
+apprentice, and, accordingly, expected the same services from me as
+he would from another, while I thought he demean'd me too much in
+some he requir'd of me, who from a brother expected more
+indulgence. Our disputes were often brought before our father, and
+I fancy I was either generally in the right, or else a better
+pleader, because the judgment was generally in my favor. But my
+brother was passionate, and had often beaten me, which I took
+extreamly amiss; and, thinking my apprenticeship very tedious, I
+was continually wishing for some opportunity of shortening it,
+which at length offered in a manner unexpected.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p36" id="p36" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-007-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-007thumb.jpg"
+alt=
+"I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets to the customers"
+ title=
+"I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets to the customers" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"I was employed to carry the papers
+thro' the streets to the customers"</div>
+
+<p>One of the pieces in our newspaper on some political point,
+which I have now forgotten, gave offense to the Assembly. He was
+taken up, censur'd, and imprison'd for a month, by the speaker's
+warrant, I suppose, because he would not discover his author. I too
+was taken up and examin'd before the council; but, tho' I did not
+give them any satisfaction, they contented themselves with
+admonishing me, and dismissed me, considering me, perhaps, as an
+apprentice, who was bound to keep his master's secrets.</p>
+
+<p>During my brother's confinement, which I resented a good deal,
+notwithstanding our private differences, I had the management of
+the paper; and I made bold to give our rulers some rubs in it,
+which my brother took very kindly, while others began to consider
+me in an unfavorable light, as a young genius that had a turn for
+libeling and satyr. My brother's discharge was accompany'd with an
+order of the House (a very odd one), that "<i>James Franklin should
+no longer print the paper called the New England Courant</i>."</p>
+
+<p>There was a consultation held in our printing-house among his
+friends, what he should do in this case. Some proposed to evade the
+order by changing the name of the paper; but my brother, seeing
+inconveniences in that, it was finally concluded on as a better
+way, to let it be printed for the future under the name of <span
+class="smcap">Benjamin Franklin</span>; and to avoid the censure of
+the Assembly, that might fall on him as still printing it by his
+apprentice, the contrivance was that my old indenture should be
+return'd to me, with a full discharge on the back of it, to be
+shown on occasion, but to secure to him the benefit of my service,
+I was to sign new indentures for the remainder of the term, which
+were to be kept private. A very flimsy scheme it was; however, it
+was immediately executed, and the paper went on accordingly, under
+my name for several months.</p>
+
+<p>At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me,
+I took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not
+venture to produce the new indentures. It was not fair in me to
+take this advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first
+errata of my life; but the unfairness of it weighed little with me,
+when under the impressions of resentment for the blows his passion
+too often urged him to bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not
+an ill-natur'd man: perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.</p>
+
+<p>When he found I would leave him, he took care to prevent my
+getting employment in any other printing-house of the town, by
+going round and speaking to every master, who accordingly refus'd
+to give me work. I then thought of going to New York, as the
+nearest place where there was a printer; and I was rather inclin'd
+to leave Boston when I reflected that I had already made myself a
+little obnoxious to the governing party, and, from the arbitrary
+proceedings of the Assembly in my brother's case, it was likely I
+might, if I stay'd, soon bring myself into scrapes; and farther,
+that my indiscreet disputations about religion began to make me
+pointed at with horror by good people as an infidel or atheist. I
+determin'd on the point, but my father now siding with my brother,
+I was sensible that, if I attempted to go openly, means would be
+used to prevent me. My friend Collins, therefore, undertook to
+manage a little for me. He agreed with the captain of a New York
+sloop for my passage, under the notion of my being a young
+acquaintance of his. So I sold some of my books to raise a little
+money, was taken on board privately, and as we had a fair wind, in
+three days I found myself in New York, near 300 miles from home, a
+boy of but 17, without the least recommendation to, or knowledge
+of, any person in the place, and with very little money in my
+pocket.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Small books,
+sold by chapmen or peddlers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Grub-street:
+famous in English literature as the home of poor writers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> A daily London
+journal, comprising satirical essays on social subjects, published
+by Addison and Steele in 1711-1712. The <i>Spectator</i> and its
+predecessor, the <i>Tatler</i> (1709), marked the beginning of
+periodical literature.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> John Locke
+(1632-1704), a celebrated English philosopher, founder of the
+so-called "common-sense" school of philosophers. He drew up a
+constitution for the colonists of Carolina.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> A noted society
+of scholarly and devout men occupying the abbey of Port Royal near
+Paris, who published learned works, among them the one here
+referred to, better known as the <i>Port Royal Logic</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Socrates
+confuted his opponents in argument by asking questions so
+skillfully devised that the answers would confirm the questioner's
+position or show the error of the opponent.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Alexander Pope
+(1688-1744), the greatest English poet of the first half of the
+eighteenth century.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Franklin's
+memory does not serve him correctly here. The <i>Courant</i> was
+really the fifth newspaper established in America, although
+generally called the fourth, because the first, <i>Public
+Occurrences</i>, published in Boston in 1690, was suppressed after
+the first issue. Following is the order in which the other four
+papers were published: <i>Boston News Letter</i>, 1704; <i>Boston
+Gazette</i>, December 21, 1719; <i>The American Weekly Mercury</i>,
+Philadelphia, December 22, 1719; <i>The New England Courant</i>,
+1721.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Disclosed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="60%" src=
+"images/illus-008-red.jpg" alt="Sailboat" title="Sailboat" /></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="III" id="III" />III</h4>
+
+<h4>ARRIVAL IN PHILADELPHIA</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-m.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt="block-M" />
+Y inclinations for the sea were by this time worne out, or I might
+now have gratify'd them. But, having a trade, and supposing myself
+a pretty good workman, I offer'd my service to the printer in the
+place, old Mr. William Bradford, who had been the first printer in
+Pennsylvania, but removed from thence upon the quarrel of George
+Keith. He could give me no employment, having little to do, and
+help enough already; but says he, "My son at Philadelphia has
+lately lost his principal hand, Aquilla Rose, by death; if you go
+thither, I believe he may employ you." Philadelphia was a hundred
+miles further; I set out, however, in a boat for Amboy, leaving my
+chest and things to follow me round by sea.</p>
+
+<p>In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that tore our rotten
+sails to pieces, prevented our getting into the Kill,<a name=
+"FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25" /><a href="#Footnote_25" class=
+"fnanchor">[25]</a> and drove us upon Long Island. In our way, a
+drunken Dutchman, who was a passenger too, fell overboard; when he
+was sinking, I reached through the water to his shock pate, and
+drew him up, so that we got him in again. His ducking sobered him a
+little, and he went to sleep, taking first out of his pocket a
+book, which he desir'd I would dry for him. It proved to be my old
+favorite author, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in Dutch, finely
+printed on good paper, with copper cuts, a dress better than I had
+ever seen it wear in its own language. I have since found that it
+has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and
+suppose it has been more generally read than any other book, except
+perhaps the Bible. Honest John was the first that I know of who
+mix'd narration and dialogue; a method of writing very engaging to
+the reader, who in the most interesting parts finds himself, as it
+were, brought into the company and present at the discourse. De Foe
+in his Cruso, his Moll Flanders, Religious Courtship, Family
+Instructor, and other pieces, has imitated it with success; and
+Richardson<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> has done the same in his
+Pamela, etc.</p>
+
+<p>When we drew near the island, we found it was at a place where
+there could be no landing, there being a great surff on the stony
+beach. So we dropt anchor, and swung round towards the shore. Some
+people came down to the water edge and hallow'd to us, as we did to
+them; but the wind was so high, and the surff so loud, that we
+could not hear so as to understand each other. There were canoes on
+the shore, and we made signs, and hallow'd that they should fetch
+us; but they either did not understand us, or thought it
+impracticable, so they went away, and night coming on, we had no
+remedy but to wait till the wind should abate; and, in the
+meantime, the boatman and I concluded to sleep, if we could; and so
+crowded into the scuttle, with the Dutchman, who was still wet, and
+the spray beating over the head of our boat, leak'd thro' to us, so
+that we were soon almost as wet as he. In this manner we lay all
+night, with very little rest; but, the wind abating the next day,
+we made a shift to reach Amboy before night, having been thirty
+hours on the water, without victuals, or any drink but a bottle of
+filthy rum, and the water we sail'd on being salt.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening I found myself very feverish, and went in to bed;
+but, having read somewhere that cold water drank plentifully was
+good for a fever, I follow'd the prescription, sweat plentifully
+most of the night, my fever left me, and in the morning, crossing
+the ferry, I proceeded on my journey on foot, having fifty miles to
+Burlington, where I was told I should find boats that would carry
+me the rest of the way to Philadelphia.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-009-red.jpg" alt="It rained very hard all the day"
+title="It rained very hard all the day" /></div>
+
+<p>It rained very hard all the day; I was thoroughly soak'd, and by
+noon a good deal tired; so I stopt at a poor inn, where I staid all
+night, beginning now to wish that I had never left home. I cut so
+miserable a figure, too, that I found, by the questions ask'd me, I
+was suspected to be some runaway servant, and in danger of being
+taken up on that suspicion. However, I proceeded the next day, and
+got in the evening to an inn, within eight or ten miles of
+Burlington, kept by one Dr. Brown. He entered into conversation
+with me while I took some refreshment, and, finding I had read a
+little, became very sociable and friendly. Our acquaintance
+continu'd as long as he liv'd. He had been, I imagine, an itinerant
+doctor, for there was no town in England, or country in Europe, of
+which he could not give a very particular account. He had some
+letters, and was ingenious, but much of an unbeliever, and wickedly
+undertook, some years after, to travesty the Bible in doggrel
+verse, as Cotton had done Virgil. By this means he set many of the
+facts in a very ridiculous light, and might have hurt weak minds if
+his work had been published; but it never was.</p>
+
+<p>At his house I lay that night, and the next morning reach'd
+Burlington, but had the mortification to find that the regular
+boats were gone a little before my coming, and no other expected to
+go before Tuesday, this being Saturday; wherefore I returned to an
+old woman in the town, of whom I had bought gingerbread to eat on
+the water, and ask'd her advice. She invited me to lodge at her
+house till a passage by water should offer; and being tired with my
+foot traveling, I accepted the invitation. She understanding I was
+a printer, would have had me stay at that town and follow my
+business, being ignorant of the stock necessary to begin with. She
+was very hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great good
+will, accepting only of a pot of ale in return; and I thought
+myself fixed till Tuesday should come. However, walking in the
+evening by the side of the river, a boat came by, which I found was
+going towards Philadelphia, with several people in her. They took
+me in, and, as there was no wind, we row'd all the way; and about
+midnight, not having yet seen the city, some of the company were
+confident we must have passed it, and would row no farther; the
+others knew not where we were; so we put toward the shore, got into
+a creek, landed near an old fence, with the rails of which we made
+a fire, the night being cold, in October, and there we remained
+till daylight. Then one of the company knew the place to be
+Cooper's Creek, a little above Philadelphia, which we saw as soon
+as we got out of the creek, and arriv'd there about eight or nine
+o'clock on the Sunday morning, and landed at the Market-street
+wharf.</p>
+
+<p>I have been the more particular in this description of my
+journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you
+may in your mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I
+have since made there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes
+being to come round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets
+were stuff'd out with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor
+where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing,
+and want of rest, I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash
+consisted of a Dutch dollar, and about a shilling in copper. The
+latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first
+refus'd it, on account of my rowing; but I insisted on their taking
+it. A man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little
+money than when he has plenty, perhaps thro' fear of being thought
+to have but little.</p>
+
+<p>Then I walked up the street, gazing about till near the
+market-house I met a boy with bread. I had made many a meal on
+bread, and, inquiring where he got it, I went immediately to the
+baker's he directed me to, in Second-street, and ask'd for bisket,
+intending such as we had in Boston; but they, it seems, were not
+made in Philadelphia. Then I asked for a three-penny loaf, and was
+told they had none such. So not considering or knowing the
+difference of money, and the greater cheapness nor the names of his
+bread, I bade him give me three-penny worth of any sort. He gave
+me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was surpris'd at the
+quantity, but took it, and, having no room in my pockets, walk'd
+off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other. Thus I went
+up Market-street as far as Fourth-street, passing by the door of
+Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the door,
+saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward,
+ridiculous appearance. Then I turned and went down Chestnut-street
+and part of Walnut-street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming
+round, found myself again at Market-street wharf, near the boat I
+came in, to which I went for a draught of the river water; and,
+being filled with one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman
+and her child that came down the river in the boat with us, and
+were waiting to go farther.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p48" id="p48" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-010-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-010thumb.jpg"
+alt=
+"She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance"
+ title=
+"She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"She, standing at the door, saw me, and
+thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous
+appearance"</div>
+
+<p>Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which by this time
+had many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same
+way. I joined them, and thereby was led into the great
+meeting-house of the Quakers near the market. I sat down among
+them, and, after looking round awhile and hearing nothing said,
+being very drowsy thro' labour and want of rest the preceding
+night, I fell fast asleep, and continu'd so till the meeting broke
+up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was, therefore, the
+first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia.</p>
+
+<p>Walking down again toward the river, and, looking in the faces
+of people, I met a young Quaker man, whose countenance I lik'd,
+and, accosting him, requested he would tell me where a stranger
+could get lodging. We were then near the sign of the Three
+Mariners. "Here," says he, "is one place that entertains strangers,
+but it is not a reputable house; if thee wilt walk with me, I'll
+show thee a better." He brought me to the Crooked Billet in
+Water-street. Here I got a dinner; and, while I was eating it,
+several sly questions were asked me, as it seemed to be suspected
+from my youth and appearance, that I might be some runaway.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, my sleepiness return'd, and being shown to a bed,
+I lay down without undressing, and slept till six in the evening,
+was call'd to supper, went to bed again very early, and slept
+soundly till next morning. Then I made myself as tidy as I could,
+and went to Andrew Bradford the printer's. I found in the shop the
+old man his father, whom I had seen at New York, and who, traveling
+on horseback, had got to Philadelphia before me. He introduc'd me
+to his son, who receiv'd me civilly, gave me a breakfast, but told
+me he did not at present want a hand, being lately suppli'd with
+one; but there was another printer in town, lately set up, one
+Keimer, who, perhaps, might employ me; if not, I should be welcome
+to lodge at his house, and he would give me a little work to do now
+and then till fuller business should offer.</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman said he would go with me to the new printer;
+and when we found him, "Neighbour," says Bradford, "I have brought
+to see you a young man of your business; perhaps you may want such
+a one." He ask'd me a few questions, put a composing stick in my
+hand to see how I work'd, and then said he would employ me soon,
+though he had just then nothing for me to do; and, taking old
+Bradford, whom he had never seen before, to be one of the town's
+people that had a good will for him, enter'd into a conversation on
+his present undertaking and prospects; while Bradford, not
+discovering that he was the other printer's father, on Keimer's
+saying he expected soon to get the greatest part of the business
+into his own hands, drew him on by artful questions, and starting
+little doubts, to explain all his views, what interest he reli'd
+on, and in what manner he intended to proceed. I, who stood by and
+heard all, saw immediately that one of them was a crafty old
+sophister, and the other a mere novice. Bradford left me with
+Keimer, who was greatly surpris'd when I told him who the old man
+was.</p>
+
+<p>Keimer's printing-house, I found, consisted of an old shatter'd
+press, and one small, worn-out font of English, which he was then
+using himself, composing an Elegy on Aquilla Rose, before
+mentioned, an ingenious young man, of excellent character, much
+respected in the town, clerk of the Assembly, and a pretty poet.
+Keimer made verses too, but very indifferently. He could not be
+said to write them, for his manner was to compose them in the types
+directly out of his head. So there being no copy,<a name=
+"FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27" /><a href="#Footnote_27" class=
+"fnanchor">[27]</a> but one pair of cases, and the Elegy likely to
+require all the letter, no one could help him. I endeavour'd to put
+his press (which he had not yet us'd, and of which he understood
+nothing) into order fit to be work'd with; and, promising to come
+and print off his Elegy as soon as he should have got it ready, I
+return'd to Bradford's, who gave me a little job to do for the
+present, and there I lodged and dieted. A few days after, Keimer
+sent for me to print off the Elegy. And now he had got another pair
+of cases,<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and a pamphlet to reprint,
+on which he set me to work.</p>
+
+<p>These two printers I found poorly qualified for their business.
+Bradford had not been bred to it, and was very illiterate; and
+Keimer, tho' something of a scholar, was a mere compositor, knowing
+nothing of presswork. He had been one of the French prophets,<a
+name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29" /><a href="#Footnote_29" class=
+"fnanchor">[29]</a> and could act their enthusiastic agitations. At
+this time he did not profess any particular religion, but something
+of all on occasion; was very ignorant of the world, and had, as I
+afterward found, a good deal of the knave in his composition. He
+did not like my lodging at Bradford's while I work'd with him. He
+had a house, indeed, but without furniture, so he could not lodge
+me; but he got me a lodging at Mr. Read's before mentioned, who was
+the owner of his house; and, my chest and clothes being come by
+this time, I made rather a more respectable appearance in the eyes
+of Miss Read than I had done when she first happen'd to see me
+eating my roll in the street.</p>
+
+<p>I began now to have some acquaintance among the young people of
+the town, that were lovers of reading, with whom I spent my
+evenings very pleasantly; and gaining money by my industry and
+frugality, I lived very agreeably, forgetting Boston as much as I
+could, and not desiring that any there should know where I resided,
+except my friend Collins, who was in my secret, and kept it when I
+wrote to him. At length, an incident happened that sent me back
+again much sooner than I had intended. I had a brother-in-law,
+Robert Holmes, master of a sloop that traded between Boston and
+Delaware. He being at Newcastle, forty miles below Philadelphia,
+heard there of me, and wrote me a letter mentioning the concern of
+my friends in Boston at my abrupt departure, assuring me of their
+good will to me, and that everything would be accommodated to my
+mind if I would return, to which he exhorted me very earnestly. I
+wrote an answer to his letter, thank'd him for his advice, but
+stated my reasons for quitting Boston fully and in such a light as
+to convince him I was not so wrong as he had apprehended.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Kill van Kull,
+the channel separating Staten Island from New Jersey on the
+north.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Samuel
+Richardson, the father of the English novel, wrote <i>Pamela</i>,
+<i>Clarissa Harlowe</i>, and the <i>History of Sir Charles
+Grandison</i>, novels published in the form of letters.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Manuscript.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The frames for
+holding type are in two sections, the upper for capitals and the
+lower for small letters.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Protestants of
+the South of France, who became fanatical under the persecutions of
+Louis XIV, and thought they had the gift of prophecy. They had as
+mottoes "No Taxes" and "Liberty of Conscience."</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="IV" id="IV" />IV</h4>
+
+<h4>FIRST VISIT TO BOSTON</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-s.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-S" />IR WILLIAM KEITH, governor of the province, was then at
+Newcastle, and Captain Holmes, happening to be in company with him
+when my letter came to hand, spoke to him of me, and show'd him the
+letter. The governor read it, and seem'd surpris'd when he was told
+my age. He said I appear'd a young man of promising parts, and
+therefore should be encouraged; the printers at Philadelphia were
+wretched ones; and, if I would set up there, he made no doubt I
+should succeed; for his part, he would procure me the public
+business, and do me every other service in his power. This my
+brother-in-law afterwards told me in Boston, but I knew as yet
+nothing of it; when, one day, Keimer and I being at work together
+near the window, we saw the governor and another gentleman (which
+proved to be Colonel French, of Newcastle), finely dress'd, come
+directly across the street to our house, and heard them at the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it a visit to him; but the
+governor inquir'd for me, came up, and with a condescension and
+politeness I had been quite unus'd to, made me many compliments,
+desired to be acquainted with me, blam'd me kindly for not having
+made myself known to him when I first came to the place, and would
+have me away with him to the tavern, where he was going with
+Colonel French to taste, as he said, some excellent Madeira. I was
+not a little surprised, and Keimer star'd like a pig poison'd.<a
+name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30" /><a href="#Footnote_30" class=
+"fnanchor">[30]</a> I went, however, with the governor and Colonel
+French to a tavern, at the corner of Third-street, and over the
+Madeira he propos'd my setting up my business, laid before me the
+probabilities of success, and both he and Colonel French assur'd me
+I should have their interest and influence in procuring the public
+business of both governments.<a name="FNanchor_31" id=
+"FNanchor_31" /><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> On
+my doubting whether my father would assist me in it, Sir William
+said he would give me a letter to him, in which he would state the
+advantages, and he did not doubt of prevailing with him. So it was
+concluded I should return to Boston in the first vessel, with the
+governor's letter recommending me to my father. In the meantime the
+intention was to be kept a secret, and I went on working with
+Keimer as usual, the governor sending for me now and then to dine
+with him, a very great honour I thought it, and conversing with me
+in the most affable, familiar, and friendly manner imaginable.</p>
+
+<p>About the end of April, 1724, a little vessel offer'd for
+Boston. I took leave of Keimer as going to see my friends. The
+governor gave me an ample letter, saying many flattering things of
+me to my father, and strongly recommending the project of my
+setting up at Philadelphia as a thing that must make my fortune. We
+struck on a shoal in going down the bay, and sprung a leak; we had
+a blustering time at sea, and were oblig'd to pump almost
+continually, at which I took my turn. We arriv'd safe, however, at
+Boston in about a fortnight. I had been absent seven months, and my
+friends had heard nothing of me; for my br. Holmes was not yet
+return'd, and had not written about me. My unexpected appearance
+surpris'd the family; all were, however, very glad to see me, and
+made me welcome, except my brother. I went to see him at his
+printing-house. I was better dress'd than ever while in his
+service, having a genteel new suit from head to foot, a watch, and
+my pockets lin'd with near five pounds sterling in silver. He
+receiv'd me not very frankly, look'd me all over, and turn'd to his
+work again.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-011-red.jpg" alt="The journeymen were inquisitive"
+title="The journeymen were inquisitive" /></div>
+
+<p>The journeymen were inquisitive where I had been, what sort of a
+country it was, and how I lik'd it. I prais'd it much, and the
+happy life I led in it, expressing strongly my intention of
+returning to it; and, one of them asking what kind of money we had
+there, I produc'd a handful of silver, and spread it before them,
+which was a kind of raree-show<a name="FNanchor_32" id=
+"FNanchor_32" /><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>
+they had not been us'd to, paper being the money of Boston.<a name=
+"FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33" /><a href="#Footnote_33" class=
+"fnanchor">[33]</a> Then I took an opportunity of letting them see
+my watch; and, lastly (my brother still grum and sullen), I gave
+them a piece of eight<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34" /><a
+href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> to drink, and took my
+leave. This visit of mine offended him extreamly; for, when my
+mother some time after spoke to him of a reconciliation, and of her
+wishes to see us on good terms together, and that we might live for
+the future as brothers, he said I had insulted him in such a manner
+before his people that he could never forget or forgive it. In
+this, however, he was mistaken.</p>
+
+<p>My father received the governor's letter with some apparent
+surprise, but said little of it to me for some days, when Capt.
+Holmes returning he show'd it to him, asked him if he knew Keith,
+and what kind of man he was; adding his opinion that he must be of
+small discretion to think of setting a boy up in business who
+wanted yet three years of being at man's estate. Holmes said what
+he could in favour of the project, but my father was clear in the
+impropriety of it, and at last, gave a flat denial to it. Then he
+wrote a civil letter to Sir William, thanking him for the patronage
+he had so kindly offered me, but declining to assist me as yet in
+setting up, I being, in his opinion, too young to be trusted with
+the management of a business so important, and for which the
+preparation must be so expensive.</p>
+
+<p>My friend and companion Collins, who was a clerk in the
+post-office, pleas'd with the account I gave him of my new country,
+determined to go thither also; and, while I waited for my father's
+determination, he set out before me by land to Rhode Island,
+leaving his books, which were a pretty collection of mathematicks
+and natural philosophy, to come with mine and me to New York, where
+he propos'd to wait for me.</p>
+
+<p>My father, tho' he did not approve Sir William's proposition,
+was yet pleas'd that I had been able to obtain so advantageous a
+character from a person of such note where I had resided, and that
+I had been so industrious and careful as to equip myself so
+handsomely in so short a time; therefore, seeing no prospect of an
+accommodation between my brother and me, he gave his consent to my
+returning again to Philadelphia, advis'd me to behave respectfully
+to the people there, endeavour to obtain the general esteem, and
+avoid lampooning and libeling, to which he thought I had too much
+inclination; telling me, that by steady industry and a prudent
+parsimony I might save enough by the time I was one-and-twenty to
+set me up; and that, if I came near the matter, he would help me
+out with the rest. This was all I could obtain, except some small
+gifts as tokens of his and my mother's love, when I embark'd again
+for New York, now with their approbation and their blessing.</p>
+
+<p>The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode Island, I visited my
+brother John, who had been married and settled there some years. He
+received me very affectionately, for he always lov'd me. A friend
+of his, one Vernon, having some money due to him in Pennsylvania,
+about thirty-five pounds currency, desired I would receive it for
+him, and keep it till I had his directions what to remit it in.
+Accordingly, he gave me an order. This afterwards occasion'd me a
+good deal of uneasiness.</p>
+
+<p>At Newport we took in a number of passengers for New York, among
+which were two young women, companions, and a grave, sensible,
+matronlike Quaker woman, with her attendants. I had shown an
+obliging readiness to do her some little services, which impress'd
+her I suppose with a degree of good will toward me; therefore, when
+she saw a daily growing familiarity between me and the two young
+women, which they appear'd to encourage, she took me aside, and
+said, "Young man, I am concern'd for thee, as thou hast no friend
+with thee, and seems not to know much of the world, or of the
+snares youth is expos'd to; depend upon it, those are very bad
+women; I can see it in all their actions; and if thee art not upon
+thy guard, they will draw thee into some danger; they are strangers
+to thee, and I advise thee, in a friendly concern for thy welfare,
+to have no acquaintance with them." As I seem'd at first not to
+think so ill of them as she did, she mentioned some things she had
+observ'd and heard that had escap'd my notice, but now convinc'd me
+she was right. I thank'd her for her kind advice, and promis'd to
+follow it. When we arriv'd at New York, they told me where they
+liv'd, and invited me to come and see them; but I avoided it, and
+it was well I did; for the next day the captain miss'd a silver
+spoon and some other things, that had been taken out of his cabin,
+and, knowing that these were a couple of strumpets, he got a
+warrant to search their lodgings, found the stolen goods, and had
+the thieves punish'd. So, tho' we had escap'd a sunken rock, which
+we scrap'd upon in the passage, I thought this escape of rather
+more importance to me.</p>
+
+<p>At New York I found my friend Collins, who had arriv'd there
+some time before me. We had been intimate from children, and had
+read the same books together; but he had the advantage of more time
+for reading and studying, and a wonderful genius for mathematical
+learning, in which he far outstript me. While I liv'd in Boston,
+most of my hours of leisure for conversation were spent with him,
+and he continu'd a sober as well as an industrious lad; was much
+respected for his learning by several of the clergy and other
+gentlemen, and seemed to promise making a good figure in life. But,
+during my absence, he had acquir'd a habit of sotting with brandy;
+and I found by his own account, and what I heard from others, that
+he had been drunk every day since his arrival at New York, and
+behav'd very oddly. He had gam'd, too, and lost his money, so that
+I was oblig'd to discharge his lodgings, and defray his expenses to
+and at Philadelphia, which prov'd extremely inconvenient to me.</p>
+
+<p>The then governor of New York, Burnet (son of Bishop Burnet),
+hearing from the captain that a young man, one of his passengers,
+had a great many books, desir'd he would bring me to see him. I
+waited upon him accordingly, and should have taken Collins with me
+but that he was not sober. The gov'r. treated me with great
+civility, show'd me his library, which was a very large one, and we
+had a good deal of conversation about books and authors. This was
+the second governor who had done me the honour to take notice of
+me; which, to a poor boy like me, was very pleasing.</p>
+
+<p>We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received on the way Vernon's
+money, without which we could hardly have finish'd our journey.
+Collins wished to be employ'd in some counting-house; but, whether
+they discover'd his dramming by his breath, or by his behaviour,
+tho' he had some recommendations, he met with no success in any
+application, and continu'd lodging and boarding at the same house
+with me, and at my expense. Knowing I had that money of Vernon's,
+he was continually borrowing of me, still promising repayment as
+soon as he should be in business. At length he had got so much of
+it that I was distress'd to think what I should do in case of being
+call'd on to remit it.</p>
+
+<p>His drinking continu'd, about which we sometimes quarrel'd; for,
+when a little intoxicated, he was very fractious. Once, in a boat
+on the Delaware with some other young men, he refused to row in his
+turn. "I will be row'd home," says he. "We will not row you," says
+I. "You must, or stay all night on the water," says he, "just as
+you please." The others said, "Let us row; what signifies it?" But,
+my mind being soured with his other conduct, I continu'd to refuse.
+So he swore he would make me row, or throw me overboard; and coming
+along, stepping on the thwarts, toward me, when he came up and
+struck at me, I clapped my hand under his crutch, and, rising,
+pitched him head-foremost into the river. I knew he was a good
+swimmer, and so was under little concern about him; but before he
+could get round to lay hold of the boat, we had with a few strokes
+pull'd her out of his reach; and ever when he drew near the boat,
+we ask'd if he would row, striking a few strokes to slide her away
+from him. He was ready to die with vexation, and obstinately would
+not promise to row. However, seeing him at last beginning to tire,
+we lifted him in and brought him home dripping wet in the evening.
+We hardly exchang'd a civil word afterwards, and a West India
+captain, who had a commission to procure a tutor for the sons of a
+gentleman at Barbados, happening to meet with him, agreed to carry
+him thither. He left me then, promising to remit me the first money
+he should receive in order to discharge the debt; but I never heard
+of him after.</p>
+
+<p>The breaking into this money of Vernon's was one of the first
+great errata of my life; and this affair show'd that my father was
+not much out in his judgment when he suppos'd me too young to
+manage business of importance. But Sir William, on reading his
+letter, said he was too prudent. There was great difference in
+persons; and discretion did not always accompany years, nor was
+youth always without it. "And since he will not set you up," says
+he, "I will do it myself. Give me an inventory of the things
+necessary to be had from England, and I will send for them. You
+shall repay me when you are able; I am resolv'd to have a good
+printer here, and I am sure you must succeed." This was spoken with
+such an appearance of cordiality, that I had not the least doubt of
+his meaning what he said. I had hitherto kept the proposition of my
+setting up, a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept it. Had it
+been known that I depended on the governor, probably some friend,
+that knew him better, would have advis'd me not to rely on him, as
+I afterwards heard it as his known character to be liberal of
+promises which he never meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as he was
+by me, how could I think his generous offers insincere? I believ'd
+him one of the best men in the world.</p>
+
+<p>I presented him an inventory of a little print'-house, amounting
+by my computation to about one hundred pounds sterling. He lik'd
+it, but ask'd me if my being on the spot in England to chuse the
+types, and see that everything was good of the kind, might not be
+of some advantage. "Then," says he, "when there, you may make
+acquaintances, and establish correspondences in the bookselling and
+stationery way." I agreed that this might be advantageous. "Then,"
+says he, "get yourself ready to go with Annis;" which was the
+annual ship, and the only one at that time usually passing between
+London and Philadelphia. But it would be some months before Annis
+sail'd, so I continued working with Keimer, fretting about the
+money Collins had got from me, and in daily apprehensions of being
+call'd upon by Vernon, which, however, did not happen for some
+years after.</p>
+
+<p>I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voyage
+from Boston, being becalm'd off Block Island, our people set about
+catching cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to
+my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I
+consider'd, with my master Tryon, the taking every fish as a kind
+of unprovoked murder, since none of them had, or ever could do us
+any injury that might justify the slaughter. All this seemed very
+reasonable. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and,
+when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well.
+I balanc'd some time between principle and inclination, till I
+recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish
+taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, "If you eat one
+another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I din'd upon cod
+very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning
+only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a
+thing is it to be a <i>reasonable creature</i>, since it enables
+one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to
+do.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Temple Franklin
+considered this specific figure vulgar and changed it to "stared
+with astonishment."</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Pennsylvania and
+Delaware.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> A peep-show in a
+box.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> There were no
+mints in the colonies, so the metal money was of foreign coinage
+and not nearly so common as paper money, which was printed in large
+quantities in America, even in small denominations.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Spanish dollar
+about equivalent to our dollar.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="V" id="V" />V</h4>
+
+<h4>EARLY FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-k.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt="block-K" />
+EIMER and I liv'd on a pretty good familiar footing, and agreed
+tolerably well, for he suspected nothing of my setting up. He
+retained a great deal of his old enthusiasms and lov'd
+argumentation. We therefore had many disputations. I used to work
+him so with my Socratic method, and had trepann'd him so often by
+questions apparently so distant from any point we had in hand, and
+yet by degrees led to the point, and brought him into difficulties
+and contradictions, that at last he grew ridiculously cautious, and
+would hardly answer me the most common question, without asking
+first, "<i>What do you intend to infer from that</i>?" However, it
+gave him so high an opinion of my abilities in the confuting way,
+that he seriously proposed my being his colleague in a project he
+had of setting up a new sect. He was to preach the doctrines, and I
+was to confound all opponents. When he came to explain with me upon
+the doctrines, I found several conundrums which I objected to,
+unless I might have my way a little too, and introduce some of
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>Keimer wore his beard at full length, because somewhere in the
+Mosaic law it is said, "<i>Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy
+beard</i>." He likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and these
+two points were essentials with him. I dislik'd both; but agreed to
+admit them upon condition of his adopting the doctrine of using no
+animal food. "I doubt," said he, "my constitution will not bear
+that." I assur'd him it would, and that he would be the better for
+it. He was usually a great glutton, and I promised myself some
+diversion in half starving him. He agreed to try the practice, if I
+would keep him company. I did so, and we held it for three months.
+We had our victuals dress'd, and brought to us regularly by a woman
+in the neighborhood, who had from me a list of forty dishes, to be
+prepar'd for us at different times, in all which there was neither
+fish, flesh, nor fowl, and the whim suited me the better at this
+time from the cheapness of it, not costing us above eighteenpence
+sterling each per week. I have since kept several Lents most
+strictly, leaving the common diet for that, and that for the
+common, abruptly, without the least inconvenience, so that I think
+there is little in the advice of making those changes by easy
+gradations. I went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer suffered
+grievously, tired of the project, long'd for the flesh-pots of
+Egypt, and order'd a roast pig. He invited me and two women friends
+to dine with him; but, it being brought too soon upon table, he
+could not resist the temptation, and ate the whole before we
+came.</p>
+
+<p>I had made some courtship during this time to Miss Read. I had a
+great respect and affection for her, and had some reason to believe
+she had the same for me; but, as I was about to take a long voyage,
+and we were both very young, only a little above eighteen, it was
+thought most prudent by her mother to prevent our going too far at
+present, as a marriage, if it was to take place, would be more
+convenient after my return, when I should be, as I expected, set up
+in my business. Perhaps, too, she thought my expectations not so
+well founded as I imagined them to be.</p>
+
+<p>My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles Osborne, Joseph
+Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers of reading. The two first were
+clerks to an eminent scrivener or conveyancer in the town, Charles
+Brockden; the other was clerk to a merchant. Watson was a pious,
+sensible young man, of great integrity; the others rather more lax
+in their principles of religion, particularly Ralph, who, as well
+as Collins, had been unsettled by me, for which they both made me
+suffer. Osborne was sensible, candid, frank; sincere and
+affectionate to his friends; but, in literary matters, too fond of
+criticizing. Ralph was ingenious, genteel in his manners, and
+extremely eloquent; I think I never knew a prettier talker. Both of
+them were great admirers of poetry, and began to try their hands in
+little pieces. Many pleasant walks we four had together on Sundays
+into the woods, near Schuylkill, where we read to one another, and
+conferr'd on what we read.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-012-red.jpg" alt=
+"Many pleasant walks we four had together" title=
+"Many pleasant walks we four had together" /></div>
+
+<p>Ralph was inclin'd to pursue the study of poetry, not doubting
+but he might become eminent in it, and make his fortune by it,
+alleging that the best poets must, when they first began to write,
+make as many faults as he did. Osborne dissuaded him, assur'd him
+he had no genius for poetry, and advis'd him to think of nothing
+beyond the business he was bred to; that, in the mercantile way,
+tho' he had no stock, he might, by his diligence and punctuality,
+recommend himself to employment as a factor, and in time acquire
+wherewith to trade on his own account. I approv'd the amusing one's
+self with poetry now and then, so far as to improve one's language,
+but no farther.</p>
+
+<p>On this it was propos'd that we should each of us, at our next
+meeting, produce a piece of our own composing, in order to improve
+by our mutual observations, criticisms, and corrections. As
+language and expression were what we had in view, we excluded all
+considerations of invention by agreeing that the task should be a
+version of the eighteenth Psalm, which describes the descent of a
+Deity. When the time of our meeting drew nigh, Ralph called on me
+first, and let me know his piece was ready. I told him I had been
+busy, and, having little inclination, had done nothing. He then
+show'd me his piece for my opinion, and I much approv'd it, as it
+appear'd to me to have great merit. "Now," says he, "Osborne never
+will allow the least merit in anything of mine, but makes 1000
+criticisms out of mere envy. He is not so jealous of you; I wish,
+therefore, you would take this piece, and produce it as yours; I
+will pretend not to have had time, and so produce nothing. We shall
+then see what he will say to it." It was agreed, and I immediately
+transcrib'd it, that it might appear in my own hand.</p>
+
+<p>We met; Watson's performance was read; there were some beauties
+in it, but many defects. Osborne's was read; it was much better;
+Ralph did it justice; remarked some faults, but applauded the
+beauties. He himself had nothing to produce. I was backward; seemed
+desirous of being excused; had not had sufficient time to correct,
+etc.; but no excuse could be admitted; produce I must. It was read
+and repeated; Watson and Osborne gave up the contest, and join'd in
+applauding it. Ralph only made some criticisms, and propos'd some
+amendments; but I defended my text. Osborne was against Ralph, and
+told him he was no better a critic than poet, so he dropt the
+argument. As they two went home together, Osborne expressed himself
+still more strongly in favor of what he thought my production;
+having restrain'd himself before, as he said, lest I should think
+it flattery. "But who would have imagin'd," said he, "that Franklin
+had been capable of such a performance; such painting, such force,
+such fire! He has even improv'd the original. In his common
+conversation he seems to have no choice of words; he hesitates and
+blunders; and yet, good God! how he writes!" When we next met,
+Ralph discovered the trick we had plaid him, and Osborne was a
+little laughed at.</p>
+
+<p>This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolution of becoming a
+poet. I did all I could to dissuade him from it, but he continued
+scribbling verses till <i>Pope</i> cured him.<a name="FNanchor_35"
+id="FNanchor_35" /><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>
+He became, however, a pretty good prose writer. More of him
+hereafter. But, as I may not have occasion again to mention the
+other two, I shall just remark here, that Watson died in my arms a
+few years after, much lamented, being the best of our set. Osborne
+went to the West Indies, where he became an eminent lawyer and made
+money, but died young. He and I had made a serious agreement, that
+the one who happen'd first to die should, if possible, make a
+friendly visit to the other, and acquaint him how he found things
+in that separate state. But he never fulfill'd his promise.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> "In one of the
+later editions of the <i>Dunciad</i> occur the following lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">'Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia
+howls,</div>
+
+<div class="i2">And makes night hideous&mdash;answer him, ye
+owls.'</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>To this the poet adds the following note:</p>
+
+<p>'James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not
+known till he writ a swearing-piece called <i>Sawney</i>, very
+abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and myself.'"</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="VI" id="VI" />VI</h4>
+
+<h4>FIRST VISIT TO LONDON</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-t.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-T" />HE governor, seeming to like my company, had me
+frequently to his house, and his setting me up was always mention'd
+as a fixed thing. I was to take with me letters recommendatory to a
+number of his friends, besides the letter of credit to furnish me
+with the necessary money for purchasing the press and types, paper,
+etc. For these letters I was appointed to call at different times,
+when they were to be ready; but a future time was still named. Thus
+he went on till the ship, whose departure too had been several
+times postponed, was on the point of sailing. Then, when I call'd
+to take my leave and receive the letters, his secretary, Dr. Bard,
+came out to me and said the governor was extremely busy in writing,
+but would be down at Newcastle, before the ship, and there the
+letters would be delivered to me.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph, though married, and having one child, had determined to
+accompany me in this voyage. It was thought he intended to
+establish a correspondence, and obtain goods to sell on commission;
+but I found afterwards, that, thro' some discontent with his wife's
+relations, he purposed to leave her on their hands, and never
+return again. Having taken leave of my friends, and interchang'd
+some promises with Miss Read, I left Philadelphia in the ship,
+which anchor'd at Newcastle. The governor was there; but when I
+went to his lodging, the secretary came to me from him with the
+civillest message in the world, that he could not then see me,
+being engaged in business of the utmost importance, but should send
+the letters to me on board, wished me heartily a good voyage and a
+speedy return, etc. I returned on board a little puzzled, but still
+not doubting.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a famous lawyer of Philadelphia, had taken
+passage in the same ship for himself and son, and with Mr. Denham,
+a Quaker merchant, and Messrs. Onion and Russel, masters of an iron
+work in Maryland, had engaged the great cabin; so that Ralph and I
+were forced to take up with a berth in the steerage, and none on
+board knowing us, were considered as ordinary persons. But Mr.
+Hamilton and his son (it was James, since governor) return'd from
+Newcastle to Philadelphia, the father being recall'd by a great fee
+to plead for a seized ship; and, just before we sail'd, Colonel
+French coming on board, and showing me great respect, I was more
+taken notice of, and, with my friend Ralph, invited by the other
+gentlemen to come into the cabin, there being now room.
+Accordingly, we remov'd thither.</p>
+
+<p>Understanding that Colonel French had brought on board the
+governor's despatches, I ask'd the captain for those letters that
+were to be under my care. He said all were put into the bag
+together and he could not then come at them; but, before we landed
+in England, I should have an opportunity of picking them out; so I
+was satisfied for the present, and we proceeded on our voyage. We
+had a sociable company in the cabin, and lived uncommonly well,
+having the addition of all Mr. Hamilton's stores, who had laid in
+plentifully. In this passage Mr. Denham contracted a friendship for
+me that continued during his life. The voyage was otherwise not a
+pleasant one, as we had a great deal of bad weather.</p>
+
+<p>When we came into the Channel, the captain kept his word with
+me, and gave me an opportunity of examining the bag for the
+governor's letters. I found none upon which my name was put as
+under my care. I picked out six or seven, that, by the handwriting,
+I thought might be the promised letters, especially as one of them
+was directed to Basket, the king's printer, and another to some
+stationer. We arriv'd in London the 24th of December, 1724. I
+waited upon the stationer, who came first in my way, delivering the
+letter as from Governor Keith. "I don't know such a person," says
+he; but, opening the letter, "O! this is from Riddlesden. I have
+lately found him to be a compleat rascal, and I will have nothing
+to do with him, nor receive any letters from him." So, putting the
+letter into my hand, he turn'd on his heel and left me to serve
+some customer. I was surprised to find these were not the
+governor's letters; and, after recollecting and comparing
+circumstances, I began to doubt his sincerity. I found my friend
+Denham, and opened the whole affair to him. He let me into Keith's
+character; told me there was not the least probability that he had
+written any letters for me; that no one, who knew him, had the
+smallest dependence on him; and he laught at the notion of the
+governor's giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no
+credit to give. On my expressing some concern about what I should
+do, he advised me to endeavour getting some employment in the way
+of my business. "Among the printers here," said he, "you will
+improve yourself, and when you return to America, you will set up
+to greater advantage."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-013-red.jpg" alt=
+"So, putting the letter into my hand" title=
+"So, putting the letter into my hand" /></div>
+
+<p>We both of us happen'd to know, as well as the stationer, that
+Riddlesden, the attorney, was a very knave. He had half ruin'd Miss
+Read's father by persuading him to be bound for him. By this letter
+it appear'd there was a secret scheme on foot to the prejudice of
+Hamilton (suppos'd to be then coming over with us); and that Keith
+was concerned in it with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a friend of
+Hamilton's, thought he ought to be acquainted with it; so, when he
+arriv'd in England, which was soon after, partly from resentment
+and ill-will to Keith and Riddlesden, and partly from good-will to
+him, I waited on him, and gave him the letter. He thank'd me
+cordially, the information being of importance to him; and from
+that time he became my friend, greatly to my advantage afterwards
+on many occasions.</p>
+
+<p>But what shall we think of a governor's playing such pitiful
+tricks, and imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a
+habit he had acquired. He wish'd to please everybody; and, having
+little to give, he gave expectations. He was otherwise an
+ingenious, sensible man, a pretty good writer, and a good governor
+for the people, tho' not for his constituents, the proprietaries,
+whose instructions he sometimes disregarded. Several of our best
+laws were of his planning and passed during his administration.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph and I were inseparable companions. We took lodgings
+together in Little Britain<a name="FNanchor_36" id=
+"FNanchor_36" /><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> at
+three shillings and sixpence a week&mdash;as much as we could then
+afford. He found some relations, but they were poor, and unable to
+assist him. He now let me know his intentions of remaining in
+London, and that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. He had
+brought no money with him, the whole he could muster having been
+expended in paying his passage. I had fifteen pistoles;<a name=
+"FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37" /><a href="#Footnote_37" class=
+"fnanchor">[37]</a> so he borrowed occasionally of me to subsist,
+while he was looking out for business. He first endeavoured to get
+into the play-house, believing himself qualify'd for an actor; but
+Wilkes,<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> to whom he apply'd,
+advis'd him candidly not to think of that employment, as it was
+impossible he should succeed in it. Then he propos'd to Roberts, a
+publisher in Paternoster Row,<a name="FNanchor_39" id=
+"FNanchor_39" /><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> to
+write for him a weekly paper like the Spectator, on certain
+conditions, which Roberts did not approve. Then he endeavoured to
+get employment as a hackney writer, to copy for the stationers and
+lawyers about the Temple,<a name="FNanchor_40" id=
+"FNanchor_40" /><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>
+but could find no vacancy.</p>
+
+<p>I immediately got into work at Palmer's, then a famous
+printing-house in Bartholomew Close, and here I continu'd near a
+year. I was pretty diligent, but spent with Ralph a good deal of my
+earnings in going to plays and other places of amusement. We had
+together consumed all my pistoles, and now just rubbed on from hand
+to mouth. He seem'd quite to forget his wife and child, and I, by
+degrees, my engagements with Miss Read, to whom I never wrote more
+than one letter, and that was to let her know I was not likely soon
+to return. This was another of the great errata of my life, which I
+should wish to correct if I were to live it over again. In fact, by
+our expenses, I was constantly kept unable to pay my passage.</p>
+
+<p>At Palmer's I was employed in composing for the second edition
+of Wollaston's "Religion of Nature." Some of his reasonings not
+appearing to me well founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece
+in which I made remarks on them. It was entitled "A Dissertation on
+Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain." I inscribed it to my
+friend Ralph; I printed a small number. It occasion'd my being more
+consider'd by Mr. Palmer as a young man of some ingenuity, tho' he
+seriously expostulated with me upon the principles of my pamphlet,
+which to him appear'd abominable. My printing this pamphlet was
+another erratum.</p>
+
+<p>While I lodg'd in Little Britain, I made an acquaintance with
+one Wilcox, a bookseller, whose shop was at the next door. He had
+an immense collection of second-hand books. Circulating libraries
+were not then in use; but we agreed that, on certain reasonable
+terms, which I have now forgotten, I might take, read, and return
+any of his books. This I esteem'd a great advantage, and I made as
+much use of it as I could.</p>
+
+<p>My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands of one Lyons, a
+surgeon, author of a book entitled "The Infallibility of Human
+Judgment," it occasioned an acquaintance between us. He took great
+notice of me, called on me often to converse on those subjects,
+carried me to the Horns, a pale alehouse in&mdash;&mdash; Lane,
+Cheapside, and introduced me to Dr. Mandeville, author of the
+"Fable of the Bees," who had a club there, of which he was the
+soul, being a most facetious, entertaining companion. Lyons, too,
+introduced me to Dr. Pemberton, at Batson's Coffee-house, who
+promis'd to give me an opportunity, sometime or other, of seeing
+Sir Isaac Newton, of which I was extreamly desirous; but this never
+happened.</p>
+
+<p>I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the principal
+was a purse made of the asbestos, which purifies by fire. Sir Hans
+Sloane heard of it, came to see me, and invited me to his house in
+Bloomsbury Square, where he show'd me all his curiosities, and
+persuaded me to let him add that to the number, for which he paid
+me handsomely.</p>
+
+<p>In our house there lodg'd a young woman, a milliner, who, I
+think, had a shop in the Cloisters. She had been genteelly bred,
+was sensible and lively, and of most pleasing conversation. Ralph
+read plays to her in the evenings, they grew intimate, she took
+another lodging, and he followed her. They liv'd together some
+time; but, he being still out of business, and her income not
+sufficient to maintain them with her child, he took a resolution of
+going from London, to try for a country school, which he thought
+himself well qualified to undertake, as he wrote an excellent hand,
+and was a master of arithmetic and accounts. This, however, he
+deemed a business below him, and confident of future better
+fortune, when he should be unwilling to have it known that he once
+was so meanly employed, he changed his name, and did me the honour
+to assume mine; for I soon after had a letter from him, acquainting
+me that he was settled in a small village (in Berkshire, I think it
+was, where he taught reading and writing to ten or a dozen boys, at
+sixpence each per week), recommending Mrs. T&mdash;&mdash; to my
+care, and desiring me to write to him, directing for Mr. Franklin,
+schoolmaster, at such a place.</p>
+
+<p>He continued to write frequently, sending me large specimens of
+an epic poem which he was then composing, and desiring my remarks
+and corrections. These I gave him from time to time, but
+endeavour'd rather to discourage his proceeding. One of Young's
+Satires<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> was then just published. I
+copy'd and sent him a great part of it, which set in a strong light
+the folly of pursuing the Muses with any hope of advancement by
+them. All was in vain; sheets of the poem continued to come by
+every post. In the meantime, Mrs. T&mdash;&mdash;, having on his
+account lost her friends and business, was often in distresses, and
+us'd to send for me and borrow what I could spare to help her out
+of them. I grew fond of her company, and, being at that time under
+no religious restraint, and presuming upon my importance to her, I
+attempted familiarities (another erratum) which she repuls'd with a
+proper resentment, and acquainted him with my behaviour. This made
+a breach between us; and, when he returned again to London, he let
+me know he thought I had cancell'd all the obligations he had been
+under to me. So I found I was never to expect his repaying me what
+I lent to him or advanc'd for him. This, however, was not then of
+much consequence, as he was totally unable; and in the loss of his
+friendship I found myself relieved from a burthen. I now began to
+think of getting a little money beforehand, and, expecting better
+work, I left Palmer's to work at Watts's, near Lincoln's Inn
+Fields, a still greater printing-house.<a name="FNanchor_42" id=
+"FNanchor_42" /><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>
+Here I continued all the rest of my stay in London.</p>
+
+<p>At my first admission into this printing-house I took to working
+at press, imagining I felt a want of the bodily exercise I had been
+us'd to in America, where presswork is mix'd with composing. I
+drank only water; the other workmen, near fifty in number, were
+great guzzlers of beer. On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a
+large form of types in each hand, when others carried but one in
+both hands. They wondered to see, from this and several instances,
+that the <i>Water-American</i>, as they called me, was
+<i>stronger</i> than themselves, who drank <i>strong</i> beer! We
+had an alehouse boy who attended always in the house to supply the
+workmen. My companion at the press drank every day a pint before
+breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint
+between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the
+afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had done his day's
+work. I thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, he
+suppos'd, to drink <i>strong</i> beer, that he might be
+<i>strong</i> to labour. I endeavoured to convince him that the
+bodily strength afforded by beer could only be in proportion to the
+grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of which it was
+made; that there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread; and
+therefore, if he would eat that with a pint of water, it would give
+him more strength than a quart of beer. He drank on, however, and
+had four or five shillings to pay out of his wages every Saturday
+night for that muddling liquor; an expense I was free from. And
+thus these poor devils keep themselves always under.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p88" id="p88" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-014-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-014thumb.jpg"
+alt="I took to working at press" title=
+"I took to working at press" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"I took to working at press"</div>
+
+<p>Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in the
+composing-room,<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> I left the pressmen; a new
+bien venu or sum for drink, being five shillings, was demanded of
+me by the compositors. I thought it an imposition, as I had paid
+below; the master thought so too, and forbade my paying it. I stood
+out two or three weeks, was accordingly considered as an
+excommunicate, and had so many little pieces of private mischief
+done me, by mixing my sorts, transposing my pages, breaking my
+matter, etc., etc., if I were ever so little out of the room, and
+all ascribed to the chappel ghost, which they said ever haunted
+those not regularly admitted, that, notwithstanding the master's
+protection, I found myself oblig'd to comply and pay the money,
+convinc'd of the folly of being on ill terms with those one is to
+live with continually.</p>
+
+<p>I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon acquir'd
+considerable influence. I propos'd some reasonable alterations in
+their chappel laws,<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44" /><a
+href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and carried them
+against all opposition. From my example, a great part of them left
+their muddling breakfast of beer, and bread, and cheese, finding
+they could with me be supply'd from a neighbouring house with a
+large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumb'd
+with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the price of a pint of
+beer, viz., three half-pence. This was a more comfortable as well
+as cheaper breakfast, and keep their heads clearer. Those who
+continued sotting with beer all day, were often, by not paying, out
+of credit at the alehouse, and us'd to make interest with me to get
+beer; their <i>light</i>, as they phrased it, <i>being out</i>. I
+watch'd the pay-table on Saturday night, and collected what I stood
+engag'd for them, having to pay sometimes near thirty shillings a
+week on their accounts. This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good
+<i>riggite</i>, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my
+consequence in the society. My constant attendance (I never making
+a St. Monday)<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> recommended me to the
+master; and my uncommon quickness at composing occasioned my being
+put upon all work of dispatch, which was generally better paid. So
+I went on now very agreeably.</p>
+
+<p>My lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found another
+in Duke-street, opposite to the Romish Chapel. It was two pair of
+stairs backwards, at an Italian warehouse. A widow lady kept the
+house; she had a daughter, and a maid servant, and a journeyman who
+attended the warehouse, but lodg'd abroad. After sending to inquire
+my character at the house where I last lodg'd she agreed to take me
+in at the same rate, 3s. 6d. per week; cheaper, as she said, from
+the protection she expected in having a man lodge in the house. She
+was a widow, an elderly woman; had been bred a Protestant, being a
+clergyman's daughter, but was converted to the Catholic religion by
+her husband, whose memory she much revered; had lived much among
+people of distinction, and knew a thousand anecdotes of them as far
+back as the times of Charles the Second. She was lame in her knees
+with the gout, and, therefore, seldom stirred out of her room, so
+sometimes wanted company; and hers was so highly amusing to me,
+that I was sure to spend an evening with her whenever she desired
+it. Our supper was only half an anchovy each, on a very little
+strip of bread and butter, and half a pint of ale between us; but
+the entertainment was in her conversation. My always keeping good
+hours, and giving little trouble in the family, made her unwilling
+to part with me, so that, when I talk'd of a lodging I had heard
+of, nearer my business, for two shillings a week, which, intent as
+I now was on saving money, made some difference, she bid me not
+think of it, for she would abate me two shillings a week for the
+future; so I remained with her at one shilling and sixpence as long
+as I staid in London.</p>
+
+<p>In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady of seventy,
+in the most retired manner, of whom my landlady gave me this
+account: that she was a Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when
+young, and lodg'd in a nunnery with an intent of becoming a nun;
+but, the country not agreeing with her, she returned to England,
+where, there being no nunnery, she had vow'd to lead the life of a
+nun, as near as might be done in those circumstances. Accordingly,
+she had given all her estate to charitable uses, reserving only
+twelve pounds a year to live on, and out of this sum she still gave
+a great deal in charity, living herself on water-gruel only, and
+using no fire but to boil it. She had lived many years in that
+garret, being permitted to remain there gratis by successive
+Catholic tenants of the house below, as they deemed it a blessing
+to have her there. A priest visited her to confess her every day.
+"I have ask'd her," says my landlady, "how she, as she liv'd, could
+possibly find so much employment for a confessor?" "Oh," said she,
+"it is impossible to avoid <i>vain thoughts</i>." I was permitted
+once to visit her. She was cheerful and polite, and convers'd
+pleasantly. The room was clean, but had no other furniture than a
+matras, a table with a crucifix and book, a stool which she gave me
+to sit on, and a picture over the chimney of Saint Veronica
+displaying her handkerchief, with the miraculous figure of Christ's
+bleeding face on it,<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46" /><a
+href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> which she explained
+to me with great seriousness. She look'd pale, but was never sick;
+and I give it as another instance on how small an income, life and
+health may be supported.</p>
+
+<p>At Watts's printing-house I contracted an acquaintance with an
+ingenious young man, one Wygate, who, having wealthy relations, had
+been better educated than most printers; was a tolerable Latinist,
+spoke French, and lov'd reading. I taught him and a friend of his
+to swim at twice going into the river, and they soon became good
+swimmers. They introduc'd me to some gentlemen from the country,
+who went to Chelsea by water to see the College and Don Saltero's
+curiosities.<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> In our return, at the
+request of the company, whose curiosity Wygate had excited, I
+stripped and leaped into the river, and swam from near Chelsea to
+Blackfriar's,<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> performing on the way many
+feats of activity, both upon and under water, that surpris'd and
+pleas'd those to whom they were novelties.</p>
+
+<p>I had from a child been ever delighted with this exercise, had
+studied and practis'd all Thevenot's motions and positions, added
+some of my own, aiming at the graceful and easy as well as the
+useful. All these I took this occasion of exhibiting to the
+company, and was much flatter'd by their admiration; and Wygate,
+who was desirous of becoming a master, grew more and more attach'd
+to me on that account, as well as from the similarity of our
+studies. He at length proposed to me traveling all over Europe
+together, supporting ourselves everywhere by working at our
+business. I was once inclined to it; but, mentioning it to my good
+friend Mr. Denham, with whom I often spent an hour when I had
+leisure, he dissuaded me from it, advising me to think only of
+returning to Pennsylvania, which he was now about to do.</p>
+
+<p>I must record one trait of this good man's character. He had
+formerly been in business at Bristol, but failed in debt to a
+number of people, compounded and went to America. There, by a close
+application to business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful
+fortune in a few years. Returning to England in the ship with me,
+he invited his old creditors to an entertainment, at which he
+thank'd them for the easy composition they had favoured him with,
+and, when they expected nothing but the treat, every man at the
+first remove found under his plate an order on a banker for the
+full amount of the unpaid remainder with interest.</p>
+
+<p>He now told me he was about to return to Philadelphia, and
+should carry over a great quantity of goods in order to open a
+store there. He propos'd to take me over as his clerk, to keep his
+books, in which he would instruct me, copy his letters, and attend
+the store. He added, that, as soon as I should be acquainted with
+mercantile business, he would promote me by sending me with a cargo
+of flour and bread, etc., to the West Indies, and procure me
+commissions from others which would be profitable; and, if I
+manag'd well, would establish me handsomely. The thing pleas'd me;
+for I was grown tired of London, remembered with pleasure the happy
+months I had spent in Pennsylvania, and wish'd again to see it;
+therefore I immediately agreed on the terms of fifty pounds a
+year,<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Pennsylvania money; less,
+indeed, than my present gettings as a compositor, but affording a
+better prospect.</p>
+
+<p>I now took leave of printing, as I thought, forever, and was
+daily employed in my new business, going about with Mr. Denham
+among the tradesmen to purchase various articles, and seeing them
+pack'd up, doing errands, calling upon workmen to dispatch, etc.;
+and, when all was on board, I had a few days' leisure. On one of
+these days, I was, to my surprise, sent for by a great man I knew
+only by name, a Sir William Wyndham, and I waited upon him. He had
+heard by some means or other of my swimming from Chelsea to
+Blackfriars, and of my teaching Wygate and another young man to
+swim in a few hours. He had two sons, about to set out on their
+travels; he wish'd to have them first taught swimming, and proposed
+to gratify me handsomely if I would teach them. They were not yet
+come to town, and my stay was uncertain, so I could not undertake
+it; but, from this incident, I thought it likely that, if I were to
+remain in England and open a swimming-school, I might get a good
+deal of money; and it struck me so strongly, that, had the overture
+been sooner made me, probably I should not so soon have returned to
+America. After many years, you and I had something of more
+importance to do with one of these sons of Sir William Wyndham,
+become Earl of Egremont, which I shall mention in its place.</p>
+
+<p>Thus I spent about eighteen months in London; most part of the
+time I work'd hard at my business, and spent but little upon myself
+except in seeing plays and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me
+poor; he owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which I was now never
+likely to receive; a great sum out of my small earnings! I lov'd
+him, notwithstanding, for he had many amiable qualities. I had by
+no means improv'd my fortune; but I had picked up some very
+ingenious acquaintance, whose conversation was of great advantage
+to me; and I had read considerably.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> One of the
+oldest parts of London, north of St. Paul's Cathedral, called
+"Little Britain" because the Dukes of Brittany used to live there.
+See the essay entitled "Little Britain" in Washington Irving's
+<i>Sketch Book</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> A gold coin
+worth about four dollars in our money.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> A popular
+comedian, manager of Drury Lane Theater.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Street north of
+St. Paul's, occupied by publishing houses.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Law schools and
+lawyers' residences situated southwest of St. Paul's, between Fleet
+Street and the Thames.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Edward Young
+(1681-1765), an English poet. See his satires, Vol. III, Epist. ii,
+page 70.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> The printing
+press at which Franklin worked is preserved in the Patent Office at
+Washington.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Franklin now
+left the work of operating the printing presses, which was largely
+a matter of manual labor, and began setting type, which required
+more skill and intelligence.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> A printing house
+is called a chapel because Caxton, the first English printer, did
+his printing in a chapel connected with Westminster Abbey.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> A holiday taken
+to prolong the dissipation of Saturday's wages.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> The story is
+that she met Christ on His way to crucifixion and offered Him her
+handkerchief to wipe the blood from His face, after which the
+handkerchief always bore the image of Christ's bleeding face.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> James Salter, a
+former servant of Hans Sloane, lived in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. "His
+house, a barber-shop, was known as 'Don Saltero's Coffee-House.'
+The curiosities were in glass cases and constituted an amazing and
+motley collection&mdash;a petrified crab from China, a 'lignified
+hog,' Job's tears, Madagascar lances, William the Conqueror's
+flaming sword, and Henry the Eighth's coat of
+mail."&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> About three
+miles.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> About $167.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="VII" id="VII" />VII</h4>
+
+<h4>BEGINNING BUSINESS IN PHILADELPHIA</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-w.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-W" />E sail'd from Gravesend on the 23rd of July, 1726. For
+the incidents of the voyage, I refer you to my Journal, where you
+will find them all minutely related. Perhaps the most important
+part of that journal is the <i>plan</i><a name="FNanchor_50" id=
+"FNanchor_50" /><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> to
+be found in it, which I formed at sea, for regulating my future
+conduct in life. It is the more remarkable, as being formed when I
+was so young, and yet being pretty faithfully adhered to quite
+thro' to old age.</p>
+
+<p>We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, where I found
+sundry alterations. Keith was no longer governor, being superseded
+by Major Gordon. I met him walking the streets as a common citizen.
+He seem'd a little asham'd at seeing me, but pass'd without saying
+anything. I should have been as much asham'd at seeing Miss Read,
+had not her friends, despairing with reason of my return after the
+receipt of my letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a
+potter, which was done in my absence. With him, however, she was
+never happy, and soon parted from him, refusing to cohabit with him
+or bear his name, it being now said that he had another wife. He
+was a worthless fellow, tho' an excellent workman, which was the
+temptation to her friends. He got into debt, ran away in 1727 or
+1728, went to the West Indies, and died there. Keimer had got a
+better house, a shop well supply'd with stationery, plenty of new
+types, a number of hands, tho' none good, and seem'd to have a
+great deal of business.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street, where we open'd our
+goods; I attended the business diligently, studied accounts, and
+grew, in a little time, expert at selling. We lodg'd and boarded
+together; he counsell'd me as a father, having a sincere regard for
+me. I respected and loved him, and we might have gone on together
+very happy; but, in the beginning of February, 1726/7, when I had
+just pass'd my twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My
+distemper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off. I
+suffered a good deal, gave up the point in my own mind, and was
+rather disappointed when I found myself recovering, regretting, in
+some degree, that I must now, some time or other, have all that
+disagreeable work to do over again. I forget what his distemper
+was; it held him a long time, and at length carried him off. He
+left me a small legacy in a nuncupative will, as a token of his
+kindness for me, and he left me once more to the wide world; for
+the store was taken into the care of his executors, and my
+employment under him ended.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="60%" src=
+"images/illus-015-red.jpg" alt=
+"Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street" title=
+"Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street" /></div>
+
+<p>My brother-in-law, Holmes, being now at Philadelphia, advised my
+return to my business; and Keimer tempted me, with an offer of
+large wages by the year, to come and take the management of his
+printing-house, that he might better attend his stationer's shop. I
+had heard a bad character of him in London from his wife and her
+friends, and was not fond of having any more to do with him. I
+tri'd for farther employment as a merchant's clerk; but, not
+readily meeting with any, I clos'd again with Keimer. I found in
+his house these hands: Hugh Meredith, a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty
+years of age, bred to country work; honest, sensible, had a great
+deal of solid observation, was something of a reader, but given to
+drink. Stephen Potts, a young countryman of full age, bred to the
+same, of uncommon natural parts, and great wit and humor, but a
+little idle. These he had agreed with at extream low wages per week
+to be rais'd a shilling every three months, as they would deserve
+by improving in their business; and the expectation of these high
+wages, to come on hereafter, was what he had drawn them in with.
+Meredith was to work at press, Potts at book-binding, which he, by
+agreement, was to teach them, though he knew neither one nor
+t'other. John&mdash;&mdash;, a wild Irishman, brought up to no
+business, whose service, for four years, Keimer had purchased from
+the captain of a ship; he, too, was to be made a pressman. George
+Webb, an Oxford scholar, whose time for four years he had likewise
+bought, intending him for a compositor, of whom more presently; and
+David Harry, a country boy, whom he had taken apprentice.</p>
+
+<p>I soon perceiv'd that the intention of engaging me at wages so
+much higher than he had been us'd to give, was, to have these raw,
+cheap hands form'd thro' me; and, as soon as I had instructed them,
+then they being all articled to him, he should be able to do
+without me. I went on, however, very chearfully, put his
+printing-house in order, which had been in great confusion, and
+brought his hands by degrees to mind their business and to do it
+better.</p>
+
+<p>It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in the situation
+of a bought servant. He was not more than eighteen years of age,
+and gave me this account of himself; that he was born in
+Gloucester, educated at a grammar-school there, had been
+distinguish'd among the scholars for some apparent superiority in
+performing his part, when they exhibited plays; belong'd to the
+Witty Club there, and had written some pieces in prose and verse,
+which were printed in the Gloucester newspapers; thence he was sent
+to Oxford; where he continued about a year, but not well satisfi'd,
+wishing of all things to see London, and become a player. At
+length, receiving his quarterly allowance of fifteen guineas,
+instead of discharging his debts he walk'd out of town, hid his
+gown in a furze bush, and footed it to London, where, having no
+friend to advise him, he fell into bad company, soon spent his
+guineas, found no means of being introduc'd among the players, grew
+necessitous, pawn'd his cloaths, and wanted bread. Walking the
+street very hungry, and not knowing what to do with himself, a
+crimp's bill<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> was put into his hand,
+offering immediate entertainment and encouragement to such as would
+bind themselves to serve in America. He went directly, sign'd the
+indentures, was put into the ship, and came over, never writing a
+line to acquaint his friends what was become of him. He was lively,
+witty, good-natur'd, and a pleasant companion, but idle,
+thoughtless, and imprudent to the last degree.</p>
+
+<p>John, the Irishman, soon ran away; with the rest I began to live
+very agreeably, for they all respected me the more, as they found
+Keimer incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learned
+something daily. We never worked on Saturday, that being Keimer's
+Sabbath, so I had two days for reading. My acquaintance with
+ingenious people in the town increased. Keimer himself treated me
+with great civility and apparent regard, and nothing now made me
+uneasy but my debt to Vernon, which I was yet unable to pay, being
+hitherto but a poor &aelig;conomist. He, however, kindly made no
+demand of it.</p>
+
+<p>Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no
+letter-founder in America; I had seen types cast at James's in
+London, but without much attention to the manner; however, I now
+contrived a mould, made use of the letters we had as puncheons,
+struck the mattrices in lead, and thus supply'd in a pretty
+tolerable way all deficiencies. I also engrav'd several things on
+occasion; I made the ink; I was warehouseman, and everything, and,
+in short, quite a fac-totum.</p>
+
+<p>But, however serviceable I might be, I found that my services
+became every day of less importance, as the other hands improv'd in
+the business; and, when Keimer paid my second quarter's wages, he
+let me know that he felt them too heavy, and thought I should make
+an abatement. He grew by degrees less civil, put on more of the
+master, frequently found fault, was captious, and seem'd ready for
+an outbreaking. I went on, nevertheless, with a good deal of
+patience, thinking that his encumber'd circumstances were partly
+the cause. At length a trifle snapt our connections; for, a great
+noise happening near the court-house, I put my head out of the
+window to see what was the matter. Keimer, being in the street,
+look'd up and saw me, call'd out to me in a loud voice and angry
+tone to mind my business, adding some reproachful words, that
+nettled me the more for their publicity, all the neighbours who
+were looking out on the same occasion being witnesses how I was
+treated. He came up immediately into the printing-house, continu'd
+the quarrel, high words pass'd on both sides, he gave me the
+quarter's warning we had stipulated, expressing a wish that he had
+not been oblig'd to so long a warning. I told him his wish was
+unnecessary, for I would leave him that instant; and so, taking my
+hat, walk'd out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I saw below, to
+take care of some things I left, and bring them to my lodgings.</p>
+
+<p>Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we talked my
+affair over. He had conceiv'd a great regard for me, and was very
+unwilling that I should leave the house while he remain'd in it. He
+dissuaded me from returning to my native country, which I began to
+think of; he reminded me that Keimer was in debt for all he
+possess'd; that his creditors began to be uneasy; that he kept his
+shop miserably, sold often without profit for ready money, and
+often trusted without keeping accounts; that he must therefore
+fail, which would make a vacancy I might profit of. I objected my
+want of money. He then let me know that his father had a high
+opinion of me, and, from some discourse that had pass'd between
+them, he was sure would advance money to set us up, if I would
+enter into partnership with him. "My time," says he, "will be out
+with Keimer in the spring; by that time we may have our press and
+types in from London. I am sensible I am no workman; if you like
+it, your skill in the business shall be set against the stock I
+furnish, and we will share the profits equally."</p>
+
+<p>The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; his father was in
+town and approv'd of it; the more as he saw I had great influence
+with his son, had prevailed on him to abstain long from
+dram-drinking, and he hop'd might break him of that wretched habit
+entirely, when we came to be so closely connected. I gave an
+inventory to the father, who carry'd it to a merchant; the things
+were sent for, the secret was to be kept till they should arrive,
+and in the meantime I was to get work, if I could, at the other
+printing-house. But I found no vacancy there, and so remained idle
+a few days, when Keimer, on a prospect of being employ'd to print
+some paper money in New Jersey, which would require cuts and
+various types that I only could supply, and apprehending Bradford
+might engage me and get the jobb from him, sent me a very civil
+message, that old friends should not part for a few words, the
+effect of sudden passion, and wishing me to return. Meredith
+persuaded me to comply, as it would give more opportunity for his
+improvement under my daily instructions; so I return'd, and we went
+on more smoothly than for some time before. The New Jersey jobb was
+obtained, I contriv'd a copperplate press for it, the first that
+had been seen in the country; I cut several ornaments and checks
+for the bills. We went together to Burlington, where I executed the
+whole to satisfaction; and he received so large a sum for the work
+as to be enabled thereby to keep his head much longer above
+water.</p>
+
+<p>At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many principal people
+of the province. Several of them had been appointed by the Assembly
+a committee to attend the press, and take care that no more bills
+were printed than the law directed. They were therefore, by turns,
+constantly with us, and generally he who attended, brought with him
+a friend or two for company. My mind having been much more improv'd
+by reading than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that reason my
+conversation seem'd to be more valu'd. They had me to their houses,
+introduced me to their friends, and show'd me much civility; while
+he, tho' the master, was a little neglected. In truth, he was an
+odd fish; ignorant of common life, fond of rudely opposing receiv'd
+opinions, slovenly to extream dirtiness, enthusiastic in some
+points of religion, and a little knavish withal.</p>
+
+<p>We continu'd there near three months; and by that time I could
+reckon among my acquired friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the
+secretary of the Province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and
+several of the Smiths, members of Assembly, and Isaac Decow, the
+surveyor-general. The latter was a shrewd, sagacious old man, who
+told me that he began for himself, when young, by wheeling clay for
+brick-makers, learned to write after he was of age, carri'd the
+chain for surveyors, who taught him surveying, and he had now by
+his industry, acquir'd a good estate; and says he, "I foresee that
+you will soon work this man out of his business, and make a fortune
+in it at Philadelphia." He had not then the least intimation of my
+intention to set up there or anywhere. These friends were
+afterwards of great use to me, as I occasionally was to some of
+them. They all continued their regard for me as long as they
+lived.</p>
+
+<p>Before I enter upon my public appearance in business, it may be
+well to let you know the then state of my mind with regard to my
+principles and morals, that you may see how far those influenc'd
+the future events of my life. My parents had early given me
+religious impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously
+in the Dissenting way. But I was scarce fifteen, when, after
+doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in
+the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself.
+Some books against Deism<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52" /><a
+href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> fell into my hands;
+they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's
+Lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite
+contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the
+Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much
+stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough
+Deist. My arguments perverted some others, particularly Collins and
+Ralph; but, each of them having afterwards wrong'd me greatly
+without the least compunction, and recollecting Keith's conduct
+towards me (who was another free-thinker), and my own towards
+Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me great trouble, I began
+to suspect that this doctrine, tho' it might be true, was not very
+useful. My London pamphlet, which had for its motto these lines of
+Dryden:<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Whatever is, is right. Though purblind man</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest
+link:</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">His eyes not carrying to the equal beam,</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">That poises all above;"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>and from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness
+and power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the
+world, and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such
+things existing, appear'd now not so clever a performance as I once
+thought it; and I doubted whether some error had not insinuated
+itself unperceiv'd into my argument, so as to infect all that
+follow'd, as is common in metaphysical reasonings.</p>
+
+<p>I grew convinc'd that <i>truth</i>, <i>sincerity</i> and
+<i>integrity</i> in dealings between man and man were of the utmost
+importance to the felicity of life; and I form'd written
+resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, to practice
+them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me,
+as such; but I entertain'd an opinion that, though certain actions
+might not be bad <i>because</i> they were forbidden by it, or good
+<i>because</i> it commanded them, yet probably these actions might
+be forbidden <i>because</i> they were bad for us, or commanded
+<i>because</i> they were beneficial to us, in their own natures,
+all the circumstances of things considered. And this persuasion,
+with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or
+accidental favourable circumstances and situations, or all
+together, preserved me, thro' this dangerous time of youth, and the
+hazardous situations I was sometimes in among strangers, remote
+from the eye and advice of my father, without any willful gross
+immorality or injustice, that might have been expected from my want
+of religion. I say willful, because the instances I have mentioned
+had something of <i>necessity</i> in them, from my youth,
+inexperience, and the knavery of others. I had therefore a
+tolerable character to begin the world with; I valued it properly,
+and determin'd to preserve it.</p>
+
+<p>We had not been long return'd to Philadelphia before the new
+types arriv'd from London. We settled with Keimer, and left him by
+his consent before he heard of it. We found a house to hire near
+the market, and took it. To lessen the rent, which was then but
+twenty-four pounds a year, tho' I have since known it to let for
+seventy, we took in Thomas Godfrey, a glazier, and his family, who
+were to pay a considerable part of it to us, and we to board with
+them. We had scarce opened our letters and put our press in order,
+before George House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a countryman
+to us, whom he had met in the street inquiring for a printer. All
+our cash was now expended in the variety of particulars we had been
+obliged to procure, and this countryman's five shillings, being our
+first-fruits, and coming so seasonably, gave me more pleasure than
+any crown I have since earned; and the gratitude I felt toward
+House has made me often more ready than perhaps I should otherwise
+have been to assist young beginners.</p>
+
+<p>There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin.
+Such a one then lived in Philadelphia; a person of note, an elderly
+man, with a wise look and a very grave manner of speaking; his name
+was Samuel Mickle. This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopt one day
+at my door, and asked me if I was the young man who had lately
+opened a new printing-house. Being answered in the affirmative, he
+said he was sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertaking,
+and the expense would be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking
+place, the people already half-bankrupts, or near being so; all
+appearances to the contrary, such as new buildings and the rise of
+rents, being to his certain knowledge fallacious; for they were, in
+fact, among the things that would soon ruin us. And he gave me such
+a detail of misfortunes now existing, or that were soon to exist,
+that he left me half melancholy. Had I known him before I engaged
+in this business, probably I never should have done it. This man
+continued to live in this decaying place, and to declaim in the
+same strain, refusing for many years to buy a house there, because
+all was going to destruction; and at last I had the pleasure of
+seeing him give five times as much for one as he might have bought
+it for when he first began his croaking.</p>
+
+<p>I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the
+preceding year, I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into
+a club of mutual improvement, which was called the <span class=
+"smcap">Junto</span>;<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54" /><a
+href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> we met on Friday
+evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in
+his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of
+Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the
+company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his
+own writing, on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be
+under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the
+sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for
+dispute, or desire of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all
+expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction,
+were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small
+pecuniary penalties.</p>
+
+<p>The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copyer of deeds for
+the scriveners, a good-natur'd, friendly middle-ag'd man, a great
+lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some
+that was tolerable; very ingenious in many little Nicknackeries,
+and of sensible conversation.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great in his way,
+and afterward inventor of what is now called Hadley's Quadrant. But
+he knew little out of his way, and was not a pleasing companion;
+as, like most great mathematicians I have met with, he expected
+universal precision in everything said, or was forever denying or
+distinguishing upon trifles, to the disturbance of all
+conversation. He soon left us.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterwards surveyor-general, who
+lov'd books, and sometimes made a few verses.</p>
+
+<p>William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but, loving reading, had
+acquir'd a considerable share of mathematics, which he first
+studied with a view to astrology, that he afterwards laught at it.
+He also became surveyor-general.</p>
+
+<p>William Maugridge, a joiner, a most exquisite mechanic, and a
+solid, sensible man.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb I have
+characteriz'd before.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, generous,
+lively, and witty; a lover of punning and of his friends.</p>
+
+<p>And William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, about my age, who
+had the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the exactest
+morals of almost any man I ever met with. He became afterwards a
+merchant of great note, and one of our provincial judges. Our
+friendship continued without interruption to his death, upwards of
+forty years; and the club continued almost as long, and was the
+best school of philosophy, morality, and politics that then existed
+in the province; for our queries, which were read the week
+preceding their discussion, put us upon reading with attention upon
+the several subjects, that we might speak more to the purpose; and
+here, too, we acquired better habits of conversation, everything
+being studied in our rules which might prevent our disgusting each
+other. From hence the long continuance of the club, which I shall
+have frequent occasion to speak further of hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>But my giving this account of it here is to show something of
+the interest I had, everyone of these exerting themselves in
+recommending business to us. Breintnal particularly procur'd us
+from the Quakers the printing forty sheets of their history, the
+rest being to be done by Keimer; and upon this we work'd
+exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It was a folio, pro patria
+size, in pica, with long primer notes.<a name="FNanchor_55" id=
+"FNanchor_55" /><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> I
+compos'd of it a sheet a day, and Meredith worked it off at press;
+it was often eleven at night, and sometimes later, before I had
+finished my distribution for the next day's work, for the little
+jobbs sent in by our other friends now and then put us back. But so
+determin'd I was to continue doing a sheet a day of the folio, that
+one night, when, having impos'd<a name="FNanchor_56" id=
+"FNanchor_56" /><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> my
+forms, I thought my day's work over, one of them by accident was
+broken, and two pages reduced to pi,<a name="FNanchor_57" id=
+"FNanchor_57" /><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> I
+immediately distribut'd and composed it over again before I went to
+bed; and this industry, visible to our neighbors, began to give us
+character and credit; particularly, I was told, that mention being
+made of the new printing-office at the merchants' Every-night club,
+the general opinion was that it must fail, there being already two
+printers in the place, Keimer and Bradford; but Dr. Baird (whom you
+and I saw many years after at his native place, St. Andrew's in
+Scotland) gave a contrary opinion: "For the industry of that
+Franklin," says he, "is superior to anything I ever saw of the
+kind; I see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is
+at work again before his neighbors are out of bed." This struck the
+rest, and we soon after had offers from one of them to supply us
+with stationery; but as yet we did not chuse to engage in shop
+business.</p>
+
+<p>I mention this industry the more particularly and the more
+freely, tho' it seems to be talking in my own praise, that those of
+my posterity, who shall read it, may know the use of that virtue,
+when they see its effects in my favour throughout this
+relation.</p>
+
+<p>George Webb, who had found a female friend that lent him
+wherewith to purchase his time of Keimer, now came to offer himself
+as a journeyman to us. We could not then employ him; but I
+foolishly let him know as a secret that I soon intended to begin a
+newspaper, and might then have work for him. My hopes of success,
+as I told him, were founded on this, that the then only newspaper,
+printed by Bradford, was a paltry thing, wretchedly manag'd, no way
+entertaining, and yet was profitable to him; I therefore thought a
+good paper would scarcely fail of good encouragement. I requested
+Webb not to mention it; but he told it to Keimer, who immediately,
+to be beforehand with me, published proposals for printing one
+himself, on which Webb was to be employ'd. I resented this; and, to
+counteract them, as I could not yet begin our paper, I wrote
+several pieces of entertainment for Bradford's paper, under the
+title of the <span class="smcap">Busy Body</span>, which Breintnal
+continu'd some months. By this means the attention of the publick
+was fixed on that paper, and Keimer's proposals, which we
+burlesqu'd and ridicul'd, were disregarded. He began his paper,
+however, and, after carrying it on three quarters of a year, with
+at most only ninety subscribers, he offered it to me for a trifle;
+and I, having been ready some time to go on with it, took it in
+hand directly; and it prov'd in a few years extremely profitable to
+me.</p>
+
+<p>I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular number, though
+our partnership still continu'd; the reason may be that, in fact,
+the whole management of the business lay upon me. Meredith was no
+compositor, a poor pressman, and seldom sober. My friends lamented
+my connection with him, but I was to make the best of it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p120" id="p120" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-016-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-016thumb.jpg"
+alt="I see him still at work when I go home from club" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"I see him still at work when I go home
+from club"</div>
+
+<p>Our first papers made a quite different appearance from any
+before in the province; a better type, and better printed; but some
+spirited remarks of my writing, on the dispute then going on
+between Governor Burnet and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the
+principal people, occasioned the paper and the manager of it to be
+much talk'd of, and in a few weeks brought them all to be our
+subscribers.</p>
+
+<p>Their example was follow'd by many, and our number went on
+growing continually. This was one of the first good effects of my
+having learnt a little to scribble; another was, that the leading
+men, seeing a newspaper now in the hands of one who could also
+handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me.
+Bradford still printed the votes, and laws, and other publick
+business. He had printed an address of the House to the governor,
+in a coarse, blundering manner; we reprinted it elegantly and
+correctly, and sent one to every member. They were sensible of the
+difference: it strengthened the hands of our friends in the House,
+and they voted us their printers for the year ensuing.</p>
+
+<p>Among my friends in the House I must not forget Mr. Hamilton,
+before mentioned, who was then returned from England, and had a
+seat in it. He interested himself for me strongly in that instance,
+as he did in many others afterward, continuing his patronage till
+his death.<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of the debt I ow'd
+him, but did not press me. I wrote him an ingenuous letter of
+acknowledgment, crav'd his forbearance a little longer, which he
+allow'd me, and as soon as I was able, I paid the principal with
+interest, and many thanks; so that erratum was in some degree
+corrected.</p>
+
+<p>But now another difficulty came upon me which I had never the
+least reason to expect. Mr. Meredith's father, who was to have paid
+for our printing-house, according to the expectations given me, was
+able to advance only one hundred pounds currency, which had been
+paid; and a hundred more was due to the merchant, who grew
+impatient, and su'd us all. We gave bail, but saw that, if the
+money could not be rais'd in time, the suit must soon come to a
+judgment and execution, and our hopeful prospects must, with us, be
+ruined, as the press and letters must be sold for payment, perhaps
+at half price.</p>
+
+<p>In this distress two true friends, whose kindness I have never
+forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remember any thing,
+came to me separately, unknown to each other, and, without any
+application from me, offering each of them to advance me all the
+money that should be necessary to enable me to take the whole
+business upon myself, if that should be practicable; but they did
+not like my continuing the partnership with Meredith, who, as they
+said, was often seen drunk in the streets, and playing at low games
+in alehouses, much to our discredit. These two friends were William
+Coleman and Robert Grace. I told them I could not propose a
+separation while any prospect remain'd of the Meredith's fulfilling
+their part of our agreement, because I thought myself under great
+obligations to them for what they had done, and would do if they
+could; but, if they finally fail'd in their performance, and our
+partnership must be dissolv'd, I should then think myself at
+liberty to accept the assistance of my friends.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the matter rested for some time, when I said to my partner,
+"Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you have
+undertaken in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for
+you and me what he would for you alone. If that is the case, tell
+me, and I will resign the whole to you, and go about my business."
+"No," said he, "my father has really been disappointed, and is
+really unable; and I am unwilling to distress him farther. I see
+this is a business I am not fit for. I was bred a farmer, and it
+was a folly in me to come to town, and put myself, at thirty years
+of age, an apprentice to learn a new trade. Many of our Welsh
+people are going to settle in North Carolina, where land is cheap.
+I am inclin'd to go with them, and follow my old employment. You
+may find friends to assist you. If you will take the debts of the
+company upon you; return to my father the hundred pounds he has
+advanced; pay my little personal debts, and give me thirty pounds
+and a new saddle, I will relinquish the partnership, and leave the
+whole in your hands." I agreed to this proposal: it was drawn up in
+writing, sign'd, and seal'd immediately. I gave him what he
+demanded, and he went soon after to Carolina, from whence he sent
+me next year two long letters, containing the best account that had
+been given of that country, the climate, the soil, husbandry, etc.,
+for in those matters he was very judicious. I printed them in the
+papers, and they gave great satisfaction to the publick.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was gone, I recurr'd to my two friends; and
+because I would not give an unkind preference to either, I took
+half of what each had offered and I wanted of one, and half of the
+other; paid off the company's debts, and went on with the business
+in my own name, advertising that the partnership was dissolved. I
+think this was in or about the year 1729.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> "Not found in
+the manuscript journal, which was left among Franklin's
+papers."&mdash;Bigelow.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> A crimp was the
+agent of a shipping company. Crimps were sometimes employed to
+decoy men into such service as is here mentioned.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> The creed of an
+eighteenth century theological sect which, while believing in God,
+refused to credit the possibility of miracles and to acknowledge
+the validity of revelation.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> A great English
+poet, dramatist, and critic (1631-1700). The lines are inaccurately
+quoted from Dryden's &OElig;dipus, Act III, Scene I, line 293.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> A Spanish term
+meaning a combination for political intrigue; here a club or
+society.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> A sheet 8-1/2 by
+13-1/2 inches, having the words <i>pro patria</i> in translucent
+letters in the body of the paper. Pica&mdash;a size of type; as,
+<big><big>A&nbsp;B&nbsp;C&nbsp;D</big></big>: Long Primer&mdash;a
+smaller size of type; as, <big>A&nbsp;B&nbsp;C&nbsp;D.</big></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> To arrange and
+lock up pages or columns of type in a rectangular iron frame, ready
+for printing.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Reduced to
+complete disorder.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> I got his son
+once &pound;500.&mdash;<i>Marg. note</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="VIII" id="VIII" />VIII</h4>
+
+<h4>BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FIRST PUBLIC SERVICE</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-a.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-a" />BOUT this time there was a cry among the people for
+more paper money, only fifteen thousand pounds being extant in the
+province, and that soon to be sunk.<a name="FNanchor_59" id=
+"FNanchor_59" /><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a>
+The wealthy inhabitants oppos'd any addition, being against all
+paper currency, from an apprehension that it would depreciate, as
+it had done in New England, to the prejudice of all creditors. We
+had discuss'd this point in our Junto, where I was on the side of
+an addition, being persuaded that the first small sum struck in
+1723 had done much good by increasing the trade, employment, and
+number of inhabitants in the province, since I now saw all the old
+houses inhabited, and many new ones building: whereas I remembered
+well, that when I first walk'd about the streets of Philadelphia,
+eating my roll, I saw most of the houses in Walnut Street, between
+Second and Front streets,<a name="FNanchor_60" id=
+"FNanchor_60" /><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>
+with bills on their doors, "To be let"; and many likewise in
+Chestnut-street and other streets, which made me then think the
+inhabitants of the city were deserting it one after another.</p>
+
+<p>Our debates possess'd me so fully of the subject, that I wrote
+and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, entitled "<i>The Nature
+and Necessity of a Paper Currency</i>." It was well receiv'd by the
+common people in general; but the rich men dislik'd it, for it
+increas'd and strengthen'd the clamor for more money, and they
+happening to have no writers among them that were able to answer
+it, their opposition slacken'd, and the point was carried by a
+majority in the House. My friends there, who conceiv'd I had been
+of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in
+printing the money; a very profitable jobb and a great help to me.
+This was another advantage gain'd by my being able to write.</p>
+
+<p>The utility of this currency became by time and experience so
+evident as never afterwards to be much disputed; so that it grew
+soon to fifty-five thousand pounds, and in 1739 to eighty thousand
+pounds, since which it arose during war to upwards of three hundred
+and fifty thousand pounds, trade, building, and inhabitants all the
+while increasing, tho' I now think there are limits beyond which
+the quantity may be hurtful.<a name="FNanchor_61" id=
+"FNanchor_61" /><a href="#Footnote_61" class=
+"fnanchor">[61]</a></p>
+
+<p>I soon after obtain'd, thro' my friend Hamilton, the printing of
+the Newcastle paper money, another profitable jobb as I then
+thought it; small things appearing great to those in small
+circumstances; and these, to me, were really great advantages, as
+they were great encouragements. He procured for me, also, the
+printing of the laws and votes of that government, which continu'd
+in my hands as long as I follow'd the business.</p>
+
+<p>I now open'd a little stationer's shop. I had in it blanks of
+all sorts, the correctest that ever appear'd among us, being
+assisted in that by my friend Breintnal. I had also paper,
+parchment, chapmen's books, etc. One Whitemash, a compositor I had
+known in London, an excellent workman, now came to me, and work'd
+with me constantly and diligently; and I took an apprentice, the
+son of Aquilla Rose.</p>
+
+<p>I was under for the printing-house. In order to secure my credit
+and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in
+<i>reality</i> industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances
+to the contrary. I drest plainly; I was seen at no places of idle
+diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting; a book, indeed,
+sometimes debauch'd me from my work, but that was seldom, snug, and
+gave no scandal; and, to show that I was not above my business, I
+sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the stores thro'
+the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem'd an industrious,
+thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought, the
+merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others
+proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the
+meantime, Keimer's credit and business declining daily, he was at
+last forc'd to sell his printing-house to satisfy his creditors. He
+went to Barbadoes, and there lived some years in very poor
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/illus-018-red.jpg" alt=
+"I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow"
+ title=
+"I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow" /></div>
+
+<p>His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed while I
+work'd with him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having bought
+his materials. I was at first apprehensive of a powerful rival in
+Harry, as his friends were very able, and had a good deal of
+interest. I therefore propos'd a partnership to him, which he,
+fortunately for me, rejected with scorn. He was very proud, dress'd
+like a gentleman, liv'd expensively, took much diversion and
+pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and neglected his business; upon
+which, all business left him; and, finding nothing to do, he
+followed Keimer to Barbadoes, taking the printing-house with him.
+There this apprentice employ'd his former master as a journeyman;
+they quarrell'd often; Harry went continually behindhand, and at
+length was forc'd to sell his types and return to his country work
+in Pennsylvania. The person that bought them employ'd Keimer to use
+them, but in a few years he died.</p>
+
+<p>There remained now no competitor with me at Philadelphia but the
+old one, Bradford; who was rich and easy, did a little printing now
+and then by straggling hands, but was not very anxious about the
+business. However, as he kept the post-office, it was imagined he
+had better opportunities of obtaining news; his paper was thought a
+better distributer of advertisements than mine, and therefore had
+many more, which was a profitable thing to him, and a disadvantage
+to me; for, tho' I did indeed receive and send papers by the post,
+yet the publick opinion was otherwise, for what I did send was by
+bribing the riders, who took them privately, Bradford being unkind
+enough to forbid it, which occasion'd some resentment on my part;
+and I thought so meanly of him for it, that, when I afterward came
+into his situation, I took care never to imitate it.</p>
+
+<p>I had hitherto continu'd to board with Godfrey, who lived in
+part of my house with his wife and children, and had one side of
+the shop for his glazier's business, tho' he worked little, being
+always absorbed in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected a match
+for me with a relation's daughter, took opportunities of bringing
+us often together, till a serious courtship on my part ensu'd, the
+girl being in herself very deserving. The old folks encourag'd me
+by continual invitations to supper, and by leaving us together,
+till at length it was time to explain. Mrs. Godfrey manag'd our
+little treaty. I let her know that I expected as much money with
+their daughter as would pay off my remaining debt for the
+printing-house, which I believe was not then above a hundred
+pounds. She brought me word they had no such sum to spare; I said
+they might mortgage their house in the loan-office. The answer to
+this, after some days, was, that they did not approve the match;
+that, on inquiry of Bradford, they had been informed the printing
+business was not a profitable one; the types would soon be worn
+out, and more wanted; that S. Keimer and D. Harry had failed one
+after the other, and I should probably soon follow them; and,
+therefore, I was forbidden the house, and the daughter shut up.</p>
+
+<p>Whether this was a real change of sentiment or only artifice, on
+a supposition of our being too far engaged in affection to retract,
+and therefore that we should steal a marriage, which would leave
+them at liberty to give or withhold what they pleas'd, I know not;
+but I suspected the latter, resented it, and went no more. Mrs.
+Godfrey brought me afterward some more favorable accounts of their
+disposition, and would have drawn me on again; but I declared
+absolutely my resolution to have nothing more to do with that
+family. This was resented by the Godfreys; we differed, and they
+removed, leaving me the whole house, and I resolved to take no more
+inmates.</p>
+
+<p>But this affair having turned my thoughts to marriage, I look'd
+round me and made overtures of acquaintance in other places; but
+soon found that, the business of a printer being generally thought
+a poor one, I was not to expect money with a wife, unless with such
+a one as I should not otherwise think agreeable. A friendly
+correspondence as neighbours and old acquaintances had continued
+between me and Mrs. Read's family, who all had a regard for me from
+the time of my first lodging in their house. I was often invited
+there and consulted in their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of
+service. I piti'd poor Miss Read's unfortunate situation, who was
+generally dejected, seldom chearful, and avoided company. I
+considered my giddiness and inconstancy when in London as in a
+great degree the cause of her unhappiness, tho' the mother was good
+enough to think the fault more her own than mine, as she had
+prevented our marrying before I went thither, and persuaded the
+other match in my absence. Our mutual affection was revived, but
+there were now great objections to our union. The match was indeed
+looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be living in
+England; but this could not easily be prov'd, because of the
+distance; and, tho' there was a report of his death, it was not
+certain. Then, tho' it should be true, he had left many debts,
+which his successor might be call'd upon to pay. We ventured,
+however, over all these difficulties, and I took her to wife,
+September 1st, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened that we
+had apprehended; she proved a good and faithful helpmate,<a name=
+"FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62" /><a href="#Footnote_62" class=
+"fnanchor">[62]</a> assisted me much by attending the shop; we
+throve together, and have ever mutually endeavour'd to make each
+other happy. Thus I corrected that great <i>erratum</i> as well as
+I could.</p>
+
+<p>About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, but in a
+little room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that purpose, a
+proposition was made by me, that, since our books were often
+referr'd to in our disquisitions upon the queries, it might be
+convenient to us to have them altogether where we met, that upon
+occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to
+a common library, we should, while we lik'd to keep them together,
+have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other
+members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the
+whole. It was lik'd and agreed to, and we fill'd one end of the
+room with such books as we could best spare. The number was not so
+great as we expected; and tho' they had been of great use, yet some
+inconveniences occurring for want of due care of them, the
+collection, after about a year, was separated, and each took his
+books home again.</p>
+
+<p>And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that
+for a subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put
+into form by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of my
+friends in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings
+each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the
+term our company was to continue. We afterwards obtain'd a charter,
+the company being increased to one hundred: this was the mother of
+all the North American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It
+is become a great thing itself, and continually increasing. These
+libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans,
+made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most
+gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed in
+some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies
+in defense of their privileges.<a name="FNanchor_63" id=
+"FNanchor_63" /><a href="#Footnote_63" class=
+"fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
+
+<p><i>Mem&deg;.</i> Thus far was written with the intention
+express'd in the beginning and therefore contains several little
+family anecdotes of no importance to others. What follows was
+written many years after in compliance with the advice contain'd in
+these letters, and accordingly intended for the public. The affairs
+of the Revolution occasion'd the interruption.<a name="FNanchor_64"
+id="FNanchor_64" /><a href="#Footnote_64" class=
+"fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<p>[<i>Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near
+Paris, 1784.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>It is some time since I receiv'd the above letters, but I have
+been too busy till now to think of complying with the request they
+contain. It might, too, be much better done if I were at home among
+my papers, which would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates;
+but my return being uncertain, and having just now a little
+leisure, I will endeavour to recollect and write what I can; if I
+live to get home, it may there be corrected and improv'd.</p>
+
+<p>Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not
+whether an account is given of the means I used to establish the
+Philadelphia public library, which, from a small beginning, is now
+become so considerable, though I remember to have come down to near
+the time of that transaction (1730). I will therefore begin here
+with an account of it, which may be struck out if found to have
+been already given.</p>
+
+<p>At the time I establish'd myself in Pennsylvania, there was not
+a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of
+Boston. In New York and Philad'a the printers were indeed
+stationers; they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a
+few common school-books. Those who lov'd reading were obliged to
+send for their books from England; the members of the Junto had
+each a few. We had left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired
+a room to hold our club in. I propos'd that we should all of us
+bring our books to that room, where they would not only be ready to
+consult in our conferences, but become a common benefit, each of us
+being at liberty to borrow such as he wish'd to read at home. This
+was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.</p>
+
+<p>Finding the advantage of this little collection, I propos'd to
+render the benefit from books more common, by commencing a public
+subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that
+would be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles
+Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be
+subscribed, by which each subscriber engag'd to pay a certain sum
+down for the first purchase of books, and an annual contribution
+for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in
+Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able,
+with great industry, to find more than fifty persons, mostly young
+tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings
+each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began.
+The books were imported; the library was opened one day in the week
+for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay
+double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon
+manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns, and in other
+provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading
+became fashionable; and our people, having no publick amusements to
+divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with
+books, and in a few years were observ'd by strangers to be better
+instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank
+generally are in other countries.</p>
+
+<p>When we were about to sign the above mentioned articles, which
+were to be binding on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr.
+Brockden, the scrivener, said to us, "You are young men, but it is
+scarcely probable that any of you will live to see the expiration
+of the term fix'd in the instrument." A number of us, however, are
+yet living; but the instrument was after a few years rendered null
+by a charter that incorporated and gave perpetuity to the
+company.</p>
+
+<p>The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the
+subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting
+one's self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be
+suppos'd to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above
+that of one's neighbours, when one has need of their assistance to
+accomplish that project. I therefore put myself as much as I could
+out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of a <i>number of
+friends</i>, who had requested me to go about and propose it to
+such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way my affair went
+on more smoothly, and I ever after practis'd it on such occasions;
+and, from my frequent successes, can heartily recommend it. The
+present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterwards be amply
+repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs,
+someone more vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, and
+then even envy will be disposed to do you justice by plucking those
+assumed feathers, and restoring them to their right owner.</p>
+
+<p>This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant
+study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus
+repair'd in some degree the loss of the learned education my father
+once intended for me. Reading was the only amusement I allow'd
+myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind;
+and my industry in my business continu'd as indefatigable as it was
+necessary. I was indebted for my printing-house; I had a young
+family coming on to be educated, and I had to contend with for
+business two printers, who were established in the place before me.
+My circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My original habits of
+frugality continuing, and my father having, among his instructions
+to me when a boy, frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon, "Seest
+thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he
+shall not stand before mean men," I from thence considered industry
+as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encourag'd
+me, tho' I did not think that I should ever literally <i>stand
+before kings</i>, which, however, has since happened; for I have
+stood before <i>five</i>, and even had the honor of sitting down
+with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>We have an English proverb that says, "<i>He that would thrive,
+must ask his wife</i>." It was lucky for me that I had one as much
+dispos'd to industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me
+chearfully in my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending
+shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We
+kept no idle servants, our table was plain and simple, our
+furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long
+time break and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny
+earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will
+enter families, and make a progress, in spite of principle: being
+call'd one morning to breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a
+spoon of silver! They had been bought for me without my knowledge
+by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty
+shillings, for which she had no other excuse or apology to make,
+but that she thought <i>her</i> husband deserv'd a silver spoon and
+China bowl as well as any of his neighbors. This was the first
+appearance of plate and China in our house, which afterward, in a
+course of years, as our wealth increas'd, augmented gradually to
+several hundred pounds in value.</p>
+
+<p>I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and though
+some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the <i>eternal
+decrees of God</i>, <i>election</i>, <i>reprobation</i>,
+<i>etc.</i>, appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I
+early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect,
+Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious
+principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the
+Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his Providence;
+that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man;
+that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished,
+and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I esteem'd the
+essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in all the
+religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho' with
+different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd
+with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire,
+promote, or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us, and
+make us unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an
+opinion that the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid
+all discourse that might tend to lessen the good opinion another
+might have of his own religion; and as our province increas'd in
+people, and new places of worship were continually wanted, and
+generally erected by voluntary contribution, my mite for such
+purpose, whatever might be the sect, was never refused.</p>
+
+<p>Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an
+opinion of its propriety, and of its utility when rightly
+conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for the
+support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in
+Philadelphia. He us'd to visit me sometimes as a friend, and
+admonished me to attend his administrations, and I was now and then
+prevail'd on to do so, once for five Sundays successively. Had he
+been in my opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might have
+continued,<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> notwithstanding the
+occasion I had for the Sunday's leisure in my course of study; but
+his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or
+explications of the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to
+me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single
+moral principle was inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be
+rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens.</p>
+
+<p>At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth chapter
+of Philippians, "<i>Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
+honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any
+virtue, or any praise, think on these things.</i>" And I imagin'd,
+in a sermon on such a text, we could not miss of having some
+morality. But he confin'd himself to five points only, as meant by
+the apostle, viz.: 1. Keeping holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being
+diligent in reading the holy Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the
+publick worship. 4. Partaking of the Sacrament. 5. Paying a due
+respect to God's ministers. These might be all good things; but, as
+they were not the kind of good things that I expected from that
+text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from any other, was
+disgusted, and attended his preaching no more. I had some years
+before compos'd a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own
+private use (viz., in 1728), entitled, <i>Articles of Belief and
+Acts of Religion</i>. I return'd to the use of this, and went no
+more to the public assemblies. My conduct might be blameable, but I
+leave it, without attempting further to excuse it; my present
+purpose being to relate facts, and not to make apologies for
+them.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Recalled to be
+redeemed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> This part of
+Philadelphia is now the center of the wholesale business
+district.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Paper money is a
+promise to pay its face value in gold or silver. When a state or
+nation issues more such promises than there is a likelihood of its
+being able to redeem, the paper representing the promises
+depreciates in value. Before the success of the Colonies in the
+Revolution was assured, it took hundreds of dollars of their paper
+money to buy a pair of boots.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Mrs. Franklin
+survived her marriage over forty years. Franklin's correspondence
+abounds with evidence that their union was a happy one. "We are
+grown old together, and if she has any faults, I am so used to them
+that I don't perceive them." The following is a stanza from one of
+Franklin's own songs written for the Junto:</p>
+
+<div class="poem2">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Of their Chloes and Phyllises poets may
+prate,</div>
+
+<div class="i2b">I sing my plain country Joan,</div>
+
+<div class="i2">These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my
+life,</div>
+
+<div class="i2b">Blest day that I made her my own."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Here the first
+part of the <i>Autobiography</i>, written at Twyford in 1771, ends.
+The second part, which follows, was written at Passy in 1784.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> After this
+memorandum, Franklin inserted letters from Abel James and Benjamin
+Vaughan, urging him to continue his <i>Autobiography</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Franklin
+expressed a different view about the duty of attending church
+later.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="IX" id="IX" />IX</h4>
+
+<h4>PLAN FOR ATTAINING MORAL PERFECTION</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-i.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-I" />T was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous
+project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without
+committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either
+natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I
+knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see
+why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon
+found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had
+imagined.<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> While my care was employ'd
+in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another;
+habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes
+too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere
+speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely
+virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the
+contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and
+established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform
+rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the
+following method.</p>
+
+<p>In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with
+in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as
+different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name.
+Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and
+drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating
+every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or
+mental, even to our avarice and ambition. I propos'd to myself, for
+the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas
+annex'd to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included
+under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr'd to
+me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept,
+which fully express'd the extent I gave to its meaning.</p>
+
+<p>These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">1. Temperance</span></p>
+
+<p>Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">2. Silence.</span></p>
+
+<p>Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid
+trifling conversation.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">3. Order.</span></p>
+
+<p>Let all your things have their places; let each part of your
+business have its time.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">4. Resolution.</span></p>
+
+<p>Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you
+resolve.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">5. Frugality.</span></p>
+
+<p>Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; <i>i.
+e.</i>, waste nothing.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">6. Industry.</span></p>
+
+<p>Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off
+all unnecessary actions.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">7. Sincerity.</span></p>
+
+<p>Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you
+speak, speak accordingly.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">8. Justice.</span></p>
+
+<p>Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are
+your duty.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">9. Moderation.</span></p>
+
+<p>Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think
+they deserve.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">10. Cleanliness.</span></p>
+
+<p>Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">11. Tranquillity.</span></p>
+
+<p>Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or
+unavoidable.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">12. Chastity.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Rarely use venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation.</p>
+
+<p class="three"><span class="smcap">13. Humility.</span></p>
+
+<p>Imitate Jesus and Socrates.</p>
+
+<p>My intention being to acquire the <i>habitude</i> of all these
+virtues, I judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by
+attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a
+time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to
+another, and so on, till I should have gone thro' the thirteen;
+and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the
+acquisition of certain others, I arrang'd them with that view, as
+they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that
+coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where
+constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against
+the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of
+perpetual temptations. This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence
+would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the
+same time that I improv'd in virtue, and considering that in
+conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use of the ears than of
+the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting
+into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me
+acceptable to trifling company, I gave <i>Silence</i> the second
+place. This and the next, <i>Order</i>, I expected would allow me
+more time for attending to my project and my studies.
+<i>Resolution</i>, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my
+endeavours to obtain all the subsequent virtues; <i>Frugality</i>
+and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing
+affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of
+Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably
+to the advice of Pythagoras<a name="FNanchor_67" id=
+"FNanchor_67" /><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> in
+his Golden Verses, daily examination would be necessary, I
+contrived the following method for conducting that examination.</p>
+
+<p>I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the
+virtues.<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> I rul'd each page with red
+ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week,
+marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross'd these
+columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line
+with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in
+its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every
+fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting
+that virtue upon that day.</p>
+
+<div class="center"><i>Form of the pages.</i></div>
+
+<table width="80%" summary="Morality" border="2" cellpadding="2"
+cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="8" align="center">TEMPERANCE.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="8" align="center"><small>EAT NOT TO DULLNESS<br />
+DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION</small>.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">S.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">M.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">T.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">W.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">T.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">F.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">S.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">T.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">S.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">O.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*&nbsp;&nbsp;*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">R.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">F.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">I.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">*</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">S.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">J.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">M.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8"></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">C.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">T.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">C.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">H.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">J.</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_ltc8">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the
+virtues successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was
+to avoid every the least offense against <i>Temperance</i>, leaving
+the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every
+evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could
+keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit
+of that virtue so much strengthen'd, and its opposite weaken'd,
+that I might venture extending my attention to include the next,
+and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots.
+Proceeding thus to the last, I could go thro' a course compleat in
+thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him who,
+having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad
+herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but
+works on one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplish'd the
+first, proceeds to a second, so I should have, I hoped, the
+encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in
+virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in
+the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a
+clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination.</p>
+
+<p>This my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's
+<i>Cato</i>:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Here will I hold. If there's a power above
+us</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">(And that there is, all nature cries aloud</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">Thro' all her works), He must delight in
+virtue;</div>
+
+<div class="i2a">And that which he delights in must be
+happy."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Another from Cicero,</p>
+
+<p class="one">"O vit&aelig; Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix
+expultrixque vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex pr&aelig;ceptis tuis
+actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus."<a name=
+"FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69" /><a href="#Footnote_69" class=
+"fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or
+virtue:</p>
+
+<p class="one">"Length of days is in her right hand, and in her
+left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and
+all her paths are peace." iii. 16, 17.</p>
+
+<p>And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it
+right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to
+this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd
+to my tables of examination, for daily use.</p>
+
+<p class="one">"<i>O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful
+Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest
+interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom
+dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only
+return in my power for thy continual favours to me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from
+Thomson's Poems, viz.:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i0">"Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!</div>
+
+<div class="i0b">O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!</div>
+
+<div class="i0b">Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,</div>
+
+<div class="i0b">From every low pursuit; and fill my soul</div>
+
+<div class="i0b">With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue
+pure;</div>
+
+<div class="i0b">Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The precept of <i>Order</i> requiring that <i>every part of my
+business should have its allotted time</i>, one page in my little
+book contain'd the following scheme of employment for the
+twenty-four hours of a natural day.</p>
+
+<table class="inline" summary="schedule">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para1" rowspan="7">
+<div class="smcapi">The Morning.</div>
+
+<br />
+<i>Question</i> What good shall I do this day?</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="7"><img src="images/para.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para3">5</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="7"><img src="images/para2.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para4" rowspan="7">&nbsp;&nbsp;Rise, wash, and
+address <i>Powerfull Goodness!</i> Contrive day's business, and
+take the resolution of the day: prosecute the present study, and
+breakfast.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">6</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">7</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table class="inline" summary="schedule">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para1" rowspan="4">
+<div class="smcapi">&nbsp;</div>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="4">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_para3">8</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="4"><img src="images/para3.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para4" rowspan="4">&nbsp;&nbsp;Work.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">9</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">10</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">11</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table class="inline" summary="schedule">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para1" rowspan="2">
+<div class="smcapi">Noon.</div>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="2"><img src="images/para4l.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para3">12</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="2"><img src="images/para4.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para4" rowspan="2">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read, or overlook my
+accounts, and dine.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">1</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table class="inline" summary="schedule">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para1" rowspan="4">
+<div class="smcapi">&nbsp;</div>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="4">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_para3">2</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="4"><img src="images/para3.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para4" rowspan="4">&nbsp;&nbsp;Work.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">4</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">5</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table class="inline" summary="schedule">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para1" rowspan="4">
+<div class="smcapi">Evening</div>
+
+<br />
+<i>Question.</i> What good have I done to-day?</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="4"><img src="images/para3l.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para3">6</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="4"><img src="images/para3.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para4" rowspan="4">&nbsp;&nbsp;Put things in their
+places. Supper. Music or diversion, or conversation.Examination of
+the day.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">7</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">8</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">9</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table class="inline" summary="schedule">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para1" rowspan="7">
+<div class="smcapi">Night</div>
+</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="7"><img src="images/para.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para3">10</td>
+<td class="cell_para2" rowspan="7"><img src="images/para2.jpg"
+height="100%" alt="para" /></td>
+<td class="cell_para4" rowspan="7">&nbsp;&nbsp;Sleep.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">11</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">12</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">1</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">2</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">3</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_para3">4</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination,
+and continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was
+surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had
+imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To
+avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little book, which,
+by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room
+for new ones in a new course, became full of holes, I transferr'd
+my tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on
+which the lines were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain,
+and on those lines I mark'd my faults with a black-lead pencil,
+which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a
+while I went thro' one course only in a year, and afterward only
+one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being
+employ'd in voyages and business abroad, with a multiplicity of
+affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little book with
+me.</p>
+
+<p>My scheme of <span class="smcap">Order</span> gave me the most
+trouble;<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> and I found that, tho' it
+might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave
+him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for
+instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master,
+who must mix with the world, and often receive people of business
+at their own hours. <i>Order</i>, too, with regard to places for
+things, papers, etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had
+not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good
+memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want
+of method. This article, therefore, cost me so much painful
+attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so
+little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that
+I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with
+a faulty character in that respect, like the man who, in buying an
+ax of a smith, my neighbour, desired to have the whole of its
+surface as bright as the edge. The smith consented to grind it
+bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he turn'd, while the
+smith press'd the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the
+stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came
+every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went on, and
+at length would take his ax as it was, without farther grinding.
+"No," said the smith, "turn on, turn on; we shall have it bright
+by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled." "Yes," says the man,
+"<i>but I think I like a speckled ax best</i>." And I believe this
+may have been the case with many, who, having, for want of some
+such means as I employ'd, found the difficulty of obtaining good
+and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue, have
+given up the struggle, and concluded that "<i>a speckled ax was
+best</i>"; for something, that pretended to be reason, was every
+now and then suggesting to me that such extream nicety as I exacted
+of myself might be a kind of foppery in morals, which, if it were
+known, would make me ridiculous; that a perfect character might be
+attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that
+a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his
+friends in countenance.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/illus-020-red.jpg" alt=
+"The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel"
+ title=
+"The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel" /></div>
+
+<p>In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and
+now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the
+want of it. But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the
+perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short
+of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than
+I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it; as those
+who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies, tho'
+they never reach the wish'd-for excellence of those copies, their
+hand is mended by the endeavour, and is tolerable while it
+continues fair and legible.</p>
+
+<p>It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this
+little artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor ow'd the
+constant felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, in which this
+is written. What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand
+of Providence; but, if they arrive, the reflection on past
+happiness enjoy'd ought to help his bearing them with more
+resignation. To Temperance he ascribes his long-continued health,
+and what is still left to him of a good constitution; to Industry
+and Frugality, the early easiness of his circumstances and
+acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge that enabled
+him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some degree of
+reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the
+confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred
+upon him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the
+virtues,<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> even in the imperfect
+state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and
+that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company still
+sought for, and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance. I hope,
+therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and
+reap the benefit.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remark'd that, tho' my scheme was not wholly without
+religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing
+tenets of any particular sect. I had purposely avoided them; for,
+being fully persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method,
+and that it might be serviceable to people in all religions, and
+intending some time or other to publish it, I would not have
+anything in it that should prejudice anyone, of any sect, against
+it. I purposed writing a little comment on each virtue, in which I
+would have shown the advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs
+attending its opposite vice; and I should have called my book <span
+class="smcap">The Art of Virtue</span>,<a name="FNanchor_72" id=
+"FNanchor_72" /><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>
+because it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining
+virtue, which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation
+to be good, that does not instruct and indicate the means, but is
+like the apostle's man of verbal charity, who only without showing
+to the naked and hungry how or where they might get clothes or
+victuals, exhorted them to be fed and clothed.&mdash;James ii. 15,
+16.</p>
+
+<p>But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing
+this comment was never fulfilled. I did, indeed, from time to time,
+put down short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, etc., to be
+made use of in it, some of which I have still by me; but the
+necessary close attention to private business in the earlier part
+of my life, and public business since, have occasioned my
+postponing it; for, it being connected in my mind with <i>a great
+and extensive project</i>, that required the whole man to execute,
+and which an unforeseen succession of employs prevented my
+attending to, it has hitherto remain'd unfinish'd.</p>
+
+<p>In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this
+doctrine, that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are
+forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature of
+man alone considered; that it was, therefore, everyone's interest
+to be virtuous who wish'd to be happy even in this world; and I
+should, from this circumstance (there being always in the world a
+number of rich merchants, nobility, states, and princes, who have
+need of honest instruments for the management of their affairs, and
+such being so rare), have endeavoured to convince young persons
+that no qualities were so likely to make a poor man's fortune as
+those of probity and integrity.</p>
+
+<p>My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker
+friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought
+proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that
+I was not content with being in the right when discussing any
+point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he
+convinc'd me by mentioning several instances; I determined
+endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly
+among the rest, and I added <i>Humility</i> to my list, giving an
+extensive meaning to the word.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the <i>reality</i>
+of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the
+<i>appearance</i> of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct
+contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive
+assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old
+laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the
+language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as <i>certainly,
+undoubtedly</i>, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, <i>I
+conceive, I apprehend</i>, or <i>I imagine</i> a thing to be so or
+so; or it <i>so appears to me at present</i>. When another asserted
+something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of
+contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some
+absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing
+that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right,
+but in the present case there <i>appear'd</i> or <i>seem'd</i> to
+me some difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change
+in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in went on more
+pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions procur'd
+them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less
+mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more
+easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join
+with me when I happened to be in the right.</p>
+
+<p>And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to
+natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to
+me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a
+dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my
+character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had
+early so much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new
+institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in
+public councils when I became a member; for I was but a bad
+speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of
+words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my
+points.</p>
+
+<p>In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so
+hard to subdue as <i>pride</i>. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat
+it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still
+alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you
+will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could
+conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be
+proud of my humility.</p>
+
+<p>[Thus far written at Passy, 1784.]</p>
+
+<p>[<i>"I am now about to write at home, August, 1788, but cannot
+have the help expected from my papers, many of them being lost in
+the war. I have, however, found the following."</i>]<a name=
+"FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73" /><a href="#Footnote_73" class=
+"fnanchor">[73]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> mentioned <i>a great and
+extensive project</i> which I had conceiv'd, it seems proper that
+some account should be here given of that project and its object.
+Its first rise in my mind appears in the following little paper,
+accidentally preserv'd, viz.:</p>
+
+<p><i>Observations</i> on my reading history, in Library, May 19th,
+1731.</p>
+
+<p>"That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions,
+etc., are carried on and effected by parties.</p>
+
+<p>"That the view of these parties is their present general
+interest, or what they take to be such.</p>
+
+<p>"That the different views of these different parties occasion
+all confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man
+has his particular private interest in view.</p>
+
+<p>"That as soon as a party has gain'd its general point, each
+member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which,
+thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occasions
+more confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of
+their country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho' their actings
+bring real good to their country, yet men primarily considered that
+their own and their country's interest was united, and did not act
+from a principle of benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>"That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the
+good of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>"There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a
+United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of
+all nations into a regular body, to be govern'd by suitable good
+and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more
+unanimous in their obedience to, than common people are to common
+laws.</p>
+
+<p>"I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is
+well qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with
+success.</p>
+
+<p class="right">B. F."</p>
+
+<p>Revolving this project in my mind, as to be undertaken
+hereafter, when my circumstances should afford me the necessary
+leisure, I put down from time to time, on pieces of paper, such
+thoughts as occurr'd to me respecting it. Most of these are lost;
+but I find one purporting to be the substance of an intended creed,
+containing, as I thought, the essentials of every known religion,
+and being free of everything that might shock the professors of any
+religion. It is express'd in these words, viz.:</p>
+
+<p>"That there is one God, who made all things.</p>
+
+<p>"That he governs the world by his providence.</p>
+
+<p>"That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and
+thanksgiving.</p>
+
+<p>"But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"That the soul is immortal.</p>
+
+<p>"And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice,
+either here or hereafter."</p>
+
+<p>My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun and
+spread at first among young and single men only; that each person
+to be initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed,
+but should have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks'
+examination and practice of the virtues, as in the beforemention'd
+model; that the existence of such a society should be kept a
+secret, till it was become considerable, to prevent solicitations
+for the admission of improper persons, but that the members should
+each of them search among his acquaintance for ingenuous,
+well-disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, the scheme
+should be gradually communicated; that the members should engage to
+afford their advice, assistance, and support to each other in
+promoting one another's interests, business, and advancement in
+life; that, for distinction, we should be call'd <i>The Society of
+the Free and Easy</i>: free, as being, by the general practice and
+habit of the virtues, free from the dominion of vice; and
+particularly by the practice of industry and frugality, free from
+debt, which exposes a man to confinement, and a species of slavery
+to his creditors.</p>
+
+<p>This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except
+that I communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it
+with some enthusiasm; but my then narrow circumstances, and the
+necessity I was under of sticking close to my business, occasioned
+my postponing the further prosecution of it at that time; and my
+multifarious occupations, public and private, induc'd me to
+continue postponing, so that it has been omitted till I have no
+longer strength or activity left sufficient for such an enterprise;
+though I am still of opinion that it was a practicable scheme, and
+might have been very useful, by forming a great number of good
+citizens; and I was not discourag'd by the seeming magnitude of the
+undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of tolerable
+abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs
+among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all
+amusements or other employments that would divert his attention,
+makes the execution of that same plan his sole study and
+business.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Compare
+Philippians iv, 8.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> A famous Greek
+philosopher, who lived about 582-500 <span class="smcap">B.
+C.</span> The <i>Golden Verses</i> here ascribed to him are
+probably of later origin. "The time which he recommends for this
+work is about even or bed-time, that we may conclude the action of
+the day with the judgment of conscience, making the examination of
+our conversation an evening song to God."</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> This "little
+book" is dated July 1, 1733.&mdash;W. T. F.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> "O philosophy,
+guide of life! O searcher out of virtue and exterminator of vice!
+One day spent well and in accordance with thy precepts is worth an
+immortality of sin."&mdash;<i>Tusculan Inquiries</i>, Book V.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Professor
+McMaster tells us that when Franklin was American Agent in France,
+his lack of business order was a source of annoyance to his
+colleagues and friends. "Strangers who came to see him were amazed
+to behold papers of the greatest importance scattered in the most
+careless way over the table and floor."</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> While there can
+be no question that Franklin's moral improvement and happiness were
+due to the practice of these virtues, yet most people will agree
+that we shall have to go back of his plan for the impelling motive
+to a virtuous life. Franklin's own suggestion that the scheme
+smacks of "foppery in morals" seems justified. Woodrow Wilson well
+puts it: "Men do not take fire from such thoughts, unless something
+deeper, which is missing here, shine through them. What may have
+seemed to the eighteenth century a system of morals seems to us
+nothing more vital than a collection of the precepts of good sense
+and sound conduct. What redeems it from pettiness in this book is
+the scope of power and of usefulness to be seen in Franklin
+himself, who set these standards up in all seriousness and candor
+for his own life." See <i>Galatians</i>, chapter V, for the
+Christian plan of moral perfection.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Nothing so
+likely to make a man's fortune as virtue.&mdash;<i>Marg.
+note</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> This is a
+marginal memorandum.&mdash;B.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="X" id="X" />X</h4>
+
+<h4>POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC AND OTHER ACTIVITIES</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-i.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-I" />N 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of
+<i>Richard Saunders</i>; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five
+years, commonly call'd <i>Poor Richard's Almanac</i>.<a name=
+"FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74" /><a href="#Footnote_74" class=
+"fnanchor">[74]</a> I endeavour'd to make it both entertaining and
+useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand, that I reap'd
+considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand.
+And observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood
+in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a proper
+vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who
+bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little
+spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar
+with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and
+frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing
+virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always
+honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, <i>it is hard for
+an empty sack to stand upright</i>.</p>
+
+<p>These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages and
+nations, I assembled and form'd into a connected discourse prefix'd
+to the Almanack of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the
+people attending an auction. The bringing all these scatter'd
+councils thus into a focus enabled them to make greater impression.
+The piece, being universally approved, was copied in all the
+newspapers of the Continent; reprinted in Britain on a broadside,
+to be stuck up in houses; two translations were made of it in
+French, and great numbers bought by the clergy and gentry, to
+distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants. In
+Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign
+superfluities, some thought it had its share of influence in
+producing that growing plenty of money which was observable for
+several years after its publication.</p>
+
+<div class="center_caption">Two pages from <i>Poor Richard's
+Almanac</i> for 1736. Size of original. Reproduced from a copy at
+the New York Public Library.<br />
+&nbsp;</div>
+
+<table border="0" width="80%" summary="Poor Richard's Almanac" cellpadding="0">
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_poor"><a name="p171" id="p171" /> <a href=
+"images/209-june.jpg"><img src="images/209-junethumb.jpg" alt=
+"June page from Poor Richard's Almanac for 1736" title=
+"June page from Poor Richard's Almanac for 1736" /></a> </td>
+<td class="cell_poor"><a href="images/210-july.jpg"><img src=
+"images/210-julythumb.jpg" alt=
+"July page from Poor Richard's Almanac for 1736" title=
+"July page from Poor Richard's Almanac for 1736" /></a> </td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of
+communicating instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in
+it extracts from the Spectator, and other moral writers; and
+sometimes publish'd little pieces of my own, which had been first
+composed for reading in our Junto. Of these are a Socratic
+dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever might be his parts and
+abilities, a vicious man could not properly be called a man of
+sense; and a discourse on self-denial, showing that virtue was not
+secure till its practice became a habitude, and was free from the
+opposition of contrary inclinations. These may be found in the
+papers about the beginning of 1735.<a name="FNanchor_75" id=
+"FNanchor_75" /><a href="#Footnote_75" class=
+"fnanchor">[75]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all
+libeling and personal abuse, which is of late years become so
+disgraceful to our country. Whenever I was solicited to insert
+anything of that kind, and the writers pleaded, as they generally
+did, the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper was like a
+stage-coach, in which anyone who would pay had a right to a place,
+my answer was, that I would print the piece separately if desired,
+and the author might have as many copies as he pleased to
+distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me to spread his
+detraction; and that, having contracted with my subscribers to
+furnish them with what might be either useful or entertaining, I
+could not fill their papers with private altercation, in which they
+had no concern, without doing them manifest injustice. Now, many of
+our printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of
+individuals by false accusations of the fairest characters among
+ourselves, augmenting animosity even to the producing of duels; and
+are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on
+the government of neighboring states, and even on the conduct of
+our best national allies, which may be attended with the most
+pernicious consequences. These things I mention as a caution to
+young printers, and that they may be encouraged not to pollute
+their presses and disgrace their profession by such infamous
+practices, but refuse steadily, as they may see by my example that
+such a course of conduct will not, on the whole, be injurious to
+their interests.</p>
+
+<p>In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charleston, South
+Carolina, where a printer was wanting. I furnish'd him with a press
+and letters, on an agreement of partnership, by which I was to
+receive one-third of the profits of the business, paying one-third
+of the expense. He was a man of learning, and honest but ignorant
+in matters of account; and, tho' he sometimes made me remittances,
+I could get no account from him, nor any satisfactory state of our
+partnership while he lived. On his decease, the business was
+continued by his widow, who, being born and bred in Holland, where,
+as I have been inform'd, the knowledge of accounts makes a part of
+female education, she not only sent me as clear a state as she
+could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with
+the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterwards, and
+managed the business with such success, that she not only brought
+up reputably a family of children, but, at the expiration of the
+term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house, and establish
+her son in it.</p>
+
+<p>I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending that
+branch of education for our young females, as likely to be of more
+use to them and their children, in case of widowhood, than either
+music or dancing, by preserving them from losses by imposition of
+crafty men, and enabling them to continue, perhaps, a profitable
+mercantile house, with establish'd correspondence, till a son is
+grown up fit to undertake and go on with it, to the lasting
+advantage and enriching of the family.</p>
+
+<p>About the year 1734 there arrived among us from Ireland a young
+Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who delivered with a good
+voice, and apparently extempore, most excellent discourses, which
+drew together considerable numbers of different persuasions, who
+join'd in admiring them. Among the rest, I became one of his
+constant hearers, his sermons pleasing me, as they had little of
+the dogmatical kind, but inculcated strongly the practice of
+virtue, or what in the religious stile are called good works.
+Those, however, of our congregation, who considered themselves as
+orthodox Presbyterians, disapprov'd his doctrine, and were join'd
+by most of the old clergy, who arraign'd him of heterodoxy before
+the synod, in order to have him silenc'd. I became his zealous
+partisan, and contributed all I could to raise a party in his
+favour, and we combated for him awhile with some hopes of success.
+There was much scribbling pro and con upon the occasion; and
+finding that, tho' an elegant preacher, he was but a poor writer, I
+lent him my pen and wrote for him two or three pamphlets, and one
+piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. Those pamphlets, as is
+generally the case with controversial writings, tho' eagerly read
+at the time, were soon out of vogue, and I question whether a
+single copy of them now exists.<a name="FNanchor_76" id=
+"FNanchor_76" /><a href="#Footnote_76" class=
+"fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
+
+<p>During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his cause
+exceedingly. One of our adversaries having heard him preach a
+sermon that was much admired, thought he had somewhere read the
+sermon before, or at least a part of it. On search, he found that
+part quoted at length, in one of the British Reviews, from a
+discourse of Dr. Foster's.<a name="FNanchor_77" id=
+"FNanchor_77" /><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>
+This detection gave many of our party disgust, who accordingly
+abandoned his cause, and occasion'd our more speedy discomfiture in
+the synod. I stuck by him, however, as I rather approv'd his giving
+us good sermons composed by others, than bad ones of his own
+manufacture, tho' the latter was the practice of our common
+teachers. He afterward acknowledg'd to me that none of those he
+preach'd were his own; adding, that his memory was such as enabled
+him to retain and repeat any sermon after one reading only. On our
+defeat, he left us in search elsewhere of better fortune, and I
+quitted the congregation, never joining it after, tho' I continu'd
+many years my subscription for the support of its ministers.</p>
+
+<p>I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so
+much a master of the French as to be able to read the books with
+ease. I then undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also
+learning it, us'd often to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding
+this took up too much of the time I had to spare for study, I at
+length refus'd to play any more, unless on this condition, that the
+victor in every game should have a right to impose a task, either
+in parts of the grammar to be got by heart, or in translations,
+etc., which tasks the vanquish'd was to perform upon honour, before
+our next meeting. As we play'd pretty equally, we thus beat one
+another into that language. I afterwards with a little painstaking,
+acquir'd as much of the Spanish as to read their books also.</p>
+
+<p>I have already mention'd that I had only one year's instruction
+in a Latin school, and that when very young, after which I
+neglected that language entirely. But, when I had attained an
+acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpris'd
+to find, on looking over a Latin Testament, that I understood so
+much more of that language than I had imagined, which encouraged me
+to apply myself again to the study of it, and I met with more
+success, as those preceding languages had greatly smooth'd my
+way.</p>
+
+<p>From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some
+inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages. We are told
+that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having
+acquir'd that, it will be more easy to attain those modern
+languages which are deriv'd from it; and yet we do not begin with
+the Greek, in order more easily to acquire the Latin. It is true
+that, if you can clamber and get to the top of a staircase without
+using the steps, you will more easily gain them in descending; but
+certainly, if you begin with the lowest you will with more ease
+ascend to the top; and I would therefore offer it to the
+consideration of those who superintend the education of our youth,
+whether, since many of those who begin with the Latin quit the same
+after spending some years without having made any great
+proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes almost useless, so
+that their time has been lost, it would not have been better to
+have begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc.; for,
+tho', after spending the same time, they should quit the study of
+languages and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have
+acquired another tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be
+serviceable to them in common life.<a name="FNanchor_78" id=
+"FNanchor_78" /><a href="#Footnote_78" class=
+"fnanchor">[78]</a></p>
+
+<p>After ten years' absence from Boston, and having become easy in
+my circumstances, I made a journey thither to visit my relations,
+which I could not sooner well afford. In returning, I call'd at
+Newport to see my brother, then settled there with his
+printing-house. Our former differences were forgotten, and our
+meeting was very cordial and affectionate. He was fast declining in
+his health, and requested of me that, in case of his death, which
+he apprehended not far distant, I would take home his son, then but
+ten years of age, and bring him up to the printing business. This I
+accordingly perform'd, sending him a few years to school before I
+took him into the office. His mother carried on the business till
+he was grown up, when I assisted him with an assortment of new
+types, those of his father being in a manner worn out. Thus it was
+that I made my brother ample amends for the service I had depriv'd
+him of by leaving him so early.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="60%" src=
+"images/illus-021-red.jpg" alt=
+"Our former differences were forgotten, and our meeting was very cordial and affectionate"
+ title=
+"Our former differences were forgotten, and our meeting was very cordial and affectionate" /></div>
+
+<p>In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by
+the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly,
+and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation.
+This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on
+the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a
+child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the
+same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be
+chosen.</p>
+
+<p>Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and afforded such
+satisfaction to the members, that several were desirous of
+introducing their friends, which could not well be done without
+exceeding what we had settled as a convenient number, viz., twelve.
+We had from the beginning made it a rule to keep our institution a
+secret, which was pretty well observ'd; the intention was to avoid
+applications of improper persons for admittance, some of whom,
+perhaps, we might find it difficult to refuse. I was one of those
+who were against any addition to our number, but, instead of it,
+made in writing a proposal, that every member separately should
+endeavour to form a subordinate club, with the same rules
+respecting queries, etc., and without informing them of the
+connection with the Junto. The advantages proposed were, the
+improvement of so many more young citizens by the use of our
+institutions; our better acquaintance with the general sentiments
+of the inhabitants on any occasion, as the Junto member might
+propose what queries we should desire, and was to report to the
+Junto what pass'd in his separate club; the promotion of our
+particular interests in business by more extensive recommendation,
+and the increase of our influence in public affairs, and our power
+of doing good by spreading thro' the several clubs the sentiments
+of the Junto.</p>
+
+<p>The project was approv'd, and every member undertook to form his
+club, but they did not all succeed. Five or six only were
+compleated, which were called by different names, as the Vine, the
+Union, the Band, etc. They were useful to themselves, and afforded
+us a good deal of amusement, information, and instruction, besides
+answering, in some considerable degree, our views of influencing
+the public opinion on particular occasions, of which I shall give
+some instances in course of time as they happened.</p>
+
+<p>My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, clerk of the
+General Assembly. The choice was made that year without opposition;
+but the year following, when I was again propos'd (the choice, like
+that of the members, being annual), a new member made a long speech
+against me, in order to favour some other candidate. I was,
+however, chosen, which was the more agreeable to me, as, besides
+the pay for the immediate service as clerk, the place gave me a
+better opportunity of keeping up an interest among the members,
+which secur'd to me the business of printing the votes, laws, paper
+money, and other occasional jobbs for the public, that, on the
+whole, were very profitable.</p>
+
+<p>I therefore did not like the opposition of this new member, who
+was a gentleman of fortune and education, with talents that were
+likely to give him, in time, great influence in the House, which,
+indeed, afterwards happened. I did not, however, aim at gaining his
+favour by paying any servile respect to him, but, after some time,
+took this other method. Having heard that he had in his library a
+certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him,
+expressing my desire of perusing that book, and requesting he would
+do me the favour of lending it to me for a few days. He sent it
+immediately, and I return'd it in about a week with another note,
+expressing strongly my sense of the favour. When we next met in the
+House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with
+great civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve
+me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, and our
+friendship continued to his death. This is another instance of the
+truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, <i>"He that has
+once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than
+he whom you yourself have obliged."</i> And it shows how much more
+profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and
+continue inimical proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Virginia, and then
+postmaster-general, being dissatisfied with the conduct of his
+deputy at Philadelphia, respecting some negligence in rendering,
+and inexactitude of his accounts, took from him the commission and
+offered it to me. I accepted it readily, and found it of great
+advantage; for, tho' the salary was small, it facilitated the
+correspondence that improv'd my newspaper, increas'd the number
+demanded, as well as the advertisements to be inserted, so that it
+came to afford me a considerable income. My old competitor's
+newspaper declin'd proportionately, and I was satisfy'd without
+retaliating his refusal, while postmaster, to permit my papers
+being carried by the riders. Thus he suffer'd greatly from his
+neglect in due accounting; and I mention it as a lesson to those
+young men who may be employ'd in managing affairs for others, that
+they should always render accounts, and make remittances, with
+great clearness and punctuality. The character of observing such a
+conduct is the most powerful of all recommendations to new
+employments and increase of business.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> The almanac at
+that time was a kind of periodical as well as a guide to natural
+phenomena and the weather. Franklin took his title from <i>Poor
+Robin</i>, a famous English almanac, and from Richard Saunders, a
+well-known almanac publisher. For the maxims of Poor Richard, see
+pages <a href="#THE_WAY_TO_WEALTH">331</a>-335.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> June 23 and July
+7, 1730.&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> See "A List of
+Books written by, or relating to Benjamin Franklin," by Paul
+Leicester Ford. 1889. p. 15.&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Dr. James Foster
+(1697-1753):&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem2">
+<div class="stanza">
+<div class="i2">"Let modest Foster, if he will excel</div>
+
+<div class="i2">Ten metropolitans in preaching well."</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="three">&mdash;Pope (Epilogue to the Satires, I, 132).</p>
+
+<p>"Those who had not heard Farinelli sing and Foster preach were
+not qualified to appear in genteel company," Hawkins. "History of
+Music."&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> "The authority
+of Franklin, the most eminently practical man of his age, in favor
+of reserving the study of the dead languages until the mind has
+reached a certain maturity, is confirmed by the confession of one
+of the most eminent scholars of any age.</p>
+
+<p>"'Our seminaries of learning,' says Gibbon, 'do not exactly
+correspond with the precept of a Spartan king, that the child
+should be instructed in the arts which will be useful to the man;
+since a finished scholar may emerge from the head of Westminster or
+Eton, in total ignorance of the business and conversation of
+English gentlemen in the latter end of the eighteenth century. But
+these schools may assume the merit of teaching all that they
+pretend to teach, the Latin and Greek
+languages.'"&mdash;Bigelow.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XI" id="XI" />XI</h4>
+
+<h4>INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-i.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-I" />BEGAN now to turn my thoughts a little to public
+affairs, beginning, however, with small matters. The city watch was
+one of the first things that I conceiv'd to want regulation. It was
+managed by the constables of the respective wards in turn; the
+constable warned a number of housekeepers to attend him for the
+night. Those who chose never to attend, paid him six shillings a
+year to be excus'd, which was suppos'd to be for hiring
+substitutes, but was, in reality, much more than was necessary for
+that purpose, and made the constableship a place of profit; and the
+constable, for a little drink, often got such ragamuffins about him
+as a watch, that respectable housekeepers did not choose to mix
+with. Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected, and most of the
+nights spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper to be read in
+Junto, representing these irregularities, but insisting more
+particularly on the inequality of this six-shilling tax of the
+constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it,
+since a poor widow housekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by
+the watch did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as
+much as the wealthiest merchant, who had thousands of pounds' worth
+of goods in his stores.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, I proposed as a more effectual watch, the hiring
+of proper men to serve constantly in that business; and as a more
+equitable way of supporting the charge, the levying a tax that
+should be proportion'd to the property. This idea, being approv'd
+by the Junto, was communicated to the other clubs, but as arising
+in each of them; and though the plan was not immediately carried
+into execution, yet, by preparing the minds of people for the
+change, it paved the way for the law obtained a few years after,
+when the members of our clubs were grown into more influence.</p>
+
+<p>About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in Junto, but
+it was afterward publish'd) on the different accidents and
+carelessnesses by which houses were set on fire, with cautions
+against them, and means proposed of avoiding them. This was much
+spoken of as a useful piece, and gave rise to a project, which soon
+followed it, of forming a company for the more ready extinguishing
+of fires, and mutual assistance in removing and securing of goods
+when in danger. Associates in this scheme were presently found,
+amounting to thirty. Our articles of agreement oblig'd every member
+to keep always in good order, and fit for use, a certain number of
+leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for packing and
+transporting of goods), which were to be brought to every fire; and
+we agreed to meet once a month and spend a social evening together,
+in discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to us upon
+the subjects of fires, as might be useful in our conduct on such
+occasions.</p>
+
+<p>The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more
+desiring to be admitted than we thought convenient for one company,
+they were advised to form another, which was accordingly done; and
+this went on, one new company being formed after another, till they
+became so numerous as to include most of the inhabitants who were
+men of property; and now, at the time of my writing this, tho'
+upward of fifty years since its establishment, that which I first
+formed, called the Union Fire Company, still subsists and
+flourishes, tho' the first members are all deceas'd but myself and
+one, who is older by a year than I am. The small fines that have
+been paid by members for absence at the monthly meetings have been
+apply'd to the purchase of fire-engines, ladders, fire-hooks, and
+other useful implements for each company, so that I question
+whether there is a city in the world better provided with the means
+of putting a stop to beginning conflagrations; and, in fact, since
+these institutions, the city has never lost by fire more than one
+or two houses at a time, and the flames have often been
+extinguished before the house in which they began has been half
+consumed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-022-red.jpg" alt=
+"the flames have often been extinguished" title=
+"the flames have often been extinguished" /></div>
+
+<p>In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr.
+Whitefield,<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> who had made himself
+remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first
+permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy, taking
+a dislike to him, soon refus'd him their pulpits, and he was
+oblig'd to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and
+denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was
+matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe
+the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how
+much they admir'd and respected him, notwithstanding his common
+abuse of them, by assuring them they were naturally <i>half beasts
+and half devils</i>. It was wonderful to see the change soon made
+in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or
+indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if all the world were
+growing religious, so that one could not walk thro' the town in an
+evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every
+street.</p>
+
+<p>And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air,
+subject to its inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was
+no sooner propos'd, and persons appointed to receive contributions,
+but sufficient sums were soon receiv'd to procure the ground and
+erect the building, which was one hundred feet long and seventy
+broad, about the size of Westminster Hall;<a name="FNanchor_80" id=
+"FNanchor_80" /><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>
+and the work was carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a
+much shorter time than could have been expected. Both house and
+ground were vested in trustees, expressly for the use of any
+preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire to say
+something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building not
+being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in
+general; so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a
+missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at
+his service.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all the way thro'
+the colonies to Georgia. The settlement of that province had lately
+been begun, but, instead of being made with hardy, industrious
+husbandmen, accustomed to labour, the only people fit for such an
+enterprise, it was with families of broken shop-keepers and other
+insolvent debtors, many of indolent and idle habits, taken out of
+the jails, who, being set down in the woods, unqualified for
+clearing land, and unable to endure the hardships of a new
+settlement, perished in numbers, leaving many helpless children
+unprovided for. The sight of their miserable situation inspir'd the
+benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield with the idea of building an
+Orphan House there, in which they might be supported and educated.
+Returning northward, he preach'd up this charity, and made large
+collections, for his eloquence had a wonderful power over the
+hearts and purses of his hearers, of which I myself was an
+instance.</p>
+
+<p>I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia was then
+destitute of materials and workmen, and it was proposed to send
+them from Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it would have
+been better to have built the house here, and brought the children
+to it. This I advis'd; but he was resolute in his first project,
+rejected my counsel, and I therefore refus'd to contribute. I
+happened soon after to attend one of his sermons, in the course of
+which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I
+silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket
+a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five
+pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded
+to give the coppers. Another stroke of his oratory made me asham'd
+of that, and determin'd me to give the silver; and he finish'd so
+admirably, that I empty'd my pocket wholly into the collector's
+dish, gold and all. At this sermon there was also one of our club,
+who, being of my sentiments respecting the building in Georgia, and
+suspecting a collection might be intended, had, by precaution,
+emptied his pockets before he came from home. Towards the
+conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt a strong desire to
+give, and apply'd to a neighbour who stood near him, to borrow some
+money for the purpose. The application was unfortunately [made] to
+perhaps the only man in the company who had the firmness not to be
+affected by the preacher. His answer was, "<i>At any other time,
+Friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not now, for
+thee seems to be out of thy right senses.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to suppose that he
+would apply these collections to his own private emolument; but I,
+who was intimately acquainted with him (being employed in printing
+his Sermons and Journals, etc.), never had the least suspicion of
+his integrity, but am to this day decidedly of opinion that he was
+in all his conduct a perfectly <i>honest man</i>; and methinks my
+testimony in his favour ought to have the more weight, as we had no
+religious connection. He us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my
+conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his
+prayers were heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on
+both sides, and lasted to his death.</p>
+
+<p>The following instance will show something of the terms on which
+we stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote
+to me that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where
+he could lodge when there, as he understood his old friend and
+host, Mr. Benezet was removed to Germantown. My answer was, "You
+know my house; if you can make shift with its scanty
+accommodations, you will be most heartily welcome." He reply'd,
+that if I made that kind offer for Christ's sake, I should not miss
+of a reward. And I returned, "<i>Don't let me be mistaken; it was
+not for Christ's sake, but for your sake.</i>" One of our common
+acquaintance jocosely remark'd, that, knowing it to be the custom
+of the saints, when they received any favour, to shift the burden
+of the obligation from off their own shoulders, and place it in
+heaven, I had contriv'd to fix it on earth.</p>
+
+<p>The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he
+consulted me about his Orphan House concern, and his purpose of
+appropriating it to the establishment of a college.</p>
+
+<p>He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and
+sentences so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a
+great distance, especially as his auditories, however numerous,
+observ'd the most exact silence. He preach'd one evening from the
+top of the Courthouse steps, which are in the middle of
+Market-street, and on the west side of Second-street, which crosses
+it at right angles. Both streets were fill'd with his hearers to a
+considerable distance. Being among the hindmost in Market-street, I
+had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring
+backwards down the street towards the river; and I found his voice
+distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise in that
+street obscur'd it. Imagining then a semicircle, of which my
+distance should be the radius, and that it were fill'd with
+auditors, to each of whom I allow'd two square feet, I computed
+that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand. This
+reconcil'd me to the newspaper accounts of his having preach'd to
+twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the ancient
+histories of generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had
+sometimes doubted.</p>
+
+<p>By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily between
+sermons newly compos'd, and those which he had often preach'd in
+the course of his travels. His delivery of the latter was so
+improv'd by frequent repetitions that every accent, every emphasis,
+every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turn'd and well
+plac'd, that, without being interested in the subject, one could
+not help being pleas'd with the discourse; a pleasure of much the
+same kind with that receiv'd from an excellent piece of musick.
+This is an advantage itinerant preachers have over those who are
+stationary, as the latter cannot well improve their delivery of a
+sermon by so many rehearsals.</p>
+
+<p>His writing and printing from time to time gave great advantage
+to his enemies; unguarded expressions, and even erroneous opinions,
+delivered in preaching, might have been afterwards explain'd or
+qualifi'd by supposing others that might have accompani'd them, or
+they might have been deny'd; but <i>litera scripta manet</i>.
+Critics attack'd his writings violently, and with so much
+appearance of reason as to diminish the number of his votaries and
+prevent their increase; so that I am of opinion if he had never
+written anything, he would have left behind him a much more
+numerous and important sect, and his reputation might in that case
+have been still growing, even after his death, as there being
+nothing of his writing on which to found a censure and give him a
+lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty to feign
+for him as great a variety of excellences as their enthusiastic
+admiration might wish him to have possessed.</p>
+
+<p>My business was now continually augmenting, and my circumstances
+growing daily easier, my newspaper having become very profitable,
+as being for a time almost the only one in this and the
+neighbouring provinces. I experienced, too, the truth of the
+observation, "<i>that after getting the first hundred pound, it is
+more easy to get the second</i>," money itself being of a prolific
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I was encourag'd
+to engage in others, and to promote several of my workmen, who had
+behaved well, by establishing them with printing-houses in
+different colonies, on the same terms with that in Carolina. Most
+of them did well, being enabled at the end of our term, six years,
+to purchase the types of me and go on working for themselves, by
+which means several families were raised. Partnerships often finish
+in quarrels; but I was happy in this, that mine were all carried on
+and ended amicably, owing, I think, a good deal to the precaution
+of having very explicitly settled, in our articles, everything to
+be done by or expected from each partner, so that there was nothing
+to dispute, which precaution I would therefore recommend to all who
+enter into partnerships; for, whatever esteem partners may have
+for, and confidence in each other at the time of the contract,
+little jealousies and disgusts may arise, with ideas of inequality
+in the care and burden of the business, etc., which are attended
+often with breach of friendship and of the connection, perhaps with
+lawsuits and other disagreeable consequences.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> George
+Whitefield, pronounced Hwit'field (1714-1770), a celebrated English
+clergyman and pulpit orator, one of the founders of Methodism.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> A part of the
+palace of Westminster, now forming the vestibule to the Houses of
+Parliament in London.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XII" id="XII" />XII</h4>
+
+<h4>DEFENSE OF THE PROVINCE</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-i.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-I" />HAD, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with
+my being established in Pennsylvania. There were, however, two,
+things that I regretted, there being no provision for defense, nor
+for a compleat education of youth; no militia, nor any college. I
+therefore, in 1743, drew up a proposal for establishing an academy;
+and at that time, thinking the Reverend Mr. Peters, who was out of
+employ, a fit person to superintend such an institution, I
+communicated the project to him; but he, having more profitable
+views in the service of the proprietaries, which succeeded,
+declin'd the undertaking; and, not knowing another at that time
+suitable for such a trust, I let the scheme lie awhile dormant. I
+succeeded better the next year, 1744, in proposing and establishing
+a Philosophical Society. The paper I wrote for that purpose will be
+found among my writings, when collected.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to defense, Spain having been several years at war
+against Great Britain, and being at length join'd by France, which
+brought us into great danger; and the laboured and long-continued
+endeavour of our governor, Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker
+Assembly to pass a militia law, and make other provisions for the
+security of the province, having proved abortive, I determined to
+try what might be done by a voluntary association of the people. To
+promote this, I first wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled
+<span class="smcap">Plain Truth</span>, in which I stated our
+defenceless situation in strong lights, with the necessity of union
+and discipline for our defense, and promis'd to propose in a few
+days an association, to be generally signed for that purpose. The
+pamphlet had a sudden and surprising effect. I was call'd upon for
+the instrument of association, and having settled the draft of it
+with a few friends, I appointed a meeting of the citizens in the
+large building before mentioned. The house was pretty full; I had
+prepared a number of printed copies, and provided pens and ink
+dispers'd all over the room. I harangued them a little on the
+subject, read the paper, and explained it, and then distributed the
+copies, which were eagerly signed, not the least objection being
+made.</p>
+
+<p>When the company separated, and the papers were collected, we
+found above twelve hundred hands; and, other copies being dispersed
+in the country, the subscribers amounted at length to upward of ten
+thousand. These all furnished themselves as soon as they could with
+arms, formed themselves into companies and regiments, chose their
+own officers, and met every week to be instructed in the manual
+exercise, and other parts of military discipline. The women, by
+subscriptions among themselves, provided silk colours, which they
+presented to the companies, painted with different devices and
+mottos, which I supplied.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/illus-023-red.jpg" alt=
+"One of the flags of the Pennsylvania Association, 1747. Designed by Franklin and made by the women of Philadelphia."
+ title=
+"One of the flags of the Pennsylvania Association, 1747. Designed by Franklin and made by the women of Philadelphia." /></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">One of the flags of the Pennsylvania
+Association, 1747. Designed by Franklin and made by the women of
+Philadelphia.</div>
+
+<p>The officers of the companies composing the Philadelphia
+regiment, being met, chose me for their colonel; but, conceiving
+myself unfit, I declin'd that station, and recommended Mr.
+Lawrence, a fine person, and man of influence, who was accordingly
+appointed. I then propos'd a lottery to defray the expense of
+building a battery below the town, and furnishing it with cannon.
+It filled expeditiously, and the battery was soon erected, the
+merlons being fram'd of logs and fill'd with earth. We bought some
+old cannon from Boston, but, these not being sufficient, we wrote
+to England for more, soliciting, at the same time, our
+proprietaries for some assistance, tho' without much expectation of
+obtaining it.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence, William Allen, Abram Taylor, Esqr.,
+and myself were sent to New York by the associators, commission'd
+to borrow some cannon of Governor Clinton. He at first refus'd us
+peremptorily; but at dinner with his council, where there was great
+drinking of Madeira wine, as the custom of that place then was, he
+softened by degrees, and said he would lend us six. After a few
+more bumpers he advanc'd to ten; and at length he very
+good-naturedly conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon,
+eighteen-pounders, with their carriages, which we soon transported
+and mounted on our battery, where the associators kept a nightly
+guard while the war lasted, and among the rest I regularly took my
+turn of duty there as a common soldier.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p204" id="p204" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-024-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-024thumb.jpg"
+alt="I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common soldier"
+title=
+"I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common soldier" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"I regularly took my turn of duty there
+as a common soldier"</div>
+
+<p>My activity in these operations was agreeable to the governor
+and council; they took me into confidence, and I was consulted by
+them in every measure wherein their concurrence was thought useful
+to the association. Calling in the aid of religion, I propos'd to
+them the proclaiming a fast, to promote reformation, and implore
+the blessing of Heaven on our undertaking. They embrac'd the
+motion; but, as it was the first fast ever thought of in the
+province, the secretary had no precedent from which to draw the
+proclamation. My education in New England, where a fast is
+proclaimed every year, was here of some advantage: I drew it in the
+accustomed stile, it was translated into German,<a name=
+"FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81" /><a href="#Footnote_81" class=
+"fnanchor">[81]</a> printed in both languages, and divulg'd thro'
+the province. This gave the clergy of the different sects an
+opportunity of influencing their congregations to join in the
+association, and it would probably have been general among all but
+Quakers if the peace had not soon interven'd.</p>
+
+<p>It was thought by some of my friends that, by my activity in
+these affairs, I should offend that sect, and thereby lose my
+interest in the Assembly of the province, where they formed a great
+majority. A young gentleman who had likewise some friends in the
+House, and wished to succeed me as their clerk, acquainted me that
+it was decided to displace me at the next election; and he,
+therefore, in good will, advis'd me to resign, as more consistent
+with my honour than being turn'd out. My answer to him was, that I
+had read or heard of some public man who made it a rule never to
+ask for an office, and never to refuse one when offer'd to him. "I
+approve," says I, "of his rule, and will practice it with a small
+addition; I shall never <i>ask</i>, never <i>refuse</i>, nor ever
+<i>resign</i> an office. If they will have my office of clerk to
+dispose of to another, they shall take it from me. I will not, by
+giving it up, lose my right of some time or other making reprisals
+on my adversaries." I heard, however, no more of this; I was chosen
+again unanimously as usual at the next election. Possibly, as they
+dislik'd my late intimacy with the members of council, who had
+join'd the governors in all the disputes about military
+preparations, with which the House had long been harass'd, they
+might have been pleas'd if I would voluntarily have left them; but
+they did not care to displace me on account merely of my zeal for
+the association, and they could not well give another reason.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed I had some cause to believe that the defense of the
+country was not disagreeable to any of them, provided they were not
+requir'd to assist in it. And I found that a much greater number of
+them than I could have imagined, tho' against offensive war, were
+clearly for the defensive. Many pamphlets <i>pro and con</i> were
+publish'd on the subject, and some by good Quakers, in favour of
+defense, which I believe convinc'd most of their younger
+people.</p>
+
+<p>A transaction in our fire company gave me some insight into
+their prevailing sentiments. It had been propos'd that we should
+encourage the scheme for building a battery by laying out the
+present stock, then about sixty pounds, in tickets of the lottery.
+By our rules, no money could be dispos'd of till the next meeting
+after the proposal. The company consisted of thirty members, of
+which twenty-two were Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions.
+We eight punctually attended the meeting; but, tho' we thought that
+some of the Quakers would join us, we were by no means sure of a
+majority. Only one Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appear'd to oppose the
+measure. He expressed much sorrow that it had ever been propos'd,
+as he said <i>Friends</i> were all against it, and it would create
+such discord as might break up the company. We told him that we saw
+no reason for that; we were the minority, and if <i>Friends</i>
+were against the measure, and outvoted us, we must and should,
+agreeably to the usage of all societies, submit. When the hour for
+business arriv'd it was mov'd to put the vote; he allow'd we might
+then do it by the rules, but, as he could assure us that a number
+of members intended to be present for the purpose of opposing it,
+it would be but candid to allow a little time for their
+appearing.</p>
+
+<p>While we were disputing this, a waiter came to tell me two
+gentlemen below desir'd to speak with me. I went down, and found
+they were two of our Quaker members. They told me there were eight
+of them assembled at a tavern just by; that they were determin'd to
+come and vote with us if there should be occasion, which they hop'd
+would not be the case, and desir'd we would not call for their
+assistance if we could do without it, as their voting for such a
+measure might embroil them with their elders and friends. Being
+thus secure of a majority, I went up, and after a little seeming
+hesitation, agreed to a delay of another hour. This Mr. Morris
+allow'd to be extreamly fair. Not one of his opposing friends
+appear'd, at which he express'd great surprize; and, at the
+expiration of the hour, we carri'd the resolution eight to one; and
+as, of the twenty-two Quakers, eight were ready to vote with us,
+and thirteen, by their absence, manifested that they were not
+inclin'd to oppose the measure, I afterward estimated the
+proportion of Quakers sincerely against defense as one to
+twenty-one only; for these were all regular members of that
+society, and in good reputation among them, and had due notice of
+what was propos'd at that meeting.</p>
+
+<p>The honorable and learned Mr. Logan, who had always been of that
+sect, was one who wrote an address to them, declaring his
+approbation of defensive war, and supporting his opinion by many
+strong arguments. He put into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out
+in lottery tickets for the battery, with directions to apply what
+prizes might be drawn wholly to that service. He told me the
+following anecdote of his old master, William Penn, respecting
+defense. He came over from England, when a young man, with that
+proprietary, and as his secretary. It was war-time, and their ship
+was chas'd by an armed vessel, suppos'd to be an enemy. Their
+captain prepar'd for defense; but told William Penn, and his
+company of Quakers, that he did not expect their assistance, and
+they might retire into the cabin, which they did, except James
+Logan,<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> who chose to stay upon
+deck, and was quarter'd to a gun. The suppos'd enemy prov'd a
+friend, so there was no fighting; but when the secretary went down
+to communicate the intelligence, William Penn rebuk'd him severely
+for staying upon deck, and undertaking to assist in defending the
+vessel, contrary to the principles of <i>Friends</i>, especially as
+it had not been required by the captain. This reproof, being before
+all the company, piqu'd the secretary, who answer'd, <i>"I being
+thy servant, why did thee not order me to come down? But thee was
+willing enough that I should stay and help to fight the ship when
+thee thought there was danger."</i></p>
+
+<p>My being many years in the Assembly, the majority of which were
+constantly Quakers, gave me frequent opportunities of seeing the
+embarrassment given them by their principle against war, whenever
+application was made to them, by order of the crown, to grant aids
+for military purposes. They were unwilling to offend government, on
+the one hand, by a direct refusal; and their friends, the body of
+the Quakers, on the other, by compliance contrary to their
+principles; hence a variety of evasions to avoid complying, and
+modes of disguising the compliance when it became unavoidable. The
+common mode at last was, to grant money under the phrase of its
+being "<i>for the king's use</i>," and never to inquire how it was
+applied.</p>
+
+<p>But, if the demand was not directly from the crown, that phrase
+was found not so proper, and some other was to be invented. As,
+when powder was wanting (I think it was for the garrison at
+Louisburg), and the government of New England solicited a grant of
+some from Pennsylvania, which was much urg'd on the House by
+Governor Thomas, they could not grant money to buy powder, because
+that was an ingredient of war; but they voted an aid to New England
+of three thousand pounds, to be put into the hands of the governor,
+and appropriated it for the purchasing of bread, flour, wheat or
+<i>other grain</i>. Some of the council, desirous of giving the
+House still further embarrassment, advis'd the governor not to
+accept provision, as not being the thing he had demanded; but he
+repli'd, "I shall take the money, for I understand very well their
+meaning; other grain is gunpowder," which he accordingly bought,
+and they never objected to it.<a name="FNanchor_83" id=
+"FNanchor_83" /><a href="#Footnote_83" class=
+"fnanchor">[83]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was in allusion to this fact that, when in our fire company
+we feared the success of our proposal in favour of the lottery, and
+I had said to my friend Mr. Syng, one of our members, "If we fail,
+let us move the purchase of a fire-engine with the money; the
+Quakers can have no objection to that; and then, if you nominate me
+and I you as a committee for that purpose, we will buy a great gun,
+which is certainly a <i>fire-engine</i>." "I see," says he, "you
+have improv'd by being so long in the Assembly; your equivocal
+project would be just a match for their wheat or <i>other
+grain</i>."</p>
+
+<p>These embarrassments that the Quakers suffer'd from having
+establish'd and published it as one of their principles that no
+kind of war was lawful, and which, being once published, they could
+not afterwards, however they might change their minds, easily get
+rid of, reminds me of what I think a more prudent conduct in
+another sect among us, that of the Dunkers. I was acquainted with
+one of its founders, Michael Welfare, soon after it appear'd. He
+complain'd to me that they were grievously calumniated by the
+zealots of other persuasions, and charg'd with abominable
+principles and practices to which they were utter strangers. I told
+him this had always been the case with new sects, and that, to put
+a stop to such abuse, I imagin'd it might be well to publish the
+articles of their belief, and the rules of their discipline. He
+said that it had been propos'd among them, but not agreed to, for
+this reason: "When we were first drawn together as a society," says
+he, "it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to see
+that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were errors;
+and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real truths.
+>From time to time He has been pleased to afford us farther light,
+and our principles have been improving, and our errors diminishing.
+Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this
+progression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological
+knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once print our confession
+of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and confin'd by it,
+and perhaps be unwilling to receive further improvement, and our
+successors still more so, as conceiving what we their elders and
+founders had done, to be something sacred, never to be departed
+from."</p>
+
+<p>This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the
+history of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in possession
+of all truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong;
+like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance
+before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as
+those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side,
+but near him all appears clear, tho' in truth he is as much in the
+fog as any of them. To avoid this kind of embarrassment, the
+Quakers have of late years been gradually declining the public
+service in the Assembly and in the magistracy, choosing rather to
+quit their power than their principle.</p>
+
+<p>In order of time, I should have mentioned before, that having,
+in 1742, invented an open stove<a name="FNanchor_84" id=
+"FNanchor_84" /><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a>
+for the better warming of rooms, and at the same time saving fuel,
+as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering, I made a present
+of the model to Mr. Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who,
+having an iron-furnace,<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85" /><a
+href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> found the casting of
+the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were
+growing in demand. To promote that demand, I wrote and published a
+pamphlet, entitled "<i>An Account of the new-invented Pennsylvania
+Fireplaces; wherein their Construction and Manner of Operation is
+particularly explained; their Advantages above every other Method
+of warming Rooms demonstrated; and all Objections that have been
+raised against the Use of them answered and obviated</i>," etc.
+This pamphlet had a good effect. Gov'r. Thomas was so pleas'd with
+the construction of this stove, as described in it, that he offered
+to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of
+years; but I declin'd it from a principle which has ever weighed
+with me on such occasions, viz., <i>That, as we enjoy great
+advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an
+opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we
+should do freely and generously.</i></p>
+
+<p>An ironmonger in London however, assuming a good deal of my
+pamphlet, and working it up into his own, and making some small
+changes in the machine, which rather hurt its operation, got a
+patent for it there, and made, as I was told, a little fortune by
+it. And this is not the only instance of patents taken out for my
+inventions by others, tho' not always with the same success, which
+I never contested, as having no desire of profiting by patents
+myself, and hating disputes. The use of these fireplaces in very
+many houses, both of this and the neighbouring colonies, has been,
+and is, a great saving of wood to the inhabitants.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Wm. Penn's
+agents sought recruits for the colony of Pennsylvania in the low
+countries of Germany, and there are still in eastern Pennsylvania
+many Germans, inaccurately called Pennsylvania Dutch. Many of them
+use a Germanized English.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> James Logan
+(1674-1751) came to America with William Penn in 1699, and was the
+business agent for the Penn family. He bequeathed his valuable
+library, preserved at his country seat, "Senton," to the city of
+Philadelphia.&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> See the
+votes.&mdash;<i>Marg. note</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> The Franklin
+stove is still in use.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Warwick Furnace,
+Chester County, Pennsylvania, across the Schuylkill River from
+Pottstown.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XIII" id="XIII" />XIII</h4>
+
+<div class="center_medium1"><b>PUBLIC SERVICES AND DUTIES</b></div>
+
+<div class="center_medium1"><b>(1749-1753)</b></div>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-p.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-P" />EACE being concluded, and the association business
+therefore at an end, I turn'd my thoughts again to the affair of
+establishing an academy. The first step I took was to associate in
+the design a number of active friends, of whom the Junto furnished
+a good part; the next was to write and publish a pamphlet, entitled
+<i>Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
+Pennsylvania</i>. This I distributed among the principal
+inhabitants gratis; and as soon as I could suppose their minds a
+little prepared by the perusal of it, I set on foot a subscription
+for opening and supporting an academy; it was to be paid in quotas
+yearly for five years; by so dividing it, I judg'd the subscription
+might be larger, and I believe it was so, amounting to no less, if
+I remember right, than five thousand pounds.</p>
+
+<p>In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their
+publication, not as an act of mine, but of some <i>publick-spirited
+gentlemen</i>, avoiding as much as I could, according to my usual
+rule, the presenting myself to the publick as the author of any
+scheme for their benefit.</p>
+
+<p>The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate execution,
+chose out of their number twenty-four trustees, and appointed Mr.
+Francis,<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> then attorney-general, and
+myself to draw up constitutions for the government of the academy;
+which being done and signed, a house was hired, masters engag'd,
+and the schools opened, I think, in the same year, 1749.</p>
+
+<p>The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon found too
+small, and we were looking out for a piece of ground, properly
+situated, with intention to build, when Providence threw into our
+way a large house ready built, which, with a few alterations, might
+well serve our purpose. This was the building before mentioned,
+erected by the hearers of Mr. Whitefield, and was obtained for us
+in the following manner.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be noted that the contributions to this building being
+made by people of different sects, care was taken in the nomination
+of trustees, in whom the building and ground was to be vested, that
+a predominancy should not be given to any sect, lest in time that
+predominancy might be a means of appropriating the whole to the use
+of such sect, contrary to the original intention. It was therefore
+that one of each sect was appointed, viz., one Church-of-England
+man, one Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Moravian, etc., those, in
+case of vacancy by death, were to fill it by election from among
+the contributors. The Moravian happen'd not to please his
+colleagues, and on his death they resolved to have no other of that
+sect. The difficulty then was, how to avoid having two of some
+other sect, by means of the new choice.</p>
+
+<p>Several persons were named, and for that reason not agreed to.
+At length one mention'd me, with the observation that I was merely
+an honest man, and of no sect at all, which prevailed with them to
+chuse me. The enthusiasm which existed when the house was built had
+long since abat'd, and its trustees had not been able to procure
+fresh contributions for paying the ground-rent, and discharging
+some other debts the building had occasion'd, which embarrass'd
+them greatly. Being now a member of both sets of trustees, that for
+the building and that for the academy, I had a good opportunity of
+negotiating with both, and brought them finally to an agreement, by
+which the trustees for the building were to cede it to those of the
+academy, the latter undertaking to discharge the debt, to keep
+forever open in the building a large hall for occasional preachers,
+according to the original intention, and maintain a free-school for
+the instruction of poor children. Writings were accordingly drawn,
+and on paying the debts the trustees of the academy were put in
+possession of the premises; and by dividing the great and lofty
+hall into stories, and different rooms above and below for the
+several schools, and purchasing some additional ground, the whole
+was soon made fit for our purpose, and the scholars remov'd into
+the building. The care and trouble of agreeing with the workmen,
+purchasing materials, and superintending the work, fell upon me;
+and I went thro' it the more cheerfully, as it did not then
+interfere with my private business, having the year before taken a
+very able, industrious, and honest partner, Mr. David Hall, with
+whose character I was well acquainted, as he had work'd for me four
+years. He took off my hands all care of the printing-office, paying
+me punctually my share of the profits. The partnership continued
+eighteen years, successfully for us both.</p>
+
+<p>The trustees of the academy, after a while, were incorporated by
+a charter from the governor; their funds were increas'd by
+contributions in Britain and grants of land from the proprietaries,
+to which the Assembly has since made considerable addition; and
+thus was established the present University of Philadelphia.<a
+name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87" /><a href="#Footnote_87" class=
+"fnanchor">[87]</a> I have been continued one of its trustees from
+the beginning, now near forty years, and have had the very great
+pleasure of seeing a number of the youth who have receiv'd their
+education in it, distinguish'd by their improv'd abilities,
+serviceable in public stations, and ornaments to their country.</p>
+
+<p>When I disengaged myself, as above mentioned, from private
+business, I flatter'd myself that, by the sufficient tho' moderate
+fortune I had acquir'd, I had secured leisure during the rest of my
+life for philosophical studies and amusements. I purchased all Dr.
+Spence's apparatus, who had come from England to lecture here, and
+I proceeded in my electrical experiments with great alacrity; but
+the publick, now considering me as a man of leisure, laid hold of
+me for their purposes, every part of our civil government, and
+almost at the same time, imposing some duty upon me. The governor
+put me into the commission of the peace; the corporation of the
+city chose me of the common council, and soon after an alderman;
+and the citizens at large chose me a burgess to represent them in
+Assembly. This latter station was the more agreeable to me, as I
+was at length tired with sitting there to hear debates, in which,
+as clerk, I could take no part, and which were often so
+unentertaining that I was induc'd to amuse myself with making magic
+squares or circles, or anything to avoid weariness; and I conceiv'd
+my becoming a member would enlarge my power of doing good. I would
+not, however, insinuate that my ambition was not flatter'd by all
+these promotions; it certainly was; for, considering my low
+beginning, they were great things to me; and they were still more
+pleasing, as being so many spontaneous testimonies of the public
+good opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited.</p>
+
+<p>The office of justice of the peace I try'd a little, by
+attending a few courts, and sitting on the bench to hear causes;
+but finding that more knowledge of the common law than I possess'd
+was necessary to act in that station with credit, I gradually
+withdrew from it, excusing myself by my being oblig'd to attend the
+higher duties of a legislator in the Assembly. My election to this
+trust was repeated every year for ten years, without my ever asking
+any elector for his vote, or signifying, either directly or
+indirectly, any desire of being chosen. On taking my seat in the
+House, my son was appointed their clerk.</p>
+
+<p>The year following, a treaty being to be held with the Indians
+at Carlisle, the governor sent a message to the House, proposing
+that they should nominate some of their members, to be join'd with
+some members of council, as commissioners for that purpose.<a name=
+"FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88" /><a href="#Footnote_88" class=
+"fnanchor">[88]</a> The House named the speaker (Mr. Norris) and
+myself; and, being commission'd, we went to Carlisle, and met the
+Indians accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>As those people are extreamly apt to get drunk, and, when so,
+are very quarrelsome and disorderly, we strictly forbad the selling
+any liquor to them; and when they complain'd of this restriction,
+we told them that if they would continue sober during the treaty,
+we would give them plenty of rum when business was over. They
+promis'd this, and they kept their promise, because they could get
+no liquor, and the treaty was conducted very orderly, and concluded
+to mutual satisfaction. They then claim'd and received the rum;
+this was in the afternoon: they were near one hundred men, women,
+and children, and were lodg'd in temporary cabins, built in the
+form of a square, just without the town. In the evening, hearing a
+great noise among them, the commissioners walk'd out to see what
+was the matter. We found they had made a great bonfire in the
+middle of the square; they were all drunk, men and women,
+quarreling and fighting. Their dark-colour'd bodies, half naked,
+seen only by the gloomy light of the bonfire, running after and
+beating one another with firebrands, accompanied by their horrid
+yellings, form'd a scene the most resembling our ideas of hell that
+could well be imagin'd; there was no appeasing the tumult, and we
+retired to our lodging. At midnight a number of them came
+thundering at our door, demanding more rum, of which we took no
+notice.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, sensible they had misbehav'd in giving us that
+disturbance, they sent three of their old counselors to make their
+apology. The orator acknowledg'd the fault, but laid it upon the
+rum; and then endeavoured to excuse the rum by saying, "<i>The
+Great Spirit, who made all things, made everything for some use,
+and whatever use he design'd anything for, that use it should
+always be put to. Now, when he made rum, he said, 'Let this be for
+the Indians to get drunk with,' and it must be so.</i>" And,
+indeed, if it be the design of Providence to extirpate these
+savages in order to make room for cultivators of the earth, it
+seems not improbable that rum may be the appointed means. It has
+already annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the
+sea-coast.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p224" id="p224" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-025-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-025thumb.jpg"
+alt=
+"In the evening, hearing a great noise among them, the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter"
+ title=
+"In the evening, hearing a great noise among them, the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"In the evening, hearing a great noise
+among them, the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the
+matter"</div>
+
+<p>In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of mine, conceived
+the idea of establishing a hospital in Philadelphia (a very
+beneficent design, which has been ascrib'd to me, but was
+originally his), for the reception and cure of poor sick persons,
+whether inhabitants of the province or strangers. He was zealous
+and active in endeavouring to procure subscriptions for it, but the
+proposal being a novelty in America, and at first not well
+understood, he met but with small success.</p>
+
+<p>At length he came to me with the compliment that he found there
+was no such thing as carrying a public-spirited project through
+without my being concern'd in it. "For," says he, "I am often ask'd
+by those to whom I propose subscribing, Have you consulted Franklin
+upon this business? And what does he think of it? And when I tell
+them that I have not (supposing it rather out of your line), they
+do not subscribe, but say they will consider of it." I enquired
+into the nature and probable utility of his scheme, and receiving
+from him a very satisfactory explanation, I not only subscrib'd to
+it myself, but engag'd heartily in the design of procuring
+subscriptions from others. Previously, however, to the
+solicitation, I endeavoured to prepare the minds of the people by
+writing on the subject in the newspapers, which was my usual custom
+in such cases, but which he had omitted.</p>
+
+<p>The subscriptions afterwards were more free and generous; but,
+beginning to flag, I saw they would be insufficient without some
+assistance from the Assembly, and therefore propos'd to petition
+for it, which was done. The country members did not at first relish
+the project; they objected that it could only be serviceable to the
+city, and therefore the citizens alone should be at the expense of
+it; and they doubted whether the citizens themselves generally
+approv'd of it. My allegation on the contrary, that it met with
+such approbation as to leave no doubt of our being able to raise
+two thousand pounds by voluntary donations, they considered as a
+most extravagant supposition, and utterly impossible.</p>
+
+<p>On this I form'd my plan; and, asking leave to bring in a bill
+for incorporating the contributors according to the prayer of their
+petition, and granting them a blank sum of money, which leave was
+obtained chiefly on the consideration that the House could throw
+the bill out if they did not like it, I drew it so as to make the
+important clause a conditional one, viz., "And be it enacted, by
+the authority aforesaid, that when the said contributors shall have
+met and chosen their managers and treasurer, <i>and shall have
+raised by their contributions a capital stock
+of&mdash;&mdash;value</i> (the yearly interest of which is to be
+applied to the accommodating of the sick poor in the said hospital,
+free of charge for diet, attendance, advice, and medicines), <i>and
+shall make the same appear to the satisfaction of the speaker of
+the Assembly for the time being</i>, that <i>then</i> it shall and
+may be lawful for the said speaker, and he is hereby required, to
+sign an order on the provincial treasurer for the payment of two
+thousand pounds, in two yearly payments, to the treasurer of the
+said hospital, to be applied to the founding, building, and
+finishing of the same."</p>
+
+<p>This condition carried the bill through; for the members, who
+had oppos'd the grant, and now conceiv'd they might have the credit
+of being charitable without the expense, agreed to its passage; and
+then, in soliciting subscriptions among the people, we urg'd the
+conditional promise of the law as an additional motive to give,
+since every man's donation would be doubled; thus the clause work'd
+both ways. The subscriptions accordingly soon exceeded the
+requisite sum, and we claim'd and receiv'd the public gift, which
+enabled us to carry the design into execution. A convenient and
+handsome building was soon erected; the institution has by constant
+experience been found useful, and flourishes to this day; and I do
+not remember any of my political manoeuvers, the success of which
+gave me at the time more pleasure, or wherein, after thinking of
+it, I more easily excus'd myself for having made some use of
+cunning.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time that another projector, the Rev. Gilbert
+Tennent<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a>, came to me with a request
+that I would assist him in procuring a subscription for erecting a
+new meeting-house. It was to be for the use of a congregation he
+had gathered among the Presbyterians, who were originally disciples
+of Mr. Whitefield. Unwilling to make myself disagreeable to my
+fellow-citizens by too frequently soliciting their contributions, I
+absolutely refus'd. He then desired I would furnish him with a list
+of the names of persons I knew by experience to be generous and
+public-spirited. I thought it would be unbecoming in me, after
+their kind compliance with my solicitations, to mark them out to be
+worried by other beggars, and therefore refus'd also to give such a
+list. He then desir'd I would at least give him my advice. "That I
+will readily do," said I; "and, in the first place, I advise you to
+apply to all those whom you know will give something; next, to
+those whom you are uncertain whether they will give anything or
+not, and show them the list of those who have given; and, lastly,
+do not neglect those who you are sure will give nothing, for in
+some of them you may be mistaken." He laugh'd and thank'd me, and
+said he would take my advice. He did so, for he ask'd of
+<i>everybody</i>, and he obtain'd a much larger sum than he
+expected, with which he erected the capacious and very elegant
+meeting-house that stands in Arch-street.</p>
+
+<p>Our city, tho' laid out with a beautiful regularity, the streets
+large, straight, and crossing each other at right angles, had the
+disgrace of suffering those streets to remain long unpav'd, and in
+wet weather the wheels of heavy carriages plough'd them into a
+quagmire, so that it was difficult to cross them; and in dry
+weather the dust was offensive. I had liv'd near what was call'd
+the Jersey Market, and saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud
+while purchasing their provisions. A strip of ground down the
+middle of that market was at length pav'd with brick, so that,
+being once in the market, they had firm footing, but were often
+over shoes in dirt to get there. By talking and writing on the
+subject, I was at length instrumental in getting the street pav'd
+with stone between the market and the brick'd foot-pavement, that
+was on each side next the houses. This, for some time, gave an easy
+access to the market dry-shod; but, the rest of the street not
+being pav'd, whenever a carriage came out of the mud upon this
+pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was soon
+cover'd with mire, which was not remov'd, the city as yet having no
+scavengers.</p>
+
+<p>After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious man, who was
+willing to undertake keeping the pavement clean, by sweeping it
+twice a week, carrying off the dirt from before all the neighbours'
+doors, for the sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each house.
+I then wrote and printed a paper setting forth the advantages to
+the neighbourhood that might be obtain'd by this small expense; the
+greater ease in keeping our houses clean, so much dirt not being
+brought in by people's feet; the benefit to the shops by more
+custom, etc., etc., as buyers could more easily get at them; and by
+not having, in windy weather, the dust blown in upon their goods,
+etc., etc. I sent one of these papers to each house, and in a day
+or two went round to see who would subscribe an agreement to pay
+these sixpences; it was unanimously sign'd, and for a time well
+executed. All the inhabitants of the city were delighted with the
+cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded the market, it being a
+convenience to all, and this rais'd a general desire to have all
+the streets paved, and made the people more willing to submit to a
+tax for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, and brought
+it into the Assembly. It was just before I went to England, in
+1757, and did not pass till I was gone,<a name="FNanchor_90" id=
+"FNanchor_90" /><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a>
+and then with an alteration in the mode of assessment, which I
+thought not for the better, but with an additional provision for
+lighting as well as paving the streets, which was a great
+improvement. It was by a private person, the late Mr. John Clifton,
+his giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing one at his
+door, that the people were first impress'd with the idea of
+enlighting all the city. The honour of this public benefit has also
+been ascrib'd to me, but it belongs truly to that gentleman. I did
+but follow his example, and have only some merit to claim
+respecting the form of our lamps, as differing from the globe lamps
+we were at first supply'd with from London. Those we found
+inconvenient in these respects: they admitted no air below; the
+smoke, therefore, did not readily go out above, but circulated in
+the globe, lodg'd on its inside, and soon obstructed the light they
+were intended to afford; giving, besides, the daily trouble of
+wiping them clean; and an accidental stroke on one of them would
+demolish it, and render it totally useless. I therefore suggested
+the composing them of four flat panes, with a long funnel above to
+draw up the smoke, and crevices admitting air below, to facilitate
+the ascent of the smoke; by this means they were kept clean, and
+did not grow dark in a few hours, as the London lamps do, but
+continu'd bright till morning, and an accidental stroke would
+generally break but a single pane, easily repair'd.</p>
+
+<p>I have sometimes wonder'd that the Londoners did not, from the
+effect holes in the bottom of the globe lamps us'd at Vauxhall<a
+name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91" /><a href="#Footnote_91" class=
+"fnanchor">[91]</a> have in keeping them clean, learn to have such
+holes in their street lamps. But, these holes being made for
+another purpose, viz., to communicate flame more suddenly to the
+wick by a little flax hanging down thro' them, the other use, of
+letting in air, seems not to have been thought of; and therefore,
+after the lamps have been lit a few hours, the streets of London
+are very poorly illuminated.</p>
+
+<p>The mention of these improvements puts me in mind of one I
+propos'd, when in London, to Dr. Fothergill, who was among the best
+men I have known, and a great promoter of useful projects. I had
+observ'd that the streets, when dry, were never swept, and the
+light dust carried away; but it was suffer'd to accumulate till wet
+weather reduc'd it to mud, and then, after lying some days so deep
+on the pavement that there was no crossing but in paths kept clean
+by poor people with brooms, it was with great labour rak'd together
+and thrown up into carts open above, the sides of which suffered
+some of the slush at every jolt on the pavement to shake out and
+fall, sometimes to the annoyance of foot-passengers. The reason
+given for not sweeping the dusty streets was that the dust would
+fly into the windows of shops and houses.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="60%" src=
+"images/illus-026-red.jpg" alt=
+"a poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch broom" title=
+"a poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch broom" /></div>
+
+<p>An accidental occurrence had instructed me how much sweeping
+might be done in a little time. I found at my door in
+Craven-street,<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> one morning, a poor woman
+sweeping my pavement with a birch broom; she appeared very pale and
+feeble, as just come out of a fit of sickness. I ask'd who employ'd
+her to sweep there; she said, "Nobody, but I am very poor and in
+distress, and I sweeps before gentle-folkses doors, and hopes they
+will give me something." I bid her sweep the whole street clean,
+and I would give her a shilling; this was at nine o'clock; at 12
+she came for the shilling. From the slowness I saw at first in her
+working, I could scarce believe that the work was done so soon, and
+sent my servant to examine it, who reported that the whole street
+was swept perfectly clean, and all the dust plac'd in the gutter,
+which was in the middle; and the next rain wash'd it quite away, so
+that the pavement and even the kennel were perfectly clean.</p>
+
+<p>I then judg'd that, if that feeble woman could sweep such a
+street in three hours, a strong, active man might have done it in
+half the time. And here let me remark the convenience of having but
+one gutter in such a narrow street, running down its middle,
+instead of two, one on each side, near the footway; for where all
+the rain that falls on a street runs from the sides and meets in
+the middle, it forms there a current strong enough to wash away all
+the mud it meets with; but when divided into two channels, it is
+often too weak to cleanse either, and only makes the mud it finds
+more fluid, so that the wheels of carriages and feet of horses
+throw and dash it upon the foot-pavement, which is thereby rendered
+foul and slippery, and sometimes splash it upon those who are
+walking. My proposal, communicated to the good doctor, was as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"For the more effectual cleaning and keeping clean the streets
+of London and Westminster, it is proposed that the several watchmen
+be contracted with to have the dust swept up in dry seasons, and
+the mud rak'd up at other times, each in the several streets and
+lanes of his round; that they be furnish'd with brooms and other
+proper instruments for these purposes, to be kept at their
+respective stands, ready to furnish the poor people they may employ
+in the service.</p>
+
+<p>"That in the dry summer months the dust be all swept up into
+heaps at proper distances, before the shops and windows of houses
+are usually opened, when the scavengers, with close-covered carts,
+shall also carry it all away.</p>
+
+<p>"That the mud, when rak'd up, be not left in heaps to be spread
+abroad again by the wheels of carriages and trampling of horses,
+but that the scavengers be provided with bodies of carts, not
+plac'd high upon wheels, but low upon sliders, with lattice
+bottoms, which, being cover'd with straw, will retain the mud
+thrown into them, and permit the water to drain from it, whereby it
+will become much lighter, water making the greatest part of its
+weight; these bodies of carts to be plac'd at convenient distances,
+and the mud brought to them in wheelbarrows; they remaining where
+plac'd till the mud is drain'd, and then horses brought to draw
+them away."</p>
+
+<p>I have since had doubts of the practicability of the latter part
+of this proposal, on account of the narrowness of some streets, and
+the difficulty of placing the draining-sleds so as not to encumber
+too much the passage; but I am still of opinion that the former,
+requiring the dust to be swept up and carry'd away before the shops
+are open, is very practicable in the summer, when the days are
+long; for, in walking thro' the Strand and Fleet-street one morning
+at seven o'clock, I observ'd there was not one shop open, tho' it
+had been daylight and the sun up above three hours; the inhabitants
+of London chusing voluntarily to live much by candle-light, and
+sleep by sunshine, and yet often complain, a little absurdly, of
+the duty on candles, and the high price of tallow.</p>
+
+<p>Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding or
+relating; but when they consider that tho' dust blown into the eyes
+of a single person, or into a single shop on a windy day, is but of
+small importance, yet the great number of the instances in a
+populous city, and its frequent repetitions give it weight and
+consequence, perhaps they will not censure very severely those who
+bestow some attention to affairs of this seemingly low nature.
+Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good
+fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur
+every day. Thus, if you teach a poor young man to shave himself,
+and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the
+happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. The
+money may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having
+foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the
+frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes
+dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors; he shaves when
+most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its being
+done with a good instrument. With these sentiments I have hazarded
+the few preceding pages, hoping they may afford hints which some
+time or other may be useful to a city I love, having lived many
+years in it very happily, and perhaps to some of our towns in
+America.</p>
+
+<p>Having been for some time employed by the postmaster-general of
+America as his comptroller in regulating several offices, and
+bringing the officers to account, I was, upon his death in 1753,
+appointed, jointly with Mr. William Hunter, to succeed him, by a
+commission from the postmaster-general in England. The American
+office never had hitherto paid anything to that of Britain. We were
+to have six hundred pounds a year between us, if we could make that
+sum out of the profits of the office. To do this, a variety of
+improvements were necessary; some of these were inevitably at first
+expensive, so that in the first four years the office became above
+nine hundred pounds in debt to us. But it soon after began to repay
+us; and before I was displac'd by a freak of the ministers, of
+which I shall speak hereafter, we had brought it to yield <i>three
+times</i> as much clear revenue to the crown as the post-office of
+Ireland. Since that imprudent transaction, they have receiv'd from
+it&mdash;not one farthing!</p>
+
+<p>The business of the post-office occasion'd my taking a journey
+this year to New England, where the College of Cambridge, of their
+own motion, presented me with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale
+College, in Connecticut, had before made me a similar compliment.
+Thus, without studying in any college, I came to partake of their
+honours. They were conferr'd in consideration of my improvements
+and discoveries in the electric branch of natural philosophy.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Tench Francis,
+uncle of Sir Philip Francis, emigrated from England to Maryland,
+and became attorney for Lord Baltimore. He removed to Philadelphia
+and was attorney-general of Pennsylvania from 1741 to 1755. He died
+in Philadelphia August 16, 1758.&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Later called the
+University of Pennsylvania.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> See the votes to
+have this more correctly.&mdash;<i>Marg. note.</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Gilbert Tennent
+(1703-1764) came to America with his father, Rev. William Tennent,
+and taught for a time in the "Log College," from which sprang the
+College of New Jersey.&mdash;Smyth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> See votes.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Vauxhall
+Gardens, once a popular and fashionable London resort, situated on
+the Thames above Lambeth. The Gardens were closed in 1859, but they
+will always be remembered because of Sir Roger de Coverley's visit
+to them in the <i>Spectator</i> and from the descriptions in
+Smollett's <i>Humphry Clinker</i> and Thackeray's <i>Vanity
+Fair</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> A short street
+near Charing Cross, London.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XIV" id="XIV" />XIV</h4>
+
+<h4>ALBANY PLAN OF UNION</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-i.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-I" />N 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a
+congress of commissioners from the different colonies was, by an
+order of the Lords of Trade, to be assembled at Albany, there to
+confer with the chiefs of the Six Nations concerning the means of
+defending both their country and ours. Governor Hamilton, having
+receiv'd this order, acquainted the House with it, requesting they
+would furnish proper presents for the Indians, to be given on this
+occasion; and naming the speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself to join
+Mr. Thomas Penn and Mr. Secretary Peters as commissioners to act
+for Pennsylvania. The House approv'd the nomination, and provided
+the goods for the present, and tho' they did not much like treating
+out of the provinces; and we met the other commissioners at Albany
+about the middle of June.</p>
+
+<p>In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for the union of
+all the colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary
+for defense, and other important general purposes. As we pass'd
+thro' New York, I had there shown my project to Mr. James Alexander
+and Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public
+affairs, and, being fortified by their approbation, I ventur'd to
+lay it before the Congress. It then appeared that several of the
+commissioners had form'd plans of the same kind. A previous
+question was first taken, whether a union should be established,
+which pass'd in the affirmative unanimously. A committee was then
+appointed, one member from each colony, to consider the several
+plans and report. Mine happen'd to be preferr'd, and, with a few
+amendments, was accordingly reported.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/illus-027-red.jpg" alt="JOIN or DIE." title=
+"JOIN or DIE." /></div>
+
+<p>By this plan the general government was to be administered by a
+president-general, appointed and supported by the crown, and a
+grand council was to be chosen by the representatives of the people
+of the several colonies, met in their respective assemblies. The
+debates upon it in Congress went on daily, hand in hand with the
+Indian business. Many objections and difficulties were started, but
+at length they were all overcome, and the plan was unanimously
+agreed to, and copies ordered to be transmitted to the Board of
+Trade and to the assemblies of the several provinces. Its fate was
+singular; the assemblies did not adopt it, as they all thought
+there was too much <i>prerogative</i> in it, and in England it was
+judg'd to have too much of the <i>democratic</i>. The Board of
+Trade therefore did not approve of it, nor recommend it for the
+approbation of his majesty; but another scheme was form'd, supposed
+to answer the same purpose better, whereby the governors of the
+provinces, with some members of their respective councils, were to
+meet and order the raising of troops, building of forts, etc., and
+to draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense, which was
+afterwards to be refunded by an act of Parliament laying a tax on
+America. My plan, with my reasons in support of it, is to be found
+among my political papers that are printed.</p>
+
+<p>Being the winter following in Boston, I had much conversation
+with Governor Shirley upon both the plans. Part of what passed
+between us on the occasion may also be seen among those papers. The
+different and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes me
+suspect that it was really the true medium; and I am still of
+opinion it would have been happy for both sides the water if it had
+been adopted. The colonies, so united, would have been sufficiently
+strong to have defended themselves; there would then have been no
+need of troops from England; of course, the subsequent pretence for
+taxing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would have
+been avoided. But such mistakes are not new; history is full of the
+errors of states and princes.</p>
+
+<p>"Look round the habitable world, how few<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Know their own good, or, knowing
+it, pursue!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not
+generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into
+execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore
+seldom <i>adopted from previous wisdom, but forc'd by the
+occasion</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down to the
+Assembly, expressed his approbation of the plan, "as appearing to
+him to be drawn up with great clearness and strength of judgment,
+and therefore recommended it as well worthy of their closest and
+most serious attention." The House, however, by the management of a
+certain member, took it up when I happen'd to be absent, which I
+thought not very fair, and reprobated it without paying any
+attention to it at all, to my no small mortification.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XV" id="XV" />XV</h4>
+
+<h4>QUARRELS WITH THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNORS</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-i.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-I" />N my journey to Boston this year, I met at New York
+with our new governor, Mr. Morris, just arriv'd there from England,
+with whom I had been before intimately acquainted. He brought a
+commission to supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tir'd with the disputes
+his proprietary instructions subjected him to, had resign'd. Mr.
+Morris ask'd me if I thought he must expect as uncomfortable an
+administration. I said, "No; you may, on the contrary, have a very
+comfortable one, if you will only take care not to enter into any
+dispute with the Assembly." "My dear friend," says he, pleasantly,
+"how can you advise my avoiding disputes? You know I love
+disputing; it is one of my greatest pleasures; however, to show the
+regard I have for your counsel, I promise you I will, if possible,
+avoid them." He had some reason for loving to dispute, being
+eloquent, an acute sophister, and, therefore, generally successful
+in argumentative conversation. He had been brought up to it from a
+boy, his father, as I have heard, accustoming his children to
+dispute with one another for his diversion, while sitting at table
+after dinner; but I think the practice was not wise; for, in the
+course of my observation, these disputing, contradicting, and
+confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They
+get victory sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be
+of more use to them. We parted, he going to Philadelphia, and I to
+Boston.</p>
+
+<p>In returning, I met at New York with the votes of the Assembly,
+by which it appear'd that, notwithstanding his promise to me, he
+and the House were already in high contention; and it was a
+continual battle between them as long as he retain'd the
+government. I had my share of it; for, as soon as I got back to my
+seat in the Assembly, I was put on every committee for answering
+his speeches and messages, and by the committees always desired to
+make the drafts. Our answers, as well as his messages, were often
+tart, and sometimes indecently abusive; and, as he knew I wrote for
+the Assembly, one might have imagined that, when we met, we could
+hardly avoid cutting throats; but he was so good-natur'd a man that
+no personal difference between him and me was occasion'd by the
+contest, and we often din'd together.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/illus-028-red.jpg" alt=
+"One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in the street"
+ title=
+"One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in the street" /></div>
+
+<p>One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in
+the street. "Franklin," says he, "you must go home with me and
+spend the evening; I am to have some company that you will like;"
+and, taking me by the arm, he led me to his house. In gay
+conversation over our wine, after supper, he told us, jokingly,
+that he much admir'd the idea of Sancho Panza,<a name="FNanchor_93"
+id="FNanchor_93" /><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>
+who, when it was proposed to give him a government, requested it
+might be a government of <i>blacks</i>, as then, if he could not
+agree with his people, he might sell them. One of his friends, who
+sat next to me, says, "Franklin, why do you continue to side with
+these damn'd Quakers? Had not you better sell them? The proprietor
+would give you a good price." "The governor," says I, "has not yet
+<i>blacked</i> them enough." He, indeed, had laboured hard to
+blacken the Assembly in all his messages, but they wip'd off his
+colouring as fast as he laid it on, and plac'd it, in return, thick
+upon his own face; so that, finding he was likely to be negrofied
+himself, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton, grew tir'd of the contest,
+and quitted the government.</p>
+
+<p>These public quarrels<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94" /><a
+href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> were all at bottom
+owing to the proprietaries, our hereditary governors, who, when any
+expense was to be incurred for the defense of their province, with
+incredible meanness instructed their deputies to pass no act for
+levying the necessary taxes, unless their vast estates were in the
+same act expressly excused; and they had even taken bonds of these
+deputies to observe such instructions. The Assemblies for three
+years held out against this injustice, tho' constrained to bend at
+last. At length Captain Denny, who was Governor Morris's successor,
+ventured to disobey those instructions; how that was brought about
+I shall show hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>But I am got forward too fast with my story: there are still
+some transactions to be mention'd that happened during the
+administration of Governor Morris.</p>
+
+<p>War being in a manner commenced with France, the government of
+Massachusetts Bay projected an attack upon Crown Point,<a name=
+"FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95" /><a href="#Footnote_95" class=
+"fnanchor">[95]</a> and sent Mr. Quincy to Pennsylvania, and Mr.
+Pownall, afterward Governor Pownall, to New York, to solicit
+assistance. As I was in the Assembly, knew its temper, and was Mr.
+Quincy's countryman, he appli'd to me for my influence and
+assistance. I dictated his address to them, which was well
+received. They voted an aid of ten thousand pounds, to be laid out
+in provisions. But the governor refusing his assent to their bill
+(which included this with other sums granted for the use of the
+crown), unless a clause were inserted exempting the proprietary
+estate from bearing any part of the tax that would be necessary,
+the Assembly, tho' very desirous of making their grant to New
+England effectual, were at a loss how to accomplish it. Mr. Quincy
+labored hard with the governor to obtain his assent, but he was
+obstinate.</p>
+
+<p>I then suggested a method of doing the business without the
+governor, by orders on the trustees of the Loan office, which, by
+law, the Assembly had the right of drawing. There was, indeed,
+little or no money at that time in the office, and therefore I
+propos'd that the orders should be payable in a year, and to bear
+an interest of five per cent. With these orders I suppos'd the
+provisions might easily be purchas'd. The Assembly, with very
+little hesitation, adopted the proposal. The orders were
+immediately printed, and I was one of the committee directed to
+sign and dispose of them. The fund for paying them was the interest
+of all the paper currency then extant in the province upon loan,
+together with the revenue arising from the excise, which being
+known to be more than sufficient, they obtain'd instant credit, and
+were not only receiv'd in payment for the provisions, but many
+money'd people, who had cash lying by them, vested it in those
+orders, which they found advantageous, as they bore interest while
+upon hand, and might on any occasion be used as money; so that they
+were eagerly all bought up, and in a few weeks none of them were to
+be seen. Thus this important affair was by my means completed. Mr.
+Quincy return'd thanks to the Assembly in a handsome memorial, went
+home highly pleas'd with this success of his embassy, and ever
+after bore for me the most cordial and affectionate friendship.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> The "round,
+selfish, and self-important" squire of Don Quixote in Cervantes'
+romance of that name.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> My acts in
+Morris's time, military, etc.&mdash;<i>Marg. note</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> On Lake
+Champlain, ninety miles north of Albany. It was captured by the
+French in 1731, attacked by the English in 1755 and 1756, and
+abandoned by the French in 1759. It was finally captured from the
+English by the Americans in 1775.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XVI" id="XVI" />XVI</h4>
+
+<h4>BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-t.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-T" />HE British government, not chusing to permit the union
+of the colonies as propos'd at Albany, and to trust that union with
+their defense, lest they should thereby grow too military, and feel
+their own strength, suspicions and jealousies at this time being
+entertain'd of them, sent over General Braddock with two regiments
+of regular English troops for that purpose. He landed at
+Alexandria, in Virginia, and thence march'd to Frederictown, in
+Maryland, where he halted for carriages. Our Assembly apprehending,
+from some information, that he had conceived violent prejudices
+against them, as averse to the service, wish'd me to wait upon him,
+not as from them, but as postmaster-general, under the guise of
+proposing to settle with him the mode of conducting with most
+celerity and certainty the despatches between him and the governors
+of the several provinces, with whom he must necessarily have
+continual correspondence, and of which they propos'd to pay the
+expense. My son accompanied me on this journey.</p>
+
+<p>We found the general at Frederictown, waiting impatiently for
+the return of those he had sent thro' the back parts of Maryland
+and Virginia to collect waggons. I stayed with him several days,
+din'd with him daily, and had full opportunity of removing all his
+prejudices, by the information of what the Assembly had before his
+arrival actually done, and were still willing to do, to facilitate
+his operations. When I was about to depart, the returns of waggons
+to be obtained were brought in, by which it appear'd that they
+amounted only to twenty-five, and not all of those were in
+serviceable condition. The general and all the officers were
+surpris'd, declar'd the expedition was then at an end, being
+impossible, and exclaim'd against the ministers for ignorantly
+landing them in a country destitute of the means of conveying their
+stores, baggage, etc., not less than one hundred and fifty waggons
+being necessary.</p>
+
+<p>I happen'd to say I thought it was pity they had not been landed
+rather in Pennsylvania, as in that country almost every farmer had
+his waggon. The general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said,
+"Then you, sir, who are a man of interest there, can probably
+procure them for us; and I beg you will undertake it." I ask'd what
+terms were to be offer'd the owners of the waggons, and I was
+desir'd to put on paper the terms that appeared to me necessary.
+This I did, and they were agreed to, and a commission and
+instructions accordingly prepar'd immediately. What those terms
+were will appear in the advertisement I publish'd as soon as I
+arriv'd at Lancaster, which being, from the great and sudden effect
+it produc'd, a piece of some curiosity, I shall insert it at
+length, as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="center">"<span class=
+"smcap">Advertisement</span>.</div>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Lancaster</span>,
+<i>April</i> 26, 1755.</p>
+
+<p>"Whereas, one hundred and fifty waggons, with four horses to
+each waggon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack horses, are wanted
+for the service of his majesty's forces now about to rendezvous at
+Will's Creek, and his excellency General Braddock having been
+pleased to empower me to contract for the hire of the same, I
+hereby give notice that I shall attend for that purpose at
+Lancaster from this day to next Wednesday evening, and at York from
+next Thursday morning till Friday evening, where I shall be ready
+to agree for waggons and teams, or single horses, on the following
+terms, viz.: 1. That there shall be paid for each waggon, with four
+good horses and a driver, fifteen shillings per diem; and for each
+able horse with a pack-saddle, or other saddle and furniture, two
+shillings per diem; and for each able horse without a saddle,
+eighteen pence per diem. 2. That the pay commence from the time of
+their joining the forces at Will's Creek, which must be on or
+before the 20th of May ensuing, and that a reasonable allowance be
+paid over and above for the time necessary for their travelling to
+Will's Creek and home again after their discharge. 3. Each waggon
+and team, and every saddle or pack horse, is to be valued by
+indifferent persons chosen between me and the owner; and in case of
+the loss of any waggon, team, or other horse in the service, the
+price according to such valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4.
+Seven days' pay is to be advanced and paid in hand by me to the
+owner of each waggon and team, or horse, at the time of
+contracting, if required, and the remainder to be paid by General
+Braddock, or by the paymaster of the army, at the time of their
+discharge, or from time to time, as it shall be demanded. 5. No
+drivers of waggons, or persons taking care of the hired horses, are
+on any account to be called upon to do the duty of soldiers, or be
+otherwise employed than in conducting or taking care of their
+carriages or horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other forage that
+waggons or horses bring to the camp, more than is necessary for the
+subsistence of the horses, is to be taken for the use of the army,
+and a reasonable price paid for the same.</p>
+
+<p>"Note.&mdash;My son, William Franklin, is empowered to enter
+into like contracts with any person in Cumberland county.</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span>."</p>
+
+<div class="center_caption"><i>"To the inhabitants of the Counties
+of Lancaster, York, and Cumberland.</i></div>
+
+<p>"Friends and Countrymen,</p>
+
+<p>"Being occasionally<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96" /><a
+href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> at the camp at
+Frederic a few days since, I found the general and officers
+extremely exasperated on account of their not being supplied with
+horses and carriages, which had been expected from this province,
+as most able to furnish them; but, through the dissensions between
+our governor and Assembly, money had not been provided, nor any
+steps taken for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"It was proposed to send an armed force immediately into these
+counties, to seize as many of the best carriages and horses as
+should be wanted, and compel as many persons into the service as
+would be necessary to drive and take care of them.</p>
+
+<p>"I apprehended that the progress of British soldiers through
+these counties on such an occasion, especially considering the
+temper they are in, and their resentment against us, would be
+attended with many and great inconveniences to the inhabitants, and
+therefore more willingly took the trouble of trying first what
+might be done by fair and equitable means. The people of these back
+counties have lately complained to the Assembly that a sufficient
+currency was wanting; you have an opportunity of receiving and
+dividing among you a very considerable sum; for, if the service of
+this expedition should continue, as it is more than probable it
+will, for one hundred and twenty days, the hire of these waggons
+and horses will amount to upward of thirty thousand pounds, which
+will be paid you in silver and gold of the king's money.</p>
+
+<p>"The service will be light and easy, for the army will scarce
+march above twelve miles per day, and the waggons and
+baggage-horses, as they carry those things that are absolutely
+necessary to the welfare of the army, must march with the army, and
+no faster; and are, for the army's sake, always placed where they
+can be most secure, whether in a march or in a camp.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are really, as I believe you are, good and loyal
+subjects to his majesty, you may now do a most acceptable service,
+and make it easy to yourselves; for three or four of such as cannot
+separately spare from the business of their plantations a waggon
+and four horses and a driver, may do it together, one furnishing
+the waggon, another one or two horses, and another the driver, and
+divide the pay proportionately between you; but if you do not this
+service to your king and country voluntarily, when such good pay
+and reasonable terms are offered to you, your loyalty will be
+strongly suspected. The king's business must be done; so many brave
+troops, come so far for your defense, must not stand idle through
+your backwardness to do what may be reasonably expected from you;
+waggons and horses must be had; violent measures will probably be
+used, and you will be left to seek for a recompense where you can
+find it, and your case, perhaps, be little pitied or regarded.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no particular interest in this affair, as, except the
+satisfaction of endeavouring to do good, I shall have only my
+labour for my pains. If this method of obtaining the waggons and
+horses is not likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word to the
+general in fourteen days; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the
+hussar, with a body of soldiers, will immediately enter the
+province for the purpose, which I shall be sorry to hear, because I
+am very sincerely and truly your friend and well-wisher,</p>
+
+<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">B. Franklin</span>."</p>
+
+<p>I received of the general about eight hundred pounds, to be
+disbursed in advance-money to the waggon owners, etc.; but that sum
+being insufficient, I advanc'd upward of two hundred pounds more,
+and in two weeks the one hundred and fifty waggons, with two
+hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, were on their march for the
+camp. The advertisement promised payment according to the
+valuation, in case any waggon or horse should be lost. The owners,
+however, alleging they did not know General Braddock, or what
+dependence might be had on his promise, insisted on my bond for the
+performance, which I accordingly gave them.</p>
+
+<p>While I was at the camp, supping one evening with the officers
+of Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he represented to me his concern for
+the subalterns, who, he said, were generally not in affluence, and
+could ill afford, in this dear country, to lay in the stores that
+might be necessary in so long a march, thro' a wilderness, where
+nothing was to be purchas'd. I commiserated their case, and
+resolved to endeavour procuring them some relief. I said nothing,
+however, to him of my intention, but wrote the next morning to the
+committee of the Assembly, who had the disposition of some public
+money, warmly recommending the case of these officers to their
+consideration, and proposing that a present should be sent them of
+necessaries and refreshments. My son, who had some experience of a
+camp life, and of its wants, drew up a list for me, which I
+enclos'd in my letter. The committee approv'd, and used such
+diligence that, conducted by my son, the stores arrived at the camp
+as soon as the waggons. They consisted of twenty parcels, each
+containing</p>
+
+<table width="100%" summary="Food_stuff" border="0" cellpadding="5"
+cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">6 lbs. loaf sugar.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">1 Gloucester cheese.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">6 lbs. good Muscovado do.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">1 kegg containing 20 lbs. good butter.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">1 lb. good green tea.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">2 doz. old Madeira wine.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">1 lb. good bohea do.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">2 gallons Jamaica spirits.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">6 lbs. good ground coffee.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">1 bottle flour of mustard.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">6 lbs. chocolate.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">2 well-cur'd hams.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">1-2 cwt. best white biscuit.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">1-2 dozen dry'd tongues.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">1-2 lb. pepper.</td>
+<td class="cell_si">6 lbs. rice.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">1 quart best white wine</td>
+<td class="cell_si">6 lbs. raisins.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_si">1 quart best white wine vinegar.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>These twenty parcels, well pack'd, were placed on as many
+horses, each parcel, with the horse, being intended as a present
+for one officer. They were very thankfully receiv'd, and the
+kindness acknowledg'd by letters to me from the colonels of both
+regiments, in the most grateful terms. The general, too, was highly
+satisfied with my conduct in procuring him the waggons, etc., and
+readily paid my account of disbursements, thanking me repeatedly,
+and requesting my farther assistance in sending provisions after
+him. I undertook this also, and was busily employ'd in it till we
+heard of his defeat, advancing for the service of my own money,
+upwards of one thousand pounds sterling, of which I sent him an
+account. It came to his hands, luckily for me, a few days before
+the battle, and he return'd me immediately an order on the
+paymaster for the round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the
+remainder to the next account. I consider this payment as good
+luck, having never been able to obtain that remainder, of which
+more hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>This general was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have
+made a figure as a good officer in some European war. But he had
+too much self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of
+regular troops, and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians.
+George Croghan, our Indian interpreter, join'd him on his march
+with one hundred of those people, who might have been of great use
+to his army as guides, scouts, etc., if he had treated them kindly;
+but he slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left
+him.</p>
+
+<p>In conversation with him one day, he was giving me some account
+of his intended progress. "After taking Fort Duquesne,"<a name=
+"FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97" /><a href="#Footnote_97" class=
+"fnanchor">[97]</a> says he, "I am to proceed to Niagara; and,
+having taken that, to Frontenac,<a name="FNanchor_98" id=
+"FNanchor_98" /><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> if
+the season will allow time; and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can
+hardly detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing
+that can obstruct my march to Niagara." Having before revolv'd in
+my mind the long line his army must make in their march by a very
+narrow road, to be cut for them thro' the woods and bushes, and
+also what I had read of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French,
+who invaded the Iroquois country, I had conceiv'd some doubts and
+some fears for the event of the campaign. But I ventur'd only to
+say, "To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with
+these fine troops, so well provided with artillery, that place not
+yet completely fortified, and as we hear with no very strong
+garrison, can probably make but a short resistance. The only danger
+I apprehend of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of
+Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in laying and
+executing them; and the slender line, near four miles long, which
+your army must make, may expose it to be attack'd by surprise in
+its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which,
+from their distance, cannot come up in time to support each
+other."</p>
+
+<p>He smil'd at my ignorance, and reply'd, "These savages may,
+indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but
+upon the king's regular and disciplin'd troops, sir, it is
+impossible they should make any impression." I was conscious of an
+impropriety in my disputing with a military man in matters of his
+profession, and said no more. The enemy, however, did not take the
+advantage of his army which I apprehended its long line of march
+expos'd it to, but let it advance without interruption till within
+nine miles of the place; and then, when more in a body (for it had
+just passed a river, where the front had halted till all were come
+over), and in a more open part of the woods than any it had pass'd,
+attack'd its advanced guard by heavy fire from behind trees and
+bushes, which was the first intelligence the general had of an
+enemy's being near him. This guard being disordered, the general
+hurried the troops up to their assistance, which was done in great
+confusion, thro' waggons, baggage, and cattle; and presently the
+fire came upon their flank: the officers, being on horseback, were
+more easily distinguish'd, pick'd out as marks, and fell very fast;
+and the soldiers were crowded together in a huddle, having or
+hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till two-thirds of
+them were killed; and then, being seiz'd with a panick, the whole
+fled with precipitation.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-029-red.jpg" alt=
+"The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of Indians"
+ title=
+"The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of Indians" /></div>
+
+<p>The waggoners took each a horse out of his team and scamper'd;
+their example was immediately followed by others; so that all the
+waggons, provisions, artillery, and stores were left to the enemy.
+The general, being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; his
+secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his side; and out of
+eighty-six officers, sixty-three were killed or wounded, and seven
+hundred and fourteen men killed out of eleven hundred. These eleven
+hundred had been picked men from the whole army; the rest had been
+left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier
+part of the stores, provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being
+pursu'd, arriv'd at Dunbar's camp, and the panick they brought with
+them instantly seiz'd him and all his people; and, tho' he had now
+above one thousand men, and the enemy who had beaten Braddock did
+not at most exceed four hundred Indians and French together,
+instead of proceeding, and endeavouring to recover some of the lost
+honour, he ordered all the stores, ammunition, etc., to be
+destroy'd, that he might have more horses to assist his flight
+towards the settlements, and less lumber to remove. He was there
+met with requests from the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and
+Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on the frontier, so as
+to afford some protection to the inhabitants; but he continued his
+hasty march thro' all the country, not thinking himself safe till
+he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants could protect
+him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first suspicion
+that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regulars had not
+been well founded.<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p>
+
+<p>In their first march, too, from their landing till they got
+beyond the settlements, they had plundered and stripped the
+inhabitants, totally ruining some poor families, besides insulting,
+abusing, and confining the people if they remonstrated. This was
+enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders, if we had really
+wanted any. How different was the conduct of our French friends in
+1781, who, during a march thro' the most inhabited part of our
+country from Rhode Island to Virginia, near seven hundred miles,
+occasioned not the smallest complaint for the loss of a pig, a
+chicken, or even an apple.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Orme, who was one of the general's aids-de-camp, and,
+being grievously wounded, was brought off with him, and continu'd
+with him to his death, which happen'd in a few days, told me that
+he was totally silent all the first day, and at night only said,
+"<i>Who would have thought it?</i>" That he was silent again the
+following day, saying only at last, "<i>We shall better know how to
+deal with them another time</i>"; and dy'd in a few minutes
+after.</p>
+
+<p>The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders,
+instructions, and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands,
+they selected and translated into French a number of the articles,
+which they printed, to prove the hostile intentions of the British
+court before the declaration of war. Among these I saw some letters
+of the general to the ministry, speaking highly of the great
+service I had rendered the army, and recommending me to their
+notice. David Hume,<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100" /><a
+href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> too, who was some
+years after secretary to Lord Hertford, when minister in France,
+and afterward to General Conway, when secretary of state, told me
+he had seen among the papers in that office, letters from Braddock
+highly recommending me. But, the expedition having been
+unfortunate, my service, it seems, was not thought of much value,
+for those recommendations were never of any use to me.</p>
+
+<p>As to rewards from himself, I ask'd only one, which was, that he
+would give orders to his officers not to enlist any more of our
+bought servants, and that he would discharge such as had been
+already enlisted. This he readily granted, and several were
+accordingly return'd to their masters, on my application. Dunbar,
+when the command devolv'd on him, was not so generous. He being at
+Philadelphia, on his retreat, or rather flight, I apply'd to him
+for the discharge of the servants of three poor farmers of
+Lancaster county that he had enlisted, reminding him of the late
+general's orders on that head. He promised me that, if the masters
+would come to him at Trenton, where he should be in a few days on
+his march to New York, he would there deliver their men to them.
+They accordingly were at the expense and trouble of going to
+Trenton, and there he refus'd to perform his promise, to their
+great loss and disappointment.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the loss of the waggons and horses was generally
+known, all the owners came upon me for the valuation which I had
+given bond to pay. Their demands gave me a great deal of trouble,
+my acquainting them that the money was ready in the paymaster's
+hands, but that orders for paying it must first be obtained from
+General Shirley,<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> and my assuring them
+that I had apply'd to that general by letter; but, he being at a
+distance, an answer could not soon be receiv'd, and they must have
+patience, all this was not sufficient to satisfy, and some began to
+sue me. General Shirley at length relieved me from this terrible
+situation by appointing commissioners to examine the claims, and
+ordering payment. They amounted to near twenty thousand pound,
+which to pay would have ruined me.</p>
+
+<p>Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doctors Bond came
+to me with a subscription paper for raising money to defray the
+expense of a grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a
+rejoicing on receipt of the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I
+looked grave, and said it would, I thought, be time enough to
+prepare for the rejoicing when we knew we should have occasion to
+rejoice. They seem'd surpris'd that I did not immediately comply
+with their proposal. "Why the d&mdash;&mdash;l!" says one of them,
+"you surely don't suppose that the fort will not be taken?" "I
+don't know that it will not be taken, but I know that the events of
+war are subject to great uncertainty." I gave them the reasons of
+my doubting; the subscription was dropt, and the projectors thereby
+missed the mortification they would have undergone if the firework
+had been prepared. Dr. Bond, on some other occasion afterward, said
+that he did not like Franklin's forebodings.</p>
+
+<p>Governor Morris, who had continually worried the Assembly with
+message after message before the defeat of Braddock, to beat them
+into the making of acts to raise money for the defense of the
+province, without taxing, among others, the proprietary estates,
+and had rejected all their bills for not having such an exempting
+clause, now redoubled his attacks with more hope of success, the
+danger and necessity being greater. The Assembly, however,
+continu'd firm, believing they had justice on their side, and that
+it would be giving up an essential right if they suffered the
+governor to amend their money-bills. In one of the last, indeed,
+which was for granting fifty thousand pounds, his propos'd
+amendment was only of a single word. The bill express'd "that all
+estates, real and personal, were to be taxed, those of the
+proprietaries <i>not</i> excepted." His amendment was, for
+<i>not</i> read <i>only</i>: a small, but very material alteration.
+However, when the news of this disaster reached England, our
+friends there whom we had taken care to furnish with all the
+Assembly's answers to the governor's messages, rais'd a clamor
+against the proprietaries for their meanness and injustice in
+giving their governor such instructions; some going so far as to
+say that, by obstructing the defense of their province, they
+forfeited their right to it. They were intimidated by this, and
+sent orders to their receiver-general to add five thousand pounds
+of their money to whatever sum might be given by the Assembly for
+such purpose.</p>
+
+<p>This, being notified to the House, was accepted in lieu of their
+share of a general tax, and a new bill was form'd, with an
+exempting clause, which passed accordingly. By this act I was
+appointed one of the commissioners for disposing of the money,
+sixty thousand pounds. I had been active in modelling the bill and
+procuring its passage, and had, at the same time, drawn a bill for
+establishing and disciplining a voluntary militia, which I carried
+thro' the House without much difficulty, as care was taken in it to
+leave the Quakers at their liberty. To promote the association
+necessary to form the militia, I wrote a dialogue,<a name=
+"FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102" /><a href="#Footnote_102" class=
+"fnanchor">[102]</a> stating and answering all the objections I
+could think of to such a militia, which was printed, and had, as I
+thought, great effect.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> By chance.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Pittsburg.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Kingston, at the
+eastern end of Lake Ontario.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Other accounts
+of this expedition and defeat may be found in Fiske's <i>Washington
+and his Country</i>, or Lodge's <i>George Washington</i>,
+Vol.&nbsp;1.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> A famous
+Scotch philosopher and historian (1711-1776).</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Governor of
+Massachusetts and commander of the British forces in America.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> This dialogue
+and the militia act are in the Gentleman's Magazine for February
+and March, 1756.&mdash;<i>Marg. note.</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XVII" id="XVII" />XVII</h4>
+
+<h4>FRANKLIN'S DEFENSE OF THE FRONTIER</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-w.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-W" />HILE the several companies in the city and country were
+forming, and learning their exercise, the governor prevail'd with
+me to take charge of our North-western frontier, which was infested
+by the enemy, and provide for the defense of the inhabitants by
+raising troops and building a line of forts. I undertook this
+military business, tho' I did not conceive myself well qualified
+for it. He gave me a commission with full powers, and a parcel of
+blank commissions for officers, to be given to whom I thought fit.
+I had but little difficulty in raising men, having soon five
+hundred and sixty under my command. My son, who had in the
+preceding war been an officer in the army rais'd against Canada,
+was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me. The Indians had burned
+Gnadenhut,<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> a village settled by the
+Moravians, and massacred the inhabitants; but the place was thought
+a good situation for one of the forts.</p>
+
+<p>In order to march thither, I assembled the companies at
+Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those people. I was surprised
+to find it in so good a posture of defense; the destruction of
+Gnadenhut had made them apprehend danger. The principal buildings
+were defended by a stockade; they had purchased a quantity of arms
+and ammunition from New York, and had even plac'd quantities of
+small paving stones between the windows of their high stone houses,
+for their women to throw down upon the heads of any Indians that
+should attempt to force into them. The armed brethren, too, kept
+watch, and reliev'd as methodically as in any garrison town. In
+conversation with the bishop, Spangenberg, I mention'd this my
+surprise; for, knowing they had obtained an act of Parliament
+exempting them from military duties in the colonies, I had suppos'd
+they were conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He answer'd
+me that it was not one of their established principles, but that,
+at the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought to be a
+principle with many of their people. On this occasion, however,
+they, to their surprise, found it adopted by but a few. It seems
+they were either deceiv'd in themselves, or deceiv'd the
+Parliament; but common sense, aided by present danger, will
+sometimes be too strong for whimsical opinions.</p>
+
+<p>It was the beginning of January when we set out upon this
+business of building forts. I sent one detachment toward the
+Minisink, with instructions to erect one for the security of that
+upper part of the country, and another to the lower part, with
+similar instructions; and I concluded to go myself with the rest of
+my force to Gnadenhut, where a fort was tho't more immediately
+necessary. The Moravians procur'd me five waggons for our tools,
+stores, baggage, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been
+driven from their plantations by the Indians, came to me requesting
+a supply of firearms, that they might go back and fetch off their
+cattle. I gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition. We had not
+march'd many miles before it began to rain, and it continued
+raining all day; there were no habitations on the road to shelter
+us, till we arriv'd near night at the house of a German, where, and
+in his barn, we were all huddled together, as wet as water could
+make us. It was well we were not attack'd in our march, for our
+arms were of the most ordinary sort, and our men could not keep
+their gun locks<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> dry. The Indians are
+dexterous in contrivances for that purpose, which we had not. They
+met that day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned, and killed
+ten of them. The one who escap'd inform'd that his and his
+companions' guns would not go off, the priming being wet with the
+rain.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="70%" src=
+"images/illus-030-red.jpg" alt=
+"We had not march'd many miles before it began to rain" title=
+"We had not march'd many miles before it began to rain" /></div>
+
+<p>The next day being fair, we continu'd our march, and arriv'd at
+the desolated Gnadenhut. There was a saw-mill near, round which
+were left several piles of boards, with which we soon hutted
+ourselves; an operation the more necessary at that inclement
+season, as we had no tents. Our first work was to bury more
+effectually the dead we found there, who had been half interr'd by
+the country people.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning our fort was plann'd and mark'd out, the
+circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, which
+would require as many palisades to be made of trees, one with
+another, of a foot diameter each. Our axes, of which we had
+seventy, were immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our
+men being dexterous in the use of them, great despatch was made.
+Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my
+watch when two men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had
+it upon the ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter.
+Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at
+one end. While these were preparing, our other men dug a trench all
+round, of three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be
+planted; and, our waggons, the bodys being taken off, and the fore
+and hind wheels separated by taking out the pin which united the
+two parts of the perch,<a name="FNanchor_105" id=
+"FNanchor_105" /><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a>
+we had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring the palisades
+from the woods to the spot. When they were set up, our carpenters
+built a stage of boards all round within, about six feet high, for
+the men to stand on when to fire thro' the loopholes. We had one
+swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles, and fir'd it as
+soon as fix'd, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing,
+that we had such pieces; and thus our fort, if such a magnificent
+name may be given to so miserable a stockade, was finish'd in a
+week, though it rain'd so hard every other day that the men could
+not work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p278" id="p278" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-031-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-031thumb.jpg"
+alt="Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut down trees"
+title=
+"Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut down trees" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"Our axes ... were immediately set to
+work to cut down trees"</div>
+
+<p>This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men are employ'd,
+they are best content'd; for on the days they worked they were
+good-natur'd and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having
+done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our
+idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with
+their pork, the bread, etc., and in continual ill-humour, which put
+me in mind of a sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep his men
+constantly at work; and, when his mate once told him that they had
+done everything, and there was nothing further to employ them
+about, <i>"Oh," says he, "make them scour the anchor."</i></p>
+
+<p>This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defense
+against Indians, who have no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted
+securely, and having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventur'd
+out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with no
+Indians, but we found the places on the neighbouring hills where
+they had lain to watch our proceedings. There was an art in their
+contrivance of those places that seems worth mention. It being
+winter, a fire was necessary for them; but a common fire on the
+surface of the ground would by its light have discover'd their
+position at a distance. They had therefore dug holes in the ground
+about three feet diameter, and somewhat deeper; we saw where they
+had with their hatchets cut off the charcoal from the sides of
+burnt logs lying in the woods. With these coals they had made small
+fires in the bottom of the holes, and we observ'd among the weeds
+and grass the prints of their bodies, made by their laying all
+round, with their legs hanging down in the holes to keep their feet
+warm, which, with them, is an essential point. This kind of fire,
+so manag'd, could not discover them, either by its light, flame,
+sparks, or even smoke: it appear'd that their number was not great,
+and it seems they saw we were too many to be attacked by them with
+prospect of advantage.</p>
+
+<p>We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr.
+Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not generally attend
+his prayers and exhortations. When they enlisted, they were
+promised, besides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which
+was punctually serv'd out to them, half in the morning, and the
+other half in the evening; and I observed they were as punctual in
+attending to receive it; upon which I said to Mr. Beatty, "It is,
+perhaps, below the dignity of your profession to act as steward of
+the rum, but if you were to deal it out and only just after
+prayers, you would have them all about you." He liked the tho't,
+undertook the office, and, with the help of a few hands to measure
+out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and never were prayers
+more generally and more punctually attended; so that I thought this
+method preferable to the punishment inflicted by some military laws
+for non-attendance on divine service.</p>
+
+<p>I had hardly finish'd this business, and got my fort well stor'd
+with provisions, when I receiv'd a letter from the governor,
+acquainting me that he had call'd the Assembly, and wished my
+attendance there, if the posture of affairs on the frontiers was
+such that my remaining there was no longer necessary. My friends,
+too, of the Assembly, pressing me by their letters to be, if
+possible, at the meeting, and my three intended forts being now
+compleated, and the inhabitants contented to remain on their farms
+under that protection, I resolved to return; the more willingly, as
+a New England officer, Colonel Clapham, experienced in Indian war,
+being on a visit to our establishment, consented to accept the
+command. I gave him a commission, and, parading the garrison, had
+it read before them, and introduc'd him to them as an officer who,
+from his skill in military affairs, was much more fit to command
+them than myself; and, giving them a little exhortation, took my
+leave. I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, where I rested a few
+days to recover from the fatigue I had undergone. The first night,
+being in a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different from
+my hard lodging on the floor of our hut at Gnaden wrapt only in a
+blanket or two.</p>
+
+<p>While at Bethlehem, I inquir'd a little into the practice of the
+Moravians: some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind
+to me. I found they work'd for a common stock, ate at common
+tables, and slept in common dormitories, great numbers together. In
+the dormitories I observed loopholes, at certain distances all
+along just under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed
+for change of air. I was at their church, where I was entertain'd
+with good musick, the organ being accompanied with violins,
+hautboys, flutes, clarinets, etc. I understood that their sermons
+were not usually preached to mixed congregations of men, women, and
+children, as is our common practice, but that they assembled
+sometimes the married men, at other times their wives, then the
+young men, the young women, and the little children, each division
+by itself. The sermon I heard was to the latter, who came in and
+were plac'd in rows on benches; the boys under the conduct of a
+young man, their tutor, and the girls conducted by a young woman.
+The discourse seem'd well adapted to their capacities, and was
+delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were,
+to be good. They behav'd very orderly, but looked pale and
+unhealthy, which made me suspect they were kept too much within
+doors, or not allow'd sufficient exercise.</p>
+
+<p>I inquir'd concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the report
+was true that they were by lot. I was told that lots were us'd only
+in particular cases; that generally, when a young man found himself
+dispos'd to marry, he inform'd the elders of his class, who
+consulted the elder ladies that govern'd the young women. As these
+elders of the different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers
+and dispositions of their respective pupils, they could best judge
+what matches were suitable, and their judgments were generally
+acquiesc'd in; but if, for example, it should happen that two or
+three young women were found to be equally proper for the young
+man, the lot was then recurred to. I objected, if the matches are
+not made by the mutual choice of the parties, some of them may
+chance to be very unhappy. "And so they may," answer'd my informer,
+"if you let the parties chuse for themselves;" which, indeed, I
+could not deny.</p>
+
+<p>Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the association went on
+swimmingly, the inhabitants that were not Quakers having pretty
+generally come into it, formed themselves into companies, and chose
+their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to the new law.
+Dr. B. visited me, and gave me an account of the pains he had taken
+to spread a general good liking to the law, and ascribed much to
+those endeavours. I had had the vanity to ascribe all to my
+<i>Dialogue</i>; however, not knowing but that he might be in the
+right, I let him enjoy his opinion, which I take to be generally
+the best way in such cases. The officers, meeting, chose me to be
+colonel of the regiment, which I this time accepted. I forget how
+many companies we had, but we paraded about twelve hundred
+well-looking men, with a company of artillery, who had been
+furnished with six brass field-pieces, which they had become so
+expert in the use of as to fire twelve times in a minute. The first
+time I reviewed my regiment they accompanied me to my house, and
+would salute me with some rounds fired before my door, which shook
+down and broke several glasses of my electrical apparatus. And my
+new honour proved not much less brittle; for all our commissions
+were soon after broken by a repeal of the law in England.</p>
+
+<p>During this short time of my colonelship, being about to set out
+on a journey to Virginia, the officers of my regiment took it into
+their heads that it would be proper for them to escort me out of
+town, as far as the Lower Ferry. Just as I was getting on horseback
+they came to my door, between thirty and forty, mounted, and all in
+their uniforms. I had not been previously acquainted with the
+project, or I should have prevented it, being naturally averse to
+the assuming of state on any occasion; and I was a good deal
+chagrin'd at their appearance, as I could not avoid their
+accompanying me. What made it worse was, that, as soon as we began
+to move, they drew their swords and rode with them naked all the
+way. Somebody wrote an account of this to the proprietor, and it
+gave him great offense. No such honour had been paid him when in
+the province, nor to any of his governors; and he said it was only
+proper to princes of the blood royal, which may be true for aught I
+know, who was, and still am, ignorant of the etiquette in such
+cases.</p>
+
+<p>This silly affair, however, greatly increased his rancour
+against me, which was before not a little, on account of my conduct
+in the Assembly respecting the exemption of his estate from
+taxation, which I had always oppos'd very warmly, and not without
+severe reflections on his meanness and injustice of contending for
+it. He accused me to the ministry as being the great obstacle to
+the King's service, preventing, by my influence in the House, the
+proper form of the bills for raising money, and he instanced this
+parade with my officers as a proof of my having an intention to
+take the government of the province out of his hands by force. He
+also applied to Sir Everard Fawkener, the postmaster-general, to
+deprive me of my office; but it had no other effect than to procure
+from Sir Everard a gentle admonition.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the governor and
+the House, in which I, as a member, had so large a share, there
+still subsisted a civil intercourse between that gentleman and
+myself, and we never had any personal difference. I have sometimes
+since thought that his little or no resentment against me, for the
+answers it was known I drew up to his messages, might be the effect
+of professional habit, and that, being bred a lawyer, he might
+consider us both as merely advocates for contending clients in a
+suit, he for the proprietaries and I for the Assembly. He would,
+therefore, sometimes call in a friendly way to advise with me on
+difficult points, and sometimes, tho' not often, take my
+advice.</p>
+
+<p>We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army with provisions;
+and, when the shocking news arrived of his defeat, the governor
+sent in haste for me, to consult with him on measures for
+preventing the desertion of the back counties. I forget now the
+advice I gave; but I think it was, that Dunbar should be written
+to, and prevail'd with, if possible, to post his troops on the
+frontiers for their protection, till, by reinforcements from the
+colonies, he might be able to proceed on the expedition. And, after
+my return from the frontier, he would have had me undertake the
+conduct of such an expedition with provincial troops, for the
+reduction of Fort Duquesne, Dunbar and his men being otherwise
+employed; and he proposed to commission me as general. I had not so
+good an opinion of my military abilities as he profess'd to have,
+and I believe his professions must have exceeded his real
+sentiments; but probably he might think that my popularity would
+facilitate the raising of the men, and my influence in Assembly,
+the grant of money to pay them, and that, perhaps, without taxing
+the proprietary estate. Finding me not so forward to engage as he
+expected, the project was dropt, and he soon after left the
+government, being superseded by Captain Denny.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Pronounced
+Gna&acute;-den-hoot.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Flint-lock
+guns, discharged by means of a spark struck from flint and steel
+into powder (priming) in an open pan.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Here the pole
+connecting the front and rear wheels of a wagon.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII" />XVIII</h4>
+
+<h4>SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-b.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-b" />EFORE I proceed in relating the part I had in public
+affairs under this new governor's administration, it may not be
+amiss here to give some account of the rise and progress of my
+philosophical reputation.</p>
+
+<p>In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. Spence, who was
+lately arrived from Scotland, and show'd me some electric
+experiments. They were imperfectly perform'd, as he was not very
+expert; but, being on a subject quite new to me, they equally
+surpris'd and pleased me. Soon after my return to Philadelphia, our
+library company receiv'd from Mr. P. Collinson, Fellow of the Royal
+Society<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> of London, a present of
+a glass tube, with some account of the use of it in making such
+experiments. I eagerly seized the opportunity of repeating what I
+had seen at Boston; and, by much practice, acquired great readiness
+in performing those, also, which we had an account of from England,
+adding a number of new ones. I say much practice, for my house was
+continually full, for some time, with people who came to see these
+new wonders.</p>
+
+<p>To divide a little this incumbrance among my friends, I caused a
+number of similar tubes to be blown at our glass-house, with which
+they furnish'd themselves, so that we had at length several
+performers. Among these, the principal was Mr. Kinnersley, an
+ingenious neighbour, who, being out of business, I encouraged to
+undertake showing the experiments for money, and drew up for him
+two lectures, in which the experiments were rang'd in such order,
+and accompanied with such explanations in such method, as that the
+foregoing should assist in comprehending the following. He procur'd
+an elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which all the little
+machines that I had roughly made for myself were nicely form'd by
+instrument-makers. His lectures were well attended, and gave great
+satisfaction; and after some time he went thro' the colonies,
+exhibiting them in every capital town, and pick'd up some money. In
+the West India islands, indeed, it was with difficulty the
+experiments could be made, from the general moisture of the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>Oblig'd as we were to Mr. Collinson for his present of the tube,
+etc., I thought it right he should be inform'd of our success in
+using it, and wrote him several letters containing accounts of our
+experiments. He got them read in the Royal Society, where they were
+not at first thought worth so much notice as to be printed in their
+Transactions. One paper, which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the
+sameness of lightning with electricity,<a name="FNanchor_107" id=
+"FNanchor_107" /><a href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a>
+I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an acquaintance of mine, and one of the
+members also of that society, who wrote me word that it had been
+read, but was laughed at by the connoisseurs. The papers, however,
+being shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of too much value to
+be stifled, and advis'd the printing of them. Mr. Collinson then
+gave them to <i>Cave</i> for publication in his Gentleman's
+Magazine; but he chose to print them separately in a pamphlet, and
+Dr. Fothergill wrote the preface. Cave, it seems, judged rightly
+for his profit, for by the additions that arrived afterward, they
+swell'd to a quarto volume, which has had five editions, and cost
+him nothing for copy-money.</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, some time before those papers were much taken
+notice of in England. A copy of them happening to fall into the
+hands of the Count de Buffon,<a name="FNanchor_108" id=
+"FNanchor_108" /><a href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a>
+a philosopher deservedly of great reputation in France, and,
+indeed, all over Europe, he prevailed with M. Dalibard<a name=
+"FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109" /><a href="#Footnote_109" class=
+"fnanchor">[109]</a> to translate them into French, and they were
+printed at Paris. The publication offended the Abb&eacute; Nollet,
+preceptor in Natural Philosophy to the royal family, and an able
+experimenter, who had form'd and publish'd a theory of electricity,
+which then had the general vogue. He could not at first believe
+that such a work came from America, and said it must have been
+fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to decry his system.
+Afterwards, having been assur'd that there really existed such a
+person as Franklin at Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he wrote
+and published a volume of Letters, chiefly address'd to me,
+defending his theory, and denying the verity of my experiments, and
+of the positions deduc'd from them.</p>
+
+<p>I once purpos'd answering the abb&eacute;, and actually began
+the answer; but, on consideration that my writings contained a
+description of experiments which anyone might repeat and verify,
+and if not to be verifi'd, could not be defended; or of
+observations offer'd as conjectures, and not delivered
+dogmatically, therefore not laying me under any obligation to
+defend them; and reflecting that a dispute between two persons,
+writing in different languages, might be lengthened greatly by
+mistranslations, and thence misconceptions of one another's
+meaning, much of one of the abb&eacute;'s letters being founded on
+an error in the translation, I concluded to let my papers shift for
+themselves, believing it was better to spend what time I could
+spare from public business in making new experiments, than in
+disputing about those already made. I therefore never answered M.
+Nollet, and the event gave me no cause to repent my silence; for my
+friend M. le Roy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my
+cause and refuted him; my book was translated into the Italian,
+German, and Latin languages; and the doctrine it contain'd was by
+degrees universally adopted by the philosophers of Europe, in
+preference to that of the abb&eacute;; so that he lived to see
+himself the last of his sect, except Monsieur B&mdash;&mdash;, of
+Paris, his <i>&eacute;l&egrave;ve</i> and immediate disciple.</p>
+
+<p>What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, was the
+success of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messrs.
+Dalibard and De Lor at Marly, for drawing lightning from the
+clouds. This engag'd the public attention everywhere. M. de Lor,
+who had an apparatus for experimental philosophy, and lectur'd in
+that branch of science, undertook to repeat what he called the
+<i>Philadelphia Experiments</i>; and, after they were performed
+before the king and court, all the curious of Paris flocked to see
+them. I will not swell this narrative with an account of that
+capital experiment, nor of the infinite pleasure I receiv'd in the
+success of a similar one I made soon after with a kite at
+Philadelphia, as both are to be found in the histories of
+electricity.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to a
+friend, who was of the Royal Society, an account of the high esteem
+my experiments were in among the learned abroad, and of their
+wonder that my writings had been so little noticed in England. The
+society, on this, resum'd the consideration of the letters that had
+been read to them; and the celebrated Dr. Watson drew up a summary
+account of them, and of all I had afterwards sent to England on the
+subject, which he accompanied with some praise of the writer. This
+summary was then printed in their Transactions; and some members of
+the society in London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. Canton,
+having verified the experiment of procuring lightning from the
+clouds by a pointed rod, and acquainting them with the success,
+they soon made me more than amends for the slight with which they
+had before treated me. Without my having made any application for
+that honour, they chose me a member, and voted that I should be
+excus'd the customary payments, which would have amounted to
+twenty-five guineas; and ever since have given me their
+Transactions gratis. They also presented me with the gold medal of
+Sir Godfrey Copley<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110" /><a
+href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> for the year 1753,
+the delivery of which was accompanied by a very handsome speech of
+the president, Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was highly
+honoured.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> The Royal
+Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge was founded in
+1660 and holds the foremost place among English societies for the
+advancement of science.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a>See page <a
+href="#ELECTRICAL_KITE">327.</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> A celebrated
+French naturalist (1707-1788).</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Dalibard, who
+had translated Franklin's letters to Collinson into French, was the
+first to demonstrate, in a practical application of Franklin's
+experiment, that lightning and electricity are the same. "This was
+May 10th, 1752, one month before Franklin flew his famous kite at
+Philadelphia and proved the fact himself."&mdash;McMaster.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> An English
+baronet (died in 1709), donator of a fund of &pound;100, "in trust
+for the Royal Society of London for improving natural
+knowledge."</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="50%" src=
+"images/illus-032-red.jpg" alt=
+"the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley" title=
+"the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley" /></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="XIX" id="XIX" />XIX</h4>
+
+<h4>AGENT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN LONDON</h4>
+
+<p><img src="images/block-o.jpg" class="floatLeft" alt=
+"block-O" />UR new governor, Captain Denny, brought over for me the
+before mentioned medal from the Royal Society, which he presented
+to me at an entertainment given him by the city. He accompanied it
+with very polite expressions of his esteem for me, having, as he
+said, been long acquainted with my character. After dinner, when
+the company, as was customary at that time, were engag'd in
+drinking, he took me aside into another room, and acquainted me
+that he had been advis'd by his friends in England to cultivate a
+friendship with me, as one who was capable of giving him the best
+advice, and of contributing most effectually to the making his
+administration easy; that he therefore desired of all things to
+have a good understanding with me, and he begged me to be assured
+of his readiness on all occasions to render me every service that
+might be in his power. He said much to me, also, of the
+proprietor's good disposition towards the province, and of the
+advantage it might be to us all, and to me in particular, if the
+opposition that had been so long continu'd to his measures was
+dropt, and harmony restor'd between him and the people; in
+effecting which, it was thought no one could be more serviceable
+than myself; and I might depend on adequate acknowledgments and
+recompenses, etc., etc. The drinkers, finding we did not return
+immediately to the table, sent us a decanter of Madeira, which the
+governor made liberal use of, and in proportion became more profuse
+of his solicitations and promises.</p>
+
+<p>My answers were to this purpose: that my circumstances, thanks
+to God, were such as to make proprietary favours unnecessary to me;
+and that, being a member of the Assembly, I could not possibly
+accept of any; that, however, I had no personal enmity to the
+proprietary, and that, whenever the public measures he propos'd
+should appear to be for the good of the people, no one should
+espouse and forward them more zealously than myself; my past
+opposition having been founded on this, that the measures which had
+been urged were evidently intended to serve the proprietary
+interest, with great prejudice to that of the people; that I was
+much obliged to him (the governor) for his professions of regard to
+me, and that he might rely on everything in my power to make his
+administration as easy as possible, hoping at the same time that he
+had not brought with him the same unfortunate instruction his
+predecessor had been hampered with.</p>
+
+<p>On this he did not then explain himself; but when he afterwards
+came to do business with the Assembly, they appear'd again, the
+disputes were renewed, and I was as active as ever in the
+opposition, being the penman, first, of the request to have a
+communication of the instructions, and then of the remarks upon
+them, which may be found in the votes of the time, and in the
+Historical Review I afterward publish'd. But between us personally
+no enmity arose; we were often together; he was a man of letters,
+had seen much of the world, and was very entertaining and pleasing
+in conversation. He gave me the first information that my old
+friend Jas. Ralph was still alive; that he was esteem'd one of the
+best political writers in England; had been employed in the
+dispute<a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> between Prince Frederic
+and the king, and had obtain'd a pension of three hundred a year;
+that his reputation was indeed small as a poet, Pope having damned
+his poetry in the <i>Dunciad</i>,<a name="FNanchor_112" id=
+"FNanchor_112" /><a href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>
+but his prose was thought as good as any man's.</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obstinately
+persisted in manacling their deputies with instructions
+inconsistent not only with the privileges of the people, but with
+the service of the crown, resolv'd to petition the king against
+them, and appointed me their agent to go over to England, to
+present and support the petition. The House had sent up a bill to
+the governor, granting a sum of sixty thousand pounds for the
+king's use (ten thousand pounds of which was subjected to the
+orders of the then general, Lord Loudoun), which the governor
+absolutely refus'd to pass, in compliance with his
+instructions.</p>
+
+<p>I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet at New York, for
+my passage, and my stores were put on board, when Lord Loudoun
+arriv'd at Philadelphia, expressly, as he told me, to endeavour an
+accommodation between the governor and Assembly, that his majesty's
+service might not be obstructed by their dissensions. Accordingly,
+he desir'd the governor and myself to meet him, that he might hear
+what was to be said on both sides. We met and discussed the
+business. In behalf of the Assembly, I urged all the various
+arguments that may be found in the public papers of that time,
+which were of my writing, and are printed with the minutes of the
+Assembly; and the governor pleaded his instructions, the bond he
+had given to observe them, and his ruin if he disobey'd, yet seemed
+not unwilling to hazard himself if Lord Loudoun would advise it.
+This his lordship did not chuse to do, though I once thought I had
+nearly prevail'd with him to do it; but finally he rather chose to
+urge the compliance of the Assembly; and he entreated me to use my
+endeavours with them for that purpose, declaring that he would
+spare none of the king's troops for the defense of our frontiers,
+and that, if we did not continue to provide for that defense
+ourselves, they must remain expos'd to the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>I acquainted the House with what had pass'd, and, presenting
+them with a set of resolutions I had drawn up, declaring our
+rights, and that we did not relinquish our claim to those rights,
+but only suspended the exercise of them on this occasion thro'
+<i>force</i>, against which we protested, they at length agreed to
+drop that bill, and frame another conformable to the proprietary
+instructions. This of course the governor pass'd, and I was then at
+liberty to proceed on my voyage. But, in the meantime, the packet
+had sailed with my sea-stores, which was some loss to me, and my
+only recompense was his lordship's thanks for my service, all the
+credit of obtaining the accommodation falling to his share.</p>
+
+<p>He set out for New York before me; and, as the time for
+dispatching the packet-boats was at his disposition, and there were
+two then remaining there, one of which, he said, was to sail very
+soon, I requested to know the precise time, that I might not miss
+her by any delay of mine. His answer was, "I have given out that
+she is to sail on Saturday next; but I may let you know, <i>entre
+nous</i>, that if you are there by Monday morning, you will be in
+time, but do not delay longer." By some accidental hindrance at a
+ferry, it was Monday noon before I arrived, and I was much afraid
+she might have sailed, as the wind was fair; but I was soon made
+easy by the information that she was still in the harbor, and would
+not move till the next day. One would imagine that I was now on the
+very point of departing for Europe. I thought so; but I was not
+then so well acquainted with his lordship's character, of which
+<i>indecision</i> was one of the strongest features. I shall give
+some instances. It was about the beginning of April that I came to
+New York, and I think it was near the end of June before we sail'd.
+There were then two of the packet-boats, which had been long in
+port, but were detained for the general's letters, which were
+always to be ready to-morrow. Another packet arriv'd; she too was
+detain'd; and, before we sail'd, a fourth was expected. Ours was
+the first to be dispatch'd, as having been there longest.
+Passengers were engaged in all, and some extremely impatient to be
+gone, and the merchants uneasy about their letters, and the orders
+they had given for insurance (it being war time) for fall goods;
+but their anxiety avail'd nothing; his lordship's letters were not
+ready; and yet whoever waited on him found him always at his desk,
+pen in hand, and concluded he must needs write abundantly.</p>
+
+<p>Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I found in his
+antechamber one Innis, a messenger of Philadelphia, who had come
+from thence express with a packet from Governor Denny for the
+general. He delivered to me some letters from my friends there,
+which occasion'd my inquiring when he was to return, and where he
+lodg'd, that I might send some letters by him. He told me he was
+order'd to call to-morrow at nine for the general's answer to the
+governor, and should set off immediately. I put my letters into his
+hands the same day. A fortnight after I met him again in the same
+place. "So, you are soon return'd, Innis?" "<i>Return'd</i>! no, I
+am not <i>gone</i> yet." "How so?" "I have called here by order
+every morning these two weeks past for his lordship's letter, and
+it is not yet ready." "Is it possible, when he is so great a
+writer? for I see him constantly at his escritoire." "Yes," says
+Innis, "but he is like St. George on the signs, <i>always on
+horseback, and never rides on</i>." This observation of the
+messenger was, it seems, well founded; for, when in England, I
+understood that Mr. Pitt<a name="FNanchor_113" id=
+"FNanchor_113" /><a href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a>
+gave it as one reason for removing this general, and sending
+Generals Amherst and Wolfe, <i>that the minister never heard from
+him, and could not know what he was doing</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three packets
+going down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet there, the passengers
+thought it best to be on board, lest by a sudden order the ships
+should sail, and they be left behind. There, if I remember right,
+we were about six weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and oblig'd to
+procure more. At length the fleet sail'd, the general and all his
+army on board, bound to Louisburg, with the intent to besiege and
+take that fortress; all the packet-boats in company ordered to
+attend the general's ship, ready to receive his dispatches when
+they should be ready. We were out five days before we got a letter
+with leave to part, and then our ship quitted the fleet and steered
+for England. The other two packets he still detained, carried them
+with him to Halifax, where he stayed some time to exercise the men
+in sham attacks upon sham forts, then altered his mind as to
+besieging Louisburg, and returned to New York, with all his troops,
+together with the two packets above mentioned, and all their
+passengers! During his absence the French and savages had taken
+Fort George, on the frontier of that province, and the savages had
+massacred many of the garrison after capitulation.</p>
+
+<p>I saw afterwards in London Captain Bonnell, who commanded one of
+those packets. He told me that, when he had been detain'd a month,
+he acquainted his lordship that his ship was grown foul, to a
+degree that must necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a point of
+consequence for a packet-boat, and requested an allowance of time
+to heave her down and clean her bottom. He was asked how long time
+that would require. He answered, three days. The general replied,
+"If you can do it in one day, I give leave; otherwise not; for you
+must certainly sail the day after to-morrow." So he never obtain'd
+leave, though detained afterwards from day to day during full three
+months.</p>
+
+<p>I saw also in London one of Bonnell's passengers, who was so
+enrag'd against his lordship for deceiving and detaining him so
+long at New York, and then carrying him to Halifax and back again,
+that he swore he would sue him for damages. Whether he did or not,
+I never heard; but, as he represented the injury to his affairs, it
+was very considerable.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, I wonder'd much how such a man came to be
+intrusted<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114" /><a href=
+"#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> with so important a
+business as the conduct of a great army; but, having since seen
+more of the great world, and the means of obtaining, and motives
+for giving places, my wonder is diminished. General Shirley, on
+whom the command of the army devolved upon the death of Braddock,
+would, in my opinion, if continued in place, have made a much
+better campaign than that of Loudoun in 1757, which was frivolous,
+expensive, and disgraceful to our nation beyond conception; for,
+tho' Shirley was not a bred soldier, he was sensible and sagacious
+in himself, and attentive to good advice from others, capable of
+forming judicious plans, and quick and active in carrying them into
+execution. Loudoun, instead of defending the colonies with his
+great army, left them totally expos'd while he paraded idly at
+Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost, besides, he derang'd
+all our mercantile operations, and distress'd our trade, by a long
+embargo on the exportation of provisions, on pretence of keeping
+supplies from being obtain'd by the enemy, but in reality for
+beating down their price in favour of the contractors, in whose
+profits, it was said, perhaps from suspicion only, he had a share.
+And, when at length the embargo was taken off, by neglecting to
+send notice of it to Charlestown, the Carolina fleet was detain'd
+near three months longer, whereby their bottoms were so much
+damaged by the worm that a great part of them foundered in their
+passage home.</p>
+
+<p>Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being relieved from so
+burdensome a charge as the conduct of an army must be to a man
+unacquainted with military business. I was at the entertainment
+given by the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his taking upon
+him the command. Shirley, tho' thereby superseded, was present
+also. There was a great company of officers, citizens, and
+strangers, and, some chairs having been borrowed in the
+neighborhood, there was one among them very low, which fell to the
+lot of Mr. Shirley. Perceiving it as I sat by him, I said, "They
+have given you, sir, too low a seat." "No matter," says he, "Mr.
+Franklin, I find <i>a low seat</i> the easiest."</p>
+
+<p><a name="pg308" id="pg308" />While I was, as afore mention'd,
+detain'd at New York, I receiv'd all the accounts of the
+provisions, etc., that I had furnish'd to Braddock, some of which
+accounts could not sooner be obtain'd from the different persons I
+had employ'd to assist in the business. I presented them to Lord
+Loudoun, desiring to be paid the balance. He caus'd them to be
+regularly examined by the proper officer, who, after comparing
+every article with its voucher, certified them to be right; and the
+balance due for which his lordship promis'd to give me an order on
+the paymaster. This was, however, put off from time to time; and
+tho' I call'd often for it by appointment, I did not get it. At
+length, just before my departure, he told me he had, on better
+consideration, concluded not to mix his accounts with those of his
+predecessors. "And you," says he, "when in England, have only to
+exhibit your accounts at the treasury, and you will be paid
+immediately."</p>
+
+<p>I mention'd, but without effect, the great and unexpected
+expense I had been put to by being detain'd so long at New York, as
+a reason for my desiring to be presently paid; and on my observing
+that it was not right I should be put to any further trouble or
+delay in obtaining the money I had advanc'd, as I charged no
+commission for my service, "O, Sir," says he, "you must not think
+of persuading us that you are no gainer; we understand better those
+affairs, and know that every one concerned in supplying the army
+finds means, in the doing it, to fill his own pockets." I assur'd
+him that was not my case, and that I had not pocketed a farthing;
+but he appear'd clearly not to believe me; and, indeed, I have
+since learnt that immense fortunes are often made in such
+employments. As to my balance, I am not paid it to this day, of
+which more hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>Our captain of the packet had boasted much, before we sailed, of
+the swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she
+proved the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his no small
+mortification. After many conjectures respecting the cause, when we
+were near another ship almost as dull as ours, which, however,
+gain'd upon us, the captain ordered all hands to come aft, and
+stand as near the ensign staff as possible. We were, passengers
+included, about forty persons. While we stood there, the ship
+mended her pace, and soon left her neighbour far behind, which
+prov'd clearly what our captain suspected, that she was loaded too
+much by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had been all plac'd
+forward; these he therefore order'd to be mov'd further aft, on
+which the ship recover'd her character, and proved the best sailer
+in the fleet.</p>
+
+<p>The captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen
+knots, which is accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had on board,
+as a passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who contended that it
+was impossible, and that no ship ever sailed so fast, and that
+there must have been some error in the division of the log-line, or
+some mistake in heaving the log.<a name="FNanchor_115" id=
+"FNanchor_115" /><a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a>
+A wager ensu'd between the two captains, to be decided when there
+should be sufficient wind. Kennedy thereupon examin'd rigorously
+the log-line, and, being satisfi'd with that, he determin'd to
+throw the log himself. Accordingly some days after, when the wind
+blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of the packet, Lutwidge,
+said he believ'd she then went at the rate of thirteen knots,
+Kennedy made the experiment, and own'd his wager lost.</p>
+
+<p>The above fact I give for the sake of the following observation.
+It has been remark'd, as an imperfection in the art of
+ship-building, that it can never be known, till she is tried,
+whether a new ship will or will not be a good sailer; for that the
+model of a good-sailing ship has been exactly follow'd in a new
+one, which has prov'd, on the contrary, remarkably dull. I
+apprehend that this may partly be occasion'd by the different
+opinions of seamen respecting the modes of lading, rigging, and
+sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the same vessel, laden
+by the judgment and orders of one captain, shall sail better or
+worse than when by the orders of another. Besides, it scarce ever
+happens that a ship is form'd, fitted for the sea, and sail'd by
+the same person. One man builds the hull, another rigs her, a third
+lades and sails her. No one of these has the advantage of knowing
+all the ideas and experience of the others, and, therefore, cannot
+draw just conclusions from a combination of the whole.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the simple operation of sailing when at sea, I have
+often observ'd different judgments in the officers who commanded
+the successive watches, the wind being the same. One would have the
+sails trimm'd sharper or flatter than another, so that they seem'd
+to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of
+experiments might be instituted; first, to determine the most
+proper form of the hull for swift sailing; next, the best
+dimensions and properest place for the masts; then the form and
+quantity of sails, and their position, as the wind may be; and,
+lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age of
+experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combin'd would
+be of great use. I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some
+ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish
+success.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="60%" src=
+"images/illus-034-red.jpg" alt="Sailboat" title="Sailing ship" /></div>
+
+<p>We were several times chas'd in our passage, but out-sail'd
+every thing, and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good
+observation, and the captain judg'd himself so near our port,
+Falmouth, that, if we made a good run in the night, we might be off
+the mouth of that harbor in the morning, and by running in the
+night might escape the notice of the enemy's privateers, who often
+cruis'd near the entrance of the channel. Accordingly, all the sail
+was set that we could possibly make, and the wind being very fresh
+and fair, we went right before it, and made great way. The captain,
+after his observation, shap'd his course, as he thought, so as to
+pass wide of the Scilly Isles; but it seems there is sometimes a
+strong indraught setting up St. George's Channel, which deceives
+seamen and caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley Shovel's squadron.
+This indraught was probably the cause of what happened to us.</p>
+
+<p>We had a watchman plac'd in the bow, to whom they often called,
+"<i>Look well out before there</i>," and he as often answered,
+"<i>Ay, ay</i>"; but perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half asleep
+at the time, they sometimes answering, as is said, mechanically;
+for he did not see a light just before us, which had been hid by
+the studding-sails from the man at the helm, and from the rest of
+the watch, but by an accidental yaw of the ship was discover'd, and
+occasion'd a great alarm, we being very near it, the light
+appearing to me as big as a cartwheel. It was midnight, and our
+captain fast asleep; but Captain Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and
+seeing the danger, ordered the ship to wear round, all sails
+standing; an operation dangerous to the masts, but it carried us
+clear, and we escaped shipwreck, for we were running right upon the
+rocks on which the lighthouse was erected. This deliverance
+impressed me strongly with the utility of lighthouses, and made me
+resolve to encourage the building more of them in America if I
+should live to return there.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning it was found by the soundings, etc., that we were
+near our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About
+nine o'clock the fog began to rise, and seem'd to be lifted up from
+the water like the curtain at a play-house, discovering underneath,
+the town of Falmouth, the vessels in its harbor, and the fields
+that surrounded it. This was a most pleasing spectacle to those who
+had been so long without any other prospects than the uniform view
+of a vacant ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure as we were now
+free from the anxieties which the state of war occasion'd.</p>
+
+<p>I set out immediately, with my son, for London, and we only
+stopt a little by the way to view Stonehenge<a name="FNanchor_116"
+id="FNanchor_116" /><a href="#Footnote_116" class=
+"fnanchor">[116]</a> on Salisbury Plain, and Lord Pembroke's house
+and gardens, with his very curious antiquities at Wilton. We
+arrived in London the 27th of July, 1757.<a name="FNanchor_117" id=
+"FNanchor_117" /><a href="#Footnote_117" class=
+"fnanchor">[117]</a></p>
+
+<p>As soon as I was settled in a lodging Mr. Charles had provided
+for me, I went to visit Dr. Fothergill, to whom I was strongly
+recommended, and whose counsel respecting my proceedings I was
+advis'd to obtain. He was against an immediate complaint to
+government, and thought the proprietaries should first be
+personally appli'd to, who might possibly be induc'd by the
+interposition and persuasion of some private friends, to
+accommodate matters amicably. I then waited on my old friend and
+correspondent, Mr. Peter Collinson, who told me that John Hanbury,
+the great Virginia merchant, had requested to be informed when I
+should arrive, that he might carry me to Lord Granville's,<a name=
+"FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118" /><a href="#Footnote_118" class=
+"fnanchor">[118]</a> who was then President of the Council and
+wished to see me as soon as possible. I agreed to go with him the
+next morning. Accordingly Mr. Hanbury called for me and took me in
+his carriage to that nobleman's, who receiv'd me with great
+civility; and after some questions respecting the present state of
+affairs in America and discourse thereupon, he said to me: "You
+Americans have wrong ideas of the nature of your constitution; you
+contend that the king's instructions to his governors are not laws,
+and think yourselves at liberty to regard or disregard them at your
+own discretion. But those instructions are not like the pocket
+instructions given to a minister going abroad, for regulating his
+conduct in some trifling point of ceremony. They are first drawn up
+by judges learned in the laws; they are then considered, debated,
+and perhaps amended in Council, after which they are signed by the
+king. They are then, so far as they relate to you, the <i>law of
+the land</i>, for the king is the <span class="smcap">Legislator of
+the Colonies</span>,"<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119" /><a
+href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> I told his lordship
+this was new doctrine to me. I had always understood from our
+charters that our laws were to be made by our Assemblies, to be
+presented indeed to the king for his royal assent, but that being
+once given the king could not repeal or alter them. And as the
+Assemblies could not make permanent laws without his assent, so
+neither could he make a law for them without theirs. He assur'd me
+I was totally mistaken. I did not think so, however, and his
+lordship's conversation having a little alarm'd me as to what might
+be the sentiments of the court concerning us, I wrote it down as
+soon as I return'd to my lodgings. I recollected that about 20
+years before, a clause in a bill brought into Parliament by the
+ministry had propos'd to make the king's instructions laws in the
+colonies, but the clause was thrown out by the Commons, for which
+we adored them as our friends and friends of liberty, till by their
+conduct towards us in 1765 it seem'd that they had refus'd that
+point of sovereignty to the king only that they might reserve it
+for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>With his keen insight into human nature and his consequent
+knowledge of American character, he foresaw the inevitable result
+of such an attitude on the part of England. This conversation with
+Grenville makes these last pages of the <i>Autobiography</i> one of
+its most important parts.</p>
+
+<p>After some days, Dr. Fothergill having spoken to the
+proprietaries, they agreed to a meeting with me at Mr. T. Penn's
+house in Spring Garden. The conversation at first consisted of
+mutual declarations of disposition to reasonable accommodations,
+but I suppose each party had its own ideas of what should be meant
+by <i>reasonable</i>. We then went into consideration of our
+several points of complaint, which I enumerated. The proprietaries
+justify'd their conduct as well as they could, and I the
+Assembly's. We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other
+in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement. However, it
+was concluded that I should give them the heads of our complaints
+in writing, and they promis'd then to consider them. I did so soon
+after, but they put the paper into the hands of their solicitor,
+Ferdinand John Paris, who managed for them all their law business
+in their great suit with the neighbouring proprietary of Maryland,
+Lord Baltimore, which had subsisted 70 years, and wrote for them
+all their papers and messages in their dispute with the Assembly.
+He was a proud, angry man, and as I had occasionally in the answers
+of the Assembly treated his papers with some severity, they being
+really weak in point of argument and haughty in expression, he had
+conceived a mortal enmity to me, which discovering itself whenever
+we met, I declin'd the proprietary's proposal that he and I should
+discuss the heads of complaint between our two selves, and refus'd
+treating with anyone but them. They then by his advice put the
+paper into the hands of the Attorney and Solicitor-General for
+their opinion and counsel upon it, where it lay unanswered a year
+wanting eight days, during which time I made frequent demands of an
+answer from the proprietaries, but without obtaining any other than
+that they had not yet received the opinion of the Attorney and
+Solicitor-General. What it was when they did receive it I never
+learnt, for they did not communicate it to me, but sent a long
+message to the Assembly drawn and signed by Paris, reciting my
+paper, complaining of its want of formality, as a rudeness on my
+part, and giving a flimsy justification of their conduct, adding
+that they should be willing to accommodate matters if the Assembly
+would send out <i>some person of candour</i> to treat with them for
+that purpose, intimating thereby that I was not such.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p318" id="p318" /> <a href=
+"images/illus-035-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-035thumb.jpg"
+alt=
+"We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement"
+ title=
+"We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"We now appeared very wide, and so far
+from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of
+agreement"</div>
+
+<p>The want of formality or rudeness was, probably, my not having
+address'd the paper to them with their assum'd titles of True and
+Absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, which I
+omitted as not thinking it necessary in a paper, the intention of
+which was only to reduce to a certainty by writing, what in
+conversation I had delivered <i>viva voce</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But during this delay, the Assembly having prevailed with Gov'r
+Denny to pass an act taxing the proprietary estate in common with
+the estates of the people, which was the grand point in dispute,
+they omitted answering the message.</p>
+
+<p>When this act however came over, the proprietaries, counselled
+by Paris, determined to oppose its receiving the royal assent.
+Accordingly they petitioned the king in Council, and a hearing was
+appointed in which two lawyers were employ'd by them against the
+act, and two by me in support of it. They alledg'd that the act was
+intended to load the proprietary estate in order to spare those of
+the people, and that if it were suffer'd to continue in force, and
+the proprietaries, who were in odium with the people, left to their
+mercy in proportioning the taxes, they would inevitably be ruined.
+We reply'd that the act had no such intention, and would have no
+such effect. That the assessors were honest and discreet men under
+an oath to assess fairly and equitably, and that any advantage each
+of them might expect in lessening his own tax by augmenting that of
+the proprietaries was too trifling to induce them to perjure
+themselves. This is the purport of what I remember as urged by both
+sides, except that we insisted strongly on the mischievous
+consequences that must attend a repeal, for that the money,
+&pound;100,000, being printed and given to the king's use, expended
+in his service, and now spread among the people, the repeal would
+strike it dead in their hands to the ruin of many, and the total
+discouragement of future grants, and the selfishness of the
+proprietors in soliciting such a general catastrophe, merely from a
+groundless fear of their estate being taxed too highly, was
+insisted on in the strongest terms. On this, Lord Mansfield, one of
+the counsel, rose, and beckoning me took me into the clerk's
+chamber, while the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I was
+really of opinion that no injury would be done the proprietary
+estate in the execution of the act. I said certainly. "Then," says
+he, "you can have little objection to enter into an engagement to
+assure that point." I answer'd, "None at all." He then call'd in
+Paris, and after some discourse, his lordship's proposition was
+accepted on both sides; a paper to the purpose was drawn up by the
+Clerk of the Council, which I sign'd with Mr. Charles, who was also
+an Agent of the Province for their ordinary affairs, when Lord
+Mansfield returned to the Council Chamber, where finally the law
+was allowed to pass. Some changes were however recommended and we
+also engaged they should be made by a subsequent law, but the
+Assembly did not think them necessary; for one year's tax having
+been levied by the act before the order of Council arrived, they
+appointed a committee to examine the proceedings of the assessors,
+and on this committee they put several particular friends of the
+proprietaries. After a full enquiry, they unanimously sign'd a
+report that they found the tax had been assess'd with perfect
+equity.</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly looked into my entering into the first part of the
+engagement, as an essential service to the Province, since it
+secured the credit of the paper money then spread over all the
+country. They gave me their thanks in form when I return'd. But the
+proprietaries were enraged at Governor Denny for having pass'd the
+act, and turn'd him out with threats of suing him for breach of
+instructions which he had given bond to observe. He, however,
+having done it at the instance of the General, and for His
+Majesty's service, and having some powerful interest at court,
+despis'd the threats and they were never put in execution....
+[unfinished]</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Quarrel
+between George II and his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died
+before his father.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> A satirical
+poem by Alexander Pope directed against various contemporary
+writers.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> William Pitt,
+first Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), a great English statesman and
+orator. Under his able administration, England won Canada from
+France. He was a friend of America at the time of our
+Revolution.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> This relation
+illustrates the corruption that characterized English public life
+in the eighteenth century. (See page <a href="#pg308">308</a>). It
+was gradually overcome in the early part of the next century.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> A piece of
+wood shaped and weighted so as to keep it stable when in the water.
+To this is attached a line knotted at regular distances. By these
+devices it is possible to tell the speed of a ship.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> A celebrated
+prehistoric ruin, probably of a temple built by the early Britons,
+near Salisbury, England. It consists of inner and outer circles of
+enormous stones, some of which are connected by stone slabs.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> "Here
+terminates the <i>Autobiography</i>, as published by Wm. Temple
+Franklin and his successors. What follows was written in the last
+year of Dr. Franklin's life, and was never before printed in
+English."&mdash;Mr. Bigelow's note in his edition of 1868.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> George
+Granville or Grenville (1712-1770). As English premier from 1763 to
+1765, he introduced the direct taxation of the American Colonies
+and has sometimes been called the immediate cause of the
+Revolution.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119" /><a href=
+"#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> This whole
+passage shows how hopelessly divergent were the English and
+American views on the relations between the mother country and her
+colonies. Grenville here made clear that the Americans were to have
+no voice in making or amending their laws. Parliament and the king
+were to have absolute power over the colonies. No wonder Franklin
+was alarmed by this new doctrine.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img width="25%" src=
+"images/illus-036-red.jpg" alt=
+"Medal with inscription: BENJ. FRANLIN NATUS BOSTON XVII, JAN. MDCCVI."
+ title=
+"Medal with inscription: BENJ. FRANLIN NATUS BOSTON XVII, JAN. MDCCVI." /></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3>APPENDIX</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="ELECTRICAL_KITE" id="ELECTRICAL_KITE" />ELECTRICAL
+KITE</h4>
+
+<div class="center"><span class="smcap">To Peter
+Collinson</span></div>
+
+<p class="right">[Philadelphia], Oct. 19, 1752.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir,</span></p>
+
+<p>As frequent mention is made in public papers from Europe of the
+success of the <i>Philadelphia</i> experiment for drawing the
+electric fire from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected
+on high buildings, &amp;c., it may be agreeable to the curious to
+be informed, that the same experiment has succeeded in
+<i>Philadelphia</i>, though made in a different and more easy
+manner, which is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so
+long as to reach to the four corners of a large, thin silk
+handkerchief when extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to
+the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which
+being properly accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will
+rise in the air, like those made of paper; but this being of silk,
+is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a thunder-gust without
+tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be
+fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the
+wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be tied a silk
+ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key may be fastened.
+This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust appears to be coming
+on, and the person who holds the string must stand within a door or
+window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be
+wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame
+of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come
+over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from
+them, and the kite, with all the twine will be electrified, and the
+loose filaments of the twine will stand out every way and be
+attracted by an approaching finger. And when the rain has wet the
+kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely,
+you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the
+approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged; and
+from electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled, and all
+the electric experiments be performed, which are usually done by
+the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the sameness
+of the electric matter with that of lightning completely
+demonstrated.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin.</span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p328" id="p328" /> <a href="images/illus-037-red.jpg"><img src="images/illus-037thumb.jpg"
+alt=
+"You will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle"
+ title=
+"You will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">"You will find it stream out
+plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle"</div>
+
+<p class="new">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="p330" id="p330" />
+<a href="images/img038.jpg"><img src=
+"images/img038tb.jpg" alt="Father Abraham in his Study" title="" /></a></div>
+
+<div class="center_caption">Father <i>Abraham</i> in his <span
+class="smcap">Study.</span></div>
+
+<p>From "Father Abraham's Speech," 1760. Reproduced from a copy at
+the New York Public Library.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="THE_WAY_TO_WEALTH" id="THE_WAY_TO_WEALTH" />THE WAY TO
+WEALTH</h4>
+
+<p>(From "Father Abraham's Speech," forming the preface to Poor
+<i>Richard's Almanac</i> for 1758.)</p>
+
+<p>It would be thought a hard Government that should tax its People
+one-tenth Part of their <i>Time</i>, to be employed in its Service.
+But <i>Idleness</i> taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all
+that is spent in absolute <i>Sloth</i>, or doing of nothing, with
+that which is spent in idle Employments or Amusements, that amount
+to nothing. <i>Sloth</i>, by bringing on Diseases, absolutely
+shortens Life. <i>Sloth, like Rust, consumes faster than Labor
+wears; while the used key is always bright, as Poor Richard says.
+But dost thou love Life, then do not squander Time, for that's the
+stuff Life is made of, as Poor Richard</i> says. How much more than
+is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that <i>The sleeping
+Fox catches no Poultry</i>, and that <i>There will be sleeping
+enough in the Grave</i>, as <i>Poor Richard</i> says.</p>
+
+<p><i>If Time be of all Things the most precious, wasting Time must
+be, as Poor Richard</i> says, <i>the</i> <i>greatest
+Prodigality</i>; since, as he elsewhere tells us, <i>Lost Time is
+never found again; and what we call Time enough, always proves
+little enough</i>: Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the
+Purpose; so by Diligence shall we do more with less Perplexity.
+<i>Sloth makes all Things difficult, but Industry all easy</i>, as
+<i>Poor Richard</i> says; and <i>He that riseth late must trot all
+Day, and shall scarce overtake his Business at Night; while
+Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him</i>, as
+we read in <i>Poor Richard</i>, who adds, <i>Drive thy Business,
+let not that drive thee</i>; and <i>Early to Bed, and early to
+rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy, and wise.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Industry need not wish, and he that lives upon Hope will die
+fasting.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>There are no Gains without Pains.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>He that hath a Trade hath an Estate; and he that hath a
+Calling, hath an Office of Profit and Honor</i>; but then the
+<i>Trade</i> must be worked at, and the <i>Calling</i> well
+followed, or neither the <i>Estate</i> nor the <i>Office</i> will
+enable us to pay our Taxes.</p>
+
+<p>What though you have found no Treasure, nor has any rich
+Relation left you a Legacy, <i>Diligence is the Mother of
+Good-luck</i>, as <i>Poor Richard</i> says, <i>and God gives all
+Things to Industry</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>One To-day is worth two To-morrows</i>, and farther, <i>Have
+you somewhat to do To-morrow, do it To-day</i>.</p>
+
+<p>If you were a Servant, would you not be ashamed that a good
+Master should catch you idle? Are you then your own Master, <i>be
+ashamed to catch yourself idle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Stick to it steadily; and you will see great Effects, for
+<i>Constant Dropping wears away Stones</i>, and by <i>Diligence and
+Patience the Mouse ate in two the Cable</i>; and <i>Little Strokes
+fell great Oaks</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Methinks I hear some of you say, <i>Must a Man afford himself no
+Leisure</i>? I will tell thee, my friend, what <i>Poor Richard</i>
+says, <i>Employ thy Time well, if thou meanest to gain Leisure;
+and, since thou art not sure of a Minute, throw not away an
+Hour</i>. Leisure, is Time for doing something useful; this Leisure
+the diligent Man will obtain, but the lazy Man never; so that, as
+<i>Poor Richard</i> says, <i>A Life of Leisure and a Life of
+Laziness are two things</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Keep thy Shop, and thy Shop will keep thee</i>; and again,
+<i>If you would have your business done, go; if not, send.</i></p>
+
+<p>If you would have a faithful Servant, and one that you like,
+serve yourself.</p>
+
+<p><i>A little Neglect may breed great Mischief:</i> adding, <i>for
+want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was
+lost; and for want of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken
+and slain by the Enemy; all for the want of Care about a Horse-shoe
+Nail</i>.</p>
+
+<p>So much for Industry, my Friends, and Attention to one's own
+Business; but to these we must add <i>Frugality</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>What maintains one Vice, would bring up two Children</i>. You
+may think perhaps, that a <i>little</i> Tea, or a <i>little</i>
+Punch now and then, Diet a <i>little</i> more costly, Clothes a
+<i>little</i> finer, and a <i>little</i> Entertainment now and
+then, can be no <i>great</i> Matter; but remember what <i>Poor
+Richard</i> says, <i>Many a Little makes a Mickle.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Beware of little expenses; A small Leak will sink a great
+Ship</i>; and again, <i>Who Dainties love, shall Beggars prove</i>;
+and moreover, <i>Fools make Feasts, and wise Men eat them.</i></p>
+
+<p>Buy what thou hast no Need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy
+Necessaries.</p>
+
+<p>If you would know the Value of Money, go and try to borrow some;
+for, he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.</p>
+
+<p>The second Vice is Lying, the first is running in Debt.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lying rides upon Debt's Back</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Poverty often deprives a Man of all Spirit and Virtue: '<i>Tis
+hard for an empty Bag to stand upright</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And now to conclude, <i>Experience keeps a dear School, but
+Fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that</i>; for it is
+true, <i>we may give Advice, but we cannot give Conduct</i>, as
+<i>Poor Richard</i> says: However, remember this, <i>They that
+won't be counseled, can't be helped</i>, as <i>Poor Richard</i>
+says: and farther, That <i>if you will not hear Reason, she'll
+surely rap your Knuckles</i>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="THE_WHISTLE" id="THE_WHISTLE" />THE WHISTLE</h4>
+
+<div class="center"><span class="smcap">To Madame
+Brillon</span></div>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Passy</span>, November 10,
+1779.</p>
+
+<p>I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your
+plan of living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that,
+in the meantime, we should draw all the good we can from this
+world. In my opinion, we might all draw more good from it than we
+do, and suffer less evil, if we would take care not to give too
+much for whistles. For to me it seems, that most of the unhappy
+people we meet with, are become so by neglect of that caution.</p>
+
+<p>You ask what I mean? You love stories, and will excuse my
+telling one of myself.</p>
+
+<p>When I was a child of seven year old, my friends, on a holiday,
+filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they
+sold toys for children; and being charmed with the sound of a
+<i>whistle</i>, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy,
+I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one. I then came
+home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my
+<i>whistle</i>, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and
+sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me
+I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in
+mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the
+money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with
+vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the
+<i>whistle</i> gave me pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression
+continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy
+some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, <i>Don't give too much
+for the whistle</i>; and I saved my money.</p>
+
+<p>As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of
+men, I thought I met with many, very many, who <i>gave too much for
+the whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, sacrificing his
+time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue,
+and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself,
+<i>This man gives too much for his whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing
+himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and
+ruining them by neglect, <i>He pays, indeed</i>, said I, <i>too
+much for his whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>If I knew a miser who gave up every kind of comfortable living,
+all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his
+fellow citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the
+sake of accumulating wealth, <i>Poor man</i>, said I, <i>you pay
+too much for your whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable
+improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal
+sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, <i>Mistaken
+man</i>, said I, <i>you are providing pain for yourself, instead of
+pleasure; you give too much for your whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses,
+fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he
+contracts debts, and ends his career in a prison, <i>Alas</i>! say
+I, <i>he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an
+ill-natured brute of a husband, <i>What a pity</i>, say I, <i>that
+she should pay so much for a whistle</i>!</p>
+
+<p>In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind
+are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the
+value of things, and by their <i>giving too much for their
+whistles</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I
+consider, that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there
+are certain things in the world so tempting, for example, the
+apples of King John, which happily are not to be bought; for if
+they were put to sale by auction, I might very easily be led to
+ruin myself in the purchase, and find that I had once more given
+too much for the <i>whistle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely
+and with unalterable affection,</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin.</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="A_LETTER_TO_SAMUEL_MATHER" id=
+"A_LETTER_TO_SAMUEL_MATHER" />A LETTER TO SAMUEL MATHER</h4>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Passy</span>, May 12,
+1784.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Revd Sir,</span></p>
+
+<p>It is now more than 60 years since I left Boston, but I remember
+well both your father and grandfather, having heard them both in
+the pulpit, and seen them in their houses. The last time I saw your
+father was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my
+first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and on
+my taking leave showed me a shorter way out of the house through a
+narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still
+talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning
+partly towards him, when he said hastily, "<i>Stoop, stoop!</i>" I
+did not understand him, till I felt my head hit against the beam.
+He was a man that never missed any occasion of giving instruction,
+and upon this he said to me, "<i>You are young, and have the world
+before you; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard
+thumps</i>." This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently
+been of use to me; and I often think of it, when I see pride
+mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their carrying
+their heads too high.</p>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">B. Franklin.</span></p>
+
+<div class="center">THE END</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="BIBLIOGRAPHY" id="BIBLIOGRAPHY" />BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3>
+
+<p>The last and most complete edition of Franklin's works is that
+by the late Professor Albert H. Smyth, published in ten volumes by
+the Macmillan Company, New York, under the title, <i>The Writings
+of Benjamin Franklin</i>. The other standard edition is the
+<i>Works of Benjamin Franklin</i> by John Bigelow (New York, 1887).
+Mr. Bigelow's first edition of the <i>Autobiography</i> in one
+volume was published by the J. B. Lippincott Company of
+Philadelphia in 1868. The life of Franklin as a writer is well
+treated by J. B. McMaster in a volume of <i>The American Men of
+Letters Series</i>; his life as a statesman and diplomat, by J. T.
+Morse, <i>American Statesmen Series</i>, one volume; Houghton,
+Mifflin Company publish both books. A more exhaustive account of
+the life and times of Franklin may be found in James Parton's
+<i>Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin</i> (2 vols., New York,
+1864). Paul Leicester Ford's <i>The Many-Sided Franklin</i> is a
+most chatty and readable book, replete with anecdotes and
+excellently and fully illustrated. An excellent criticism by
+Woodrow Wilson introduces an edition of the <i>Autobiography</i> in
+<i>The Century Classics</i> (Century Co., New York, 1901).
+Interesting magazine articles are those of E. E. Hale, <i>Christian
+Examiner</i>, lxxi, 447; W. P. Trent, <i>McClure's Magazine</i>,
+viii, 273; John Hay, <i>The Century Magazine</i>, lxxi, 447.</p>
+
+<p>See also the histories of American literature by C. F.
+Richardson, Moses Coit Tyler, Brander Matthews, John Nichol, and
+Barrett Wendell, as well as the various encyclopedias. An excellent
+bibliography of Franklin is that of Paul Leicester Ford, entitled
+<i>A List of Books Written by, or Relating to Benjamin Franklin</i>
+(New York, 1889).</p>
+
+<p>The following list of Franklin's works contains the more
+interesting publications, together with the dates of first
+issue.</p>
+
+<table width="100%" summary="Publications" border="0" cellpadding=
+"0" cellspacing="0">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1722.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Dogood Papers.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">Letters in the style of Addison's <i>Spectator</i>,
+contributed to James Franklin's newspaper and signed "Silence
+Dogood."</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1729.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>The Busybody.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A series of essays published in Bradford's
+Philadelphia <i>Weekly Mercury</i>, six of which only are ascribed
+to Franklin. They are essays on morality, philosophy and politics,
+similar to the <i>Dogood Papers</i>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1729.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of
+a Paper Currency.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1732.<br />
+to<br />
+1757.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Prefaces to Poor Richard's Almanac.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">Among these are <i>Hints for those that would be
+Rich</i>, 1737; and <i>Plan for saving one hundred thousand pounds
+to New Jersey, 1756</i>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1743.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among
+the British Plantations in America.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">"This paper appears to contain the first
+suggestion, in any public form, for an <i>American Philosophical
+Society</i>." Sparks.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1744.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania
+Fire-Places.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1749.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
+Pennsylvania.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">Contains the plan for the school which later became
+the University of Pennsylvania.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1752.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Electrical Kite.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A description of the famous kite experiment, first
+written in a letter to Peter Collinson, dated Oct. 19, 1752, which
+was published later in the same year in <i>The Gentleman's
+Magazine</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1754.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Plan of Union.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A plan for the union of the colonies presented to
+the colonial convention at Albany.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1755.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>A Dialogue Between X, Y and Z.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">An appeal to enlist in the provincial army for the
+defense of Pennsylvania.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1758.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Father Abraham's Speech.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">Published as a preface to Poor Richard's Almanac
+and gathering into one writing the maxims of Poor Richard, which
+had already appeared in previous numbers of the Almanac. <i>The
+Speech</i> was afterwards published in pamphlet form as the <i>Way
+to Wealth</i>.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1760.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Of the Means of disposing the enemy to
+Peace.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A satirical plea for procecution of the war against
+France,</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1760.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>The Interest of Great Britain Considered, with
+regard to her Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and
+Guadaloupe.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1764.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our
+Public Affairs.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A pamphlet favoring a Royal Government for
+Pennsylvania in exchange for that of the Proprietors.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1766.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>The Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin,
+etc., in The British House of Commons, Relative to The Repeal of
+The American Stamp Act.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1766.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Rules by which A Great Empire May Be Reduced to a
+Small One.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">Some twenty satirical rules embodying the line of
+conduct England was pursuing with America.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1773.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>An Edict of The King of Prussia.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A satire in which the King of Prussia was made to
+treat England as England was treating America because England was
+originally settled by Germans.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1777.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Comparison of Great Britain and the United States
+in Regard to the Basis of Credit in The Two Countries.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">One of several similar pamphlets written to effect
+loans for the American cause.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1782.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>On the Theory of the Earth.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">The best of Franklin's papers on geology.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1782.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Letter purporting to emanate from a petty German
+Prince and to be addressed to his officer in Command in
+America.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1785.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1786.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Retort Courteous.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Sending Felons to America.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">Answers to the British clamor for the payment of
+American debts.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1789.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Address to the Public from the Pennsylvania
+Society for Promoting Abolition of Slavery.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1789.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature
+in Pennsylvania, viz. The Court of the Press.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1790.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Martin's Account of his Consulship.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">A parody of a pro-slavery speech in Congress.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1791.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1"><i>Autobiography.</i></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">The first edition.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1818.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>Bagatelles.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">The Bagatelles were first published in 1818 in
+William Temple Franklin's edition of his grandfather's works. The
+following are the most famous of these essays and the dates when
+they were written:</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="100%" summary="Publications" border="0" cellpadding=
+"0" cellspacing="0">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1774?</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>A Parable Against Persecution.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new1">Franklin called this the LI Chapter of Genesis.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1774?</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>A Parable on Brotherly Love.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty" rowspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1778</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>The Ephemera, an Emblem of Human Life.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new1">A new rendition of an earlier essay on Human
+Vanity.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1779</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>The Story of the Whistle.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1779?</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>The Levee.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty" rowspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1779?</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>Proposed New Version of the Bible.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt0">
+<p class="new1">Part of the first chapter of <i>Job</i>
+modernized.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">(1779</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new">Published) <i>The Morals of Chess.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1780?</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>The Handsome and Deformed Leg.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_empty" rowspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1a" rowspan="2">1780</td>
+<td class="cell_lt10">
+<p class="new"><i>Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new1">(Published in 1802.)</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<table width="100%" summary="Publications" border="0" cellpadding=
+"0" cellspacing="0">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1802.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>A Petition of the Left Hand.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="cell_lt1a">1806.</td>
+<td class="cell_lt1">
+<p class="new"><i>The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams.</i></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figleft"><img src=
+"images/img039.jpg" alt=
+"MEDAL GIVEN BY THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM THE FRANKLIN FUND"
+title=
+"" /></div>
+<div class="figright"><img src=
+"images/img040.jpg" alt=
+"MEDAL GIVEN BY THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM THE FRANKLIN FUND"
+title=
+"" /></div>
+
+<div class="center"><br />MEDAL GIVEN BY THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM
+THE FRANKLIN FUND</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
+
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+Project Gutenberg's Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
+
+Author: Benjamin Franklin
+
+Editor: Frank Woodworth Pine
+
+Illustrator: E. Boyd Smith
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2006 [EBook #20203]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Brian Sogard and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: FRANKLIN ARMS]
+
+[Illustration: FRANKLIN SEAL]
+
+[Illustration: Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI
+
+    "He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court
+    parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
+    Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force,
+    they very generally played together. Happening once to
+    put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says
+    she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,' said
+    the Doctor."--Thomas Jefferson.]
+
+
+
+
+AUTOBIOGRAPHY
+
+OF
+
+BENJAMIN
+
+FRANKLIN
+
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
+_by_
+E. BOYD SMITH
+
+EDITED
+_by_
+FRANK WOODWORTH PINE
+
+
+[Illustration: Printers Mark]
+
+
+_New York_
+HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+1916
+
+Copyright, 1916,
+
+BY
+HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
+
+
+June, 1922
+
+
+THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
+RAHWAY, N. J.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+
+                                                             PAGE
+Introduction                                                  vii
+
+The Autobiography
+
+      I. Ancestry and Early Life in Boston                      3
+     II. Beginning Life as a Printer                           21
+    III. Arrival in Philadelphia                               41
+     IV. First Visit to Boston                                 55
+      V. Early Friends in Philadelphia                         69
+     VI. First Visit to London                                 77
+    VII. Beginning Business in Philadelphia                    99
+   VIII. Business Success and First Public Service            126
+     IX. Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection                  146
+      X. _Poor Richard's Almanac_ and Other Activities        169
+     XI. Interest in Public Affairs                           188
+    XII. Defense of the Province                              201
+   XIII. Public Services and Duties                           217
+    XIV. Albany Plan of Union                                 241
+     XV. Quarrels with the Proprietary Governors              246
+    XVI. Braddock's Expedition                                253
+   XVII. Franklin's Defense of the Frontier                   274
+  XVIII. Scientific Experiments                               289
+    XIX. Agent of Pennsylvania in London                      296
+
+Appendix
+
+         Electrical Kite                                      327
+         The Way to Wealth                                    331
+         The Whistle                                          336
+         A Letter to Samuel Mather                            34O
+
+Bibliography                                                  343
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI                 _Frontispiece_
+
+  "He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court
+  parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
+  Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force,
+  they very generally played together. Happening once to
+  put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says
+  she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,'
+  said the Doctor."--Thomas Jefferson.
+
+
+                                                             PAGE
+Portrait of Franklin                                          vii
+
+Pages 1 and 4 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_, Number
+  XL, the first number after Franklin took control            xxi
+
+First page of _The New England Courant_ of December
+  4-11, 1721                                                   33
+
+"I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets
+  to the customers"                                            36
+
+"She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I
+  made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous
+  appearance"                                                  48
+
+"I took to working at press"                                   88
+
+"I see him still at work when I go home from club"            120
+
+Two pages from _Poor Richard's Almanac_ for 1736              171
+
+"I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common
+  soldier"                                                    204
+
+"In the evening, hearing a great noise among them,
+  the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the
+  matter"                                                     224
+
+"Our axes ... were immediately set to work to
+  cut down trees"                                             278
+
+"We now appeared very wide, and so far from each
+  other in our opinions as to discourage all hope
+  of agreement"                                               318
+
+"You will find it stream out plentifully from the key
+  on the approach of your knuckle"                            328
+
+Father Abraham in his study                                   330
+
+The end papers show, at the front, the Franklin arms and
+  the Franklin seal; at the back, the medal given by the
+  Boston public schools from the fund left by Franklin for
+  that purpose as provided in the following extract from his
+  will:
+
+
+  "I was born in Boston, New England, and owe my first
+  instructions in literature to the free grammar-schools
+  established there. I therefore give one hundred pounds
+  sterling to my executors, to be by them ... paid over to
+  the managers or directors of the free schools in my native
+  town of Boston, to be by them ... put out to interest, and
+  so continued at interest forever, which interest annually
+  shall be laid out in silver medals, and given as honorary
+  rewards annually by the directors of the said free schools
+  belonging to the said town, in such manner as to the
+  discretion of the selectmen of the said town shall seem
+  meet."
+
+[Illustration: B. Franklin From an engraving by J. Thomson from the
+original picture by J. A. Duplessis]
+
+[Illustration: B. Franklin's signature]
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+We Americans devour eagerly any piece of writing that purports to tell
+us the secret of success in life; yet how often we are disappointed to
+find nothing but commonplace statements, or receipts that we know by
+heart but never follow. Most of the life stories of our famous and
+successful men fail to inspire because they lack the human element
+that makes the record real and brings the story within our grasp.
+While we are searching far and near for some Aladdin's Lamp to give
+coveted fortune, there is ready at our hand if we will only reach out
+and take it, like the charm in Milton's _Comus_,
+
+  "Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain
+   Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;"
+
+the interesting, human, and vividly told story of one of the wisest
+and most useful lives in our own history, and perhaps in any history.
+In Franklin's _Autobiography_ is offered not so much a ready-made
+formula for success, as the companionship of a real flesh and blood
+man of extraordinary mind and quality, whose daily walk and
+conversation will help us to meet our own difficulties, much as does
+the example of a wise and strong friend. While we are fascinated by
+the story, we absorb the human experience through which a strong and
+helpful character is building.
+
+The thing that makes Franklin's _Autobiography_ different from every
+other life story of a great and successful man is just this human
+aspect of the account. Franklin told the story of his life, as he
+himself says, for the benefit of his posterity. He wanted to help them
+by the relation of his own rise from obscurity and poverty to eminence
+and wealth. He is not unmindful of the importance of his public
+services and their recognition, yet his accounts of these achievements
+are given only as a part of the story, and the vanity displayed is
+incidental and in keeping with the honesty of the recital. There is
+nothing of the impossible in the method and practice of Franklin as he
+sets them forth. The youth who reads the fascinating story is
+astonished to find that Franklin in his early years struggled with the
+same everyday passions and difficulties that he himself experiences,
+and he loses the sense of discouragement that comes from a
+realization of his own shortcomings and inability to attain.
+
+There are other reasons why the _Autobiography_ should be an intimate
+friend of American young people. Here they may establish a close
+relationship with one of the foremost Americans as well as one of the
+wisest men of his age.
+
+The life of Benjamin Franklin is of importance to every American
+primarily because of the part he played in securing the independence
+of the United States and in establishing it as a nation. Franklin
+shares with Washington the honors of the Revolution, and of the events
+leading to the birth of the new nation. While Washington was the
+animating spirit of the struggle in the colonies, Franklin was its
+ablest champion abroad. To Franklin's cogent reasoning and keen
+satire, we owe the clear and forcible presentation of the American
+case in England and France; while to his personality and diplomacy as
+well as to his facile pen, we are indebted for the foreign alliance
+and the funds without which Washington's work must have failed. His
+patience, fortitude, and practical wisdom, coupled with
+self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of his country, are hardly less
+noticeable than similar qualities displayed by Washington. In fact,
+Franklin as a public man was much like Washington, especially in the
+entire disinterestedness of his public service.
+
+Franklin is also interesting to us because by his life and teachings
+he has done more than any other American to advance the material
+prosperity of his countrymen. It is said that his widely and
+faithfully read maxims made Philadelphia and Pennsylvania wealthy,
+while Poor Richard's pithy sayings, translated into many languages,
+have had a world-wide influence.
+
+Franklin is a good type of our American manhood. Although not the
+wealthiest or the most powerful, he is undoubtedly, in the versatility
+of his genius and achievements, the greatest of our self-made men. The
+simple yet graphic story in the _Autobiography_ of his steady rise
+from humble boyhood in a tallow-chandler shop, by industry, economy,
+and perseverance in self-improvement, to eminence, is the most
+remarkable of all the remarkable histories of our self-made men. It is
+in itself a wonderful illustration of the results possible to be
+attained in a land of unequaled opportunity by following Franklin's
+maxims.
+
+Franklin's fame, however, was not confined to his own country.
+Although he lived in a century notable for the rapid evolution of
+scientific and political thought and activity, yet no less a keen
+judge and critic than Lord Jeffrey, the famous editor of the
+_Edinburgh Review_, a century ago said that "in one point of view
+the name of Franklin must be considered as standing higher than any of
+the others which illustrated the eighteenth century. Distinguished as
+a statesman, he was equally great as a philosopher, thus uniting in
+himself a rare degree of excellence in both these pursuits, to excel
+in either of which is deemed the highest praise."
+
+Franklin has indeed been aptly called "many-sided." He was eminent in
+science and public service, in diplomacy and in literature. He was the
+Edison of his day, turning his scientific discoveries to the benefit
+of his fellow-men. He perceived the identity of lightning and
+electricity and set up the lightning rod. He invented the Franklin
+stove, still widely used, and refused to patent it. He possessed a
+masterly shrewdness in business and practical affairs. Carlyle called
+him the father of all the Yankees. He founded a fire company, assisted
+in founding a hospital, and improved the cleaning and lighting of
+streets. He developed journalism, established the American
+Philosophical Society, the public library in Philadelphia, and the
+University of Pennsylvania. He organized a postal system for the
+colonies, which was the basis of the present United States Post
+Office. Bancroft, the eminent historian, called him "the greatest
+diplomatist of his century." He perfected the Albany Plan of Union for
+the colonies. He is the only statesman who signed the Declaration of
+Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace
+with England, and the Constitution. As a writer, he has produced, in
+his _Autobiography_ and in _Poor Richard's Almanac_, two works that
+are not surpassed by similar writing. He received honorary degrees
+from Harvard and Yale, from Oxford and St. Andrews, and was made a
+fellow of the Royal Society, which awarded him the Copley gold medal
+for improving natural knowledge. He was one of the eight foreign
+associates of the French Academy of Science.
+
+The careful study of the _Autobiography_ is also valuable because of
+the style in which it is written. If Robert Louis Stevenson is right
+in believing that his remarkable style was acquired by imitation then
+the youth who would gain the power to express his ideas clearly,
+forcibly, and interestingly cannot do better than to study Franklin's
+method. Franklin's fame in the scientific world was due almost as much
+to his modest, simple, and sincere manner of presenting his
+discoveries and to the precision and clearness of the style in which
+he described his experiments, as to the results he was able to
+announce. Sir Humphry Davy, the celebrated English chemist, himself an
+excellent literary critic as well as a great scientist, said: "A
+singular felicity guided all Franklin's researches, and by very small
+means he established very grand truths. The style and manner of his
+publication on electricity are almost as worthy of admiration as the
+doctrine it contains."
+
+Franklin's place in literature is hard to determine because he was not
+primarily a literary man. His aim in his writings as in his life work
+was to be helpful to his fellow-men. For him writing was never an end
+in itself, but always a means to an end. Yet his success as a
+scientist, a statesman, and a diplomat, as well as socially, was in no
+little part due to his ability as a writer. "His letters charmed all,
+and made his correspondence eagerly sought. His political arguments
+were the joy of his party and the dread of his opponents. His
+scientific discoveries were explained in language at once so simple
+and so clear that plow-boy and exquisite could follow his thought or
+his experiment to its conclusion."[1]
+
+    [1] _The Many-Sided Franklin._ Paul L. Ford.
+
+As far as American literature is concerned, Franklin has no
+contemporaries. Before the _Autobiography_ only one literary work of
+importance had been produced in this country--Cotton Mather's
+_Magnalia_, a church history of New England in a ponderous, stiff
+style. Franklin was the first American author to gain a wide and
+permanent reputation in Europe. The _Autobiography_, _Poor Richard_,
+_Father Abraham's Speech_ or _The Way to Wealth_, as well as some of
+the _Bagatelles_, are as widely known abroad as any American writings.
+Franklin must also be classed as the first American humorist.
+
+English literature of the eighteenth century was characterized by the
+development of prose. Periodical literature reached its perfection
+early in the century in _The Tatler_ and _The Spectator_ of Addison
+and Steele. Pamphleteers flourished throughout the period. The
+homelier prose of Bunyan and Defoe gradually gave place to the more
+elegant and artificial language of Samuel Johnson, who set the
+standard for prose writing from 1745 onward. This century saw the
+beginnings of the modern novel, in Fielding's _Tom Jones_,
+Richardson's _Clarissa Harlowe_, Sterne's _Tristram Shandy_, and
+Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_. Gibbon wrote _The Decline and Fall
+of the Roman Empire_, Hume his _History of England_, and Adam Smith
+the _Wealth of Nations_.
+
+In the simplicity and vigor of his style Franklin more nearly
+resembles the earlier group of writers. In his first essays he was not
+an inferior imitator of Addison. In his numerous parables, moral
+allegories, and apologues he showed Bunyan's influence. But Franklin
+was essentially a journalist. In his swift, terse style, he is most
+like Defoe, who was the first great English journalist and master of
+the newspaper narrative. The style of both writers is marked by
+homely, vigorous expression, satire, burlesque, repartee. Here the
+comparison must end. Defoe and his contemporaries were authors. Their
+vocation was writing and their success rests on the imaginative or
+creative power they displayed. To authorship Franklin laid no claim.
+He wrote no work of the imagination. He developed only incidentally a
+style in many respects as remarkable as that of his English
+contemporaries. He wrote the best autobiography in existence, one of
+the most widely known collections of maxims, and an unsurpassed series
+of political and social satires, because he was a man of unusual scope
+of power and usefulness, who knew how to tell his fellow-men the
+secrets of that power and that usefulness.
+
+
+The Story of the Autobiography
+
+The account of how Franklin's _Autobiography_ came to be written and
+of the adventures of the original manuscript forms in itself an
+interesting story. The _Autobiography_ is Franklin's longest work,
+and yet it is only a fragment. The first part, written as a letter to
+his son, William Franklin, was not intended for publication; and the
+composition is more informal and the narrative more personal than in
+the second part, from 1730 on, which was written with a view to
+publication. The entire manuscript shows little evidence of revision.
+In fact, the expression is so homely and natural that his grandson,
+William Temple Franklin, in editing the work changed some of the
+phrases because he thought them inelegant and vulgar.
+
+Franklin began the story of his life while on a visit to his friend,
+Bishop Shipley, at Twyford, in Hampshire, southern England, in 1771.
+He took the manuscript, completed to 1731, with him when he returned
+to Philadelphia in 1775. It was left there with his other papers when
+he went to France in the following year, and disappeared during the
+confusion incident to the Revolution. Twenty-three pages of closely
+written manuscript fell into the hands of Abel James, an old friend,
+who sent a copy to Franklin at Passy, near Paris, urging him to
+complete the story. Franklin took up the work at Passy in 1784 and
+carried the narrative forward a few months. He changed the plan to
+meet his new purpose of writing to benefit the young reader. His work
+was soon interrupted and was not resumed until 1788, when he was at
+home in Philadelphia. He was now old, infirm, and suffering, and was
+still engaged in public service. Under these discouraging conditions
+the work progressed slowly. It finally stopped when the narrative
+reached the year 1757. Copies of the manuscript were sent to friends
+of Franklin in England and France, among others to Monsieur Le
+Veillard at Paris.
+
+The first edition of the _Autobiography_ was published in French at
+Paris in 1791. It was clumsily and carelessly translated, and was
+imperfect and unfinished. Where the translator got the manuscript is
+not known. Le Veillard disclaimed any knowledge of the publication.
+From this faulty French edition many others were printed, some in
+Germany, two in England, and another in France, so great was the
+demand for the work.
+
+In the meantime the original manuscript of the _Autobiography_ had
+started on a varied and adventurous career. It was left by Franklin
+with his other works to his grandson, William Temple Franklin, whom
+Franklin designated as his literary executor. When Temple Franklin
+came to publish his grandfather's works in 1817, he sent the original
+manuscript of the _Autobiography_ to the daughter of Le Veillard in
+exchange for her father's copy, probably thinking the clearer
+transcript would make better printer's copy. The original manuscript
+thus found its way to the Le Veillard family and connections, where it
+remained until sold in 1867 to Mr. John Bigelow, United States
+Minister to France. By him it was later sold to Mr. E. Dwight Church
+of New York, and passed with the rest of Mr. Church's library into the
+possession of Mr. Henry E. Huntington. The original manuscript of
+Franklin's _Autobiography_ now rests in the vault in Mr. Huntington's
+residence at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street, New York City.
+
+When Mr. Bigelow came to examine his purchase, he was astonished to
+find that what people had been reading for years as the authentic
+_Life of Benjamin Franklin by Himself_, was only a garbled and
+incomplete version of the real _Autobiography_. Temple Franklin had
+taken unwarranted liberties with the original. Mr. Bigelow says he
+found more than twelve hundred changes in the text. In 1868,
+therefore, Mr. Bigelow published the standard edition of Franklin's
+_Autobiography_. It corrected errors in the previous editions and was
+the first English edition to contain the short fourth part,
+comprising the last few pages of the manuscript, written during the
+last year of Franklin's life. Mr. Bigelow republished the
+_Autobiography_, with additional interesting matter, in three volumes
+in 1875, in 1905, and in 1910. The text in this volume is that of Mr.
+Bigelow's editions.[2]
+
+    [2] For the division into chapters and the chapter
+    titles, however, the present editor is responsible.
+
+The _Autobiography_ has been reprinted in the United States many
+scores of times and translated into all the languages of Europe. It
+has never lost its popularity and is still in constant demand at
+circulating libraries. The reason for this popularity is not far to
+seek. For in this work Franklin told in a remarkable manner the story
+of a remarkable life. He displayed hard common sense and a practical
+knowledge of the art of living. He selected and arranged his material,
+perhaps unconsciously, with the unerring instinct of the journalist
+for the best effects. His success is not a little due to his plain,
+clear, vigorous English. He used short sentences and words, homely
+expressions, apt illustrations, and pointed allusions. Franklin had a
+most interesting, varied, and unusual life. He was one of the greatest
+conversationalists of his time.
+
+His book is the record of that unusual life told in Franklin's own
+unexcelled conversational style. It is said that the best parts of
+Boswell's famous biography of Samuel Johnson are those parts where
+Boswell permits Johnson to tell his own story. In the _Autobiography_
+a no less remarkable man and talker than Samuel Johnson is telling his
+own story throughout.
+
+F. W. P.
+
+The Gilman Country School,
+Baltimore, September, 1916.
+
+[Illustration: Pages 1 and 4 of The Pennsylvania Gazette, the first
+number after Franklin took control. Reduced nearly one-half.
+Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public Library.]
+
+[Transcriber's note: Transcription of these pages are given at the end
+of the text.]
+
+
+
+
+AUTOBIOGRAPHY
+OF
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+ANCESTRY AND EARLY YOUTH IN
+BOSTON
+
+
+  Twyford,[3] _at the Bishop of St. Asaph's_, 1771.
+
+Dear son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes
+of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the
+remains of my relations when you were with me in England, and the
+journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally
+agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which
+you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's
+uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I sit down to
+write them for you. To which I have besides some other inducements.
+Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and
+bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the
+world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share
+of felicity, the conducing means I made use of, which with the
+blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as
+they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and
+therefore fit to be imitated.
+
+    [3] A small village not far from Winchester in
+    Hampshire, southern England. Here was the country seat
+    of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Jonathan Shipley, the
+    "good Bishop," as Dr. Franklin used to style him. Their
+    relations were intimate and confidential. In his pulpit,
+    and in the House of Lords, as well as in society, the
+    bishop always opposed the harsh measures of the Crown
+    toward the Colonies.--Bigelow.
+
+That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to
+say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to
+a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the
+advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of
+the first. So I might, besides correcting the faults, change some
+sinister accidents and events of it for others more favourable. But
+though this were denied, I should still accept the offer. Since such a
+repetition is not to be expected, the next thing most like living
+one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to
+make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in
+writing.
+
+Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to
+be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall
+indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, through respect to
+age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since
+this may be read or not as anyone pleases. And, lastly (I may as well
+confess it, since my denial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps
+I shall a good deal gratify my own _vanity_.[4] Indeed, I scarce ever
+heard or saw the introductory words, "_Without vanity I may say_,"
+etc., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike
+vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I
+give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it
+is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are
+within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would
+not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity
+among the other comforts of life.
+
+    [4] In this connection Woodrow Wilson says, "And yet the
+    surprising and delightful thing about this book (the
+    _Autobiography_) is that, take it all in all, it has not
+    the low tone of conceit, but is a staunch man's sober
+    and unaffected assessment of himself and the
+    circumstances of his career."
+
+    Gibbon and Hume, the great British historians, who were
+    contemporaries of Franklin, express in their
+    autobiographies the same feeling about the propriety of
+    just self-praise.
+
+And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to
+acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His
+kind providence, which lead me to the means I used and gave them
+success. My belief of this induces me to _hope_, though I must not
+_presume_, that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me,
+in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse,
+which I may experience as others have done; the complexion of my
+future fortune being known to Him only in whose power it is to bless
+to us even our afflictions.
+
+The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of curiosity in
+collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished me with
+several particulars relating to our ancestors. From these notes I
+learned that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in
+Northamptonshire,[5] for three hundred years, and how much longer he
+knew not (perhaps from the time when the name of Franklin, that before
+was the name of an order of people,[6] was assumed by them as a
+surname when others took surnames all over the kingdom), on a freehold
+of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's business, which had
+continued in the family till his time, the eldest son being always
+bred to that business; a custom which he and my father followed as to
+their eldest sons. When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an
+account of their births, marriages and burials from the year 1555
+only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time
+preceding. By that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of
+the youngest son for five generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who
+was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow
+business longer, when he went to live with his son John, a dyer at
+Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship.
+There my grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in
+1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it
+with the land to his only child, a daughter, who, with her husband,
+one Fisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the
+manor there. My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas,
+John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what account I can of them
+at this distance from my papers, and if these are not lost in my
+absence, you will among them find many more particulars.
+
+    [5] See _Introduction_.
+
+    [6] A small landowner.
+
+Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and
+encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer,
+then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for
+the business of scrivener; became a considerable man in the county;
+was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county
+or town of Northampton, and his own village, of which many instances
+were related of him; and much taken notice of and patronized by the
+then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, January 6, old style,[7] just four
+years to a day before I was born. The account we received of his life
+and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as
+something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of mine.
+"Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have supposed a
+transmigration."
+
+    [7] January 17, new style. This change in the calendar
+    was made in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, and adopted in
+    England in 1752. Every year whose number in the common
+    reckoning since Christ is not divisible by 4, as well as
+    every year whose number is divisible by 100 but not by
+    400, shall have 365 days, and all other years shall have
+    366 days. In the eighteenth century there was a
+    difference of eleven days between the old and the new
+    style of reckoning, which the English Parliament
+    canceled by making the 3rd of September, 1752, the 14th.
+    The Julian calendar, or "old style," is still retained
+    in Russia and Greece, whose dates consequently are now
+    13 days behind those of other Christian countries.
+
+John was bred a dyer, I believe of woollens, Benjamin was bred a silk
+dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious man. I
+remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in
+Boston, and lived in the house with us some years. He lived to a
+great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left
+behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, consisting of
+little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and relations, of
+which the following, sent to me, is a specimen.[8] He had formed a
+short-hand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it, I
+have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a
+particular affection between him and my father. He was very pious, a
+great attender of sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in
+his short-hand, and had with him many volumes of them. He was also
+much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station. There fell
+lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the
+principal pamphlets relating to public affairs, from 1641 to 1717;
+many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering, but
+there still remain eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto
+and in octavo. A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing me by
+my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. It seems my uncle
+must have left them here when he went to America, which was about
+fifty years since. There are many of his notes in the margins.
+
+    [8] The specimen is not in the manuscript of the
+    _Autobiography_.
+
+This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation, and
+continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary, when they were
+sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal against
+popery. They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it,
+it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a
+joint-stool. When my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he
+turned up the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then
+under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door to give notice
+if he saw the apparitor coming, who was an officer of the spiritual
+court. In that case the stool was turned down again upon its feet,
+when the Bible remained concealed under it as before. This anecdote I
+had from my uncle Benjamin. The family continued all of the Church of
+England till about the end of Charles the Second's reign, when some of
+the ministers that had been outed for non-conformity, holding
+conventicles[9] in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Josiah adhered to
+them, and so continued all their lives: the rest of the family
+remained with the Episcopal Church.
+
+    [9] Secret gatherings of dissenters from the established
+    Church.
+
+[Illustration: Birthplace of Franklin. Milk Street, Boston.]
+
+Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three
+children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles having been
+forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable
+men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was
+prevailed with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy
+their mode of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four
+children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all
+seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his
+table, who all grew up to be men and women, and married; I was the
+youngest son, and the youngest child but two, and was born in Boston,
+New England.[10] My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger,
+daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of
+whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather,[11] in his church
+history of that country, entitled _Magnalia Christi Americana_, as "_a
+godly, learned Englishman_," if I remember the words rightly. I have
+heard that he wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only one of
+them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was written in
+1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and addressed to
+those then concerned in the government there. It was in favour of
+liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and
+other sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian
+wars, and other distresses that had befallen the country, to that
+persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish so heinous an
+offense, and exhorting a repeal of those uncharitable laws. The whole
+appeared to me as written with a good deal of decent plainness and
+manly freedom. The six concluding lines I remember, though I have
+forgotten the two first of the stanza; but the purport of them was,
+that his censures proceeded from good-will, and, therefore, he would
+be known to be the author.
+
+  "Because to be a libeller (says he)
+    I hate it with my heart;
+  From Sherburne town,[12] where now I dwell
+    My name I do put here;
+  Without offense your real friend,
+    It is Peter Folgier."
+
+    [10] Franklin was born on Sunday, January 6, old style,
+    1706, in a house on Milk Street, opposite the Old South
+    Meeting House, where he was baptized on the day of his
+    birth, during a snowstorm. The house where he was born
+    was burned in 1810.--Griffin.
+
+    [11] Cotton Mather (1663-1728), clergyman, author, and
+    scholar. Pastor of the North Church, Boston. He took an
+    active part in the persecution of witchcraft.
+
+    [12] Nantucket.
+
+My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was
+put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending
+to devote me, as the tithe[13] of his sons, to the service of the
+Church. My early readiness in learning to read (which must have been
+very early, as I do not remember when I could not read), and the
+opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good
+scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin,
+too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all his short-hand
+volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would
+learn his character.[14] I continued, however, at the grammar-school
+not quite one year, though in that time I had risen gradually from the
+middle of the class of that year to be the head of it, and farther was
+removed into the next class above it, in order to go with that into
+the third at the end of the year. But my father, in the meantime, from
+a view of the expense of a college education, which having so large a
+family he could not well afford, and the mean living many so educated
+were afterwards able to obtain--reasons that he gave to his friends in
+my hearing--altered his first intention, took me from the
+grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic,
+kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very successful in
+his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. Under
+him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the
+arithmetic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was taken
+home to assist my father in his business, which was that of a
+tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but
+had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his dyeing
+trade would not maintain his family, being in little request.
+Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick for the candles, filling
+the dipping mould and the moulds for cast candles, attending the shop,
+going of errands, etc.
+
+    [13] Tenth.
+
+    [14] System of short-hand.
+
+I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my
+father declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much
+in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and
+when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was commonly allowed to
+govern, especially in any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions
+I was generally a leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into
+scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an early
+projecting public spirit, tho' not then justly conducted.
+
+There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge
+of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much
+trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a
+wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large
+heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the marsh,
+and which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, in the
+evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of my
+playfellows, and working with them diligently like so many emmets,
+sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built
+our little wharf. The next morning the workmen were surprised at
+missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. Inquiry was made
+after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of
+us were corrected by our fathers; and, though I pleaded the usefulness
+of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not
+honest.
+
+I think you may like to know something of his person and character. He
+had an excellent constitution of body, was of middle stature, but well
+set, and very strong; he was ingenious, could draw prettily, was
+skilled a little in music, and had a clear, pleasing voice, so that
+when he played psalm tunes on his violin and sung withal, as he
+sometimes did in an evening after the business of the day was over, it
+was extremely agreeable to hear. He had a mechanical genius too, and,
+on occasion, was very handy in the use of other tradesmen's tools; but
+his great excellence lay in a sound understanding and solid judgment
+in prudential matters, both in private and publick affairs. In the
+latter, indeed, he was never employed, the numerous family he had to
+educate and the straitness of his circumstances keeping him close to
+his trade; but I remember well his being frequently visited by leading
+people, who consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of
+the church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect for his
+judgment and advice: he was also much consulted by private persons
+about their affairs when any difficulty occurred, and frequently
+chosen an arbitrator between contending parties. At his table he liked
+to have, as often as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor to
+converse with, and always took care to start some ingenious or useful
+topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his
+children. By this means he turned our attention to what was good,
+just, and prudent in the conduct of life; and little or no notice was
+ever taken of what related to the victuals on the table, whether it
+was well or ill dressed, in or out of season, of good or bad flavor,
+preferable or inferior to this or that other thing of the kind, so
+that I was bro't up in such a perfect inattention to those matters as
+to be quite indifferent what kind of food was set before me, and so
+unobservant of it, that to this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a
+few hours after dinner what I dined upon. This has been a convenience
+to me in traveling, where my companions have been sometimes very
+unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of their more delicate,
+because better instructed, tastes and appetites.
+
+My mother had likewise an excellent constitution: she suckled all her
+ten children. I never knew either my father or mother to have any
+sickness but that of which they dy'd, he at 89, and she at 85 years of
+age. They lie buried together at Boston, where I some years since
+placed a marble over their grave,[15] with this inscription:
+
+                     Josiah Franklin,
+                           and
+                     Abiah his wife,
+                   lie here interred.
+         They lived lovingly together in wedlock
+                    fifty-five years.
+       Without an estate, or any gainful employment,
+             By constant labor and industry,
+                  with God's blessing,
+             They maintained a large family
+                      comfortably,
+            and brought up thirteen children
+                 and seven grandchildren
+                       reputably.
+               From this instance, reader,
+        Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling,
+               And distrust not Providence.
+             He was a pious and prudent man;
+           She, a discreet and virtuous woman.
+                 Their youngest son,
+            In filial regard to their memory,
+                  Places this stone.
+          J. F. born 1655, died 1744, AEtat 89.
+          A. F. born 1667, died 1752,----85.
+
+    [15] This marble having decayed, the citizens of Boston
+    in 1827 erected in its place a granite obelisk,
+    twenty-one feet high, bearing the original inscription
+    quoted in the text and another explaining the erection
+    of the monument.
+
+By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd
+to write more methodically. But one does not dress for private company
+as for a publick ball. 'Tis perhaps only negligence.
+
+To return: I continued thus employed in my father's business for two
+years, that is, till I was twelve years old; and my brother John, who
+was bred to that business, having left my father, married, and set up
+for himself at Rhode Island, there was all appearance that I was
+destined to supply his place, and become a tallow-chandler. But my
+dislike to the trade continuing, my father was under apprehensions
+that if he did not find one for me more agreeable, I should break away
+and get to sea, as his son Josiah had done, to his great vexation. He
+therefore sometimes took me to walk with him, and see joiners,
+bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc., at their work, that he might
+observe my inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some trade or other
+on land. It has ever since been a pleasure to me to see good workmen
+handle their tools; and it has been useful to me, having learnt so
+much by it as to be able to do little jobs myself in my house when a
+workman could not readily be got, and to construct little machines for
+my experiments, while the intention of making the experiment was fresh
+and warm in my mind. My father at last fixed upon the cutler's trade,
+and my uncle Benjamin's son Samuel, who was bred to that business in
+London, being about that time established in Boston, I was sent to be
+with him some time on liking. But his expectations of a fee with me
+displeasing my father, I was taken home again.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+BEGINNING LIFE AS A PRINTER
+
+
+From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came
+into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the _Pilgrim's
+Progress_, my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate
+little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's
+_Historical Collections_; they were small chapmen's books,[16] and
+cheap, 40 or 50 in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly
+of books in polemic divinity, most of which I read, and have since
+often regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for
+knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way, since it was
+now resolved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarch's _Lives_ there was
+in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great
+advantage. There was also a book of DeFoe's, called an _Essay on
+Projects_, and another of Dr. Mather's, called _Essays to do Good_,
+which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on
+some of the principal future events of my life.
+
+    [16] Small books, sold by chapmen or peddlers.
+
+This bookish inclination at length determined my father to make me a
+printer, though he had already one son (James) of that profession. In
+1717 my brother James returned from England with a press and letters
+to set up his business in Boston. I liked it much better than that of
+my father, but still had a hankering for the sea. To prevent the
+apprehended effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient to
+have me bound to my brother. I stood out some time, but at last was
+persuaded, and signed the indentures when I was yet but twelve years
+old. I was to serve as an apprentice till I was twenty-one years of
+age, only I was to be allowed journeyman's wages during the last year.
+In a little time I made great proficiency in the business, and became
+a useful hand to my brother. I now had access to better books. An
+acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes
+to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean.
+Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when
+the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the
+morning, lest it should be missed or wanted.
+
+And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Mr. Matthew Adams, who
+had a pretty collection of books, and who frequented our
+printing-house, took notice of me, invited me to his library, and
+very kindly lent me such books as I chose to read. I now took a fancy
+to poetry, and made some little pieces; my brother, thinking it might
+turn to account, encouraged me, and put me on composing occasional
+ballads. One was called _The Lighthouse Tragedy_, and contained an
+account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, with his two daughters:
+the other was a sailor's song, on the taking of _Teach_ (or
+Blackbeard) the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in the
+Grub-street-ballad style;[17] and when they were printed he sent me
+about the town to sell them. The first sold wonderfully, the event
+being recent, having made a great noise. This flattered my vanity; but
+my father discouraged me by ridiculing my performances, and telling me
+verse-makers were generally beggars. So I escaped being a poet, most
+probably a very bad one; but as prose writing has been of great use to
+me in the course of my life, and was a principal means of my
+advancement, I shall tell you how, in such a situation, I acquired
+what little ability I have in that way.
+
+    [17] Grub-street: famous in English literature as the
+    home of poor writers.
+
+There was another bookish lad in the town, John Collins by name, with
+whom I was intimately acquainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond
+we were of argument, and very desirous of confuting one another,
+which disputatious turn, by the way, is apt to become a very bad
+habit, making people often extremely disagreeable in company by the
+contradiction that is necessary to bring it into practice; and thence,
+besides souring and spoiling the conversation, is productive of
+disgusts and, perhaps enmities where you may have occasion for
+friendship. I had caught it by reading my father's books of dispute
+about religion. Persons of good sense, I have since observed, seldom
+fall into it, except lawyers, university men, and men of all sorts
+that have been bred at Edinborough.
+
+A question was once, somehow or other, started between Collins and me,
+of the propriety of educating the female sex in learning, and their
+abilities for study. He was of opinion that it was improper, and that
+they were naturally unequal to it. I took the contrary side, perhaps a
+little for dispute's sake. He was naturally more eloquent, had a ready
+plenty of words, and sometimes, as I thought, bore me down more by his
+fluency than by the strength of his reasons. As we parted without
+settling the point, and were not to see one another again for some
+time, I sat down to put my arguments in writing, which I copied fair
+and sent to him. He answered, and I replied. Three or four letters of
+a side had passed, when my father happened to find my papers and read
+them. Without entering into the discussion, he took occasion to talk
+to me about the manner of my writing; observed that, though I had the
+advantage of my antagonist in correct spelling and pointing (which I
+ow'd to the printing-house), I fell far short in elegance of
+expression, in method and in perspicuity, of which he convinced me by
+several instances. I saw the justice of his remarks, and thence grew
+more attentive to the manner in writing, and determined to endeavor at
+improvement.
+
+About this time I met with an odd volume of the _Spectator_.[18] It was
+the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it
+over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing
+excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I
+took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in
+each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at
+the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each
+hinted sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed
+before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I
+compared my _Spectator_ with the original, discovered some of my
+faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or
+a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should
+have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since
+the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different
+length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme,
+would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for
+variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make
+me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them
+into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the
+prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled my collections
+of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce
+them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences
+and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement
+of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I
+discovered many faults and amended them; but I sometimes had the
+pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I
+had been lucky enough to improve the method of the language, and this
+encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable
+English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these
+exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began
+in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in the
+printing-house alone, evading as much as I could the common attendance
+on public worship which my father used to exact of me when I was under
+his care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, thought I could
+not, as it seemed to me, afford time to practise it.
+
+    [18] A daily London journal, comprising satirical essays
+    on social subjects, published by Addison and Steele in
+    1711-1712. The _Spectator_ and its predecessor, the
+    _Tatler_ (1709), marked the beginning of periodical
+    literature.
+
+When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by
+one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it.
+My brother, being yet unmarried, did not keep house, but boarded
+himself and his apprentices in another family. My refusing to eat
+flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my
+singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing
+some of his dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty
+pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he
+would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I would
+board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I presently found that I
+could save half what he paid me. This was an additional fund for
+buying books. But I had another advantage in it. My brother and the
+rest going from the printing-house to their meals, I remained there
+alone, and, dispatching presently my light repast, which often was no
+more than a bisket or a slice of bread, a handful of raisins or a tart
+from the pastry-cook's, and a glass of water, had the rest of the time
+till their return for study, in which I made the greater progress,
+from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which
+usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.
+
+And now it was that, being on some occasion made asham'd of my
+ignorance in figures, which I had twice failed in learning when at
+school, I took Cocker's book of Arithmetick, and went through the
+whole by myself with great ease. I also read Seller's and Shermy's
+books of Navigation, and became acquainted with the little geometry
+they contain; but never proceeded far in that science. And I read
+about this time Locke _On Human Understanding_,[19] and the _Art of
+Thinking_, by Messrs. du Port Royal.[20]
+
+    [19] John Locke (1632-1704), a celebrated English
+    philosopher, founder of the so-called "common-sense"
+    school of philosophers. He drew up a constitution for
+    the colonists of Carolina.
+
+    [20] A noted society of scholarly and devout men
+    occupying the abbey of Port Royal near Paris, who
+    published learned works, among them the one here
+    referred to, better known as the _Port Royal Logic_.
+
+While I was intent on improving my language, I met with an English
+grammar (I think it was Greenwood's), at the end of which there were
+two little sketches of the arts of rhetoric and logic, the latter
+finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic[21] method; and
+soon after I procur'd Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein
+there are many instances of the same method. I was charm'd with it,
+adopted it, dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive argumentation,
+and put on the humble inquirer and doubter. And being then, from
+reading Shaftesbury and Collins, become a real doubter in many points
+of our religious doctrine, I found this method safest for myself and
+very embarrassing to those against whom I used it; therefore I took a
+delight in it, practis'd it continually, and grew very artful and
+expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into
+concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee,
+entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not extricate
+themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither myself nor my
+cause always deserved. I continu'd this method some few years, but
+gradually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing myself in
+terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced anything that
+may possibly be disputed, the words _certainly_, _undoubtedly_, or any
+others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather
+say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to
+me, or _I should think it so or so_, for such and such reasons; or _I
+imagine it to be so_; or _it is so, if I am not mistaken_. This habit,
+I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion
+to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have
+been from time to time engaged in promoting; and, as the chief ends of
+conversation are to _inform_ or to be _informed_, to _please_ or to
+_persuade_, I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their
+power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails
+to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat everyone of
+those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or
+receiving information or pleasure. For, if you would inform, a
+positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may
+provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you wish
+information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at
+the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present
+opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will
+probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error. And by
+such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in _pleasing_
+your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.
+Pope[22] says, judiciously:
+
+  _"Men should be taught as if you taught them not,
+   And things unknown propos'd as things forgot;"_
+
+farther recommending to us
+
+  "To speak, tho' sure, with seeming diffidence."
+
+And he might have coupled with this line that
+which he has coupled with another, I think,
+less properly,
+
+  "For want of modesty is want of sense."
+
+If you ask, Why less properly? I must repeat the lines,
+
+  "Immodest words admit of no defense,
+   For want of modesty is want of sense."
+
+Now, is not _want of sense_ (where a man is so unfortunate as to want
+it) some apology for his _want of modesty_? and would not the lines
+stand more justly thus?
+
+  "Immodest words admit _but_ this defense,
+   That want of modesty is want of sense."
+
+This, however, I should submit to better judgments.
+
+    [21] Socrates confuted his opponents in argument by
+    asking questions so skillfully devised that the answers
+    would confirm the questioner's position or show the
+    error of the opponent.
+
+    [22] Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the greatest English
+    poet of the first half of the eighteenth century.
+
+My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print a newspaper. It was
+the second that appeared in America,[23] and was called the New England
+Courant. The only one before it was the Boston News-Letter. I remember
+his being dissuaded by some of his friends from the undertaking, as
+not likely to succeed, one newspaper being, in their judgment, enough
+for America. At this time (1771) there are not less than
+five-and-twenty. He went on, however, with the undertaking, and after
+having worked in composing the types and printing off the sheets, I
+was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets to the customers.
+
+    [23] Franklin's memory does not serve him correctly here.
+    The _Courant_ was really the fifth newspaper established
+    in America, although generally called the fourth,
+    because the first, _Public Occurrences_, published in
+    Boston in 1690, was suppressed after the first issue.
+    Following is the order in which the other four papers
+    were published: _Boston News Letter_, 1704; _Boston
+    Gazette_, December 21, 1719; _The American Weekly
+    Mercury_, Philadelphia, December 22, 1719; _The New
+    England Courant_, 1721.
+
+[Illustration: First page of The New England Courant of Dec. 4-11,
+1721. Reduced about one-third. From a copy in the Library of the
+Massachusetts Historical Society.]
+
+[Transcriber's note: Transcription given at the end of the text.]
+
+He had some ingenious men among his friends, who amus'd themselves by
+writing little pieces for this paper, which gain'd it credit and made
+it more in demand, and these gentlemen often visited us. Hearing their
+conversations, and their accounts of the approbation their papers were
+received with, I was excited to try my hand among them; but, being
+still a boy, and suspecting that my brother would object to printing
+anything of mine in his paper if he knew it to be mine, I contrived to
+disguise my hand, and, writing an anonymous paper, I put it in at
+night under the door of the printing-house. It was found in the
+morning, and communicated to his writing friends when they call'd in
+as usual. They read it, commented on it in my hearing, and I had the
+exquisite pleasure of finding it met with their approbation, and that,
+in their different guesses at the author, none were named but men of
+some character among us for learning and ingenuity. I suppose now that
+I was rather lucky in my judges, and that perhaps they were not really
+so very good ones as I then esteem'd them.
+
+Encourag'd, however, by this, I wrote and conveyed in the same way to
+the press several more papers which were equally approv'd; and I kept
+my secret till my small fund of sense for such performances was pretty
+well exhausted, and then I discovered[24] it, when I began to be
+considered a little more by my brother's acquaintance, and in a manner
+that did not quite please him, as he thought, probably with reason,
+that it tended to make me too vain. And, perhaps, this might be one
+occasion of the differences that we began to have about this time.
+Though a brother, he considered himself as my master, and me as his
+apprentice, and, accordingly, expected the same services from me as he
+would from another, while I thought he demean'd me too much in some he
+requir'd of me, who from a brother expected more indulgence. Our
+disputes were often brought before our father, and I fancy I was
+either generally in the right, or else a better pleader, because the
+judgment was generally in my favor. But my brother was passionate,
+and had often beaten me, which I took extreamly amiss; and, thinking
+my apprenticeship very tedious, I was continually wishing for some
+opportunity of shortening it, which at length offered in a manner
+unexpected.
+
+    [24] Disclosed.
+
+[Illustration: "I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets
+to the customers"]
+
+One of the pieces in our newspaper on some political point, which I
+have now forgotten, gave offense to the Assembly. He was taken up,
+censur'd, and imprison'd for a month, by the speaker's warrant, I
+suppose, because he would not discover his author. I too was taken up
+and examin'd before the council; but, tho' I did not give them any
+satisfaction, they contented themselves with admonishing me, and
+dismissed me, considering me, perhaps, as an apprentice, who was bound
+to keep his master's secrets.
+
+During my brother's confinement, which I resented a good deal,
+notwithstanding our private differences, I had the management of the
+paper; and I made bold to give our rulers some rubs in it, which my
+brother took very kindly, while others began to consider me in an
+unfavorable light, as a young genius that had a turn for libeling and
+satyr. My brother's discharge was accompany'd with an order of the
+House (a very odd one), that "_James Franklin should no longer print
+the paper called the New England Courant_."
+
+There was a consultation held in our printing-house among his friends,
+what he should do in this case. Some proposed to evade the order by
+changing the name of the paper; but my brother, seeing inconveniences
+in that, it was finally concluded on as a better way, to let it be
+printed for the future under the name of Benjamin Franklin; and to
+avoid the censure of the Assembly, that might fall on him as still
+printing it by his apprentice, the contrivance was that my old
+indenture should be return'd to me, with a full discharge on the back
+of it, to be shown on occasion, but to secure to him the benefit of my
+service, I was to sign new indentures for the remainder of the term,
+which were to be kept private. A very flimsy scheme it was; however,
+it was immediately executed, and the paper went on accordingly, under
+my name for several months.
+
+At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me, I
+took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not venture
+to produce the new indentures. It was not fair in me to take this
+advantage, and this I therefore reckon one of the first errata of my
+life; but the unfairness of it weighed little with me, when under the
+impressions of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged
+him to bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill-natur'd man:
+perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.
+
+When he found I would leave him, he took care to prevent my getting
+employment in any other printing-house of the town, by going round and
+speaking to every master, who accordingly refus'd to give me work. I
+then thought of going to New York, as the nearest place where there
+was a printer; and I was rather inclin'd to leave Boston when I
+reflected that I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the
+governing party, and, from the arbitrary proceedings of the Assembly
+in my brother's case, it was likely I might, if I stay'd, soon bring
+myself into scrapes; and farther, that my indiscreet disputations
+about religion began to make me pointed at with horror by good people
+as an infidel or atheist. I determin'd on the point, but my father now
+siding with my brother, I was sensible that, if I attempted to go
+openly, means would be used to prevent me. My friend Collins,
+therefore, undertook to manage a little for me. He agreed with the
+captain of a New York sloop for my passage, under the notion of my
+being a young acquaintance of his. So I sold some of my books to raise
+a little money, was taken on board privately, and as we had a fair
+wind, in three days I found myself in New York, near 300 miles from
+home, a boy of but 17, without the least recommendation to, or
+knowledge of, any person in the place, and with very little money in
+my pocket.
+
+[Illustration: Sailboat]
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+ARRIVAL IN PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+My inclinations for the sea were by this time worne out, or I might
+now have gratify'd them. But, having a trade, and supposing myself a
+pretty good workman, I offer'd my service to the printer in the place,
+old Mr. William Bradford, who had been the first printer in
+Pennsylvania, but removed from thence upon the quarrel of George
+Keith. He could give me no employment, having little to do, and help
+enough already; but says he, "My son at Philadelphia has lately lost
+his principal hand, Aquilla Rose, by death; if you go thither, I
+believe he may employ you." Philadelphia was a hundred miles further;
+I set out, however, in a boat for Amboy, leaving my chest and things
+to follow me round by sea.
+
+In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that tore our rotten sails
+to pieces, prevented our getting into the Kill,[25] and drove us upon
+Long Island. In our way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a passenger too,
+fell overboard; when he was sinking, I reached through the water to
+his shock pate, and drew him up, so that we got him in again. His
+ducking sobered him a little, and he went to sleep, taking first out
+of his pocket a book, which he desir'd I would dry for him. It proved
+to be my old favorite author, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in Dutch,
+finely printed on good paper, with copper cuts, a dress better than I
+had ever seen it wear in its own language. I have since found that it
+has been translated into most of the languages of Europe, and suppose
+it has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps
+the Bible. Honest John was the first that I know of who mix'd
+narration and dialogue; a method of writing very engaging to the
+reader, who in the most interesting parts finds himself, as it were,
+brought into the company and present at the discourse. De Foe in his
+Cruso, his Moll Flanders, Religious Courtship, Family Instructor, and
+other pieces, has imitated it with success; and Richardson[26] has done
+the same in his Pamela, etc.
+
+    [25] Kill van Kull, the channel separating Staten Island
+    from New Jersey on the north.
+
+    [26] Samuel Richardson, the father of the English novel,
+    wrote _Pamela_, _Clarissa Harlowe_, and the _History of
+    Sir Charles Grandison_, novels published in the form of
+    letters.
+
+When we drew near the island, we found it was at a place where there
+could be no landing, there being a great surff on the stony beach. So
+we dropt anchor, and swung round towards the shore. Some people came
+down to the water edge and hallow'd to us, as we did to them; but the
+wind was so high, and the surff so loud, that we could not hear so as
+to understand each other. There were canoes on the shore, and we made
+signs, and hallow'd that they should fetch us; but they either did not
+understand us, or thought it impracticable, so they went away, and
+night coming on, we had no remedy but to wait till the wind should
+abate; and, in the meantime, the boatman and I concluded to sleep, if
+we could; and so crowded into the scuttle, with the Dutchman, who was
+still wet, and the spray beating over the head of our boat, leak'd
+thro' to us, so that we were soon almost as wet as he. In this manner
+we lay all night, with very little rest; but, the wind abating the
+next day, we made a shift to reach Amboy before night, having been
+thirty hours on the water, without victuals, or any drink but a bottle
+of filthy rum, and the water we sail'd on being salt.
+
+In the evening I found myself very feverish, and went in to bed; but,
+having read somewhere that cold water drank plentifully was good for a
+fever, I follow'd the prescription, sweat plentifully most of the
+night, my fever left me, and in the morning, crossing the ferry, I
+proceeded on my journey on foot, having fifty miles to Burlington,
+where I was told I should find boats that would carry me the rest of
+the way to Philadelphia.
+
+[Illustration: It rained very hard all the day]
+
+It rained very hard all the day; I was thoroughly soak'd, and by noon
+a good deal tired; so I stopt at a poor inn, where I staid all night,
+beginning now to wish that I had never left home. I cut so miserable a
+figure, too, that I found, by the questions ask'd me, I was suspected
+to be some runaway servant, and in danger of being taken up on that
+suspicion. However, I proceeded the next day, and got in the evening
+to an inn, within eight or ten miles of Burlington, kept by one Dr.
+Brown. He entered into conversation with me while I took some
+refreshment, and, finding I had read a little, became very sociable
+and friendly. Our acquaintance continu'd as long as he liv'd. He had
+been, I imagine, an itinerant doctor, for there was no town in
+England, or country in Europe, of which he could not give a very
+particular account. He had some letters, and was ingenious, but much
+of an unbeliever, and wickedly undertook, some years after, to
+travesty the Bible in doggrel verse, as Cotton had done Virgil. By
+this means he set many of the facts in a very ridiculous light, and
+might have hurt weak minds if his work had been published; but it
+never was.
+
+At his house I lay that night, and the next morning reach'd
+Burlington, but had the mortification to find that the regular boats
+were gone a little before my coming, and no other expected to go
+before Tuesday, this being Saturday; wherefore I returned to an old
+woman in the town, of whom I had bought gingerbread to eat on the
+water, and ask'd her advice. She invited me to lodge at her house till
+a passage by water should offer; and being tired with my foot
+traveling, I accepted the invitation. She understanding I was a
+printer, would have had me stay at that town and follow my business,
+being ignorant of the stock necessary to begin with. She was very
+hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great good will,
+accepting only of a pot of ale in return; and I thought myself fixed
+till Tuesday should come. However, walking in the evening by the side
+of the river, a boat came by, which I found was going towards
+Philadelphia, with several people in her. They took me in, and, as
+there was no wind, we row'd all the way; and about midnight, not
+having yet seen the city, some of the company were confident we must
+have passed it, and would row no farther; the others knew not where we
+were; so we put toward the shore, got into a creek, landed near an old
+fence, with the rails of which we made a fire, the night being cold,
+in October, and there we remained till daylight. Then one of the
+company knew the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above
+Philadelphia, which we saw as soon as we got out of the creek, and
+arriv'd there about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday morning, and
+landed at the Market-street wharf.
+
+I have been the more particular in this description of my journey, and
+shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you may in your
+mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since
+made there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come
+round by sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuff'd out
+with shirts and stockings, and I knew no soul nor where to look for
+lodging. I was fatigued with traveling, rowing, and want of rest, I
+was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted of a Dutch
+dollar, and about a shilling in copper. The latter I gave the people
+of the boat for my passage, who at first refus'd it, on account of my
+rowing; but I insisted on their taking it. A man being sometimes more
+generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty,
+perhaps thro' fear of being thought to have but little.
+
+Then I walked up the street, gazing about till near the market-house I
+met a boy with bread. I had made many a meal on bread, and, inquiring
+where he got it, I went immediately to the baker's he directed me to,
+in Second-street, and ask'd for bisket, intending such as we had in
+Boston; but they, it seems, were not made in Philadelphia. Then I
+asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had none such. So not
+considering or knowing the difference of money, and the greater
+cheapness nor the names of his bread, I bade him give me three-penny
+worth of any sort. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I
+was surpris'd at the quantity, but took it, and, having no room in my
+pockets, walk'd off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other.
+Thus I went up Market-street as far as Fourth-street, passing by the
+door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the
+door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward,
+ridiculous appearance. Then I turned and went down Chestnut-street and
+part of Walnut-street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming round,
+found myself again at Market-street wharf, near the boat I came in, to
+which I went for a draught of the river water; and, being filled with
+one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and her child that came
+down the river in the boat with us, and were waiting to go farther.
+
+[Illustration: "She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made,
+as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance"]
+
+Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, which by this time had
+many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same way. I
+joined them, and thereby was led into the great meeting-house of the
+Quakers near the market. I sat down among them, and, after looking round
+awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy thro' labour and want
+of rest the preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continu'd so till
+the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was,
+therefore, the first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia.
+
+Walking down again toward the river, and, looking in the faces of
+people, I met a young Quaker man, whose countenance I lik'd, and,
+accosting him, requested he would tell me where a stranger could get
+lodging. We were then near the sign of the Three Mariners. "Here,"
+says he, "is one place that entertains strangers, but it is not a
+reputable house; if thee wilt walk with me, I'll show thee a better."
+He brought me to the Crooked Billet in Water-street. Here I got a
+dinner; and, while I was eating it, several sly questions were asked
+me, as it seemed to be suspected from my youth and appearance, that I
+might be some runaway.
+
+After dinner, my sleepiness return'd, and being shown to a bed, I lay
+down without undressing, and slept till six in the evening, was call'd
+to supper, went to bed again very early, and slept soundly till next
+morning. Then I made myself as tidy as I could, and went to Andrew
+Bradford the printer's. I found in the shop the old man his father,
+whom I had seen at New York, and who, traveling on horseback, had got
+to Philadelphia before me. He introduc'd me to his son, who receiv'd
+me civilly, gave me a breakfast, but told me he did not at present
+want a hand, being lately suppli'd with one; but there was another
+printer in town, lately set up, one Keimer, who, perhaps, might employ
+me; if not, I should be welcome to lodge at his house, and he would
+give me a little work to do now and then till fuller business should
+offer.
+
+The old gentleman said he would go with me to the new printer; and
+when we found him, "Neighbour," says Bradford, "I have brought to see
+you a young man of your business; perhaps you may want such a one." He
+ask'd me a few questions, put a composing stick in my hand to see how
+I work'd, and then said he would employ me soon, though he had just
+then nothing for me to do; and, taking old Bradford, whom he had never
+seen before, to be one of the town's people that had a good will for
+him, enter'd into a conversation on his present undertaking and
+prospects; while Bradford, not discovering that he was the other
+printer's father, on Keimer's saying he expected soon to get the
+greatest part of the business into his own hands, drew him on by
+artful questions, and starting little doubts, to explain all his
+views, what interest he reli'd on, and in what manner he intended to
+proceed. I, who stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one of
+them was a crafty old sophister, and the other a mere novice. Bradford
+left me with Keimer, who was greatly surpris'd when I told him who the
+old man was.
+
+Keimer's printing-house, I found, consisted of an old shatter'd press,
+and one small, worn-out font of English, which he was then using
+himself, composing an Elegy on Aquilla Rose, before mentioned, an
+ingenious young man, of excellent character, much respected in the
+town, clerk of the Assembly, and a pretty poet. Keimer made verses
+too, but very indifferently. He could not be said to write them, for
+his manner was to compose them in the types directly out of his head.
+So there being no copy,[27] but one pair of cases, and the Elegy likely
+to require all the letter, no one could help him. I endeavour'd to put
+his press (which he had not yet us'd, and of which he understood
+nothing) into order fit to be work'd with; and, promising to come and
+print off his Elegy as soon as he should have got it ready, I
+return'd to Bradford's, who gave me a little job to do for the
+present, and there I lodged and dieted. A few days after, Keimer sent
+for me to print off the Elegy. And now he had got another pair of
+cases,[28] and a pamphlet to reprint, on which he set me to work.
+
+These two printers I found poorly qualified for their business.
+Bradford had not been bred to it, and was very illiterate; and Keimer,
+tho' something of a scholar, was a mere compositor, knowing nothing of
+presswork. He had been one of the French prophets,[29] and could act
+their enthusiastic agitations. At this time he did not profess any
+particular religion, but something of all on occasion; was very
+ignorant of the world, and had, as I afterward found, a good deal of
+the knave in his composition. He did not like my lodging at Bradford's
+while I work'd with him. He had a house, indeed, but without
+furniture, so he could not lodge me; but he got me a lodging at Mr.
+Read's before mentioned, who was the owner of his house; and, my chest
+and clothes being come by this time, I made rather a more respectable
+appearance in the eyes of Miss Read than I had done when she first
+happen'd to see me eating my roll in the street.
+
+    [27] Manuscript.
+
+    [28] The frames for holding type are in two sections, the
+    upper for capitals and the lower for small letters.
+
+    [29] Protestants of the South of France, who became
+    fanatical under the persecutions of Louis XIV, and
+    thought they had the gift of prophecy. They had as
+    mottoes "No Taxes" and "Liberty of Conscience."
+
+I began now to have some acquaintance among the young people of the
+town, that were lovers of reading, with whom I spent my evenings very
+pleasantly; and gaining money by my industry and frugality, I lived
+very agreeably, forgetting Boston as much as I could, and not desiring
+that any there should know where I resided, except my friend Collins,
+who was in my secret, and kept it when I wrote to him. At length, an
+incident happened that sent me back again much sooner than I had
+intended. I had a brother-in-law, Robert Holmes, master of a sloop
+that traded between Boston and Delaware. He being at Newcastle, forty
+miles below Philadelphia, heard there of me, and wrote me a letter
+mentioning the concern of my friends in Boston at my abrupt departure,
+assuring me of their good will to me, and that everything would be
+accommodated to my mind if I would return, to which he exhorted me
+very earnestly. I wrote an answer to his letter, thank'd him for his
+advice, but stated my reasons for quitting Boston fully and in such a
+light as to convince him I was not so wrong as he had apprehended.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+FIRST VISIT TO BOSTON
+
+
+Sir William Keith, governor of the province, was then at Newcastle,
+and Captain Holmes, happening to be in company with him when my letter
+came to hand, spoke to him of me, and show'd him the letter. The
+governor read it, and seem'd surpris'd when he was told my age. He
+said I appear'd a young man of promising parts, and therefore should
+be encouraged; the printers at Philadelphia were wretched ones; and,
+if I would set up there, he made no doubt I should succeed; for his
+part, he would procure me the public business, and do me every other
+service in his power. This my brother-in-law afterwards told me in
+Boston, but I knew as yet nothing of it; when, one day, Keimer and I
+being at work together near the window, we saw the governor and
+another gentleman (which proved to be Colonel French, of Newcastle),
+finely dress'd, come directly across the street to our house, and
+heard them at the door.
+
+Keimer ran down immediately, thinking it a visit to him; but the
+governor inquir'd for me, came up, and with a condescension and
+politeness I had been quite unus'd to, made me many compliments,
+desired to be acquainted with me, blam'd me kindly for not having made
+myself known to him when I first came to the place, and would have me
+away with him to the tavern, where he was going with Colonel French to
+taste, as he said, some excellent Madeira. I was not a little
+surprised, and Keimer star'd like a pig poison'd.[30] I went, however,
+with the governor and Colonel French to a tavern, at the corner of
+Third-street, and over the Madeira he propos'd my setting up my
+business, laid before me the probabilities of success, and both he and
+Colonel French assur'd me I should have their interest and influence
+in procuring the public business of both governments.[31] On my
+doubting whether my father would assist me in it, Sir William said he
+would give me a letter to him, in which he would state the advantages,
+and he did not doubt of prevailing with him. So it was concluded I
+should return to Boston in the first vessel, with the governor's
+letter recommending me to my father. In the meantime the intention was
+to be kept a secret, and I went on working with Keimer as usual, the
+governor sending for me now and then to dine with him, a very great
+honour I thought it, and conversing with me in the most affable,
+familiar, and friendly manner imaginable.
+
+    [30] Temple Franklin considered this specific figure
+    vulgar and changed it to "stared with astonishment."
+
+    [31] Pennsylvania and Delaware.
+
+About the end of April, 1724, a little vessel offer'd for Boston. I
+took leave of Keimer as going to see my friends. The governor gave me
+an ample letter, saying many flattering things of me to my father, and
+strongly recommending the project of my setting up at Philadelphia as
+a thing that must make my fortune. We struck on a shoal in going down
+the bay, and sprung a leak; we had a blustering time at sea, and were
+oblig'd to pump almost continually, at which I took my turn. We
+arriv'd safe, however, at Boston in about a fortnight. I had been
+absent seven months, and my friends had heard nothing of me; for my
+br. Holmes was not yet return'd, and had not written about me. My
+unexpected appearance surpris'd the family; all were, however, very
+glad to see me, and made me welcome, except my brother. I went to see
+him at his printing-house. I was better dress'd than ever while in his
+service, having a genteel new suit from head to foot, a watch, and my
+pockets lin'd with near five pounds sterling in silver. He receiv'd me
+not very frankly, look'd me all over, and turn'd to his work again.
+
+[Illustration: The journeymen were inquisitive]
+
+The journeymen were inquisitive where I had been, what sort of a
+country it was, and how I lik'd it. I prais'd it much, and the happy
+life I led in it, expressing strongly my intention of returning to it;
+and, one of them asking what kind of money we had there, I produc'd a
+handful of silver, and spread it before them, which was a kind of
+raree-show[32] they had not been us'd to, paper being the money of
+Boston.[33] Then I took an opportunity of letting them see my watch;
+and, lastly (my brother still grum and sullen), I gave them a piece
+of eight[34] to drink, and took my leave. This visit of mine offended
+him extreamly; for, when my mother some time after spoke to him of a
+reconciliation, and of her wishes to see us on good terms together,
+and that we might live for the future as brothers, he said I had
+insulted him in such a manner before his people that he could never
+forget or forgive it. In this, however, he was mistaken.
+
+    [32] A peep-show in a box.
+
+    [33] There were no mints in the colonies, so the metal
+    money was of foreign coinage and not nearly so common as
+    paper money, which was printed in large quantities in
+    America, even in small denominations.
+
+    [34] Spanish dollar about equivalent to our dollar.
+
+My father received the governor's letter with some apparent surprise,
+but said little of it to me for some days, when Capt. Holmes returning
+he show'd it to him, asked him if he knew Keith, and what kind of man
+he was; adding his opinion that he must be of small discretion to
+think of setting a boy up in business who wanted yet three years of
+being at man's estate. Holmes said what he could in favour of the
+project, but my father was clear in the impropriety of it, and at
+last, gave a flat denial to it. Then he wrote a civil letter to Sir
+William, thanking him for the patronage he had so kindly offered me,
+but declining to assist me as yet in setting up, I being, in his
+opinion, too young to be trusted with the management of a business so
+important, and for which the preparation must be so expensive.
+
+My friend and companion Collins, who was a clerk in the post-office,
+pleas'd with the account I gave him of my new country, determined to
+go thither also; and, while I waited for my father's determination, he
+set out before me by land to Rhode Island, leaving his books, which
+were a pretty collection of mathematicks and natural philosophy, to
+come with mine and me to New York, where he propos'd to wait for me.
+
+My father, tho' he did not approve Sir William's proposition, was yet
+pleas'd that I had been able to obtain so advantageous a character
+from a person of such note where I had resided, and that I had been so
+industrious and careful as to equip myself so handsomely in so short a
+time; therefore, seeing no prospect of an accommodation between my
+brother and me, he gave his consent to my returning again to
+Philadelphia, advis'd me to behave respectfully to the people there,
+endeavour to obtain the general esteem, and avoid lampooning and
+libeling, to which he thought I had too much inclination; telling me,
+that by steady industry and a prudent parsimony I might save enough by
+the time I was one-and-twenty to set me up; and that, if I came near
+the matter, he would help me out with the rest. This was all I could
+obtain, except some small gifts as tokens of his and my mother's love,
+when I embark'd again for New York, now with their approbation and
+their blessing.
+
+The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode Island, I visited my brother
+John, who had been married and settled there some years. He received
+me very affectionately, for he always lov'd me. A friend of his, one
+Vernon, having some money due to him in Pennsylvania, about
+thirty-five pounds currency, desired I would receive it for him, and
+keep it till I had his directions what to remit it in. Accordingly, he
+gave me an order. This afterwards occasion'd me a good deal of
+uneasiness.
+
+At Newport we took in a number of passengers for New York, among
+which were two young women, companions, and a grave, sensible,
+matronlike Quaker woman, with her attendants. I had shown an obliging
+readiness to do her some little services, which impress'd her I
+suppose with a degree of good will toward me; therefore, when she saw
+a daily growing familiarity between me and the two young women, which
+they appear'd to encourage, she took me aside, and said, "Young man, I
+am concern'd for thee, as thou hast no friend with thee, and seems not
+to know much of the world, or of the snares youth is expos'd to;
+depend upon it, those are very bad women; I can see it in all their
+actions; and if thee art not upon thy guard, they will draw thee into
+some danger; they are strangers to thee, and I advise thee, in a
+friendly concern for thy welfare, to have no acquaintance with them."
+As I seem'd at first not to think so ill of them as she did, she
+mentioned some things she had observ'd and heard that had escap'd my
+notice, but now convinc'd me she was right. I thank'd her for her kind
+advice, and promis'd to follow it. When we arriv'd at New York, they
+told me where they liv'd, and invited me to come and see them; but I
+avoided it, and it was well I did; for the next day the captain miss'd
+a silver spoon and some other things, that had been taken out of his
+cabin, and, knowing that these were a couple of strumpets, he got a
+warrant to search their lodgings, found the stolen goods, and had the
+thieves punish'd. So, tho' we had escap'd a sunken rock, which we
+scrap'd upon in the passage, I thought this escape of rather more
+importance to me.
+
+At New York I found my friend Collins, who had arriv'd there some time
+before me. We had been intimate from children, and had read the same
+books together; but he had the advantage of more time for reading and
+studying, and a wonderful genius for mathematical learning, in which
+he far outstript me. While I liv'd in Boston, most of my hours of
+leisure for conversation were spent with him, and he continu'd a sober
+as well as an industrious lad; was much respected for his learning by
+several of the clergy and other gentlemen, and seemed to promise
+making a good figure in life. But, during my absence, he had acquir'd
+a habit of sotting with brandy; and I found by his own account, and
+what I heard from others, that he had been drunk every day since his
+arrival at New York, and behav'd very oddly. He had gam'd, too, and
+lost his money, so that I was oblig'd to discharge his lodgings, and
+defray his expenses to and at Philadelphia, which prov'd extremely
+inconvenient to me.
+
+The then governor of New York, Burnet (son of Bishop Burnet), hearing
+from the captain that a young man, one of his passengers, had a great
+many books, desir'd he would bring me to see him. I waited upon him
+accordingly, and should have taken Collins with me but that he was not
+sober. The gov'r. treated me with great civility, show'd me his
+library, which was a very large one, and we had a good deal of
+conversation about books and authors. This was the second governor who
+had done me the honour to take notice of me; which, to a poor boy like
+me, was very pleasing.
+
+We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received on the way Vernon's money,
+without which we could hardly have finish'd our journey. Collins
+wished to be employ'd in some counting-house; but, whether they
+discover'd his dramming by his breath, or by his behaviour, tho' he
+had some recommendations, he met with no success in any application,
+and continu'd lodging and boarding at the same house with me, and at
+my expense. Knowing I had that money of Vernon's, he was continually
+borrowing of me, still promising repayment as soon as he should be in
+business. At length he had got so much of it that I was distress'd to
+think what I should do in case of being call'd on to remit it.
+
+His drinking continu'd, about which we sometimes quarrel'd; for, when
+a little intoxicated, he was very fractious. Once, in a boat on the
+Delaware with some other young men, he refused to row in his turn. "I
+will be row'd home," says he. "We will not row you," says I. "You
+must, or stay all night on the water," says he, "just as you please."
+The others said, "Let us row; what signifies it?" But, my mind being
+soured with his other conduct, I continu'd to refuse. So he swore he
+would make me row, or throw me overboard; and coming along, stepping
+on the thwarts, toward me, when he came up and struck at me, I clapped
+my hand under his crutch, and, rising, pitched him head-foremost into
+the river. I knew he was a good swimmer, and so was under little
+concern about him; but before he could get round to lay hold of the
+boat, we had with a few strokes pull'd her out of his reach; and ever
+when he drew near the boat, we ask'd if he would row, striking a few
+strokes to slide her away from him. He was ready to die with
+vexation, and obstinately would not promise to row. However, seeing
+him at last beginning to tire, we lifted him in and brought him home
+dripping wet in the evening. We hardly exchang'd a civil word
+afterwards, and a West India captain, who had a commission to procure
+a tutor for the sons of a gentleman at Barbados, happening to meet
+with him, agreed to carry him thither. He left me then, promising to
+remit me the first money he should receive in order to discharge the
+debt; but I never heard of him after.
+
+The breaking into this money of Vernon's was one of the first great
+errata of my life; and this affair show'd that my father was not much
+out in his judgment when he suppos'd me too young to manage business
+of importance. But Sir William, on reading his letter, said he was too
+prudent. There was great difference in persons; and discretion did not
+always accompany years, nor was youth always without it. "And since he
+will not set you up," says he, "I will do it myself. Give me an
+inventory of the things necessary to be had from England, and I will
+send for them. You shall repay me when you are able; I am resolv'd to
+have a good printer here, and I am sure you must succeed." This was
+spoken with such an appearance of cordiality, that I had not the least
+doubt of his meaning what he said. I had hitherto kept the proposition
+of my setting up, a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept it. Had
+it been known that I depended on the governor, probably some friend,
+that knew him better, would have advis'd me not to rely on him, as I
+afterwards heard it as his known character to be liberal of promises
+which he never meant to keep. Yet, unsolicited as he was by me, how
+could I think his generous offers insincere? I believ'd him one of the
+best men in the world.
+
+I presented him an inventory of a little print'-house, amounting by my
+computation to about one hundred pounds sterling. He lik'd it, but
+ask'd me if my being on the spot in England to chuse the types, and
+see that everything was good of the kind, might not be of some
+advantage. "Then," says he, "when there, you may make acquaintances,
+and establish correspondences in the bookselling and stationery way."
+I agreed that this might be advantageous. "Then," says he, "get
+yourself ready to go with Annis;" which was the annual ship, and the
+only one at that time usually passing between London and Philadelphia.
+But it would be some months before Annis sail'd, so I continued
+working with Keimer, fretting about the money Collins had got from me,
+and in daily apprehensions of being call'd upon by Vernon, which,
+however, did not happen for some years after.
+
+I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voyage from
+Boston, being becalm'd off Block Island, our people set about catching
+cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution
+of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I consider'd, with my
+master Tryon, the taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder,
+since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might
+justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had
+formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of
+the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanc'd some time between
+principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were
+opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought
+I, "If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I
+din'd upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people,
+returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So
+convenient a thing is it to be a _reasonable creature_, since it
+enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to
+do.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+EARLY FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+Keimer and I liv'd on a pretty good familiar footing, and agreed
+tolerably well, for he suspected nothing of my setting up. He retained
+a great deal of his old enthusiasms and lov'd argumentation. We
+therefore had many disputations. I used to work him so with my
+Socratic method, and had trepann'd him so often by questions
+apparently so distant from any point we had in hand, and yet by
+degrees led to the point, and brought him into difficulties and
+contradictions, that at last he grew ridiculously cautious, and would
+hardly answer me the most common question, without asking first,
+"_What do you intend to infer from that_?" However, it gave him so
+high an opinion of my abilities in the confuting way, that he
+seriously proposed my being his colleague in a project he had of
+setting up a new sect. He was to preach the doctrines, and I was to
+confound all opponents. When he came to explain with me upon the
+doctrines, I found several conundrums which I objected to, unless I
+might have my way a little too, and introduce some of mine.
+
+Keimer wore his beard at full length, because somewhere in the Mosaic
+law it is said, "_Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy beard_." He
+likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and these two points were
+essentials with him. I dislik'd both; but agreed to admit them upon
+condition of his adopting the doctrine of using no animal food. "I
+doubt," said he, "my constitution will not bear that." I assur'd him
+it would, and that he would be the better for it. He was usually a
+great glutton, and I promised myself some diversion in half starving
+him. He agreed to try the practice, if I would keep him company. I did
+so, and we held it for three months. We had our victuals dress'd, and
+brought to us regularly by a woman in the neighborhood, who had from
+me a list of forty dishes, to be prepar'd for us at different times,
+in all which there was neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and the whim
+suited me the better at this time from the cheapness of it, not
+costing us above eighteenpence sterling each per week. I have since
+kept several Lents most strictly, leaving the common diet for that,
+and that for the common, abruptly, without the least inconvenience, so
+that I think there is little in the advice of making those changes by
+easy gradations. I went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer suffered
+grievously, tired of the project, long'd for the flesh-pots of Egypt,
+and order'd a roast pig. He invited me and two women friends to dine
+with him; but, it being brought too soon upon table, he could not
+resist the temptation, and ate the whole before we came.
+
+I had made some courtship during this time to Miss Read. I had a great
+respect and affection for her, and had some reason to believe she had
+the same for me; but, as I was about to take a long voyage, and we
+were both very young, only a little above eighteen, it was thought
+most prudent by her mother to prevent our going too far at present, as
+a marriage, if it was to take place, would be more convenient after my
+return, when I should be, as I expected, set up in my business.
+Perhaps, too, she thought my expectations not so well founded as I
+imagined them to be.
+
+My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles Osborne, Joseph
+Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers of reading. The two first were
+clerks to an eminent scrivener or conveyancer in the town, Charles
+Brockden; the other was clerk to a merchant. Watson was a pious,
+sensible young man, of great integrity; the others rather more lax in
+their principles of religion, particularly Ralph, who, as well as
+Collins, had been unsettled by me, for which they both made me suffer.
+Osborne was sensible, candid, frank; sincere and affectionate to his
+friends; but, in literary matters, too fond of criticizing. Ralph was
+ingenious, genteel in his manners, and extremely eloquent; I think I
+never knew a prettier talker. Both of them were great admirers of
+poetry, and began to try their hands in little pieces. Many pleasant
+walks we four had together on Sundays into the woods, near
+Schuylkill, where we read to one another, and conferr'd on what we
+read.
+
+[Illustration: "Many pleasant walks we four had together"]
+
+Ralph was inclin'd to pursue the study of poetry, not doubting but he
+might become eminent in it, and make his fortune by it, alleging that
+the best poets must, when they first began to write, make as many
+faults as he did. Osborne dissuaded him, assur'd him he had no genius
+for poetry, and advis'd him to think of nothing beyond the business he
+was bred to; that, in the mercantile way, tho' he had no stock, he
+might, by his diligence and punctuality, recommend himself to
+employment as a factor, and in time acquire wherewith to trade on his
+own account. I approv'd the amusing one's self with poetry now and
+then, so far as to improve one's language, but no farther.
+
+On this it was propos'd that we should each of us, at our next
+meeting, produce a piece of our own composing, in order to improve by
+our mutual observations, criticisms, and corrections. As language and
+expression were what we had in view, we excluded all considerations of
+invention by agreeing that the task should be a version of the
+eighteenth Psalm, which describes the descent of a Deity. When the
+time of our meeting drew nigh, Ralph called on me first, and let me
+know his piece was ready. I told him I had been busy, and, having
+little inclination, had done nothing. He then show'd me his piece for
+my opinion, and I much approv'd it, as it appear'd to me to have great
+merit. "Now," says he, "Osborne never will allow the least merit in
+anything of mine, but makes 1000 criticisms out of mere envy. He is
+not so jealous of you; I wish, therefore, you would take this piece,
+and produce it as yours; I will pretend not to have had time, and so
+produce nothing. We shall then see what he will say to it." It was
+agreed, and I immediately transcrib'd it, that it might appear in my
+own hand.
+
+We met; Watson's performance was read; there were some beauties in it,
+but many defects. Osborne's was read; it was much better; Ralph did it
+justice; remarked some faults, but applauded the beauties. He himself
+had nothing to produce. I was backward; seemed desirous of being
+excused; had not had sufficient time to correct, etc.; but no excuse
+could be admitted; produce I must. It was read and repeated; Watson
+and Osborne gave up the contest, and join'd in applauding it. Ralph
+only made some criticisms, and propos'd some amendments; but I
+defended my text. Osborne was against Ralph, and told him he was no
+better a critic than poet, so he dropt the argument. As they two went
+home together, Osborne expressed himself still more strongly in favor
+of what he thought my production; having restrain'd himself before, as
+he said, lest I should think it flattery. "But who would have
+imagin'd," said he, "that Franklin had been capable of such a
+performance; such painting, such force, such fire! He has even
+improv'd the original. In his common conversation he seems to have no
+choice of words; he hesitates and blunders; and yet, good God! how he
+writes!" When we next met, Ralph discovered the trick we had plaid
+him, and Osborne was a little laughed at.
+
+This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolution of becoming a poet. I
+did all I could to dissuade him from it, but he continued scribbling
+verses till _Pope_ cured him.[35] He became, however, a pretty good
+prose writer. More of him hereafter. But, as I may not have occasion
+again to mention the other two, I shall just remark here, that Watson
+died in my arms a few years after, much lamented, being the best of
+our set. Osborne went to the West Indies, where he became an eminent
+lawyer and made money, but died young. He and I had made a serious
+agreement, that the one who happen'd first to die should, if possible,
+make a friendly visit to the other, and acquaint him how he found
+things in that separate state. But he never fulfill'd his promise.
+
+    [35] "In one of the later editions of the _Dunciad_ occur
+    the following lines:
+
+       'Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,
+       And makes night hideous--answer him, ye owls.'
+
+    To this the poet adds the following note:
+
+    'James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions,
+    not known till he writ a swearing-piece called _Sawney_,
+    very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and myself.'"
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+FIRST VISIT TO LONDON
+
+
+The governor, seeming to like my company, had me frequently to his
+house, and his setting me up was always mention'd as a fixed thing. I
+was to take with me letters recommendatory to a number of his friends,
+besides the letter of credit to furnish me with the necessary money
+for purchasing the press and types, paper, etc. For these letters I
+was appointed to call at different times, when they were to be ready;
+but a future time was still named. Thus he went on till the ship,
+whose departure too had been several times postponed, was on the point
+of sailing. Then, when I call'd to take my leave and receive the
+letters, his secretary, Dr. Bard, came out to me and said the governor
+was extremely busy in writing, but would be down at Newcastle, before
+the ship, and there the letters would be delivered to me.
+
+Ralph, though married, and having one child, had determined to
+accompany me in this voyage. It was thought he intended to establish a
+correspondence, and obtain goods to sell on commission; but I found
+afterwards, that, thro' some discontent with his wife's relations, he
+purposed to leave her on their hands, and never return again. Having
+taken leave of my friends, and interchang'd some promises with Miss
+Read, I left Philadelphia in the ship, which anchor'd at Newcastle.
+The governor was there; but when I went to his lodging, the secretary
+came to me from him with the civillest message in the world, that he
+could not then see me, being engaged in business of the utmost
+importance, but should send the letters to me on board, wished me
+heartily a good voyage and a speedy return, etc. I returned on board a
+little puzzled, but still not doubting.
+
+Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a famous lawyer of Philadelphia, had taken
+passage in the same ship for himself and son, and with Mr. Denham, a
+Quaker merchant, and Messrs. Onion and Russel, masters of an iron work
+in Maryland, had engaged the great cabin; so that Ralph and I were
+forced to take up with a berth in the steerage, and none on board
+knowing us, were considered as ordinary persons. But Mr. Hamilton and
+his son (it was James, since governor) return'd from Newcastle to
+Philadelphia, the father being recall'd by a great fee to plead for a
+seized ship; and, just before we sail'd, Colonel French coming on
+board, and showing me great respect, I was more taken notice of, and,
+with my friend Ralph, invited by the other gentlemen to come into the
+cabin, there being now room. Accordingly, we remov'd thither.
+
+Understanding that Colonel French had brought on board the governor's
+despatches, I ask'd the captain for those letters that were to be
+under my care. He said all were put into the bag together and he could
+not then come at them; but, before we landed in England, I should have
+an opportunity of picking them out; so I was satisfied for the
+present, and we proceeded on our voyage. We had a sociable company in
+the cabin, and lived uncommonly well, having the addition of all Mr.
+Hamilton's stores, who had laid in plentifully. In this passage Mr.
+Denham contracted a friendship for me that continued during his life.
+The voyage was otherwise not a pleasant one, as we had a great deal of
+bad weather.
+
+When we came into the Channel, the captain kept his word with me, and
+gave me an opportunity of examining the bag for the governor's
+letters. I found none upon which my name was put as under my care. I
+picked out six or seven, that, by the handwriting, I thought might be
+the promised letters, especially as one of them was directed to
+Basket, the king's printer, and another to some stationer. We arriv'd
+in London the 24th of December, 1724. I waited upon the stationer, who
+came first in my way, delivering the letter as from Governor Keith. "I
+don't know such a person," says he; but, opening the letter, "O! this
+is from Riddlesden. I have lately found him to be a compleat rascal,
+and I will have nothing to do with him, nor receive any letters from
+him." So, putting the letter into my hand, he turn'd on his heel and
+left me to serve some customer. I was surprized to find these were not
+the governor's letters; and, after recollecting and comparing
+circumstances, I began to doubt his sincerity. I found my friend
+Denham, and opened the whole affair to him. He let me into Keith's
+character; told me there was not the least probability that he had
+written any letters for me; that no one, who knew him, had the
+smallest dependence on him; and he laught at the notion of the
+governor's giving me a letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit
+to give. On my expressing some concern about what I should do, he
+advised me to endeavour getting some employment in the way of my
+business. "Among the printers here," said he, "you will improve
+yourself, and when you return to America, you will set up to greater
+advantage."
+
+[Illustration: "So, putting the letter into my hand"]
+
+We both of us happen'd to know, as well as the stationer, that
+Riddlesden, the attorney, was a very knave. He had half ruin'd Miss
+Read's father by persuading him to be bound for him. By this letter it
+appear'd there was a secret scheme on foot to the prejudice of
+Hamilton (suppos'd to be then coming over with us); and that Keith was
+concerned in it with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a friend of
+Hamilton's, thought he ought to be acquainted with it; so, when he
+arriv'd in England, which was soon after, partly from resentment and
+ill-will to Keith and Riddlesden, and partly from good-will to him, I
+waited on him, and gave him the letter. He thank'd me cordially, the
+information being of importance to him; and from that time he became
+my friend, greatly to my advantage afterwards on many occasions.
+
+But what shall we think of a governor's playing such pitiful tricks,
+and imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a habit he had
+acquired. He wish'd to please everybody; and, having little to give,
+he gave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, sensible man, a
+pretty good writer, and a good governor for the people, tho' not for
+his constituents, the proprietaries, whose instructions he sometimes
+disregarded. Several of our best laws were of his planning and passed
+during his administration.
+
+Ralph and I were inseparable companions. We took lodgings together in
+Little Britain[36] at three shillings and sixpence a week--as much as
+we could then afford. He found some relations, but they were poor, and
+unable to assist him. He now let me know his intentions of remaining
+in London, and that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. He had
+brought no money with him, the whole he could muster having been
+expended in paying his passage. I had fifteen pistoles;[37] so he
+borrowed occasionally of me to subsist, while he was looking out for
+business. He first endeavoured to get into the play-house, believing
+himself qualify'd for an actor; but Wilkes,[38] to whom he apply'd,
+advis'd him candidly not to think of that employment, as it was
+impossible he should succeed in it. Then he propos'd to Roberts, a
+publisher in Paternoster Row,[39] to write for him a weekly paper like
+the Spectator, on certain conditions, which Roberts did not approve.
+Then he endeavoured to get employment as a hackney writer, to copy for
+the stationers and lawyers about the Temple,[40] but could find no
+vacancy.
+
+    [36] One of the oldest parts of London, north of St.
+    Paul's Cathedral, called "Little Britain" because the
+    Dukes of Brittany used to live there. See the essay
+    entitled "Little Britain" in Washington Irving's _Sketch
+    Book_.
+
+    [37] A gold coin worth about four dollars in our money.
+
+    [38] A popular comedian, manager of Drury Lane Theater.
+
+    [39] Street north of St. Paul's, occupied by publishing
+    houses.
+
+    [40] Law schools and lawyers' residences situated
+    southwest of St. Paul's, between Fleet Street and the
+    Thames.
+
+I immediately got into work at Palmer's, then a famous printing-house
+in Bartholomew Close, and here I continu'd near a year. I was pretty
+diligent, but spent with Ralph a good deal of my earnings in going to
+plays and other places of amusement. We had together consumed all my
+pistoles, and now just rubbed on from hand to mouth. He seem'd quite
+to forget his wife and child, and I, by degrees, my engagements with
+Miss Read, to whom I never wrote more than one letter, and that was to
+let her know I was not likely soon to return. This was another of the
+great errata of my life, which I should wish to correct if I were to
+live it over again. In fact, by our expenses, I was constantly kept
+unable to pay my passage.
+
+At Palmer's I was employed in composing for the second edition of
+Wollaston's "Religion of Nature." Some of his reasonings not appearing
+to me well founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece in which I
+made remarks on them. It was entitled "A Dissertation on Liberty and
+Necessity, Pleasure and Pain." I inscribed it to my friend Ralph; I
+printed a small number. It occasion'd my being more consider'd by Mr.
+Palmer as a young man of some ingenuity, tho' he seriously
+expostulated with me upon the principles of my pamphlet, which to him
+appear'd abominable. My printing this pamphlet was another erratum.
+
+While I lodg'd in Little Britain, I made an acquaintance with one
+Wilcox, a bookseller, whose shop was at the next door. He had an
+immense collection of second-hand books. Circulating libraries were
+not then in use; but we agreed that, on certain reasonable terms,
+which I have now forgotten, I might take, read, and return any of his
+books. This I esteem'd a great advantage, and I made as much use of it
+as I could.
+
+My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands of one Lyons, a
+surgeon, author of a book entitled "The Infallibility of Human
+Judgment," it occasioned an acquaintance between us. He took great
+notice of me, called on me often to converse on those subjects,
+carried me to the Horns, a pale alehouse in----Lane, Cheapside,
+and introduced me to Dr. Mandeville, author of the "Fable of the
+Bees," who had a club there, of which he was the soul, being a most
+facetious, entertaining companion. Lyons, too, introduced me to Dr.
+Pemberton, at Batson's Coffee-house, who promis'd to give me an
+opportunity, sometime or other, of seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of which I
+was extreamly desirous; but this never happened.
+
+I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the principal was a
+purse made of the asbestos, which purifies by fire. Sir Hans Sloane
+heard of it, came to see me, and invited me to his house in Bloomsbury
+Square, where he show'd me all his curiosities, and persuaded me to
+let him add that to the number, for which he paid me handsomely.
+
+In our house there lodg'd a young woman, a milliner, who, I think, had
+a shop in the Cloisters. She had been genteelly bred, was sensible and
+lively, and of most pleasing conversation. Ralph read plays to her in
+the evenings, they grew intimate, she took another lodging, and he
+followed her. They liv'd together some time; but, he being still out
+of business, and her income not sufficient to maintain them with her
+child, he took a resolution of going from London, to try for a country
+school, which he thought himself well qualified to undertake, as he
+wrote an excellent hand, and was a master of arithmetic and accounts.
+This, however, he deemed a business below him, and confident of future
+better fortune, when he should be unwilling to have it known that he
+once was so meanly employed, he changed his name, and did me the
+honour to assume mine; for I soon after had a letter from him,
+acquainting me that he was settled in a small village (in Berkshire, I
+think it was, where he taught reading and writing to ten or a dozen
+boys, at sixpence each per week), recommending Mrs. T---- to my care,
+and desiring me to write to him, directing for Mr. Franklin,
+schoolmaster, at such a place.
+
+He continued to write frequently, sending me large specimens of an
+epic poem which he was then composing, and desiring my remarks and
+corrections. These I gave him from time to time, but endeavour'd
+rather to discourage his proceeding. One of Young's Satires[41] was
+then just published. I copy'd and sent him a great part of it, which
+set in a strong light the folly of pursuing the Muses with any hope of
+advancement by them. All was in vain; sheets of the poem continued to
+come by every post. In the meantime, Mrs. T----, having on his account
+lost her friends and business, was often in distresses, and us'd to
+send for me and borrow what I could spare to help her out of them. I
+grew fond of her company, and, being at that time under no religious
+restraint, and presuming upon my importance to her, I attempted
+familiarities (another erratum) which she repuls'd with a proper
+resentment, and acquainted him with my behaviour. This made a breach
+between us; and, when he returned again to London, he let me know he
+thought I had cancell'd all the obligations he had been under to me.
+So I found I was never to expect his repaying me what I lent to him or
+advanc'd for him. This, however, was not then of much consequence, as
+he was totally unable; and in the loss of his friendship I found
+myself relieved from a burthen. I now began to think of getting a
+little money beforehand, and, expecting better work, I left Palmer's
+to work at Watts's, near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a still greater
+printing-house.[42] Here I continued all the rest of my stay in London.
+
+    [41] Edward Young (1681-1765), an English poet. See his
+    satires, Vol. III, Epist. ii, page 70.
+
+    [42] The printing press at which Franklin worked is
+    preserved in the Patent Office at Washington.
+
+At my first admission into this printing-house I took to working at
+press, imagining I felt a want of the bodily exercise I had been us'd
+to in America, where presswork is mix'd with composing. I drank only
+water; the other workmen, near fifty in number, were great guzzlers of
+beer. On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types
+in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They wondered
+to see, from this and several instances, that the _Water-American_, as
+they called me, was _stronger_ than themselves, who drank _strong_
+beer! We had an alehouse boy who attended always in the house to
+supply the workmen. My companion at the press drank every day a pint
+before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a
+pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the
+afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had done his day's
+work. I thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, he
+suppos'd, to drink _strong_ beer, that he might be _strong_ to labour.
+I endeavoured to convince him that the bodily strength afforded by
+beer could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley
+dissolved in the water of which it was made; that there was more flour
+in a pennyworth of bread; and therefore, if he would eat that with a
+pint of water, it would give him more strength than a quart of beer.
+He drank on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay out of his
+wages every Saturday night for that muddling liquor; an expense I was
+free from. And thus these poor devils keep themselves always under.
+
+[Illustration: "I took to working at press"]
+
+Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in the composing-room,[43]
+I left the pressmen; a new bien venu or sum for drink, being five
+shillings, was demanded of me by the compositors. I thought it an
+imposition, as I had paid below; the master thought so too, and forbade
+my paying it. I stood out two or three weeks, was accordingly considered
+as an excommunicate, and had so many little pieces of private mischief
+done me, by mixing my sorts, transposing my pages, breaking my matter,
+etc., etc., if I were ever so little out of the room, and all ascribed
+to the chappel ghost, which they said ever haunted those not regularly
+admitted, that, notwithstanding the master's protection, I found myself
+oblig'd to comply and pay the money, convinc'd of the folly of being on
+ill terms with those one is to live with continually.
+
+    [43] Franklin now left the work of operating the printing
+    presses, which was largely a matter of manual labor, and
+    began setting type, which required more skill and
+    intelligence.
+
+I was now on a fair footing with them, and soon acquir'd considerable
+influence. I propos'd some reasonable alterations in their chappel
+laws,[44] and carried them against all opposition. From my example, a
+great part of them left their muddling breakfast of beer, and bread,
+and cheese, finding they could with me be supply'd from a neighbouring
+house with a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with
+pepper, crumb'd with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the price
+of a pint of beer, viz., three half-pence. This was a more comfortable
+as well as cheaper breakfast, and keep their heads clearer. Those who
+continued sotting with beer all day, were often, by not paying, out of
+credit at the alehouse, and us'd to make interest with me to get beer;
+their _light_, as they phrased it, _being out_. I watch'd the
+pay-table on Saturday night, and collected what I stood engag'd for
+them, having to pay sometimes near thirty shillings a week on their
+accounts. This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good _riggite_, that
+is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the
+society. My constant attendance (I never making a St. Monday)[45]
+recommended me to the master; and my uncommon quickness at composing
+occasioned my being put upon all work of dispatch, which was generally
+better paid. So I went on now very agreeably.
+
+    [44] A printing house is called a chapel because Caxton,
+    the first English printer, did his printing in a chapel
+    connected with Westminster Abbey.
+
+    [45] A holiday taken to prolong the dissipation of
+    Saturday's wages.
+
+My lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found another in
+Duke-street, opposite to the Romish Chapel. It was two pair of stairs
+backwards, at an Italian warehouse. A widow lady kept the house; she
+had a daughter, and a maid servant, and a journeyman who attended the
+warehouse, but lodg'd abroad. After sending to inquire my character at
+the house where I last lodg'd she agreed to take me in at the same
+rate, 3s. 6d. per week; cheaper, as she said, from the protection she
+expected in having a man lodge in the house. She was a widow, an
+elderly woman; had been bred a Protestant, being a clergyman's
+daughter, but was converted to the Catholic religion by her husband,
+whose memory she much revered; had lived much among people of
+distinction, and knew a thousand anecdotes of them as far back as the
+times of Charles the Second. She was lame in her knees with the gout,
+and, therefore, seldom stirred out of her room, so sometimes wanted
+company; and hers was so highly amusing to me, that I was sure to
+spend an evening with her whenever she desired it. Our supper was
+only half an anchovy each, on a very little strip of bread and butter,
+and half a pint of ale between us; but the entertainment was in her
+conversation. My always keeping good hours, and giving little trouble
+in the family, made her unwilling to part with me, so that, when I
+talk'd of a lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, for two
+shillings a week, which, intent as I now was on saving money, made
+some difference, she bid me not think of it, for she would abate me
+two shillings a week for the future; so I remained with her at one
+shilling and sixpence as long as I staid in London.
+
+In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady of seventy, in the
+most retired manner, of whom my landlady gave me this account: that
+she was a Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when young, and lodg'd
+in a nunnery with an intent of becoming a nun; but, the country not
+agreeing with her, she returned to England, where, there being no
+nunnery, she had vow'd to lead the life of a nun, as near as might be
+done in those circumstances. Accordingly, she had given all her estate
+to charitable uses, reserving only twelve pounds a year to live on,
+and out of this sum she still gave a great deal in charity, living
+herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire but to boil it. She had
+lived many years in that garret, being permitted to remain there
+gratis by successive Catholic tenants of the house below, as they
+deemed it a blessing to have her there. A priest visited her to
+confess her every day. "I have ask'd her," says my landlady, "how she,
+as she liv'd, could possibly find so much employment for a confessor?"
+"Oh," said she, "it is impossible to avoid _vain thoughts_." I was
+permitted once to visit her. She was cheerful and polite, and
+convers'd pleasantly. The room was clean, but had no other furniture
+than a matras, a table with a crucifix and book, a stool which she
+gave me to sit on, and a picture over the chimney of Saint Veronica
+displaying her handkerchief, with the miraculous figure of Christ's
+bleeding face on it,[46] which she explained to me with great
+seriousness. She look'd pale, but was never sick; and I give it as
+another instance on how small an income, life and health may be
+supported.
+
+At Watts's printing-house I contracted an acquaintance with an
+ingenious young man, one Wygate, who, having wealthy relations, had
+been better educated than most printers; was a tolerable Latinist,
+spoke French, and lov'd reading. I taught him and a friend of his to
+swim at twice going into the river, and they soon became good
+swimmers. They introduc'd me to some gentlemen from the country, who
+went to Chelsea by water to see the College and Don Saltero's
+curiosities.[47] In our return, at the request of the company, whose
+curiosity Wygate had excited, I stripped and leaped into the river,
+and swam from near Chelsea to Blackfriar's,[48] performing on the way
+many feats of activity, both upon and under water, that surpris'd and
+pleas'd those to whom they were novelties.
+
+    [46] The story is that she met Christ on His way to
+    crucifixion and offered Him her handkerchief to wipe the
+    blood from His face, after which the handkerchief always
+    bore the image of Christ's bleeding face.
+
+    [47] James Salter, a former servant of Hans Sloane, lived
+    in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. "His house, a barber-shop, was
+    known as 'Don Saltero's Coffee-House.' The curiosities
+    were in glass cases and constituted an amazing and
+    motley collection--a petrified crab from China, a
+    'lignified hog,' Job's tears, Madagascar lances, William
+    the Conqueror's flaming sword, and Henry the Eighth's
+    coat of mail."--Smyth.
+
+    [48] About three miles.
+
+I had from a child been ever delighted with this exercise, had studied
+and practis'd all Thevenot's motions and positions, added some of my
+own, aiming at the graceful and easy as well as the useful. All these
+I took this occasion of exhibiting to the company, and was much
+flatter'd by their admiration; and Wygate, who was desirous of
+becoming a master, grew more and more attach'd to me on that account,
+as well as from the similarity of our studies. He at length proposed
+to me traveling all over Europe together, supporting ourselves
+everywhere by working at our business. I was once inclined to it; but,
+mentioning it to my good friend Mr. Denham, with whom I often spent an
+hour when I had leisure, he dissuaded me from it, advising me to think
+only of returning to Pennsylvania, which he was now about to do.
+
+I must record one trait of this good man's character. He had formerly
+been in business at Bristol, but failed in debt to a number of people,
+compounded and went to America. There, by a close application to
+business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful fortune in a few
+years. Returning to England in the ship with me, he invited his old
+creditors to an entertainment, at which he thank'd them for the easy
+composition they had favoured him with, and, when they expected
+nothing but the treat, every man at the first remove found under his
+plate an order on a banker for the full amount of the unpaid
+remainder with interest.
+
+He now told me he was about to return to Philadelphia, and should
+carry over a great quantity of goods in order to open a store there.
+He propos'd to take me over as his clerk, to keep his books, in which
+he would instruct me, copy his letters, and attend the store. He
+added, that, as soon as I should be acquainted with mercantile
+business, he would promote me by sending me with a cargo of flour and
+bread, etc., to the West Indies, and procure me commissions from
+others which would be profitable; and, if I manag'd well, would
+establish me handsomely. The thing pleas'd me; for I was grown tired
+of London, remembered with pleasure the happy months I had spent in
+Pennsylvania, and wish'd again to see it; therefore I immediately
+agreed on the terms of fifty pounds a year,[49] Pennsylvania money;
+less, indeed, than my present gettings as a compositor, but affording
+a better prospect.
+
+    [49] About $167.
+
+I now took leave of printing, as I thought, forever, and was daily
+employed in my new business, going about with Mr. Denham among the
+tradesmen to purchase various articles, and seeing them pack'd up,
+doing errands, calling upon workmen to dispatch, etc.; and, when all
+was on board, I had a few days' leisure. On one of these days, I was,
+to my surprise, sent for by a great man I knew only by name, a Sir
+William Wyndham, and I waited upon him. He had heard by some means or
+other of my swimming from Chelsea to Blackfriars, and of my teaching
+Wygate and another young man to swim in a few hours. He had two sons,
+about to set out on their travels; he wish'd to have them first taught
+swimming, and proposed to gratify me handsomely if I would teach them.
+They were not yet come to town, and my stay was uncertain, so I could
+not undertake it; but, from this incident, I thought it likely that,
+if I were to remain in England and open a swimming-school, I might get
+a good deal of money; and it struck me so strongly, that, had the
+overture been sooner made me, probably I should not so soon have
+returned to America. After many years, you and I had something of more
+importance to do with one of these sons of Sir William Wyndham,
+become Earl of Egremont, which I shall mention in its place.
+
+Thus I spent about eighteen months in London; most part of the time I
+work'd hard at my business, and spent but little upon myself except in
+seeing plays and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me poor; he owed
+me about twenty-seven pounds, which I was now never likely to receive;
+a great sum out of my small earnings! I lov'd him, notwithstanding,
+for he had many amiable qualities. I had by no means improv'd my
+fortune; but I had picked up some very ingenious acquaintance, whose
+conversation was of great advantage to me; and I had read
+considerably.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+BEGINNING BUSINESS IN
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+
+We sail'd from Gravesend on the 23rd of July, 1726. For the incidents
+of the voyage, I refer you to my Journal, where you will find them all
+minutely related. Perhaps the most important part of that journal is
+the _plan_[50] to be found in it, which I formed at sea, for
+regulating my future conduct in life. It is the more remarkable, as
+being formed when I was so young, and yet being pretty faithfully
+adhered to quite thro' to old age.
+
+    [50] "Not found in the manuscript journal, which was left
+    among Franklin's papers."--Bigelow.
+
+We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, where I found sundry
+alterations. Keith was no longer governor, being superseded by Major
+Gordon. I met him walking the streets as a common citizen. He seem'd a
+little asham'd at seeing me, but pass'd without saying anything. I
+should have been as much asham'd at seeing Miss Read, had not her
+friends, despairing with reason of my return after the receipt of my
+letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a potter, which
+was done in my absence. With him, however, she was never happy, and
+soon parted from him, refusing to cohabit with him or bear his name,
+it being now said that he had another wife. He was a worthless fellow,
+tho' an excellent workman, which was the temptation to her friends. He
+got into debt, ran away in 1727 or 1728, went to the West Indies, and
+died there. Keimer had got a better house, a shop well supply'd with
+stationery, plenty of new types, a number of hands, tho' none good,
+and seem'd to have a great deal of business.
+
+Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street, where we open'd our goods; I
+attended the business diligently, studied accounts, and grew, in a
+little time, expert at selling. We lodg'd and boarded together; he
+counsell'd me as a father, having a sincere regard for me. I respected
+and loved him, and we might have gone on together very happy; but, in
+the beginning of February, 1726/7, when I had just pass'd my
+twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My distemper was a
+pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off. I suffered a good deal,
+gave up the point in my own mind, and was rather disappointed when I
+found myself recovering, regretting, in some degree, that I must now,
+some time or other, have all that disagreeable work to do over again.
+I forget what his distemper was; it held him a long time, and at
+length carried him off. He left me a small legacy in a nuncupative
+will, as a token of his kindness for me, and he left me once more to
+the wide world; for the store was taken into the care of his
+executors, and my employment under him ended.
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Denham took a store in Water-street"]
+
+My brother-in-law, Holmes, being now at Philadelphia, advised my
+return to my business; and Keimer tempted me, with an offer of large
+wages by the year, to come and take the management of his
+printing-house, that he might better attend his stationer's shop. I
+had heard a bad character of him in London from his wife and her
+friends, and was not fond of having any more to do with him. I tri'd
+for farther employment as a merchant's clerk; but, not readily meeting
+with any, I clos'd again with Keimer. I found in his house these
+hands: Hugh Meredith, a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of age, bred
+to country work; honest, sensible, had a great deal of solid
+observation, was something of a reader, but given to drink. Stephen
+Potts, a young countryman of full age, bred to the same, of uncommon
+natural parts, and great wit and humor, but a little idle. These he
+had agreed with at extream low wages per week to be rais'd a shilling
+every three months, as they would deserve by improving in their
+business; and the expectation of these high wages, to come on
+hereafter, was what he had drawn them in with. Meredith was to work at
+press, Potts at book-binding, which he, by agreement, was to teach
+them, though he knew neither one nor t'other. John----, a wild
+Irishman, brought up to no business, whose service, for four
+years, Keimer had purchased from the captain of a ship; he, too, was
+to be made a pressman. George Webb, an Oxford scholar, whose time for
+four years he had likewise bought, intending him for a compositor, of
+whom more presently; and David Harry, a country boy, whom he had taken
+apprentice.
+
+I soon perceiv'd that the intention of engaging me at wages so much
+higher than he had been us'd to give, was, to have these raw, cheap
+hands form'd thro' me; and, as soon as I had instructed them, then
+they being all articled to him, he should be able to do without me. I
+went on, however, very chearfully, put his printing-house in order,
+which had been in great confusion, and brought his hands by degrees to
+mind their business and to do it better.
+
+It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in the situation of a
+bought servant. He was not more than eighteen years of age, and gave
+me this account of himself; that he was born in Gloucester, educated
+at a grammar-school there, had been distinguish'd among the scholars
+for some apparent superiority in performing his part, when they
+exhibited plays; belong'd to the Witty Club there, and had written
+some pieces in prose and verse, which were printed in the Gloucester
+newspapers; thence he was sent to Oxford; where he continued about a
+year, but not well satisfi'd, wishing of all things to see London, and
+become a player. At length, receiving his quarterly allowance of
+fifteen guineas, instead of discharging his debts he walk'd out of
+town, hid his gown in a furze bush, and footed it to London, where,
+having no friend to advise him, he fell into bad company, soon spent
+his guineas, found no means of being introduc'd among the players,
+grew necessitous, pawn'd his cloaths, and wanted bread. Walking the
+street very hungry, and not knowing what to do with himself, a crimp's
+bill[51] was put into his hand, offering immediate entertainment and
+encouragement to such as would bind themselves to serve in America. He
+went directly, sign'd the indentures, was put into the ship, and came
+over, never writing a line to acquaint his friends what was become of
+him. He was lively, witty, good-natur'd, and a pleasant companion, but
+idle, thoughtless, and imprudent to the last degree.
+
+    [51] A crimp was the agent of a shipping company. Crimps
+    were sometimes employed to decoy men into such service
+    as is here mentioned.
+
+John, the Irishman, soon ran away; with the rest I began to live very
+agreeably, for they all respected me the more, as they found Keimer
+incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learned something
+daily. We never worked on Saturday, that being Keimer's Sabbath, so I
+had two days for reading. My acquaintance with ingenious people in the
+town increased. Keimer himself treated me with great civility and
+apparent regard, and nothing now made me uneasy but my debt to Vernon,
+which I was yet unable to pay, being hitherto but a poor aeconomist.
+He, however, kindly made no demand of it.
+
+Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no letter-founder
+in America; I had seen types cast at James's in London, but without
+much attention to the manner; however, I now contrived a mould, made
+use of the letters we had as puncheons, struck the mattrices in lead,
+and thus supply'd in a pretty tolerable way all deficiencies. I also
+engrav'd several things on occasion; I made the ink; I was
+warehouseman, and everything, and, in short, quite a fac-totum.
+
+But, however serviceable I might be, I found that my services became
+every day of less importance, as the other hands improv'd in the
+business; and, when Keimer paid my second quarter's wages, he let me
+know that he felt them too heavy, and thought I should make an
+abatement. He grew by degrees less civil, put on more of the master,
+frequently found fault, was captious, and seem'd ready for an
+outbreaking. I went on, nevertheless, with a good deal of patience,
+thinking that his encumber'd circumstances were partly the cause. At
+length a trifle snapt our connections; for, a great noise happening
+near the court-house, I put my head out of the window to see what was
+the matter. Keimer, being in the street, look'd up and saw me, call'd
+out to me in a loud voice and angry tone to mind my business, adding
+some reproachful words, that nettled me the more for their publicity,
+all the neighbours who were looking out on the same occasion being
+witnesses how I was treated. He came up immediately into the
+printing-house, continu'd the quarrel, high words pass'd on both
+sides, he gave me the quarter's warning we had stipulated, expressing
+a wish that he had not been oblig'd to so long a warning. I told him
+his wish was unnecessary, for I would leave him that instant; and so,
+taking my hat, walk'd out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I saw
+below, to take care of some things I left, and bring them to my
+lodgings.
+
+Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we talked my affair
+over. He had conceiv'd a great regard for me, and was very unwilling
+that I should leave the house while he remain'd in it. He dissuaded me
+from returning to my native country, which I began to think of; he
+reminded me that Keimer was in debt for all he possess'd; that his
+creditors began to be uneasy; that he kept his shop miserably, sold
+often without profit for ready money, and often trusted without
+keeping accounts; that he must therefore fail, which would make a
+vacancy I might profit of. I objected my want of money. He then let me
+know that his father had a high opinion of me, and, from some
+discourse that had pass'd between them, he was sure would advance
+money to set us up, if I would enter into partnership with him. "My
+time," says he, "will be out with Keimer in the spring; by that time
+we may have our press and types in from London. I am sensible I am no
+workman; if you like it, your skill in the business shall be set
+against the stock I furnish, and we will share the profits equally."
+
+The proposal was agreeable, and I consented; his father was in town
+and approv'd of it; the more as he saw I had great influence with his
+son, had prevailed on him to abstain long from dram-drinking, and he
+hop'd might break him of that wretched habit entirely, when we came to
+be so closely connected. I gave an inventory to the father, who
+carry'd it to a merchant; the things were sent for, the secret was to
+be kept till they should arrive, and in the meantime I was to get
+work, if I could, at the other printing-house. But I found no vacancy
+there, and so remained idle a few days, when Keimer, on a prospect of
+being employ'd to print some paper money in New Jersey, which would
+require cuts and various types that I only could supply, and
+apprehending Bradford might engage me and get the jobb from him, sent
+me a very civil message, that old friends should not part for a few
+words, the effect of sudden passion, and wishing me to return.
+Meredith persuaded me to comply, as it would give more opportunity for
+his improvement under my daily instructions; so I return'd, and we
+went on more smoothly than for some time before. The New Jersey jobb
+was obtained, I contriv'd a copperplate press for it, the first that
+had been seen in the country; I cut several ornaments and checks for
+the bills. We went together to Burlington, where I executed the whole
+to satisfaction; and he received so large a sum for the work as to be
+enabled thereby to keep his head much longer above water.
+
+At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many principal people of the
+province. Several of them had been appointed by the Assembly a
+committee to attend the press, and take care that no more bills were
+printed than the law directed. They were therefore, by turns,
+constantly with us, and generally he who attended, brought with him a
+friend or two for company. My mind having been much more improv'd by
+reading than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that reason my
+conversation seem'd to be more valu'd. They had me to their houses,
+introduced me to their friends, and show'd me much civility; while he,
+tho' the master, was a little neglected. In truth, he was an odd fish;
+ignorant of common life, fond of rudely opposing receiv'd opinions,
+slovenly to extream dirtiness, enthusiastic in some points of
+religion, and a little knavish withal.
+
+We continu'd there near three months; and by that time I could reckon
+among my acquired friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary
+of the Province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several of the
+Smiths, members of Assembly, and Isaac Decow, the surveyor-general.
+The latter was a shrewd, sagacious old man, who told me that he began
+for himself, when young, by wheeling clay for brick-makers, learned to
+write after he was of age, carri'd the chain for surveyors, who taught
+him surveying, and he had now by his industry, acquir'd a good
+estate; and says he, "I foresee that you will soon work this man out
+of his business, and make a fortune in it at Philadelphia." He had not
+then the least intimation of my intention to set up there or anywhere.
+These friends were afterwards of great use to me, as I occasionally
+was to some of them. They all continued their regard for me as long as
+they lived.
+
+Before I enter upon my public appearance in business, it may be well
+to let you know the then state of my mind with regard to my principles
+and morals, that you may see how far those influenc'd the future
+events of my life. My parents had early given me religious
+impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the
+Dissenting way. But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by
+turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different
+books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books
+against Deism[52] fell into my hands; they were said to be the
+substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures. It happened that
+they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by
+them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be
+refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short,
+I soon became a thorough Deist. My arguments perverted some others,
+particularly Collins and Ralph; but, each of them having afterwards
+wrong'd me greatly without the least compunction, and recollecting
+Keith's conduct towards me (who was another free-thinker), and my own
+towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me great trouble, I
+began to suspect that this doctrine, tho' it might be true, was not
+very useful. My London pamphlet, which had for its motto these lines
+of Dryden:[53]
+
+  "Whatever is, is right. Though purblind man
+   Sees but a part o' the chain, the nearest link:
+   His eyes not carrying to the equal beam,
+   That poises all above;"
+
+and from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness and
+power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world,
+and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things
+existing, appear'd now not so clever a performance as I once thought
+it; and I doubted whether some error had not insinuated itself
+unperceiv'd into my argument, so as to infect all that follow'd, as is
+common in metaphysical reasonings.
+
+    [52] The creed of an eighteenth century theological sect
+    which, while believing in God, refused to credit the
+    possibility of miracles and to acknowledge the validity
+    of revelation.
+
+    [53] A great English poet, dramatist, and critic
+    (1631-1700). The lines are inaccurately quoted from
+    Dryden's OEdipus, Act III, Scene I, line 293.
+
+I grew convinc'd that _truth_, _sincerity_ and _integrity_ in dealings
+between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of
+life; and I form'd written resolutions, which still remain in my
+journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had
+indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertain'd an opinion that,
+though certain actions might not be bad _because_ they were forbidden
+by it, or good _because_ it commanded them, yet probably these actions
+might be forbidden _because_ they were bad for us, or commanded
+_because_ they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the
+circumstances of things considered. And this persuasion, with the kind
+hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or accidental favourable
+circumstances and situations, or all together, preserved me, thro'
+this dangerous time of youth, and the hazardous situations I was
+sometimes in among strangers, remote from the eye and advice of my
+father, without any willful gross immorality or injustice, that might
+have been expected from my want of religion. I say willful, because
+the instances I have mentioned had something of _necessity_ in them,
+from my youth, inexperience, and the knavery of others. I had
+therefore a tolerable character to begin the world with; I valued it
+properly, and determin'd to preserve it.
+
+We had not been long return'd to Philadelphia before the new types
+arriv'd from London. We settled with Keimer, and left him by his
+consent before he heard of it. We found a house to hire near the
+market, and took it. To lessen the rent, which was then but
+twenty-four pounds a year, tho' I have since known it to let for
+seventy, we took in Thomas Godfrey, a glazier, and his family, who
+were to pay a considerable part of it to us, and we to board with
+them. We had scarce opened our letters and put our press in order,
+before George House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a countryman to
+us, whom he had met in the street inquiring for a printer. All our
+cash was now expended in the variety of particulars we had been
+obliged to procure, and this countryman's five shillings, being our
+first-fruits, and coming so seasonably, gave me more pleasure than any
+crown I have since earned; and the gratitude I felt toward House has
+made me often more ready than perhaps I should otherwise have been to
+assist young beginners.
+
+There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin. Such a
+one then lived in Philadelphia; a person of note, an elderly man, with
+a wise look and a very grave manner of speaking; his name was Samuel
+Mickle. This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopt one day at my door,
+and asked me if I was the young man who had lately opened a new
+printing-house. Being answered in the affirmative, he said he was
+sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertaking, and the expense
+would be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking place, the people
+already half-bankrupts, or near being so; all appearances to the
+contrary, such as new buildings and the rise of rents, being to his
+certain knowledge fallacious; for they were, in fact, among the things
+that would soon ruin us. And he gave me such a detail of misfortunes
+now existing, or that were soon to exist, that he left me half
+melancholy. Had I known him before I engaged in this business,
+probably I never should have done it. This man continued to live in
+this decaying place, and to declaim in the same strain, refusing for
+many years to buy a house there, because all was going to
+destruction; and at last I had the pleasure of seeing him give five
+times as much for one as he might have bought it for when he first
+began his croaking.
+
+I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding
+year, I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of
+mutual improvement, which was called the Junto;[54] we met on Friday
+evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his
+turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals,
+Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and
+once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on
+any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of
+a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry
+after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and,
+to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or
+direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and
+prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.
+
+    [54] A Spanish term meaning a combination for political
+    intrigue; here a club or society.
+
+The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copyer of deeds for the
+scriveners, a good-natur'd, friendly middle-ag'd man, a great lover
+of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some that was
+tolerable; very ingenious in many little Nicknackeries, and of
+sensible conversation.
+
+Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great in his way, and
+afterward inventor of what is now called Hadley's Quadrant. But he
+knew little out of his way, and was not a pleasing companion; as, like
+most great mathematicians I have met with, he expected universal
+precision in everything said, or was forever denying or distinguishing
+upon trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. He soon left us.
+
+Nicholas Scull, a surveyor, afterwards surveyor-general, who lov'd
+books, and sometimes made a few verses.
+
+William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but, loving reading, had acquir'd a
+considerable share of mathematics, which he first studied with a view
+to astrology, that he afterwards laught at it. He also became
+surveyor-general.
+
+William Maugridge, a joiner, a most exquisite mechanic, and a solid,
+sensible man.
+
+Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb I have characteriz'd
+before.
+
+Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, generous, lively, and
+witty; a lover of punning and of his friends.
+
+And William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, about my age, who had
+the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the exactest morals of
+almost any man I ever met with. He became afterwards a merchant of
+great note, and one of our provincial judges. Our friendship continued
+without interruption to his death, upwards of forty years; and the
+club continued almost as long, and was the best school of philosophy,
+morality, and politics that then existed in the province; for our
+queries, which were read the week preceding their discussion, put us
+upon reading with attention upon the several subjects, that we might
+speak more to the purpose; and here, too, we acquired better habits of
+conversation, everything being studied in our rules which might
+prevent our disgusting each other. From hence the long continuance of
+the club, which I shall have frequent occasion to speak further of
+hereafter.
+
+But my giving this account of it here is to show something of the
+interest I had, everyone of these exerting themselves in recommending
+business to us. Breintnal particularly procur'd us from the Quakers
+the printing forty sheets of their history, the rest being to be done
+by Keimer; and upon this we work'd exceedingly hard, for the price was
+low. It was a folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long primer
+notes.[55] I compos'd of it a sheet a day, and Meredith worked it off
+at press; it was often eleven at night, and sometimes later, before I
+had finished my distribution for the next day's work, for the little
+jobbs sent in by our other friends now and then put us back. But so
+determin'd I was to continue doing a sheet a day of the folio, that
+one night, when, having impos'd[56] my forms, I thought my day's work
+over, one of them by accident was broken, and two pages reduced to
+pi,[57] I immediately distribut'd and composed it over again before I
+went to bed; and this industry, visible to our neighbors, began to
+give us character and credit; particularly, I was told, that mention
+being made of the new printing-office at the merchants' Every-night
+club, the general opinion was that it must fail, there being already
+two printers in the place, Keimer and Bradford; but Dr. Baird (whom
+you and I saw many years after at his native place, St. Andrew's in
+Scotland) gave a contrary opinion: "For the industry of that
+Franklin," says he, "is superior to anything I ever saw of the kind; I
+see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is at work
+again before his neighbors are out of bed." This struck the rest, and
+we soon after had offers from one of them to supply us with
+stationery; but as yet we did not chuse to engage in shop business.
+
+    [55] A sheet 8-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches, having the words
+    _pro patria_ in translucent letters in the body of the
+    paper. Pica--a size of type; as, A B C D: Long Primer--a
+    smaller size of type; as, A B C D.
+
+    [56] To arrange and lock up pages or columns of type in a
+    rectangular iron frame, ready for printing.
+
+    [57] Reduced to complete disorder.
+
+I mention this industry the more particularly and the more freely,
+tho' it seems to be talking in my own praise, that those of my
+posterity, who shall read it, may know the use of that virtue, when
+they see its effects in my favour throughout this relation.
+
+George Webb, who had found a female friend that lent him wherewith to
+purchase his time of Keimer, now came to offer himself as a
+journeyman to us. We could not then employ him; but I foolishly let
+him know as a secret that I soon intended to begin a newspaper, and
+might then have work for him. My hopes of success, as I told him, were
+founded on this, that the then only newspaper, printed by Bradford,
+was a paltry thing, wretchedly manag'd, no way entertaining, and yet
+was profitable to him; I therefore thought a good paper would scarcely
+fail of good encouragement. I requested Webb not to mention it; but he
+told it to Keimer, who immediately, to be beforehand with me,
+published proposals for printing one himself, on which Webb was to be
+employ'd. I resented this; and, to counteract them, as I could not yet
+begin our paper, I wrote several pieces of entertainment for
+Bradford's paper, under the title of the Busy Body, which Breintnal
+continu'd some months. By this means the attention of the publick was
+fixed on that paper, and Keimer's proposals, which we burlesqu'd and
+ridicul'd, were disregarded. He began his paper, however, and, after
+carrying it on three quarters of a year, with at most only ninety
+subscribers, he offered it to me for a trifle; and I, having been
+ready some time to go on with it, took it in hand directly; and it
+prov'd in a few years extremely profitable to me.
+
+I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular number, though our
+partnership still continu'd; the reason may be that, in fact, the
+whole management of the business lay upon me. Meredith was no
+compositor, a poor pressman, and seldom sober. My friends lamented my
+connection with him, but I was to make the best of it.
+
+[Illustration: "I see him still at work when I go home from club"]
+
+Our first papers made a quite different appearance from any before in
+the province; a better type, and better printed; but some spirited
+remarks of my writing, on the dispute then going on between Governor
+Burnet and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the principal people,
+occasioned the paper and the manager of it to be much talk'd of, and
+in a few weeks brought them all to be our subscribers.
+
+Their example was follow'd by many, and our number went on growing
+continually. This was one of the first good effects of my having
+learnt a little to scribble; another was, that the leading men, seeing
+a newspaper now in the hands of one who could also handle a pen,
+thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me. Bradford still
+printed the votes, and laws, and other publick business. He had
+printed an address of the House to the governor, in a coarse,
+blundering manner; we reprinted it elegantly and correctly, and sent
+one to every member. They were sensible of the difference: it
+strengthened the hands of our friends in the House, and they voted us
+their printers for the year ensuing.
+
+Among my friends in the House I must not forget Mr. Hamilton, before
+mentioned, who was then returned from England, and had a seat in it.
+He interested himself for me strongly in that instance, as he did in
+many others afterward, continuing his patronage till his death.[58]
+
+    [58] I got his son once L500.--_Marg. note_.
+
+Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of the debt I ow'd him,
+but did not press me. I wrote him an ingenuous letter of
+acknowledgment, crav'd his forbearance a little longer, which he
+allow'd me, and as soon as I was able, I paid the principal with
+interest, and many thanks; so that erratum was in some degree
+corrected.
+
+But now another difficulty came upon me which I had never the least
+reason to expect. Mr. Meredith's father, who was to have paid for our
+printing-house, according to the expectations given me, was able to
+advance only one hundred pounds currency, which had been paid; and a
+hundred more was due to the merchant, who grew impatient, and su'd us
+all. We gave bail, but saw that, if the money could not be rais'd in
+time, the suit must soon come to a judgment and execution, and our
+hopeful prospects must, with us, be ruined, as the press and letters
+must be sold for payment, perhaps at half price.
+
+In this distress two true friends, whose kindness I have never
+forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remember any thing, came
+to me separately, unknown to each other, and, without any application
+from me, offering each of them to advance me all the money that should
+be necessary to enable me to take the whole business upon myself, if
+that should be practicable; but they did not like my continuing the
+partnership with Meredith, who, as they said, was often seen drunk in
+the streets, and playing at low games in alehouses, much to our
+discredit. These two friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace. I
+told them I could not propose a separation while any prospect remain'd
+of the Meredith's fulfilling their part of our agreement, because I
+thought myself under great obligations to them for what they had done,
+and would do if they could; but, if they finally fail'd in their
+performance, and our partnership must be dissolv'd, I should then
+think myself at liberty to accept the assistance of my friends.
+
+Thus the matter rested for some time, when I said to my partner,
+"Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you have undertaken
+in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for you and me
+what he would for you alone. If that is the case, tell me, and I will
+resign the whole to you, and go about my business." "No," said he, "my
+father has really been disappointed, and is really unable; and I am
+unwilling to distress him farther. I see this is a business I am not
+fit for. I was bred a farmer, and it was a folly in me to come to
+town, and put myself, at thirty years of age, an apprentice to learn a
+new trade. Many of our Welsh people are going to settle in North
+Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclin'd to go with them, and
+follow my old employment. You may find friends to assist you. If you
+will take the debts of the company upon you; return to my father the
+hundred pounds he has advanced; pay my little personal debts, and give
+me thirty pounds and a new saddle, I will relinquish the partnership,
+and leave the whole in your hands." I agreed to this proposal: it was
+drawn up in writing, sign'd, and seal'd immediately. I gave him what
+he demanded, and he went soon after to Carolina, from whence he sent
+me next year two long letters, containing the best account that had
+been given of that country, the climate, the soil, husbandry, etc.,
+for in those matters he was very judicious. I printed them in the
+papers, and they gave great satisfaction to the publick.
+
+As soon as he was gone, I recurr'd to my two friends; and because I
+would not give an unkind preference to either, I took half of what
+each had offered and I wanted of one, and half of the other; paid off
+the company's debts, and went on with the business in my own name,
+advertising that the partnership was dissolved. I think this was in or
+about the year 1729.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FIRST
+PUBLIC SERVICE
+
+
+About this time there was a cry among the people for more paper money,
+only fifteen thousand pounds being extant in the province, and that
+soon to be sunk.[59] The wealthy inhabitants oppos'd any addition,
+being against all paper currency, from an apprehension that it would
+depreciate, as it had done in New England, to the prejudice of all
+creditors. We had discuss'd this point in our Junto, where I was on
+the side of an addition, being persuaded that the first small sum
+struck in 1723 had done much good by increasing the trade, employment,
+and number of inhabitants in the province, since I now saw all the old
+houses inhabited, and many new ones building: whereas I remembered
+well, that when I first walk'd about the streets of Philadelphia,
+eating my roll, I saw most of the houses in Walnut Street, between
+Second and Front streets,[60] with bills on their doors, "To be let";
+and many likewise in Chestnut-street and other streets, which made me
+then think the inhabitants of the city were deserting it one after
+another.
+
+    [59] Recalled to be redeemed.
+
+    [60] This part of Philadelphia is now the center of the
+    wholesale business district.
+
+Our debates possess'd me so fully of the subject, that I wrote and
+printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, entitled "_The Nature and
+Necessity of a Paper Currency_." It was well receiv'd by the common
+people in general; but the rich men dislik'd it, for it increas'd and
+strengthen'd the clamor for more money, and they happening to have no
+writers among them that were able to answer it, their opposition
+slacken'd, and the point was carried by a majority in the House. My
+friends there, who conceiv'd I had been of some service, thought fit
+to reward me by employing me in printing the money; a very profitable
+jobb and a great help to me. This was another advantage gain'd by my
+being able to write.
+
+The utility of this currency became by time and experience so evident
+as never afterwards to be much disputed; so that it grew soon to
+fifty-five thousand pounds, and in 1739 to eighty thousand pounds,
+since which it arose during war to upwards of three hundred and fifty
+thousand pounds, trade, building, and inhabitants all the while
+increasing, tho' I now think there are limits beyond which the
+quantity may be hurtful.[61]
+
+    [61] Paper money is a promise to pay its face value in
+    gold or silver. When a state or nation issues more such
+    promises than there is a likelihood of its being able to
+    redeem, the paper representing the promises depreciates
+    in value. Before the success of the Colonies in the
+    Revolution was assured, it took hundreds of dollars of
+    their paper money to buy a pair of boots.
+
+I soon after obtain'd, thro' my friend Hamilton, the printing of the
+Newcastle paper money, another profitable jobb as I then thought it;
+small things appearing great to those in small circumstances; and
+these, to me, were really great advantages, as they were great
+encouragements. He procured for me, also, the printing of the laws and
+votes of that government, which continu'd in my hands as long as I
+follow'd the business.
+
+I now open'd a little stationer's shop. I had in it blanks of all
+sorts, the correctest that ever appear'd among us, being assisted in
+that by my friend Breintnal. I had also paper, parchment, chapmen's
+books, etc. One Whitemash, a compositor I had known in London, an
+excellent workman, now came to me, and work'd with me constantly and
+diligently; and I took an apprentice, the son of Aquilla Rose.
+
+[Illustration: "I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd at the
+stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow"]
+
+I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was under for the
+printing-house. In order to secure my credit and character as a
+tradesman, I took care not only to be in _reality_ industrious and
+frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I drest plainly;
+I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing
+or shooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauch'd me from my work, but
+that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and, to show that I was
+not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas'd
+at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem'd
+an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought,
+the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others
+proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the
+meantime, Keimer's credit and business declining daily, he was at last
+forc'd to sell his printing-house to satisfy his creditors. He went to
+Barbadoes, and there lived some years in very poor circumstances.
+
+His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed while I work'd with
+him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having bought his materials.
+I was at first apprehensive of a powerful rival in Harry, as his
+friends were very able, and had a good deal of interest. I therefore
+propos'd a partnership to him, which he, fortunately for me, rejected
+with scorn. He was very proud, dress'd like a gentleman, liv'd
+expensively, took much diversion and pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and
+neglected his business; upon which, all business left him; and,
+finding nothing to do, he followed Keimer to Barbadoes, taking the
+printing-house with him. There this apprentice employ'd his former
+master as a journeyman; they quarrell'd often; Harry went continually
+behindhand, and at length was forc'd to sell his types and return to
+his country work in Pennsylvania. The person that bought them employ'd
+Keimer to use them, but in a few years he died.
+
+There remained now no competitor with me at Philadelphia but the old
+one, Bradford; who was rich and easy, did a little printing now and
+then by straggling hands, but was not very anxious about the business.
+However, as he kept the post-office, it was imagined he had better
+opportunities of obtaining news; his paper was thought a better
+distributer of advertisements than mine, and therefore had many more,
+which was a profitable thing to him, and a disadvantage to me; for,
+tho' I did indeed receive and send papers by the post, yet the publick
+opinion was otherwise, for what I did send was by bribing the riders,
+who took them privately, Bradford being unkind enough to forbid it,
+which occasion'd some resentment on my part; and I thought so meanly
+of him for it, that, when I afterward came into his situation, I took
+care never to imitate it.
+
+I had hitherto continu'd to board with Godfrey, who lived in part of
+my house with his wife and children, and had one side of the shop for
+his glazier's business, tho' he worked little, being always absorbed
+in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected a match for me with a
+relation's daughter, took opportunities of bringing us often together,
+till a serious courtship on my part ensu'd, the girl being in herself
+very deserving. The old folks encourag'd me by continual invitations
+to supper, and by leaving us together, till at length it was time to
+explain. Mrs. Godfrey manag'd our little treaty. I let her know that I
+expected as much money with their daughter as would pay off my
+remaining debt for the printing-house, which I believe was not then
+above a hundred pounds. She brought me word they had no such sum to
+spare; I said they might mortgage their house in the loan-office. The
+answer to this, after some days, was, that they did not approve the
+match; that, on inquiry of Bradford, they had been informed the
+printing business was not a profitable one; the types would soon be
+worn out, and more wanted; that S. Keimer and D. Harry had failed one
+after the other, and I should probably soon follow them; and,
+therefore, I was forbidden the house, and the daughter shut up.
+
+Whether this was a real change of sentiment or only artifice, on a
+supposition of our being too far engaged in affection to retract, and
+therefore that we should steal a marriage, which would leave them at
+liberty to give or withhold what they pleas'd, I know not; but I
+suspected the latter, resented it, and went no more. Mrs. Godfrey
+brought me afterward some more favorable accounts of their
+disposition, and would have drawn me on again; but I declared
+absolutely my resolution to have nothing more to do with that family.
+This was resented by the Godfreys; we differed, and they removed,
+leaving me the whole house, and I resolved to take no more inmates.
+
+But this affair having turned my thoughts to marriage, I look'd round
+me and made overtures of acquaintance in other places; but soon found
+that, the business of a printer being generally thought a poor one, I
+was not to expect money with a wife, unless with such a one as I
+should not otherwise think agreeable. A friendly correspondence as
+neighbours and old acquaintances had continued between me and Mrs.
+Read's family, who all had a regard for me from the time of my first
+lodging in their house. I was often invited there and consulted in
+their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of service. I piti'd poor Miss
+Read's unfortunate situation, who was generally dejected, seldom
+chearful, and avoided company. I considered my giddiness and
+inconstancy when in London as in a great degree the cause of her
+unhappiness, tho' the mother was good enough to think the fault more
+her own than mine, as she had prevented our marrying before I went
+thither, and persuaded the other match in my absence. Our mutual
+affection was revived, but there were now great objections to our
+union. The match was indeed looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife
+being said to be living in England; but this could not easily be
+prov'd, because of the distance; and, tho' there was a report of his
+death, it was not certain. Then, tho' it should be true, he had left
+many debts, which his successor might be call'd upon to pay. We
+ventured, however, over all these difficulties, and I took her to
+wife, September 1st, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened that we
+had apprehended; she proved a good and faithful helpmate,[62] assisted
+me much by attending the shop; we throve together, and have ever
+mutually endeavour'd to make each other happy. Thus I corrected that
+great _erratum_ as well as I could.
+
+    [62] Mrs. Franklin survived her marriage over forty
+    years. Franklin's correspondence abounds with evidence
+    that their union was a happy one. "We are grown old
+    together, and if she has any faults, I am so used to
+    them that I don't perceive them." The following is a
+    stanza from one of Franklin's own songs written for the
+    Junto:
+
+      "Of their Chloes and Phyllises poets may prate,
+         I sing my plain country Joan,
+       These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my life,
+         Blest day that I made her my own."
+
+About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, but in a little
+room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that purpose, a proposition was
+made by me, that, since our books were often referr'd to in our
+disquisitions upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have
+them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be
+consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we
+should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the
+advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be
+nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole. It was lik'd and
+agreed to, and we fill'd one end of the room with such books as we
+could best spare. The number was not so great as we expected; and tho'
+they had been of great use, yet some inconveniences occurring for want
+of due care of them, the collection, after about a year, was
+separated, and each took his books home again.
+
+And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a
+subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form
+by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of my friends in
+the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin
+with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company
+was to continue. We afterwards obtain'd a charter, the company being
+increased to one hundred: this was the mother of all the North
+American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It is become a great
+thing itself, and continually increasing. These libraries have
+improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common
+tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other
+countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so
+generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their
+privileges.[63]
+
+_Mem deg.._ Thus far was written with the intention express'd in the
+beginning and therefore contains several little family anecdotes of no
+importance to others. What follows was written many years after in
+compliance with the advice contain'd in these letters, and accordingly
+intended for the public. The affairs of the Revolution occasion'd the
+interruption.[64]
+
+    [63] Here the first part of the _Autobiography_, written
+    at Twyford in 1771, ends. The second part, which
+    follows, was written at Passy in 1784.
+
+    [64] After this memorandum, Franklin inserted letters
+    from Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan, urging him to
+    continue his _Autobiography_.
+
+[_Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near Paris,
+1784._]
+
+It is some time since I receiv'd the above letters, but I have been
+too busy till now to think of complying with the request they contain.
+It might, too, be much better done if I were at home among my papers,
+which would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates; but my return
+being uncertain, and having just now a little leisure, I will
+endeavour to recollect and write what I can; if I live to get home, it
+may there be corrected and improv'd.
+
+Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not
+whether an account is given of the means I used to establish the
+Philadelphia public library, which, from a small beginning, is now
+become so considerable, though I remember to have come down to near
+the time of that transaction (1730). I will therefore begin here with
+an account of it, which may be struck out if found to have been
+already given.
+
+At the time I establish'd myself in Pennsylvania, there was not a good
+bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston.
+In New York and Philad'a the printers were indeed stationers; they
+sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common
+school-books. Those who lov'd reading were obliged to send for their
+books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had
+left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our
+club in. I propos'd that we should all of us bring our books to that
+room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our
+conferences, but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty
+to borrow such as he wish'd to read at home. This was accordingly
+done, and for some time contented us.
+
+Finding the advantage of this little collection, I propos'd to render
+the benefit from books more common, by commencing a public
+subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would
+be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to
+put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed, by
+which each subscriber engag'd to pay a certain sum down for the first
+purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So
+few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of
+us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry, to find more
+than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for
+this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On
+this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was
+opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their
+promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The
+institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns,
+and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations;
+reading became fashionable; and our people, having no publick
+amusements to divert their attention from study, became better
+acquainted with books, and in a few years were observ'd by strangers
+to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same
+rank generally are in other countries.
+
+When we were about to sign the above mentioned articles, which were
+to be binding on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden,
+the scrivener, said to us, "You are young men, but it is scarcely
+probable that any of you will live to see the expiration of the term
+fix'd in the instrument." A number of us, however, are yet living; but
+the instrument was after a few years rendered null by a charter that
+incorporated and gave perpetuity to the company.
+
+The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the
+subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's
+self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be suppos'd to
+raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's
+neighbours, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that
+project. I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and
+stated it as a scheme of a _number of friends_, who had requested me
+to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading.
+In this way my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after
+practis'd it on such occasions; and, from my frequent successes, can
+heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity
+will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to
+whom the merit belongs, someone more vain than yourself will be
+encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you
+justice by plucking those assumed feathers, and restoring them to
+their right owner.
+
+This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study,
+for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repair'd in
+some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended
+for me. Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no
+time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in
+my business continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was
+indebted for my printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be
+educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers, who
+were established in the place before me. My circumstances, however,
+grew daily easier. My original habits of frugality continuing, and my
+father having, among his instructions to me when a boy, frequently
+repeated a proverb of Solomon, "Seest thou a man diligent in his
+calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean
+men," I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth
+and distinction, which encourag'd me, tho' I did not think that I
+should ever literally _stand before kings_, which, however, has since
+happened; for I have stood before _five_, and even had the honor of
+sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.
+
+We have an English proverb that says, "_He that would thrive, must ask
+his wife_." It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to
+industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me chearfully in my
+business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing
+old linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle
+servants, our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the
+cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long time break and milk
+(no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a
+pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families, and make a
+progress, in spite of principle: being call'd one morning to
+breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon of silver! They
+had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost
+her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had
+no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought _her_ husband
+deserv'd a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his
+neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China in our
+house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increas'd,
+augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.
+
+I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and though some of
+the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the _eternal decrees of God_,
+_election_, _reprobation_, _etc._, appeared to me unintelligible,
+others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public
+assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was
+without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the
+existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his
+Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good
+to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be
+punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I
+esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in
+all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho'
+with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd
+with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote,
+or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us, and make us
+unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an opinion that
+the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid all discourse
+that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his
+own religion; and as our province increas'd in people, and new places
+of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary
+contribution, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect,
+was never refused.
+
+Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of
+its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I
+regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only
+Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to
+visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonished me to attend his
+administrations, and I was now and then prevail'd on to do so, once
+for five Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion a good
+preacher, perhaps I might have continued,[65] notwithstanding the
+occasion I had for the Sunday's leisure in my course of study; but his
+discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of
+the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very dry,
+uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was
+inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be rather to make us
+Presbyterians than good citizens.
+
+    [65] Franklin expressed a different view about the duty
+    of attending church later.
+
+At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth chapter of
+Philippians, "_Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest,
+just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any virtue, or any
+praise, think on these things._" And I imagin'd, in a sermon on such a
+text, we could not miss of having some morality. But he confin'd
+himself to five points only, as meant by the apostle, viz.: 1. Keeping
+holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy
+Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the publick worship. 4. Partaking of the
+Sacrament. 5. Paying a due respect to God's ministers. These might be
+all good things; but, as they were not the kind of good things that I
+expected from that text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from
+any other, was disgusted, and attended his preaching no more. I had
+some years before compos'd a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my
+own private use (viz., in 1728), entitled, _Articles of Belief and
+Acts of Religion_. I return'd to the use of this, and went no more to
+the public assemblies. My conduct might be blameable, but I leave it,
+without attempting further to excuse it; my present purpose being to
+relate facts, and not to make apologies for them.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+PLAN FOR ATTAINING MORAL
+PERFECTION
+
+
+It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of
+arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any
+fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural
+inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or
+thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might
+not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had
+undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined.[66] While my
+care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised
+by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was
+sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere
+speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely
+virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the
+contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and
+established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform
+rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the
+following method.
+
+    [66] Compare Philippians iv, 8.
+
+In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my
+reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different
+writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance,
+for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by
+others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure,
+appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our
+avarice and ambition. I propos'd to myself, for the sake of clearness,
+to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annex'd to each, than a few
+names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues
+all that at that time occurr'd to me as necessary or desirable, and
+annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I
+gave to its meaning.
+
+These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
+
+1. Temperance.
+
+Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
+
+2. Silence.
+
+Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling
+conversation.
+
+3. Order.
+
+Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business
+have its time.
+
+4. Resolution.
+
+Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you
+resolve.
+
+5. Frugality.
+
+Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; _i. e._, waste
+nothing.
+
+6. INDUSTRY.
+
+Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all
+unnecessary actions.
+
+7. Sincerity.
+
+Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you speak,
+speak accordingly.
+
+8. Justice.
+
+Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your
+duty.
+
+9. Moderation.
+
+Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they
+deserve.
+
+10. Cleanliness.
+
+Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
+
+11. Tranquillity.
+
+Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
+
+12. Chastity.
+
+13. Humility.
+
+Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
+
+My intention being to acquire the _habitude_ of all these virtues, I
+judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the
+whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I
+should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till
+I should have gone thro' the thirteen; and, as the previous
+acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain
+others, I arrang'd them with that view, as they stand above.
+Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness
+of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept
+up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient
+habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir'd
+and establish'd, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to
+gain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in virtue, and
+considering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use of
+the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I
+was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me
+acceptable to trifling company, I gave _Silence_ the second place.
+This and the next, _Order_, I expected would allow me more time for
+attending to my project and my studies. _Resolution_, once become
+habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavours to obtain all the
+subsequent virtues; _Frugality_ and Industry freeing me from my
+remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make
+more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving
+then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras[67] in his Golden
+Verses, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the
+following method for conducting that examination.
+
+I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the
+virtues.[68] I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven
+columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a
+letter for the day. I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines,
+marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the
+virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a
+little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been
+committed respecting that virtue upon that day.
+
+    [67] A famous Greek philosopher, who lived about 582-500
+    B. C. The _Golden Verses_ here ascribed to him are
+    probably of later origin. "The time which he recommends
+    for this work is about even or bed-time, that we may
+    conclude the action of the day with the judgment of
+    conscience, making the examination of our conversation
+    an evening song to God."
+
+    [68] This "little book" is dated July 1, 1733.--W. T. F.
+
+_Form of the pages._
+
+TEMPERANCE.
+
+EAT NOT TO DULLNESS.
+DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION.
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+|              TEMPERANCE.              |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+|          EAT NOT TO DULLNESS.         |
+|        DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION.        |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+|    | S. | M. | T. | W. | T. | F. | S. |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| T. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| S. |  * |  * |    |  * |    |  * |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| O. | ** |  * |  * |    |  * |  * |  * |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| R. |    |    |  * |    |    |  * |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| F. |    |  * |    |    |  * |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| I. |    |    |  * |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| S. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| J. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| M. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| C. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| T. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+| C. |    |    |    |    |    |    |    |
++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
+
+I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues
+successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid
+every the least offense against _Temperance_, leaving the other
+virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the
+faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first
+line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit of that virtue so
+much strengthen'd, and its opposite weaken'd, that I might venture
+extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week
+keep both lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could
+go thro' a course compleat in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a
+year. And like him who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to
+eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and
+his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having
+accomplish'd the first, proceeds to a second, so I should have, I
+hoped, the encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I
+made in virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till
+in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a
+clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination.
+
+This my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's
+_Cato_:
+
+  "Here will I hold. If there's a power above us
+   (And that there is, all nature cries aloud
+   Thro' all her works), He must delight in virtue;
+   And that which he delights in must be happy."
+
+Another from Cicero,
+
+"O vitae Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque
+vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis
+actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus."[69]
+
+    [69] "O philosophy, guide of life! O searcher out of
+    virtue and exterminator of vice! One day spent well and
+    in accordance with thy precepts is worth an immortality
+    of sin."--_Tusculan Inquiries_, Book V.
+
+Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or virtue:
+
+"Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand
+riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
+and all her paths are peace." iii. 16, 17.
+
+And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right
+and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end
+I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables
+of examination, for daily use.
+
+"_O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful
+Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my
+truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what
+that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other
+children as the only return in my power for thy continual
+favours to me_."
+
+I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
+Poems, viz.:
+
+  "Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
+   O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
+   Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
+   From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
+   With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
+   Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"
+
+The precept of _Order_ requiring that _every part of my business
+should have its allotted time_, one page in my little book contain'd
+the following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a
+natural day.
+
+                            { 5}  Rise, wash, and address
+                            { 6}  _Powerful Goodness_!
+The Morning.                {  }  Contrive day's
+_Question._ What good       {  }  business, and take the
+shall I do this day?        {  }  resolution of the day;
+                            { 7}  prosecute the present
+                            {  }  study, and breakfast.
+
+                              8}
+                              9}  Work.
+                             10}
+                             11}
+
+Noon.              {12}  Read, or overlook my
+                            { 1}  accounts, and dine.
+
+                              2}
+                              3}  Work.
+                              4}
+                              5}
+Evening.                    { 6} Put things in their
+_Question._ What good       { 7} places. Supper. Music
+have I done to-day?         { 8} or diversion, or conversation.
+                            { 9} Examination of
+                            {  } the day.
+
+
+Night.                      {10} Sleep.
+                            {11}
+                            {12}
+                            { 1}
+                            { 2}
+                            { 3}
+                            { 4}
+
+I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and
+continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was
+surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined;
+but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the
+trouble of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping
+out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in
+a new course, became full of holes, I transferr'd my tables and
+precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines
+were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines
+I mark'd my faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could
+easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I went thro' one
+course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till
+at length I omitted them entirely, being employ'd in voyages and
+business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I
+always carried my little book with me.
+
+My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble;[70] and I found that, tho'
+it might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave
+him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for
+instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who
+must mix with the world, and often receive people of business at their
+own hours. _Order_, too, with regard to places for things, papers,
+etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been early
+accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so
+sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article,
+therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it
+vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had
+such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the
+attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect,
+like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbour, desired to
+have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. The smith
+consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he
+turn'd, while the smith press'd the broad face of the ax hard and
+heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The
+man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went
+on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without farther
+grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on, turn on; we shall have it
+bright by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled." "Yes," says the man,
+"_but I think I like a speckled ax best_." And I believe this may have
+been the case with many, who, having, for want of some such means as I
+employ'd, found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad
+habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle,
+and concluded that "_a speckled ax was best_"; for something, that
+pretended to be reason, was every now and then suggesting to me that
+such extream nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind of foppery
+in morals, which, if it were known, would make me ridiculous; that a
+perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being
+envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults
+in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.
+
+[Illustration: "The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he
+would turn the wheel"]
+
+    [70] Professor McMaster tells us that when Franklin was
+    American Agent in France, his lack of business order was
+    a source of annoyance to his colleagues and friends.
+    "Strangers who came to see him were amazed to behold
+    papers of the greatest importance scattered in the most
+    careless way over the table and floor."
+
+In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I
+am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it.
+But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been
+so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the
+endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have
+been if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by
+imitating the engraved copies, tho' they never reach the wish'd-for
+excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavour, and
+is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.
+
+It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little
+artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor ow'd the constant
+felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, in which this is written.
+What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand of Providence;
+but, if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoy'd ought to
+help his bearing them with more resignation. To Temperance he ascribes
+his long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good
+constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of his
+circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge
+that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some
+degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the
+confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon
+him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues,[71]
+even in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that
+evenness of temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes
+his company still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger
+acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may
+follow the example and reap the benefit.
+
+    [71] While there can be no question that Franklin's moral
+    improvement and happiness were due to the practice of
+    these virtues, yet most people will agree that we shall
+    have to go back of his plan for the impelling motive to
+    a virtuous life. Franklin's own suggestion that the
+    scheme smacks of "foppery in morals" seems justified.
+    Woodrow Wilson well puts it: "Men do not take fire from
+    such thoughts, unless something deeper, which is missing
+    here, shine through them. What may have seemed to the
+    eighteenth century a system of morals seems to us
+    nothing more vital than a collection of the precepts of
+    good sense and sound conduct. What redeems it from
+    pettiness in this book is the scope of power and of
+    usefulness to be seen in Franklin himself, who set these
+    standards up in all seriousness and candor for his own
+    life." See _Galatians_, chapter V, for the Christian
+    plan of moral perfection.
+
+It will be remark'd that, tho' my scheme was not wholly without
+religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets
+of any particular sect. I had purposely avoided them; for, being fully
+persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method, and that it
+might be serviceable to people in all religions, and intending some
+time or other to publish it, I would not have anything in it that
+should prejudice anyone, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a
+little comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the
+advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite
+vice; and I should have called my book The Art of Virtue,[72] because
+it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which
+would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that
+does not instruct and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's
+man of verbal charity, who only without showing to the naked and
+hungry how or where they might get clothes or victuals, exhorted them
+to be fed and clothed.--James ii. 15, 16.
+
+    [72] Nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as
+    virtue.--_Marg. note_.
+
+But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this
+comment was never fulfilled. I did, indeed, from time to time, put
+down short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, etc., to be made use
+of in it, some of which I have still by me; but the necessary close
+attention to private business in the earlier part of my life, and
+public business since, have occasioned my postponing it; for, it being
+connected in my mind with _a great and extensive project_, that
+required the whole man to execute, and which an unforeseen succession
+of employs prevented my attending to, it has hitherto remain'd
+unfinish'd.
+
+In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this doctrine,
+that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but
+forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature of man alone
+considered; that it was, therefore, everyone's interest to be virtuous
+who wish'd to be happy even in this world; and I should, from this
+circumstance (there being always in the world a number of rich
+merchants, nobility, states, and princes, who have need of honest
+instruments for the management of their affairs, and such being so
+rare), have endeavoured to convince young persons that no qualities
+were so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and
+integrity.
+
+My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend
+having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my
+pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content
+with being in the right when discussing any point, but was
+overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by
+mentioning several instances; I determined endeavouring to cure
+myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added
+_Humility_ to my list, giving an extensive meaning to the word.
+
+I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the _reality_ of this
+virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the _appearance_ of it. I
+made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments
+of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself,
+agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or
+expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as
+_certainly, undoubtedly_, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, _I
+conceive, I apprehend_, or _I imagine_ a thing to be so or so; or it
+_so appears to me at present_. When another asserted something that I
+thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him
+abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his
+proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain
+cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present
+case there _appear'd_ or _seem'd_ to me some difference, etc. I soon
+found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I
+engag'd in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd
+my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction;
+I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I
+more easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join
+with me when I happened to be in the right.
+
+And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural
+inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that
+perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical
+expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of
+integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much
+weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions, or
+alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when
+I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent,
+subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in
+language, and yet I generally carried my points.
+
+In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard
+to subdue as _pride_. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down,
+stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and
+will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it,
+perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I
+had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.
+
+[Thus far written at Passy, 1784.]
+
+[_"I am now about to write at home, August, 1788, but cannot have the
+help expected from my papers, many of them being lost in the war. I
+have, however, found the following."_][73]
+
+    [73] This is a marginal memorandum.--B.
+
+Having mentioned _a great and extensive project_ which I had
+conceiv'd, it seems proper that some account should be here given of
+that project and its object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the
+following little paper, accidentally preserv'd, viz.:
+
+_Observations_ on my reading history, in Library, May 19th, 1731.
+
+"That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are
+carried on and effected by parties.
+
+"That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or
+what they take to be such.
+
+"That the different views of these different parties occasion all
+confusion.
+
+"That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his
+particular private interest in view.
+
+"That as soon as a party has gain'd its general point, each member
+becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others,
+breaks that party into divisions, and occasions more confusion.
+
+"That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their
+country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho' their actings bring real
+good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and
+their country's interest was united, and did not act from a principle
+of benevolence.
+
+"That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of
+mankind.
+
+"There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a
+United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all
+nations into a regular body, to be govern'd by suitable good and wise
+rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their
+obedience to, than common people are to common laws.
+
+"I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well
+qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success.
+
+B. F."
+
+Revolving this project in my mind, as to be undertaken hereafter, when
+my circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure, I put down
+from time to time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurr'd to me
+respecting it. Most of these are lost; but I find one purporting to be
+the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the
+essentials of every known religion, and being free of everything that
+might shock the professors of any religion. It is express'd in these
+words, viz.:
+
+"That there is one God, who made all things.
+
+"That he governs the world by his providence.
+
+"That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and
+thanksgiving.
+
+"But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.
+
+"That the soul is immortal.
+
+"And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either
+here or hereafter."
+
+My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun and spread
+at first among young and single men only; that each person to be
+initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should
+have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination and
+practice of the virtues, as in the beforemention'd model; that the
+existence of such a society should be kept a secret, till it was
+become considerable, to prevent solicitations for the admission of
+improper persons, but that the members should each of them search
+among his acquaintance for ingenuous, well-disposed youths, to whom,
+with prudent caution, the scheme should be gradually communicated;
+that the members should engage to afford their advice, assistance, and
+support to each other in promoting one another's interests, business,
+and advancement in life; that, for distinction, we should be call'd
+_The Society of the Free and Easy_: free, as being, by the general
+practice and habit of the virtues, free from the dominion of vice;
+and particularly by the practice of industry and frugality, free from
+debt, which exposes a man to confinement, and a species of slavery to
+his creditors.
+
+This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I
+communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it with some
+enthusiasm; but my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was
+under of sticking close to my business, occasioned my postponing the
+further prosecution of it at that time; and my multifarious
+occupations, public and private, induc'd me to continue postponing, so
+that it has been omitted till I have no longer strength or activity
+left sufficient for such an enterprise; though I am still of opinion
+that it was a practicable scheme, and might have been very useful, by
+forming a great number of good citizens; and I was not discourag'd by
+the seeming magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought
+that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and
+accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan,
+and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert
+his attention, makes the execution of that same plan his sole study
+and business.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC AND
+OTHER ACTIVITIES
+
+
+In 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of _Richard
+Saunders_; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five years, commonly
+call'd _Poor Richard's Almanac_.[74] I endeavour'd to make it both
+entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand,
+that I reap'd considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten
+thousand. And observing that it was generally read, scarce any
+neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a
+proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who
+bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little
+spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar with
+proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and
+frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing
+virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always
+honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, _it is hard for an
+empty sack to stand upright_.
+
+    [74] The almanac at that time was a kind of periodical as
+    well as a guide to natural phenomena and the weather.
+    Franklin took his title from _Poor Robin_, a famous
+    English almanac, and from Richard Saunders, a well-known
+    almanac publisher. For the maxims of Poor Richard, see
+    pages 331-335.
+
+These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages and nations, I
+assembled and form'd into a connected discourse prefix'd to the Almanack
+of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an
+auction. The bringing all these scatter'd councils thus into a focus
+enabled them to make greater impression. The piece, being universally
+approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Continent; reprinted
+in Britain on a broadside, to be stuck up in houses; two translations
+were made of it in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy and
+gentry, to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants.
+In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign
+superfluities, some thought it had its share of influence in producing
+that growing plenty of money which was observable for several years
+after its publication.
+
+Two pages from _Poor Richard's Almanac_ for 1736. Size of original.
+Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public Library.
+
+    _IV Mon._ June hath xxx days.
+
+    Things that are bitter, bitterrer than Gall Physicians
+    say are always physical: Now Women's Tongues if into
+    Powder beaten, May in a Potion or a Pill be eaten, And
+    as there's nought more bitter, I do muse, That Women's
+    Tongues in Physick they ne'er use. My self and others
+    who lead restless Lives, Would spare that bitter Member
+    of our Wives.
+
+ 1 3 _fine weather_,                4  Le   4 36 8  Moon set 10 12 aft
+ 2 4  Ascension Day                 5  19   4 35 8 _He that can have_
+ 3 5  Mars Sat. Ven. _Sudden_       6  Vi   4 35 8 _Patience, can_
+ 4 6 _showers_                      6h 19   4 35 8 _have what he_
+ 5 7 _of Rain_.                     7  Li   4 35 8  First Quarter.
+ 6 C  Eraudi                        8  19   4 35 8 _will._
+ 7 2  Trine Mars Merc. _thunder_,   9  Sc   4 35 8  Le. Vi. Li.
+ 8 3 _perhaps hail._               10  17   4 35 8  Sun ent. Cn. today
+ 9 4  7* rise 2 15                 10  Sa   4 34 8  making longest
+10 5 _very hot_,                   11  13   4 34 8  day 14 h. 51 m.
+11 6  St. Barnabas.                12  26   4 34 8  Full Moon 12 day,
+12 7 _then rain_.                   1  Cp   4 34 8  at 1 morn.
+13 C  Whitsunday.                   2  20   4 35 8  Moon rise 8 20 aft.
+14 2                                2h Aq   4 35 8 _Now I've a sheep_
+15 3  K. Geo. II. procl             3  15   4 35 8 _and a cow, every_
+16 4  ff. Sun Sat. _wind, rain_,    4  27   4 35 8 _body bids me good_
+17 5  Sxtil Sat. Merc. _hail and_   5  Pi   4 35 8 _morrow._
+18 6 _thunder_                      6  21   4 35 8  Moon rise 11 10 af.
+19 7  Day shorter 2 m.              6h Ar   4 35 8
+20 C  Trinity Sund.                 7  15   4 36 8  Last Quarter
+21 2 _If we have rain about_        8  27   4 36 8 _God helps them_
+22 3 _the Change_,                  9  Ta   4 36 8 _that help themselves_
+23 4 _Let not my reader_           10  22   4 36 8
+24 5  St. John Bap.                10  Gm   4 36 8  Moon rise 2 morn.
+25 6  7* rise 1  8                 11  18   4 37 8 _Why does the_
+26 7  vc Sun Jup. _think it_       12  Cn   4 37 8 _blind man's wife_
+27 C _strange._                     1  16   4 38 8  New moon 27 day,
+28 2  Sxtil Sat. Mars _hail and_    2  Le   4 38 8  near noon.
+29 3  St. Peter & Paul              2h 15   4 39 8 _paint herself._
+30 4  Square Mars Ven. _rain_.      3  Vi   4 40 8  Moon sets 9 30
+
+
+    _V Mon._ July hath xxxi days.
+
+    Who can charge _Ebrio_ with Thirst of Wealth? See he
+    consumes his Money, Time and Health, In drunken Frolicks
+    which will all confound, Neglects his Farm, forgets to
+    till his Ground, His Stock grows less that might be kept
+    with ease; In nought but Guts and Debts he finds
+    Encrease. In Town reels as if he'd shove down each Wall,
+    Yet Walls must stand, poor Soul, or he must fall.
+
+ 1 5   Day short 11 mi.             4  15   4 40 8 _None preaches_
+ 2 6   7* rise 12 32                5  Li   4 41 8 _better than the_
+ 3 7  _windy weather._              6  15   4 41 8 _ant, and she says_
+ 4 C   2 Sund. p Trinit             6h Sc   4 42 8  First Quarter.
+ 5 2   Vc Jup. Ven. _now_           7  14   4 43 8 _nothing._
+ 6 3  _pleasant weather_            8  27   4 44 8  Moon sets 12 30 m
+ 7 4  _some days_                   9  Sa   4 45 8 _The absent are_
+ 8 5  _together,_                  10  23   4 48 8 _never without_
+ 9 6  _but inclines to_            10  Cp   4 47 8 _fault, nor the_
+10 7  _falling_                    11  18   4 48 8 _present without_
+11 C   3 Sund. p. Trin.            12  Aq  4 49 8  Full moon 11 day,
+12 2   Sxtil Sat. Merc. weather.    1  13   4 50 8  2 afternoon.
+13 3   Dog-days begin               2  25   4 50 8  sun in Leo
+14 4   Days 14h. 20 m               2h Pi   4 51 8  Moon rise 8 35 aft.
+15 5   St. _Swithin_.               3  19   4 52 8 _excuse._
+16 6   Le 1 Li                      4  Ar   4 53 8
+17 7   conj. Sun Merc. _rain_       5  13   4 54 8 _Gifts burst_
+18 C   7* rise 11 40                6  25   4 55 8 _rocks_
+19 2  _hail or rain,_               6h Ta   4 56 8  Last Quarter.
+20 3   Sxtil Sun Sat. thunder.      7  19   4 57 8  Moon rise 11 52 af
+21 4   7* rise 11 18                8  Gm   4 57 8 _If wind blows on_
+22 5  _then high_                   9  14   4 58 8 _you thro' a hole,_
+23 6  _wind._                      10  27   4 59 8 _Make your will_
+24 7   opp. Sun Jupiter            10  Cn   4 59 8 _and take care of_
+25 C   St. James.                  11  25   5  0 7 _your soul._
+26 2  _hail_                       12  Le   5  1 7  New moon 26 day,
+27 3   Moon near cor Leo            1  24   5  2 7  near 8 aftern
+28 4   opp. Jup. Ven. _a clear_     2  Vi   5  3 7  Moon sets 8 aftern
+29 5  _air; and fine_               2h 24   5  4 7 _The rotten Apple_
+30 6  _weather_                     3  Li   5  5 7 _spoils his_
+31 7   7* rise 10 40                4  23   5  6 7 _Companion._
+
+[Transcriber's note: Zodiac signs, aspects and symbols of the planets
+have been replaced by their names and/or by their standard
+abbreviations.
+
+Ar=Aries, Ta=Taurus, Gm=Gemini, Cn=Cancer, Le=Leo, Vi=Virgo,
+Li=Libra, Sc=Scorpio, Sa=Sagittarius, Cp=Capricorn, Aq=Aqua,
+Pi=Pisces, Oppos=Opposition, Trine=Trine, Squr=Square,
+Conj=Conjunction, Sxtil=Sextile, Qucnx= Quincunx.
+
+Merc=Mercury, Ven=Venus, Mars=Mars, Jup=Jupiter, Sat=Saturn
+Ura=Uranus, Nep=Neptune, Plu=Pluto.]
+
+I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of communicating
+instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from
+the Spectator, and other moral writers; and sometimes publish'd little
+pieces of my own, which had been first composed for reading in our
+Junto. Of these are a Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that,
+whatever might be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not
+properly be called a man of sense; and a discourse on self-denial,
+showing that virtue was not secure till its practice became a
+habitude, and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations.
+These may be found in the papers about the beginning of 1735.[75]
+
+    [75] June 23 and July 7, 1730.--Smyth.
+
+In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all libeling and
+personal abuse, which is of late years become so disgraceful to our
+country. Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind, and
+the writers pleaded, as they generally did, the liberty of the press,
+and that a newspaper was like a stage-coach, in which anyone who would
+pay had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the
+piece separately if desired, and the author might have as many copies
+as he pleased to distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me
+to spread his detraction; and that, having contracted with my
+subscribers to furnish them with what might be either useful or
+entertaining, I could not fill their papers with private altercation,
+in which they had no concern, without doing them manifest injustice.
+Now, many of our printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of
+individuals by false accusations of the fairest characters among
+ourselves, augmenting animosity even to the producing of duels; and
+are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on the
+government of neighboring states, and even on the conduct of our best
+national allies, which may be attended with the most pernicious
+consequences. These things I mention as a caution to young printers,
+and that they may be encouraged not to pollute their presses and
+disgrace their profession by such infamous practices, but refuse
+steadily, as they may see by my example that such a course of conduct
+will not, on the whole, be injurious to their interests.
+
+In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charleston, South Carolina,
+where a printer was wanting. I furnish'd him with a press and letters,
+on an agreement of partnership, by which I was to receive one-third of
+the profits of the business, paying one-third of the expense. He was a
+man of learning, and honest but ignorant in matters of account; and,
+tho' he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from
+him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived. On
+his decease, the business was continued by his widow, who, being born
+and bred in Holland, where, as I have been inform'd, the knowledge of
+accounts makes a part of female education, she not only sent me as
+clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but
+continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every
+quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that
+she not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at the
+expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house,
+and establish her son in it.
+
+I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending that branch
+of education for our young females, as likely to be of more use to
+them and their children, in case of widowhood, than either music or
+dancing, by preserving them from losses by imposition of crafty men,
+and enabling them to continue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house,
+with establish'd correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to
+undertake and go on with it, to the lasting advantage and enriching of
+the family.
+
+About the year 1734 there arrived among us from Ireland a young
+Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who delivered with a good
+voice, and apparently extempore, most excellent discourses, which drew
+together considerable numbers of different persuasions, who join'd in
+admiring them. Among the rest, I became one of his constant hearers,
+his sermons pleasing me, as they had little of the dogmatical kind,
+but inculcated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in the
+religious stile are called good works. Those, however, of our
+congregation, who considered themselves as orthodox Presbyterians,
+disapprov'd his doctrine, and were join'd by most of the old clergy,
+who arraign'd him of heterodoxy before the synod, in order to have him
+silenc'd. I became his zealous partisan, and contributed all I could
+to raise a party in his favour, and we combated for him awhile with
+some hopes of success. There was much scribbling pro and con upon the
+occasion; and finding that, tho' an elegant preacher, he was but a
+poor writer, I lent him my pen and wrote for him two or three
+pamphlets, and one piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. Those
+pamphlets, as is generally the case with controversial writings, tho'
+eagerly read at the time, were soon out of vogue, and I question
+whether a single copy of them now exists.[76]
+
+    [76] See "A List of Books written by, or relating to
+    Benjamin Franklin," by Paul Leicester Ford. 1889. p.
+    15.--Smyth.
+
+During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his cause exceedingly.
+One of our adversaries having heard him preach a sermon that was much
+admired, thought he had somewhere read the sermon before, or at least
+a part of it. On search, he found that part quoted at length, in one
+of the British Reviews, from a discourse of Dr. Foster's.[77] This
+detection gave many of our party disgust, who accordingly abandoned
+his cause, and occasion'd our more speedy discomfiture in the synod. I
+stuck by him, however, as I rather approv'd his giving us good sermons
+composed by others, than bad ones of his own manufacture, tho' the
+latter was the practice of our common teachers. He afterward
+acknowledg'd to me that none of those he preach'd were his own;
+adding, that his memory was such as enabled him to retain and repeat
+any sermon after one reading only. On our defeat, he left us in search
+elsewhere of better fortune, and I quitted the congregation, never
+joining it after, tho' I continu'd many years my subscription for the
+support of its ministers.
+
+    [77] Dr. James Foster (1697-1753):--
+
+        "Let modest Foster, if he will excel
+         Ten metropolitans in preaching well."
+
+              --Pope (Epilogue to the Satires, I, 132).
+
+    "Those who had not heard Farinelli sing and Foster
+    preach were not qualified to appear in genteel company,"
+    Hawkins. "History of Music."--Smyth.
+
+I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much a
+master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease. I then
+undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also learning it, us'd
+often to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding this took up too
+much of the time I had to spare for study, I at length refus'd to play
+any more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every game
+should have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the grammar
+to be got by heart, or in translations, etc., which tasks the
+vanquish'd was to perform upon honour, before our next meeting. As we
+play'd pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language. I
+afterwards with a little painstaking, acquir'd as much of the Spanish
+as to read their books also.
+
+I have already mention'd that I had only one year's instruction in a
+Latin school, and that when very young, after which I neglected that
+language entirely. But, when I had attained an acquaintance with the
+French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpris'd to find, on looking over
+a Latin Testament, that I understood so much more of that language
+than I had imagined, which encouraged me to apply myself again to the
+study of it, and I met with more success, as those preceding languages
+had greatly smooth'd my way.
+
+From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some
+inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages. We are told
+that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having acquir'd
+that, it will be more easy to attain those modern languages which are
+deriv'd from it; and yet we do not begin with the Greek, in order more
+easily to acquire the Latin. It is true that, if you can clamber and
+get to the top of a staircase without using the steps, you will more
+easily gain them in descending; but certainly, if you begin with the
+lowest you will with more ease ascend to the top; and I would
+therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the
+education of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin with
+the Latin quit the same after spending some years without having made
+any great proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes almost
+useless, so that their time has been lost, it would not have been
+better to have begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc.;
+for, tho', after spending the same time, they should quit the study of
+languages and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have
+acquired another tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be
+serviceable to them in common life.[78]
+
+    [78] "The authority of Franklin, the most eminently
+    practical man of his age, in favor of reserving the
+    study of the dead languages until the mind has reached a
+    certain maturity, is confirmed by the confession of one
+    of the most eminent scholars of any age.
+
+    "'Our seminaries of learning,' says Gibbon, 'do not
+    exactly correspond with the precept of a Spartan king,
+    that the child should be instructed in the arts which
+    will be useful to the man; since a finished scholar may
+    emerge from the head of Westminster or Eton, in total
+    ignorance of the business and conversation of English
+    gentlemen in the latter end of the eighteenth century.
+    But these schools may assume the merit of teaching all
+    that they pretend to teach, the Latin and Greek
+    languages.'"--Bigelow.
+
+After ten years' absence from Boston, and having become easy in my
+circumstances, I made a journey thither to visit my relations, which I
+could not sooner well afford. In returning, I call'd at Newport to see
+my brother, then settled there with his printing-house. Our former
+differences were forgotten, and our meeting was very cordial and
+affectionate. He was fast declining in his health, and requested of me
+that, in case of his death, which he apprehended not far distant, I
+would take home his son, then but ten years of age, and bring him up
+to the printing business. This I accordingly perform'd, sending him a
+few years to school before I took him into the office. His mother
+carried on the business till he was grown up, when I assisted him with
+an assortment of new types, those of his father being in a manner worn
+out. Thus it was that I made my brother ample amends for the service I
+had depriv'd him of by leaving him so early.
+
+[Illustration: "Our former differences were forgotten, and our
+meeting was very cordial and affectionate"]
+
+In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the
+small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and
+still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I
+mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the
+supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died
+under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either
+way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.
+
+Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and afforded such
+satisfaction to the members, that several were desirous of introducing
+their friends, which could not well be done without exceeding what we
+had settled as a convenient number, viz., twelve. We had from the
+beginning made it a rule to keep our institution a secret, which was
+pretty well observ'd; the intention was to avoid applications of
+improper persons for admittance, some of whom, perhaps, we might find
+it difficult to refuse. I was one of those who were against any
+addition to our number, but, instead of it, made in writing a
+proposal, that every member separately should endeavour to form a
+subordinate club, with the same rules respecting queries, etc., and
+without informing them of the connection with the Junto. The
+advantages proposed were, the improvement of so many more young
+citizens by the use of our institutions; our better acquaintance with
+the general sentiments of the inhabitants on any occasion, as the
+Junto member might propose what queries we should desire, and was to
+report to the Junto what pass'd in his separate club; the promotion of
+our particular interests in business by more extensive recommendation,
+and the increase of our influence in public affairs, and our power of
+doing good by spreading thro' the several clubs the sentiments of the
+Junto.
+
+The project was approv'd, and every member undertook to form his club,
+but they did not all succeed. Five or six only were compleated, which
+were called by different names, as the Vine, the Union, the Band, etc.
+They were useful to themselves, and afforded us a good deal of
+amusement, information, and instruction, besides answering, in some
+considerable degree, our views of influencing the public opinion on
+particular occasions, of which I shall give some instances in course
+of time as they happened.
+
+My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, clerk of the General
+Assembly. The choice was made that year without opposition; but the
+year following, when I was again propos'd (the choice, like that of
+the members, being annual), a new member made a long speech against
+me, in order to favour some other candidate. I was, however, chosen,
+which was the more agreeable to me, as, besides the pay for the
+immediate service as clerk, the place gave me a better opportunity of
+keeping up an interest among the members, which secur'd to me the
+business of printing the votes, laws, paper money, and other
+occasional jobbs for the public, that, on the whole, were very
+profitable.
+
+I therefore did not like the opposition of this new member, who was a
+gentleman of fortune and education, with talents that were likely to
+give him, in time, great influence in the House, which, indeed,
+afterwards happened. I did not, however, aim at gaining his favour by
+paying any servile respect to him, but, after some time, took this
+other method. Having heard that he had in his library a certain very
+scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire
+of perusing that book, and requesting he would do me the favour of
+lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, and I
+return'd it in about a week with another note, expressing strongly my
+sense of the favour. When we next met in the House, he spoke to me
+(which he had never done before), and with great civility; and he ever
+after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we
+became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death. This
+is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which
+says, _"He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do
+you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged."_ And it shows
+how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent,
+return, and continue inimical proceedings.
+
+In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Virginia, and then
+postmaster-general, being dissatisfied with the conduct of his deputy
+at Philadelphia, respecting some negligence in rendering, and
+inexactitude of his accounts, took from him the commission and offered
+it to me. I accepted it readily, and found it of great advantage; for,
+tho' the salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence that
+improv'd my newspaper, increas'd the number demanded, as well as the
+advertisements to be inserted, so that it came to afford me a
+considerable income. My old competitor's newspaper declin'd
+proportionately, and I was satisfy'd without retaliating his refusal,
+while postmaster, to permit my papers being carried by the riders.
+Thus he suffer'd greatly from his neglect in due accounting; and I
+mention it as a lesson to those young men who may be employ'd in
+managing affairs for others, that they should always render accounts,
+and make remittances, with great clearness and punctuality. The
+character of observing such a conduct is the most powerful of all
+recommendations to new employments and increase of business.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+INTEREST IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS
+
+
+I began now to turn my thoughts a little to public affairs, beginning,
+however, with small matters. The city watch was one of the first
+things that I conceiv'd to want regulation. It was managed by the
+constables of the respective wards in turn; the constable warned a
+number of housekeepers to attend him for the night. Those who chose
+never to attend, paid him six shillings a year to be excus'd, which
+was suppos'd to be for hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, much
+more than was necessary for that purpose, and made the constableship a
+place of profit; and the constable, for a little drink, often got such
+ragamuffins about him as a watch, that respectable housekeepers did
+not choose to mix with. Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected,
+and most of the nights spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper to
+be read in Junto, representing these irregularities, but insisting
+more particularly on the inequality of this six-shilling tax of the
+constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it, since a
+poor widow housekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by the watch
+did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as much as the
+wealthiest merchant, who had thousands of pounds' worth of goods in
+his stores.
+
+On the whole, I proposed as a more effectual watch, the hiring of
+proper men to serve constantly in that business; and as a more
+equitable way of supporting the charge, the levying a tax that should
+be proportion'd to the property. This idea, being approv'd by the
+Junto, was communicated to the other clubs, but as arising in each of
+them; and though the plan was not immediately carried into execution,
+yet, by preparing the minds of people for the change, it paved the way
+for the law obtained a few years after, when the members of our clubs
+were grown into more influence.
+
+About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in Junto, but it was
+afterward publish'd) on the different accidents and carelessnesses by
+which houses were set on fire, with cautions against them, and means
+proposed of avoiding them. This was much spoken of as a useful piece,
+and gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a
+company for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual
+assistance in removing and securing of goods when in danger.
+Associates in this scheme were presently found, amounting to thirty.
+Our articles of agreement oblig'd every member to keep always in good
+order, and fit for use, a certain number of leather buckets, with
+strong bags and baskets (for packing and transporting of goods), which
+were to be brought to every fire; and we agreed to meet once a month
+and spend a social evening together, in discoursing and communicating
+such ideas as occurred to us upon the subjects of fires, as might be
+useful in our conduct on such occasions.
+
+The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more desiring
+to be admitted than we thought convenient for one company, they were
+advised to form another, which was accordingly done; and this went on,
+one new company being formed after another, till they became so
+numerous as to include most of the inhabitants who were men of
+property; and now, at the time of my writing this, tho' upward of
+fifty years since its establishment, that which I first formed, called
+the Union Fire Company, still subsists and flourishes, tho' the first
+members are all deceas'd but myself and one, who is older by a year
+than I am. The small fines that have been paid by members for absence
+at the monthly meetings have been apply'd to the purchase of
+fire-engines, ladders, fire-hooks, and other useful implements for
+each company, so that I question whether there is a city in the world
+better provided with the means of putting a stop to beginning
+conflagrations; and, in fact, since these institutions, the city has
+never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time, and the
+flames have often been extinguished before the house in which they
+began has been half consumed.
+
+[Illustration: "the flames have often been extinguished"]
+
+In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield,[79]
+who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was
+at first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy,
+taking a dislike to him, soon refus'd him their pulpits, and he was
+oblig'd to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and
+denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was
+matter of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the
+extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much
+they admir'd and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of
+them, by assuring them they were naturally _half beasts and half
+devils_. It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners
+of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about
+religion, it seem'd as if all the world were growing religious, so
+that one could not walk thro' the town in an evening without hearing
+psalms sung in different families of every street.
+
+    [79] George Whitefield, pronounced Hwit'field
+    (1714-1770), a celebrated English clergyman and pulpit
+    orator, one of the founders of Methodism.
+
+And it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air, subject
+to its inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was no sooner
+propos'd, and persons appointed to receive contributions, but
+sufficient sums were soon receiv'd to procure the ground and erect the
+building, which was one hundred feet long and seventy broad, about the
+size of Westminster Hall;[80] and the work was carried on with such
+spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time than could have been
+expected. Both house and ground were vested in trustees, expressly for
+the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire
+to say something to the people at Philadelphia; the design in building
+not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the inhabitants in
+general; so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a
+missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at
+his service.
+
+    [80] A part of the palace of Westminster, now forming the
+    vestibule to the Houses of Parliament in London.
+
+Mr. Whitefield, in leaving us, went preaching all the way thro' the
+colonies to Georgia. The settlement of that province had lately been
+begun, but, instead of being made with hardy, industrious husbandmen,
+accustomed to labour, the only people fit for such an enterprise, it
+was with families of broken shop-keepers and other insolvent debtors,
+many of indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being
+set down in the woods, unqualified for clearing land, and unable to
+endure the hardships of a new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving
+many helpless children unprovided for. The sight of their miserable
+situation inspir'd the benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield with the
+idea of building an Orphan House there, in which they might be
+supported and educated. Returning northward, he preach'd up this
+charity, and made large collections, for his eloquence had a wonderful
+power over the hearts and purses of his hearers, of which I myself was
+an instance.
+
+I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia was then destitute
+of materials and workmen, and it was proposed to send them from
+Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it would have been better
+to have built the house here, and brought the children to it. This I
+advis'd; but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my
+counsel, and I therefore refus'd to contribute. I happened soon after
+to attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he
+intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he
+should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper
+money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he
+proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers.
+Another stroke of his oratory made me asham'd of that, and determin'd
+me to give the silver; and he finish'd so admirably, that I empty'd my
+pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. At this sermon
+there was also one of our club, who, being of my sentiments respecting
+the building in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be
+intended, had, by precaution, emptied his pockets before he came from
+home. Towards the conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt a
+strong desire to give, and apply'd to a neighbour who stood near him,
+to borrow some money for the purpose. The application was
+unfortunately [made] to perhaps the only man in the company who had
+the firmness not to be affected by the preacher. His answer was, "_At
+any other time, Friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not
+now, for thee seems to be out of thy right senses._"
+
+Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to suppose that he would
+apply these collections to his own private emolument; but I, who was
+intimately acquainted with him (being employed in printing his Sermons
+and Journals, etc.), never had the least suspicion of his integrity,
+but am to this day decidedly of opinion that he was in all his conduct
+a perfectly _honest man_; and methinks my testimony in his favour
+ought to have the more weight, as we had no religious connection. He
+us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the
+satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere
+civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to his death.
+
+The following instance will show something of the terms on which we
+stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote to me
+that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he could
+lodge when there, as he understood his old friend and host, Mr.
+Benezet was removed to Germantown. My answer was, "You know my house;
+if you can make shift with its scanty accommodations, you will be most
+heartily welcome." He reply'd, that if I made that kind offer for
+Christ's sake, I should not miss of a reward. And I returned, "_Don't
+let me be mistaken; it was not for Christ's sake, but for your sake._"
+One of our common acquaintance jocosely remark'd, that, knowing it to
+be the custom of the saints, when they received any favour, to shift
+the burden of the obligation from off their own shoulders, and place
+it in heaven, I had contriv'd to fix it on earth.
+
+The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he consulted me
+about his Orphan House concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to
+the establishment of a college.
+
+He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences
+so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great
+distance, especially as his auditories, however numerous, observ'd the
+most exact silence. He preach'd one evening from the top of the
+Courthouse steps, which are in the middle of Market-street, and on the
+west side of Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both
+streets were fill'd with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being
+among the hindmost in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how
+far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards
+the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near
+Front-street, when some noise in that street obscur'd it. Imagining
+then a semicircle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that
+it were fill'd with auditors, to each of whom I allow'd two square
+feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty
+thousand. This reconcil'd me to the newspaper accounts of his having
+preach'd to twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to the
+ancient histories of generals haranguing whole armies, of which I had
+sometimes doubted.
+
+By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily between sermons
+newly compos'd, and those which he had often preach'd in the course of
+his travels. His delivery of the latter was so improv'd by frequent
+repetitions that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of
+voice, was so perfectly well turn'd and well plac'd, that, without
+being interested in the subject, one could not help being pleas'd with
+the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that receiv'd
+from an excellent piece of musick. This is an advantage itinerant
+preachers have over those who are stationary, as the latter cannot
+well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals.
+
+His writing and printing from time to time gave great advantage to his
+enemies; unguarded expressions, and even erroneous opinions, delivered
+in preaching, might have been afterwards explain'd or qualifi'd by
+supposing others that might have accompani'd them, or they might have
+been deny'd; but _litera scripta manet_. Critics attack'd his writings
+violently, and with so much appearance of reason as to diminish the
+number of his votaries and prevent their increase; so that I am of
+opinion if he had never written anything, he would have left behind
+him a much more numerous and important sect, and his reputation might
+in that case have been still growing, even after his death, as there
+being nothing of his writing on which to found a censure and give him
+a lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty to feign
+for him as great a variety of excellences as their enthusiastic
+admiration might wish him to have possessed.
+
+My business was now continually augmenting, and my circumstances
+growing daily easier, my newspaper having become very profitable, as
+being for a time almost the only one in this and the neighbouring
+provinces. I experienced, too, the truth of the observation, "_that
+after getting the first hundred pound, it is more easy to get the
+second_," money itself being of a prolific nature.
+
+The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I was encourag'd to
+engage in others, and to promote several of my workmen, who had
+behaved well, by establishing them with printing-houses in different
+colonies, on the same terms with that in Carolina. Most of them did
+well, being enabled at the end of our term, six years, to purchase the
+types of me and go on working for themselves, by which means several
+families were raised. Partnerships often finish in quarrels; but I was
+happy in this, that mine were all carried on and ended amicably,
+owing, I think, a good deal to the precaution of having very
+explicitly settled, in our articles, everything to be done by or
+expected from each partner, so that there was nothing to dispute,
+which precaution I would therefore recommend to all who enter into
+partnerships; for, whatever esteem partners may have for, and
+confidence in each other at the time of the contract, little
+jealousies and disgusts may arise, with ideas of inequality in the
+care and burden of the business, etc., which are attended often with
+breach of friendship and of the connection, perhaps with lawsuits and
+other disagreeable consequences.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+DEFENSE OF THE PROVINCE
+
+
+I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with my being
+established in Pennsylvania. There were, however, two, things that I
+regretted, there being no provision for defense, nor for a compleat
+education of youth; no militia, nor any college. I therefore, in 1743,
+drew up a proposal for establishing an academy; and at that time,
+thinking the Reverend Mr. Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person
+to superintend such an institution, I communicated the project to him;
+but he, having more profitable views in the service of the
+proprietaries, which succeeded, declin'd the undertaking; and, not
+knowing another at that time suitable for such a trust, I let the
+scheme lie awhile dormant. I succeeded better the next year, 1744, in
+proposing and establishing a Philosophical Society. The paper I wrote
+for that purpose will be found among my writings, when collected.
+
+With respect to defense, Spain having been several years at war
+against Great Britain, and being at length join'd by France, which
+brought us into great danger; and the laboured and long-continued
+endeavour of our governor, Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker Assembly
+to pass a militia law, and make other provisions for the security of
+the province, having proved abortive, I determined to try what might
+be done by a voluntary association of the people. To promote this, I
+first wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled Plain Truth, in which I
+stated our defenceless situation in strong lights, with the necessity
+of union and discipline for our defense, and promis'd to propose in a
+few days an association, to be generally signed for that purpose. The
+pamphlet had a sudden and surprising effect. I was call'd upon for the
+instrument of association, and having settled the draft of it with a
+few friends, I appointed a meeting of the citizens in the large
+building before mentioned. The house was pretty full; I had prepared a
+number of printed copies, and provided pens and ink dispers'd all over
+the room. I harangued them a little on the subject, read the paper,
+and explained it, and then distributed the copies, which were eagerly
+signed, not the least objection being made.
+
+When the company separated, and the papers were collected, we found
+above twelve hundred hands; and, other copies being dispersed in the
+country, the subscribers amounted at length to upward of ten thousand.
+These all furnished themselves as soon as they could with arms, formed
+themselves into companies and regiments, chose their own officers, and
+met every week to be instructed in the manual exercise, and other
+parts of military discipline. The women, by subscriptions among
+themselves, provided silk colours, which they presented to the
+companies, painted with different devices and mottos, which I
+supplied.
+
+[Illustration: One of the flags of the Pennsylvania Association, 1747.
+Designed by Franklin and made by the women of Philadelphia.]
+
+The officers of the companies composing the Philadelphia regiment,
+being met, chose me for their colonel; but, conceiving myself unfit, I
+declin'd that station, and recommended Mr. Lawrence, a fine person,
+and man of influence, who was accordingly appointed. I then propos'd a
+lottery to defray the expense of building a battery below the town,
+and furnishing it with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and the
+battery was soon erected, the merlons being fram'd of logs and fill'd
+with earth. We bought some old cannon from Boston, but, these not
+being sufficient, we wrote to England for more, soliciting, at the
+same time, our proprietaries for some assistance, tho' without much
+expectation of obtaining it.
+
+Meanwhile, Colonel Lawrence, William Allen, Abram Taylor, Esqr., and
+myself were sent to New York by the associators, commission'd to
+borrow some cannon of Governor Clinton. He at first refus'd us
+peremptorily; but at dinner with his council, where there was great
+drinking of Madeira wine, as the custom of that place then was, he
+softened by degrees, and said he would lend us six. After a few more
+bumpers he advanc'd to ten; and at length he very good-naturedly
+conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon, eighteen-pounders, with
+their carriages, which we soon transported and mounted on our battery,
+where the associators kept a nightly guard while the war lasted, and
+among the rest I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common
+soldier.
+
+[Illustration: "I regularly took my turn of duty there as a
+common soldier"]
+
+My activity in these operations was agreeable to the governor and
+council; they took me into confidence, and I was consulted by them in
+every measure wherein their concurrence was thought useful to the
+association. Calling in the aid of religion, I propos'd to them the
+proclaiming a fast, to promote reformation, and implore the blessing
+of Heaven on our undertaking. They embrac'd the motion; but, as it was
+the first fast ever thought of in the province, the secretary had no
+precedent from which to draw the proclamation. My education in New
+England, where a fast is proclaimed every year, was here of some
+advantage: I drew it in the accustomed stile, it was translated into
+German,[81] printed in both languages, and divulg'd thro' the province.
+This gave the clergy of the different sects an opportunity of
+influencing their congregations to join in the association, and it
+would probably have been general among all but Quakers if the peace
+had not soon interven'd.
+
+    [81] Wm. Penn's agents sought recruits for the colony of
+    Pennsylvania in the low countries of Germany, and there
+    are still in eastern Pennsylvania many Germans,
+    inaccurately called Pennsylvania Dutch. Many of them use
+    a Germanized English.
+
+It was thought by some of my friends that, by my activity in these
+affairs, I should offend that sect, and thereby lose my interest in
+the Assembly of the province, where they formed a great majority. A
+young gentleman who had likewise some friends in the House, and wished
+to succeed me as their clerk, acquainted me that it was decided to
+displace me at the next election; and he, therefore, in good will,
+advis'd me to resign, as more consistent with my honour than being
+turn'd out. My answer to him was, that I had read or heard of some
+public man who made it a rule never to ask for an office, and never to
+refuse one when offer'd to him. "I approve," says I, "of his rule, and
+will practice it with a small addition; I shall never _ask_, never
+_refuse_, nor ever _resign_ an office. If they will have my office of
+clerk to dispose of to another, they shall take it from me. I will
+not, by giving it up, lose my right of some time or other making
+reprisals on my adversaries." I heard, however, no more of this; I was
+chosen again unanimously as usual at the next election. Possibly, as
+they dislik'd my late intimacy with the members of council, who had
+join'd the governors in all the disputes about military preparations,
+with which the House had long been harass'd, they might have been
+pleas'd if I would voluntarily have left them; but they did not care
+to displace me on account merely of my zeal for the association, and
+they could not well give another reason.
+
+Indeed I had some cause to believe that the defense of the country was
+not disagreeable to any of them, provided they were not requir'd to
+assist in it. And I found that a much greater number of them than I
+could have imagined, tho' against offensive war, were clearly for the
+defensive. Many pamphlets _pro and con_ were publish'd on the subject,
+and some by good Quakers, in favour of defense, which I believe
+convinc'd most of their younger people.
+
+A transaction in our fire company gave me some insight into their
+prevailing sentiments. It had been propos'd that we should encourage
+the scheme for building a battery by laying out the present stock,
+then about sixty pounds, in tickets of the lottery. By our rules, no
+money could be dispos'd of till the next meeting after the proposal.
+The company consisted of thirty members, of which twenty-two were
+Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions. We eight punctually
+attended the meeting; but, tho' we thought that some of the Quakers
+would join us, we were by no means sure of a majority. Only one
+Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appear'd to oppose the measure. He expressed
+much sorrow that it had ever been propos'd, as he said _Friends_ were
+all against it, and it would create such discord as might break up the
+company. We told him that we saw no reason for that; we were the
+minority, and if _Friends_ were against the measure, and outvoted us,
+we must and should, agreeably to the usage of all societies, submit.
+When the hour for business arriv'd it was mov'd to put the vote; he
+allow'd we might then do it by the rules, but, as he could assure us
+that a number of members intended to be present for the purpose of
+opposing it, it would be but candid to allow a little time for their
+appearing.
+
+While we were disputing this, a waiter came to tell me two gentlemen
+below desir'd to speak with me. I went down, and found they were two
+of our Quaker members. They told me there were eight of them assembled
+at a tavern just by; that they were determin'd to come and vote with
+us if there should be occasion, which they hop'd would not be the
+case, and desir'd we would not call for their assistance if we could
+do without it, as their voting for such a measure might embroil them
+with their elders and friends. Being thus secure of a majority, I went
+up, and after a little seeming hesitation, agreed to a delay of
+another hour. This Mr. Morris allow'd to be extreamly fair. Not one of
+his opposing friends appear'd, at which he express'd great surprize;
+and, at the expiration of the hour, we carri'd the resolution eight to
+one; and as, of the twenty-two Quakers, eight were ready to vote with
+us, and thirteen, by their absence, manifested that they were not
+inclin'd to oppose the measure, I afterward estimated the proportion
+of Quakers sincerely against defense as one to twenty-one only; for
+these were all regular members of that society, and in good reputation
+among them, and had due notice of what was propos'd at that meeting.
+
+The honorable and learned Mr. Logan, who had always been of that sect,
+was one who wrote an address to them, declaring his approbation of
+defensive war, and supporting his opinion by many strong arguments. He
+put into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out in lottery tickets for
+the battery, with directions to apply what prizes might be drawn
+wholly to that service. He told me the following anecdote of his old
+master, William Penn, respecting defense. He came over from England,
+when a young man, with that proprietary, and as his secretary. It was
+war-time, and their ship was chas'd by an armed vessel, suppos'd to be
+an enemy. Their captain prepar'd for defense; but told William Penn,
+and his company of Quakers, that he did not expect their assistance,
+and they might retire into the cabin, which they did, except James
+Logan,[82] who chose to stay upon deck, and was quarter'd to a gun. The
+suppos'd enemy prov'd a friend, so there was no fighting; but when the
+secretary went down to communicate the intelligence, William Penn
+rebuk'd him severely for staying upon deck, and undertaking to assist
+in defending the vessel, contrary to the principles of _Friends_,
+especially as it had not been required by the captain. This reproof,
+being before all the company, piqu'd the secretary, who answer'd, _"I
+being thy servant, why did thee not order me to come down? But thee
+was willing enough that I should stay and help to fight the ship when
+thee thought there was danger."_
+
+    [82] James Logan (1674-1751) came to America with William
+    Penn in 1699, and was the business agent for the Penn
+    family. He bequeathed his valuable library, preserved at
+    his country seat, "Senton", to the city of
+    Philadelphia.--Smyth.
+
+My being many years in the Assembly, the majority of which were
+constantly Quakers, gave me frequent opportunities of seeing the
+embarrassment given them by their principle against war, whenever
+application was made to them, by order of the crown, to grant aids for
+military purposes. They were unwilling to offend government, on the
+one hand, by a direct refusal; and their friends, the body of the
+Quakers, on the other, by compliance contrary to their principles;
+hence a variety of evasions to avoid complying, and modes of
+disguising the compliance when it became unavoidable. The common mode
+at last was, to grant money under the phrase of its being "_for the
+king's use_," and never to inquire how it was applied.
+
+But, if the demand was not directly from the crown, that phrase was
+found not so proper, and some other was to be invented. As, when
+powder was wanting (I think it was for the garrison at Louisburg), and
+the government of New England solicited a grant of some from
+Pennsylvania, which was much urg'd on the House by Governor Thomas,
+they could not grant money to buy powder, because that was an
+ingredient of war; but they voted an aid to New England of three
+thousand pounds, to be put into the hands of the governor, and
+appropriated it for the purchasing of bread, flour, wheat or _other
+grain_. Some of the council, desirous of giving the House still
+further embarrassment, advis'd the governor not to accept provision,
+as not being the thing he had demanded; but he repli'd, "I shall take
+the money, for I understand very well their meaning; other grain is
+gunpowder," which he accordingly bought, and they never objected to
+it.[83]
+
+    [83] See the votes.--_Marg. note_.
+
+It was in allusion to this fact that, when in our fire company we
+feared the success of our proposal in favour of the lottery, and I had
+said to my friend Mr. Syng, one of our members, "If we fail, let us
+move the purchase of a fire-engine with the money; the Quakers can
+have no objection to that; and then, if you nominate me and I you as a
+committee for that purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is
+certainly a _fire-engine_." "I see," says he, "you have improv'd by
+being so long in the Assembly; your equivocal project would be just a
+match for their wheat or _other grain_."
+
+These embarrassments that the Quakers suffer'd from having establish'd
+and published it as one of their principles that no kind of war was
+lawful, and which, being once published, they could not afterwards,
+however they might change their minds, easily get rid of, reminds me
+of what I think a more prudent conduct in another sect among us, that
+of the Dunkers. I was acquainted with one of its founders, Michael
+Welfare, soon after it appear'd. He complain'd to me that they were
+grievously calumniated by the zealots of other persuasions, and
+charg'd with abominable principles and practices to which they were
+utter strangers. I told him this had always been the case with new
+sects, and that, to put a stop to such abuse, I imagin'd it might be
+well to publish the articles of their belief, and the rules of their
+discipline. He said that it had been propos'd among them, but not
+agreed to, for this reason: "When we were first drawn together as a
+society," says he, "it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far
+as to see that some doctrines, which we once esteemed truths, were
+errors; and that others, which we had esteemed errors, were real
+truths. From time to time He has been pleased to afford us farther
+light, and our principles have been improving, and our errors
+diminishing. Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of
+this progression, and at the perfection of spiritual or theological
+knowledge; and we fear that, if we should once print our confession of
+faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and confin'd by it, and
+perhaps be unwilling to receive further improvement, and our
+successors still more so, as conceiving what we their elders and
+founders had done, to be something sacred, never to be departed from."
+
+This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history
+of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in possession of all
+truth, and that those who differ are so far in the wrong; like a man
+traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the
+road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and
+also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears
+clear, tho' in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them. To avoid
+this kind of embarrassment, the Quakers have of late years been
+gradually declining the public service in the Assembly and in the
+magistracy, choosing rather to quit their power than their principle.
+
+In order of time, I should have mentioned before, that having, in
+1742, invented an open stove[84] for the better warming of rooms, and
+at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in
+entering, I made a present of the model to Mr. Robert Grace, one of my
+early friends, who, having an iron-furnace,[85] found the casting of
+the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing
+in demand. To promote that demand, I wrote and published a pamphlet,
+entitled "_An Account of the new-invented Pennsylvania Fireplaces;
+wherein their Construction and Manner of Operation is particularly
+explained; their Advantages above every other Method of warming Rooms
+demonstrated; and all Objections that have been raised against the Use
+of them answered and obviated_," etc. This pamphlet had a good effect.
+Gov'r. Thomas was so pleas'd with the construction of this stove, as
+described in it, that he offered to give me a patent for the sole
+vending of them for a term of years; but I declin'd it from a
+principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz.,
+_That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we
+should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of
+ours; and this we should do freely and generously._
+
+    [84] The Franklin stove is still in use.
+
+    [85] Warwick Furnace, Chester County, Pennsylvania,
+    across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown.
+
+An ironmonger in London however, assuming a good deal of my pamphlet,
+and working it up into his own, and making some small changes in the
+machine, which rather hurt its operation, got a patent for it there,
+and made, as I was told, a little fortune by it. And this is not the
+only instance of patents taken out for my inventions by others, tho'
+not always with the same success, which I never contested, as having
+no desire of profiting by patents myself, and hating disputes. The use
+of these fireplaces in very many houses, both of this and the
+neighbouring colonies, has been, and is, a great saving of wood to the
+inhabitants.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+PUBLIC SERVICES AND DUTIES
+
+(1749-1753)
+
+
+Peace being concluded, and the association business therefore at an
+end, I turn'd my thoughts again to the affair of establishing an
+academy. The first step I took was to associate in the design a number
+of active friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good part; the next
+was to write and publish a pamphlet, entitled _Proposals Relating to
+the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania_. This I distributed among the
+principal inhabitants gratis; and as soon as I could suppose their
+minds a little prepared by the perusal of it, I set on foot a
+subscription for opening and supporting an academy; it was to be paid
+in quotas yearly for five years; by so dividing it, I judg'd the
+subscription might be larger, and I believe it was so, amounting to no
+less, if I remember right, than five thousand pounds.
+
+In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their publication,
+not as an act of mine, but of some _publick-spirited gentlemen_,
+avoiding as much as I could, according to my usual rule, the
+presenting myself to the publick as the author of any scheme for their
+benefit.
+
+The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate execution, chose
+out of their number twenty-four trustees, and appointed Mr.
+Francis,[86] then attorney-general, and myself to draw up constitutions
+for the government of the academy; which being done and signed, a
+house was hired, masters engag'd, and the schools opened, I think, in
+the same year, 1749.
+
+    [86] Tench Francis, uncle of Sir Philip Francis,
+    emigrated from England to Maryland, and became attorney
+    for Lord Baltimore. He removed to Philadelphia and was
+    attorney-general of Pennsylvania from 1741 to 1755. He
+    died in Philadelphia August 16, 1758.--Smyth.
+
+The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon found too small, and
+we were looking out for a piece of ground, properly situated, with
+intention to build, when Providence threw into our way a large house
+ready built, which, with a few alterations, might well serve our
+purpose. This was the building before mentioned, erected by the
+hearers of Mr. Whitefield, and was obtained for us in the following
+manner.
+
+It is to be noted that the contributions to this building being made
+by people of different sects, care was taken in the nomination of
+trustees, in whom the building and ground was to be vested, that a
+predominancy should not be given to any sect, lest in time that
+predominancy might be a means of appropriating the whole to the use of
+such sect, contrary to the original intention. It was therefore that
+one of each sect was appointed, viz., one Church-of-England man, one
+Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Moravian, etc., those, in case of
+vacancy by death, were to fill it by election from among the
+contributors. The Moravian happen'd not to please his colleagues, and
+on his death they resolved to have no other of that sect. The
+difficulty then was, how to avoid having two of some other sect, by
+means of the new choice.
+
+Several persons were named, and for that reason not agreed to. At
+length one mention'd me, with the observation that I was merely an
+honest man, and of no sect at all, which prevailed with them to chuse
+me. The enthusiasm which existed when the house was built had long
+since abat'd, and its trustees had not been able to procure fresh
+contributions for paying the ground-rent, and discharging some other
+debts the building had occasion'd, which embarrass'd them greatly.
+Being now a member of both sets of trustees, that for the building and
+that for the academy, I had a good opportunity of negotiating with
+both, and brought them finally to an agreement, by which the trustees
+for the building were to cede it to those of the academy, the latter
+undertaking to discharge the debt, to keep forever open in the
+building a large hall for occasional preachers, according to the
+original intention, and maintain a free-school for the instruction of
+poor children. Writings were accordingly drawn, and on paying the
+debts the trustees of the academy were put in possession of the
+premises; and by dividing the great and lofty hall into stories, and
+different rooms above and below for the several schools, and
+purchasing some additional ground, the whole was soon made fit for our
+purpose, and the scholars remov'd into the building. The care and
+trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing materials, and
+superintending the work, fell upon me; and I went thro' it the more
+cheerfully, as it did not then interfere with my private business,
+having the year before taken a very able, industrious, and honest
+partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose character I was well acquainted,
+as he had work'd for me four years. He took off my hands all care of
+the printing-office, paying me punctually my share of the profits. The
+partnership continued eighteen years, successfully for us both.
+
+The trustees of the academy, after a while, were incorporated by a
+charter from the governor; their funds were increas'd by contributions
+in Britain and grants of land from the proprietaries, to which the
+Assembly has since made considerable addition; and thus was
+established the present University of Philadelphia.[87] I have been
+continued one of its trustees from the beginning, now near forty
+years, and have had the very great pleasure of seeing a number of the
+youth who have receiv'd their education in it, distinguish'd by their
+improv'd abilities, serviceable in public stations, and ornaments to
+their country.
+
+    [87] Later called the University of Pennsylvania.
+
+When I disengaged myself, as above mentioned, from private business, I
+flatter'd myself that, by the sufficient tho' moderate fortune I had
+acquir'd, I had secured leisure during the rest of my life for
+philosophical studies and amusements. I purchased all Dr. Spence's
+apparatus, who had come from England to lecture here, and I proceeded
+in my electrical experiments with great alacrity; but the publick, now
+considering me as a man of leisure, laid hold of me for their
+purposes, every part of our civil government, and almost at the same
+time, imposing some duty upon me. The governor put me into the
+commission of the peace; the corporation of the city chose me of the
+common council, and soon after an alderman; and the citizens at large
+chose me a burgess to represent them in Assembly. This latter station
+was the more agreeable to me, as I was at length tired with sitting
+there to hear debates, in which, as clerk, I could take no part, and
+which were often so unentertaining that I was induc'd to amuse myself
+with making magic squares or circles, or anything to avoid weariness;
+and I conceiv'd my becoming a member would enlarge my power of doing
+good. I would not, however, insinuate that my ambition was not
+flatter'd by all these promotions; it certainly was; for, considering
+my low beginning, they were great things to me; and they were still
+more pleasing, as being so many spontaneous testimonies of the public
+good opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited.
+
+The office of justice of the peace I try'd a little, by attending a
+few courts, and sitting on the bench to hear causes; but finding that
+more knowledge of the common law than I possess'd was necessary to act
+in that station with credit, I gradually withdrew from it, excusing
+myself by my being oblig'd to attend the higher duties of a legislator
+in the Assembly. My election to this trust was repeated every year for
+ten years, without my ever asking any elector for his vote, or
+signifying, either directly or indirectly, any desire of being chosen.
+On taking my seat in the House, my son was appointed their clerk.
+
+The year following, a treaty being to be held with the Indians at
+Carlisle, the governor sent a message to the House, proposing that
+they should nominate some of their members, to be join'd with some
+members of council, as commissioners for that purpose.[88] The House
+named the speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself; and, being commission'd, we
+went to Carlisle, and met the Indians accordingly.
+
+    [88] See the votes to have this more correctly.--_Marg.
+    note._
+
+As those people are extreamly apt to get drunk, and, when so, are very
+quarrelsome and disorderly, we strictly forbade the selling any
+liquor to them; and when they complain'd of this restriction, we told
+them that if they would continue sober during the treaty, we would
+give them plenty of rum when business was over. They promis'd this,
+and they kept their promise, because they could get no liquor, and the
+treaty was conducted very orderly, and concluded to mutual
+satisfaction. They then claim'd and received the rum; this was in the
+afternoon: they were near one hundred men, women, and children, and
+were lodg'd in temporary cabins, built in the form of a square, just
+without the town. In the evening, hearing a great noise among them,
+the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter. We found they
+had made a great bonfire in the middle of the square; they were all
+drunk, men and women, quarreling and fighting. Their dark-colour'd
+bodies, half naked, seen only by the gloomy light of the bonfire,
+running after and beating one another with firebrands, accompanied by
+their horrid yellings, form'd a scene the most resembling our ideas of
+hell that could well be imagin'd; there was no appeasing the tumult,
+and we retired to our lodging. At midnight a number of them came
+thundering at our door, demanding more rum, of which we took no
+notice.
+
+The next day, sensible they had misbehav'd in giving us that
+disturbance, they sent three of their old counselors to make their
+apology. The orator acknowledg'd the fault, but laid it upon the rum;
+and then endeavoured to excuse the rum by saying, "_The Great Spirit,
+who made all things, made everything for some use, and whatever use he
+design'd anything for, that use it should always be put to. Now, when_
+_he made rum, he said, 'Let this be for the Indians to get drunk
+with,' and it must be so._" And, indeed, if it be the design of
+Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for
+cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable that rum may be the
+appointed means. It has already annihilated all the tribes who
+formerly inhabited the sea-coast.
+
+[Illustration: "In the evening, hearing a great noise among them, the
+commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter"]
+
+In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of mine, conceived the
+idea of establishing a hospital in Philadelphia (a very beneficent
+design, which has been ascrib'd to me, but was originally his), for
+the reception and cure of poor sick persons, whether inhabitants of
+the province or strangers. He was zealous and active in endeavouring
+to procure subscriptions for it, but the proposal being a novelty in
+America, and at first not well understood, he met but with small
+success.
+
+At length he came to me with the compliment that he found there was no
+such thing as carrying a public-spirited project through without my
+being concern'd in it. "For," says he, "I am often ask'd by those to
+whom I propose subscribing, Have you consulted Franklin upon this
+business? And what does he think of it? And when I tell them that I
+have not (supposing it rather out of your line), they do not
+subscribe, but say they will consider of it." I enquired into the
+nature and probable utility of his scheme, and receiving from him a
+very satisfactory explanation, I not only subscrib'd to it myself, but
+engag'd heartily in the design of procuring subscriptions from others.
+Previously, however, to the solicitation, I endeavoured to prepare the
+minds of the people by writing on the subject in the newspapers, which
+was my usual custom in such cases, but which he had omitted.
+
+The subscriptions afterwards were more free and generous; but,
+beginning to flag, I saw they would be insufficient without some
+assistance from the Assembly, and therefore propos'd to petition for
+it, which was done. The country members did not at first relish the
+project; they objected that it could only be serviceable to the city,
+and therefore the citizens alone should be at the expense of it; and
+they doubted whether the citizens themselves generally approv'd of it.
+My allegation on the contrary, that it met with such approbation as to
+leave no doubt of our being able to raise two thousand pounds by
+voluntary donations, they considered as a most extravagant
+supposition, and utterly impossible.
+
+On this I form'd my plan; and, asking leave to bring in a bill for
+incorporating the contributors according to the prayer of their
+petition, and granting them a blank sum of money, which leave was
+obtained chiefly on the consideration that the House could throw the
+bill out if they did not like it, I drew it so as to make the
+important clause a conditional one, viz., "And be it enacted, by the
+authority aforesaid, that when the said contributors shall have met
+and chosen their managers and treasurer, _and shall have raised by
+their contributions a capital stock of----value_ (the yearly
+interest of which is to be applied to the accommodating of the
+sick poor in the said hospital, free of charge for diet, attendance,
+advice, and medicines), _and shall make the same appear to the
+satisfaction of the speaker of the Assembly for the time being_, that
+_then_ it shall and may be lawful for the said speaker, and he is
+hereby required, to sign an order on the provincial treasurer for the
+payment of two thousand pounds, in two yearly payments, to the
+treasurer of the said hospital, to be applied to the founding,
+building, and finishing of the same."
+
+This condition carried the bill through; for the members, who had
+oppos'd the grant, and now conceiv'd they might have the credit of
+being charitable without the expense, agreed to its passage; and then,
+in soliciting subscriptions among the people, we urg'd the conditional
+promise of the law as an additional motive to give, since every man's
+donation would be doubled; thus the clause work'd both ways. The
+subscriptions accordingly soon exceeded the requisite sum, and we
+claim'd and receiv'd the public gift, which enabled us to carry the
+design into execution. A convenient and handsome building was soon
+erected; the institution has by constant experience been found useful,
+and flourishes to this day; and I do not remember any of my political
+manoeuvers, the success of which gave me at the time more pleasure,
+or wherein, after thinking of it, I more easily excus'd myself for
+having made some use of cunning.
+
+It was about this time that another projector, the Rev. Gilbert
+Tennent[89], came to me with a request that I would assist him in
+procuring a subscription for erecting a new meeting-house. It was to
+be for the use of a congregation he had gathered among the
+Presbyterians, who were originally disciples of Mr. Whitefield.
+Unwilling to make myself disagreeable to my fellow-citizens by too
+frequently soliciting their contributions, I absolutely refus'd. He
+then desired I would furnish him with a list of the names of persons I
+knew by experience to be generous and public-spirited. I thought it
+would be unbecoming in me, after their kind compliance with my
+solicitations, to mark them out to be worried by other beggars, and
+therefore refus'd also to give such a list. He then desir'd I would at
+least give him my advice. "That I will readily do," said I; "and, in
+the first place, I advise you to apply to all those whom you know will
+give something; next, to those whom you are uncertain whether they
+will give anything or not, and show them the list of those who have
+given; and, lastly, do not neglect those who you are sure will give
+nothing, for in some of them you may be mistaken." He laugh'd and
+thank'd me, and said he would take my advice. He did so, for he ask'd
+of _everybody_, and he obtain'd a much larger sum than he expected,
+with which he erected the capacious and very elegant meeting-house
+that stands in Arch-street.
+
+    [89] Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) came to America with his
+    father, Rev. William Tennent, and taught for a time in
+    the "Log College," from which sprang the College of New
+    Jersey.--Smyth.
+
+Our city, tho' laid out with a beautiful regularity, the streets
+large, straight, and crossing each other at right angles, had the
+disgrace of suffering those streets to remain long unpav'd, and in wet
+weather the wheels of heavy carriages plough'd them into a quagmire,
+so that it was difficult to cross them; and in dry weather the dust
+was offensive. I had liv'd near what was call'd the Jersey Market, and
+saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud while purchasing their
+provisions. A strip of ground down the middle of that market was at
+length pav'd with brick, so that, being once in the market, they had
+firm footing, but were often over shoes in dirt to get there. By
+talking and writing on the subject, I was at length instrumental in
+getting the street pav'd with stone between the market and the brick'd
+foot-pavement, that was on each side next the houses. This, for some
+time, gave an easy access to the market dry-shod; but, the rest of the
+street not being pav'd, whenever a carriage came out of the mud upon
+this pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was soon
+cover'd with mire, which was not remov'd, the city as yet having no
+scavengers.
+
+After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious man, who was willing
+to undertake keeping the pavement clean, by sweeping it twice a week,
+carrying off the dirt from before all the neighbours' doors, for the
+sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each house. I then wrote and
+printed a paper setting forth the advantages to the neighbourhood that
+might be obtain'd by this small expense; the greater ease in keeping
+our houses clean, so much dirt not being brought in by people's feet;
+the benefit to the shops by more custom, etc., etc., as buyers could
+more easily get at them; and by not having, in windy weather, the dust
+blown in upon their goods, etc., etc. I sent one of these papers to
+each house, and in a day or two went round to see who would subscribe
+an agreement to pay these sixpences; it was unanimously sign'd, and
+for a time well executed. All the inhabitants of the city were
+delighted with the cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded the
+market, it being a convenience to all, and this rais'd a general
+desire to have all the streets paved, and made the people more willing
+to submit to a tax for that purpose.
+
+After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, and brought it into
+the Assembly. It was just before I went to England, in 1757, and did
+not pass till I was gone,[90] and then with an alteration in the mode
+of assessment, which I thought not for the better, but with an
+additional provision for lighting as well as paving the streets, which
+was a great improvement. It was by a private person, the late Mr. John
+Clifton, his giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing one
+at his door, that the people were first impress'd with the idea of
+enlighting all the city. The honour of this public benefit has also
+been ascrib'd to me, but it belongs truly to that gentleman. I did but
+follow his example, and have only some merit to claim respecting the
+form of our lamps, as differing from the globe lamps we were at first
+supply'd with from London. Those we found inconvenient in these
+respects: they admitted no air below; the smoke, therefore, did not
+readily go out above, but circulated in the globe, lodg'd on its
+inside, and soon obstructed the light they were intended to afford;
+giving, besides, the daily trouble of wiping them clean; and an
+accidental stroke on one of them would demolish it, and render it
+totally useless. I therefore suggested the composing them of four flat
+panes, with a long funnel above to draw up the smoke, and crevices
+admitting air below, to facilitate the ascent of the smoke; by this
+means they were kept clean, and did not grow dark in a few hours, as
+the London lamps do, but continu'd bright till morning, and an
+accidental stroke would generally break but a single pane, easily
+repair'd.
+
+I have sometimes wonder'd that the Londoners did not, from the effect
+holes in the bottom of the globe lamps us'd at Vauxhall[91] have in
+keeping them clean, learn to have such holes in their street lamps.
+But, these holes being made for another purpose, viz., to communicate
+flame more suddenly to the wick by a little flax hanging down thro'
+them, the other use, of letting in air, seems not to have been thought
+of; and therefore, after the lamps have been lit a few hours, the
+streets of London are very poorly illuminated.
+
+    [90] See votes.
+
+    [91] Vauxhall Gardens, once a popular and fashionable
+    London resort, situated on the Thames above Lambeth. The
+    Gardens were closed in 1859, but they will always be
+    remembered because of Sir Roger de Coverley's visit to
+    them in the _Spectator_ and from the descriptions in
+    Smollett's _Humphry Clinker_ and Thackeray's _Vanity
+    Fair_.
+
+The mention of these improvements puts me in mind of one I propos'd,
+when in London, to Dr. Fothergill, who was among the best men I have
+known, and a great promoter of useful projects. I had observ'd that
+the streets, when dry, were never swept, and the light dust carried
+away; but it was suffer'd to accumulate till wet weather reduc'd it to
+mud, and then, after lying some days so deep on the pavement that
+there was no crossing but in paths kept clean by poor people with
+brooms, it was with great labour rak'd together and thrown up into
+carts open above, the sides of which suffered some of the slush at
+every jolt on the pavement to shake out and fall, sometimes to the
+annoyance of foot-passengers. The reason given for not sweeping the
+dusty streets was that the dust would fly into the windows of shops
+and houses.
+
+[Illustration: "a poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch
+broom"]
+
+An accidental occurrence had instructed me how much sweeping might be
+done in a little time. I found at my door in Craven-street,[92] one
+morning, a poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch broom; she
+appeared very pale and feeble, as just come out of a fit of sickness.
+I ask'd who employ'd her to sweep there; she said, "Nobody, but I am
+very poor and in distress, and I sweeps before gentle-folkses doors,
+and hopes they will give me something." I bid her sweep the whole
+street clean, and I would give her a shilling; this was at nine
+o'clock; at 12 she came for the shilling. From the slowness I saw at
+first in her working, I could scarce believe that the work was done so
+soon, and sent my servant to examine it, who reported that the whole
+street was swept perfectly clean, and all the dust plac'd in the
+gutter, which was in the middle; and the next rain wash'd it quite
+away, so that the pavement and even the kennel were perfectly clean.
+
+    [92] A short street near Charing Cross, London.
+
+I then judg'd that, if that feeble woman could sweep such a street in
+three hours, a strong, active man might have done it in half the time.
+And here let me remark the convenience of having but one gutter in
+such a narrow street, running down its middle, instead of two, one on
+each side, near the footway; for where all the rain that falls on a
+street runs from the sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a
+current strong enough to wash away all the mud it meets with; but when
+divided into two channels, it is often too weak to cleanse either, and
+only makes the mud it finds more fluid, so that the wheels of
+carriages and feet of horses throw and dash it upon the foot-pavement,
+which is thereby rendered foul and slippery, and sometimes splash it
+upon those who are walking. My proposal, communicated to the good
+doctor, was as follows:
+
+"For the more effectual cleaning and keeping clean the streets of
+London and Westminster, it is proposed that the several watchmen be
+contracted with to have the dust swept up in dry seasons, and the mud
+rak'd up at other times, each in the several streets and lanes of his
+round; that they be furnish'd with brooms and other proper instruments
+for these purposes, to be kept at their respective stands, ready to
+furnish the poor people they may employ in the service.
+
+"That in the dry summer months the dust be all swept up into heaps at
+proper distances, before the shops and windows of houses are usually
+opened, when the scavengers, with close-covered carts, shall also
+carry it all away.
+
+"That the mud, when rak'd up, be not left in heaps to be spread abroad
+again by the wheels of carriages and trampling of horses, but that the
+scavengers be provided with bodies of carts, not plac'd high upon
+wheels, but low upon sliders, with lattice bottoms, which, being
+cover'd with straw, will retain the mud thrown into them, and permit
+the water to drain from it, whereby it will become much lighter, water
+making the greatest part of its weight; these bodies of carts to be
+plac'd at convenient distances, and the mud brought to them in
+wheelbarrows; they remaining where plac'd till the mud is drain'd, and
+then horses brought to draw them away."
+
+I have since had doubts of the practicability of the latter part of
+this proposal, on account of the narrowness of some streets, and the
+difficulty of placing the draining-sleds so as not to encumber too
+much the passage; but I am still of opinion that the former, requiring
+the dust to be swept up and carry'd away before the shops are open, is
+very practicable in the summer, when the days are long; for, in
+walking thro' the Strand and Fleet-street one morning at seven
+o'clock, I observ'd there was not one shop open, tho' it had been
+daylight and the sun up above three hours; the inhabitants of London
+chusing voluntarily to live much by candle-light, and sleep by
+sunshine, and yet often complain, a little absurdly, of the duty on
+candles, and the high price of tallow.
+
+Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding or relating;
+but when they consider that tho' dust blown into the eyes of a single
+person, or into a single shop on a windy day, is but of small
+importance, yet the great number of the instances in a populous city,
+and its frequent repetitions give it weight and consequence, perhaps
+they will not censure very severely those who bestow some attention to
+affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is produced not
+so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by
+little advantages that occur every day. Thus, if you teach a poor
+young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may
+contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a
+thousand guineas. The money may be soon spent, the regret only
+remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he
+escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their
+sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors; he shaves
+when most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its
+being done with a good instrument. With these sentiments I have
+hazarded the few preceding pages, hoping they may afford hints which
+some time or other may be useful to a city I love, having lived many
+years in it very happily, and perhaps to some of our towns in America.
+
+Having been for some time employed by the postmaster-general of
+America as his comptroller in regulating several offices, and bringing
+the officers to account, I was, upon his death in 1753, appointed,
+jointly with Mr. William Hunter, to succeed him, by a commission from
+the postmaster-general in England. The American office never had
+hitherto paid anything to that of Britain. We were to have six hundred
+pounds a year between us, if we could make that sum out of the profits
+of the office. To do this, a variety of improvements were necessary;
+some of these were inevitably at first expensive, so that in the first
+four years the office became above nine hundred pounds in debt to us.
+But it soon after began to repay us; and before I was displac'd by a
+freak of the ministers, of which I shall speak hereafter, we had
+brought it to yield _three times_ as much clear revenue to the crown
+as the post-office of Ireland. Since that imprudent transaction, they
+have receiv'd from it--not one farthing!
+
+The business of the post-office occasion'd my taking a journey this
+year to New England, where the College of Cambridge, of their own
+motion, presented me with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale College,
+in Connecticut, had before made me a similar compliment. Thus, without
+studying in any college, I came to partake of their honours. They were
+conferr'd in consideration of my improvements and discoveries in the
+electric branch of natural philosophy.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+ALBANY PLAN OF UNION
+
+
+In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a congress of
+commissioners from the different colonies was, by an order of the
+Lords of Trade, to be assembled at Albany, there to confer with the
+chiefs of the Six Nations concerning the means of defending both their
+country and ours. Governor Hamilton, having receiv'd this order,
+acquainted the House with it, requesting they would furnish proper
+presents for the Indians, to be given on this occasion; and naming the
+speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself to join Mr. Thomas Penn and Mr.
+Secretary Peters as commissioners to act for Pennsylvania. The House
+approv'd the nomination, and provided the goods for the present, and
+tho' they did not much like treating out of the provinces; and we met
+the other commissioners at Albany about the middle of June.
+
+In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for the union of all
+the colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary for
+defense, and other important general purposes. As we pass'd thro' New
+York, I had there shown my project to Mr. James Alexander and Mr.
+Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, and,
+being fortified by their approbation, I ventur'd to lay it before the
+Congress. It then appeared that several of the commissioners had
+form'd plans of the same kind. A previous question was first taken,
+whether a union should be established, which pass'd in the affirmative
+unanimously. A committee was then appointed, one member from each
+colony, to consider the several plans and report. Mine happen'd to be
+preferr'd, and, with a few amendments, was accordingly reported.
+
+[Illustration: JOIN, or DIE.]
+
+By this plan the general government was to be administered by a
+president-general, appointed and supported by the crown, and a grand
+council was to be chosen by the representatives of the people of the
+several colonies, met in their respective assemblies. The debates upon
+it in Congress went on daily, hand in hand with the Indian business.
+Many objections and difficulties were started, but at length they were
+all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed to, and copies
+ordered to be transmitted to the Board of Trade and to the assemblies
+of the several provinces. Its fate was singular; the assemblies did
+not adopt it, as they all thought there was too much _prerogative_ in
+it, and in England it was judg'd to have too much of the _democratic_.
+The Board of Trade therefore did not approve of it, nor recommend it
+for the approbation of his majesty; but another scheme was form'd,
+supposed to answer the same purpose better, whereby the governors of
+the provinces, with some members of their respective councils, were to
+meet and order the raising of troops, building of forts, etc., and to
+draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the expense, which was
+afterwards to be refunded by an act of Parliament laying a tax on
+America. My plan, with my reasons in support of it, is to be found
+among my political papers that are printed.
+
+Being the winter following in Boston, I had much conversation with
+Governor Shirley upon both the plans. Part of what passed between us
+on the occasion may also be seen among those papers. The different and
+contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes me suspect that it was
+really the true medium; and I am still of opinion it would have been
+happy for both sides the water if it had been adopted. The colonies,
+so united, would have been sufficiently strong to have defended
+themselves; there would then have been no need of troops from England;
+of course, the subsequent pretence for taxing America, and the bloody
+contest it occasioned, would have been avoided. But such mistakes are
+not new; history is full of the errors of states and princes.
+
+  "Look round the habitable world, how few
+   Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue!"
+
+Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not
+generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into
+execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom
+_adopted from previous wisdom, but forc'd by the occasion_.
+
+The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down to the Assembly,
+expressed his approbation of the plan, "as appearing to him to be
+drawn up with great clearness and strength of judgment, and therefore
+recommended it as well worthy of their closest and most serious
+attention." The House, however, by the management of a certain member,
+took it up when I happen'd to be absent, which I thought not very
+fair, and reprobated it without paying any attention to it at all, to
+my no small mortification.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+QUARRELS WITH THE PROPRIETARY
+GOVERNORS
+
+
+In my journey to Boston this year, I met at New York with our new
+governor, Mr. Morris, just arriv'd there from England, with whom I had
+been before intimately acquainted. He brought a commission to
+supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tir'd with the disputes his proprietary
+instructions subjected him to, had resign'd. Mr. Morris ask'd me if I
+thought he must expect as uncomfortable an administration. I said,
+"No; you may, on the contrary, have a very comfortable one, if you
+will only take care not to enter into any dispute with the Assembly."
+"My dear friend," says he, pleasantly, "how can you advise my avoiding
+disputes? You know I love disputing; it is one of my greatest
+pleasures; however, to show the regard I have for your counsel, I
+promise you I will, if possible, avoid them." He had some reason for
+loving to dispute, being eloquent, an acute sophister, and, therefore,
+generally successful in argumentative conversation. He had been
+brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I have heard, accustoming
+his children to dispute with one another for his diversion, while
+sitting at table after dinner; but I think the practice was not wise;
+for, in the course of my observation, these disputing, contradicting,
+and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They
+get victory sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of
+more use to them. We parted, he going to Philadelphia, and I to
+Boston.
+
+In returning, I met at New York with the votes of the Assembly, by
+which it appear'd that, notwithstanding his promise to me, he and the
+House were already in high contention; and it was a continual battle
+between them as long as he retain'd the government. I had my share of
+it; for, as soon as I got back to my seat in the Assembly, I was put
+on every committee for answering his speeches and messages, and by the
+committees always desired to make the drafts. Our answers, as well as
+his messages, were often tart, and sometimes indecently abusive; and,
+as he knew I wrote for the Assembly, one might have imagined that,
+when we met, we could hardly avoid cutting throats; but he was so
+good-natur'd a man that no personal difference between him and me was
+occasion'd by the contest, and we often din'd together.
+
+[Illustration: "One afternoon, in the height of this
+public quarrel, we met in the street"]
+
+One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, we met in the
+street. "Franklin," says he, "you must go home with me and spend the
+evening; I am to have some company that you will like;" and, taking me
+by the arm, he led me to his house. In gay conversation over our wine,
+after supper, he told us, jokingly, that he much admir'd the idea of
+Sancho Panza,[93] who, when it was proposed to give him a government,
+requested it might be a government of _blacks_, as then, if he could
+not agree with his people, he might sell them. One of his friends, who
+sat next to me, says, "Franklin, why do you continue to side with
+these damn'd Quakers? Had not you better sell them? The proprietor
+would give you a good price." "The governor," says I, "has not yet
+_blacked_ them enough." He, indeed, had laboured hard to blacken the
+Assembly in all his messages, but they wip'd off his colouring as fast
+as he laid it on, and plac'd it, in return, thick upon his own face;
+so that, finding he was likely to be negrofied himself, he, as well as
+Mr. Hamilton, grew tir'd of the contest, and quitted the government.
+
+These public quarrels[94] were all at bottom owing to the
+proprietaries, our hereditary governors, who, when any expense was to
+be incurred for the defense of their province, with incredible
+meanness instructed their deputies to pass no act for levying the
+necessary taxes, unless their vast estates were in the same act
+expressly excused; and they had even taken bonds of these deputies to
+observe such instructions. The Assemblies for three years held out
+against this injustice, tho' constrained to bend at last. At length
+Captain Denny, who was Governor Morris's successor, ventured to
+disobey those instructions; how that was brought about I shall show
+hereafter.
+
+    [93] The "round, selfish, and self-important" squire of
+    Don Quixote in Cervantes' romance of that name.
+
+    [94] My acts in Morris's time, military, etc.--_Marg.
+    note_.
+
+But I am got forward too fast with my story: there are still some
+transactions to be mention'd that happened during the administration
+of Governor Morris.
+
+War being in a manner commenced with France, the government of
+Massachusetts Bay projected an attack upon Crown Point,[95] and sent
+Mr. Quincy to Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pownall, afterward Governor
+Pownall, to New York, to solicit assistance. As I was in the Assembly,
+knew its temper, and was Mr. Quincy's countryman, he appli'd to me for
+my influence and assistance. I dictated his address to them, which was
+well received. They voted an aid of ten thousand pounds, to be laid
+out in provisions. But the governor refusing his assent to their bill
+(which included this with other sums granted for the use of the
+crown), unless a clause were inserted exempting the proprietary estate
+from bearing any part of the tax that would be necessary, the
+Assembly, tho' very desirous of making their grant to New England
+effectual, were at a loss how to accomplish it. Mr. Quincy labored
+hard with the governor to obtain his assent, but he was obstinate.
+
+    [95] On Lake Champlain, ninety miles north of Albany. It
+    was captured by the French in 1731, attacked by the
+    English in 1755 and 1756, and abandoned by the French in
+    1759. It was finally captured from the English by the
+    Americans in 1775.
+
+I then suggested a method of doing the business without the governor,
+by orders on the trustees of the Loan office, which, by law, the
+Assembly had the right of drawing. There was, indeed, little or no
+money at that time in the office, and therefore I propos'd that the
+orders should be payable in a year, and to bear an interest of five
+per cent. With these orders I suppos'd the provisions might easily be
+purchas'd. The Assembly, with very little hesitation, adopted the
+proposal. The orders were immediately printed, and I was one of the
+committee directed to sign and dispose of them. The fund for paying
+them was the interest of all the paper currency then extant in the
+province upon loan, together with the revenue arising from the excise,
+which being known to be more than sufficient, they obtain'd instant
+credit, and were not only receiv'd in payment for the provisions, but
+many money'd people, who had cash lying by them, vested it in those
+orders, which they found advantageous, as they bore interest while
+upon hand, and might on any occasion be used as money; so that they
+were eagerly all bought up, and in a few weeks none of them were to be
+seen. Thus this important affair was by my means completed. Mr. Quincy
+return'd thanks to the Assembly in a handsome memorial, went home
+highly pleas'd with this success of his embassy, and ever after bore
+for me the most cordial and affectionate friendship.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION
+
+
+The British government, not chusing to permit the union of the
+colonies as propos'd at Albany, and to trust that union with their
+defense, lest they should thereby grow too military, and feel their
+own strength, suspicions and jealousies at this time being entertain'd
+of them, sent over General Braddock with two regiments of regular
+English troops for that purpose. He landed at Alexandria, in Virginia,
+and thence march'd to Frederictown, in Maryland, where he halted for
+carriages. Our Assembly apprehending, from some information, that he
+had conceived violent prejudices against them, as averse to the
+service, wish'd me to wait upon him, not as from them, but as
+postmaster-general, under the guise of proposing to settle with him
+the mode of conducting with most celerity and certainty the despatches
+between him and the governors of the several provinces, with whom he
+must necessarily have continual correspondence, and of which they
+propos'd to pay the expense. My son accompanied me on this journey.
+
+We found the general at Frederictown, waiting impatiently for the
+return of those he had sent thro' the back parts of Maryland and
+Virginia to collect waggons. I stayed with him several days, din'd
+with him daily, and had full opportunity of removing all his
+prejudices, by the information of what the Assembly had before his
+arrival actually done, and were still willing to do, to facilitate his
+operations. When I was about to depart, the returns of waggons to be
+obtained were brought in, by which it appear'd that they amounted only
+to twenty-five, and not all of those were in serviceable condition.
+The general and all the officers were surpris'd, declar'd the
+expedition was then at an end, being impossible, and exclaim'd against
+the ministers for ignorantly landing them in a country destitute of
+the means of conveying their stores, baggage, etc., not less than one
+hundred and fifty waggons being necessary.
+
+I happen'd to say I thought it was pity they had not been landed
+rather in Pennsylvania, as in that country almost every farmer had his
+waggon. The general eagerly laid hold of my words, and said, "Then
+you, sir, who are a man of interest there, can probably procure them
+for us; and I beg you will undertake it." I ask'd what terms were to
+be offer'd the owners of the waggons, and I was desir'd to put on
+paper the terms that appeared to me necessary. This I did, and they
+were agreed to, and a commission and instructions accordingly prepar'd
+immediately. What those terms were will appear in the advertisement I
+publish'd as soon as I arriv'd at Lancaster, which being, from the
+great and sudden effect it produc'd, a piece of some curiosity, I
+shall insert it at length, as follows:
+
+  "Advertisement.
+
+   "Lancaster, _April_ 26, 1755.
+
+"Whereas, one hundred and fifty waggons, with four horses to each
+waggon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack horses, are wanted for the
+service of his majesty's forces now about to rendezvous at Will's
+Creek, and his excellency General Braddock having been pleased to
+empower me to contract for the hire of the same, I hereby give notice
+that I shall attend for that purpose at Lancaster from this day to
+next Wednesday evening, and at York from next Thursday morning till
+Friday evening, where I shall be ready to agree for waggons and teams,
+or single horses, on the following terms, viz.: 1. That there shall be
+paid for each waggon, with four good horses and a driver, fifteen
+shillings per diem; and for each able horse with a pack-saddle, or
+other saddle and furniture, two shillings per diem; and for each able
+horse without a saddle, eighteen pence per diem. 2. That the pay
+commence from the time of their joining the forces at Will's Creek,
+which must be on or before the 20th of May ensuing, and that a
+reasonable allowance be paid over and above for the time necessary for
+their travelling to Will's Creek and home again after their discharge.
+3. Each waggon and team, and every saddle or pack horse, is to be
+valued by indifferent persons chosen between me and the owner; and in
+case of the loss of any waggon, team, or other horse in the service,
+the price according to such valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4.
+Seven days' pay is to be advanced and paid in hand by me to the owner
+of each waggon and team, or horse, at the time of contracting, if
+required, and the remainder to be paid by General Braddock, or by the
+paymaster of the army, at the time of their discharge, or from time to
+time, as it shall be demanded. 5. No drivers of waggons, or persons
+taking care of the hired horses, are on any account to be called upon
+to do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise employed than in
+conducting or taking care of their carriages or horses. 6. All oats,
+Indian corn, or other forage that waggons or horses bring to the camp,
+more than is necessary for the subsistence of the horses, is to be
+taken for the use of the army, and a reasonable price paid for the
+same.
+
+"Note.--My son, William Franklin, is empowered to enter into like
+contracts with any person in Cumberland county.
+
+"B. Franklin."
+
+
+  _"To the inhabitants of the Counties of Lancaster,
+           York, and Cumberland._
+
+"Friends and Countrymen,
+
+"Being occasionally[96] at the camp at Frederic a few days since, I
+found the general and officers extremely exasperated on account of
+their not being supplied with horses and carriages, which had been
+expected from this province, as most able to furnish them; but,
+through the dissensions between our governor and Assembly, money had
+not been provided, nor any steps taken for that purpose.
+
+    [96] By chance.
+
+"It was proposed to send an armed force immediately into these
+counties, to seize as many of the best carriages and horses as should
+be wanted, and compel as many persons into the service as would be
+necessary to drive and take care of them.
+
+"I apprehended that the progress of British soldiers through these
+counties on such an occasion, especially considering the temper they
+are in, and their resentment against us, would be attended with many
+and great inconveniences to the inhabitants, and therefore more
+willingly took the trouble of trying first what might be done by fair
+and equitable means. The people of these back counties have lately
+complained to the Assembly that a sufficient currency was wanting; you
+have an opportunity of receiving and dividing among you a very
+considerable sum; for, if the service of this expedition should
+continue, as it is more than probable it will, for one hundred and
+twenty days, the hire of these waggons and horses will amount to
+upward of thirty thousand pounds, which will be paid you in silver and
+gold of the king's money.
+
+"The service will be light and easy, for the army will scarce march
+above twelve miles per day, and the waggons and baggage-horses, as
+they carry those things that are absolutely necessary to the welfare
+of the army, must march with the army, and no faster; and are, for the
+army's sake, always placed where they can be most secure, whether in a
+march or in a camp.
+
+"If you are really, as I believe you are, good and loyal subjects to
+his majesty, you may now do a most acceptable service, and make it
+easy to yourselves; for three or four of such as cannot separately
+spare from the business of their plantations a waggon and four horses
+and a driver, may do it together, one furnishing the waggon, another
+one or two horses, and another the driver, and divide the pay
+proportionately between you; but if you do not this service to your
+king and country voluntarily, when such good pay and reasonable terms
+are offered to you, your loyalty will be strongly suspected. The
+king's business must be done; so many brave troops, come so far for
+your defense, must not stand idle through your backwardness to do what
+may be reasonably expected from you; waggons and horses must be had;
+violent measures will probably be used, and you will be left to seek
+for a recompense where you can find it, and your case, perhaps, be
+little pitied or regarded.
+
+"I have no particular interest in this affair, as, except the
+satisfaction of endeavouring to do good, I shall have only my labour
+for my pains. If this method of obtaining the waggons and horses is
+not likely to succeed, I am obliged to send word to the general in
+fourteen days; and I suppose Sir John St. Clair, the hussar, with a
+body of soldiers, will immediately enter the province for the purpose,
+which I shall be sorry to hear, because I am very sincerely and truly
+your friend and well-wisher,
+
+"B. Franklin."
+
+I received of the general about eight hundred pounds, to be disbursed
+in advance-money to the waggon owners, etc.; but that sum being
+insufficient, I advanc'd upward of two hundred pounds more, and in two
+weeks the one hundred and fifty waggons, with two hundred and
+fifty-nine carrying horses, were on their march for the camp. The
+advertisement promised payment according to the valuation, in case any
+waggon or horse should be lost. The owners, however, alleging they did
+not know General Braddock, or what dependence might be had on his
+promise, insisted on my bond for the performance, which I accordingly
+gave them.
+
+While I was at the camp, supping one evening with the officers of
+Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he represented to me his concern for the
+subalterns, who, he said, were generally not in affluence, and could
+ill afford, in this dear country, to lay in the stores that might be
+necessary in so long a march, thro' a wilderness, where nothing was to
+be purchas'd. I commiserated their case, and resolved to endeavour
+procuring them some relief. I said nothing, however, to him of my
+intention, but wrote the next morning to the committee of the
+Assembly, who had the disposition of some public money, warmly
+recommending the case of these officers to their consideration, and
+proposing that a present should be sent them of necessaries and
+refreshments. My son, who had some experience of a camp life, and of
+its wants, drew up a list for me, which I enclos'd in my letter. The
+committee approv'd, and used such diligence that, conducted by my son,
+the stores arrived at the camp as soon as the waggons. They consisted
+of twenty parcels, each containing
+
+6 lbs. loaf sugar.
+6 lbs. good Muscovado do.
+1 lb. good green tea.
+1 lb. good bohea do.
+6 lbs. good ground coffee.
+6 lbs. chocolate.
+1-2 cwt. best white biscuit.
+1-2 lb. pepper.
+1 quart best white wine
+vinegar.
+1 Gloucester cheese.
+1 kegg containing 20 lbs.
+good butter.
+2 doz. old Madeira wine.
+2 gallons Jamaica spirits.
+1 bottle flour of mustard.
+2 well-cur'd hams.
+1-2 dozen dry'd tongues.
+6 lbs. rice.
+6 lbs. raisins.
+
+These twenty parcels, well pack'd, were placed on as many horses, each
+parcel, with the horse, being intended as a present for one officer.
+They were very thankfully receiv'd, and the kindness acknowledg'd by
+letters to me from the colonels of both regiments, in the most
+grateful terms. The general, too, was highly satisfied with my conduct
+in procuring him the waggons, etc., and readily paid my account of
+disbursements, thanking me repeatedly, and requesting my farther
+assistance in sending provisions after him. I undertook this also, and
+was busily employ'd in it till we heard of his defeat, advancing for
+the service of my own money, upwards of one thousand pounds sterling,
+of which I sent him an account. It came to his hands, luckily for me,
+a few days before the battle, and he return'd me immediately an order
+on the paymaster for the round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the
+remainder to the next account. I consider this payment as good luck,
+having never been able to obtain that remainder, of which more
+hereafter.
+
+This general was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have made a
+figure as a good officer in some European war. But he had too much
+self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular
+troops, and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George
+Croghan, our Indian interpreter, join'd him on his march with one
+hundred of those people, who might have been of great use to his army
+as guides, scouts, etc., if he had treated them kindly; but he
+slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left him.
+
+In conversation with him one day, he was giving me some account of his
+intended progress. "After taking Fort Duquesne,"[97] says he, "I am to
+proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that, to Frontenac,[98] if the
+season will allow time; and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly
+detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing that can
+obstruct my march to Niagara." Having before revolv'd in my mind the
+long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to
+be cut for them thro' the woods and bushes, and also what I had read
+of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French, who invaded the Iroquois
+country, I had conceiv'd some doubts and some fears for the event of
+the campaign. But I ventur'd only to say, "To be sure, sir, if you
+arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well provided
+with artillery, that place not yet completely fortified, and as we
+hear with no very strong garrison, can probably make but a short
+resistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march
+is from ambuscades of Indians, who, by constant practice, are
+dexterous in laying and executing them; and the slender line, near
+four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be
+attack'd by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into
+several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up in time to
+support each other."
+
+    [97] Pittsburg.
+
+    [98] Kingston, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario.
+
+He smil'd at my ignorance, and reply'd, "These savages may, indeed, be
+a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the king's
+regular and disciplin'd troops, sir, it is impossible they should make
+any impression." I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing
+with a military man in matters of his profession, and said no more.
+The enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his army which I
+apprehended its long line of march expos'd it to, but let it advance
+without interruption till within nine miles of the place; and then,
+when more in a body (for it had just passed a river, where the front
+had halted till all were come over), and in a more open part of the
+woods than any it had pass'd, attack'd its advanced guard by heavy
+fire from behind trees and bushes, which was the first intelligence
+the general had of an enemy's being near him. This guard being
+disordered, the general hurried the troops up to their assistance,
+which was done in great confusion, thro' waggons, baggage, and cattle;
+and presently the fire came upon their flank: the officers, being on
+horseback, were more easily distinguish'd, pick'd out as marks, and
+fell very fast; and the soldiers were crowded together in a huddle,
+having or hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till
+two-thirds of them were killed; and then, being seiz'd with a panick,
+the whole fled with precipitation.
+
+[Illustration: "The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your
+march is from ambuscades of Indians"]
+
+The waggoners took each a horse out of his team and scamper'd; their
+example was immediately followed by others; so that all the waggons,
+provisions, artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The general,
+being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, Mr.
+Shirley, was killed by his side; and out of eighty-six officers,
+sixty-three were killed or wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men
+killed out of eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been picked men
+from the whole army; the rest had been left behind with Colonel
+Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier part of the stores,
+provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being pursu'd, arriv'd at
+Dunbar's camp, and the panick they brought with them instantly seiz'd
+him and all his people; and, tho' he had now above one thousand men,
+and the enemy who had beaten Braddock did not at most exceed four
+hundred Indians and French together, instead of proceeding, and
+endeavouring to recover some of the lost honour, he ordered all the
+stores, ammunition, etc., to be destroy'd, that he might have more
+horses to assist his flight towards the settlements, and less lumber
+to remove. He was there met with requests from the governors of
+Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on
+the frontier, so as to afford some protection to the inhabitants; but
+he continued his hasty march thro' all the country, not thinking
+himself safe till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants
+could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first
+suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regulars
+had not been well founded.[99]
+
+    [99] Other accounts of this expedition and defeat may be
+    found in Fiske's _Washington and his Country_, or
+    Lodge's _George Washington_, Vol. 1.
+
+In their first march, too, from their landing till they got beyond the
+settlements, they had plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally
+ruining some poor families, besides insulting, abusing, and confining
+the people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put us out of
+conceit of such defenders, if we had really wanted any. How different
+was the conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march
+thro' the most inhabited part of our country from Rhode Island to
+Virginia, near seven hundred miles, occasioned not the smallest
+complaint for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple.
+
+Captain Orme, who was one of the general's aids-de-camp, and, being
+grievously wounded, was brought off with him, and continu'd with him
+to his death, which happen'd in a few days, told me that he was
+totally silent all the first day, and at night only said, "_Who would
+have thought it?_" That he was silent again the following day, saying
+only at last, "_We shall better know how to deal with them another
+time_"; and dy'd in a few minutes after.
+
+The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders, instructions,
+and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, they selected and
+translated into French a number of the articles, which they printed,
+to prove the hostile intentions of the British court before the
+declaration of war. Among these I saw some letters of the general to
+the ministry, speaking highly of the great service I had rendered the
+army, and recommending me to their notice. David Hume,[100] too, who was
+some years after secretary to Lord Hertford, when minister in France,
+and afterward to General Conway, when secretary of state, told me he
+had seen among the papers in that office, letters from Braddock highly
+recommending me. But, the expedition having been unfortunate, my
+service, it seems, was not thought of much value, for those
+recommendations were never of any use to me.
+
+    [100] A famous Scotch philosopher and historian
+    (1711-1776).
+
+As to rewards from himself, I ask'd only one, which was, that he would
+give orders to his officers not to enlist any more of our bought
+servants, and that he would discharge such as had been already
+enlisted. This he readily granted, and several were accordingly
+return'd to their masters, on my application. Dunbar, when the command
+devolv'd on him, was not so generous. He being at Philadelphia, on his
+retreat, or rather flight, I apply'd to him for the discharge of the
+servants of three poor farmers of Lancaster county that he had
+enlisted, reminding him of the late general's orders on that head. He
+promised me that, if the masters would come to him at Trenton, where
+he should be in a few days on his march to New York, he would there
+deliver their men to them. They accordingly were at the expense and
+trouble of going to Trenton, and there he refus'd to perform his
+promise, to their great loss and disappointment.
+
+As soon as the loss of the waggons and horses was generally known, all
+the owners came upon me for the valuation which I had given bond to
+pay. Their demands gave me a great deal of trouble, my acquainting
+them that the money was ready in the paymaster's hands, but that
+orders for paying it must first be obtained from General Shirley,[101]
+and my assuring them that I had apply'd to that general by letter;
+but, he being at a distance, an answer could not soon be receiv'd, and
+they must have patience, all this was not sufficient to satisfy, and
+some began to sue me. General Shirley at length relieved me from this
+terrible situation by appointing commissioners to examine the claims,
+and ordering payment. They amounted to near twenty thousand pound,
+which to pay would have ruined me.
+
+    [101] Governor of Massachusetts and commander of the
+    British forces in America.
+
+Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doctors Bond came to me
+with a subscription paper for raising money to defray the expense of a
+grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a rejoicing on
+receipt of the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I looked grave, and
+said it would, I thought, be time enough to prepare for the rejoicing
+when we knew we should have occasion to rejoice. They seem'd surpris'd
+that I did not immediately comply with their proposal. "Why the
+d----l!" says one of them, "you surely don't suppose that the
+fort will not be taken?" "I don't know that it will not be taken, but
+I know that the events of war are subject to great uncertainty." I
+gave them the reasons of my doubting; the subscription was dropt, and
+the projectors thereby missed the mortification they would have
+undergone if the firework had been prepared. Dr. Bond, on some other
+occasion afterward, said that he did not like Franklin's forebodings.
+
+Governor Morris, who had continually worried the Assembly with message
+after message before the defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the
+making of acts to raise money for the defense of the province, without
+taxing, among others, the proprietary estates, and had rejected all
+their bills for not having such an exempting clause, now redoubled his
+attacks with more hope of success, the danger and necessity being
+greater. The Assembly, however, continu'd firm, believing they had
+justice on their side, and that it would be giving up an essential
+right if they suffered the governor to amend their money-bills. In one
+of the last, indeed, which was for granting fifty thousand pounds, his
+propos'd amendment was only of a single word. The bill express'd "that
+all estates, real and personal, were to be taxed, those of the
+proprietaries _not_ excepted." His amendment was, for _not_ read
+_only_: a small, but very material alteration. However, when the news
+of this disaster reached England, our friends there whom we had taken
+care to furnish with all the Assembly's answers to the governor's
+messages, rais'd a clamor against the proprietaries for their meanness
+and injustice in giving their governor such instructions; some going
+so far as to say that, by obstructing the defense of their province,
+they forfeited their right to it. They were intimidated by this, and
+sent orders to their receiver-general to add five thousand pounds of
+their money to whatever sum might be given by the Assembly for such
+purpose.
+
+This, being notified to the House, was accepted in lieu of their share
+of a general tax, and a new bill was form'd, with an exempting clause,
+which passed accordingly. By this act I was appointed one of the
+commissioners for disposing of the money, sixty thousand pounds. I had
+been active in modelling the bill and procuring its passage, and had,
+at the same time, drawn a bill for establishing and disciplining a
+voluntary militia, which I carried thro' the House without much
+difficulty, as care was taken in it to leave the Quakers at their
+liberty. To promote the association necessary to form the militia, I
+wrote a dialogue,[102] stating and answering all the objections I could
+think of to such a militia, which was printed, and had, as I thought,
+great effect.
+
+    [102] This dialogue and the militia act are in the
+    Gentleman's Magazine for February and March,
+    1756.--_Marg. note._
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+FRANKLIN'S DEFENSE OF THE
+FRONTIER
+
+
+While the several companies in the city and country were forming, and
+learning their exercise, the governor prevail'd with me to take charge
+of our North-western frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and
+provide for the defense of the inhabitants by raising troops and
+building a line of forts. I undertook this military business, tho' I
+did not conceive myself well qualified for it. He gave me a commission
+with full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to
+be given to whom I thought fit. I had but little difficulty in raising
+men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my command. My son, who
+had in the preceding war been an officer in the army rais'd against
+Canada, was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me. The Indians had
+burned Gnadenhut,[103] a village settled by the Moravians, and massacred
+the inhabitants; but the place was thought a good situation for one of
+the forts.
+
+    [103] Pronounced Gna'-den-hoot.
+
+In order to march thither, I assembled the companies at Bethlehem, the
+chief establishment of those people. I was surprised to find it in so
+good a posture of defense; the destruction of Gnadenhut had made them
+apprehend danger. The principal buildings were defended by a stockade;
+they had purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New York,
+and had even plac'd quantities of small paving stones between the
+windows of their high stone houses, for their women to throw down upon
+the heads of any Indians that should attempt to force into them. The
+armed brethren, too, kept watch, and reliev'd as methodically as in
+any garrison town. In conversation with the bishop, Spangenberg, I
+mention'd this my surprise; for, knowing they had obtained an act of
+Parliament exempting them from military duties in the colonies, I had
+suppos'd they were conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He
+answer'd me that it was not one of their established principles, but
+that, at the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought to be a
+principle with many of their people. On this occasion, however, they,
+to their surprise, found it adopted by but a few. It seems they were
+either deceiv'd in themselves, or deceiv'd the Parliament; but common
+sense, aided by present danger, will sometimes be too strong for
+whimsical opinions.
+
+It was the beginning of January when we set out upon this business of
+building forts. I sent one detachment toward the Minisink, with
+instructions to erect one for the security of that upper part of the
+country, and another to the lower part, with similar instructions; and
+I concluded to go myself with the rest of my force to Gnadenhut, where
+a fort was tho't more immediately necessary. The Moravians procur'd me
+five waggons for our tools, stores, baggage, etc.
+
+Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been driven
+from their plantations by the Indians, came to me requesting a supply
+of firearms, that they might go back and fetch off their cattle. I
+gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition. We had not march'd many
+miles before it began to rain, and it continued raining all day; there
+were no habitations on the road to shelter us, till we arriv'd near
+night at the house of a German, where, and in his barn, we were all
+huddled together, as wet as water could make us. It was well we were
+not attack'd in our march, for our arms were of the most ordinary
+sort, and our men could not keep their gun locks[104] dry. The Indians
+are dexterous in contrivances for that purpose, which we had not. They
+met that day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned, and killed ten
+of them. The one who escap'd inform'd that his and his companions'
+guns would not go off, the priming being wet with the rain.
+
+    [104] Flint-lock guns, discharged by means of a spark
+    struck from flint and steel into powder (priming) in an
+    open pan.
+
+[Illustration: "We had not march'd many miles before it began to rain"]
+
+The next day being fair, we continu'd our march, and arriv'd at the
+desolated Gnadenhut. There was a saw-mill near, round which were left
+several piles of boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves; an
+operation the more necessary at that inclement season, as we had no
+tents. Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found
+there, who had been half interr'd by the country people.
+
+The next morning our fort was plann'd and mark'd out, the
+circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would
+require as many palisades to be made of trees, one with another, of a
+foot diameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were
+immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men being
+dexterous in the use of them, great despatch was made. Seeing the
+trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch when two
+men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it upon the
+ground, and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine made
+three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While these
+were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round, of three feet
+deep, in which the palisades were to be planted; and, our waggons, the
+bodies being taken off, and the fore and hind wheels separated
+by taking out the pin which united the two parts of the perch,[105] we
+had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring the palisades from
+the woods to the spot. When they were set up, our carpenters built a
+stage
+
+[Illustration: "Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut down
+trees"]
+
+of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the men to stand
+on when to fire thro' the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we
+mounted on one of the angles, and fir'd it as soon as fix'd, to let
+the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had such pieces;
+and thus our fort, if such a magnificent name may be given to so
+miserable a stockade, was finish'd in a week, though it rain'd so hard
+every other day that the men could not work.
+
+    [105] Here the pole connecting the front and rear wheels
+    of a wagon.
+
+This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men are employ'd, they
+are best content'd; for on the days they worked they were good-natur'd
+and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's
+work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were
+mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their pork, the bread,
+etc., and in continual ill-humour, which put me in mind of a
+sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work;
+and, when his mate once told him that they had done everything, and
+there was nothing further to employ them about, _"Oh," says he, "make
+them scour the anchor."_
+
+This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defense
+against Indians, who have no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted
+securely, and having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventur'd
+out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with no Indians,
+but we found the places on the neighbouring hills where they had lain
+to watch our proceedings. There was an art in their contrivance of
+those places that seems worth mention. It being winter, a fire was
+necessary for them; but a common fire on the surface of the ground
+would by its light have discover'd their position at a distance. They
+had therefore dug holes in the ground about three feet diameter, and
+somewhat deeper; we saw where they had with their hatchets cut off the
+charcoal from the sides of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these
+coals they had made small fires in the bottom of the holes, and we
+observ'd among the weeds and grass the prints of their bodies, made by
+their laying all round, with their legs hanging down in the holes to
+keep their feet warm, which, with them, is an essential point. This
+kind of fire, so manag'd, could not discover them, either by its
+light, flame, sparks, or even smoke: it appear'd that their number was
+not great, and it seems they saw we were too many to be attacked by
+them with prospect of advantage.
+
+We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty,
+who complained to me that the men did not generally attend his prayers
+and exhortations. When they enlisted, they were promised, besides pay
+and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which was punctually serv'd out
+to them, half in the morning, and the other half in the evening; and I
+observed they were as punctual in attending to receive it; upon which
+I said to Mr. Beatty, "It is, perhaps, below the dignity of your
+profession to act as steward of the rum, but if you were to deal it
+out and only just after prayers, you would have them all about you."
+He liked the tho't, undertook the office, and, with the help of a few
+hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and
+never were prayers more generally and more punctually attended; so
+that I thought this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by
+some military laws for non-attendance on divine service.
+
+I had hardly finish'd this business, and got my fort well stor'd with
+provisions, when I receiv'd a letter from the governor, acquainting me
+that he had call'd the Assembly, and wished my attendance there, if
+the posture of affairs on the frontiers was such that my remaining
+there was no longer necessary. My friends, too, of the Assembly,
+pressing me by their letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, and
+my three intended forts being now compleated, and the inhabitants
+contented to remain on their farms under that protection, I resolved
+to return; the more willingly, as a New England officer, Colonel
+Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit to our
+establishment, consented to accept the command. I gave him a
+commission, and, parading the garrison, had it read before them, and
+introduc'd him to them as an officer who, from his skill in military
+affairs, was much more fit to command them than myself; and, giving
+them a little exhortation, took my leave. I was escorted as far as
+Bethlehem, where I rested a few days to recover from the fatigue I had
+undergone. The first night, being in a good bed, I could hardly sleep,
+it was so different from my hard lodging on the floor of our hut at
+Gnaden wrapt only in a blanket or two.
+
+While at Bethlehem, I inquir'd a little into the practice of the
+Moravians: some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind to
+me. I found they work'd for a common stock, ate at common tables, and
+slept in common dormitories, great numbers together. In the
+dormitories I observed loopholes, at certain distances all along just
+under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of
+air. I was at their church, where I was entertain'd with good musick,
+the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, clarinets,
+etc. I understood that their sermons were not usually preached to
+mixed congregations of men, women, and children, as is our common
+practice, but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other
+times their wives, then the young men, the young women, and the little
+children, each division by itself. The sermon I heard was to the
+latter, who came in and were plac'd in rows on benches; the boys under
+the conduct of a young man, their tutor, and the girls conducted by a
+young woman. The discourse seem'd well adapted to their capacities,
+and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it
+were, to be good. They behav'd very orderly, but looked pale and
+unhealthy, which made me suspect they were kept too much within doors,
+or not allow'd sufficient exercise.
+
+I inquir'd concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the report was
+true that they were by lot. I was told that lots were us'd only in
+particular cases; that generally, when a young man found himself
+dispos'd to marry, he inform'd the elders of his class, who consulted
+the elder ladies that govern'd the young women. As these elders of the
+different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions
+of their respective pupils, they could best judge what matches were
+suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesc'd in; but if,
+for example, it should happen that two or three young women were found
+to be equally proper for the young man, the lot was then recurred to.
+I objected, if the matches are not made by the mutual choice of the
+parties, some of them may chance to be very unhappy. "And so they
+may," answer'd my informer, "if you let the parties chuse for
+themselves;" which, indeed, I could not deny.
+
+Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the association went on
+swimmingly, the inhabitants that were not Quakers having pretty
+generally come into it, formed themselves into companies, and chose
+their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to the new law.
+Dr. B. visited me, and gave me an account of the pains he had taken to
+spread a general good liking to the law, and ascribed much to those
+endeavours. I had had the vanity to ascribe all to my _Dialogue_;
+however, not knowing but that he might be in the right, I let him
+enjoy his opinion, which I take to be generally the best way in such
+cases. The officers, meeting, chose me to be colonel of the regiment,
+which I this time accepted. I forget how many companies we had, but we
+paraded about twelve hundred well-looking men, with a company of
+artillery, who had been furnished with six brass field-pieces, which
+they had become so expert in the use of as to fire twelve times in a
+minute. The first time I reviewed my regiment they accompanied me to
+my house, and would salute me with some rounds fired before my door,
+which shook down and broke several glasses of my electrical apparatus.
+And my new honour proved not much less brittle; for all our
+commissions were soon after broken by a repeal of the law in England.
+
+During this short time of my colonelship, being about to set out on a
+journey to Virginia, the officers of my regiment took it into their
+heads that it would be proper for them to escort me out of town, as
+far as the Lower Ferry. Just as I was getting on horseback they came
+to my door, between thirty and forty, mounted, and all in their
+uniforms. I had not been previously acquainted with the project, or I
+should have prevented it, being naturally averse to the assuming of
+state on any occasion; and I was a good deal chagrin'd at their
+appearance, as I could not avoid their accompanying me. What made it
+worse was, that, as soon as we began to move, they drew their swords
+and rode with them naked all the way. Somebody wrote an account of
+this to the proprietor, and it gave him great offense. No such honour
+had been paid him when in the province, nor to any of his governors;
+and he said it was only proper to princes of the blood royal, which
+may be true for aught I know, who was, and still am, ignorant of the
+etiquette in such cases.
+
+This silly affair, however, greatly increased his rancour against me,
+which was before not a little, on account of my conduct in the
+Assembly respecting the exemption of his estate from taxation, which I
+had always oppos'd very warmly, and not without severe reflections on
+his meanness and injustice of contending for it. He accused me to the
+ministry as being the great obstacle to the King's service,
+preventing, by my influence in the House, the proper form of the bills
+for raising money, and he instanced this parade with my officers as a
+proof of my having an intention to take the government of the province
+out of his hands by force. He also applied to Sir Everard Fawkener,
+the postmaster-general, to deprive me of my office; but it had no
+other effect than to procure from Sir Everard a gentle admonition.
+
+Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the governor and the
+House, in which I, as a member, had so large a share, there still
+subsisted a civil intercourse between that gentleman and myself, and
+we never had any personal difference. I have sometimes since thought
+that his little or no resentment against me, for the answers it was
+known I drew up to his messages, might be the effect of professional
+habit, and that, being bred a lawyer, he might consider us both as
+merely advocates for contending clients in a suit, he for the
+proprietaries and I for the Assembly. He would, therefore, sometimes
+call in a friendly way to advise with me on difficult points, and
+sometimes, tho' not often, take my advice.
+
+We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army with provisions; and,
+when the shocking news arrived of his defeat, the governor sent in
+haste for me, to consult with him on measures for preventing the
+desertion of the back counties. I forget now the advice I gave; but I
+think it was, that Dunbar should be written to, and prevail'd with, if
+possible, to post his troops on the frontiers for their protection,
+till, by reinforcements from the colonies, he might be able to proceed
+on the expedition. And, after my return from the frontier, he would
+have had me undertake the conduct of such an expedition with
+provincial troops, for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, Dunbar and his
+men being otherwise employed; and he proposed to commission me as
+general. I had not so good an opinion of my military abilities as he
+profess'd to have, and I believe his professions must have exceeded
+his real sentiments; but probably he might think that my popularity
+would facilitate the raising of the men, and my influence in Assembly,
+the grant of money to pay them, and that, perhaps, without taxing the
+proprietary estate. Finding me not so forward to engage as he
+expected, the project was dropt, and he soon after left the
+government, being superseded by Captain Denny.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS
+
+
+Before I proceed in relating the part I had in public affairs under
+this new governor's administration, it may not be amiss here to give
+some account of the rise and progress of my philosophical reputation.
+
+In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. Spence, who was
+lately arrived from Scotland, and show'd me some electric experiments.
+They were imperfectly perform'd, as he was not very expert; but, being
+on a subject quite new to me, they equally surpris'd and pleased me.
+Soon after my return to Philadelphia, our library company receiv'd
+from Mr. P. Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society[106] of London, a
+present of a glass tube, with some account of the use of it in making
+such experiments. I eagerly seized the opportunity of repeating what I
+had seen at Boston; and, by much practice, acquired great readiness in
+performing those, also, which we had an account of from England,
+adding a number of new ones. I say much practice, for my house was
+continually full, for some time, with people who came to see these new
+wonders.
+
+    [106] The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural
+    Knowledge was founded in 1660 and holds the foremost
+    place among English societies for the advancement of
+    science.
+
+To divide a little this incumbrance among my friends, I caused a
+number of similar tubes to be blown at our glass-house, with which
+they furnish'd themselves, so that we had at length several
+performers. Among these, the principal was Mr. Kinnersley, an
+ingenious neighbour, who, being out of business, I encouraged to
+undertake showing the experiments for money, and drew up for him two
+lectures, in which the experiments were rang'd in such order, and
+accompanied with such explanations in such method, as that the
+foregoing should assist in comprehending the following. He procur'd an
+elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which all the little machines
+that I had roughly made for myself were nicely form'd by
+instrument-makers. His lectures were well attended, and gave great
+satisfaction; and after some time he went thro' the colonies,
+exhibiting them in every capital town, and pick'd up some money. In
+the West India islands, indeed, it was with difficulty the experiments
+could be made, from the general moisture of the air.
+
+Oblig'd as we were to Mr. Collinson for his present of the tube, etc.,
+I thought it right he should be inform'd of our success in using it,
+and wrote him several letters containing accounts of our experiments.
+He got them read in the Royal Society, where they were not at first
+thought worth so much notice as to be printed in their Transactions.
+One paper, which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the sameness of
+lightning with electricity,[107] I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an acquaintance
+of mine, and one of the members also of that society, who wrote me
+word that it had been read, but was laughed at by the connoisseurs.
+The papers, however, being shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of
+too much value to be stifled, and advis'd the printing of them. Mr.
+Collinson then gave them to _Cave_ for publication in his Gentleman's
+Magazine; but he chose to print them separately in a pamphlet, and Dr.
+Fothergill wrote the preface. Cave, it seems, judged rightly for his
+profit, for by the additions that arrived afterward, they swell'd to a
+quarto volume, which has had five editions, and cost him nothing for
+copy-money.
+
+    [107] See page 327.
+
+It was, however, some time before those papers were much taken notice
+of in England. A copy of them happening to fall into the hands of the
+Count de Buffon,[108] a philosopher deservedly of great reputation in
+France, and, indeed, all over Europe, he prevailed with M. Dalibard[109]
+to translate them into French, and they were printed at Paris. The
+publication offended the Abbe Nollet, preceptor in Natural Philosophy
+to the royal family, and an able experimenter, who had form'd and
+publish'd a theory of electricity, which then had the general vogue.
+He could not at first believe that such a work came from America, and
+said it must have been fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to decry
+his system. Afterwards, having been assur'd that there really existed
+such a person as Franklin at Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he
+wrote and published a volume of Letters, chiefly address'd to me,
+defending his theory, and denying the verity of my experiments, and of
+the positions deduc'd from them.
+
+    [108] A celebrated French naturalist (1707-1788).
+
+    [109] Dalibard, who had translated Franklin's letters to
+    Collinson into French, was the first to demonstrate, in
+    a practical application of Franklin's experiment, that
+    lightning and electricity are the same. "This was May
+    10th, 1752, one month before Franklin flew his famous
+    kite at Philadelphia and proved the fact
+    himself."--McMaster.
+
+I once purpos'd answering the abbe, and actually began the answer;
+but, on consideration that my writings contained a description of
+experiments which anyone might repeat and verify, and if not to be
+verifi'd, could not be defended; or of observations offer'd as
+conjectures, and not delivered dogmatically, therefore not laying me
+under any obligation to defend them; and reflecting that a dispute
+between two persons, writing in different languages, might be
+lengthened greatly by mistranslations, and thence misconceptions of
+one another's meaning, much of one of the abbe's letters being founded
+on an error in the translation, I concluded to let my papers shift for
+themselves, believing it was better to spend what time I could spare
+from public business in making new experiments, than in disputing
+about those already made. I therefore never answered M. Nollet, and
+the event gave me no cause to repent my silence; for my friend M. le
+Roy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and refuted
+him; my book was translated into the Italian, German, and Latin
+languages; and the doctrine it contain'd was by degrees universally
+adopted by the philosophers of Europe, in preference to that of the
+abbe; so that he lived to see himself the last of his sect, except
+Monsieur B----, of Paris, his _eleve_ and immediate disciple.
+
+What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, was the
+success of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messrs. Dalibard
+and De Lor at Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This
+engag'd the public attention everywhere. M. de Lor, who had an
+apparatus for experimental philosophy, and lectur'd in that branch of
+science, undertook to repeat what he called the _Philadelphia
+Experiments_; and, after they were performed before the king and
+court, all the curious of Paris flocked to see them. I will not swell
+this narrative with an account of that capital experiment, nor of the
+infinite pleasure I receiv'd in the success of a similar one I made
+soon after with a kite at Philadelphia, as both are to be found in the
+histories of electricity.
+
+Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to a friend,
+who was of the Royal Society, an account of the high esteem my
+experiments were in among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that
+my writings had been so little noticed in England. The society, on
+this, resum'd the consideration of the letters that had been read to
+them; and the celebrated Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of them,
+and of all I had afterwards sent to England on the subject, which he
+accompanied with some praise of the writer. This summary was then
+printed in their Transactions; and some members of the society in
+London, particularly the very ingenious Mr. Canton, having verified
+the experiment of procuring lightning from the clouds by a pointed
+rod, and acquainting them with the success, they soon made me more
+than amends for the slight with which they had before treated me.
+Without my having made any application for that honour, they chose me
+a member, and voted that I should be excus'd the customary payments,
+which would have amounted to twenty-five guineas; and ever since have
+given me their Transactions gratis. They also presented me with the
+gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley[110] for the year 1753, the delivery of
+which was accompanied by a very handsome speech of the president, Lord
+Macclesfield, wherein I was highly honoured.
+
+    [110] An English baronet (died in 1709), donator of a fund
+    of L100, "in trust for the Royal Society of London for
+    improving natural knowledge."
+
+[Illustration: Gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley.]
+
+
+
+
+XIX
+
+AGENT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN
+LONDON
+
+
+Our new governor, Captain Denny, brought over for me the
+before mentioned medal from the Royal Society, which he presented to
+me at an entertainment given him by the city. He accompanied it with
+very polite expressions of his esteem for me, having, as he said, been
+long acquainted with my character. After dinner, when the company, as
+was customary at that time, were engag'd in drinking, he took me aside
+into another room, and acquainted me that he had been advis'd by his
+friends in England to cultivate a friendship with me, as one who was
+capable of giving him the best advice, and of contributing most
+effectually to the making his administration easy; that he therefore
+desired of all things to have a good understanding with me, and he
+begged me to be assured of his readiness on all occasions to render me
+every service that might be in his power. He said much to me, also, of
+the proprietor's good disposition towards the province, and of the
+advantage it might be to us all, and to me in particular, if the
+opposition that had been so long continu'd to his measures was dropt,
+and harmony restor'd between him and the people; in effecting which,
+it was thought no one could be more serviceable than myself; and I
+might depend on adequate acknowledgments and recompenses, etc., etc.
+The drinkers, finding we did not return immediately to the table, sent
+us a decanter of Madeira, which the governor made liberal use of, and
+in proportion became more profuse of his solicitations and promises.
+
+My answers were to this purpose: that my circumstances, thanks to God,
+were such as to make proprietary favours unnecessary to me; and that,
+being a member of the Assembly, I could not possibly accept of any;
+that, however, I had no personal enmity to the proprietary, and that,
+whenever the public measures he propos'd should appear to be for the
+good of the people, no one should espouse and forward them more
+zealously than myself; my past opposition having been founded on this,
+that the measures which had been urged were evidently intended to
+serve the proprietary interest, with great prejudice to that of the
+people; that I was much obliged to him (the governor) for his
+professions of regard to me, and that he might rely on everything in
+my power to make his administration as easy as possible, hoping at the
+same time that he had not brought with him the same unfortunate
+instruction his predecessor had been hampered with.
+
+On this he did not then explain himself; but when he afterwards came
+to do business with the Assembly, they appear'd again, the disputes
+were renewed, and I was as active as ever in the opposition, being the
+penman, first, of the request to have a communication of the
+instructions, and then of the remarks upon them, which may be found in
+the votes of the time, and in the Historical Review I afterward
+publish'd. But between us personally no enmity arose; we were often
+together; he was a man of letters, had seen much of the world, and was
+very entertaining and pleasing in conversation. He gave me the first
+information that my old friend Jas. Ralph was still alive; that he was
+esteem'd one of the best political writers in England; had been
+employed in the dispute[111] between Prince Frederic and the king, and
+had obtain'd a pension of three hundred a year; that his reputation
+was indeed small as a poet, Pope having damned his poetry in the
+_Dunciad_,[112] but his prose was thought as good as any man's.
+
+    [111] Quarrel between George II and his son, Frederick,
+    Prince of Wales, who died before his father.
+
+    [112] A satirical poem by Alexander Pope directed against
+    various contemporary writers.
+
+The Assembly finally finding the proprietary obstinately persisted in
+manacling their deputies with instructions inconsistent not only with
+the privileges of the people, but with the service of the crown,
+resolv'd to petition the king against them, and appointed me their
+agent to go over to England, to present and support the petition. The
+House had sent up a bill to the governor, granting a sum of sixty
+thousand pounds for the king's use (ten thousand pounds of which was
+subjected to the orders of the then general, Lord Loudoun), which the
+governor absolutely refus'd to pass, in compliance with his
+instructions.
+
+I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet at New York, for my
+passage, and my stores were put on board, when Lord Loudoun arriv'd at
+Philadelphia, expressly, as he told me, to endeavour an accommodation
+between the governor and Assembly, that his majesty's service might
+not be obstructed by their dissensions. Accordingly, he desir'd the
+governor and myself to meet him, that he might hear what was to be
+said on both sides. We met and discussed the business. In behalf of
+the Assembly, I urged all the various arguments that may be found in
+the public papers of that time, which were of my writing, and are
+printed with the minutes of the Assembly; and the governor pleaded his
+instructions, the bond he had given to observe them, and his ruin if
+he disobey'd, yet seemed not unwilling to hazard himself if Lord
+Loudoun would advise it. This his lordship did not chuse to do, though
+I once thought I had nearly prevail'd with him to do it; but finally
+he rather chose to urge the compliance of the Assembly; and he
+entreated me to use my endeavours with them for that purpose,
+declaring that he would spare none of the king's troops for the
+defense of our frontiers, and that, if we did not continue to provide
+for that defense ourselves, they must remain expos'd to the enemy.
+
+I acquainted the House with what had pass'd, and, presenting them with
+a set of resolutions I had drawn up, declaring our rights, and that we
+did not relinquish our claim to those rights, but only suspended the
+exercise of them on this occasion thro' _force_, against which we
+protested, they at length agreed to drop that bill, and frame another
+conformable to the proprietary instructions. This of course the
+governor pass'd, and I was then at liberty to proceed on my voyage.
+But, in the meantime, the packet had sailed with my sea-stores, which
+was some loss to me, and my only recompense was his lordship's thanks
+for my service, all the credit of obtaining the accommodation falling
+to his share.
+
+He set out for New York before me; and, as the time for dispatching
+the packet-boats was at his disposition, and there were two then
+remaining there, one of which, he said, was to sail very soon, I
+requested to know the precise time, that I might not miss her by any
+delay of mine. His answer was, "I have given out that she is to sail
+on Saturday next; but I may let you know, _entre nous_, that if you
+are there by Monday morning, you will be in time, but do not delay
+longer." By some accidental hindrance at a ferry, it was Monday noon
+before I arrived, and I was much afraid she might have sailed, as the
+wind was fair; but I was soon made easy by the information that she
+was still in the harbor, and would not move till the next day. One
+would imagine that I was now on the very point of departing for
+Europe. I thought so; but I was not then so well acquainted with his
+lordship's character, of which _indecision_ was one of the strongest
+features. I shall give some instances. It was about the beginning of
+April that I came to New York, and I think it was near the end of June
+before we sail'd. There were then two of the packet-boats, which had
+been long in port, but were detained for the general's letters, which
+were always to be ready to-morrow. Another packet arriv'd; she too was
+detain'd; and, before we sail'd, a fourth was expected. Ours was the
+first to be dispatch'd, as having been there longest. Passengers were
+engaged in all, and some extremely impatient to be gone, and the
+merchants uneasy about their letters, and the orders they had given
+for insurance (it being war time) for fall goods; but their anxiety
+avail'd nothing; his lordship's letters were not ready; and yet
+whoever waited on him found him always at his desk, pen in hand, and
+concluded he must needs write abundantly.
+
+Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I found in his
+antechamber one Innis, a messenger of Philadelphia, who had come from
+thence express with a packet from Governor Denny for the general. He
+delivered to me some letters from my friends there, which occasion'd
+my inquiring when he was to return, and where he lodg'd, that I might
+send some letters by him. He told me he was order'd to call to-morrow
+at nine for the general's answer to the governor, and should set off
+immediately. I put my letters into his hands the same day. A fortnight
+after I met him again in the same place. "So, you are soon return'd,
+Innis?" "_Return'd_! no, I am not _gone_ yet." "How so?" "I have
+called here by order every morning these two weeks past for his
+lordship's letter, and it is not yet ready." "Is it possible, when he
+is so great a writer? for I see him constantly at his escritoire."
+"Yes," says Innis, "but he is like St. George on the signs, _always on
+horseback, and never rides on_." This observation of the messenger
+was, it seems, well founded; for, when in England, I understood that
+Mr. Pitt[113] gave it as one reason for removing this general, and
+sending Generals Amherst and Wolfe, _that the minister never heard
+from him, and could not know what he was doing_.
+
+    [113] William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham (1708-1778), a
+    great English statesman and orator. Under his able
+    administration, England won Canada from France. He was a
+    friend of America at the time of our Revolution.
+
+This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three packets going
+down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet there, the passengers thought it
+best to be on board, lest by a sudden order the ships should sail, and
+they be left behind. There, if I remember right, we were about six
+weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and oblig'd to procure more. At
+length the fleet sail'd, the general and all his army on board, bound
+to Louisburg, with the intent to besiege and take that fortress; all
+the packet-boats in company ordered to attend the general's ship,
+ready to receive his dispatches when they should be ready. We were out
+five days before we got a letter with leave to part, and then our ship
+quitted the fleet and steered for England. The other two packets he
+still detained, carried them with him to Halifax, where he stayed some
+time to exercise the men in sham attacks upon sham forts, then altered
+his mind as to besieging Louisburg, and returned to New York, with all
+his troops, together with the two packets above mentioned, and all
+their passengers! During his absence the French and savages had taken
+Fort George, on the frontier of that province, and the savages had
+massacred many of the garrison after capitulation.
+
+I saw afterwards in London Captain Bonnell, who commanded one of those
+packets. He told me that, when he had been detain'd a month, he
+acquainted his lordship that his ship was grown foul, to a degree that
+must necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a point of consequence for a
+packet-boat, and requested an allowance of time to heave her down and
+clean her bottom. He was asked how long time that would require. He
+answered, three days. The general replied, "If you can do it in one
+day, I give leave; otherwise not; for you must certainly sail the day
+after to-morrow." So he never obtain'd leave, though detained
+afterwards from day to day during full three months.
+
+I saw also in London one of Bonnell's passengers, who was so enrag'd
+against his lordship for deceiving and detaining him so long at New
+York, and then carrying him to Halifax and back again, that he swore
+he would sue him for damages. Whether he did or not, I never heard;
+but, as he represented the injury to his affairs, it was very
+considerable.
+
+On the whole, I wonder'd much how such a man came to be intrusted[114]
+with so important a business as the conduct of a great army; but,
+having since seen more of the great world, and the means of obtaining,
+and motives for giving places, my wonder is diminished. General
+Shirley, on whom the command of the army devolved upon the death of
+Braddock, would, in my opinion, if continued in place, have made a
+much better campaign than that of Loudoun in 1757, which was
+frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful to our nation beyond conception;
+for, tho' Shirley was not a bred soldier, he was sensible and
+sagacious in himself, and attentive to good advice from others,
+capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and active in carrying
+them into execution. Loudoun, instead of defending the colonies with
+his great army, left them totally expos'd while he paraded idly at
+Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost, besides, he derang'd all
+our mercantile operations, and distress'd our trade, by a long embargo
+on the exportation of provisions, on pretence of keeping supplies from
+being obtain'd by the enemy, but in reality for beating down their
+price in favour of the contractors, in whose profits, it was said,
+perhaps from suspicion only, he had a share. And, when at length the
+embargo was taken off, by neglecting to send notice of it to
+Charlestown, the Carolina fleet was detain'd near three months longer,
+whereby their bottoms were so much damaged by the worm that a great
+part of them foundered in their passage home.
+
+    [114] This relation illustrates the corruption that
+    characterized English public life in the eighteenth
+    century. (See page 308). It was gradually overcome in
+    the early part of the next century.
+
+Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being relieved from so
+burdensome a charge as the conduct of an army must be to a man
+unacquainted with military business. I was at the entertainment given
+by the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his taking upon him the
+command. Shirley, tho' thereby superseded, was present also. There was
+a great company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, some chairs
+having been borrowed in the neighborhood, there was one among them
+very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. Perceiving it as I sat
+by him, I said, "They have given you, sir, too low a seat." "No
+matter," says he, "Mr. Franklin, I find _a low seat_ the easiest."
+
+While I was, as afore mention'd, detain'd at New York, I receiv'd all
+the accounts of the provisions, etc., that I had furnish'd to
+Braddock, some of which accounts could not sooner be obtain'd from the
+different persons I had employ'd to assist in the business. I
+presented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be paid the balance. He
+caus'd them to be regularly examined by the proper officer, who, after
+comparing every article with its voucher, certified them to be right;
+and the balance due for which his lordship promis'd to give me an
+order on the paymaster. This was, however, put off from time to time;
+and tho' I call'd often for it by appointment, I did not get it. At
+length, just before my departure, he told me he had, on better
+consideration, concluded not to mix his accounts with those of his
+predecessors. "And you," says he, "when in England, have only to
+exhibit your accounts at the treasury, and you will be paid
+immediately."
+
+I mention'd, but without effect, the great and unexpected expense I
+had been put to by being detain'd so long at New York, as a reason for
+my desiring to be presently paid; and on my observing that it was not
+right I should be put to any further trouble or delay in obtaining the
+money I had advanc'd, as I charged no commission for my service, "O,
+Sir," says he, "you must not think of persuading us that you are no
+gainer; we understand better those affairs, and know that every one
+concerned in supplying the army finds means, in the doing it, to fill
+his own pockets." I assur'd him that was not my case, and that I had
+not pocketed a farthing; but he appear'd clearly not to believe me;
+and, indeed, I have since learnt that immense fortunes are often made
+in such employments. As to my balance, I am not paid it to
+this day, of which more hereafter.
+
+Our captain of the paquet had boasted much, before we sailed, of the
+swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she proved
+the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his no small mortification. After
+many conjectures respecting the cause, when we were near another ship
+almost as dull as ours, which, however, gain'd upon us, the captain
+ordered all hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as
+possible. We were, passengers included, about forty persons. While we
+stood there, the ship mended her pace, and soon left her neighbour far
+behind, which prov'd clearly what our captain suspected, that she was
+loaded too much by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had been
+all plac'd forward; these he therefore order'd to be mov'd further
+aft, on which the ship recover'd her character, and proved the best
+sailer in the fleet.
+
+The captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen knots,
+which is accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had on board, as a
+passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who contended that it was
+impossible, and that no ship ever sailed so fast, and that there must
+have been some error in the division of the log-line, or some mistake
+in heaving the log.[115] A wager ensu'd between the two captains, to be
+decided when there should be sufficient wind. Kennedy thereupon
+examin'd rigorously the log-line, and, being satisfi'd with that, he
+determin'd to throw the log himself. Accordingly some days after, when
+the wind blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of the
+paquet, Lutwidge, said he believ'd she then went at the rate of
+thirteen knots, Kennedy made the experiment, and own'd his wager lost.
+
+    [115] A piece of wood shaped and weighted so as to keep it
+    stable when in the water. To this is attached a line
+    knotted at regular distances. By these devices it is
+    possible to tell the speed of a ship.
+
+The above fact I give for the sake of the following observation. It
+has been remark'd, as an imperfection in the art of ship-building,
+that it can never be known, till she is tried, whether a new ship will
+or will not be a good sailer; for that the model of a good-sailing
+ship has been exactly follow'd in a new one, which has prov'd, on the
+contrary, remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly be
+occasion'd by the different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of
+lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the
+same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders of one captain, shall
+sail better or worse than when by the orders of another. Besides, it
+scarce ever happens that a ship is form'd, fitted for the sea, and
+sail'd by the same person. One man builds the hull, another rigs her,
+a third lades and sails her. No one of these has the advantage of
+knowing all the ideas and experience of the others, and, therefore,
+cannot draw just conclusions from a combination of the whole.
+
+Even in the simple operation of sailing when at sea, I have often
+observ'd different judgments in the officers who commanded the
+successive watches, the wind being the same. One would have the sails
+trimm'd sharper or flatter than another, so that they seem'd to have
+no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of experiments might
+be instituted; first, to determine the most proper form of the hull
+for swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for
+the masts; then the form and quantity of sails, and their position, as
+the wind may be; and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is
+an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combin'd
+would be of great use. I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some
+ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish success.
+
+[Illustration: Sailing ship]
+
+We were several times chas'd in our passage, but out-sail'd every
+thing, and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good observation,
+and the captain judg'd himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if we
+made a good run in the night, we might be off the mouth of that harbor
+in the morning, and by running in the night might escape the notice of
+the enemy's privateers, who often cruis'd near the entrance of the
+channel. Accordingly, all the sail was set that we could possibly
+make, and the wind being very fresh and fair, we went right before it,
+and made great way. The captain, after his observation, shap'd his
+course, as he thought, so as to pass wide of the Scilly Isles; but it
+seems there is sometimes a strong indraught setting up St. George's
+Channel, which deceives seamen and caused the loss of Sir Cloudesley
+Shovel's squadron. This indraught was probably the cause of what
+happened to us.
+
+We had a watchman plac'd in the bow, to whom they often called, "_Look
+well out before there_," and he as often answered, "_Ay, ay_"; but
+perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time, they
+sometimes answering, as is said, mechanically; for he did not see a
+light just before us, which had been hid by the studding-sails from
+the man at the helm, and from the rest of the watch, but by an
+accidental yaw of the ship was discover'd, and occasion'd a great
+alarm, we being very near it, the light appearing to me as big as a
+cartwheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast asleep; but Captain
+Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship to
+wear round, all sails standing; an operation dangerous to the masts,
+but it carried us clear, and we escaped shipwreck, for we were running
+right upon the rocks on which the lighthouse was erected. This
+deliverance impressed me strongly with the utility of lighthouses, and
+made me resolve to encourage the building more of them in America if I
+should live to return there.
+
+In the morning it was found by the soundings, etc., that we were near
+our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About nine
+o'clock the fog began to rise, and seem'd to be lifted up from the
+water like the curtain at a play-house, discovering underneath, the
+town of Falmouth, the vessels in its harbor, and the fields that
+surrounded it. This was a most pleasing spectacle to those who had
+been so long without any other prospects than the uniform view of a
+vacant ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure as we were now free
+from the anxieties which the state of war occasion'd.
+
+I set out immediately, with my son, for London, and we only stopt a
+little by the way to view Stonehenge[116] on Salisbury Plain, and Lord
+Pembroke's house and gardens, with his very curious antiquities at
+Wilton. We arrived in London the 27th of July, 1757.[117]
+
+    [116] A celebrated prehistoric ruin, probably of a temple
+    built by the early Britons, near Salisbury, England. It
+    consists of inner and outer circles of enormous stones,
+    some of which are connected by stone slabs.
+
+    [117] "Here terminates the _Autobiography_, as published
+    by Wm. Temple Franklin and his successors. What follows
+    was written in the last year of Dr. Franklin's life, and
+    was never before printed in English."--Mr. Bigelow's
+    note in his edition of 1868.
+
+As soon as I was settled in a lodging Mr. Charles had provided for me,
+I went to visit Dr. Fothergill, to whom I was strongly recommended,
+and whose counsel respecting my proceedings I was advis'd to obtain.
+He was against an immediate complaint to government, and thought the
+proprietaries should first be personally appli'd to, who might
+possibly be induc'd by the interposition and persuasion of some
+private friends, to accommodate matters amicably. I then waited on my
+old friend and correspondent, Mr. Peter Collinson, who told me that
+John Hanbury, the great Virginia merchant, had requested to be
+informed when I should arrive, that he might carry me to Lord
+Granville's,[118] who was then President of the Council and wished to
+see me as soon as possible. I agreed to go with him the next morning.
+Accordingly Mr. Hanbury called for me and took me in his carriage to
+that nobleman's, who receiv'd me with great civility; and after some
+questions respecting the present state of affairs in America and
+discourse thereupon, he said to me: "You Americans have wrong ideas of
+the nature of your constitution; you contend that the king's
+instructions to his governors are not laws, and think yourselves at
+liberty to regard or disregard them at your own discretion. But those
+instructions are not like the pocket instructions given to a minister
+going abroad, for regulating his conduct in some trifling point of
+ceremony. They are first drawn up by judges learned in the laws; they
+are then considered, debated, and perhaps amended in Council, after
+which they are signed by the king. They are then, so far as they
+relate to you, the _law of the land_, for the king is the Legislator
+of the Colonies,"[119] I told his lordship this was new doctrine to me.
+I had always understood from our charters that our laws were to be
+made by our Assemblies, to be presented indeed to the king for his
+royal assent, but that being once given the king could not repeal or
+alter them. And as the Assemblies could not make permanent laws
+without his assent, so neither could he make a law for them without
+theirs. He assur'd me I was totally mistaken. I did not think so,
+however, and his lordship's conversation having a little alarm'd me as
+to what might be the sentiments of the court concerning us, I wrote it
+down as soon as I return'd to my lodgings. I recollected that about 20
+years before, a clause in a bill brought into Parliament by the
+ministry had propos'd to make the king's instructions laws in the
+colonies, but the clause was thrown out by the Commons, for which we
+adored them as our friends and friends of liberty, till by their
+conduct towards us in 1765 it seem'd that they had refus'd that point
+of sovereignty to the king only that they might reserve it for
+themselves.
+
+    [118] George Granville or Grenville (1712-1770). As
+    English premier from 1763 to 1765, he introduced the
+    direct taxation of the American Colonies and has
+    sometimes been called the immediate cause of the
+    Revolution.
+
+    [119] This whole passage shows how hopelessly divergent
+    were the English and American views on the relations
+    between the mother country and her colonies. Grenville
+    here made clear that the Americans were to have no voice
+    in making or amending their laws. Parliament and the
+    king were to have absolute power over the colonies. No
+    wonder Franklin was alarmed by this new doctrine. With
+    his keen insight into human nature and his consequent
+    knowledge of American character, he foresaw the
+    inevitable result of such an attitude on the part of
+    England. This conversation with Grenville makes these
+    last pages of the _Autobiography_ one of its most
+    important parts.
+
+After some days, Dr. Fothergill having spoken to the proprietaries,
+they agreed to a meeting with me at Mr. T. Penn's house in Spring
+Garden. The conversation at first consisted of mutual declarations of
+disposition to reasonable accommodations, but I suppose each party had
+its own ideas of what should be meant by _reasonable_. We then went
+into consideration of our several points of complaint, which I
+enumerated. The proprietaries justify'd their conduct as well as they
+could, and I the Assembly's. We now appeared very wide, and so far
+from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of
+agreement. However, it was concluded that I should give them the heads
+of our complaints in writing, and they promis'd then to consider them.
+I did so soon after, but they put the paper into the hands of their
+solicitor, Ferdinand John Paris, who managed for them all their law
+business in their great suit with the neighbouring proprietary of
+Maryland, Lord Baltimore, which had subsisted 70 years, and wrote for
+them all their papers and messages in their dispute with the Assembly.
+He was a proud, angry man, and as I had occasionally in the answers of
+the Assembly treated his papers with some severity, they being really
+weak in point of argument and haughty in expression, he had conceived a
+mortal enmity to me, which discovering itself whenever we met, I
+declin'd the proprietary's proposal that he and I should discuss the
+heads of complaint between our two selves, and refus'd treating with
+anyone but them. They then by his advice put the paper into the hands
+of the Attorney and Solicitor-General for their opinion and counsel
+upon it, where it lay unanswered a year wanting eight days, during
+which time I made frequent demands of an answer from the
+proprietaries, but without obtaining any other than that they had not
+yet received the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. What
+it was when they did receive it I never learnt, for they did not
+communicate it to me, but sent a long message to the Assembly drawn
+and signed by Paris, reciting my paper, complaining of its want of
+formality, as a rudeness on my part, and giving a flimsy justification
+of their conduct, adding that they should be willing to accommodate
+matters if the Assembly would send out _some person of candour_ to
+treat with them for that purpose, intimating thereby that I was not
+such.
+
+[Illustration: "We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other
+in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement"]
+
+The want of formality or rudeness was, probably, my not having
+address'd the paper to them with their assum'd titles of True and
+Absolute Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, which I
+omitted as not thinking it necessary in a paper, the intention of
+which was only to reduce to a certainty by writing, what in
+conversation I had delivered _viva voce_.
+
+But during this delay, the Assembly having prevailed with Gov'r Denny
+to pass an act taxing the proprietary estate in common with the
+estates of the people, which was the grand point in dispute, they
+omitted answering the message.
+
+When this act however came over, the proprietaries, counselled by
+Paris, determined to oppose its receiving the royal assent.
+Accordingly they petitioned the king in Council, and a hearing was
+appointed in which two lawyers were employ'd by them against the act,
+and two by me in support of it. They alledg'd that the act was
+intended to load the proprietary estate in order to spare those of the
+people, and that if it were suffer'd to continue in force, and the
+proprietaries, who were in odium with the people, left to their mercy
+in proportioning the taxes, they would inevitably be ruined. We
+reply'd that the act had no such intention, and would have no such
+effect. That the assessors were honest and discreet men under an oath
+to assess fairly and equitably, and that any advantage each of them
+might expect in lessening his own tax by augmenting that of the
+proprietaries was too trifling to induce them to perjure themselves.
+This is the purport of what I remember as urged by both sides, except
+that we insisted strongly on the mischievous consequences that must
+attend a repeal, for that the money, L100,000, being printed and given
+to the king's use, expended in his service, and now spread among the
+people, the repeal would strike it dead in their hands to the ruin of
+many, and the total discouragement of future grants, and the
+selfishness of the proprietors in soliciting such a general
+catastrophe, merely from a groundless fear of their estate being taxed
+too highly, was insisted on in the strongest terms. On this, Lord
+Mansfield, one of the counsel, rose, and beckoning me took me into the
+clerk's chamber, while the lawyers were pleading, and asked me if I
+was really of opinion that no injury would be done the proprietary
+estate in the execution of the act. I said certainly. "Then," says he,
+"you can have little objection to enter into an engagement to assure
+that point." I answer'd, "None at all." He then call'd in Paris, and
+after some discourse, his lordship's proposition was accepted on both
+sides; a paper to the purpose was drawn up by the Clerk of the
+Council, which I sign'd with Mr. Charles, who was also an Agent of the
+Province for their ordinary affairs, when Lord Mansfield returned to
+the Council Chamber, where finally the law was allowed to pass. Some
+changes were however recommended and we also engaged they should be
+made by a subsequent law, but the Assembly did not think them
+necessary; for one year's tax having been levied by the act before the
+order of Council arrived, they appointed a committee to examine the
+proceedings of the assessors, and on this committee they put several
+particular friends of the proprietaries. After a full enquiry, they
+unanimously sign'd a report that they found the tax had been assess'd
+with perfect equity.
+
+The Assembly looked into my entering into the first part of the
+engagement, as an essential service to the Province, since it secured
+the credit of the paper money then spread over all the country. They
+gave me their thanks in form when I return'd. But the proprietaries
+were enraged at Governor Denny for having pass'd the act, and turn'd
+him out with threats of suing him for breach of instructions which he
+had given bond to observe. He, however, having done it at the instance
+of the General, and for His Majesty's service, and having some
+powerful interest at court, despis'd the threats and they were never
+put in execution.... [unfinished]
+
+[Illustration: Medal with inscription: BENJ. FRANLIN NATUS BOSTON XVII,
+JAN. MDCCVI.]
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+
+
+ELECTRICAL KITE
+
+
+To Peter Collinson
+
+[Philadelphia], Oct. 19, 1752.
+
+Sir,
+
+As frequent mention is made in public papers from Europe of the
+success of the _Philadelphia_ experiment for drawing the electric fire
+from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high
+buildings, &c., it may be agreeable to the curious to be informed,
+that the same experiment has succeeded in _Philadelphia_, though made
+in a different and more easy manner, which is as follows:
+
+Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as
+to reach to the four corners of a large, thin silk handkerchief when
+extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of
+the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which being properly
+accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like
+those made of paper; but this being of silk, is fitter to bear the wet
+and wind of a thunder-gust without tearing. To the top of the upright
+stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a
+foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand,
+is to be tied a silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key
+may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust appears
+to be coming on, and the person who holds the string must stand within
+a door or window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not
+be wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame
+of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over
+the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and
+the kite, with all the twine will be electrified, and the loose
+filaments of the twine will stand out every way and be attracted by an
+approaching finger. And when the rain has wet the kite and twine, so
+that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream
+out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this
+key the phial may be charged; and from electric fire thus obtained,
+spirits may be kindled, and all the electric experiments be performed,
+which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube,
+and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning
+completely demonstrated.
+
+B. Franklin.
+
+[Illustration: "You will find it stream out plentifully from the key
+on the approach of your knuckle"]
+
+[Illustration: Father _Abraham_ in his STUDY with the following text:
+
+    The Shade of Him who Counsel can bestow, Still pleas'd
+    to teach, and yet not proud to know; Unbias'd or by
+    Favour or by Spite; Nor dully prepossess'd, nor blindly
+    right; Tho learn'd, well-bred; and, tho well-bred,
+    sincere; Modestly bold, and humanely severe; Who to a
+    Friend his Faults can sweetly show. And gladly praise
+    the Merit of a Foe. Here, there he sits, his chearful
+    Aid to lend; A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted Friend,
+    Averse alike to flatter or offend.
+
+_Printed by_ Benjamin Mecom, _at the_ New
+Printing-Office, (_near the_ Town-House, _in_ Boston) _where_
+BOOKS _are Sold, and_ PRINTING-WORK _done, Cheap_.
+
+He's rarely _warm_ in Censure or in Praise:
+
+_Good-Nature, Wit_, and _Judgment_ round him wait;
+And thus he sits _inthron'd_ in _Classick-State_:
+
+To Failings mild, but zealous for Desert;
+The clearest Head, and the sincerest Heart.
+
+Few Men deserve our _Passion_ either Ways.]
+
+From "Father Abraham's Speech," 1760. Reproduced from
+a copy at the New York Public Library.
+
+
+
+
+THE WAY TO WEALTH
+
+(From "Father Abraham's Speech," forming
+the preface to Poor _Richard's Almanac_ for 1758.)
+
+It would be thought a hard Government that should tax its People
+one-tenth Part of their _Time_, to be employed in its Service. But
+_Idleness_ taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all that is spent
+in absolute _Sloth_, or doing of nothing, with that which is spent in
+idle Employments or Amusements, that amount to nothing. _Sloth_, by
+bringing on Diseases, absolutely shortens Life. _Sloth, like Rust,
+consumes faster than Labor wears; while the used key is always bright,
+as Poor Richard says. But dost thou love Life, then do not squander
+Time, for that's the stuff Life is made of, as Poor Richard_ says. How
+much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that _The
+sleeping Fox catches no Poultry_, and that _There will be sleeping
+enough in the Grave_, as _Poor Richard_ says.
+
+_If Time be of all Things the most precious, wasting Time must be, as
+Poor Richard_ says, _the_ _greatest Prodigality_; since, as he
+elsewhere tells us, _Lost Time is never found again; and what we call
+Time enough, always proves little enough_: Let us then up and be
+doing, and doing to the Purpose; so by Diligence shall we do more with
+less Perplexity. _Sloth makes all Things difficult, but Industry all
+easy_, as _Poor Richard_ says; and _He that riseth late must trot all
+Day, and shall scarce overtake his Business at Night; while Laziness
+travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him_, as we read in
+_Poor Richard_, who adds, _Drive thy Business, let not that drive
+thee_; and _Early to Bed, and early to rise, makes a Man healthy,
+wealthy, and wise._
+
+_Industry need not wish, and he that lives upon Hope will die
+fasting._
+
+_There are no Gains without Pains._
+
+_He that hath a Trade hath an Estate; and he that hath a Calling, hath
+an Office of Profit and Honor_; but then the _Trade_ must be worked
+at, and the _Calling_ well followed, or neither the _Estate_ nor the
+_Office_ will enable us to pay our Taxes.
+
+What though you have found no Treasure, nor has any rich Relation left
+you a Legacy, _Diligence is the Mother of Good-luck_, as _Poor
+Richard_ says, _and God gives all Things to Industry_.
+
+_One To-day is worth two To-morrows_, and farther, _Have you somewhat
+to do To-morrow, do it To-day_.
+
+If you were a Servant, would you not be ashamed that a good Master
+should catch you idle? Are you then your own Master, _be ashamed to
+catch yourself idle_.
+
+Stick to it steadily; and you will see great Effects, for _Constant
+Dropping wears away Stones_, and by _Diligence and Patience the Mouse
+ate in two the Cable_; and _Little Strokes fell great Oaks_.
+
+Methinks I hear some of you say, _Must a Man afford himself no
+Leisure_? I will tell thee, my friend, what _Poor Richard_ says,
+_Employ thy Time well, if thou meanest to gain Leisure; and, since
+thou art not sure of a Minute, throw not away an Hour_. Leisure, is
+Time for doing something useful; this Leisure the diligent Man will
+obtain, but the lazy Man never; so that, as _Poor Richard_ says, _A
+Life of Leisure and a Life of Laziness are two things_.
+
+_Keep thy Shop, and thy Shop will keep thee_; and again, _If you would
+have your business done, go; if not, send._
+
+If you would have a faithful Servant, and one that you like, serve
+yourself.
+
+_A little Neglect may breed great Mischief:_ adding, _for want of a
+Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for
+want of a Horse the Rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the
+Enemy; all for the want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail_.
+
+So much for Industry, my Friends, and Attention to one's own Business;
+but to these we must add _Frugality_.
+
+_What maintains one Vice, would bring up two Children_. You may think
+perhaps, that a _little_ Tea, or a _little_ Punch now and then, Diet a
+_little_ more costly, Clothes a _little_ finer, and a _little_
+Entertainment now and then, can be no _great_ Matter; but remember
+what _Poor Richard_ says, _Many a Little makes a Mickle._
+
+_Beware of little expenses; A small Leak will sink a great Ship_; and
+again, _Who Dainties love, shall Beggars prove_; and moreover, _Fools
+make Feasts, and wise Men eat them._
+
+Buy what thou hast no Need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy
+Necessaries.
+
+If you would know the Value of Money, go and try to borrow some; for,
+he that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
+
+The second Vice is Lying, the first is running in Debt.
+
+_Lying rides upon Debt's Back_.
+
+Poverty often deprives a Man of all Spirit and Virtue: '_Tis hard for
+an empty Bag to stand upright_.
+
+And now to conclude, _Experience keeps a dear School, but Fools will
+learn in no other, and scarce in that_; for it is true, _we may give
+Advice, but we cannot give Conduct_, as _Poor Richard_ says: However,
+remember this, _They that won't be counseled, can't be helped_, as
+_Poor Richard_ says: and farther, That _if you will not hear Reason,
+she'll surely rap your Knuckles_.
+
+
+
+
+THE WHISTLE
+
+
+To Madame Brillon
+
+Passy, November 10, 1779.
+
+I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of
+living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that, in the
+meantime, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my
+opinion, we might all draw more good from it than we do, and suffer
+less evil, if we would take care not to give too much for whistles.
+For to me it seems, that most of the unhappy people we meet with, are
+become so by neglect of that caution.
+
+You ask what I mean? You love stories, and will excuse my telling one
+of myself.
+
+When I was a child of seven year old, my friends, on a holiday, filled
+my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys
+for children; and being charmed with the sound of a _whistle_, that I
+met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and
+gave all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all
+over the house, much pleased with my _whistle_, but disturbing all the
+family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the
+bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as
+it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with
+the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I
+cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the
+_whistle_ gave me pleasure.
+
+This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing
+on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary
+thing, I said to myself, _Don't give too much for the whistle_; and I
+saved my money.
+
+As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I
+thought I met with many, very many, who _gave too much for the
+whistle_.
+
+When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, sacrificing his time in
+attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps
+his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, _This man gives too
+much for his whistle_.
+
+When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in
+political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by
+neglect, _He pays, indeed_, said I, _too much for his whistle_.
+
+If I knew a miser who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all
+the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow
+citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of
+accumulating wealth, _Poor man_, said I, _you pay too much for your
+whistle_.
+
+When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable
+improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal
+sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, _Mistaken man_,
+said I, _you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you
+give too much for your whistle_.
+
+If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine
+furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he
+contracts debts, and ends his career in a prison, _Alas_! say I, _he
+has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle_.
+
+When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured
+brute of a husband, _What a pity_, say I, _that she should pay so much
+for a whistle_!
+
+In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are
+brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value
+of things, and by their _giving too much for their whistles_.
+
+Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I consider,
+that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there are certain
+things in the world so tempting, for example, the apples of King John,
+which happily are not to be bought; for if they were put to sale by
+auction, I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase,
+and find that I had once more given too much for the _whistle_.
+
+Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely and
+with unalterable affection,
+
+B. Franklin.
+
+
+
+
+A LETTER TO SAMUEL MATHER
+
+Passy, May 12, 1784.
+
+Revd Sir,
+
+It is now more than 60 years since I left Boston, but I remember well
+both your father and grandfather, having heard them both in the
+pulpit, and seen them in their houses. The last time I saw your father
+was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip
+to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and on my taking leave
+showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage,
+which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I
+withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him,
+when he said hastily, "_Stoop, stoop!_" I did not understand him, till
+I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed
+any occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, "_You
+are young, and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it,
+and you will miss many hard thumps_." This advice, thus beat into my
+head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it, when
+I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their
+carrying their heads too high.
+
+B. Franklin.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+The last and most complete edition of Franklin's works is that by the
+late Professor Albert H. Smyth, published in ten volumes by the
+Macmillan Company, New York, under the title, _The Writings of
+Benjamin Franklin_. The other standard edition is the _Works of
+Benjamin Franklin_ by John Bigelow (New York, 1887). Mr. Bigelow's
+first edition of the _Autobiography_ in one volume was published by
+the J. B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia in 1868. The life of
+Franklin as a writer is well treated by J. B. McMaster in a volume of
+_The American Men of Letters Series_; his life as a statesman and
+diplomat, by J. T. Morse, _American Statesmen Series_, one volume;
+Houghton, Mifflin Company publish both books. A more exhaustive
+account of the life and times of Franklin may be found in James
+Parton's _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_ (2 vols., New York,
+1864). Paul Leicester Ford's _The Many-Sided Franklin_ is a most
+chatty and readable book, replete with anecdotes and excellently and
+fully illustrated. An excellent criticism by Woodrow Wilson introduces
+an edition of the _Autobiography_ in _The Century Classics_ (Century
+Co., New York, 1901). Interesting magazine articles are those of E. E.
+Hale, _Christian Examiner_, lxxi, 447; W. P. Trent, _McClure's
+Magazine_, viii, 273; John Hay, _The Century Magazine_, lxxi, 447.
+
+See also the histories of American literature by C. F. Richardson,
+Moses Coit Tyler, Brander Matthews, John Nichol, and Barrett Wendell,
+as well as the various encyclopedias. An excellent bibliography of
+Franklin is that of Paul Leicester Ford, entitled _A List of Books
+Written by, or Relating to Benjamin Franklin_ (New York, 1889).
+
+The following list of Franklin's works contains the more interesting
+publications, together with the dates of first issue.
+
+
+_1722. Dogood Papers._
+
+Letters in the style of Addison's _Spectator_, contributed to
+James Franklin's newspaper and signed "Silence Dogood."
+
+_1729. The Busybody._
+
+A series of essays published in Bradford's Philadelphia
+_Weekly Mercury_, six of which only are ascribed to Franklin.
+They are essays on morality, philosophy and politics,
+similar to the _Dogood Papers_.
+
+_1729. A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper
+Currency._
+
+_1732. to 1757. Prefaces to Poor Richard's Almanac._
+
+Among these are _Hints for those that would be Rich_, 1737;
+and _Plan for saving one hundred thousand pounds to New
+Jersey, 1756_.
+
+1_743. A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the
+British Plantations in America._
+
+"This paper appears to contain the first suggestion, in
+any public form, for an _American Philosophical Society_."
+Sparks.
+
+_1744. An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania Fire-Places._
+
+_1749. Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania._
+
+Contains the plan for the school which later became the
+University of Pennsylvania.
+
+_1752. Electrical Kite._
+
+A description of the famous kite experiment, first written in
+a letter to Peter Collinson, dated Oct. 19, 1752, which was
+published later in the same year in _The Gentleman's Magazine_.
+
+_1754. Plan of Union._
+
+A plan for the union of the colonies presented to the
+colonial convention at Albany.
+
+_1755. A Dialogue Between X, Y and Z._
+
+An appeal to enlist in the provincial army for the defense
+of Pennsylvania.
+
+_1758. Father Abraham's Speech._
+
+Published as a preface to Poor Richard's Almanac and
+gathering into one writing the maxims of Poor Richard,
+which had already appeared in previous numbers of the
+Almanac. _The Speech_ was afterwards published in pamphlet
+form as the _Way to Wealth_.
+
+_1760. Of the Means of disposing the Enemy to Peace._
+
+A satirical plea for the prosecution of the war against
+France.
+
+_1760. The Interest of Great Britain Considered, with regard to her
+Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe._
+
+_1764. Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our Public Affairs._
+
+A pamphlet favoring a Royal Government for Pennsylvania
+in exchange for that of the Proprietors.
+
+_1766. The Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, etc., in The
+British House of Commons, Relative to The Repeal of The
+American Stamp Act._
+
+_1773. Rules by which A Great Empire May Be Reduced to a
+Small One._
+
+Some twenty satirical rules embodying the line of conduct
+England was pursuing with America.
+
+_1773. An Edict of The King of Prussia._
+
+A satire in which the King of Prussia was made to treat
+England as England was treating America because England
+was originally settled by Germans.
+
+_1777. Comparison of Great Britain and the United States in Regard
+to the Basis of Credit in The Two Countries._
+
+One of several similar pamphlets written to effect loans
+for the American cause.
+
+_1782. On the Theory of the Earth._
+
+The best of Franklin's papers on geology.
+
+_1782. Letter purporting to emanate from a petty German Prince
+and to be addressed to his officer in Command in America._
+
+_1785. On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys._
+
+_1786. Retort Courteous._
+
+_Sending Felons to America._
+
+Answers to the British clamor for the payment of American
+debts.
+
+1789. _Address to the Public from the Pennsylvania Society for
+           Promoting Abolition of Slavery._
+
+1789. _An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania,
+           viz. The Court of the Press._
+
+1790. _Martin's Account of his Consulship._
+
+           A parody of a pro-slavery speech in Congress.
+
+1791. _Autobiography._
+
+           The first edition.
+
+1818. _Bagatelles._
+
+           The Bagatelles were first published in 1818 in William
+           Temple Franklin's edition of his grandfather's works. The
+           following are the most famous of these essays and the
+           dates when they were written:
+
+
+           1774? _A Parable Against Persecution._
+
+                     Franklin called this the LI Chapter of Genesis.
+
+           1774? _A Parable on Brotherly Love._
+
+           1778. _The Ephemera, an Emblem of Human Life._
+
+                     A new rendition of an earlier essay on Human
+                     Vanity.
+
+           1779. _The Story of the Whistle._
+
+           1779? _The Levee._
+
+           1779? _Proposed New Version of the Bible._
+
+                     Part of the first chapter of _Job_ modernized.
+
+           (1779. Published) _The Morals of Chess._
+
+           1780? _The Handsome and Deformed Leg._
+
+           1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._
+
+                    (Published in 1802.)
+
+1802. _A Petition of the Left Hand._
+
+1806. _The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams._
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL GIVEN BY THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM THE
+FRANKLIN FUND]
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriptions of newspaper pages]
+
+
+[Page 1 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_,].
+
+
+Numb. XL.
+
+THE
+
+Pennsylvania _GAZETTE_.
+Containing the freshest Advices Foreign and Domestick.
+
+From Thursday, September 25. to Thursday, October 2. 1729.
+
+_The_ Pennsylvania Gazette _being now to
+be carry'd on by other Hands, the Reader
+may expect some Account of the Method we
+design to proceed in._
+
+_Upon a View of Chambers's great Dictionaries,
+from whence were taken the Materials of the_
+Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences,
+_which usually made the First Part of this Paper,
+we find that besides their containing many Things
+abstruse or insignificant to us, it will probably
+be fifty Years before the Whole can be gone thro'
+in this Manner of Publication. There are likewise
+in those Books continual References from
+Things under one Letter of the Alphabet to those
+under another, which relate to the same Subject,
+and are necessary to explain and compleat it;
+those are taken in their Turn may perhaps be Ten
+Years distant; and since it is likely that they who
+desire to acquaint themselves with any particular
+Art or Science, would gladly have the whole before
+them in a much less Time, we believe our
+Readers will not think such a Method of communicating
+Knowledge to be a proper One._
+
+_However, tho' we do not intend to continue the
+Publication of those Dictionaries in a regular
+Alphabetical Method, as has hitherto been done;
+yet as several Things exhibited from them in the
+Course of these Papers, have been entertaining
+to such of the Curious, who never had and cannot
+have the Advantage of good Libraries; and
+as there are many Things still behind, which being
+in this Manner made generally known, may
+perhaps become of considerable Use, by giving such
+Hints to the excellent natural Genius's of our
+Country, as may contribute either to the Improvement
+of our present Manufactures, or towards
+the Invention of new Ones; we propose
+from Time to Time to communicate such particular
+Parts as appear to be of the most general
+Consequence._
+
+_As to the_ Religious Courtship, _Part of
+which has been retal'd to the Publick in these
+Papers, the Reader may be inform'd, that the
+whole Book will probably in a little Time be
+printed and bound up by it-self; and those who
+approve of it, will doubtless be better pleas'd to
+have it entire, than in this broken interrupted
+Manner._
+
+_There are many who have long desired to see a
+good News-Paper in_ Pennsylvania; _and we hope
+those Gentlemen who are able, will contribute towards
+the making This such. We ask Assistance,
+because we are fully sensible, that to publish a
+good New-Paper is not so easy an Undertaking
+as many People imagine it to be. The Author of
+a Gazette (in the Opinion of the Learned) ought
+to be qualified with an extensive Acquaintance
+with Languages, a great Easiness and Command
+of Writing and Relating Things cleanly and intelligibly,
+and in few Words; he should be able
+to speak of War both by Land and Sea; be well
+acquainted with Geography, with the History of
+the Time, with the several Interests of Princes
+and States, the Secrets of Courts, and the Manners
+and Customs of all Nations. Men thus accomplish'd
+are very rare in this remote Part of
+the World; and it would be well if the Writer
+of these Papers could make up among his Friends
+what is wanting in himself._
+
+_Upon the Whole, we may assure the Publick,
+that as far as the Encouragement we meet with
+will enable us, no Care and Pains shall be omitted,
+that may make the_ Pennsylvania Gazette
+_as agreeable and useful an Entertainment as the
+Nature of the Thing will allow._
+
+The Following is the last Message sent by
+his Excellency Governor _Burnet_, to the
+House of Representatives in _Boston_.
+
+_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,_
+
+It is not with so vain a Hope as to convince you, that
+I take the Trouble to answer your Messages, but, if
+possible, to open the Eyes of the deluded People whom
+you represent, and whom you are at so much Pains to keep
+in Ignorance of the true State of their Affairs. I need not
+go further for an undeniable Proof of this Endeavour to
+blind them, than your ordering the Letter of Messieurs
+_Wilks_ and _Belcher_ of the 7th of _June_ last to your Speaker to
+be published. This Letter is said (in _Page_ 1. of your
+Votes) _to inclose a Copy of the Report of the Lords of the Committee
+of His Majesty's Privy Council, with his Majesty's Approbation
+and Orders thereon in Council_; Yet these Gentlemen
+had at the same time the unparallell'd Presumption to
+write to the Speaker in this Manner; _You'll observe by the
+Conclusion, what is proposed to be the Consequence of your not complying
+with his Majesty's Instruction (the whole Matter to be
+laid_
+
+
+
+
+[Page 4 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_.]
+
+*terfeited but those of 13 _d_. And it is remarkable that all
+Attempts of this Kind upon the Paper Money of this and
+the neighbouring Provinces, have been detected and met
+with ill Success.
+
+_Custom-House, Philadelphia_, Entred Inwards.
+
+Sloop Hope, Elias Naudain, from Boston.
+Sloop Dove, John Howel, from Antigua.
+Brigt, Pennswood, Thomas Braly, from Madera.
+
+_Entred Outwards._
+
+Scooner John, Thomas Wright, to Boston.
+Brigt. Richard and William, W. Mayle, for Lisbon.
+Ship Diligence, James Bayley, for Maryland
+
+_Cleared for Departure._
+
+Ship London Hope, Thomas Annis, for London.
+Ship John and Anna, James Sherley, for Plymouth.
+
+Advertisements.
+
+To be Sold by _Edward Shippen_, choice
+Hard Soap, very Reasonable.
+
+Run away on the 25th of _September_ past,
+from _Rice Prichard_ of _Whiteland_ in _Chester_ County, a
+Servant Man named _John Cresswel_, of a middle Stature and
+ruddy Countenance, his Hair inclining to Red: He had on
+when he went away, a little white short Wig, an old Hat,
+Drugget Wastcoat, the Body lined with Linnen; coarse
+Linnen Breeches, grey woollen Stockings, and round toe'd
+Shoes.
+
+Whoever shall secure the said Servant so that his Master
+may have him again, shall have _Three Pounds_ Reward, and
+reasonable Charges paid, by
+
+_Rice Prichard._
+
+Run away on the 10th of _September_ past,
+from _William Dewees_ of _Germantown_ Township, in
+_Philadelphia_ County, a Servant Man named _Mekbizedarh
+Arnold_, of a middle Stature and reddish curled Hair:
+He had on when he went away, a good Felt Hat, a dark
+Cinnamon-colour'd Coat, black Drugget Jacket, mouse-colour'd
+drugget Breeches, grey Stockings, and new Shoes.
+
+Whoever secures the said Runaway, so that his Master
+may have him again, shall have _Twenty Shillings_ Reward,
+and reasonable Charges paid, by me
+
+_William Dewees._
+
+_Lately Re-printed and Sold at the New Printing-Office
+near the Market._
+
+The _PSALMS_ of _David_, Imitated
+in the Language of the _New Testament_, and apply'd
+to the Christian State and Worship  By _I. Watts_,
+V D M  The Seventh Edition.
+
+N. B. _This Work has met with such a general good Reception
+and Esteem among the Protestant Dissenters in_ Great Britain, &c.
+_whether_ Presbyterians, Independents, _or_ Baptists, _that Six
+large Impressions before This have been sold off in a very short Time._
+
+_The chief Design of this excellent Performance (as the Author
+acquaints us in his Advertisement to the Reader) is "to improve_
+Psalmody _or_ Religious Singing," _and so encourage and
+assist the frequent Practice of it in publick Assemblies and private
+Families with more Honour and Delight; yet the
+Reading of it may also entertain the Parlour and the Closet
+with devout Pleasure and holy Meditations. Therefore he would
+request his Readers, at proper Seasons, to peruse it thro', and
+among 340 sacred Hymns they may find out several that suit
+their own Case and Temper, or the Circumstances of their Families
+or Friends, they may teach their Children such as are
+proper for their Age and by treasuring them in their Memory
+they may be furnish'd for pious Retirement, or may entertain
+their Friends with holy Melody._
+
+Lately Imported from _London_, by _Johu
+Le_, and are to be sold by him at the lowest Prices,
+either by Wholesale or Retale, at his Shop in _Market Street_,
+over against the _Presbyterian_ Meeting-House, these Goods
+following, _viz._
+
+Callicoes, divers Sorts. Hollands, and several sorts of
+Sheeting Linnen. Several sorts of Diapers and Table-Cloths.
+Several sorts of Cambricks. Mantua Silks, and Grassets.
+Beryllan, and plain Callimanco. Tamie yard-wide. Men's
+dyed shammie Gloves. Women's _Ditto_, Lamb. Stitching
+Silk, Thread and Silk. Twist for Women. Silk and Ribbands.
+Double Thread Stockings. Men's white shammie
+Gloves. Silk Handkerchiefs, & other sorts of Handkerchiefs.
+Men's glaz'd Gloves, Topp'd. Men's Shoe-Buckles, Bath-metal.
+Masks for Women. Several sorts of Penknives.
+Plain metal Buttons for Men's Coats and Jackets. Ivory
+Case-Knives, and several sorts of Pocket-Knives. Dowlasses
+several sorts. Huckabags, and Russia Linnen. Oznaburghs.
+Several sorts of Looking Glasses. Garlicks and brown Holland.
+Bag-Holland _Ditto_. Several sorts of Druggets. Fine
+Kerseys. Superfine double-mill'd Drab. Broad-Cloths.
+London Shalloons. Fine and coarse Hats. Men and Women's
+_English_ Shoes. Stockings, several sorts, for Men, Women
+and Children. Several sorts of Caps. Women's Bonnets.
+Several sorts of Horn and Ivory Combs. Gun-powder,
+Shot, and Flints. Bibles of several sorts. Testaments,
+Psalters and Primers. Large Paper Books, and small ones,
+with Pocket-Books, and other Stationary Ware. Several
+sorts of Checquer'd Linnen. Flannels and Duroys. Scots-Snuff.
+
+_To be LET by the above Person. One Half of the House he
+now possesseth._ Enquire of him and know further.
+
+Bibles, Testaments, Psalters, Psalm-Books,
+Accompt-Books, Bills of Lading bound and
+unbound, Common Blank Bonds for Money, Bonds with
+Judgment, Counterbonds, Arbitration Bonds, Arbitration
+Bonds with Umpirage, Bail Bonds, Counterbonds to save
+Bail harmless, Bills of Sale, Powers of Attorney, Writs,
+Summons, Apprentices Indentures, Servants Indentures,
+Penal Bills, Promisory Notes, &c. all the Blanks in the
+most authentick Forms, and correctly printed; may be had
+At the Publishers of this Paper, who perform all above sorts
+of Printing at reasonable Rates.
+
+Very good Live-Geese Feathers to be sold
+at _Evan Powel's_ in Chesnut-street, next Door but one
+to _Andrew Hamilton_, Esq;
+
+_Just Published:_
+
+Titan Leeds's Almanack,
+for the Year, 1730 in his usual plain Method; being
+far preferable to any yet published in _America_  To be
+Sold by _David Harry_ at the late Printing Office of _Samuel
+Keimer_, at Three Shillings and nine-pence per Dozen.
+
+N. B. _As this Almanack for its Worth has met with universal
+Reception, it has raised the Price of the Copy to 25l. a year,
+for which Reason the Printer cannot afford them under the above-mentioned
+Price: But gives this Friendly Caution to the Publick,
+That when they buy Almanacks for 3s. a Dozen they must not
+expect Titan Leeds's, or any so valuable._
+
+_Speedily will be Published:_
+
+Godfrey's Almanack, for the
+Year 1730. Containing the Lunations, Eclipses,
+Judgment of the Weather, the Spring Tides, _Moon's Rising
+and Setting_, Sun's Rising and Setting, Length of Days,
+Seven Stars Rising, Southing and Setting, Time of High-Water,
+Fairs, Courts, and observable Days. Fitted to
+the Latitude of 40 Degrees, and a Meridian of Five Hours
+West from London. _Beautifully Printed in Red and Black,
+on One Side of a large Demi Sheet of Paper, after the London
+Mariner_.  To be Sold by the Printers hereof, at the New
+Printing-Office near the Market, for 3 _s._ per Dozen.
+
+_Philadelphia_: Printed by _B. Franklin_ and _H. Meredith_, at the New
+Printing-Office near the Market, where Advertisements are taken in, and
+all Persons may be supplied with this Paper, at _Ten Shillings_ a Year.
+
+
+
+
+[First page of _The New England Courant_.]
+
+
+[N^{o} 19
+
+THE
+
+New-England Courant.
+
+From MONDAY December 4. to MONDAY December 11. 1721.
+
+
+_On_ SYLVIA _the Fair_. A Jingle.
+
+A Swarm of Sparks, young, gay, and bold,
+Lov'd _Sylvia_ long, but she was cold;
+In'trest and Pride the Nymph control'd,
+So they in vain their Passion told.
+At last came Dalman, he was old;
+Nay, he was ugly, but had Gold.
+He came, and saw, and took the Hold,
+While t'other Beaux their Loss Condol'd.
+Some say, she's Wed; I say, she's sold.
+
+_The Letter against Inoculating the Small Pox, (Sign'd
+Absinthium) giving an Account of the Number of
+Persons who have dy'd under that Operation, will be
+Inserted in our next._
+
+FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
+
+_Ispahan, March 6._ The Conspiracy form'd by the
+Grand Vizir last January was Twelvemonth, with design
+to make himself King of Persia, was seasonably
+discover'd, and himself and Accomplices secured; since
+which the State hath enjoy'd its former Tranquility,
+and a new Vizir is appointed in his room, The old
+one's Eyes being both put out, he is kept alive (but
+in Prison) to make him discover all his Riches;
+which must be immensely great, since they found in
+one of his Chests four hundred thousand Persian Ducats,
+beside Foreign Coin, and in another Place abundance
+of Jewels, Gold and Silver; and so in proportion
+among several of his Accomplices; by the help of
+which Treasure they hoped to compass their Ends.
+
+_Tripoli, July 12._ As soon as our Squadron fitted out
+against the Famous Baffaw Gianur, Cogia, appear'd off
+Dasna and Bengan, with two thousand five hundred
+Moorish Horse, and a thousand Foot, and skirmish'd
+a little with his Squadron, he abandon'd both those
+Places, and fled to the Island of Serby in the Territories
+of Tunis; But the Bey of that Place having deny'd
+him Shelter, he sail'd farther away, in a French
+Barque, we know not whether; and his own Galleys
+and Barques, are gone after him, so that we are now
+entirely rid of that troublesome Guest. Our Rovers
+keep all in Port, for Fear of the Malteze.
+
+_Cadiz, Aug. 12._ The Flota is expected Home from
+the West-Indies before the End of this Month.
+Thirteen Pieces of Cannon and two Mortars were lately
+sent from hence to Ceuta. The three Spanish Men
+of War of 50 to 60 Guns each, which carried the Spanish
+Cardinals to Italy, are now at Alicant: It is said
+they are to join the Dutch Vice-Admiral, who is now
+in this Bay with four Ships of his Squadron of 50
+Guns each, and cruize against the Algerines. Wheat
+and Barley being very cheap in these Parts, great
+Quantities have been sent lately to the Canaries,
+where for some Time past the Inhabitants have been
+in great Want of Corn. On the 9th Instant died Mr.
+Charles, His Britannick Majesty's Consul at St.
+Lucas.
+
+_Berne, Aug. 20._ The Deputies of this Canton who
+went to the Diet at Frawenfeldt, are now assembled
+at Baden with those of Zurich and Glaris, to regulate
+certain Affairs relating to the Town and County of
+Baden, which formerly belonged to the Eight Eldest
+Cantons, but in the last Swiss War was given up to
+Zurich and Berne in Propriety, with a Reservation to
+the Canton of Glaris (which is mostly Protestant) of
+the Share it had before in the Sovereignty of that
+District. The three Deputies of Zurich, Lucern &c
+Ury, who were commissioned by the late General Dyet
+to go to Wilchingen, to try to compose the Differences
+which have been long standing between the Inhabitants
+of that Place and the Canton of Schafhuysen
+whose Subjects they are, have offered those Inhabitonts
+a full Pardon for all past Misbehavior, and
+the Maintenance of their Privileges for the future,
+provided they forthwith return to their Duty; but
+it is advised that those of Wilchingen persist hitherto
+in this Disobedience.
+
+_Schaffhausen Sept. 1._ They write from Italy, that
+the Plague is no longer observ'd at Marseilles, Aix, &
+several other Places; and that at Toulon it is very
+much decreas'd: But alas! how should it be otherwise,
+when the Distemper hath hardly any Objects
+left to work upon? At Arles it is likewise abated,
+we fear for the same Reason. Mean while, it spreads
+in the Gevaudan; and two large Villages in the
+Neighbourhood of Frejus were attack'd the beginning
+of this Month. The French Court hath prohibited
+all communication with the Gevaudan upon severe
+Penalties. The Plague is certainly got into the
+small Town of  Marvegue in that District, which
+Town is shut in by eight hundred Men. Letters from
+Geneva say, the two Battalions employ'd in surrounding
+La Canourgue, are infected; and that Maages is
+very much suspected. The Marquis de Quelus had
+retired to a Castle near Avignon; but the Sickness
+being got among his Domesticks, he was fled farther
+away.
+
+_Paris, Sept. 5._ The District over which the Duke
+of Berwick is to have the Command, extends to the
+Borders of the Bourbonnois; and the Court puts a
+great Confidence in the Care of that General to hinder
+the Infection from spreading. The Marquis de
+Verceil is actually drawing Lines to shut in the Gevaudan;
+and twelve Regiments of Foot, and as many
+of Dragoons, are marching to reinforce the Troops
+already posted on that side. The Plague seems to
+have almost spent itself in Provence. Tho' it is yet
+a great way off of us, Men talk nevertheless of laying
+up Magazines of all sort of Provisions here, and of making
+twenty thousand Beds, to be set up in the Hospitals
+and Tennis-Courts.
+
+_Hague, Sept. 9._ The Deputies of our Admiralties
+had, last Saturday, an extraordinary Conference with
+those of the States General, upon the spreading of a
+Report, that ten or twelve Persons died daily at a certain
+Place in Normandy, which was therefore suspected
+to have received the Contagion; But upon the
+matter, it doth not appear there was the least Foundation
+for such a Report; tho' it is too plain the
+Distemper gains ground space in the Southern Parts
+of France.
+
+We can by no means penetrate into the Designs of
+the Czar; who, notwithstanding 'tis confidently
+written that the Peace between him and Sweden is as
+good as concluded, hath a Fleet of thirty Men of War
+and two hundred Galleys at Sea near Aland. However,
+an Express gone by from Stockholm, doth not
+confirm.
+
+[End of trancriptions.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by
+Benjamin Franklin
+
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 01:19:52 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 01:19:52 -0700
commit	6f9eea795e7d1ae8a99a783aeeb1f905fafe3314 (patch)
tree	07f44501dadb1b4ffcd7dedc75d784af48be25b6