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diff --git a/20203.txt b/20203.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd1e38b --- /dev/null +++ b/20203.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8562 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN *** + +***** This file should be named 20203.txt or 20203.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/2/0/20203/ + +Produced by Turgut Dincer, Brian Sogard and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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