PSA*- i x. LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 11 A&. /:- Engraved for the Universal Magazine , tns/ia/cln0r>J& THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE LATE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. LATE MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO FRANCE, &c. &c, &c. Originally written by Himfelf, AND NOW TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, TO WHICH ARt ROME ACCOUNT OF HTS PUBLIO LIFE, A VARIETY OF ANECDOTES CONCERNING HIM, BY M. M. BRISSOT, CONDORCET, ROCHEFOUCAULT, LE ROY, &c. &c. AND THE EULOGIUM OF M. FAUCHET, QOIMT1TUTIONA.L BISHOP OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CALVADOS, AND A MEMBER OF TH NATIONAL CONVENTION. Eripuit ccelo fuhnen, mox fceptra tyrannis. TVROOT. A Paris, ce grand hommc, dans notre ancien regime, feroit refte dans 1'ob- fturite'i comment employer Ic filsd'un chandelier? LE Roy. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. PARSONS, NO. 21, PATER-NOSTER ROW, TO SIR HENRY TEMPEST, OF TONG, IN THE COUNTY OF YORK, AND HOPE-END, IN f THE COUNTY OF HEREFORD, BART. . THIS LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, A STATESMAN, A PHILOSOPHER, AND A PATRIOT, IS DEDICATED, (AS A MARK OF HIS ESTEEM AND REGARD,) London, B Y THE TRANSLATOR. PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION, T SHALL not enter into an uninterefting detail rela- tive to the manner in which the original manu- fcript of thefe memoirs, which are written in the Englifh language, came into my pofleilion. They ap- peared to me to be fo interefting, that I did not hefi- tate a fmgle moment to tranflate them into French. The name of Franklin will undoubtedly become a pafiport to a wonc of this nature j and the character of truth and fimplicity, difcernible in every page, muft guarantee its authenticity ; I have no manner >f occafion to join other teftimonies. If, however, any critic choofes todifbelieve my afler- tbn, and is defirous to bring the exiftence of the oi^ginal manufcript into doubt, I am ready to verify it,\by means of an immediate impreffion * ; but, as I ofe who may be defirous of reading the Memoirs of the Life of Franklin, in the original, are requefted to leave their Buiflbn, bookfeller, Rue Haute-Feuille, N 20. will be fent to the prefs as foon as there are 400 fub- The price is 48 fols. A 4 am ( viii ) am not certain of the fale of a work written in a fo- reign language, I cannot publifh it in any other man- ner than by means of a fubfcription, large enough to indemnify me for the money advanced. That part of the Memoirs of Franklin in my poffef- fion, includes no more. than the firft period of a life, the remainder of which has become illuftrious by events of the higheft importance ; it terminates at the epoch when, after havng married, he began to render himfelf celebrated by plans and eftablimments of public utility. It is very poilible that he may have written 'more of his hiftory ; for the portion of it which I now prefent to the Public, concludes, according to his own account, with the year 1771. If this be the cafe, the heirs of that great man will not fail fome day to publifh it, either in England or in Pennfylvania, and we fhall doubtlefs have a French translation, which will be received by the Public with great eagernefs ; but I am perfuaded, that his fa mily will not difclofe any other than the moft brilliait period of his life; that which is connected with tie memorable part he acted in the world, both as a philofopher and a ftatefman. They will never be prevailed upon to narrate the humble details o his early days, and the fimple but interefting aneccotes -of his origiil, the obfcurity of which, although t en- hances the talents and the virtues of this grea man, may yet wound their own vanity. "i If (- ix ) * r. If my conjectures prove right; if the memoirs \vhich they are about to publifh under the name of Franklin mould be mutilated ; if the firft part, fo efiential to readers capable of feeling and of judging, mould be fuppreffed, I ihall applaud myfelf for having preferved it ; and the world will be obliged to me for having enabled them to follow the early develope- ments of the genius, and the firft exertions of the fublime and profound mind of a man, who afterwards penetrated the myftery of electricity, and difconcerted the fecret meafures of defpotifm who preferved the univerfe from the ravages of thunder, and his native country from the horrors of tyranny 1 If I am accidentally miftaken ; if the life of Frank- lin mould appear entire, the Public will flill have the advantage of anticipating the interefting part of a hiflory which it has long and impatiently ex peeled. The principal object propofed by the American phi- lofopher, in writing thefe memoirs, was to inftrut pofterity, and amufe his own leifure hours. He has permitted his ideas to flow, at the will of his. memory and his heart, without ever making any effort to dif- guife the truth, notwithftanding it is not always very flattering to his felf-love but I here flop'; it be- longs to Franklin to fpeak for himfelf. It will be eafily perceived, that I have preferved as much as poffible the eafe and fimplicity of his flyle in my tranilation. I have not even attested to correct the negligence of his language, or to clothe his fend- ments C * ) ments with a gaudy drefs, for which they have no manner of occafion ; I fhould have been afraid of be- reaving the work of one of its principal ornaments. As thefe memoirs reach no further than his mar- riage, I have made ufe of other materials in order to complete fo interelting a hiftory; and I have alfo added a number of anecdotes and remarks relative to this philofophical American. THE EDITOR, ADVERTISEMENT TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION Life of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin JL is, perhaps, a DESIDERATUM in modem biography j for the manner in which that ftatef- man and philofopher, although deftitute of birth, and of fortune, was enabled to ftruggle into opulence and celebrity, cannot fail to excite the intereft, and gratify the curiofity of a liberal and enlightened age. But this work is eftimable in another point of view ; for it may be confidered as a treatife en- forcing the love of virtue and of induftry, dif- playing the advantages arifing from ftudy,. and exhibiting the moil eafy mode of acquiring literary and moral excellence. Youth will be gratified by the early efforts of our Author's rifing genius, and old age comforted, at beholding that happy ferenity difplayed in the latter period of his life. The Tranflator would have prefentecf " the world with this- volume long iince, had he not been been reftrained by a certain degree of delicacy, mingled with veneration, towards thefamily of this great man ; for on being informed by a refpedable bookfeller in St. Paul's Church-yard, that the works of Franklin were about to be publifhed by his grandfon, he with-held the prefent pub- lication for feveral months, in expectation of that event. He begs leave to add, that, throughout the whole work, he has attempted a plain, fober^ imadorned ftyle, as beft adapted to convey the Author's fentiments ; and that, in the fecond part, he has fupplied fome erroneous dates, and cancelled a variety of unjuft reflections which were thrown out in England againft Dr. Franklin, during the late odious war with America, and but too haftily Adopted by the French Editor. Feb. i, 1793. CONTENTS. xr Mr. Whitefield Eftablifhment of the Philosophical Society of America Experiments in Electricity Difcovery tending to demonftrate the Identity of Lightning and the Electric Fluid Electric Kite Metallic Conductors Mode of pre- ferving Koufes from the deftructive Effects of Lightning-^- Adviee to thofe unacquainted with the Nature of the Electric Fluid -- Page *3 r CHAP. II. Our Author begins to be confulted upon public Affairs Letters to Governor Shirley He propoies an ^ Union between England and her Colonies He afiiils the Britifh Government during the War with France, and takes the Field in Perfon againft the Enemy His Influence on the Negotiations that were terminated by the Peace of Paris He was forced, as well as the reil of his Countrymen, into the Scheme of Independence The vSuccefs of the American Arms favourable perhaps to Britifh Liberty 14.3 CHAP. III. He becomes a Member of the Aflembly of Penn- fylvania Is appointed Agent to feveral of the American States Sails for England Is examined before a Committee of the Privy Council Infnlted by the Attorney General- Departs privately for America 158 CHAP. IV. The Doctor, foon after the Battle of Lexington, writes circular Letters to all the Colonies Copy of a Letter to Mr. Strahan, a Printer and Member of Parliament The Americans are in want of Money, Arms, and Ammunition Emifiion of Paper Money The Views of the People and their Leaders General Lee a flaunch Republican -The Congrefs declares the United States independent The Doctor, at the Age of Seventy, repairs to France -The Succefsof his Miffion His great and important Services to America His Return to his native Country - 162 CHAP. V. Dr. Franklin arrives in Philadelphia amidfl the Acclamations of his Fellow-citizens Is elected Governor of Pennfylvania Afiifts at the General Convention Speech on the Conclufion of the New Conftitution The Effect of early Habits and Attachments - - 174, CHAP. VI. Effects of Temperance Dr. Franklin's Health becomes infirm He is feized with a FeverDies in con- fequence of an Impofthume CharacterOpinions concern- ing Death Legacies Teftimonies of Foreigners refpecting his philofophical Labours Burial Account of the Ho- nours paid to his Memory Lift of his Works Epitaph i3o PART CONTENTS. PART III. Colle&ion of Fragments, Anecdotes, &c. &c. relative to Dr. Franklin - - - Page 193 Eulogium on Dr. Franklin by M. de la Rochefoucau.lt - 237 Obfervations on the generally prevailing Doctrines of Life'and Death : In a Letter from Dr. Benjamn Franklin to M. Pubourg, the French Tranflator of his Works 249 Letterfrom Dr. Franklin to Benjamin Vaughan, Efq. on the Criminal Laws, and the Practice of Privateering 252 Letter from Dr. Franklin to Madame B , written at Pafley near Paris - - 262 Eulogium on Dr. Franklin, by the Abbe Fauchet . . 267 Translation of a Letter from M. Le Roy to the Abbe Fauchet (now con dilution al Bifhop of Calvados), relative to the late Dr. Franklin - 304 THE - THE PRIVATE LIFE O F BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D, PART I. CHAP. L The Author's Reafons for undertaking the prefent Work A Differtation upon Vanity Some Account of his Ancejlors* He difcovers that he is the youngeji Son of the youngeft Son for five Generations Young Franklin is at Jirfl dejtined for the Church His Father foon after takes him from School and employs him as an AJJiflant in making Candles, &<:.- He is defirous of being a SailorSome Account of his youth- ful Frolicks Becomes greatly attached to Books Is bound Apprentice to a Printer Begins to Jludy Comfofition Adopts a vegetable Regimen And is extremely fond of Difputation. MY DEAR SON, I HAVE lately amufed myfelf with collecting fome little anecdotes concerning our family. You mufl remember the enquiries that I made among fuch of my relations as remained/ alive, when you were with me in England, as well as the journey I undertook for that purpofe. As I conceive that it mufl be agreeable to you, to be acquainted with all the circumflances of my life and origin, many parti- culars of which are at grefent unknown to 'you, I B now 2 THE PRIVATE LIFE Otf now mean to commit them to paper for your in* formation. It (hall be the occupation of a week's uninterrupted leifure, which I promife myfelf in my prefent rural - retirement. Befides, there are other powerful motives, which impell me to this un<* dertaking. From amidft the poverty and obfcurity in which I was born, and in which I pafled my early years, I have raifed myfelf to a fituation of opulence, and to fome mare of celebrity in the world. An un- interrupted feries of good fortune has accompanied me, even to an advanced period of life; my pofterity will therefore perhaps be gratified in learning the means which I have employed, and which, thanks to the affiftance of Providence, have fo well fucceded with me. They may alfo derive fome ufeful hints from my experience, mould they ever find themfelves in fimilar circumflances. This good fortune, when I reflect ferioufly on it, which is frequently the cafe, has fometimes induced me to fay, that if the offer were made to me, I would again engage to travel over the fame courfe, from the beginning to the end. I mould only defire the privilege of an author in a fecond edition, to cor- rect fome of the errors of the fir ft. I mould likewife wifh, were it in my power, to alter fome particular incidents and events of my life, for more favorable ones. However, if this condition were refufed me, I fhould neverthelefs confent to begin again. But fmce to repeat life is impoflible, that which in my opi- nion moft nearly refembles it, is to recall all its par- ticular circumftances, and to render the remembrance i of fcENjAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. B. J of them the more durable, by committing them to writing. In employing myfelf thus, I (hall yield to the inclination fo pleafing to old men, to talk of themfelves and their own actions ; and I fhall indulge it without being burdenfome to thofe, who, from refpect to my age, might think themfelves obliged to Men to me, as it will be always in their option either to read or not, as they pleafe. In truth, I may as well confefs (as nobody would believe me if I mould deny it,) that perhaps I may in this gratify my felf-love. I hardly ever heard any perfon pro- nounce this preparatory phrafe : / may fay it with- out flattering my vanity, SsV. without its being imme- diately followed by fome flrongly marked flroke, chara&ereftic of that very vanity which they feemed defirous to deprecate. The generality of men deteft this foible in others, however large a portion of it they themfelves may poflefs. For my own part, I pardon it wherever I find it, perfuaded that it is advantageous to the indi- vidual whom it influences, as well as to all thofe who come within its fphere of action. Confequently it would, in many cafes, be by no means abfurd', that a man fhould confider his vanity among the comforts of his life, and give thanks to Providence that he is endowed with it. And in this place let me acknowledge in all hu- mility, that to Divine Providence I attribute the happinefs I have hitherto enjoyed. It alone has pre- fented to my mind all the means that I have made ufe of, and has influenced their fuccefs. My belief B 2 in 4 THE PRIVATE LIFE Ql? in this refpect induces me to hope, although I ought by no means to depend upon it, that the divine goodnefs will be continued towards me, either in prolonging my good fortune to the termination of my life, or in granting me ftrength to fupport any unfortunate reverfe which may happen to me, as it has to fo many others. My future fate is known to Him alone, who holds our defliny in his hands, and who can convert our very afflictions into the fources of our greateft happinefs. One of my uncles, defirous like myfelf of collect- ing anecdotes relative to our family, gave me fome notes, from which I have extracted feveral circum- flances concerning our anceftors. From thefe I learn that they lived in the village of Eaton, in North- harriptonfhire, on a freehold of about thirty acres, during at leaft three hundred years. My uncle could not difcover how long they had refided there prior to that period. It is probable they had continued ever fmce the time when, in imitation of their fellow citi- zens all over the kingdom, who then began to af- fume particular names, they took that of Frank- lin, which previoufly denominated a peculiar clafs of people. This inconfiderable property would not have fuf- ficed for their fubfiflance, had it not been for the occupation of a blackfmith, which continued in the family down to my time, the eldefl fon being always brought up to that trade ; a cuflom which both my uncle and my father followed, with refpect to their eldefl fons. Among BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 5 Among the enquiries I made at Eaton, I found no account of their births, marriages, or deaths, prior to the year 1555, as the parifh-regifter extends no farther back than that period. I learned from it how- ever, that I was the youngefl fon of the youngeft fon for five generations. My grandfather, Thomas, who was born in the year 1598, lived at Eaton till he was too old to continue his bufinefs, and then retired to Ban- bury in Oxfordfhire, to the houfe of his fou John, a dyer, to whom my father was apprentice. There my grandfather died and was buried; we faw his tpmb-ftone in 1758. His eldeft fon Thomas lived in the family houfe at Eaton, and left it, together with the landed property, to his only -daughter, who agreed with her hufband, Mr. Fifher of Wellingbo- jough, to fell the whole to Mr. Efted, the prefent proprietor. My grandfather had four fons who lived to be men, namely, Thomas, John, Benjamin, and Jofias. I -mall mention to you fuch circumflances relative to them, as my memory furnifhes me with, not having my papers at hand, in which you will find more par- ticulars, provided they have not been loft during my abfence. Thomas had learned the bufmefs of a blackfmith, \vith my father ; but having fome natural genius, he improved himfelf by ftudy, in confequence of the advice of Palmer, Efq. who was at that time the principal man in the parifn, and who encouraged all my uncles in the acquisition of knowledge. Tho- mas thus enabled himfelf to tranfact the bufmefs of 33 a iteward. THE PRIVATE LIFE Of a fteward. He foon became a man of fome little confequence, and was one of the principal projectors of all the public enterprifes, for the benefit of the county and town of Northampton, as well as for the good of his own village. After having been a good deal noticed and protected by Lord Hallifax, he died on the 6th day of January, 1692, exactly four years before I was born. Could I remember the par* ticulars of his life and character, as related to me by fome old people in the village, you would be fur* prifed at the analogy of many parts of them with mine : " Had he died," you would fay, Ct four years " later, one would have fuppofed that a tranfmigra- " tion had actually taken place." John I believe was brought up a dyer of woollens. Benjamin ferved an apprenticeship in London, to a filk dyer ; he was an induftrious man. I remeniT ber him well, for while I was yet a child he came to join my father in Bofton, and lived fome time in our houfe. A particular friendfhip fubiifted between them, and I was his namelake ; he lived to a very ad- vanced age. He left two manufcript volumes in quarto, of poetry, of his own compofition, confid- ing of little fugitive pieces addreifed to his friends \ he had formed to himfelf a fyftem of fhort hand, which he taught me, but having never practifed it, it has long fince flipped from my memory. He was a pious man, and attended the ferrnons of our beft preachers, which he delighted in taking down in the expeditious mode adopted, if not invented by him, gnd of thcfe he had collected feveral volumes. H^ BENJAMIN TRANKLIN, i,L. D. 7 was alfo fond of politics, too much fo perhaps for his fituation. I lately met in London, with a collection he had made of all the principal political pamphlets, from the year 1641 to 1717. Some part of the fe- ries is manifestly wanting, but there ilill remained eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and o&avo. This collection had fallen into the hands of a dealer in old books, who knew me, by having been a cuftomer, and brought it to me. My uncle appa- rently had left it with him, when he went to Ame- rica, fifty years ago. I found many notes written on the margin with his own hand. His grandfon Samuel Franklin ftill lives at Bofton. Our humble family at an early period embraced the principles of the reformed religion. Our fore- fathers remained faithfully attached to it during the reign of Mary, and were in danger of being har raffed on account of their zeal againfl Popery. They were in pofTeffion of an Englifh verfion of the Bible : In order to conceal and preferve it in fafety, they be- thought themfclves of fattening it with firings, in an open ppfition, to the inllde of the cover of a night- ftool. When my great grandfather was defirous of reading it to the family, he reverfed the cover upon his knees, and turned over the leaves, without un- loofmg the cords which fattened it, One'of the chil- dren always remained at the door to give notice if he faw the apparitor approaching ; this was an officer of the fpiritual-court. On the leaft alarm, tjie cover of the night-ttool was inftantly reftored to its proper place, and the bible remained concealed underneath B 4 it 8 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF it as ufual. This anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin. The whole family continued attached to the church of England, till towards the concluiion of the reign of Charles the Second ; an sera when fome of the minifters who had been difplaced as non-conformifts, having eftablifhed conventicles in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Jofias joined them, never again to fe- parate. The reft of the family continued in the Epifcopal church. Jofias, my father, married early. He carried his wife and three children to New-England, about the year 1682. The conventicles being at that time un- der the profcription of the law, and their meetings frequently diflurbed, fome confiderable people of his acquaintance refolved~to go to America, in hopes of enjoying the quiet exercife of their religion j and he determined to accompany them. My father had four more children by the fame xvife in America, and ten by a fecond marriage ; in all feventeen. I remember to have feen thirteen of them at table together, all of whom grew up and married. I was the youngefl fon, and the youngeft of all the children, excepting two daughters. , I was born at Bofton in New-England. My mo- ther, my father's fecond wife, was Abias Folger, the daughter of Peter Folger, one of the fir ft fettlers in New-England, whom Cotton Mather mentions in his ecclefiaftical hiftory of that province, as a pious and learned Engltfhman> if I remember his expreffion pro- perly. I have heard that he compofed feveral little pieces, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D, 9 pieces, though one only was printed. I faw it many years ago ; it was written in 1675, * n familiar verfe, according to the tafte of the times and the country. It is addrefled to the then governors, and requefts li- berty of confcience for the Anabaptifts, the (Quakers, and other fedaries, who had recently been perfe- >cuted. He attributes the war with the natives, and other calamities which at that time afHicled the country, to this perfecution, coniidering them as fo many judgments of God, for the punifhment of this odious crime. He alfo exhorts the government to abrogate laws fo inimical to chanty. This piece ap- peared to me to be written with a certain degree of mafculine liberty, and agreeable fimpHcfty. My brothers were all bound apprentices to various trades. With refpect to myfelf, I was put to a gram- mar-fchool, in the eighth year of my age. My fa- ther deflined me for the church, and already con- fidered me as the chaplain of the family. The faci- lity with which I learned to read in my infancy, (for I do not recollect the time when I could not read,) and the opinion of all his friends, who allured him that I would certainly become a man of letters, con- firmed him in this defign. My uncle Benjamin like- wife approved of it, and promifed .to give me all his volumes of fermons, written in his own fhort-hand,, as I have already mentioned, provided I would be at the trouble to learn it, I remained, however hardly a twelvemonth at fchool, althougrrduring that fhort pe- riod I had riienfucceffiveiy to the middle of that year's clafsjthento the top of thelame clai's, thence to the clafs immediately IO THE PRIVATE LIFE OF immediately above, and I mould have gone into the next, at the beginning of the enfuing year ; but my father, burdened with a numerous family, found himfelf unable, without much inconvenience, to fup- port the expences of my education ; befides, confi- deringj as I heard him fay in my prefence, the fmall encouragement that fuch a line of life affords to thofe educated purpofely for it, he renounced his ori- ginal idea, withdrew me from my ftudies, and fent me to the fchool of a Mr. George Brownweil, to learn writing and arithmetic ; he was a fkilful mailer, v;ho commonly fucceded very well in his profeffion, by employing only the gentleft methods towards his pupils. I foon learned under his tuition to write a good hand, but in arithmetic I made not the f mailed progrefs. At ten years of age I was brought home to affift my father in his bufmefs, which was that of a candle and foap-maker, trades, to which he had not indeed fervcd an apprenticelhip, but which he had em- braced on his arrival in New-England, finding that there was not fufficient employment for a dyer, to enable him to fupport his family. My employments confequently were to attend the fhop, cut the \vick& for the candles, run errands, &c. I difliked this trade much, and had a great incli- nation for that of a failor, but my father pofitively declared againfl this idea. However, the neighbour- hood of the water afforded me frequent occafions of exercifing myfelf both on it and in it. I learned early to fwirn and to Acer a beat, and when I was em- barked BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 1JT barked with other children of my own age, they always gave up to me the management of the helm, efpecially on dangerous occafions. Indeed, I was almoft always the leader of the party, and frequently brought them into mifchief. I mail mention to you one example, which evinces an early fpirit of public enterprife, although not indeed in this cafe confiftent with juftice. The refervoir of a neighbouring mill was terminat- ed on one fide by a fait pit, on the bank of which we ufed to place ourfelves at full tide, in order to catch fmall nfh. As by frequently treading on it, we had rendered it a perfect mire, I propofed to conftruct a caufeway on which we might (land dry and firm. I pointed out to my comrades a large quantity of flones, collected indeed for the purpofe of building a new houfe near the falt-pit, but admirably calcu- lated for completing our project : On the evening, after the workmen were gone home, I got together a number of my play-fellows, and by labouring dili- gently like fo many ants, two or three fometimes af- filling to remove a fingle (lone, we carried the whole off, and conftructed our little key. In the morning, the workmen were aftonifhed at not rinding their Hones, which had all travelled to our caufeway. The authors of this transfer being found out and detected, molt of us received a correction from our parents; and although I demonflrated the utility of our la- bours, my father convinced me that nothing could be truly ufeful which was not flrictly honeft. Perhaps 12 THE PRIVATE LIF OF Perhaps you may be defirous to know what fort of a man my father was? He had an excellent con- ftitution, was of a middling fize, but. well made, very flrong, and dexterous in performing what- ever he attempted. He drew pretty well, and he knew fomething of mufic ; his voice alfo was fenorous and agreeable; fo that when he fung a pfalm-tune, accompanied with his violin, which he fometimes did in the evening, it was truly pleafing to hear him ; he likewife knew fomething of me- chanics, and could occafionally ufe the tools of fe- veral trades. But his mod excellent quality was a found understanding and folid judgment, of fuch matters as came within the jurifdiclon of prudence, whether appertaining to public or private life. He was never indeed employed in the former, becaufe the numerous family he had to educate, and the mo- deratenefs of his fortune, kept him inceflantly em- ployed in his profeflion ; but I well remember that he was frequently confulted by our principal men, who came to afk his opinion relative to the affairs of the town, or of the particular feel to which he belonged, and they paid great deference to his judge- ment ; individuals alfo often applied to him on their private affairs when involved in difficulties, and he was frequently chofen arbitrator between contending parties. He was fond to fee at his table, as often as it was convenient, fome friends or neighbours of fuperior underflanding, whofe converfation was agreeable ; and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. I* and he always took care to introduce fubjecls either ufeful or amufing, which might tend to inftrud his children. By thefe means he early formed our minds to what was good, juft, prudent, and ufeful, in. the conduct of life. Never was there any enquiry con- cerning the dimes that appeared on the table, nor any difcuifion whether they were well or ill cooked, in or out of feafon, tafted agreeably or the contrary, or were preferable or inferior to fuch and fuch others of the fame kind. Thus accuftomed from my infancy to the utmofl inattention to thefe matters, I have been all my life wholly indifferent as to what kind of food was fet before me ; and even now I pay fo little attention to it, that a few hours after my dinner, I mould be una- ble to fay of what it had confided. In travelling I have more efpecially found the advantage of this habit, for I have often met with people who, poiTelling a nicer tafte than myfelf, becaufe they cultivated it more, fuffered much on occafions where for my own part I could perceive nothing wanting. My mother alfo had a mod excellent conftitutioru She had fuckled all her ten children herfelf, and I never remember to have feen either her or my father afflicled with any complaint, except that of which they died ; my father, at the age of eighty-feven, and my mother of eighty-five. They were buried together at Bofton, where, a few years ago, I placed a marble tablet over their grave, with the following in- fcription : " Here PRIVATE LIFE OF " Here Lie JOSIAS FRANKLIN and ABIAS his Wife, "-They lived together with reciprocal affection during fifty. *' nine years ; and without any fettled revenue or lucrative '* employment, by means of afliduous labour, and honeft induilry, " maintained a numerous family with decency, and brought up ** thirteen children, and feven grand-children. " Reader, let their example encourage you to fufil with dill* *' gence the duties of your vocation, and'to rely on the affiitance * f of Divine Providence 1 " He, was pious, and prudent, " She, difcreet, and virtuous. " Their youngeft Son fulfils his duty, " In confecrating this ilone to their memory." I perceive by my rambling digreffions that I ant old. I formerly wrote with more method, but one does not drefs for private company, as if they were going to a ball. This is perhaps merely negli- gence. To return, I continued to follow the profeffion of my father, during two years, that is to fay, till I was twelve years of age ; at that time, my brother John, who had ferved an apprenticefhip to the fame trade, having left my father, married, and fet up for him- felf, in Rhode Ifland ; I was deftined, according to all appearances, to fupply his place, and continue all my life a maker of candles. But my averfion to this* bufmefs continued, and made my father afraid, that if he did not offer me fome more agreeable occupa- tion, I would leave him and go to fea, as my brother Jofias had done, very much to his difTatisfaclion* For that reafon he carried me to fee mafons, joiners, coopers, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 15 cofrpers, braziers, &c. at work, in order to try if he could fix my inclination on fome profeflion that would keep me at home. Ever fmce that time it has af- forded me pleafure to fee good workmen handle their tools, and I have often experienced the utility of what I had picked up in this manner, by its enabling me to do little jobs for myfelf when there were no workmen at hand, and to conflruct fmall machines for my experiments at the moment when the ideas I wifhed to realize were frefli and ilrongly imprinted en my mind. My father at la ft refolded to make me a cutler ; he fent me a few days on trial, to Samuel, fon of my uncle Benjamin, who, after learning this trade in London, had lately fettled in Bofton ; but the fum he exacted as my apprentice fee, not being agreeable to my father, I was again taken home. From rny infancy I was fond of reading, and I laid ut in books all the little money I could procure- I was particularly delighted with relations contained in voyages ; my firft acquifition was Bunyan's Works in, fraall feparate volumes. I afterwards fold this, in order to enable me to purchafe the Hiftorical Col- lection, by R. Button, which confifted of about forty or fifty little cheap volumes* The fmall library belonging to my father, confifled principally of books of pra&ical and polemical divi- nity; I read the greateft part of them. I have often regretted, that, at a time, when I had fo great a third for knowledge, fome better books did not fall into my hands, as it was decided that I was not to belong l6 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF belong to the church. He had alfo the lives of Plu- tarch, in which I read much; and I dill confider the time fpent in perilling them, as well employed. I likewife found a work of Daniel de Foe, entitled an effay on projects , from which I received impreffions that may perhaps have influenced fome of the principal events of my life. My inclination for books at length determined my father to make a printer of me, although one of his Ions was already in that profeffion. My brother James had returned from England in 1717, with a prefs and types, in order to eftablifh a printing-houfe aiBofton. This bufmefs was much more agreeable to me than that of my father, although I had (till a predilection for the fea. To prevent the effects that might refult from this inclination, my father was impatient to fee me bound apprentice to my brother. I refufed a long while; at length 1 allowed myfelf to ,be perfuaded, and figned my indentures at twelve years of age. It was agreed that I fhould ferve as an apprentice till I was one and twenty, and mould only receive wages as a workman during the lafl year. In a ihort time I made great progrefs in this bufi- nefs, and became an ufeful affiftant to my brother. I had now an opportunity of procuring better books ; the connections that I neceiiarily had with the appren- tices of bookfeliers, enabled me now and then to bor- row fome volumes from them, which I always re- turned very punctually and uninjured. How often have I palfed the greater part of the night reading in 2 my BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 17 iiiy chamber, when a book had been lent me in the evening, which it was neceffary to return in the morning, left it mould be perceived to be miffing, br mould be enquired after ! At length, a merchant of the name of Matthew Adams, a man of foirie abilities, and pofleffed of a good collection of books, who ufed to come frequently to our printing-houfe, paid fome attention to me ; he in- vited me to fee his library, and had the goodnefs to lend me fuch books as I wimed to read. I was at this time feized with a flrong inclination for poetry, and compofed feveral trifles in verfe. My brother imagining that he might find his account in it, encouraged me, and engaged me to compofe two ballads ; the one called the Tragedy ofPharoah, contained an account of the fhipwreck of Captain Worthilake and his two daughters ; the other was a failor's fong, on the cap- ture of a famous pirate^ named Teach, or JBlaek- Beard ; they we're wretched in point of flyle ; rnere blind-men's ditties* After they were printed, my brother fent me to hawk them about the town ; the firft had a prodigious run, becaufe it related a re- cent and much-talked-of event. Succefs flattered my vanity, but my father depreifed my courage^ by ridiculing my performances, and telling me, that verfe -makers were always poor. Thus I efcaped the misfortune of being a poet, probably a. very bad one ; but as the talent of writing in profe has been of great utility to me in the courfe of my life, and has principally contributed to my advance- ment, I mail now recount to you, by what means, C in iS THE PRIVATE LIFE 0? in the fituation I then was, I acquired what fmall degree of ability I may poilefs in that line. There was another young man in the town, a great lover of books alfo, called John Collins, with whom I was intimately acquainted. We had fre- quent difputes with each other ; we loved argument, and liked nothing better than to be by the ears to- gether. This contentious turn of mind, by the bye, is apt to become a very bad habit, which often ren- ders a perfon infupportable in company, becaufe it can only be exercifed through the medium of con- tradiction ; and, befides the anlmolity and trouble which it occafions in converfation, it frequently pro- duces diflike, and even enmities^ between thofe who have the greateft occafion to cultivate each others friendfhip. I acquired this turn at fir ft, by reading books on polemical divinity, when I lived with my father. I have fince obferved, that fenfible people rarely fall into this error, except thofe who belong to the law, the wranglers of the univerfity, and men of all profeflions who have received their education at Edinburgh. There arofe one day, I know not how, a difpute between Collins and me, relative to the education of women ; namely^ whether it was proper that they mould be inftruded in the fciences, and if they had talents to profit by ftudy ? He fupported the nega- tive, and aflerted that that line was above their powers. He was naturally more eloquent than me ; words flowed in abundance from his mouth ; and fometimes in my own opinion, I was vanquifhed more BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 23 more embarraffing to thofe againft whom I employed it. I foon took much delight in it, and praetifed it on all occafions ; and I became dextrous in obtaining, even from thofe who were much my fuperiors in point of knowledge, conceflions of whofe confe- quences they themfelves were not aware. I thus embaraffed them in difficulties, from which they could not extricate themfelves, and often obtained victories neither due to my caufe, nor to my argur ments. I continued to ufe this mode of difputation during feveral years ; however, I gave it up by degrees, only pr^ferving the habit of expreffing myfelf in terms of diffidence and modefty; and when I ad- vanced any doubtful pofition, I was careful never to ufe the words certainly^ undoubtedly^ or any other that might convey the idea of obftinate attachment to my own opinion. I would rather fey, / conceive ^ or I fuppofe fuch a thing may be f$> it appears to m* that I Jhould think fo or fo, for fuch or fuch reafons / or, I imagine it may be thus or thus^ if I am not de- ceived. This habit I think has been very ufeful to me, when I have been defirous of impreffing my opinions on the minds of other men, or of perfuad- ing them to adopt meafures, v hich I have from time to time propofed to them ; and fmc.e the chief ends of converfation are to inform^ or to be informed ; to pleafe, or to perfuade ; I earneftly defire, that enlightr ny firft loaf, I beftowed the other two on a woman, whe, with her fon, had been my companions on out excurfioix by water. Being now refrefhed, I again wandered along the ftreet. It was then filled with a number of per- fons, all of whom were very neatly drefTed y and walk- ed after one another, in a- decent and orderly man- ner, always keeping the fame fide of the way. I im- mediately joined and accompanied them to the Qua ker's meeting-houfe, near the Market. I fat down as the others did, and after havrng fpent fome time in- looking around me, without hearing a fingle word uttered, being exceedingly fatigued with my labour., and want of reft during the preceeding night, I fell' into a profound fleep. 1 remained in this iituation until the affembly feparated, when one of the aflift- ants had the complaifance to awaken me. This con* fequently was the firft houfe which I entered, or ii> which I flept, after my arrival in Philadelphia. I now once more regained the flreet, and continued to walk along the fide of the river ; during my pro- grefs I attentively examined the faces of all the paf- fengers whom I met, and at length fixed upon a young Quaker, whofe phyfiognomy pleafed me : I accord- ingly accofted and befought him to inform me where a ftranger might be able to find a lodging ? We FRANKLIN, LL.D. 4< We larere then exactly oppofite the fign of the Three Sallorsi, "They receive Grangers there/' fays he, pointing out the place at the fame time with his finger, " but the houfe is not of good repute ; if thou " wilt accompany me, I will fhow thee a better one." He accordingly conduced me to the Crooked Billet in Water-Street. There' I ordered a dinner, and while f was eating it, the people of the houfe put fevefal queftions to me. My youth and appearance led them to fuppofe that I was a fugitive. After dinner my inclination to fleep returned again ; a bed was accordingly pre- pared for me; I caft myfelf upon it, without undrefs- ing, and flept till fix o'clock at night, when they awakened and called me to fuppef. Aftef that I Returned to bed at a very early hour, and flept with- but interruption, until the next morning. As foon as I arofe I dreffed myfelf as well as pof- lible,- and repaired to the houfe of Andrew Bradford, the printer. I found his father, whom I had feen at New-York, in the fhop, and who by making the ^journey on horfe back, had arrived before me at Philadelphia. He prefented me to his fon, who re- ceived me in a very kind manner, and invited me to breakfaft ; but he informed me, that he had no occa-- fion for a workman at that time, being provided with one a little before. He added that there was another printer of the name of Keimer in the town, who had jufl entered into bufinefs, and who might perhaps employ me ; and in cafe of his refufing to do fo, he himfelf would moft willingly give me a lodging, and 3 a 42 THE PRIVATE LlfrE Ol? a little work from time to time, until fomething bet- ter might occur. The old man offered of his own accord to condudl me to the new printer's, and when we had arrived there, " Neighbour," fays he to him, " I have " brought you a young man of your profeffion ; per- " haps you may (land in need of his fervices." Keimer put a few queftions to me, placed a compofmg flick in my hand, in order to fee in what manner I worked, and then faid that he would give me employment in a fhort time, but that at prefent he had no occafioa for me. Looking upon old Bradford to be a perfon who wifhed him well, and was defirous to ferve him, he began to converfe with him about his prefent enter- prife, and his future profpetts. Bradford was careful not to difcover himfelftobe the father of the other printer, and as foon as Keimer told him, that he hoped in a fhort time to have the greateft part of the buiinefs of the town in his own hands, he by means of feveral cunning interrogations and artificial doubts,- led him to difclofe the foundation of his hopes, and the manner in which he intended to proceed. I was prefent at, and heard the whole of this converfation, and I was not long in difcovering that one of them was an old fox, and the other a filly novice. Bradford foon after departed and left me with Keimer, \vho was exceedingly furprifed when I informed him what and who the old man was. I found that Keimer's printing utenfils confifted of an old damaged prefs, and a fecond-hand fount of Englilh BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL-, D.' 43 nglifli types, pretty much ufed, and which he him- felf employed at that very time in compofmg an elegy on Aquila Rofe, whom I have mentioned before. This young man, who^ to great abilities, united a moil excellent character, had been much beloved and efteemed in the town : He was fecretary to the af- fembly, and had a very fine turn for poetry. Keiiner alfo made verfes, but they did not rife above medi- ocrity. He could not, indeed, be faid with propriety, to write verfes ; for it was cuftomary with him to compofe them with his types, juft as they ftruck his imagination, and as he worked without any copy, had no more than one pair of cafes, and the elegy was likely to occupy all his letter ', it was impoilible for any one to affift him. I undertook to put his prefs, of which he had not as yet made any ufe, and concerning which he was entirely ignorant, into proper order, and having promifed to come back and work off his elegy, as foon as it mould be ready, I re- turned to Mr. Bradford's, who gave me fome trifle to employ myfelf upon for the moment, and alfo my bed and board. A few days after this, Keimer fent for me, in order to work off his elegy. He had by that time pro* cured another pair of cafes, and a pamphlet to re- print, upon which he inftantly employed me. Both the printers of Philadelphia appeared to me to be totally deftitute of the qualities neceflary to in- fure fuccefs in their profeflion. Bradford had never been brought up to the bufmefs, and was exceedingly illiterate. Keimer was a little better educated, but ha 44 THE PRIVATE Lips of- he was no more than a fimple compcfitor, and under- flood nothing at all of prefs-work. He had been one t>f the French Prophets^ and he knew how to imitate their fupernatural agitations. At this period of our acquaintance, he profefied no particular feligiori whatever, but a little of all at times ; he was very ignorant of the world, and had a great deal of guile in his heart, as I hadoccafion afterwards to difcover. Keimer was very unhappy that I lodged at Brad- ford's, while I worked for him. He was indeed in porTeflion of a whole houfe, but it was entirely defli- tute of moveables, fo that it was irhpolTible for him to accommodate me there. He procured me a lodg- ing, however, at Mr; Read's^ whom I mentioned be- fore, arid who was the landlord of his hbufe. My trunk and effects, having arrived at this time* I dreiled myfetf fo as to appear before Mifs Read, in a better plight than when chance firfJ: difcovered me to her, eating a loaf, and wandering along the ftreets* I now began to form an acquaintance among fuch of the young men in the town as were fond of read- ing, and I fpent many very agreeable nights in their company ; I was at the fame time enabled to gain a good deal of money by my induftryj and to live very well and very contented, thanks to my frugality. Thus I endeavoured to forget Boflon as much as pof- fible, and did not wifli that the place of my nativity fhould be known to any perfon except my friend Collins, with whom I kept up a conftant correfpon- dence, and who faithfully preferved my fecret. A cir- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D 4^ A circumftance, however, occurred foon after that made me return home much fooner than I had at rlrfl propofed. I had a brother-in-law of the name of Robert Holmes who was matter of a Hoop, em- ployed as a coafter between Bofton and the Delaware, Finding himfelf at Newcaftle, forty miles below Phi- ladelphia, he there happened to hear of me, and wrote me a letter, in which he informed me of the forrow, which my precipitate departure from Bofton had occafioned to my parents, and of the great af^ feclion they (till entertained towards me, afluring me at the fame time, that every thing would be ac- commodated to my entire fatisfaclion provided I re- turned, a proceeding which he moft earrjeftly ex- horted me to. In my reply to his letter, I thanked him for his good advice, but I at the fame time fpeci- fted the reafons which had induced me to leave Bofton, with fo much force and precifion, that he was con- vinced I was not fo much in the wrong as he had at firft imagined- Sir William Keith, governor of the Province, v/as at this very time at Newcaftle. Captain Holmes happening accidentally to be in his company, when he received my letter, took advantage of thajt opportunity to fpeak warmly in my favour, and even to mow it to him. The governor read it, and ap- peared aftonifhed, when he learned my extreme youth. He pbferved that I was a young man, of whom great expectations might be juftly formed; that I ought to be encouraged ; that the printers in Philadelphia were all very ignorant in refpeft to their l)ufmefs j 46 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF bufmefs ; that if I were eftablifhed there, there could be no manner of doubt of my fuccefs, and that for his part he would employ me to print for the govern- ment, and would do me every other fervice in his power. My brother-in-law afterwards recounted all thefe particulars to me at Bofton, but I was entirely ignorant of them at the time. One day as Keimer and I happened to be at work together near the window, we perceived the governor and another gentleman, who proved to be Colonel French of Newcaflle, both very elegantly dreiTed. They came ftraight towards our houfe, and in a few feconds we heard them both at the door. Keimer thinking the vifit intended for him, immedi- ately went down flairs to receive them, but the gover- nor, after afking for me, afcended to the apartment \vhere I was ftationed, and with a politenefs and con- defcenfion to which I had been hitherto unaccuf- tomed, paid me many compliments, defired to be bet- ter acquainted with me, reproached me for not making myfelf known to him on my arrival, and infifled on my accompanying him to a tavern in order to drink a glafs of Madeira with him and the Colonel. I muft acknowledge that I was not a little furprifed at the honour now done me j and as for Keimer, he appeared in a ftate of flupefaction. I, however, accompanied the governor and his friend, to a tavern at the corner of Third flreet, where he propofed over a glafs of wine, that I ihould cftablifh a printing houfe. He infilled ou the pro- bability 'BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 4^ bability of my fuccefs, and both he and Colonel French afiured me, that I might depend upon their influence and protection, and that they would unite their efforts, in order to procure me all the public bufmefs of this and the adjacent province. When I exprefied my doubts of my father's aflifling me in this enterprize, Sir William told me, that he would give me a letter to him, and that he had no manner of doubt but that he would comply with his requeft. It was accordingly determined that I fhould return to Boftonby the firft veffel that failed for that port, with a letter of recommendation from the governor to my father. In the mean time, it was agreed, that this project fhould remain fecret, and that I fhould con- tinue to work for Keimer as ufual. The governor invited me to dine with him, from time to time ; I looked upon this as a very great ho- nour, and I was fo much the more fenfible of it, as he converfed with me in the moft affable, familiar, and amicable manner that could be imagined. Towards the conclufion of the month of April, 1724, a fmall veflel prefented itfelf for Bofton ; on this I took leave of Keimer, as if my intentions had been merely to return in order to fee my parents. The governor prefented me with a long letter, in which he communicated the moft flattering accounts of me to my father, and ftrongly recommended the project of eflablifhing me at Philadelphia, a plan which, according to his opinion, could not fail to pake my fortune, 3 In 48 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF In defcending the river our veflel ftruck upon a, fand bank, and fprung a leak ; the weather was alfo ftormy, and the fea tempefluous : in fhort we were obliged to make ufe of the pump without intermiflion, I myfelf working at it in my turn. We arrived, how- ever, fafe and found at Bofton, at the end of fifteen days. I had been abfent feven whole months, and during all that time, my parents had heard nothing of me, for my brother in law Holmes was not as yet returned, and had not written any thing to my friends concern- ing me. My unexpected appearance aftonifhed the \vhole family. All, however, except my brother, were charmed at my return, and came to bid me welcome, I went to fee him at his Printing-office ; I was much better drefled than I had ever been during the time I was in his fervice : I had on a complete new fuit of clothes, a watch and upwards of five guineas of ready money in my pocket. He did not receive me very kindly, for after examining me from head to foot, he applied himfelf again to his work. The workmen afked me with great eagernefs, where I had been ? what fort of a country it was ? and how I liked it ? I boafted much of Philadelphia, and the happy life that I led there, expreflmg at the fame time my earned intention of returning. One of them having enquired what kind of money was common there, I inftantly drew forth a whole handful of filver, and fpread it before them ; this circumftance won- derfully gratified their curipfity, paper money alone being BENJAMIN FRANKLifr, LtiD. 40 Wing in circulation at Bofton. I did not fail after this to produce my watch, but, at length, per- ceiving my brother to be in a bad humour, I gave them a dollar to drink my health and took my leave. This vifit on my part, piqued him exceed- ingly ; for, when rriy mother, a fhort time afterwards, fpoke of a reconciliation, and of the defire me had to fee us live together for the future, as brothers, he informed her, that I had infulted him in fuch a grofs manner before his Workmen, that he would not either forget or forgive it, during the whole cburfe df his life ; but in this he deceived himfelf greatly. The governor's letter^ appeared to occafion fome flirprife to my father ; he, however j fpoke to me> but little oh that fubjeft. At the end of a few days* Captain Holmes being returned;, he fhewed it to him, aiked if he knew Sir William Keith ? and en- quired what fort of & man he was ? adding, that, in his Opinion* he had but Very little difcernment to think of an eftablifhment for a boy, who flill wanted three years of being arrived at that age, when he could be properly termed a mam Holmes faid every thing in his power, in favour of the project^ but my father infifted in the moft de- cifive manner on the incongruity of the plan, and at length pofitively refufed to countenance it. After this, he wrote a civil letter to Sir William^ in which he returned him many thanks for the patronage and protection he had fo obligingly offered to his fon, but refufed to afiift me, at lead for the prefent, in the plan that had E been 50 THE PRIVATE LIFE OP been pointed out, becaufe, according to his opinion, I was yet too young to be entrufted with the manage- ment of fuch an important enterprife, more efpecially as the neceflary preparations would require a confider- able capital. My old friend Collins, who was a clerk in the Poft Office, charmed with, the accounts which I had given him of Philadelphia, conceived a prodigious inclina- tion to go and refide there alfo ; and while I was waiting for my father's determination, he fet off be- fore me by land for Rhode Ifland, ordering his books, which formed an excellent collection of tracts on- Natural Pliilofophy and 1 the Mathematics, to, be car- ried along with my baggage to New York, where he- propofed to wait for me. .Although my father did not reliih the proportion made to him by Sir William, he was yet exceedingly pleafed that I had obtained: the patronage and recom- mendation of a perfon of his rank* and that my in- duftry and ceconomy had enabled me to equip my- felf in fuch a refpectable manner, -in fo fiiort a time. Seeing no probability of an agreement between my brother- and myfelf, after commenting to my re- turn to Philadelphia, he advifed me to endeavour to acquire the regard of all the world, to treat every- body with refpecl, and above all things to avoid fatire and farcafm, to which he thought that I had but too great an inclination, adding, that with pru- dence, ceconomy, and perfeverance, I might be able to fave a fufficient quantity of money, before I was twenty-one years of age, to eftablifh myfelf in bufi- nefs ;; BENJAMIN FRANKJLIN, LL. D. 51 hefs ; and that if I then fliould be in want of a fmall Turn, he would readily undertake to fupply me. This was all I was able to obtain, except a few trifling prefents which he and my mother gave me, in token of their affection. I now embarked once more for New-York, au- ihorifed, at length, with their approbation and be- "nediction. The iloop which I was on board, having touched at Newport, Rhode-Ifiand, I paid a vifit to my brother John, who had been married and fettled there for fome years. He had always loved, and now received me with great affection. One of his friends, of the name of Vernon, happening to have a debt of about thirty- fix pounds flerling due to him in Pennfylvania, re- quefted me to get payment of it and to keep the mo- ney till he fhould inform me how to employ it; he accordingly gave me an order for that purpofe. This affair occafioned me much uneafmefs in the fequel.' At Newport we took on board a number of paf- fengers, among whom were two young women, who were acquainted with each other, and a femals Quaker, who was very grave, and very fenfible. I evinced an inclination to do her every fervice in my power ; I fuppofe (he was confcious of my good in- tentions, and in confequence took an intereil in every thing that concerned me. In fine, when me perceived that a familiarity had taken place, and feemed to increafe daily, between the two other female paflen- gers and me, which they endeavoured by all manner E 2 of 52 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF of means to encourage, me took me apart, and one afternoon (poke to me as; follows : " Young man, -I am quite unhappy about thee ; " thou haft no relations to watch over thy conducl, " and thou doft not feem to be much acquainted " with the world, and with thofe fnares to which thy " youth and inexperience render thee liable ! Thou " mayeft depend 4 on' what I am* about to tell thee: " Thefe young women lead a diforderly life j I per- " ceive it in all their a&ions. If thoir art not upon- " thy guard, they will draw thee into fome fcrape^ " They are (hangers to thee. I advife-thee^ therefore, " by the friendly intereft, which I take in thy pre- " fervation^ not to form any acquaintance with " them." As I did not at firft appear to think fo badly of them, as fhe did, fhe recounted a number of cir- cumflances to me, which fhe had either feen or heard^- and which, although they had efcaped my attention, convinced me that fhe was entirely in the right. L accordingly thanked her for her obliging advice, and promifed to follow her counfels. When we arrived at New- York, they told me where they refided, and requefted me to go and fee them. I did not, however, accept of their invitation y and in this Iwas perfectly right ; for, on the next day, the captain perceiving that he had loft a filver fpoon,. and fome other trifles, which were fcattered about in the cabin, and knowing that thefe two women were proftitutes, he obtained a fearch warrant, went to their apartments, and having there difcovered the Jlolen "BE-NJAMIN FRANKLIN, L>L. D. 53 jiolen goods, he delivered them over to the civil power, in order to be punifhed according to law. Thus after .having efcaped a funken rock, on which the floop flruck in her paflage., I alfo efcaped in my own perfon from an infinitely more perilous IhoalJ I found my ;old friend Collins at ^New-York ; he had arrived there fame >time before me ; we had been intimate -ev t er ftnqe oiy infancy ; we had read the fame books, and purfued the fame fludies together ; ,but he had the advantage of being able to give up more of his time tothofe purfuits, and to apaflionfor die mathematics, in which fcience he left me far behind him. When I refided at Bofkm, I was accuftomed to fpend mcfl of my Leifuxe hours in company with him. He w,as at that time a fober and induflrious young man. His knowledge had conciliated general efteem, both among the clergy and laity, and he feemed to r, and I learned not only from the report of others, but from his own eonfeflkm, that he had got drunk every -day fince his arrival at New-York, and had conduct- ed hinifelf in a very extravagant and diforderly man- ner. He had alfo become fond of play, and loft all his money, fo that I was obliged to pay his bill for him at tke inn in which he had refided, and even to defray all his expeuces during the journey j this \vas a very great hardfhip upon me. E 3 Mr* 54 TH E PRIVATE LIFE OF Mr. Burnet, who was at that time Governor of New- York, having heard the captain obferve, that a young man, a paffenger on board his veffel, had a great number o[ books, requefled him to conduct me to his houfe, I accepted the invitation, and would have carried Collins along with me, if he had been fober. The governor received me with great polite-, nefs, {hewed me his library, which was a very large one, and we talked a long time together about books and authors. This was the fecond governor who had honoured me with his attention ; and to a poor bo\\ as I at that time was, thefe little adventures did not fail to be uncommonly agreeable. We now fet off for Philadelphia: I procured the money that was due to Vernon, upon the road, and but for the aid of this fupply we fhould have been unable, without great difficulty, to have performed ourjourney, Collins was defirous of being employed in fome merchant's counting-houfe : but although he had many excellent recommendations, cither his breath or his countenance apparently betrayed the bad ha- bits that he had" contracted, for he did not fuccecd in any of his applications, fo that he continued to lodge and board along whh me, and at my expence. Knowing that I was in pcffeilion of Vernon's mo- ney, he was continually begging a loan of part of it, always prpmifing to reimburfe me the moment he found employment. In fine, he prevailed upon me to give him fo much of it that I became exceedingly \jneafy at the idea of what I fhould do, in cafe I fhould be BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 55 1>e obliged to reftore the fum. His attachment for liquor did not in the lead abate, and this circum- (lance contributed not a little to occafion a great coolnefs, and even difagreement between us ; for when he had drank a little too much, he was exceed- ingly quarrelfome. , Happening one day to be in a boat on the Dela- ware, with fome other young men, he refufed to row in his turn. " You lhall row me home," faid he, " to my into the boat, and brought him home quite wet to his lodgings. After this adventure, our coolnefs augmented daily. At length a captain of a veflel who traded to the Weft-Indies, and who was commiflioned to procure a tutor for the fon of a rich planter in Barbadoes, happening to fall in with him, proppfed to carry him to that ifland, in order to fill that fituation. He ac- cepted this offer and left me, ^ith a prpinife to re- mit me part of his falary by way of repayment of the fum he flood indebted to me, but I never after- wards received any intelligence whatever concerning Jiim. CHAP, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. CHAP. IV. Our Author fpends a Sum oj Money intruded to his Caref Curious Anecdote relative to Cod- Fiji} Project for eflab-, lijhing a ne*w Seft Some Account of a Vegetable Diet? A Poetical Conteft He is Jlill patronifed by the Governor? Departs from Philadelphia Is grofsly deceived by his Pa- iron Arrives in London Prefcnts his Letters of Credit r Is extremely uncafy relative to his future Conduct in Lift Some Account of Governor Sir William Keith, THE appropriation of the fum of money depofited in my hands, and belonging to Mr. Vernon, was pne of the firft grand errors in my life, and this cir- cumftance fully proves that my father was not much deceived in his judgment, when he fuppofed me to be as yet too young to be entrufted with the manage- ment of any bufmefs of importance. Sir William Keith, however, on reading his letter, obferved that he was by far too prudent, that there was a great difference between individuals, and, that as difcretion did not always accompany maturity of years, fo youth pn the contrary was not always deprived of it. " Since he will not contribute to your eftablim- ^ ment, (continues he,) I will undertake to do it my- " felf. Give me a lift of the various articles which " are neceflary to be brought from England, and I H will fend for them directly ; you may reim- V burfe me, whenever your fituation permits you. I 5 8 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF < c I am determined to have a good printer here, an a new fed. He was to preach the do&rines, and it was to be my bufi-nefs to confound all our opponents- However, when he began to explain himfelf to me y relative to his dogrna$ y I perceived a great number of whimfical conceits, which I refufed to allow, at leaft, unlefs my own opinions were permitted to be mixed with them ; in fhort, I would not confent to any thing if he did not agree to adopt fome of rny prin- ciples .- Keimer wore his beard long, beeaufe it is faid ii* the law of Mofes, "Thou malt not cut the corners " of thy beard." He alfo,- ftridly obferved the fab- bath or the feventh-day ;- and thefe, according to him^ were two eflential points* They both difpleafed me j notwithstanding this, I confented to admit them upon the exprefs condition, that he would agree to eflablifti it as a precept, not to ufe any food appertaining to the animal kingdom. He doubted greatly whether his conftitution would be able to fupport fuch a regimen^ but 1 aflured him on the contrary, that it would greatly contribute to the eftablifhment of his health. He was naturally an epicure, and I was determined to do every thing in my power in order to mortify his. appetites. ^ He far 62 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF He confented at length to try the regimen propofed? and I agreed to keep him company. We accord- ingly fubmitted ourfelves to it, during three whole months. A woman in the neighbourhood, purcllafed, cook- ed, and brought us our victuals ; I gave her a lift of upwards of forty difties, which (he was to prepare for us at different times, and into the compofition of which, neither Hfh nor flefh was admitted. This fan- taftical mode of life was the more agreeable to me> at this time, becaufe it was extremely cheap, for the expences of our hoiife-keeping did not exceed eighteen-pence a week. I have, fihce kept Lent many times in the fame manner, and nearly with the iitmoft poffible ftri&nefs, and I have for the moft part fuddenly fubftituted this regimen to my ordinary food, without experiencing the lead inconvenience ; this circumftance makes me look upon the advice generally given of accuftoming one'sfelf by degrees to the change of diet, as a matter of very little importance. I continued in good health and fpirits, but poor Keimer fuffered greatly. He became in a fhort time quite weary oftheenterprize, and began to figh after i\iejlefl>pGts of Egypt. At length he ordered a fucking pig to be roafted, and invited me, along with two females of our ac- quaintance, to dine with him ; but the pig having been brought home a little fooner than was expe&ed, he could not refift the temptation arifing from fo deli- cious BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 6J tidus a morfel, and actually devoured the whole, be- fore our arrival. In the mean time I paid great attention to Mifs Read. I had much aifeftion and efteem for her, and I had fome reafon to believe that me entertained fimilar fentiments in regard to me. But we were both very young, neither of us being much above eighteen years of age j and as I was upon the point of taking a long voyage; her mother thought that it Would not be prudent to permit our attachment to go any farther lengths at prefent, becaufe if we were to be married, it would be much more convenient that this ceremony mould take place after my return, when, as I had given out, I was to be eftablimed in bulinefs for myfelf. Perhaps Ihe alfo thought that my expect- ations were not fo well founded as I imagined. My principal companions at this time, were Charles Ofborne, Jo-feph Watfon, and Jarnes Ralph ? all of them very fond of reading. The two firfl were clerks to, and lived with Mr. Charles Brockden, one the principal attornies in the town ; the other was a clerk in a merchant's couriting-houfe. Watfon was a young man of great integrity, very pious and fenfible : The others were a little more re- laxed in regard to their religious principles, particu- larly Ralph, whofe faith as well as that of Collins, had been ftaggered by rnyfelf ; they both made me fuffef fuffieiently afterwards, by way of punifliment for this conduct. Ofborne pofTeifed great fenfibility, was frank and open in his conduct, and exceedingly attached to his &4 TiiE PRIVATE LIFE OF his friends, but he affe&ed too much to be a critic hi regard to literature. Ralph was witty, genteel in his manners, and ex- tremely eloquent. I never, in the whole courfe of my life, met with a more agreeable fpeaker. Both of them were paffionately attached to poetry, and had begun to compofe little fonnets, &c; We four were accuflomed to take very agreeable walks every Sunday, in the woods bordering on the Schuylkill. We read in common, and then conferred on the fubjecl: before us* Ralph feemed determined to give himfelf entirely up to the ftudy of poetry. He flattered himfelf that he mould be able to make great progrefs in this career, and even to acquire a for- tune by means of it. He pretended that the greateft poets, on their firft attempting to write, had com- mitted as many miftakes as he himfelf had done. Ofborne endeavoured to difluade him from it, af- furing him at the fame time, that he did not polfefs a poetical genius, and advifed him above all things, to ftick by the profeffion to which he had been brought up. " In the mercantile line," faid he, " you will " be able by means of your diligence and ailiduity, " even without a capital, to procure employment as a " faclor, and you may thus, in time, acquire fufficient " flock to begin trade with upon your own account." As for me, I approved greatly that he fhould amufe himfelf from time to time with poetry, but thought that this fhoulci be done merely with a view to attain perfection in the language. It BENJAMIN FRANKLIN* LL. D. 65 It was one day propofed, that each of us, at the next interview, fhould produce a piece of his own compofition in verfe. Our object in this experiment was to improve each other, by means of our obferva- tions, our criticifms, and our mutual corrections, and as the language and expreflion was all we had in view, we excluded every idea of invention^ agreeing that our common tafk mould be a verfion of the eighteenth Pfalm, in which the defcent of the Divinity is defcribedi The epoch of our interview was juft at hand, when Ralph called upon me, and told me that his talk was prepared. I informed him that I had been too indo- lent to perform mine, becaufe, having but little incli- nation towards that fpecies of literature, I had neg- lected to do any thing* On this, he produced the verfes which he had compofed, arid afked me what I thought of them. I approved of them highly, becaufe they appeared to me to poflefs great and extra- ordinary merit. On this he addrefled me thus : " Ofborne will " never allow the leaft credit to any thing of my " compofition ; his envy always dictates a thou- " fand ill-natured criticifms upon it. He is not fa " jealous of you ; I defire therefore that you will " take this, and prefent it as your own* I mail pre- " tend not to have had time, and confequently malt " not produce any thing : We fhall then fee what he " fays on this fubject." I immediately confented to this little piece of roguery, and inftantly tranfcribed F Ralph's 66 TH2 PRIVATE LIFE OF Ralph's tafk, in order to avoid the poffibility of de- te&ion. The day at length arrives, and we repair to the place of rendezvous. Watfon's work was the firfl that was read. It pof- feiTed fame beauties, but many defects. We then perufed Ofborne's, it was far fuperior j Ralph did great juftice to it, for while he animadverted upon a few faults, he applauded its numerous perfections. He had nothing to produce, and it was now my turn. I made a number of difficulties, and feemed de- firous of being excuTed ; I had not fufficient time to make the proper corrections, to polifli the ftile, &c. &c. None of my apologies were, however, admitted j it was neceffary that I fhould produce my compofi- tion j I accordingly complkd ; it was read over and. over again. Watfon and Ofborne immediately re- nounced every idea of competition, and joined in ap- plauding it. Ralph alone made a few criticifms, and propofed fome corrections, but I ftrenuoufly de- fended my manufcript. Ofborne was violent againft Ralph, and told him, that he was no better calculated to criticife than to write verfes, and that he had equally failed in the corrections he had hazarded, and the poetry he had promifed, but neglected to produce. As foon as the others had left me in order to re- turn home, Olborne exprefled himfelf (till more ftrongly in favour of what he imagined to be my pro - duftion. He pretended to have beeli hitherto re- ftrained BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JLL. >. 67 ftrained by fear, left I fhould think he meant to flatter me. ^ " But who would have imagined/' added he, " that * c Franklin was capable of fuch a compofition ! What "painting! What ftrength ! What fire! He has *' aftually furpalTed the original ! In his ordinary " Nar, o THE PRIVATE LIFE OF cc Nay, who dare mine, if not in virtue's caufe ? " That fdle proprietor of juft applaufe. " Ye reftlefs men 1 who pant for lettered praife, " With whom would you confult to gain the bays ? " With/thofe great authors whofe fanVd works you JTis well ; go, then, confult the laureil'd (hade, '* What anfwer will the laureil'd fhade return ? " Hear it and tremble, he comniands you burn " The nobleft works, his envy'd genius writ, " That boafts of nought more excellent than wit, ** If this be true, as 'tis a truth moft dread, *' Wo to the page which has not that to plead I *' Fontaine and Chaucer dying, wifh'd unwrote " The fprightlieft efforts of their wanton thought : ** Sidney and Waller, brigheft fons of fame, " Condemn'd the charm of ages to the flame* " Thus ends your courted fame does lucre then* " The facred thirft of gold, betray your pen ? " In profe 'tis blameable, in verfe 'tis worfe, " Provokes the Mufe, extorts Apollo's curfe ; " His facred influence never fhould be fold ; '* 'Tis arrant fimony to fing for gold ; " 'Tis immortality mould fire your mind : " Scorn a lefs paymafter than all mankind.'* , Vol. III. Epift. II. p. 70* But all my efforts were ufelefs, and my labour en- tirely loft, for meet upon meet of the poem con- tinued to arrive by every poft. In the mean time Mrs. T - having loft all her friends, as well as her trade on his account* was often reduced to the utmoft diftrefs. On thofe oc- cafions fhe had recourfe to me, and I lent her all BEN)AMIN FRANKLIN, LL.d* 8t all the money in my power, in order to refcue her from her misfortunes. I indeed began to conceive too great a regard for this young woman. Being at that time entirely deftitute of any curb from religion, and taking ad- vantage of the neceflity me was under of applying to me, I endeavoured to take fome familiarities with her, (another error in my life,) which me repelled with a proper degree of fpirit and refentment. She even informed Ralph of my behaviour, and this ad- venture occafioned a quarrel between us* Upon his return to London, he gave me to under- ftand, that he looked upon all the obligations which he Was under to me, to be entirely annihilated by my conduct ; from this I concluded that I could never hope to be reimburfed either the money which I had lent him, or advanced her upon his account* I was the lefs afflicted at this circumftance, as he was at pre- fent utterly unable to pay me ; I confidered alfo, that although I had loft his friendfhip, I was eafed at the fame time of a very heavy burden. I began from that moment to be more ceconomi- cal, and to fave a little money in order to fupply the wants of futurity. The printing-houfe of Mr. Watts, near Lincoln's Inn Fields, being (till more confiderable than that in which I was engaged, it was probable that I might find it turn out more lo my account, to be employed there. I accordingly prefented myfelf and was in- flantly admitted ; I remained there all the reft of the time I ft a id in London* o Upoa 4 TJlE PRIVATE LIFE OF Upon my firfl entrance into this prmting-houfe, J chofe to work at the prefs, becaufe I imagined that I flood in need of that corporal exercife which I had been accuflomed to in America, where the workmen are preiTmen and compofitors by turns. I in the mean time drank nothing but water, while all the other workmen, to the number of fifty, were extremely fond of porter : Yet I was able to carry as great a weight with one hand, as any of them could do with two. They confefled upon this, and a number of other occafions, that the Aquatic American^ as they were pleafed to call me, was much ftronger than them, although they drznkjtrong beer. A boy from a neighbouring public houfe, was conflantly employed during the whole day, in bring- ing porter to the workmen. My companion at the prefs drank a pint every morning before breakfafl, a pint at breakfafl with his bread and cheefe, a- nother between breakfafl and dinner, one at dinner, another after dinner about fix o'clock in the after- noon, and one more after he had finifhed his day's- work. I looked upon this to be a moil deteftable cuflom ; but it was abfolutely neceffary, according to him, to drink flrong beer, in order to enable him to work. I endeavoured to convince him, that the additional corporal flrength produced by the beer, could only be in proportion to the quantity of grain, or barley dnTolved in the water, out of which the beer was trompofed ; that there was much more in a half-penny worth of bread than in a pint of beer, and that if BENJAMIN iPRANRLiN, LL. D. 83 if he ate that quantity of bread with a pint of water, he would draw more nourifhment, and, confequently, more flrength from it than from a pint of beer. This mode of reafoning did not prevent him however from continuing to drink, and to pay every Saturday night to the amount of four or five millings on account of this villainous liquor ; an ex- pence from which I was entirely exempted. It is in this manner that thefe poor devils remain always in mifery. After the lapfe of a few weeks. Watts having occa* fion for a compofitor, I quitted the prefs bufmefs* The other competitors on this defired me to pay my footing once more, but I looked upon fuch a demand as an impofition, having paid it already to the preff- men. The mafter Was entirely of my way of think- ing, and ordered me not to comply with fo unreafon* able a requefl. I remained accordingly for two or three weeks without being admitted a member of the fociety. I was in confequence looked upon as an ex- communicated perfon, and if I happened to be abfent at any time, a few minutes from my bufmefs, I ex- perienced the effects of their malice in a thoufand trifles. On my return I was fiire to find my 'letter mixed together and confufed, my pages tranfpofed, my matter out of order, &c. &c. and all was attributed to the Spirit of the Chapsl*, who according to ' This Is the name given by the workmen to the Printing Houfe. G 2 them 84 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF them always vexed thofe who were not regularly ad- mitted. I was at length obliged notwithflanding my maf- ter's protection, to fubmit myfelf fo far as to pay their demand; being fully convinced, that it is a great folly not to be on good terms with thofe among whom one is obliged to live conftantly. After this, I was well received by all of them, and I foon acquired a confiderable influence over their minds. I propofed fome alterations in the laws of the Chapel, and I had intereil enough to get them palled in fpite of all oppolition. My example had fuch an efFed upon them that many of them renounced their breakfaft of beer, and bread and cheefe, and procured from a neighbouring houfe in the fame manner as myfelf, a large porrin- ger of water gruel with a lump of butter in the mid- dle of it, and fome chippings of bread and a little pepper ilrewed on the top. This was a much better breakfaft, and did not cod more than the price of a pint of beer ; that is to fay, three half-pence, while on the other hand it kept the head infinitely more clear, and enabled them to work better. Thofe who continued to gorge themfelves with beer all day long, by neglecling to pay their fcore often loft all their credit at the ale-houfe. On fuch occafions they had always recourfe to me, in order that I might pafs my word for them ; " their light "'being out!" as they termed it. I placed myfelf at the pay table every Saturday evening, in order to be, reimburfed BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 85 reimburfed the fmall fums that I had flood furety for during the preceding week. This circumftance, added to my reputation of pof r fefling a turn for fatire, contributed to fupport my importance in the chapel. Befides this, I recom- mended myfelf to my matter by my application and afiiduity, for I never kept St. Monday. My extra- ordinary quicknefs at compofition, was always fure to procure me fuch works as were of a prefling nature, which are generally the mod lucrative ; I therefore was enabled to live comfortably, and to pafs my time very agreeably. My apartment in Little Britain being too far diftant from the printing-office, I removed to another in Duke Street Lincoln's Inn Fields, exaclly oppofite the Roman Catholic chapel ; it was at the back of an Italian warehoufe. A widow kept the houfe ; her family confided of a daughter, a female fervant, and a fhopman, who lodged in an adjoining ftreet. After having fent an order to make fome enquiries relating to me, at the place in which I lived before, me confented to let me an apartment at the fame price (three millings and fix-pence, a week) content- ing herfelf.with fo little, me faid, on account of the fafety that would accrue to fingle women, from the circumftance of having a man to fleep in the fame houfe with them. She herfelf was a woman of a certain age, and the daughter of a clergyman ; fhe had been educated in the Proteftant Religion, but her hufband, whofe me- mory me greatly revered, had converted her to the G 3 Catholic 86 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF Catholic church. She had lived much among people of diftin&ion, and had thoufands of anecdotes by heart, fome of which extended as far back as the reign of Charles II. She had loft the life of her legs by means of the gout ; and was often confined to her chamber, fa that me was frequently defirous of having company to vifit her. Her converfation was fo exceedingly amufing to me, that I was eager to fpend the evening with her, as often as me requefted me. Our fupper confided of nothing more than half an anchovy a piece, laid upon a flice of bread, with a little butter, and half a pint of ale between us. This appears to be a fcanty meal, but the regale confifted entirely in her converfation. The care I took to return at an early hour, and the little trouble that I occafioned to the family, made her dread the idea of a feparation, fo that when I men- tioned a lodging that had been pointed out to me, much nearer the place where I worked, and which was to be let at two millings a week, an offer which rny defire of faving money induced me to accept of, Hie requefted me to give up every idea of a change, as me herfelf would take off two millings from the fum I then paid her. Thus my lodgings coft me no more than eighteen-pence per week, during the reft of the time I remained in London, A maiden lady of 70 years of age lived in the moft obfcure and retired manner in a garret in the fame- houfe. The following particulars concerning her,, were communicated to me, by my landlady : BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 87 She was a Roman Catholic, who in her early youth had been fent to the continent, where fhe en- tered into a convent with the intention of becoming a nun : but the climate difagreeing with her, fhe re turned to England, and as there was not a nunnery in that country, fhe had made a vow to lead a mo- naftic life, as far, at leaft, as circumftances would permit her. In confequence of this, fhe had difpofed of moft of her property, in order to employ the pro- duce of it in works of charity, and had only refer ved 12!. per annum to herfelf, part of which fmall fum me continued to distribute among the poor. To enable her to do this, fhe lived entirely upon water gruel, and never lighted a fire but on purpofe to make it. She had lodged for a great number of years in the fame garret, where fhe was permitted to remain gratis, by the Catholic families who had taken this houfe in fucceffion, and who looked upon her refidence with them as a bleffing from Heaven. A Prieft came daily in order to confefs her. " I have afked her often, (faid my hoftefs,) confider- " ing the manner in which fhe lived, how it was pof- * c fible for her to find fo much occupation for a Con- " feffor ?" " O replied fhe, it is impoflible to avoid u vain thoughts !" I once received permiflion to pay her a vifit : fhe appeared gay, polite, -and very agreeable in converfa- tion. Her bed-chamber was neat, but fhe had not any other moveables in it befides a mattrafs, a table with a crucifix and a book upon it, a chair which G 4 (he 88 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF file prefented me to fit upon, and a picture of St. Veronica over the chimney-piece, in which that holy female difplayed a handkerchief, with the face of Jefus Chriit miraculoufly imprinted upon it. The pious Catholic explained this circumftance to me, \vith a very ferious countenance. Her face was pale, but me never had been fick, and I may give this as another example to prove how little money is necefTary, in order to fupport both life and health. I got acquainted at the printing-office with a young man of the name of Wygate, whofe parents were opulent, and who, in confequence, had been better educated than the generality of printers. He was a very good Latin fcholar, fpoke French pretty well, and was very fond of reading. I taught him and fever al of his friends to fwim ; for this purpofe I car- ried them two or three times to the river Thames, and after a little practice they acquired a certain degree of facility and even perfection in this exercife. We one day made a party in order to go to Chelfea, to fee the College and the curiofities at Don Saltero's, with fome gentlemen in the neighbourhood of London, to whom they introduced me. On our return, at the rcqueft of the company whofe curiofity had been ex- cited by Wygate, I undrefled myfelf, jumped into the river, and fwam nearly from Chelfea to Black- Friars, making a variety of evolutions and performing feveral feats of activity, as well on the top of the , as below it, This BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 89 This afforded a great deal of pleafure, fatisfac- tion, and even aftonifliment, to thofe to whom fuch a fpeftacle was entirely new. I had been greatly ad- dicted to, and had loved this delightful exercife from my early infancy. I was acquainted with, and prac- tifed all the motions and pofitions recommended by Thevenot, and had even invented fome new ones my- felf, in which I endeavoured to unite grace with utility. I took great care to do my utmoft to excel upon this occafion, and I was really flattered with the admiration I had excited by my Ikili and activity. Wygate who was exceedingly defirous of excell- ing in this art, attached himfelf fo much the more to me, as there was a great conformity between our fludies, and our habits of life. In fhort he propofed to me to make the tour of Europe together, and to defray the expences of our journey, by working irt our profeflion, in all the great cities which we might pafs through. I was on the point of confenting to this fcheme. I even communicated it to my friend Mr. Den- ham, with whom I was always happy to pafs a leifure hour. He diffuaded me from this project, and advifed me to think ferioufly of returning' to Philadelphia, where he himfelf was determined fhortly to repair, I mail here recount a circumftance, which will ferve to give fome idea of the character of this worthy man. He had been formerly a merchant in Briflol. Hav- ing failed in bufmefs there, he made a compofition with his creditors, and fet out for America, where by means go THE PRIVATE LIFE OF means of an affiduous application to trade, he ac- quired a confiderable fortune in a few years. On his return to England in the fame verTel with myfelf, as I have mentioned before, he invited all his former creditors to a feaft. When they were aflembled, he returned them many thanks for the kind manner in which they had treated him, and while they expected nothing more than a good dinner, each of the guefts on changing his plate, found an order on a banker, for the payment of the remainder of the debt, befides inter eft at $per cent. He informed me, that he intended to return to America, and to carry out with him a large quan- tity of merchandize, with which he refolved to open a * (lore, and he moreover offered to take me out with him as a clerk in order to fupei intend his books, to copy his letters, &c. &c. &c. He added thac as foon as I mould become familiar with commercial matters, he would fend me as a fupercargo, with frc.ur, pork, &c. &c. to the Weft Indies, and procure ma a variety of lucrative commiffions ; in fhort, he ob- ferved, that with conduct and ability, I could not fail to eftablim myfelf advantageoufly. I was charmed with thefe proportions. London began to be hateful to me ; the agreeable moments I had fpent in Pennfylvania, were recalled to my memo* ry, and I defired once more to enjoy fmiilar fcenes, I accordingly engaged with Mr. Denham at .50 per annum, Pennfylvania money. This was indeed a * This is the ufual appellation both in America and the Weft Indies, for a warehoufe. left BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. $1 lefs fum than what I might have gained as a Compo- fitor ; but I had an infinitely more agreeable career opened to my ambition. I now bid farewell, as I thought for the laft time, to the printing-houfe, and delivered myfelf entirely up to the ftudy of my new profeflion, pafling my whole time, either in vifiting the merchants with Mr. Denham in order to purchafe the different articles he flood in need of, or running among the workmen, to haflen them in their operations, &c. &c. When all was put on board, I had then a few days of leifure for myfelf. During this fhort interval, I happened one morn^ ing to be lent for, by a perfon of diflinclion, with whofe name only, I was acquainted : It was Sir William Wyndham ; I repaired to him accordingly, He had heard a great deal, by what means I know not, about my fwimming from Chelfea to Black-friars^ and alfo that I had taught this art, in a few hours, to Wygate and feveral of his companions. His two fons, he faid, were about to proceed upon their tra-i vels j he was defirous that they fliould firfl learn to fwim, and he offered me a very liberal gratification^ if I would undertake to teach them. As they were not as yet arrived in town, and my flay in the capital was wholly uncertain, I was of courfe unable to accept his propofition. I was, how- ever, induced from this incident to believe, if I had chofen to have remained in England and opened a fchool for Natation, that I fhould in all human pro- bability have gained a great deal of money. I was 6 fa 92 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF fo (truck with the idea at the moment, that, if the fame propolition had been fuggefted a little fooner, I fhould never have thought of returning to America. You and I, feveral years afterwards, had a matter of greater confequence to confer upon, with one of the fons of this very Sir William Wyndham, who was created Earl of Egremont. But let us not an- ticipate events. I had patted in this manner eighteen months irk London, working with great induftry at my trade, and incurring no other expence than that arifing from feeing a few plays, and purchafmg a fmall col- lection of books. My friend Ralph had, however, kept me in poverty; he owed me no lefs than .27 which appeared to me to be fo much money loft ; this was a great fum de- ducted from my little favings. Notwithftanding this, I loved him greatly, becaufe he poflefled a number of very amiable qualities. But although I had not improved my fortune, I had augmented my mafs of knowledge by reading many excellent books, and by converfmg with men of letters, and feveral of thofe who excelled in the Arts and Sciences, with whom I found means to form an acquaintance, and even to become intimate. We fet fail from Gravefend, on the .... of July, 1726. I refer you for the incidents of our voyage to my journal, where you will find every thing minutely detailed. We landed at Philadelphia on the .... of October following. CHAP. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D 93 CHAP. VI. Our Author meets Governor Sir William Keith, on his re- turn to Philadelphia He hears that Mifs Read is mar- ried Sicknefs and Death of Mr, Denham He changes his Situation once more, and becomes a Printer again Some Account of an Oxford Scholar Difpute luith Keimer Re- conciliation Paper Money He removes to Burlington Hiflory of Ifaac Decon y InfpccJor General of Neiu ferfey- Projeft of an Eftablijhmcnt A Differtation on Morality and Religion He begins to doubt his Metaphyftcal Prin- ciples Refohes to acJ 'with Honejly in all his Dealings. /^\ N my return. Sir William Keith was no longer governor of Pennfylvania, having been difpof- feffed of his employment, and replaced by Major Gordon. I met him walking in the itreets as a fiin- ple citizen ; he appeared a little afhamed at feeing me, but he pafled without taking any notice of me, or even fpeaking a fmgle word, I myfelf fhould have been equally afhamed at fee- ing Mifs Read, if her family, defpairing with good reafon of my return, after receiving the letter 1 had lent her, had not perfuaded her to give up every idea of me, and prevailed upon her to efpoufe a potter of the name of Rogers, during my abfence. He, however, did not make her a good hufband, and me feparated from hi m foon after, refufing to cohabit with him, and even to pafs by his name, becaufe it v/as ru- moured that he had another wife ftill livinj. His fkiii 94 tfcfc PRIVATE LIFE Ofr Ikill in his trade had induced Mifs Read's parents to confent to this match, but he was an equally bad hufband and excellent workman. Having contracted feveral debts, he ran away, in 1727 or 1728, to the Weft Indies, where he died. During my abfence, Keimer had hired a more con- fiderable houfe than the one which he occupied before, and he had opened a {hop well furnifhed with paper and other goods of a fimilar kind. He had alfo pro- cured an abundance of new types, and a number of* workmen, among whom there was not, however, a fingle good one : He feemed to be in a thriving way* and to have great employment. Mr. Denham hired a warehoufe in Water-Street* where we difplayed our merchandize. I was aflidu- ous in bufmefs ; I fludied book-keeping, and in a fhort time I became exceedingly expert at it. We lodged and boarded together ; he was fmcerely ar> tached to me, and afted in every thing exactly the fame as if he had been my father. On my fide, I loved and refpected him ; my fituation indeed was extremely pleafant, but this happinefs was of very fhort duration. About the beginning of February, 1727, the epoch at which I entered into the 22nd year of my age, we both fell fick. I was attacked by a pleurify, which nearly carried me off; I fuffered a great deal, and gave myfelf over for loft. It was actually a fort of difappointment to me, when I found myfelf conva- lefcent, and I regretted that I mould fooner or later, have BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL, t>. vice he had alfo purchafed for four y tended to be a compofitor. I fh Cunning away, hereafter. ' able manner with The laft was David Harry, a > e fo much the more > he had taken as an apprentice. of mftruding them, I foon perceived that K^' new from me dailv gaging me at fuch high wag aturda } r > becaufe k was he was accuftomed to p- flus } had two da y s ever * educate and form a? a to reading, penfive workmen 3BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 99 I alfo increafed the number of my acquaintance, at lead among well-informed people, as much as pof- fible. Keimer himfelf treated me apparently with much civility and confideration, and riofhing, at that period, gave me any uneafinefs except my debt to Vernon, which I was flill incapable of paying, not having as yet been able to accumulate fo large a fum out of my little favings ; but he was kind enough not to demand the reimburfement of it. Our printing-houfe was often in want of different forts of letter, and there were no letter-founders in America. I, however, was able, with fome difficulty, to conftruct a mould ; I made ufe of the letters which we had already, as punches ; I caft the types in lead, by means of a clay matrix ; and I thus made fhift to fupply the printing-houfe with whatever WcS wanting. True it is, that the letter was not good, but it was tolerable. I alfo, upon occafion, engraved a variety of orna- ments ; I made ink ; I now and then put the mop in proper order ; in fhort, I became, as4t were, Keimer's faftotum. But, however ufeful I might be, I foon perceived that my fervices became daily of lefs importance, and that this happened exactly in proportion as the other workmen began to be more expert at their bufmefs ; in fhort, on paying my fecond quarter's wages, he informed me, that he thought them too high, and that in his opinion, I ought to make fome abatement. He alfo became lefs civil, and daily took upon him more of the tone, and the authority of a mafter. He H 2 often ICO THE PRIVATE LIFE OP often pretended to have occafion to find fault me ; he became more difficult to pleafe, and even feerned ready to come to an open rupture with me. I continued, notwithstanding, to fupport his ill conduct with patience, thinking that the embarraff- ment of his affairs, was in part the occafion of his bad temper. At length a very flight incident diflblved our connection. Happening one day to hear a great noife in the neighbourhood of our houfe, I put my head out of the window in order to fee what had occafioned it. Keimer, who was in the ftreet, looked up, and having obferved me, told me in a loud and choleric tone of voice, to look to my bufmefs ; he alfo added fome reproachful exprcflions, which piqued me the more, becaufe they were delivered in public ; all the neigh- bours, who, like myfelf, were attracted to the win- dow, having overheard the converfation, had been- witnefles of the manner in which I was treated. Not content with this, he came up frairs into the printing-office,, and continued to abufe me. 'Both of us waxed warm, and he gave me warning to quit his fervice at the approaching quarter, according to pre* vio-us ftipulation, teftifying at the fame time great un- eafmefs at being obliged to give me fo long a term. In reply to this, I told him, that his regret was fu- perfluous, becaufe I was ready to leave him at that very moment. In mort, I matched up my hat, and fellied out of the houfe, defiring Meredith, whom I faw below, to take fome of my effects which I had left behind me, and carry them at his leifure to my lodgings. Meredith BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. IO1 Meredith accordingly called upon me that very evening, and we fpoke a great deal concerning what I had endured. He had conceived a great veneration for me, and was extremely forry that I fhould leave the office while he refided there. He alfo difiuaded me from returning to my native province ; for I actually be- gan to form iiich an idea. He reminded me that Keimer owed a fum equal at lead to the value of the property he was in poiTeflion of ; that his creditors be- gan to be clamorous ; that he carried on trade in a mod foolifli manner, often felling things without any profit, in order to procure ready money, and giving credit to any perfon from mere habit, and even with- out keeping an exacl: account of it. In confequence of this he argued, that in the end he muft fail in bu- fmefs, which would afford an opening, from which I might find means to profit greatly. To this I objected my want of capital ; but he in- formed me in reply, that his father had conceived the highefi: opinion of me, and that in confequence of a converfation they had lately together, he was allured he would advance a fum of money to fet us up in bu- finefs, if I would but admit him into partnerfhip with me. " The time I am bound to Keimer," fays he, will " be out next fpring. By that period we may have " received our prefs and our types from London. " I know that I am not a good workman, but if you '* will agree to my proportion, your knowledge in '** bufmefs will be in fome meafure counterbalanced H 3 " by 102 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF f by the capital advanced by me, and we fhall divide " the profits equally between us." His propofal was fo very reafonable, that we in- flantly fhook hands upon it. His father too, who happened to be in town at that very time, approved of our fcheme. He knew that I had a great influence over the mind of his fon, for I had prevailed upon him, for fome months pad, to abflain from drinking brandy, and he hoped that if we were more intimately connected together, I mould be able to^ make him give over this unhappy cuflom altogether. I gave his father a catalogue of the tools it would be neceffary for us to receive from London. He carried it immediately to a merchant's, and gave him an order for procuring them. We had agreed together to keep this matter a fecret, until their ar- rival, and I was in the mean time, to endeavour to procure, if poffible, fome employment in another printing-office ; but there was no place vacant, and fo I remained idle. At the end of a few days, however, Keimer having the expectation of being employed to print the paper money for the State of New Jerfey, a job which re- quired engravings, and different chara&ers, which I alone could furnifh, and fearing left Bradford fhould engage me, and confequently procure this bufmefs, fent me a very civil meflage. He faid that old friends ought not to remain enemies, on account of a few hafty words, fpoken in a moment of pailion, and that he was exceedingly defirous that I fhould return to him once more. Meredith perfuaded me to accept of his BENJAMIN FRANKLItf, LL. D. 103 his invitation, and as an additional reafon, obferved, that it would be particularly advantageous to him, as he would thus have a better opportunity of im- proving himfelf in his profeffion, by means of my daily inftruftions. I accordingly returned, and we lived in greater harmony together than before our late feparation. Keimer was lucky enough to be employed by the province of New Jerfey. In order to facilitate our operations, I conftrucled a prefs for copper-plate printing: This was the fir ft that had ever been feen in America. I engraved a variety of vignettes and orna- ments for the notes ; Keimer and I then re- paired to Burlington, where I executed the whole to the fatisfa&ion of every body, and he received a fum of money on this occafion, which helped him to keep his head above water, much longer than he would otherwife have been able to do. At Burlington I got acquainted with the principal perfons of the province. Several of them had been nominated by the afiembly, in order to fuperintend the preTs, and take care that there were no more notes printed than the number ordained by law. In con- fequence of this, they were by turns, conftantly with us, and whoever came according to rotation, com- monly brought with him one or two friends to keep him company. My mind was much more cultivated by reading than Keimer's ; it was probably on this account that they were better pleafed with my converfation than his. They invited me to their houfes, introduced me H 4 to 1O4 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF to their friends, and treated me with the utmoft atteii- tion and politenefs, while Keimer, although the maf- ter, perceived himfelf a little neglected. He was, in truth, a ftrange animal ; entirely igno- rant of the common cuftoms of life ; ever ready to oppofe himfelf with bluntnefs to received opinions ; enthufiaflical in regard to fome points of religion 9 difguftmg in his perfon ; and, in fine, in addition to all this, a little bit of a rogue. We remained near three months at Burlington, and at the end of that period, I could reckon Judge Allen, Samuel Butill, fecretary of the province, Ifaac Pearfon, Jofeph Cooper, feveral gentlemen of the name of Smith, all members of the aflembly, and Ifaac Decon, the infpector-general, among the num- ber of my friends. This lad was an able and intelligent man, who told me, that in his early youth, be began the world by digging clay for the brick-makers ; he added, that he was rather old when he learned to write ; that he was at fir ft employed in carrying the chain for the furveyors, who taught him their trade, and that his induliry had at length procured him a genteel for- une. " I forefee," faid he to me one day, " that you " will foon fupplant this man (fpeaking of Keimer) " in his profeffion, and that you will make your " fortune by it hereafter in Philadelphia." He had not, at that time, the Itail poflible knowledge of my intention of fetting up, either there, or elfe- where. His BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. IO5 His friends were of great fervice to me in the end, cis I alfo was, when ever opportunity ferved, to fome them, and they have all fmce continued to teflify .great regard towards me. Before I relate the circumftanees that attended my firft entrance into bufmefs, it may, perhaps be proper to inform you, what was, at that time, the (late of my mind, relative to the principles of morality, that fo you may be enabled to judge, how far they have influenced the pofterior events of my life. My parents at an early age, had given me religi- ous impreffions, and I received, in my infancy, a pious education. I was brought up in the principles of the Prefoyterian religion ; but fcarce had I attained the age of fifteen, when, after having doubted of dif- ferent points by turns, accordingly as I found them "attacked in the different books that I perufed, I began actually to doubt of revelation itfelf. Some tracts againft Deifm happened about this time to fall into my hands ; they contained, as I was told in the preface, the fubftance of feveral fermons which had been preached in Boyle's laboratory. It fome how happened, that they operated a quite contrary effect, to that which had been propofed by the writer; for the arguments of the Deifts which had been cited in order to be refuted, appeared to me to be much ftronger than the refutation itfelf. In fhort, I became a complete Deift. My-mode-of reafoning upon this fubject, alfo per- verted feverai other young men, particularly Collins and Ralph, but when I began afterwards to recollect, that IO6 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF that they had both of them done me a great deal of harm, without the leaft remorfe ; when I confidered the proceedings of governor Keith, another free thinker^ and my own conduct towards Vernon and Mifs Read, which, at times gave me great uneafmefs, I fufpeded that this doelrine, although it might be true, was not very ufeful. I alfo began to have a worfe opinion than before of the pamphlet I had publifhed in London, which had the following quo- tation from Dry den, by way of motto : " Whatever is is right ; " Tho' purblind man fees but a part of the chain ; (" The neareft link ;) " His eyes not carrying to the equal beam " That poifes all above." The conclufion I drew from this was, that in con- fequence of the goodnefs, the wifdom, and infinite power of the Deity, nothing could be wrong in this world, and that neither vice nor virtue exifted in reality, and were, in fhort, nothing more than vain diilin&ions. I no longer looked upon this do&rine to be fo irreproachable, as I had at firfl thought it, and I began to fufpecl that fome imperceptible error had in- fmuated itfelf into my argument, which affecled every thing that followed, as is commonly the cafe in metaphyfical reafonings. I at length remained fully convinced, that truth, fmcerity, and integrity, in the dealings of man with man, were of the utmoft importance to the happinefs of mankind, and from that moment I formed the re- 3 folution, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. IO/ folution, and wrote it down in my journal, to practice them during the remainder of my life. Revelation, as fuch, had not in truth, any in- fluence upon my mind ; but I was of opinion that although certain actions could not be bad, becaufe it had prohibited them, nor good, becaufe it had commanded them, that it was never thelefs probable, that thefe aclions were prohibited, becaufe they were bad for us, and commanded, becaufe they were advantageous in their own nature, all circumflances and things taken into consideration. And this perfuafion, aided by the fuccour of Divine Providence, or fome tutelary angel, and perhaps by circumflances and accidental fituations, which were favourable in themfelves, preferved me from all immorality, or at leaft from grofs and voluntary injuflice, which my want of religion tended to render me guilty of, during this dangerous period of youth, and ainidft the difficult fituations which I fometimes found myfelf expofed to among ftrangers, and at a diftance from the eye and the counfels of my father. I have thought fit to fay voluntary, becaufe the faults that I had hitherto committed, were in fome refpels forced, either by the inexperience of my youth or by the difhonefly of others. I had confequently the principles, and I poflefTed the character of folid probity, before my entrance into the world on my own foundation. I was well aware of this advantage, and I was refolved to preferve it. CHAP. IO8 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF G H A P. VII. Our Author fcts up In Eitfmcfs Some Account of tie Cynic M.lcUe Efiabl'ifljment of a Political and Philofophical Club He refi/ves to publiflj a News-paper His Scheme h betrayed by a quondam Friend He pays Vcrnon the Sum of Money fo long due Experiences neiv Embarrajjjincnts Generofity cf two of his Friends Di/jolution of hij Partncrjlxp with Meredith Some Obfervations relative to- the Utility of Paper-Money He opens a Stationer s Shop His extraordinary Prudence^ Economy^ and Ajjiduity He is at length united to Mifs Read He* plans a Public Library. T 7E had not returned btit a few weeks to Phila- delphia, when our types, prefs, &c. &c. ar- rived from London. I inftantly fettled my accounts with Keimer, and left him with his own confent, be- fore he had any knowledge of my defign. We hired an empty houfe near the Market-Place ; In order to make the rent lefs inconvenient for us (it was then let for .24 flerling per annum, and I have fince known it to be let for .70) we received Tho- mas Godfrey, a glazier, and his family, as lodgers, who fupported a confiderable portion of the expence, and permitted us to board with them at a flipulated fum. Scarce had we got our types in order, and fet up our prefs, when George Houfe, an acquaintance of mine, brought us a countryman, whom he had picked up BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 109 up in the ftreets wandering about in fearch of a printer. Our money was at this time nearly ex- haufted, on account of the variety of little fums we had been under the neceffity of expending, and the countryman's five {hillings, which were the firft pro- fits of our partnerfhip, came fo a propas, that I en- joyed more pleafure from the receipt of it, than from any fum I have ever gained fmce. The gratitude which I felt in my heart, for the friendly conduct of George Houfe upon this occafion, rendered me in- finitely more ready than I mould otherwife have been, to favour and encourage young men, in their firft outfet in life. In every country, there are a number of morofe and cynical people, who are continually prognofti- eating the ruin of their neighbours. There was a perfon of this defcription, refiding at that very time at Philadelphia. He was a man of a certain age, he pofferTed a confiderable fortune, had an appearance of wifdom, and a very grave manner of fpeaking ; his name was Samuel Mickle. This man, whom I was entirely unacquainted with, flopped one day at my door, and afked me if I was the young man who had lately fet up a new printing houfe ; on my anfwering in the affirmative, he faid that he was very forry for me, becaufe it was an ha- zardous enterprize, the expence of which was entirely thrown away, as Philadelphia was then actually in a ftate of decay, all the inhabitants having either fhut up mop, or being on the point of doing fo ; he added, that he was certain, from his .own knowledge, that every HO THE PRIVATE LIFE OF every thing that might induce foolifh people to think otherwife, fuch as new buildings, and the increafed price paid for lodgings, were deceitful figns, which, in truth, only contributed to haften our ruin, and he gave me fuch a detailed account, both of the exifting misfortunes, and of fuch as were on the eve of taking place, that he left me almoft entirely difcouraged. If I had actually known this man before my en- trance into bufinefs, I mould, beyond all doubt, never have attempted it. He himfelf continued to live in this ruined place^ and to declaim in the fame manner, refufmg, for many years to purchafe a houfe, becaufe every thing was falling into decay \ at length, however, I had the fatisfaction to fee him pay five times as much for one as if he had bought it, when he firft commenced his lamentations. I ought to have obferved, that in the courfe of the preceding autumn, I had collected a number of the beft informed men of my acquaintance, in order to form a club, which we called the Junto, the intention of which inflitution was to improve our minds. We met conftantly every Friday evening. The laws which I myfelf drew up, obliged every member in his turn, to propofe one or more queflions on fome point of morality, politics, or natural philofophy, in order to be difcuffed by the company prefent ; and alfo to read once every three months, an eflay of his own compofuion, on any fubjeft that ftruck his fancy. Our BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. Ill Our debates were to be fubmitted to the regula- tion of a prefident, and -were never to be excited but by the fincere defire of difcovering the truth, without which the pleafure of difputation, or the vanity arifmg from victory, was to pafs for nothing in our difcuffi- ons. In fhort, in order to prevent bickerings and quarrels, all thofe expreffions which might evince an obftinate, or head-ftrong opinion, and all direct con- tradictions, were prohibited under the penalty of lit- tle pecuniary fines. The firft members of our club were : Jofeph Brientnall, who was employed as a copying- clerk among the lawyers. He was a middle aged man, of a good natural difpofition, greatly attached to his friends, very fond of poetry, reading all that he could meet with, and writing verfes paflably well ; very ingenious, and exceedingly agreeable in converfation. Thomas Godfrey, an able mathematician, who had ftudied this fcience without the afliftance of a mafter, and who was afterwards the inventor of what is called Hadley's Quadrant ; but he knew very little out of his own fphere, and was not fupportable in company, always requiring, like moft of the great mathemati- cians I have met with, an uncommon precifion in every thing that was dated to them, and denying or diftinguifhing perpetually in regard to trifles ; the true means of troubling anddifturbing all con- verfation. He foon quitted us. Nicholas 113 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF Nicholas Scull, a furveyor, who foon after became furveyor general. He was fond of books and made verfes. William Parfons, brought up to the bufmefs of a flioe-maker, but, who being fond of reading, had acquired a profound knowledge of the mathematicks. He ftudied this fcience at firft with an eye towards adrology, at which he himfelf was afterwards the firil to laugh. He alfo became furveyor-general. William Maugridge, a carpenter, and a mod ex- cellent mechanic : In addition to this, he was a man, at once folid and fenfible. Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb; of whom I have before made mention. Robert Grace, a young man of fortune, generous, lively, and witty ; he was fond of fatire, but he loved his friend (till more than an epigram. And lad of all, William Coleman, at that time clerk to a merchant, and much about my own age. He had the cooled and cleared head, the bed heart, and was the mod exact moralid, that I almod ever happened to meet with. He afterwards became one of our mod refpeftable merchants, and alfo one of the provincial judges. Our friendmip exided without any interruption, for more than forty years, to the very day of his death ; the club laded nearly as long. It was actually the bed fchool in the province for philofophy and politics ; for our quedions, which were given out a whole week previous to their being , put us under the neceflity of making dili- gent; BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 113 gent inquiries concerning the different objects pro- pofed to be canvailed, in order to enable us to fpeak more, pertinently upon the fubjects under debate. We thus alfo acquired the habit of a more agreeable kind of converfation than we had been before accuf- tomed to, every queftion being debated according to the exprefs laws of the fociety, and in fuch a manner as to prevent all difgufl. It is to this circumftance that we may attribute the duration of our club, of which I fhall often have oc- cafion to fpeak hereafter* I (hall now only mention it as one of the means on which I reckoned for the increafe of our bufmefs, each of the members endeavouring, as much as poflible^ to get us employment. Brentnall, in particular, pre- vailed upon the Quakers to employ us, to print part of their hiftory ; the remainder was to be completed under the infpection of Keinier. It was impoflible to take much pains with the work, as we had con* traded to finifh it at a very low price. It was a folio volume printed on pro patria paper, with a Cicero character ; the notes, which were exceedingly long, were in a fmaller type. I compofed half a fheet per day of it, and Meredith immediately put it to prefs. It was often eleven o'clock at night, and fometimes later, before I had finiihed my diftribution for next day's work; the little trifles which we did from time to time, for our friends, kept us behind-hand, but I was refolutely determined to finifh my talk. Having one night impofed my form, and, as I thought, finiihed my labour, an accident occurred which i intirely 114 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF intirely difplaced my two folio pages of Cicero ; on this I inftantly diftributed them again, and recom- pofed the whole, previous to my retiring to reft. This vigilance and induftry, which our neighbours did not fail to perceive, began to acquire us both credit and reputation, I learned, among other things, that the merchants* club, which aflembled every night, happening accidentally to talk about the new printing-houfe, it was the general opinion that it would not fucceed, there being two printers (Keimer and Bradford) already eftablilhed in the town. But Doctor Baird, whom you and I had occafion to fee a great number of years after, in the place of his na- tivity, at St. Andrew's in Scotland, was of a contrary opinion. " The induftry of that Franklin (faid he) is in- " finitely beyond any thing of the kind I ever knew " in my life before. I fee him (till at work every " night when I go home from the club, and he is " again up and at bufmefs, before his neighbours are " out of their beds." This circumftance made a great imprefiion upon the reft of the aftembly, and in a fhort time afterwards one of the members came and offered to furnifh us with articles in the paper line -, but we were de- termined not as yet to embarrafs ourfelves by open- ing a mop. It is not in order to offer up ineenfe to myfelf, that I here enter fo fully into' details relative to my in- duftry 5 it is done merely with the idea that fuch of my defcendants as read thefe Memoirs, may appre- ciate BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D, IJJ date the advantage of this virtue, by perceiving, in the recital of my life, the happy effects which it pro- duced in my favour. George Webb, having found a friend who lent him money to re-purchafe his indentures from Keimer, came one day in order to offer himfelf to us as a workman. We could not immediately give him employment ; but I foolifhly told him, by way of fecret, that we intended fpeedily to publifh a newf- paper, and that we fhould then take him into our fervice. My hopes of fuccefs, which I freely com- municated to him, were founded on the confideration, that the only paper which we had at that time in Phi- ladelphia, and whjdh was printed by Bradford, was a paltry publication, which although miferably con- clucted;) and deftitute of amufement, yet produced him a confiderable profit. Webb betrayed my confidence, and inftantly com- municated my project to Keimer, who, in order to an- ticipate me, publifhed \\ie profpeclus of a paper, which he himfelf intended to print, and upon which Webb was to be employed* I was provoked partly at my own indifcretion, and partly at the unfair advantage which had been taken of it : by way of oppofition therefore, being as yet unable to begin our intended paper, I wrote feveral diverting little eiTays, for Bradford's journal, under the name of the " Bufy Body," which Brentall con- tinued for feveral months. I thus fixed the attention of the public upon it, and Keimer *sprofpeflus 9 which we turned into ridicule, was defpifed. i a Not- Il6 THE PRIVATE LIFE OF Notwith (landing this, he actually publifhed his paper, and after continuing it nine months, hav- ing at that time no more than ninety fubfcribers, he offered to fell it to me for a mere trifle. I was then at full liberty to conduct it ; I therefore pur- chafed the copy-right, and began to print it immedi- ately upon my own account : In a few years after* wards it afforded me a handfoine profit. I perceive that I am now talking in the Jingulaf number, although our partnerfhip {till exifted. It is, perhaps, becaufe in fad the whole enterprise de- pended entirely upon my exertion. Meredith was not a compofitor, he was nothing more than a poor prefiman, and he but rarely abftained from drinking fpirits. My friends were forry to fee me connected \vith him, but I managed matters as well as poffible. The firft numbers of our paper made a far differ- ent fenfation than any publication of the fame kind that had yet appeared in the province, as well on ac- count of the ftyle, as the manner of printing. Some ksen remarks which I made after my own manner, concerning the difpu'te which a little before that time had taken place between governor Burnet and the affembly of Maffachufets, {truck perfons as fomething above what is common, and occafioned a great deal to be faid relative to the paper and its editor, fo that in a few weeks we had a multitude of fubfcribers. Their example was foon followed by many others, and our fubfcription increafed daily. This was one of the firft good effects produced by my endeavours to communicate my ideas to paper. I alfo drew another advantage BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL,D. 1*7 advantage from it, for the principal people in the pro- vince, perceiving me to be a man well calculated for my fituation, thought it advantageous to themfelves to do me every fervice, and encourage me by all means in their power. Bradford ftill publimed the motions made in the af- fembly, the laws paffed there, and all the other public proceeding^. He had printed an addrefs from the houfe of reprefentatives to the governor, in a negli- gent and incorrect manner. We reprinted it with ac- curacy and elegance, and fent a copy of it to every member. They inflantly . perceived the difference, and this circumftance feconded the influence of our \vell-wifhers in fuch a manner, that we were nomi- nated printers to the affembly for the fucceeding year, Among my friends in that houfe, I ought not to forget one of the members, Mr. Hamilton, of whom I have made mention before, and who by this time had returned from England, He interefted himfelf warmly on my account upon the pr^fent occafion, as he did on many others afterwards, having continued his kindnefs to me to the day of his death. Mr. Vernon about this time reminded me of my debt to him, but without prefling me for the payment of it : I wrote a complimentary letter full of thanks in return, and befought him to wait a little longer, which he readily complied with, and as foon as it was in my power I paid him the whole, both principal and interefl, at the fame time teflifying the great ob- I 3 ligations IlS THE PRIVATE LIFE OF ligations I lay under to him ; fo that this error of my life was in fome refpecl corrected. But another embarramnent occurred, which Fftever expected to have experienced. Meredith's father, who, according to agreement, ^was to have advanced the whole fum of money ne- ceflary for the payment of our types, prefs, &c. &c. had only given i co fterling. There was as much more flill due to the merchant, who became impatient for his money, and dunned us continually. We in- deed gave him fecurity, but we had the melancholy profpeb before us, that if the money was not ready by the time agreed upon, a writ would be fued out, the judgment would be put in execution, all our fine projects would evaporate, and we fhould be intirely ruined, as the prefs and types would be fold, perhaps at one half of the original price, by way of liquidating the debt ! In the midft of this diftrefs, two true friends, whofe generous proceedings I never have, nor ever mall forget, while I am able to recoiled any thing, came to me feparately, and unknown to each other, and without my having fpoken to them on the fub- jet, each of them offered to advance all the mo- ney neceflary, in order to enable me to take the bufi- nefs entirely into my own hands, if it fliould be practi- cable fo to do, becaufe they did not choofe that I fhould remain in partnerihip with Meredith, whom, {hey faid, they had often feen drunk in the flreets, and playing at games of chance in the ale-houfes, cir- cumftances BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 119 umftances which could not fail to be extremely dif- advantageous to our credit. Thefe two friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace. I replied to them, that while any probability remained that the Merediths would per. form that part of our agreement which they had un- dertaken to fulfil, I could not think of propofing a fe- paration, as I was under a great obligation to them, for what they had already done, and what they would, doubtlefs, flill do for me, provided, it were in their power. While things remained in this ftate, I faid one day to my partner : tc Your father is perhaps difcontented at your en- by drafts on the lords of the treafury, to be afterwards laid on the colonies by at of parliament, and paid by the people here ; fmce they might abufe it, by projecting ufeleis expeditions, harafling the people, and taking them from their labour to execute fuch projects* m.erely to create offices and employments, gratify their dependents, and divide the profits. That the parliament of England is at a great dif- tance, fubjeft to be mifmformed and milled by fuch L 2 governors 148 THE LIFE Of governors and councils, whofe united inter eft migfct probably fecur,e them againil the effect of any com- plaint from hence. That it is fuppofed an undoubted right of Eng.- lifhmen, not to be taxed but by their own confent, given through their reprefentatrves. That the colonies have no reprefentatives in parliament. That to propofe taxing them by parliament, and refufe them the liberty of chufmg a reprefentative council, to meet in the colonies, and confider and judge of the neceflity of any general tax, and the quantum, mews a fufpicion of their loyalty to the crown, or of their regard for their country, or of their common fenfe and underftanding, which they have not deferved. That compelling the colonies to pay money with- out their confent, would be rather like raifmg con- tributions in an enemy's country, than taxing of Englifhmen for their own public benefit. That it would be treating them as a conquered people, and not as true Britifh fubjects. That a tax laid by the reprefentatives of the co- lonies might be eafily leflened ; but being once laid by parliament under the influence of the reprefenta- tions made by governors, would probably be kept up, and continued for the benefit of the governors, to the grievous burthen and difcontent of the colo- nies, and prevention of their growth and increaie. That a power in governors, to march the inhabit- ants from one end of the Britifh and French colonies ta BENJAMIN PRANKLJN, LL. D. 149 to the other, being a country at lead 1 500 miles long, without the approbation or confent of the re- prefentatives firft obtained to fuch expeditions, might be grievous and ruinous to the people, and would put them upon a footing with the fubje&s of France in Canada, that now groans under fuch oppreffion from their governors, who, for two years paft, have harafled them with long and deftructive marches to the Ohio. That if the colonies in a body, may be well go- verned by the governors and councils appointed by the crown, without representatives, particular co- lonies may be as well, or better, fo governed ; a tax may be laid .upon them all by at of parliament for fupport of government ; and their aflemblies may be difmiffed as an ufelefs part of the conftitution. That the powers propofed by the Albany plan of union to be vefted in a grand council reprefentative of the people, even with regard to military matters, are not fo great as thofe .of the colonies of Rhode- Jiland and Corrnetlicut .are entrufled with by their .charters, ,and have never abufed ; for, by this plan, the prendent general is appointed by the crown, and controuls ail by his negative ; but in thofe govern- ments the people chufe the governor, and yet allow him no negative. That the Britiih colonies bordering on the French are properly frontiers of the Britifh empire ; and the frontiers of an empire are properly defended at the joint expence of the body of the people in fuch em- pire : It would now be thought hard, by act of parlia- L 3 merit 150 THE LIFE OF pient to oblige the cinque-ports or fea-coaft of Britain to maintain the whole navy, becaufe they are more immediately defended by it, not allowing them at the fame time a vote in chufmg members of parlia- ment ; and as the frontiers of America bear the ex- pences of their- own defence, it feems hard to allow them no fhare in voting the money, judging of the neceffity and fum, or adviilng the mcafures. That, befides the taxes necefl'ary for the defence of the frontiers, the colonies pay yearly great furns to the mother-country unnoticed : For taxes paid in Britain by the land-holder or artificer, mud enter into and increafe the price of the produce of land and manufactures made of it, and great part of this is paid by confumers in the colonies, who thereby pay a considerable part of the Britifh taxes. We are r eft rained in our trade with foreign nations, notwithstanding we could be fupplied with many mar nufa&ures cheaper from them, but mud buy the fame dearer from Britain. The difference of price is a, clear tax to Britain. We are obliged to carry a great part of our produce directly to. Britain 5 and where the duties laid upon it leffen its price to the planter, or it fells for lefs than it would in foreign markets^ the difference is a tax paid to Britain. Some manufactures we could make, but are for- bidden, and mud take them of Britifh merchants : The whole price is a tax paid to Britain. By our greatly increafmg the demand and con- fumption of Briiifh manufactures, their price is con- fiderably raifed of late years -, the advantage is clear profit BENJAMIN PRANKLIN, LL. D. profit to Britain, and enables its people better to pay : great taxes, and much of it being paid by us, is a clear tax to Britain. In fhort, as we are not fuffered to regulate our trade, and reflrain the importation and confumption of Britim fuperfluities (as Britain can the confump- tion of foreign fuperfluities), our whole wealth cen- ters finally arnongfl the merchants arid inhabitants of Britain; and if we make them richer, and enable them better to pay their taxes, it is nearly the fame as being taxed ourfelves, and equally beneficial to the crown. This kind of fecondary taxes, however, we do not complain of, though we have no mare in the laying or difpofmg of them; but to pay immediate heavy itaxes, in the laying on, appropriation, and difpofition of which, we have no part, and which perhaps we may know to be grievous, muft feem hard meafure to Englifhmen, v/ho cannot conceive that, by ha- zarding their lives and fortunes in fubduing and fet- tling new countries, and extending and increafing the commerce of the mother nation, they have forfeited the native right of Britons, which they think ought rather to be given to them, as due to fuch .merit, if they had been before in a ftate of flavery. Thefe, and fuch kind of things as thefe, I appre- hend, will be thought and faid by the people, if the propofed alteration of the Albany plan mould take place. Then the adminiftration of the board of go- vernors and council fo appointed, not having -.the re- prefentative body of the people to approve and unite in 152 THE LIFE OF in its meafures, and conciliate the minds of the peo- ple to them, will probably become fufpected and odious ; dangerous animofities and feuds will arife between the governors and governed, and every thing go into confufion. Perhaps I am too apprehenfive in this matter ; but, having freely given my opinion and reafons, your Excellency can judge better than I, whether there can be any weight in them ; and the fhortnefs of the time allowed me, will, I hope, in fome degree, excufe the imperfections of this fcrawL With the greateft refpect and fidelity, I have the honour to be your Excellency's moil obedient and nioft humble fervant, B. FRANKLIN. LETTER III. S I R, SINCE the converfation your Excellency was pleafed to honour me with, on the fubjeft of a more inti- mate connexion between the colonies and Great-Bri- tain, by allowing them reprefentatives in Parliament; I have fomething further confidered that matter, and am of opinion, that fuch an union would be very acceptable to the colonies, provided they had a reafon- able number of reprefentatives allowed them ; and that all the old acts of parliament, retraining the trade or cramping the manufactures of the colonies, fce at the fame time repealed, and the Britiih fubjects on, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 153 on this fide of the water put, in thofe refpe&s, on* the fame footing with thofe in Great-Britain, till the new parliament reprefenting the whole, fliall think it for the intereft of the whole to enaft fome or all of them : It is not that I imagine fo many reprefent- atives will be allowed the colonies, as to have any great weight by their numbers ; but I think there might be fufficient to occafion thofe laws to be better and more impartially confidered, and perhaps to over- come the intereft of a petty corporation, or of any particular fet of artificers or traders in England, who heretofore feem, in fome inftances, to have been more regarded than all the colonies, or than was confident with the general intereft or national good. I think too, that the government of the colonies, by a parliament, in which they are fairly reprefented, \vould be vaftly more agreeable to the people than the method lately attempted to be introduced by royal inftru&ions, as well as more agreeable to the nature of the Englifh conftitution, and to Eng- liih liberty ; and that fuch laws as now feem to bear hard on the colonies, would (when judged by fuch parliament, for the beft intereft of the whole) be more cheerfully fubmitted to, and more eafily ex- ecuted. I mould hope too, that by fuch an union the peo- ple of Great-Britain, and the people of the colonies, would learn to confider themfelves, as not belonging to different communities with different interefts, but fp one community with one intereft j which I ima- gine 154 THE LIFE OF gine would contribute to flrengthen the whole, m referved for thefe times and this is electricity, " the terrible effects of which have placed mankind " on an equality with the gods of antiquity ; for " Franklin, like another Prometheus, has acquired < c the art of Healing celeftial fire, and rendering it S ductile to his laws." M. D'Alembert, upon his reception as a member of the French Academy, alluding to the fuccefs of his philofophical and political labours, welcomed him with the well-known line, which rivals the bold- riefs and fublimity of Lucan : " Eripuit coelo fulmen, fceptrumque tyrannis." AndM. Dubourg, the firft Frenchman who openly efpoiu r ed the caufe of America, placed the following infcription under his buft : l86 THE LIFE OF C{ II a ravi le feu des cieux : .s'l-KiPiM i> OIMTS i i ri i KIN<; ANi>t:u.niN..> Lll'S IlKKK, I'OOD I'OK THK WORM YET THK WORK ITSKl.l- SMALL NOT \\V. LOST, l()U IT SHALL, AS UK I'.LLI K\ KS, AIMM'.AK, ONCE MORK, IN A NKW AND IMOST r.KAUTiRTL KOITION, COURl-X'TKl) AND RIA'ISKD n \- THK AirrilOR, An ov.it Di re-mi n rinipli- Inil pathi-tir diii-oinlV, in which hf tvrouuti-d tlu- liruclils this illull i ious PhllofophCT'lud Conferred ujion mankind ; and in uiilcr to honour hi:; nutn.-s in :i n\aniUM Ililj more worthy of him, on tlu- pnvolin;; tl.iv, a y l"nl'lc-rij)ti)!!, in which CVCTy OA( '!.< :'..n',i.al A ttembly and National Cowcotiou of It. i rice. O it; 194 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, & c . OF it ; this is, that Franklin, in the mid ft of the vafl fcene in which he afted fuch a brilliant and confpi- cuous chara&er, kept his eyes conftantly fixed on a theatre infinitely more vaft and extenfive, on Heaven, and a future life ! This is the fole circum- flance that can fupport and aggrandize man upon earth, and make of him a true philofopher. The different anecdotes recounted in the firft part of his private life, might afford, to an attentive ob- ferver, fome idea of his chara&er ; and it indeed appears to me to be impoffible to read it, without a certain degree of tendernefs, mingled with refpect. It exhibits Franklin drolling about the dreets of Philadelphia with about four- and- fixpence in his pocket, unknown to any of the inhabitants, eating one loaf with avidity, holding another under each arm, and quenching his third with the water of the De. laware ! Who could have dreamed that this miferable wan- derer mould become one of the future legiflators of America ; the ornament of the new world ; the pride of modern philofophy, and an ambaflador to a nation the mod rich, the mod powerful, and the mod enlightened in the univerfe ? Who could have believed that France, that Europe, fhould one day elevate flames to a man, who had nowhere to repofe his head ? This circumdance recalls to my memory J. J. RottfFeau, with three halfpence (his whole fortune) in his purfe, and tormented by famine, balancing in his own mind whether he ought to facrifke his all, in BENJAMIN FRANKLItf, LL. >* 195 in order to procure a fupper, or a bed ! After putting an end to this combat between reft and hunger, he lies down, and falls afleep in the open air ; and thus, feemingly abandoned by nature and by men, he en. joys the protection of the one, and defpifes that of the other. The citizen of Lyons, who difdained RomTeau becaufe he was ill clothed, has died unknown ; and the man in rags, has now altars erected to his memory. Thefe examples ought to confole men of genius, who have been reduced by fortune to a fimilar con* dition, and who are obliged to ftruggle againfl want. Adverfity is calculated to form them ; let them perfevere, and the fame recompenfe awaits them. Puritanifm, with all its hideous aufterity, at one time reigned in the colony of Mafiachufiet. It ap- pears, from many circumftances, however, that Frank- lin, even while a boy, knew how to appreciate this religious grimace. As his father was accuflomed to precede all his meals with long prayers, and even to fay grace over every particular dim, he was defirous to correct this folly by means of the following fally of wit : Old Franklin, one day, at the beginning of winter, being bulled in faking provifions ; " Father,'' fays his fon, " you ought to afk a blefling, once for all, s upon the whole calk of provifions, as it 'would be cc a wonderful faving of time !" Young Benjamin fully difplayed his future charac- ter in the concluding obfervation, the principle of which formed the'bafis of all his politics. o 2 Franklin 196 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, Sec. OF Franklin being perfuaded that knowledge could never fpread, imlefs it had been firft colle&ed in a central point, as it were, was always extremely de- firous to encourage literary, and political clubs. In one of thefe clubs, founded by him, the following were the queftions put to the candidate : " Do you believe, that a man ought to be defpifed < c or perfecuted for opinions merely fpeculative, on " account of any particular faith that he may hap- " pen to profefs ?" " Do you love truth, for its own fake ?" " Will you employ all your efforts, in order to ic know it yourfelf, and to inftill it into others ?" * Having, during his refidence in England, remark- ed the advantages refulting from newfpapers, and affo- ciations, known under the denomination of Clubs 9 and focieties formed on the bafis of a voluntary fub- fcription, Franklin propofed to make them adopted by his native country. He accordingly began by publifhing a Gazette, the columns of which he filled up, during a fcarcity of news, by means of eflays of his own compofition, in which the moral was generally prefented under the form of an apologue ; in which reafon was animated by gay but amiable pleafantries ; and in which phi- lofophy, without ceafing to be within the comprehen- fion of the fimple colonifts for whom it was deflined, was on a level with the ideas of an European. * Tranflated from the " Elogc de Franklin,'' by the cele- brated Condorcet. Jt BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 197 It was a new Spectator, as it were, that he pro- duced, but with much more nature, fimplicity, and grace ; with an aim more extended, and, above all, more ufeful. Inftead of the uncertain hope of correcting fome few of the vices of a nation, corrupted by riches and inequality, he conceived a reafonabie expectation of rectifying the ideas, of depurating and polilhing the virtues of a nafcent people. Several of the fugitive pieces printed at that period by Franklin, have been preferved ; and there are fome of them, which Voltaire and Montefquieu would not have difavowed, He would never permit his journal to be difgraced by perfonalities. This fpecies of malice, which pre- ients the ready means of drawing down the popular vengeance upon thofe whom an editor is inclined to hate, appeared to him to be equally hurtful and dangerous. It feemed to furnifh a perfidious kind o arms, which the hypocritical and the faftious might ufe with addrefs, in order to provoke fufpicion againPc virtues and talents the moft eminent; to render all reputations uncertain ; to deitroy character, and the authority of a good name, a circumftance fo ne- cefiary in an infant republic, and then deliver up the public confidence to thole obfcure and intriguing men who know how to furprife it. The Americans were not then that enlightened people, who have fince aftonifhed us by the wifjom of their confiitutions. Religion, and the i nee flan t hu bpur neceflary to form eftablilhments in a wild and o 3 favage 198 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. OF m favage country, had alone occupied the minds and the bodies of the firft generations of Europeans. Franklin perceived how much they flood in need of the light of philofophy ; but it was necefiary to make them feel this, without announcing an intention, which would have but too plainly dif- covered his own fuperiority. He accordingly formed a club, compofed of feveral of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, whofe fortune 8 were on a level with his own. It confided of only twelve perfons, and the number was never augmented. But in confequence of his advice, the majority of the members eftablimed fimilar afibciations ; by this means, they all became animated with the fame fpirit ; but he was careful not to connect them by a folemn confederation, and flill lefs by a dependence upon the mother fociety, It was his intention to form a more liberal com" munication of knowledge, and of fentiments, among the citizens ; to habituate them to the cuftom of ad- ing together in behalf of their common interefts ; and to enable them to propagate and difperfe their opi- nions, without forming a party. He thought that if a private aflbciation ought never to conceal itfelf, it ought flili lefs to exhibit itfelf to public view ; that ufeful, while it a&s by the fepa- rate interefts of its members, by the concert of their intentions, by the weight which their virtues or their talents give to their opinions, it might become dan^ gerous, if, operating in a mafs, and forming in fome s a nation within a nation, it mould be at length BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. length able to oppofe its own will to that of the people, and to place between individuals and the national power, a foreign force, which, directed by an ambitious man, might equally menace liberty and the laws *. It is cuftomary, in the Englifh clubs, to fubjecl: all thofe to a flight fine, who tranfgrefs their laws. In {hat of Philadelphia, a flight fine was levied every time an improper expreflion was made ufe of. Thofe moft obftinate in the belief of their own infal- libility, were obliged to make ufe of a certain diffi- dence in their afiertions, and to adopt a degree of modeft circumlocution, that prevented the felf-love of the company from being (hocked by the powerful influence of words upon ideas, this at length extend- ed even to opinions f . * This idea is perhaps adapted only to an eftablimed common- wealth. What could France have oppofed to the treachery of the Executive Power, fave and except a club, to which (how- ever unpopular it may now be) the empire is indebted for it liberties ? f " i mo, To declare that the candidate had no animofity " againft any of the members of the affembly. " 2 do, To profefs an equal degree of love for all men, what- ** ever might be their faith. " 3tio, To look upon every attempt againft the independence *' of religion, and of opinion, to be tyranny. " 4to, To love the truth for its own fake to take pleafure in '< extending and propagating it. " This," fays M. Condorcet, " was the profeffion of faith <. of a fociety which rendered great fervice to the AfTembly of 4 Pennfylvanh, without ever pretending to govern it.'* 04 In 2OO FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. OF In the mean time. Franklin began, in an adroit manner, to declare war againft fanaticifm, which of courfe mud have taken deep root in a country peopled by perfecution. Thofe fentiments of univerfal bene- volence, which fo eafily enter into mild and gentle minds ; thofe maxims of fimple truth which good fenfe never rejects, conduct, by little and little, to indulgence, and to reafon ; and at lead reduce to a flate incapable of doing them hurt, thai enemy to mankind, which it would have been imprudent to have attacked in front. Thus, at the very fame epoch, in two different parts of the globe, philofophy avenged humanity of the tyranny which had a long while oppreffed and difhonoured it j but it combated her with different weapons. In the one, fanaticifm was an error of individuals, and the unhappy confequence of their education and their fludies ; to enlighten them, it was fufficient to diflipate the phantoms of a wandering imagination. In fine, it was only the fanatics themfelves that it was neceffary to cure. In the other, where fanaticifm, guided by poli- tics, had founded upon error a fyftem of domination , and where, leagued with every fpecies of tyranny, it had promifed to blind mankind, provided it was permitted to opprefs them, it became neceffary to rear up againft it the whole force of public opinion, and to oppofe, to fo dangerous a power, all the ef- forts of the friends of reafon and of liberty. The bufmefs there, was not to enlighten the fanatics, but to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D 2OI to unmaik and difarm them. One might add to this parallel, new in the hiflory of philofophy, that Voltaire and Franklin, the two men who ha J fepa- rately, but at one and the fame time, conceived this falutary project, had the happinefs to meet, in their old age, at Paris to enjoy their glory together, and congratulate each other upon their triumph. The philofopher, who prepared the felicity of his country by enlightening men, and forming them into citizens, was dcflined to render it fervices Hill more direct, and no lefs ufeful. The times were no longer fuch, as when the poverty of the Englifh colonies was fufficient to prevent the wars of Europe from extending to them. They had already become fufficiently flourifhing to tempt the avidity of an ene- my ; and it was equally dangerous for their repofe and their liberty, to be either abandoned by Great- Britain, or defended by its armies. Dr. Franklin, who, ever fmce the year 1736, had acted as Secretary to the AfTembly of Pennfylvania, thought that it would be proper to profit by a war in which England was fo nearly interefted, in order to teach the Pennfylvanians to amime, for the defence of the mother country, thofe arms which would be one day necerTary againft herf If, for the maintenance of their own rights; and accordingly, in 1744, he formed the plan of a national militia. The people relimed the propofal ; Philadelphia alone furniihed a thoufand men. The command was offered to Franklin ; he refufed it, and ferved as a common foldier under Mr, Laurence, whom he hhnfelf ft02 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. OF himfelf had propofed as the fittefl perfon to act as General. It was neceflary to build forts, and money was wanting ; he provided the neceflary fums by means of a lottery, of which he himfelf formed the plan. The fuccefs of this meafure was retarded for fome time, by a very fmgular difficulty. The Quakers form a very numerous body inPenn- fylvania ; and fuch is the purity of the principles of that feet, that they look upon it as criminal, to contribute money even in behalf of a defenfive war The natural effect of an exaggerated morality, adopt- ed by enthufiafm, is to place its fectarifts under the neceflity of either violating its precepts, or of facri- ficing the counfels of reafon, and the dictates of judgment. At length they endeavour to elude their own laws ; they dhTemble the violation of them by means of fubtile diftinctions, and by adroit and equi- vocal modes of reafoning. By thefe means, they pre- vent the fanatics and hypocrites of their own feel from rifing againft them, and do not wound the feelings of the people, who, in all religions, attach their ideas of morality to certain confecrated words * The * It is thus that the Quakers, on being folicited for money jn order to purchafe gunpowder, presented the fum demanded, wider the pretence of its being intended for corn. The Dunkars, more wife perhaps than the Quakers, have never committed their (ibg- mas nor their precepts to writing. They were afraid, as one of their principal men told Dr. Franklin, of either expofing them- felves to the danger of profeffing that which they did not any longer believe, or to the (hame of having .changed their opinions. CONDORCETi BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. The philolbphical indulgence of Dr. Franklin, and the addrefs which he made ufe of upon more than one occaiion, often enabled him to conciliate the patriotifm of the Quakers with the principles of their feel:. Never was any man more anxious to exhibit the mod fcrupulous refpecl for the religious weaknefles and follies of other men ; towards feeble and fickly minds, he ever evinced the fame delicate attentions, which worthy men generally make ufe of in regard to the infirmities of infancy. The education of Dr. Franklin had not opened to him the career of the fciences, but nature had given him a genius capable of comprehending, and even of embelliming them. His firft eflays on electricity fully prove, that he was but very little acquainted with this part of natu- ral philofophy. Being at an immenfe diflance from Europe, he poffefled but imperfect machines. Not- withftanding this difadvanrage, he foon difcovered the immediate caufe of electrical phenomena. He ex- plained it, by demonftrating the exiftence of a fluid, infenfible while it remains in a flate of equili- brium, and which inflantly manifefts itfelf, either when this equilibrium is deftroyed, or while it en. deavours to re-eftablifh it. His Analyfis of the grand Leyden experiment, is a chef-d'oeuvre at once, of fagacity, of perfpicacity, and of art. Soon after this, he perceived an analogy between the effects of thunder and electricity, which flruck him prcdigioufly. He conceived the idea of an ap- paratus, 204 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. OF paratus, by means of which, he propofed to interro- gate the heavens ; he makes the experiment, and the anfwer fully confirms his conjectures. Thus the caufe of lightning is now known. Its effects, fo ruinous, fo irregular in appearance, are not only ex- plained, but imitated. We at length know why the lightning filently and peaceably follows certain bodies, and difperfes others with a loud noife ; why it melts metals, fome- times fhivers to atoms, and fometimes feems to re- fpect, thofe fubflances which furround it. But it was but little to imitate the thunder : Dr. Franklin conceived the audacious idea of avert- ing its vengeance. He imagined, that a bar of iron, pointed at the end, and connected with the ground, or rather with the water, would eftablifh a communication between a cloud and the earth, and thus guarantee or pro- tect the objects in the immediate neighbourhood of fuch a conductor. The fuccefs of this idea was fully commenfurate to all his wi(hes ; and thus man was enabled to wield a power fufficient to difarm the wrath of Heaven. This great difcovery was by far too brilliant, and too fingular, not to conjure up a numerous hofl of enemies againft it, Notwithflanding this, the cuftom of ufmg conductors was adopted in America and in Great Britain; but at the commencement of war with the mother-country, the Englifh philofophers endeavoured, by unfair experiments, to throw doubts upon the utility of his fcheme, and feemed to indi, cate BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. cate a wifh to ravifh this difcovery from Benjamin Franklin, by way of punifhing him for the lofs of thirteen colonies. It is unfortunately more eafy to miflead a nation in regard to its proper interefls, than to impofe upon men of fcience relative to an experiment ; thus thofe prejudices, which were able to draw England into an unjufl and fatal conteft, could not make the learned of Europe, change the form of the electrical con- ductors. They multiplied in France, after France had become allied to America ; in truth, the fentence of the police has been oppofed to it in fome of our towns, as it has been oppofed in Italy by the decifions of cafuifts, and with juft as little fuccefs ! In a free country, the law follows the public opi- nion ; in defpotic governments, the public opinion often contradicts the laws, but always concludes at length by fubmitting itfelf to their influence. At this day, the ufe of this prefervative has become common among almoft all nations, but without be- ing univerfally adopted. A long courfe of experi- ments does not permit us any longer to doubt of its efficacy. If the edifices provided with it, have ftill fome dan- gers to dread, this happens,becaufe, bet ween the bound- ed efforts of man, and the boundlefs force of nature, there can never be eftablifhed any other, but an un- equal conteft. But what an immenfe career has this fuccefsfml ex- periment opened to our hopes ? Why may we not one day hope to fee the baneful a&ivity of all the fcourges of mankind melt away, 2 a, FRAGMENTS ANECDOTES, & c . OF as that of thunder has done, before the powers of genius, exercifed through immenfity of ages ; when all the regions of nature are difarmed by the happy ufe of her gifts, we fhall experience nothing but her benefits ? In 1754, the King of England, who had formed the project of attacking France, convoked a general congrefs of the deputies of the different colonies, in order to concert a fyftem of common defence. Dr. Franklin was fent thither, and propofed a plan, which was accepted by the Congrefs j but it was neither agree- able to the afTemblies of the particular States, nor to the Britifh miniftry. No menace had as yet made the colo- nies perceive the neceflity of this union, which was about to take away from each a part of its independence ; and the Englifh government was at one and the fame time too cunning not to forefee that this new inftitu- tion prepared a refiftance to its tyrannical enterprifes, and was too little enlightened to know, that nothing remained for it but to direct a revolution, which was an inevitable confequence of the increafing profperity of the colonies. Indolence or pride on one fide, and perfidy on the other, occafioned the rejection of a fcheme formed by forefight and traced by wifdom. Twenty-four years afterwards, it ferved as a bafis to that Congrefs which declared the independence of the United States j and perhaps it would have been a defideratiim in the new conftitution, to have imitated more its fage fimplicity. It has been urged as a reproach to Franklin, that he had given a negative to the governor appointed by 2 the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 20? the King of Great Britain 5 but circumftances required this facrifice 5 it was the band that would have con- ne&ed a fucker, at that time young and tender, to the parent tree, from which it had fprouted forth ; and which ought not to have been cut until the mo- ment that the young plant, after having extended its roots, and developed its branches, had acquired fuf- ficient vigour to nourifh it by means of its own pro- per ftrength. While he remained in England, in quality of agent for the American provinces, the minifters fometimes deigned to confult him. They affe&ed, however, to regard all thofe who happened not to be of their way *of thinking, as enemies to Great Britain. This was no other than announcing, that they wifhed to be deceived ; and the governors of the colonies un~ derftood this but too well. Notwithftanding this, Franklin, faithful to his principles, continued alone to tell the truth. There- fore, not content with taking away from him a place which he held in America *, and to which they had no longer the power to appoint a fuccefTor, they flop- ped the arrears of his falary, and at laft commenced a profecution againft him. Thefe procefles, in a free country, are the lettres de cachet of its minifters ; and it is in this manner that, a few years -before, they found means to be avenged of * The office of Poft Mailer General for t}ie' Southern Depart- mcnt. TRASS. Mr, So8 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, Sec. Of Mr. Wilkes *. The prefent, however, was not at- tended with any difagreeable circumftances ; they could not find a pretext in any exifting law for con- demning him ; and the miniflerial vengeance was obliged to be content with the outrages of a lawyer, whofe complaifance has fmce been recompenfed by a peerage f. At the epoch when Franklin was fent to France, this country did not poifefs a free conflitution ; but the French could not be properly termed flaves. If the people groaned beneath an arbitrary government, and flill more under the yoke of bad laws, their fouls were not fubjugated, for their minds flill pre- ferved their independence. It did not referable a nation where there does not exift but a defpot, a treafury, and an army , it was not indifferent that a war was conformable or con. trary to the national will, for the French were al- ready thought worthy of being confulted -, their mi- * The intereft which minifters have in preferving the means of indirect oppreflion, is one of the principal obitacles to the perfec- tion of the laws of England. Criminal laws, which are vague, or which enaft penalties againft actions innocent in themfelves, civil laws, obfcure in their nature, and explained by tribunals which either by their conflitution, or their want of independence, are not altogether unexpofed to in- fluence, are fo many inftruments, which either indolence or cor- ruption, leave too often in the hands of defpotifm. Every nation that vvifhes to remain free, ought to hailen to fnatch that odious power from the hands that wield it. CONDOHCET. -j- M. Condorcet feems to be miftaken in this particular ; a pro- cefs was indeed threatened, but it was never commenced. TRANS. niflers BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 209 nifters following the policy adopted among free na- tions, before they commenced a war, waited until it was folicited by the voice of the people. As a negotiator, Franklin obfervcd much, but did little. He wifely left to the minifters of the allied powers, to decide on the manner of attacking England an4 fuccouring America, for fear left the bad fuccefs of any meafure imputed to his counfels, or to his de- mands, mould cool their zeal. It was in order to maintain in France an idea of the conftancy and refources of America, and to flip- port that enthufiafm created by himfelf, that he em- ployed all his pains and attention, until, perceiving the approaching difgrace of the Englifh miniftry, who had commenced and carried on the war, he forefaw that his native country was about to be declared independent* He beheld the aufpicious moment at length arrive ; and figned, with a tranquil hand, that treaty which allured the freedom and the glory of America 5 he had ever contemplated, with a firm eye, her dangers and her fufferings. This calmnefs of mind did not proceed from indifc ference ; it was the refult of a lincere conviction, that the independence of America was to be bought at a larger or a fmaller price, and recognifed fome years fooner or later but that it could never be in clanger of being loft. Thefe were the reflections of a man, who knew that the moral is fubjected, like the natural world, to certain laws - 9 and who anticipated, ia thefe immu* * table 110 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, See. QF table decrees, the triumph of his country. They alfo proceeded from the abfence of every perfonal confU deration ; for this corrupting influence often fullies the love of liberty, by thofe anxieties, thofe fears, thofe furious impulfes which degrade, by rendering it but too fimilar to the bafe paflions arifing from intereft and vanity. The patriotifm of Franklin was, as it ought to be, calm, like that of Socrates and of Phocion, whom the orators fold to the purpofes of a faction, or paid by tyrants, accufed of not loving their coun- try enough. France, during the progrefs of this war, had pre- fented him with a fpectacle worthy of interefting his. prying genius. He had beheld the opinions which had been con- demned in the works of philofophers, adopted and eftablimed in manifeftoes ; a people tranquil amidft its ancient chains, intoxicated with the pleafure of breaking thofe of another hemifphere ; republican principles openly profoffed under an arbitrary govern- ment 5 the rights of men violated by the laws, and by authority of the magiftrates, but proved and eftablifhed in books ; political knowledge, worthy of the molt enlightened age, arid the wifeft nation > fhining arm'dft a crowd of abfurd and barbarous in- flitutions ; a people applauding the maxims of liberty in the theatres, but yet obedient to the maxims of flavery ; free in their fentiments, in their opinions, in their ctnverfation, and appearing to behold, with extreme indifference, adions obliged to fubmitto the very laws which they defpifed. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 211 It was eafy for him to forefee, that a nation, al* ready fo worthy of liberty, would foon be able to re- conquer it ; and that the revolution of France, like that of America, was one of the events which human knowledge might fubtract from the empire ofreafon, and of the paflions *. f On his arrival in France, Franklin announced himfelf as a philofopher, who, afflicted with the troubles of his country, and averting his eyes from fo many objects of defolation, had come to Europe on purpofe to find an afylum. He at firft lodged in a village at the gates of Paris, and on the road to Verfailles. He foon after hired a houfe at Pafly ; in this retreat, he faw but little company, and remained conflantly upon his guard. He ufed to whifper, that the hatred of the Eng- lifh miniftry conflantly expofed him to the greatefl dangers and this idea alone rendered him more in- terefting. Franklin never entered the metropolis, unlefs ac- companied by a numerous train, among whom were many men of genius, who, although neglected or perfecuted by their countrymen, neverthelefs reflect- ed a luftre upon this foreigner, whom they honoured with their efteem, * Dr. Franklin, while ;n France, faid one day, in a public company, " you perceive liberty eilablifli herfelf, and flourifh al- mofl under your very eyes ; I dare to predid that, by and by, " you will be anxious to tafte her blefiings," CONDORCET. f From Helliard d'Auberteuil. P a Every 212 FRAGMENTS ANECDOTES, & c . O E Every thing about him announced that fimplicity of manners, which the authors and philofophers of antiquity have fo well defcribed, and which unfor- tunately have perhaps never been fo perfect as in their defcriptions. He had thrown away the wig which in Eng- land had concealed the baldnefs of his forehead ^ and banimed all that ufelefs parade of drefs, which could only have placed him upon a level with the reft of his countrymen. He exhibited, to the aftoniflied multitude, a head Worthy of the pencil of Guido, who excelled in the portraits of old men ; his body was flraight and vigor- ous, and covered with the mod fimple drapery. His eyes were fhaded by a large pair of fpe&acles, and in his hand he wielded a white wand. He fpoke but little ; he knew how to be unpolite* without being rude 5 and his pride feemed to be that of nature. Such a perfonage was admirably calculated to ex- cite the curiofity of Paris. The people aflembled wherever he intended to pafs ; they demanded of each other " Who is that aged peafant, with fo., " noble an afpeft ?" and replied, with emulation, " It is the celebrated Franklin!" He repaired to all the places where men ufually afibciate for amiable, or ufeful, or humane purpofes ; and his arrival was always announced with plaudits. He was to be feen at the public meetings of the Academy of Sciences, and the French Academy ; at the audiences of the Parliament, at the exhibition of the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 213 the pi&ures in the academy of painting and fculp- ture ; at the free fociety of emulation for the encou- ragement to ufeful arts ; and in thofe haunts, guard- ed with fecrecy, where Peace and Liberty afiembled, which had been frequented by Helvetius and Vol- taire, and where he was worthy of prefiding along with them. Never was any man fo much honoured, without ex- citing envy ; for every time that his name happened to be quoted, it was always the cuftom to add, " He 46 is. a mod refpeclable gentleman." In three months after his arrival at Paris, his portrait was engraved, and to be feen every- where. In the mean time, the cabinet of London could not be perfuaded that France and Spain were about to in- tereft themfelves in favour of America. " The " French colonies/' laid Lord George Germaine in the Houfe of Commons, " are perhaps ftill more <4 difcontented than our own : -Is it then to be " believed, that the Court of Verfailles would dare * c to encourage a rebellion in their neighbourhood ? * c Will it not be afraid, left its own iflands, in the " Weft-Indies, mould be tempted to participate in ec the unlimited rights of liberty ? " Will not thofe of Spain find a commerce with all c nations infinitely more advantageous than with the 44 Bifcay company ; and the exclufive enjoyment of * c their own treafures, infinitely more agreeable, than, c< as now, to be obliged to dig their mines for an t firft loofe, but afterwards more precife and defini- tive , and he fet on foot fubfcriptions which were the more readily filled, as every fubfcriber might confi- der himfelf as the head of an undertaking, the author of which was not named. It was in this manner that public libraries were founded, that feminaries of education, fince become celebrated colleges, arofe ; it was in this manner that the philofophical fociety of Philadelphia, no con- temptible rival of the academies of Europe, was formed ; that affociations for ornamenting, clean/ing,, and lighting the ftreets of that city, and for prevent- ing fires, were eftablifhed, and that commercial fo- cieties, and even military bodies for the defence of the country, were incorporated. Nothing was foreign to the genius of Franklin ; and his name, which his modefty endeavoured to conceal, was always placed by his countrymen in the lifts, and frequently at the head 24 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. OF head of thofe different focieties, the members of which were defirous of retaining him as their hono- rary chief. But higher avocations called him from his country, which he was deftined to ferve more effectually as its agent in the metropolis of England, He was fent thither in the year 1757. Celebrated for his aflonifhing difcoveries refpecting the nature, effects, and identity, of thunder and electricity, and the means of guarding againlt their ravages, his fame had arrived before him. The letters by which he had announced thefe difcoveries remained for a long time unnoticed by the. Royal Society of London ; but they were at length publifhed, and all the learned of Europe were inform- ed, that in the new world exifled a philofopher who was worthy of their admiration. The ftamp act, by which the Britifh Minilter wifh- ed to familiarife the Americans to pay taxes to the mother country, revived that love of liberty which had led their forefathers to a country at that time a defert ; and the colonies formed a Congrefs, the firfl idea of which had been communicated to them by Franklin, at the conferences at Albany in the year 1754. The war that was juft terminated, and the exertions made by them to fupport it, had given them a conviction of their own ftrength ; they accordingly oppofed this odious meafure, and the Minifter gave way, but referved the means of renewing his attempts. Once cautioned, however, they remained on their guard ; liberty, cherimed by thefe alarms, took deep root j a falutary fermentation agitated their minds, and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 24! prepared for the revolution, men, whofe names it has rendered juftly celebrated. Among thefe were Hancock, Samuel and John Adams, the fage Jeffer- fon *, Jay, Green, ^and the great Wafhington ; and they were not a little obliged for the rapid circulation of ideas to newfpapers, for the introduction of which they were indebted to the printer of Philadelphia* In the year 1766, this printer, called to the bar of the Houfe of Commons of Great Britain, under- went that famous interrogotary which placed the name of Franklin as high in politics, as it was before .in natural philofophy. From that time he defended the caufe of America with a firmnefs and moderation becoming a great man, pointing out to miniftry all the errors they had committed, and the confequenceb they would pro- duce, until the period whenj the tax on tea meeting the fame oppofition as the ftamp acl: had done, Eng- land blindly fancied herfelf capable of fubjecling by force three millions of men determined to be free, at a diflance of two thoufand leagues from her terri^ tories. Every man is well acquainted with the particulars of that war, its fortunate refult to the whole univerfe, * Mr. JefFerfon was afterwards miniftcr plenipotentiary from the United States to the court of France, where he fucceecled Franklin. It was he who framed the aft of independence of the United States, and the ad patted ih Virginia for eftabliming reli - gious liberty. America has lately recalled him from France, where he is truly regretted, to confer on him the office of Secre* tary of State for foreign affairs. R the FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. O * the part taken in it by France under a King who, prote&or of the liberties of America, has fince meri- torioufly obtained from the French nation the title of reflorer of the liberty of his own country ; and the brilliant fervices of that youth whofe name, glori- cufly connected with that revolution, has acquired frelh luflre in a revolution infinitely more great. Having aflerted their independence, and placed themfelves in the rank of nations, the different colo- nies, now the United States of America, adopted each its own form of government ; and retaining almoft univerfally their admiration for the Britifh Conftitution, framed them from the fame principles varioufly modelled. Franklin alone, difengaging the political machine from thofe multiplied movements and admired coun- terpoifes that rendered it fo complicated, propofed the reducing it to the fimplicity of a fingle legiflative body. This grand idea ftartled the legiflators of Pennfylvania 5 but the philofopher removed the fears of a confiderable number, and at length determined the whole to adopt a principle which the National Aflembly has made the bafis of the French confli* iution *. After * The ufual progrefs of the human mind leads man from the complex to the fimple. Obfcrve the works of the firft mechanics' overloaded with numerous pieces, fome of which embarrafs, and others diminiih their effect. It has been the fame with legiflators* froth fpeculative and practical j ftruck with an abufe, they have en- deavoured FRANKLIN, LL. iD* 243 After having given laws to his country. Franklin determined to vifit Europe once more, in order to ferve it, not by repreferitations to the mother-coun- try, or anfwers at the bar of the Houfe of Commons, but by treaties with France, and fucceflively with other flates* which, though governed by monarchs deavoured to correct it by inflitutioris that have been productive of ftill greater abufes. In political ceconomy the unity of the le* giflative body is the maximum of fimplicity. Franklin was the firft who dared to put this idea in practice i The refpect the Pennfyl- ranians entertained for him induced them to adopt it ; but the other ftates were terrified at it> and even the conftitution of Pen n- fylvania has fince been altered* In Europe this opinion has been tnore fuccefsful. When I had the honour to prefent to Franklin the tranflations of the conftitutions of America, the minds of people on this fide the Atlantic were fcarcely better difpofed to- ward it than thofe on the other fide ; and if we except Dr. Price in England, and Turgot and Condorcet in France, no man who applied himfelf to politics agreed in opinion with the American phi" lofopher. I will venture to aflert that I was of the fmall number of thofe who were ftruck with the beauty of the fimple plan he traced, and that I faw no reafon to change my opinion when the National Affembly, led by the voice of thofe deep-thinking and eloquent orators who difcufled that important queftion, eftablifhed it as a principle of the French Conftitution, that legislation mould be confided to a fmgle body of reprefentatives. It will not perhaps be deemed unpardonable to have once mentioned myfelf, at a time when the honour I have of holding a public character makes it my duty to give an account of my fentiments to my fellow-citizens. France will not relapfe into a more complex fyftem, but will aflur- edly acquire the glory of maintaining that which me has eftablifh- ed, and give it a degree of perfection which, by rendering a great nation happy, will attract the eyes and the applaufes of aU Europe, and of the whole world. R a or 44 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, c. Off or defpots, liflened to the voice of an Americail fpeaking liberty. Some years previous to this T became acquainted with him during a journey I made to London ; and permit me, Gentlemen, to recall to my mind the happinefs I felt when, on his arrival at Paris, I con- dueled to his houfe Monfieur Turgot, then ex-mini- lier, and faw thofe two excellent men, both fo de- ferving of the admiration and regret of mankind, em- brace for the nrfl time. Franklin at leaft completed a long career ; but Turgot, taken from the world at the age of fifty- four, faw not his country reftored to freedom. It was he who wrote under the por- trait of Franklin that beautiful verfe, Eripuit coelo fulmen, 'mox fceptra tyrannis, the lad liemiftich of which was a prophecy that was fpeedily accomplimed. The viciffitudes of fortune experienced by the Americans fometimes gave confiderable anxiety to their illuftrious negociator; but his great mind, en- couraged by the bravery of his countrymen, by the firmnefs of the Congrefs, and, above all, by the genius, talents, and virtues, of the immortal Wafh ington, did not give way to fear. He did not, how* ever, flatter himfelf that peace would fo foon finifh "the courfe of that happy revolution ; and when I em- braced him, the day on which he had figned the ar- ticles, " My friend/' faid he to me with an air of perfect . , BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 245 perfect fatisfadtion, " could I have hoped at my age <* to have enjoyed fuch a happinefs ?'* Whatever attractions an abode in France had for him, whatever pleafure he tafted in the fociety of the friends he had made, however great was the danger of fo long a voyage to an old man of feventy-nine years of age, tormented with the (tone, it was now neceiTary for him to revifit his country. He fet off in the year 1785, and his return to America, at length become free, was a triumph of which antiquity cannot furnim us with any example. He lived five years after this period? For three yearshewas prefidentof the General Aflemblyof Penn- fylvania ; he was a member of the convention that eflablifhed the new form of fcederal government ; and his laft public acl afforded a grand example for thofe who are employed in the legiflatiori of their country. In this convention he had differed in fome points from the majority ; but when the articles were ulti. mately decreed, he faid to his colleagues, " We ought " to have but one opinion ; the good of our country " requires that our refolutions be unanimous." His almoft continual fufferings for the two lad years of his life had neither altered his temper nor his difpofition, and to the laft moment he retained the ufe of all his faculties. His will, which he made during his refidence here, and which has jufl been opened, begins with a compliment to his profeflion. Even on his death-bed he did homage to typography, and the fame fentiment induced him to inftruct his R 3 grandforij 246 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, &c. OF grand-ion, Benjamin Beach, in this art, who, proud of the leflbns of his illuftrious mailer, is now a printer in Philadelphia, He never wrote a work of any length. Almofl every thing publifhed by him on fubjeds of natural philofophy confiils of letters to Mr. Collinfon of the Royal Society of London, and to fome other men of learning in Europe ; they have been tranflated into French by Monfieur Barbeu du Bourg ; but perhaps 3 new verfion hath become neceflary. His political works, many of which are not known in France, confift of letters or ihort tracts ; but all of them, eventhofeof humour, bear the marks of his obferving genius and mild philofophy. He wrote many things for that rank and defcription of people who have no opportunity for fludy, and whom it is of fo much confequence to inftruct ; and he was well ikilled in reducing ufeful truths to maxims eafily retained, and fometimes to proverbs or little tales, the iimple or the natural graces of which acquire a new value when aiTociated with the name of their author. The moil voluminous of his works is the hiilory of his own life, which he commenced for the ufe of his fon, and for the continuation of which we are indebted to the ardent folicitations of Monfieur le Veillard, one of his moil intimate friends. It employed his leifure hours during the latter part of his life, but the bad flats of his health, and his excruciating pains, which gave him little refpite, frequently interrupted his work j and the two copies, one of which was fent BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 247 lent by him to London to Dr. Price and Mr. Vaughan, and the other to Monfieur le Veillard and me, reach no farther than the year 1757. He fpeaks of himfelf as he would have done of another perfon, delineating nig thoughts, his actions, and even his errors and faults ; and he defer ibes the unfolding of his genius and ta. lents with the fimplicity of a great man who knows how to do juflice to himfelf, and with the teftimony of a clear confcience void of reproach and " of offence " towards God and towards man/* In fact, Gentlemen, the whole life of Franklin, his meditations, his labours, have all been directed to public utility ; but the grand object that he had always in view did not fhut his heart againft fociety ; He loved his family and his friends ; he was bene~ ficent ; the charms of his converfation were inex- preffible ; he fpoke little, but he did not refufe to fpeak, and his communications were always inte- refting, and always inflructive. In the midft of his occupations for the liberty of his country, he had always fome curious experiment near him in his clofet ; and the fciences^ which he had rather difco- vered than ftudied, afforded him a continual fource, of pleafure. His memoirs, Gentlemen, will be publifhed as foon as we receive from America the additions he may have made to the manufcript in our pofleflion ; and we then intend to give a complete collection of his^ works, R 4 His 548 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, c . OF His name will be celebrated among the different aiTociations of politics and of literature. Innumera- ble eulogies will be written or pronounced upon him, and you doubtlefs expect with impatience that of the virtuous orator *, the organ of the Academy of Sciences, in which the mod honourable praife will be beftowed by him who bed knew how to ap- preciate the worth of Franklin. The eulogium to which I allude, is to forerun the award of hiflory, which will place this illuftrious naifie among the moft eminent benefactors of his fpecies ; which will trace the incidents of his life, pourtray the anguifh of his fellow-citizens at his death, who believed that in him they loft a father and a friend, and which, after recounting the honours that America had con* fecrated to his memory, will alfo regifter in its ca- lendar the fplendid homage which the National Afc femblyhas juft paid, as an incident equally honourable to the people who thus difplayed their love of virtue, and to the man who thus merited this mark of their attention. Asfoonasthe above eulogium was concluded, M de Liancourt made a motion, that the members of the fociety 'mould wear the mourning decreed by the National Aflembly ; and that the buft of Franklin fhould be placed in their hall, with the following infcription : * M. de Condorcet. In BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. lc In tedimony of the homage rendered by the una- " nimous vote of the fociety of the year 178$, " to Benjamin Franklin, admired and regret- " ted by all the friends of liberty." The motion was carried unanimoufly. M, de la Rochefoucault then prefented to the fociety a >ufl; of Benjamin Franklin, and the fociety voted hini tjieir thanks. OBSERVATIONS on the generally prevailing Doftrhm of Life and Death : In a Letter from Dr. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN to M. DUBOURG, the French TranJlatoP cf his Works. DEAR SIR, YOUR obfervations on the caufes of death, and, the experiments which you propofe for recalling to life thofe who appear to be killed by lightning, de. monflrate equally your fagacity and your humanity. It appears that the doctrines of life and death, in ge- neral, are yet but little underftood. A toad buried in fand will live, it is faid, till the fand becomes petrified ; and then, being inclofed in the (tone, it may full live for we know not how many years or ages. The facls which are cited in fupport of this opinion are too numerous and too circumftantial not to deferve a certain degree of ere- FRAGMENTS ANECDOTES, & c . OF dit. As we are accuftomed to fee all the animals with which we are acquainted eat and drink, it appears to us difficult to conceive how a toad can be fup. ported in fuch a dungeon ; but if we reflect that the neceflity of nourifhment, which animals experience in their ordinary flate, proceeds from the continual wafie of their fubftance by perfpiration, it will ap- pear lefs incredible that fome animals in a torpid ftate, perfpiring lefs becaufe they ufe no exercife, fhould have lefs need of aliment, and that others^ who are covered with fcales or fliells, which flop perfpiration, fuch as land and fea turtles, ferpents, and every fpecies of filh, mould be able to fubfifl a confiderable time without any nourimment whatever. A plant, with its flowers, fades and dies immediately if expofed to the air without having its root immerfed in an humid foil, from which it may draw a fufficient quantity of moifture to fupply that which exhales from its fubftance, and is carried off continually by the air. Perhaps, however, if it were buried in quickfilver, it might preferve for a confiderable fpace of time its vegetable life, its fmell, and colour. If this be the cafe, it might prove a commodious method of tranfporting from diftant countries thofe delicate plants which are unable to fuftain the incle- mency of the weather at fea, and which require par- ticular care and attention. I have feen an inftance of common flies preferved in a manner fomewhat fimilar. They had been drowned in Madeira wine apparently about the time when BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D, 25! when it was bottled in Virginia to be fent to London. At the opening of one of the bottles, at the houfe of a friend where I then was, three drowned Hie-, fell into the firfl glafs that was filled. Having heard it remarked that drowned flies were capable of being revived by the rays of the fun, I propofed making the experiment upoa thefe : They were, therefore, expofed to the fun upon a fieve, which had been employed to {train them out of the wine. In lefs than three hours two of them began by de- grees to recover life. This commenced by fome convulfive motions in the thighs, and at length they raifed themfelves upon their legs, wiped their eyes with their fore-feet, beat and brufhed their wings with their hind-feet, and foon after began to fly, finding themfelves in old h ngland without knowing how they came thither. The third continued lifelefs till fun-fet, when, lofmg all hopes of him, he was thrown a* ay. I wifli it were poflible, from this inftance, to invent a method of embalming drowned perfons, in fuch a manner that they might be recalled to life at ^any period however diftant ; for, having a very ardent defire to fee and obferve the ftate of America an hun- dred years hence, I mould prefer to an ordinary death, the being immerfed in a caflc of Madeira wine with a few friends till that time, to be then recalled to life by the folar warmth of my dear country, But fince, in all probability, we live in an age too early, and too near the infancy of fcience, to hope to 252 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, & c . OF to fee fuch an art brought in our time to perfection, I muft, for the prefent, content myfelf with the treat which you are fo kind as to promife me of the refur- of a fowl or a turkey-cock. I am, dear Sir, Your fmcere friend, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. LETfERfrcin Dr. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN to BENJA- MIN VAUGHAN, ESQ^, on the Criminal Laivs, and the Practice of Privateering* DEAR FRIEND, March 14, 1785. AMONG the pamphlets you lately fent me was one entitled, " Thoughts on Executive Juftice." In return for that I fend you a French one on the fame fubjecl:, entitled, " Obfervations concernant 1'Execution de PArticle II. de la Declaration fur le Vol." They are both addreffed to the judges, but written, as you will fee, in a very different fpirit. The Englifh author is for hanging all thieves ; the Frenchman is for proportioning punimments to of T fences. If we really believe, as we profefs to believe, that the law of Mofes is the law of God, and the dictates of divine wifdom infinitely fuperior to human ; on what ^principles do we ordain death as the punim- ment of an offence \vhich 3 according to that law, was BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D, 253 only to be punifhed by a reftitution of fourfold ? To put a man to death for a crime which does not deferve death, is it not a murder ? And as the French writer fays, " Doit-on punir un delit centre " la fociete par un crime contre la nature ?" Superfluous property is the creature of fociety. Simple and mild laws were fufficient to guard the property that was merely neceifary. The favage's bow, his hatchet, and his coat of {kins, were fuffici- ently fecured, without law, by the fear of perfonal refentment and retaliation. When, by virtue of the firfl laws, part of the fociety accumulated wealth and grew powerful, they enacted others more fevere, and would protect their property at the expence of huma- nity. This was abufmg their power, and commen- cing a tyranny. If a favage, before he entered into fociety, had been told, " Your neighbour by this " means may become owner of an hundred deer ; but cc if your brother, or your fon, or yourfelf, having no cc deer of your own, and being hungry, fhould kill " one, an infamous death mufh be the confequence ;'* he would probably have preferred his liberty, and his common right of killing ^any deer, to all the advan- tages of fociety that might be propofed to him. That it is better an hundred guilty perfons efcape, than that one innocent perfon ihould fuffer, is a maxim that has been long and generally approved, and never, that I know of, controverted. Even the fanguinary author of the " Thoughts, &c." agrees to it, obferving, " that the very thought of injured " innocence, and much more that of iuftering inno- " cence, 254 FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, & c . O p tc cence, mud awaken all our tendered and moft * c compaffionate feelings, and, at the fame time* " raife our higheft indignation againfl the inftru- " mentsofit. But," he adds, " there is no dan- " ger of either from a :lrit adherence to the laws." Really ? Is it then impoffible to make an unjud law ? And if the law itfelf be unjufl, may it not be the very " inftrument" which ought " to raife the au- * c thor'sand every body's higheft indignation ?" I fee, in the lad newfpapers from London, that a woman is capitally convicted at the Old Bailey, for privately ftealing out of a mop fome gauze, value fourteen (hillings and three-pence, and the punifhment of an human creature for this offence is by death on a gibbet ! Might not that woman, by her own labour and induflry, have made the reparation ordained by God in paying fourfold ? Is not all punifhment in- Sided beyond the merit of the offence, fo much punifhment of innocence ? In this light how vaft is the annual quantity of not only injured but fuffering innocence, in almoft all the civilized dates of Europe ! But it feems to have been thought that this kind of innocence may be punifhed by way of preventing crimes. I have read indeed of a cruel Turk in Bar* bary, who, whenever he bought a new Chridian flavej ordered him immediately to be hung up by the heels, and to receive an hundred blows of a cudgel on the foles of his feet, that the fevere fenfe of the punifhment, and fear of incurring it there- after, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. after, might prevent the faults that fhould merit it. Our author himfelf would hardly approve entirely of this Turk's conduct in the government of flaves, and yet he appears to recommend fomething like it for the government of Englifli fubjecls. He applauds the reply of Judge Burnet to the convicted horfe flealer, who being afked what he had to fay, why judgment of death fhould not be pafied againft him ? and anfwering, that it was hard to hang a man for only flealing an horfe, was told by the judge, " Man, thou art not to be hanged only for " flealing a horfe, but that horfes may not be ftolen." But the man's anfwer, if candidly examine^, will, I imagine, appear reafonable, as being founded upon the eternal principles of juftice and equity, that pu- nifhments fhould be proportioned to offences, and the judge's reply brutal and unreafonable, though the writer " wifhes all judges to carry it with them " whenever they go the circuit, and to bear it in " their minds, as containing a wife reafon for all the penal flatutes which they are called upon to put in execution. It at once illuflrates (fays he) the true grounds and reafons of all capital punifh- 5(S FRAGMENTS, ANECDOTES, & C j OF an equal punifhment of the crime, but to prevent other murders, does it follow that I mud approve of inflicting the fame punimment for a little invafion on my property by theft ? If 1 am not myfclf fo barba- rous, fo bloody-minded, and revengeful as to kill a fellow- creature for dealing from me fourteen millings and three-pence, how can I approve of a law that does it ? Montefquieu, Xvho was himfelf a judge, endea- vours to imprefs other maxims. He mufl have known what humane judges feel on fuch occafionS, and what the efFecls of thofe feelings are ; and fo far from thinking that fevere and exceffive punifhments prevent crimes, he aflerts, as quoted by our French writer, that cc Uatroclte des loix en empeche I* execution. " Lorfque la pelne eft fans mefure on eft foment oblr Cf ge de luipref.'rer V impunite* " La caufe de tons les reldchemens went de Fimpu- with a holy fear, to the elements of his primitive faith ; he does nothing more than feparate it from that impure mixture, by which fanaticifm, in his eyes, has evidently altered its venerable fimplicity. Undoubtedly, the indolence that precludes reflection, the animal paffions, the abufe of our faculties, may retain, or draw us, in refpect to religion, into thofe errors which are imputable to us. But it appertains to us, and to Him only, who reads the heart, and probes the thoughts, to mark them down for repro- bation, and to punifh them at the day of judgment. Thofe actions alone, which are manifeftly contrary to the laws of univerfal morality, are fubmitted to the infpedion of men, and the fentence of fociety. The "K vicious, the bafe, the wicked, even when they pro- fefs the true faith, are the enemies of humanity. The virtuous, the good, the benevolent, even while their faith is erroneous, are the friends and the benefactors of mankind. Such, Gentlemen, were the doctrines of the fage, whofe memory we are now doing honour to ; and, if this were the place, it would be eafy to prove, as he himfelf has demonftrated, that the true fpirit of the gofpel confifts in indulgence, charity, brotherly love, concord, peace, and univerfal unity. Notwithftanding this, " out of the pale of Catholic " faith," fays one, there is no falvation for man- *' kind!' 5 T 3 , This 278 ABBE FAUCHET'S EULOGIUM ON This maxim is true, Gentlemen ; but thofe who deduce from it the reprobation of all thbfe who are of a different religion, and a frightful intolerance to- wards nearly the whole human race, are fanatics and impoftors. It is one of the avowed principles of the Catholic faith, that all thofe who ftri&ly obferve the natural law, that is to fay, all virtuous men, pppertain to the true church, and have Je.fus Chrift, the light of fouls, for their mafter and infpector. I pronounce this facred name with fo much more fatisfadHon in this difcourfe, as Franklin was accuf- tomed to invoke it with the mod refpe&ful awe. But thofe who do not know, and who " pra&ife natu- y means of the needle and the fpindle, who 282 ABBE FAUCHET'S EULOGIUM ON who were ferving the ftate with their fwords and their guns. With the charm ever attendant upon true wifdom, and the grace ever flowing from true fentiment, this grave philofopher knew how to converfe with the other fex, to infpire them with a tafte for domeftic occupations, to hold out to them the prize attendant upon honour unaccompanied by reproach, and inflil the duty of cultivating the firft precepts of education, in order to teach them to their children, and thus to acquit the debt due to nature, and fulfil the hope of fociety ! It muft be acknowledged that, in his own country, he addrefied himfelf to minds capable of comprehending him. Immortal females of America ! I will tell it to the daughters of France, and they only are fit to applaud you ! You have attained the utmoft of what your fex is capable ; you poffefs the beauty, the fimplicity, the manners, at once natural and pure the primitive graces of the golden age. It was among you that liberty was firft to have its origin. But the empire of freedom, which is extended to France, is about to carry your manners along with it, and produce a re- volution in morals as well as in politics. Already our female citizens (for they have lately become fuch) are not any longer occupied with thofe frivolous ornaments, and vain pleafures, which were nothing more than the amufements of flavery ; they have awakened the love of liberty in the bofoms of fathers, of brothers, and of hufbands; they have encou- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. encouraged them to make the moft generous facri- fices ; their delicate hands have removed the earth, dragged it along, and helped to elevate the irnmenfe amphitheatre of the grand confederation. It is no longer the love of voluptuous foftnefs that attracts their regard ; it is the facred fire of patriotifra. The laws which are to reform education, and with it the national manners, are already prepared -, they fliall advance, they mall fortify the caufe of liberty by means of their happy influence, and become the fecond faviours of their country ! Franklin did not omit any of the means of being ufeful to men, or ferviceable to fociety. He fpoke to all conditions, to both fexes, to every age. This amiable moralift defcended, in his writings, to the mod artlefs details, to the moft ingenuous familiarities, to the firft ideas of a rural, a commercial, and a civil life ; to the dialogues of old men and children ; full at once of all the verdure and all the maturity of wiC- dom ; in fhort, the prudent leilbns arifmg from the expofition of thofe obfcure, happy, eafy virtues, which form fo many links in the chain of a good man's life, derived immenfe weight from that repu- tation for genius which he had acquired, by being one of the firft naturalifls and greatefl philofophers in the univerfe. At one and the fame time, he governed nature in the heavens and in the hearts of men. Amidft the tempefls of the atmofphere, he directed the thunder ; amidfl the florms of fociety, he direded the 284 ABBE FAUCHET'S EULOGIUM ON the pafiions. Think, Gentlemen, with what atten- tive docility, with what religious refpect, one muft hear the voice of a fimple man, who preached up hu- man happinefs, when it was recollected that it was the powerful voice of the fame man who regulated the lightning. He electrified the confciences, in order to extract the deftructive fire of vice, exactly in the fame man- ner as he electrified the heavens, in order peaceably to invite from them the terrible fire of the elements. He thus exercifed (O power immenfe of wifdom and of genius !) two attributes of the Deity. Figure to your own minds, this fage with the ce- kftial phyfiognomy which he pofferTed, with that calm and auguft forehead, reuniting, in his own perfon, an authority over the natural and focial world ; does he not refemble a beneficent God defcended upon earth, in order to extinguifh the wrath of heaven and teach virtue to mankind ? The leifure hours of Franklin were fo many acts of goodnefs, which, if they were not too numerous, would form the chief charm of this oration. His amufements confided in experiments which refembled prodigies, and of which a fingle inftance will fuf- fice to give fome idea. He himfelf, in a letter to one of the moft learned Members of the Royal Society of London *, has prefented the defcription of a feflival, which he gave to his friends and the public upon the borders of the Schuylkill. * Mr. Coliinfon. An BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. f>. An electric fpark, without any other conductor than the water, ferved to light the volatile fpirit prepar- ed to illuminate both banks of the river, at one and the fame moment. The invifible mock of the electric matter, appeared, to the ravifhed eyes of the fpecla- tors, to kill the game and wild fowl prepared for the treat ; culinary inftruments turned and drafted the viands by means of the heat arifmg from the ethe- real flame, while the goblets, as if filled by magic, became replenifhed with the choicefl wines of Europe. In the mean time his gueft?, compofed of the mod learned men in Philadelphia, accompanied by a di- charge of artillery from an electric battery, drank the healths of all the famous philofophers of France, of England, of Switzerland, of Holland, of Italy, and of Germany, by turns, while the echoes arifing from the neighbouring fhores fpread abroad and multiplied thefe folemn falutations. The joyous acclamations of the people of a country formerly favage and de- ferted, but at prefent inhabited by numerous nations , of new men, who have formed an alliance between fcience and morality, reached to the ikies. You may eafily conceive, Gentlemen, what a mild, but fure afcendant, this fage, who infpired his citi- zens with a tafte for fuch noble pleafures, exercifed over their minds ! Not a fmgle moment did he lofein the courfe of his whole life ; not one of his thoughts but what tended to the public welfare ; not one of his laborious or of his leifure hours which did not fay to men, ABBE FAUCHBT'S EULOGIUM Off men, c; It is thus that exiflence becomes valuable, " it is thus that mankind become happy !" I have not as yet attempted to paint any thing more than the philofopher, who, by the force of his ideas, and the communication of his fentiments, beftowed a charm unknown before, and a new activity upon focial morality. Franklin had formed men : He had conceived ftill more noble projects he \vifhed to create citizens. He had already completed the bafis, which is mora- lity ; he determined upon this to elevate the column of legiflation. It is now the' legiflator whom I muft exhibit, it is the electrician of nations that is about to begin his operations ; it is he who compofed anil completed the moft charming model of liberty that was ever prefented to the univerfe; and it is to France, now become free, it is before her firft legiflature that I am ambitious of exhibiting this picture j it will awaken flaves, it will tranfport Frenchmen! PART II. " TRAVELLER, inform Sparta that we have died " in obedience to her holy laws/' This infcription over the bodies of thofe who pe- riflied at Thermopylae, is the mod fuperb monument that was ever erected to the honour of Greece : It proves BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL, D, 187 pfoves that antiquity recognized citizens in an angle of the world. The city of Lacedemon, the only one which merits that appellation, on account of the feparation of the three powers which organifed its government (for the anarchy of Athens, and the war of civic elements in Rome, prohibit them, although in other refpe&s immortal, from enjoying this fmgular honour), the city of Lacedemon was deflined to endure but a fhort time, for it had not humanity for its bafis. Man- kind themfelves were not as yet acquainted with it. It was neceffary that whole ages fhould firfc eiapfe ; and the Spartans, citizens without being men, were to be annihilated by the force of Nature, who does not long tolerate whatever contradicts her laws. Methinks I now behold a more noble monument erected between the old and the new world : It rifes out of the bofom of the Atlantic ocean ; it looks on one fide towards Europe, and on the other towards America : The image of the auguft Franklin fur- mounts it, and points to the following infcription : " Men, love your fellow-men ! Be free ! Promote " commerce and the arts ; but, above all, cultivate " humanity.*' Legiflator of mankind ! thy countrymen, the Americans, obey thee ; France liflens to thy voice, fhe repeats thy accents \ the univerfe awakes at the found ! The light fcattered over the world by the philofo- pher of nature, from the city of Philadelphia, not only excited the fcintillations of private, but it alfo kindled 288 ABBE FAUCHET'S EULOGIUM otf kindled the fire of public, virtue, which compofe* the life of nations. From the banks of the Delaware and the Schuyl- kill, Franklin attentively furveyed the conduct of England, marked her errors and her imprudence, aroufed that juft difcontent which her cruelties infpir- ed, obferved how far the patience of the people could be ftretched, reinforced the principles of li- berty, but yet preached up peace and moderation, until that day mould arrive, in which violence and injuftice were no longer to be fuffered, and a revolu- tion was to be expected as an inevitable event. His wifdom prophecied the approach of liberty, and accom- plifhed it; his fellow-countrymen, the Americans, who felt the iron hand of defpotifm, but yet fcarcely dream- ed of independence, were already, in the calculations of his genius, the rlrfl free citizens of the univerfe. The minifters of England were well acquainted with the afcendency of this great man, and were alarmed at his influence. In conformity to their fyftem of corruption, they were determined to bring him over to their views, and were perfuaded that, by bellowing one of the lucrative employments upon him, which they had the difpofal of in the colonies, his private intereft would induce him to aflift them in fubjugating his countrymen. He was accordingly appointed Director General of the Pod Oifice belonging to the Engliih colonies irt America*. He was entrulted with the fouthern department only. TRANS. In BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 289 In this employment he perceived that he could be ufeful to the people and to himfelf j for it furnifhed him with a better opportunity of communicating his principles throughout the continent. He weli knew that his labours would accelerate the freedom of America ; he was authorifed by his office to viiit all the provinces without the leait fufpicion whatever ; he thus was enabled to found the difpofitions of the inhabitants, to augment their horror for oppreflion, and to induce them to reconquer the rights of man and of citizens. Franklin undoubtedly forefaw, while deftroying an oppreflive government, the favours of which he turned to the public advantage, that he mould make great facrifices in regard to his own private interefl ; but his natural fimplicity and prudent ceconomy had enabled him to accumulate a fortune fufficient to infure his independence ; and he always dreaded great opulence, either to himfelf or his fellow-citi- zens. He had always two great ideas in contempla- tion : The firft was, to elevate England and all her colonies to the principles of civil liberty ; and if that did not happen, at leaf! to give freedom to his native country. Had the former fcheme fucceeded(and it gave him the greater degree of pleafure), the parlia- ment of England was to have had a full national and colonial reprefentation. The King was to have carried the legal wifhes of the fellow-citizens of the two continents into execution, and the perfect combina- u tion ABBE f AUCHET'S EULOGIl'M ON don of the legislative power of all, and the executive power of one, would have realized to Great Britain that noble conftitution deflined to form the happinefs of France. But if it were impoffible thus to infure the felicity of the whole empire, and if the fyftem of colonial oppref- fion was to be continued, then he thought that a grand example ought to be fet by America to the world, that the caufe of the people ought to be avenged, and that Liberty ought to hoift her flandard in another hemifphere. Thus all the views of this great man were in per- fect coincidence with the principles of truth and of juftice ; for whatever might be the laft determination of the opprefTors, they themfelves would either be- come citizens, or enable their fellow flaves to become fo, by' eftablifhing the firfl free government that ever exifted in the world. Such was the pofition of public affairs when Frank- lin was fent to England by the Afiembly of Pennfyl* vania, in order to defend the colonies againft the en- terprifes of the court. He did not diflemble his opi- nions to the Engliih miniftry, who, at that period* were employing their ufual perfidious arts of bribery and corruption, in order to exact feveral new and vexatious imports from his countrymen. Franklin announced to them the infallible refult of their proceedings. The Americans were alarmed, and protefted with one accord againft this aft of tyranny. Their con- dud BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. 29! duct appeared to the generous patriots of England f where there are many good citizens, although they are not fuffered to rule the nation) to be dictated by the juft rights derived from oppreffion ; but it feemed to be the revolt of flaves, who wifhed to free themfelves from the authority of a mafter, in the eyes of the fervile minions of the fovereign, who are more numerous, and who are always employed by the government. Arnidft thefe important conjunctures, Franklin is orderedto the bar of the Houfe of Commons, he obeys, How great appeared that man, the defender of liberty, before an ariftocracy who monopolize the independ- ence of a nation ! He was unacquainted with the queftions which were to be put to him, but his mind was ever prepared. Not a fingle vague idea, not an ufelefs or unneceffary word ; thoughts fimple, but yet vaft ; fentiments loyal, but yet generous ; the boldeft affertions ; the moft convincing reafons ; the moft pofitive denials, afforded no triumph to his ene- mies. With a mafculine eloquence and undifguifed truth, he proved all the firft acts of the American infurrection to be legitimate, and afferted that all the projects that could be fuggefted by Englifh violence, would be abortive and without effect. " Either let us be free together," fays he, " or " we fhall be fo without, and even in fpite of you, " Jf you do not annul your oppreffive l?4vs, we fhall " continue to make new ones independent of .you. " If you endeavour to fubjugate us, we fhall tri- 4 umph. Your armies ? They are not numerous u 2 " enough, 292 ABBE FAUCHET S EULOGIUM ON " enough. Your navy ? All the navies upon earth " are not capable of making us fubmit to your will. " Make your election between our love and our " hate; we have already made our choice between the u liberty that is to combine us, and thofe chains with " which we are to be manacled." This affords but a feeble image of the dignified conduct of Franklin in the face of all England. Cy- neas beheld at Rome, in that fenate which governed Italy, an aflembly of gods, and trembled ! Frank- lin beheld at London, in that fenate which com- manded the feas of the two worlds, a corrupted legif- lature, and was undifmayed. The ambaffador of Theflaly fpoke in the name of a King ; and what was- a King before the Roman people ? But the agent of Philadelphia fpoke as a man in the name of men, whom he was about to render free ; and free men have ever been refpeded as the firfl of human beings by the Englifh ! He retired honoured by the nation, but detefted by the Court, convinced that a parliament fold to the miniflry would fmite America with the fceptre of clefpotifm, and fupport their wrongs by the fwords of mercenaries ; that his countrymen would be forced to defend their own rights, to confummate their inde- pendence, and to vindicate the caule of human nature. Returned to Iiis native continent, he revolved all thefe ideas in his bofom at Philadelphia. Wafhing- ton and Adams enter into his views ; the firft con- grefs. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D* 293 grefs is convoked and aflembled ; Franklin, or rather the Genius of Liberty, pfefides at it; every thing is re- folved upon; new laws are ena&ed, but the principles of them already exiil ; all the colonifts are citizens ; the patriot troops are about to be called forth ; they are already formed all the citizens are foldiers ! The philofopher of humanity, the friend of peace, Franklin had upv/ards of ten years before prepared all the plans of the infurgent army. The number and order of the regiments and companies, the pay, the inftru&ions, all the military details, written by his own hand two luftres before the infurredion, and depofited in the archives of Philadelphia, attefl at once the extent and forefight of his ideas. Advance, Englifhmen ; arm your fleets ; pour in the warriors of your three kingdoms ; tranfport the mercenaries of Germany to America, now become free ; for Franklin preiides in her councils, and Wafhington regulates her armies ! Wifdom, and at length victory, declare againfl you. By means of thofe manoeuvres which difplay at once the (kill and the ferocity of your bands of rob- bers, you redouble the energy of freemen, add to the horror againft tyrants, and enfure to the United States but greater triumphs. The contraft exhibited by the humanity of the citizens of America in themidft of moft of your moft difgraceful defeats, and the fury of your fervile troops in their flight but impious fuc- cefles, mail change your glory to opprobrium, and the b!ood of a few peaceable men, immolated to your u 3 rage, ABBE FAUCHETS EULOGIUM ON rage, fhall furnifli the feeds of victory for the combat- ants of liberty ! I mall not here enter into the expofition of the faga- cious conduct, the profound combinations, the unex- pected refources, the invincible refinance, the decifive actions, the prodigies of glory, which have immor- talifed the campaigns of the armies of Independence. They did not poflefs any metal, but iron ; any mi- litary knowledge, but courage ; any experience in combats, but a genius fitted for victory; any difcipline proceeding from long previous preparation, but a Ge- neral, who was all of a fudden the creator of an army. From men who wifh to become free, from Frank- lin who directs, from Wafhington who commands, what is not to be expected ? However, even iron at laftis wanting; it is procur- ed from Europe. Officers are not in fufficient abun- dance ; they are invited from France* Franklin, now in the feventieth year of his age, had juft returned from Canada, where he had been drawn, during the moft rigorous feafon of the year, by the interefts of the revolution, and, in the courfe of his journey, had traverfed, in company with Mont- gomery, the rivers and the lakes, at that time covered with ice. He is now appointed to proceed to France, in order to aflift the efforts of Deane, and invite thofe fuccours which they were to procure from a generous people, who had fubmitted, during a dif- honourable peace, to all the haughty pride, and all the intolerable outrages, of the Englifh miniflry. He BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. 0. 295 He departs inftantly, although he did not poflefs a Tingle piece of gold ; for his country was deftitute of money. He arrives at Paris with a cargo of tobacco, in the fame manner as when Holland determined to become free, her deputies arrived at Bruflels with a convoy of herrings, in order to pay their expences. Admiration preceded, attachment followed him. Every tongue celebrated his namej every look was fixed upon, every heart leaped at the fight of him : He fpoke, he was liflened to, and he fucceeded. The treaty of commerce with the infurgents is pro- claimed; ammunition and warlike inftruments are fent from our ports America receives them with gratitude ; the free men of the new have now allies in the old world ; they are foon alfo to' have rivals, emulous to imitate, and, if poflible, to excel them. At the voice of Franklin, at the voice of glory, appear, young Fayette, or rather difappear to Europe ! Shew thyfelf to America, aftonifhed at thy noble daring ; France mall not learn thy flight, but with the news of thy firft victory in the country of liberty. The furious Englifh every-where attacked our veffels ; but they no longer pofTeffed the advantage of thofe perfidious ftratagems which they had formerly made ufe of, before a declaration of war. Our naval armaments were in readinefs ; Orvil- liers and Eftaing command them. In one quarter * of the globe the Englifh fleet experiences an invinci- * This alludes to the engagement off Ufhant, V 4 blc 296 ABBE FAUCHET'S EULOGIUM ON ble refinance, and finds its only refource to confift in flight j in another-)- it meets with a fignal defeat; and the Weft-India iflands J are obliged to receive into their ports thofe troops which were deftined to con- quer them. Paul Jones , an American commander, takes feveral prizes upon the very coafts of Great Britain ; Rochambeau leads the French legions in the United States ; La Fayette ^[ is the hero of the two nations ; Wafliington is the arbiter of vi&ory. The independence of America is eonfummated; England, in its turn, is conftrained to fue for peace. The fovereignty of a great people is acknowledged, and from the banks of the Seine, Franklin, the har- binger, the director, and the very foul of this fub- lime novelty in the univerfe, conferring all the glory upon thofe who had the heroifm of acquiring it by means of arms, receives, with the calmnefs of a philofopher, the felicitations of America, of France, of the Englifh patriots themfelves, and of all thofe men who feel the godlike workings of humanity. The fovereignty of the nation is eftablifhed ; this then is the moment to perfect their laws. The ambaiTa- dor of America was its legiflator ; Re had already pre- pared, and he now tranfmits to his fellow-citizens f At Granada. J Tobago, &c. $ This officer, fo celebrated during the American war, died lately in great poverty at Paris. 297 the conftilution of Pennfylvania, which conne&s it with all the eflablifhments of the confederated flates. The rights of man are developed, for the firfl time, in laws fimple and beneficent as thofe of nature ; the rights of citizens are elevated on the fundamental bafis of fociety. The organization of the public power is combined with the private interefl of every man, and the univerfal good of humanity, with the individual advantage of every patriot, and the general profperity of the country. The inflitutions of Franklin are unanimoufly hailed as the code of wifdom and beneficence. We have adopted them into the new laws of France, and we ought to regard their author as one of the founders of this facred conflitution, which is about to attain all the elevation of reafon and of juflice, all the per- fection of focial and natural order, and which will one day be the Pharos of the human kind. Here, Gentlemen, the interefl of this difcourfe becomes augmented. It is my intention to com- pare America become independent, with France now free, and to prefage, , from thefe circumflances, the deflinies of the univerfe. I have already faid, and I repeat it again The Anglo-Americans were the firfl great people who poflefled the plenitude of liberty ; the firfl that pre- pared itfelf to enjoy the perfection of freedom is the French nation ; and in both thefe points of view Franklin is the firfl legiflator of the world. Let the prefent and future generations hear and judge ! In 298 ABBE FAUCHET'S EULOGICM ON In Switzerland a fenatorial ariflocracy domineers ; in Holland the Stadtholderate tends towards defpot- ifm ; in England the people pofiefs a corrupt, and but an inadequate, reprefentation : The Minifter re- gulates the elections ; a Houfe of Peers arrefts every thing at its will ; the Court, by means of money, ob- tains money ; by money, fuffrages : In fhort, in what- ever point of view you are pleafed to confider the public welfare, the King hath an abfolute power over it. If there is a country in the world where there is a phantom of liberty idolifed by the people, and no real liberty which they can love, it is there. But this very phantom had hitherto fomething venerable in it. The imaginations of the Engliih, exalted by the temporary glory of their country, beholding around her nothing but nations of flaves, who wilhed to continue fuch, they, with good reafon, have looked upon themfelves, until now, as the people who poiTeff- cd the fir (I rank in the univerfe. Franklin once faid to the Englifh nation, " Admit and it cannot fail to mtereft the public, and give additional to my labours. 304 M, LE ROY'S LETTER RELATIVE TO TRANSLATION of a Letter from M. LE ROY to tht Abbe FAUCHET (now conjlituilonal BiJJoop of Cat* relative to the late Dr. FK AN KLIN. I AM enchanted to hear, Sir, that, elevating your mind above the vain prejudices of the vulgar, you have formed the noble defign of pronouncing, in the metropolis of France, the funeral oration of my illuf- trious friend, who was born a Proteftant. Flattered with the confidence which you have been pleafed to repofe in me, I have endeavoured to comply with your wifhes by tranfmitting you fome particulars of the life of this great man ; collected partly from what I can recollect in regard to him, and partly from what he himfelf has told me, in the numerous converfations we have had together. It is neceiTary that the clafs of men, equally vain and imbecile, who wiihed to eftablifti a privileged cqft among us, to whom alone the command of the ar* mies, the venerable departments of juftice, and the councils of the Sovereign were to be open; it is ne- ceifary they mould learn that Franklin, like the illuf* trious ^lechier, was the fon of a tallow-chandler; that he was born in Bofton ; that he left it at fourteen years of age, much in the fame manner as thofe young men who, being impatient under the yoke of pater- nal authority, leave their fathers houfe in order to fee'v their fortune elfewhere ; that he happened to go to Philadelphia, where, having prefented himfelf to 2 the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. 365 the only printer then refiding in that city, he took a fancy to the boy, in whom he difcovered a natural genius, and inftruaed him in the art of printing*. I know that M. de la Rochefoucault, in the dif- courfe which he read before the fociety of 1789 f, on the 1 3th of June laft, gives us to underftand that he was a journeyman printer in Bofton, and that he left it in order to feek for employment at New York and Philadelphia. But, as well as I can remember, both from what he and his countrymen have told me, he arrived at Philadelphia in 1720, a period when the art of print* ing, fo very curious in itfelf, was almoft unknown to a great part of the country. I have alfo learned, that the farmers who fre- quented that city, and who were fond of whatever was interefling, were accuftomed to vifit the printing* houfe in which young Franklin worked, and, being aftonifhed at his activity and addrefs, prefented him with many marks of their liberality. Avaricious of knowledge, and porTefling an infa- tiable delire after inftru&ion, he eafily perceived that, at the diftance of two thoufand leagues from England, it was by books alone that he could gain information : But how could he procure them, when, at this pe- * It may be neceflary to obferve here, that this and a nun^fcr of other little miftakes are correaed in Dr. Franklin's firft and fe- cond letters, Part. I. Note by the Tranjlator, f See page 237. x riod, 306 M. LE ROY'S LETTER RELATIVE TO riod, there were not more than perhaps four or five hundred volumes in all Philadelphia ? By way of attaining knowledge, he formed a club confiding of fome young men, who were of a fimila r difpofition with himfelf, and, in order to have the adf antage of each other's books, it was agreed that they mould place them in one common library. As this refource was not attended with ail the advantages at firft expected from it, it was refolved to fubfcribe a fmall fum every month, to enable them to import all the new works from London. The young people of Philadelphia having learned that this fociety poffeffed a great number and variety of books, were exceedingly defirous to borrow them ; this was moft readily confented to, on condition of pay- ing a trifle for the ufe of them, in order to augment their number. In fhort, this new fcheme was attended with fo much fuccefs, that their little collection fwelled into a library ; and the other colonies, per- ceiving the immenfe advantages arifmg from fuch an eftablimment, began to form fimilar ones at Bof- ton, New York, Charleftown, and feveral other places. Thus originated a number of the firft libraries in America ; and that at Philadelphia may, at this day, difpute its confequence with many of the mod celebrated in Europe. Pardon me, Sir, for entering into thefe details ; for to me they appear interefting, and even neceflary, in order to point out how my illuftrious friend has not BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL,D not only been the founder, but, as it were, the fchool* mafter, of American independence. Thinking, however, that all the inftru&ion he could acquire in his own country, was not fufficient to conduct him to that point of perfection at which he wifhed to arrive, he determined to vifit England, and accordingly arrived there about the year 17 24 or This much is certain, that he was there during the life of Newton, whom he told me he had feen feveral times, and who did hot die until 1727 *. He worked at his bufmefs as a printer in London ; and it appears to me that he lived in very great ob- fcurity. After a fhort refidence in the metropolis of Eng^ land, he returned to America. It was at that period, if I am not greatly miilaken, that he perfuaded the printer with whom he had formerly refided to publifli $ ncwfpapei-j in imitation of thofe he had feen in London. This fcheme was attended with fuccefs* and the printer, to whom it brought in a large fum, after having, out of gratitude^ taken him into co- partnermip, gave him his daughter in marriage f. From this marriage fprung Mr. (commonly called Governor) Franklin, one of the principal Ame- rican Loyalifts, and Mrs. Beach, his favourite daugh- ter,. to whofe family he has left the greatefl part * March 20, 1726-27. t This is another miftak*. See Chap. 1. and II. Part L X 2 Of 3CS M. LE ROY'S LETTER RELATIVE TO of his fortune *, having bequeathed but one or two farms to Mr. William Franklin, the fon of the Loy- alift, whom you have feen here. Devoted * Dr. Franklin's will was made during his refidencc in the village of PafTy, near Paris. It begins as follows : " I Benjamin Franklin, printer, at prefent Minifier Plenipoten- tiary from the United and Independent States of America to his Mod Chriftian Majefty Louis XVI. King of France, hereby de- clare my lail will and teftament, f> &c. c. The following articles will evince that this great man was not unmindful of pofterity : " I was born in Botton, New England, and owe my firft inflruc- tions in literature to the two grammar-fchools eftablimed there. I have, therefore, confidered thofe fchools in my will. " But I am alfo under obligations to the State of MafTachufets, for having, unafked, appointed me formerly their agent in Eng_ land, with a handfome falary, which continued fome years: And although I accidentally loft in their fervice, by tranfmitting Go. vernor Hutchinfon's letters, much more than the amount of wha they gave me, I do not think that ought in the kail to diminifh my gratitude. " I have confidered that, among artifans, good apprentices are moft likely to make good citizens; and having myfelf been bred to a manual art, printing, in my native town, and afterwards afiifted to fet up my buimefs in Philadelphia by kind loans of mo- ney from two friends there, which was the foundation of my for- tune, and of all the utility in life that may be afcribed to me ; I wifli to be ufeful even after my death, if pofiible, in forming and advancing other young men that may be ferviceable to their country jn both thofe towns. " To this end, I devote two thonfand pounds fterling ; of which I give one thoufand to the inhabitants of the town of Bof- ton BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL, D. 309 Devoted entirely to his profeffion during a large portion of his life, it appears that, foon after the treaty ton in Maffachufets, and the other thoufand to the inhabitants of the city of Philadelphia, in truft, to and for the ufes, intents, and purpofes, hereinafter mentioned and declared. " The faid fum of one thoufand pounds fterling, if accepted by the inhabitants of the town of Bofton, (hall be managed under the direction of the fcled men, united with the Minifters of the oldetl Epifcopalian, Congregational and Prefbyterian churches, in that town, who are to let out the fame upon intereft at five per cent, per annum, to fuch young married artificers under the age of twenty-five years, as have ferved an apprenticefhip in the faid town, and faithfully fulfilled the duties required in their indentures, fo as to obtain a good moral character from at lead two refpedable citi_ zens, who are willing to become their fureties in a bond with the applicants for the repayment of the monies fo lent, with intereft, accrding to the terms hereinafter prefcribed ; all which bonds are to be taken for Spanifh milled dollars, or the value thereof in cur- rent gold coin. And the managers mall keep a bound book or books, wherein {hall be entered the names of thofe who mall apply for and receive the benefit of this Jnflitution, and of their fureties, together with the fums lent, the dates, and other neceiTary and proper records, refpecling the bufinefs and concerns of this infti- tution. And, as thefe loans are intended to afiift young married artificers in fetting up their bufinefs, they are to be proportioned by the dilution of the managers, fo as not to exceed fifty pounds fterling to one perfon, nor to be leis than fifteen pounds. " And if the number of appliers fo entitled fiiould be fo large as that the fum will net fuffice to afford to each as much as might otherwife not be improper, the proportion to each mall be dimi- nifhed, fo as to afford to every one fome aiTiftance. " Thefe aids may therefore be fmall at firil ; but, as the capital increafes by the accumulating intereft, they will be more ampL-.