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Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
REPRESENTATIVE SELECTIONS, WITH
INTRODUCTION, BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND NOTES
BY
FRANK LUTHER MOTT
_Director, School of Journalism
University of Iowa_
AND
CHESTER E. JORGENSON
_Instructor in English
University of Iowa_
[Illustration]
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
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COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
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MOTT AND JORGENSON'S FRANKLIN
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_PREFACE_
Benjamin Franklin's reputation in America has been singularly
distorted by the neglect of his works other than his _Autobiography_
and his most utilitarian aphorisms. If America has contented herself
with appraising him as "the earliest incarnation of 'David Harum,'" as
"the first high-priest of the religion of efficiency," as "the first
Rotarian," it may be that this aspect of Franklin is all that an
America plagued by growing pains, by peopling and mechanizing three
thousand miles of frontier, has been able to see. That facet of
Franklin's mind and mien which allowed Carlyle to describe him as "the
Father of all Yankees" was appreciated by Sinclair Lewis's George F.
Babbitt: "Once in a while I just naturally sit back and size up this
Solid American Citizen, with a whale of a lot of satisfaction." But
this is not the Franklin of "imperturbable common-sense" honored by
Matthew Arnold as "the very incarnation of sanity and clear-sense, a
man the most considerable ... whom America has yet produced." Nor is
this the Franklin who emerges from his collected works (and the
opinions of his notable contemporaries) as an economist, political
theorist, educator, journalist, scientific deist, and disinterested
scientist. If he wrote little that is narrowly belles-lettres, he need
not be ashamed of his voluminous correspondence, in an age which saw
the fruition of the epistolary art. The Franklin found in his
collected and uncollected writings is, as the following Introduction
may suggest, not the Franklin who too commonly is synchronized
exclusively with the wisdom and wit of _Poor Richard_.
Since the present interpretation of the growth of Franklin's mind, with
stress upon its essential unity in the light of scientific deism,
tempered by his debt to Puritanism, classicism, and neoclassicism, may
seem somewhat novel, the editors have felt it desirable to document
their interpretation with considerable fullness. It is hoped that the
reader will withhold judgment as to the validity of this interpretation
until the documentary evidence has been fully considered in its genetic
significance, and that he will feel able to incline to other
interpretations only in proportion as they can be equally supported by
other evidence. The present interpretation is also supported by the
Selections following--the fullest collection hitherto available in one
volume--which offer, the editors believe, the essential materials for a
reasonable acquaintance with the growth of Franklin's mind, from youth
to old age, in its comprehensive interests--educational, literary,
journalistic, economic, political, scientific, humanitarian, and
religious.
With the exception of the selections from the _Autobiography_, the works
are arranged in approximate chronological order, hence inviting a
necessarily genetic study of Franklin's mind. The _Dissertation on
Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain_, never before printed in an
edition of Franklin's works or in a book of selections, is here printed
from the London edition of 1725, retaining his peculiarities of italics,
capitalization, and punctuation. Attention is also drawn to the
photographically reproduced complete text of _Poor Richard Improved_
(1753), graciously furnished by Mr. William Smith Mason. _The Way to
Wealth_ is from an exact reprint made by Mr. Mason, and with his
permission here reproduced. One of the editors is grateful for the
privilege of consulting Mr. Mason's magnificent collection of Franklin
correspondence (original MSS), especially the Franklin-Galloway and
Franklin-Jonathan Shipley (Bishop of St. Asaph) unpublished
correspondence. With Mr. Mason's generous permission the editors
reproduce fragments of this correspondence in the Introduction.
The bulk of the selections have been printed from the latest, standard
edition, _The Writings of Benjamin Franklin_, collected and edited with
a Life and Introduction by Albert Henry Smyth (10 vols., 1905-1907). For
permission to use this material the editors are grateful to The
Macmillan Company, publishers. The editors are indebted to Dr. Max
Farrand, Director of the Henry E. Huntington Library, for permission to
reprint part of Franklin's MS version of the _Autobiography_.
Chester E. Jorgenson is preparing an analysis and interpretation of
Franklin's brand of scientific deism, its sources and relation to his
economic, political, and literary theories and practice. Fragments of
this projected study are included, especially in Section VII of the
following Introduction. For the past two years Mr. Jorgenson has enjoyed
the kindness and generosity of Mr. William Smith Mason, and has incurred
an indebtedness which cannot be expressed adequately in print.
The work of the editors has been vastly eased by Beata Prochnow
Jorgenson's assistance in typing, proofreading, et cetera. They are
extremely grateful to Professor Harry Hayden Clark for incisive
suggestions and valuable editorial assistance.
F. L. M.
C. E. J.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I. Franklin's Milieu: The Age of Enlightenment, xiii
II. Franklin's Theories of Education, xxxii
III. Franklin's Literary Theory and Practice, xlvi
IV. Franklin as Printer and Journalist, lvii
V. Franklin's Economic Views, lxiv
VI. Franklin's Political Theories, lxxxii
VII. Franklin as Scientist and Deist, cx
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, cxlii
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Works, cli
II. Collections and Reprints, cliii
III. Biographies, clv
IV. Biographical and Critical Studies, clviii
V. The Age of Franklin, clxxiv
VI. Bibliographies and Check Lists, clxxxvi
SELECTIONS
_From the_ Autobiography, 3
Dogood Papers, No. I (1722), 96
Dogood Papers, No. IV (1722), 98
Dogood Papers, No. V (1722), 102
Dogood Papers, No. VII (1722), 105
Dogood Papers, No. XII (1722), 109
Editorial Preface to the _New England Courant_ (1723), 111
A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain (1725), 114
Rules for a Club Established for Mutual Improvement (1728), 128
Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion (1728), 130
The Busy-Body, No. 1 (1728/9), 137
The Busy-Body, No. 2 (1728/9), 139
The Busy-Body, No. 3 (1728/9), 141
The Busy-Body, No. 4 (1728/9), 145
Preface to the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ (1729), 150
A Dialogue between Philocles and Horatio (1730), 152
A Second Dialogue between Philocles and Horatio (1730), 156
A Witch Trial at Mount Holly (1730), 161
An Apology for Printers (1731), 163
Preface to _Poor Richard_ (1733), 169
A Meditation on a Quart Mugg (1733), 170
Preface to _Poor Richard_ (1734), 172
Preface to _Poor Richard_ (1735), 174
Hints for Those That Would Be Rich (1736), 176
To Josiah Franklin (April 13, 1738), 177
Preface to _Poor Richard_ (1739), 179
A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British
Plantations in America (1743), 180
Shavers and Trimmers (1743), 183
To the Publick (1743), 186
Preface to Logan's Translation of "Cato Major" (1743/4), 187
To John Franklin, at Boston (March 10, 1745), 188
Preface to _Poor Richard_ (1746), 189
The Speech of Polly Baker (1747), 190
Preface to _Poor Richard_ (1747), 193
To Peter Collinson (August 14, 1747), 194
Preface to _Poor Richard Improved_ (1748), 195
Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748), 196
To George Whitefield (July 6, 1749), 198
Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
Pensilvania (1749), 199
Idea of the English School (1751), 206
To Cadwallader Colden Esq., at New York (1751), 213
Exporting of Felons to the Colonies (1751), 214
Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of
Countries, Etc. (1751), 216
To Peter Collinson (October 19, 1752), 223
_Poor Richard Improved_ (1753)--facsimile reproduction, 225
To Joseph Huey (June 6, 1753), 261
Three Letters to Governor Shirley (1754), 263
To Miss Catherine Ray, at Block Island (March 4, 1755), 270
To Peter Collinson (August 25, 1755), 272
To Miss Catherine Ray (September 11, 1755), 274
To Miss Catherine Ray (October 16, 1755), 277
To Mrs. Jane Mecom (February 12, 1756), 278
To Miss E. Hubbard (February 23, 1756), 278
To Rev. George Whitefield (July 2, 1756), 279
The Way to Wealth (1758), 280
To Hugh Roberts (September 16, 1758), 289
To Mrs. Jane Mecom (September 16, 1758), 291
To Lord Kames (May 3, 1760), 293
To Miss Mary Stevenson (June 11, 1760), 295
To Mrs. Deborah Franklin (June 27, 1760), 298
To Jared Ingersoll (December 11, 1762), 300
To Miss Mary Stevenson (March 25, 1763), 301
To John Fothergill, M.D. (March 14, 1764), 304
To Sarah Franklin (November 8, 1764), 307
_From_ A Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster
County (1764), 308
To the Editor of a Newspaper (May 20, 1765), 315
To Lord Kames (June 2, 1765), 318
Letter Concerning the Gratitude of America (January 6, 1766), 321
To Lord Kames (April 11, 1767), 325
To Miss Mary Stevenson (September 14, 1767), 330
On the Labouring Poor (1768), 336
To Dupont de Nemours (July 28, 1768), 340
To John Alleyne (August 9, 1768), 341
To the Printer of the _London Chronicle_ (August 18, 1768), 343
Positions to be Examined, Concerning National Wealth (1769), 345
To Miss Mary Stevenson (September 2, 1769), 347
To Joseph Priestley (September 19, 1772), 348
To Miss Georgiana Shipley (September 26, 1772), 349
To Peter Franklin (undated), 351
On the Price of Corn, and Management of the Poor (undated), 355
An Edict by the King of Prussia (1773), 358
Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small
One (1773), 363
To William Franklin (October 6, 1773), 371
Preface to "An Abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer" (1773), 374
A Parable against Persecution, 379
A Parable on Brotherly Love, 380
To William Strahan (July 5, 1775), 381
To Joseph Priestley (July 7, 1775), 382
To a Friend in England (October 3, 1775), 383
To Lord Howe (July 30, 1776), 384
The Sale of the Hessians (1777), 387
Model of a Letter of Recommendation (April 2, 1777), 389
To ---- (October 4, 1777), 390
To David Hartley (October 14, 1777), 390
A Dialogue between Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Saxony
and America, 394
To Charles de Weissenstein (July 1, 1778), 397
The Ephemera (1778), 402
To Richard Bache (June 2, 1779), 404
Morals of Chess (1779), 406
To Benjamin Vaughan (November 9, 1779), 410
The Whistle (1779), 412
The Lord's Prayer (1779?), 414
The Levée (1779?), 417
Proposed New Version of the Bible (1779?), 419
To Joseph Priestley (February 8, 1780), 420
To George Washington (March 5, 1780), 421
To Miss Georgiana Shipley (October 8, 1780), 422
To Richard Price (October 9, 1780), 423
Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout (1780), 424
The Handsome and Deformed Leg (1780?), 430
To Miss Georgiana Shipley (undated), 432
To David Hartley (December 15, 1781), 434
Supplement to the Boston _Independent Chronicle_ (1782), 434
To John Thornton (May 8, 1782), 443
To Joseph Priestley (June 7, 1782), 443
To Jonathan Shipley (June 10, 1782), 445
To James Hutton (July 7, 1782), 447
To Sir Joseph Banks (September 9, 1782), 448
Information to Those Who Would Remove to America (1782?), 449
Apologue (1783?), 458
To Sir Joseph Banks (July 27, 1783), 459
To Mrs. Sarah Bache (January 26, 1784), 460
An Economical Project (1784?), 466
To Samuel Mather (May 12, 1784), 471
To Benjamin Vaughan (July 26, 1784), 472
To George Whately (May 23, 1785), 479
To John Bard and Mrs. Bard (November 14, 1785), 481
To Jonathan Shipley (February 24, 1786), 481
To ---- (July 3, 1786?), 484
Speech in the Convention; On the Subject of Salaries (1787), 486
Motion for Prayers in the Convention (1787), 489
Speech in the Convention at the Conclusion of Its
Deliberations (1787), 491
To the Editors of the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ (1788), 493
To Rev. John Lathrop (May 31, 1788), 496
To the Editor of the _Federal Gazette_ (1788?), 496
To Charles Carroll (May 25, 1789), 500
An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania,
viz. the Court of the Press (1789), 501
An Address to the Public (1789), 505
To David Hartley (December 4, 1789), 506
To Ezra Stiles (March 9, 1790), 507
On the Slave-Trade (1790), 510
Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America, 513
An Arabian Tale, 519
A Petition of the Left Hand (date unknown), 520
Some Good Whig Principles (date unknown), 521
The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams, 523
NOTES, 529
_INTRODUCTION_
I. FRANKLIN'S MILIEU: THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Benjamin Franklin's reputation, according to John Adams, "was more
universal than that of Leibnitz or Newton, Frederick or Voltaire, and
his character more beloved and esteemed than any or all of them."[i-1]
The historical critic recognizes increasingly that Adams was not
thinking idly when he doubted whether Franklin's panegyrical and
international reputation could ever be explained without doing "a
complete history of the philosophy and politics of the eighteenth
century." Adams conceived that an explication of Franklin's mind and
activities integrated with the thought patterns of the epoch which
fathered him "would be one of the most important that ever was written;
much more interesting to this and future ages than the 'Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire.'" And such a historical and critical colossus is
still among the works hoped for but yet unborn. Too often, even in the
scholarly mind, Franklin has become a symbol, and it may be confessed,
not a winged one, of the self-made man, of New-World practicality, of
the successful tradesman, of the Sage of _Poor Richard_ with his
penny-saving economy and frugality. In short, the Franklin legend fails
to transcend an allegory of the success of the _doer_ in an America
allegedly materialistic, uncreative, and unimaginative.
It is the purpose of this essay to show that Franklin, the American
Voltaire,--always reasonable if not intuitive, encyclopedic if not
sublimely profound, humane if not saintly,--is best explained with
reference to the Age of Enlightenment, of which he was the completest
colonial representative. Due attention will, however, be paid to other
factors. And therefore it is necessary to begin with a brief survey of
the pattern of ideas of the age to which he was responsive. Not without
reason does one critic name him as "the most complete representative of
his century that any nation can point to."[i-2]
When Voltaire, "the patriarch of the _philosophes_," in 1726 took refuge
in England, he at once discovered minds and an attitude toward human
experience which were to prove the seminal factors of the Age of
Enlightenment. He found that Englishmen had acclaimed Bacon "the father
of experimental philosophy," and that Newton, "the destroyer of the
Cartesian system," was "as the Hercules of fabulous story, to whom the
ignorant ascribed all the feats of ancient heroes." Voltaire then paused
to praise Locke, who "destroyed innate ideas," Locke, than whom "no man
ever had a more judicious or more methodical genius, or was a more acute
logician." Bacon, Newton, and Locke brooded over the currents of
eighteenth-century thought and were formative factors of much that is
most characteristic of the Enlightenment.
To Bacon was given the honor of having distinguished between the
fantasies of old wives' tales and the certainty of empiricism. Moved by
the ghost of Bacon, the Royal Society had for its purpose, according to
Hooke, "To improve the knowledge of naturall things, and all useful
Arts, Manufactures, Mechanick practises, Engynes and Inventions by
Experiments."[i-3] The zeal for experiment was equaled only by its
miscellaneousness. Cheese making, the eclipses of comets, and the
intestines of gnats were alike the objects of telescopic or microscopic
scrutiny. The full implication of Baconian empiricism came to fruition
in Newton, who in 1672 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Bacon
was not the least of those giants upon whose shoulders Newton stood. To
the experimental tradition of Kepler, Brahe, Harvey, Copernicus,
Galileo, and Bacon, Newton joined the mathematical genius of Descartes;
and as a result became "as thoroughgoing an empiricist as he was a
consummate mathematician," for whom there was "no _a priori_
certainty."[i-4] At this time it is enough to note of Newtonianism, that
for the incomparable physicist "science was composed of laws stating the
mathematical behaviour of nature solely--laws clearly deducible from
phenomena and exactly verifiable in phenomena--everything further is to
be swept out of science, which thus becomes a body of absolutely certain
truth about the doings of the physical world."[i-5] The pattern of ideas
known as Newtonianism may be summarized as embracing a belief in (1) a
universe governed by immutable natural laws, (2) which laws constitute a
sublimely harmonious system, (3) reflecting a benevolent and all-wise
Geometrician; (4) thus man desires to effect a correspondingly
harmonious inner heaven; (5) and feels assured of the plausibility of an
immortal life. Newton was a believer in scriptural revelation. It is
ironical that through his cosmological system, mathematically
demonstrable, he lent reinforcement to deism, the most destructive
intellectual solvent of the authority of the altar.
Deists, as defined by their contemporary, Ephraim Chambers (in his
_Cyclopædia ..._, London, 1728), are those "whose distinguishing
character it is, not to profess any particular form, or system of
religion; but only to acknowledge the existence of a God, without
rendering him any external worship, or service. The Deists hold, that,
considering the multiplicity of religions, the numerous pretences to
revelation, and the precarious arguments generally advanced in proof
thereof; the best and surest way is, to return to the simplicity of
nature, and the belief of one God, which is the only truth agreed to by
all nations." They "reject all revelations as an imposition, and believe
no more than what natural light discovers to them...."[i-6] The
"simplicity of nature" signifies "the established order, and course of
natural things; the series of second causes; or the laws which God has
imposed on the motions impressed by him."[i-7] And attraction, a kind of
_conatus accedendi_, is the crown, according to the eighteenth century,
of the series of secondary causes. Hence, Newtonian physics became the
surest ally of the deist in his quest for a religion, immutable and
universal. The Newtonian progeny were legion: among them were Boyle,
Keill, Desaguliers, Shaftesbury, Locke, Samuel Clarke, 'sGravesande,
Boerhaave, Diderot, Trenchard and Gordon, Voltaire, Gregory, Maclaurin,
Pemberton, and others. The eighteenth century echoed Fontenelle's eulogy
that Newtonianism was "sublime geometry." If, as Boyle wrote,
mathematical and mechanical principles were "the alphabet, in which God
wrote the world," Newtonian science and empiricism were the lexicons
which the deists used to read the cosmic volume in which the universal
laws were inscribed. And the deists and the liberal political theorists
"found the fulcrum for subverting existing institutions and standards
only in the laws of nature, discovered, as they supposed, by
mathematicians and astronomers."[i-8]
Complementary to Newtonian science was the sensationalism of John Locke.
Conceiving the mind as _tabula rasa_, discrediting innate ideas, Lockian
psychology undermined such a theological dogma as total depravity--man's
innate and inveterate malevolence--and hence was itself a kind of
_tabula rasa_ on which later were written the optimistic opinions of
those who credited man's capacity for altruism. If it remained for the
French _philosophes_ to deify Reason, Locke honored it as the crowning
experience of his sensational psychology.[i-9] Then, too, as Miss Lois
Whitney has ably demonstrated, Lockian psychology "cleared the ground
for either primitivism or a theory of progress."[i-10] In addition, his
social compact theory, augmenting seventeenth-century liberalism,
furnished the political theorists of the Enlightenment with "the
principle of Consent"[i-11] in their antipathy for monarchial
obscurantism. Locke has been described as the "originator of a
psychology which provided democratic government with a scientific
basis."[i-12] The full impact of Locke will be felt when philosophers
deduce that if sensations and reflections are the product of outward
stimuli--those of nature, society, and institutions--then to reform man
one needs only to reform society and institutions, or remove to some
tropical isle. We remember that the French Encyclopedists, for example,
were motivated by their faith in the "indefinite malleability of human
nature by education and institutions."[i-13]
"With the possible exception of John Locke," C. A. Moore observes,
"Shaftesbury was more generally known in the mid-century than any other
English philosopher."[i-14] Shaftesbury's a priori "virtuoso theory of
benevolence" may be viewed as complementary to Locke's psychology to the
extent that both have within them the implication that through education
and reform man may become perfectible. Both tend to undermine social,
political, and religious authoritarianism. Shaftesbury's insistence upon
man's innate altruism and compassion, coupled with the deistic and
rationalistic divorce between theology and morality, resulted in the
dogma that the most acceptable service to God is expressed in kindness
to God's other children and helped to motivate the rise of
humanitarianism.
The idea of progress[i-15] was popularized (if not born) in the
eighteenth century. It has been recently shown that not only the
results of scientific investigations but also Anglican defenses of
revealed religion served to accelerate a belief in progress. In answer
to the atheists and deists who indicted revealed religion because
revelation was given so late in the growth of the human family and hence
was not eternal, universal, and immutable, the Anglican apologists were
forced into the position of asserting that man enjoyed a progressive
ascent, that the religious education of mankind is like that of the
individual. If, as the deists charged, Christ appeared rather belatedly,
the apologists countered that he was sent only when the race was
prepared to profit by his coming. God's revelations thus were adjusted
to progressive needs and capacities.[i-16]
Carl Becker has suggestively dissected the Enlightenment in a series of
antitheses between its credulity and its skepticism. If the
eighteenth-century philosopher renounced Eden, he discovered Arcadia in
distant isles and America. Rejecting the authority of the Bible and
church, he accepted the authority of "nature," natural law, and reason.
Although scorning metaphysics, he desired to be considered
philosophical. If he denied miracles, he yet had a fond faith in the
perfectibility of the species.[i-17]
Even as Voltaire had his liberal tendencies stoutly reinforced by
contact with English rationalism and deism,[i-18] so were the other
French _philosophes_, united in their common hatred of the Roman
Catholic church, also united in their indebtedness to exponents of
English liberalism, dominated by Locke and Newton. If, as Madame de
Lambert wrote in 1715, Bayle more than others of his age shook "the Yoke
of authority and opinion," English free thought powerfully reinforced
the native French revolt against authoritarianism. After 1730 English
was the model for French thought.[i-19] Nearly all of Locke's works had
been translated in France before 1700. Voltaire's affinity for the
English mind has already been touched on. D'Alembert comments, "When we
measure the interval between a Scotus and a Newton, or rather between
the works of Scotus and those of Newton, we must cry out with Terence,
_Homo homini quid præstat_."[i-20]
Any doctrine was intensely welcome which would allow the Frenchman to
regain his natural rights curtailed by the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, by the inequalities of a state vitiated by privileges, by an
economic structure tottering because of bankruptcy attending
unsuccessful wars and the upkeep of a Versailles with its dazzling
ornaments, and by a religious program dominated by a Jesuit rather than
a Gallican church.[i-21] Economic, political, and religious abuses were
inextricably united; the spirit of revolt did not feel obliged to
discriminate between the authority of the crown and nobles and the
authority of the altar. Graphic is Diderot's vulgar vituperation: he
would draw out the entrails of a priest to strangle a king!
Let us now turn to the American backgrounds. The bibliolatry of colonial
New England is expressed in William Bradford's resolve to study
languages so that he could "see with his own eyes the ancient oracles of
God in all their native beauty."[i-22] In addition to furnishing the new
Canaan with ecclesiastical and political precedent, Scripture provided
"not a partiall, but a perfect rule of Faith, and manners." Any dogma
contravening the "ancient oracle" was a weed sown by Satan and fit only
to be uprooted and thrown in the fire. The colonial seventeenth century
was one which, like John Cotton, regularly sweetened its mouth "with a
piece of Calvin." One need not be reminded that Calvinism was
inveterately and completely antithetical to the dogma of the
Enlightenment.[i-23] Calvinistic bibliolatry contended with "the sacred
book of nature." Its wrathful though just Deity was unlike the
compassionate, virtually depersonalized Deity heralded in the eighteenth
century, in which the Trinity was dissolved. The redemptive Christ
became the amiable philosopher. Adam's universally contagious guilt was
transferred to social institutions, especially the tyrannical forms of
kings and priests. Calvin's forlorn and depraved man became a creature
naturally compassionate. If once man worshipped the Deity through
seeking to parallel the divine laws scripturally revealed, in the
eighteenth century he honored his benevolent God, who was above
demanding worship, through kindnesses shown God's other children. The
individual was lost in society, self-perfection gave way to
humanitarianism, God to Man, theology to morality, and faith to reason.
The colonial seventeenth century was politically oligarchical: when
Thomas Hooker heckled Winthrop on the lack of suffrage, Winthrop with no
compromise asserted that "the best part is always the least, and of that
best part the wiser part is always the lesser."[i-24] If the
seventeenth-century college was a cloister for clerical education, the
Enlightenment sought to train the layman for citizenship.
With the turn of the seventeenth century several forces came into
prominence, undermining New England's Puritan heritage. Among those
relevant for our study are: the ubiquitous frontier, and the rise of
Quakerism, deism, Methodism, and science. The impact of the frontier was
neglected until Professor Turner called attention to its existence; he
writes that "the most important effect of the frontier has been in the
promotion of democracy here and in Europe.... It produces antipathy to
control, and particularly to any direct control.... The frontier
conditions prevalent in the colonies are important factors in the
explanation of the American Revolution...."[i-25] In the period included
in our survey the frontier receded from the coast to the fall line to
the Alleghenies: at each stage it "did indeed furnish a new field of
opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the past; and
freshness, and confidence, and scorn of older society, impatience of its
restraints and its ideas, and indifference to its lessons, have
accompanied the frontier."[i-26] One recalls the spirited satire on
frontier conditions, as the above aspects give birth to violence and
disregard for law, in Hugh Brackenridge's _Modern Chivalry_. Under the
satire one feels the justness of the attack, intensified by our
knowledge that Brackenridge grew up "in a democratic Scotch-Irish
back-country settlement." If the frontiersmen during the eighteenth
century did not place their dirty boots on their governors' desks, they
were partially responsible for an inveterate spirit of revolt, shown so
brutally in the "massacres" provoked by the "Paxton boys" of
Pennsylvania. One is not unprepared to discover resentment against the
forms of authority in a territory in which a strong back is more
immediately important than a knowledge of debates on predestination.
Granting the importance of the frontier in opposing the theocratic Old
Way, it must be considered in terms of other and more complex factors.
Reinforcing Edwards's Great Awakening, George Whitefield, especially in
the Middle Colonies, challenged the growing complacence of colonial
religious thought with his insistence that man "is by nature half-brute
and half-devil." It has been suggested that Methodism in effect allied
itself with the attitudes of Hobbes and Mandeville in attacking man's
nature, and hence by reaction tended to provoke "a primitivism based on
the doctrine of natural benevolence."[i-27]
The "New English Israel" was harried by the Quakers,[i-28] who preached
the priesthood of all believers and the right of private judgment. They
denied the total depravity of the natural man and the doctrine of
election; they gloried in a loving Father, and scourged the
ecclesiastical pomp and ceremony of other religions. They were possessed
by a blunt enthusiasm which held the immediate private revelation
anterior to scriptural revelation. Faithful to the inner light, the
Quakers seemed to neglect Scripture. Although the less extreme Quakers,
such as John Woolman, did not blind themselves to the need for personal
introspection and self-conquest, Quakerism as a movement tended to place
the greater emphasis on morality articulate in terms of fellow-service,
and lent momentum to the rise of humanitarianism expressed in prison
reform and anti-slavery agitation. Also one may wonder to what extent
colonial Quakerism tended to lend sanction to the rising democratic
spirit.
In the person of Cotton Mather, until recently considered a bigoted
incarnation of the "Puritan spirit ... become ossified," are discovered
forces which, when divorced from Puritan theology, were to become the
sharpest wedges splintering the deep-rooted oak of the Old Way. These
forces were the authority of reason and science. In _The Christian
Philosopher_,[i-29] basing his attitude on the works of Ray, Derham,
Cheyne, and Grew,[i-30] Mather attempted to shatter the Calvinists'
antithesis between science and theology, asserting "that [Natural]
Philosophy is no Enemy, but a mighty and wondrous Incentive to
Religion."[i-31] He warned that since even Mahomet with the aid of
reason found the Workman in his Work, Christian theologians should fear
"lest a Mahometan be called in for thy Condemnation!"[i-32] Studying
nature's sublime order, one must be blind if his thoughts are not
carried heavenward to "admire that Wisdom itself!" Although Mather
mistrusted Reason, he accepted it as "the voice of God"--an experience
which enabled him to discover the workmanship of the Deity in nature.
Magnetism, the vegetable kingdom, the stars infer a harmonious order, so
wondrous that only a God could have created it. If Reason is no complete
substitute for Scripture it offers enough evidence to hiss atheism out
of the world: "A Being that must be superior to Matter, even the Creator
and Governor of all Matter, is everywhere so conspicuous, that there can
be nothing more monstrous than to deny the God that is above."[i-33] Sir
Isaac Newton with his mathematical and experimental proof of the sublime
universal order strung on invariable secondary causes, Mather confessed,
is "our perpetual Dictator."[i-34] Conceiving of science as a rebuke to
the atheist, and a natural ally to scriptural theology, Mather, like a
Newton himself, juxtaposed rationalism and faith in one pyramidal
confirmation of the existence, omnipotence, and benevolence of God. Here
were variations from Calvinism's common path which, when augmented by
English and French liberalism, by the influence of Quakerism and the
frontier, were to give rise to democracy, rationalism, and scientific
deism. The Church of England through the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries had "pursued a liberal latitudinarian policy which, as a mode
of thought, tended to promote deism by emphasizing rational religion and
minimizing revelation."[i-35] It was to be expected that in colonies
created by Puritans (or even Quakers), deism would have a less
spectacular and extensive success than it appears to have had in the
mother country. If militant deism remained an aristocratic cult until
the Revolution,[i-36] scientific rationalism (Newtonianism) long before
this, from the time of Mather, became a common ally of orthodoxy. If a
"religion of nature" may be defined with Tillotson as "obedience to
Natural Law, and the performance of such duties as Natural Light,
without any express and supernatural revelation, doth dictate to man,"
then it was in the colonies, prior to the Revolution, more commonly a
buttress to revealed religion than an equivalent to it.
Lockian sensism and Newtonian science were the chief sources of that
brand of colonial rationalism which at first complemented orthodoxy, and
finally buried it among lost causes. The Marquis de Chastellux was
astounded when he found on a center table in a Massachusetts inn an
"Abridgment of Newton's Philosophy"; whereupon he "put some questions"
to his host "on physics and geometry," with which he "found him well
acquainted."[i-37] Now, even a superficial reading of the eighteenth
century discloses countless allusions to Newton, his popularizers, and
the implications of his physics and cosmology. As Mr. Brasch suggests,
"From the standpoint of the history of science," the extent of the vogue
of Newtonianism "is yet very largely unknown history."[i-38]
In Samuel Johnson's retrospective view, the Yale of 1710 at Saybrook was
anything but progressive with its "scholastic cobwebs of a few little
English and Dutch systems."[i-39] The year of Johnson's graduation
(1714), however, Mr. Dummer, Yale's agent in London, collected seven
hundred volumes, including works of Norris, Barrow, Tillotson, Boyle,
Halley, and the second edition (1713) of the _Principia_ and a copy of
the _Optics_, presented by Newton himself. After the schism of 1715/6
the collection was moved to New Haven, at the time of Johnson's election
to a tutorship. It was then, writes Johnson, that the trustees
"introduced the study of Mr. Locke and Sir Isaac Newton as fast as they
could and in order to this the study of mathematics. The Ptolemaic
system was hitherto as much believed as the Scriptures, but they soon
cleared up and established the Copernican by the help of Whiston's
Lectures, Derham, etc."[i-40] Johnson studied Euclid, algebra, and conic
sections "so as to read Sir Isaac with understanding." He gloomily
reviews the "infidelity and apostasy" resulting from the study of the
ideas of Locke, Tindal, Bolingbroke, Mandeville, Shaftesbury, and
Collins. That Newtonianism and even deism made progress at Yale is the
tenor of Johnson's backward glance. About 1716 Samuel Clarke's edition
of Rohault was introduced at Yale: Clarke's Rohault[i-41] was an attack
upon this standard summary of Cartesianism. Ezra Stiles was not certain
that Clarke was honest in heaping up notes "not so much to illustrate
Rohault as to make him the Vehicle of conveying the peculiarities of the
sublimer Newtonian Philosophy."[i-42] This work was used until 1743 when
'sGravesande's _Natural Philosophy_ was wisely substituted. Rector
Thomas Clap used Wollaston's _Religion of Nature Delineated_ as a
favorite text. That there was no dearth of advanced natural science and
philosophy, even suggestive of deism, is fairly evident.
Measured by the growth of interest in science in the English
universities, Harvard's awareness of new discoveries was not especially
backward in the seventeenth century. Since Copernicanism at the close of
the sixteenth century had few adherents,[i-43] it is almost startling to
learn that probably by 1659 the Copernican system was openly avowed at
Harvard.[i-44] In 1786 Nathaniel Mather wrote from Dublin: "I perceive
the Cartesian philosophy begins to obteyn in New England, and if I
conjecture aright the Copernican system too."[i-45] John Barnard, who
was graduated from Harvard in 1710, has written that no algebra was then
taught, and wistfully suggests that he had been born too soon, since
"now" students "have the great Sir Isaac Newton and Dr. Halley and some
other mathematicians for their guides."[i-46] Although Thomas Robie and
Nathan Prince are thought to have known Newton's physics through
secondary sources,[i-47] and, as Harvard tutors, indoctrinated their
charges with Newtonianism, it was left to Isaac Greenwood[i-48] to
transplant from London the popular expositions of Newtonian philosophy.
A Harvard graduate in 1721, Greenwood continued his theological studies
in London where he attended Desaguliers's lectures on experimental
philosophy, based essentially on Newtonianism. From Desaguliers
Greenwood learned how
By Newton's help, 'tis evidently seen
Attraction governs all the World's machine.[i-49]
He learned that Scripture is "to teach us Morality, and our Articles of
Faith" but not to serve as an instructor in natural philosophy.[i-50] In
fine, Greenwood became devoted to science, and science as it might serve
to augment avenues to the religious experience. In London he had come to
know Hollis, who in 1727 suggested to Harvard authorities that Greenwood
be elected Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural and Experimental
Philosophy.[i-51] Greenwood accepted, and until 1737 was at Harvard a
propagandist of the new science. In 1727 he advertised in the _Boston
News-Letter_[i-52] that he would give scientific lectures, revolving
primarily around "the Discoveries of the incomparable Sir Isaac Newton."
From 1727 through 1734 he was a prominent popularizer of Newtonianism in
Boston.[i-53]
It remained for Greenwood's pupil John Winthrop to be the first to teach
Newton at Harvard with adequate mechanical and textual materials.
Elected in 1738 to the Hollis professorship formerly held by Greenwood,
Winthrop adopted 'sGravesande's _Natural Philosophy_, at which time,
Cajori observes, "the teachings of Newton had at last secured a firm
footing there."[i-54] The year after his election he secured a copy of
the _Principia_ (the third edition, 1726, edited by Dr. Henry Pemberton,
friend of Franklin in 1725-1726). According to the astute Ezra Stiles,
Winthrop became a "perfect master of Newton's Principia--which cannot be
said of many Professors of Philosophy in Europe."[i-55] That he did not
allow Newtonianism to draw him to deism may be seen in Stiles's
gratification that Winthrop "was a Firm friend to Revelation in
opposition to Deism." Stiles "wish[es] the evangelical Doctors of Grace
had made a greater figure in his Ideal System of divinity," thus
inferring that Winthrop was a rationalist in theology, however
orthodox.[i-56]
A cursory view of the eighteenth-century pulpit discloses that if the
clergy did not become deistic they were not blind to a natural religion,
and often employed its arguments to augment scriptural authority. Aware
of the writings of Samuel Clarke, Wollaston, Whiston, Cudworth, Butler,
Hutcheson,[i-57] Voltaire, and Locke, Mayhew revolts against total
depravity[i-58] and the doctrines of election and the Trinity, arraigns
himself against authoritarianism and obscurantism, and though he draws
upon reason for revelation of God's will, he does not seem to have been
latitudinarian in respect to the holy oracles. Although he often wrote
ambiguously concerning the nature of Christ, he asserted: "That I ever
denied, or treated in a bold or ludicrous manner, the divinity of the
Son of God, as revealed in scripture, I absolutely deny."[i-59] He is
antagonistic toward the mystical in Calvinism, convinced that "The love
of God is a calm and rational thing, the result of thought and
consideration."[i-60] His biographer thinks that Mayhew was "the first
clergyman in New England who expressly and openly opposed the scholastic
doctrine of the trinity."[i-61] Coupling "natural and revealed
religion," he does not threaten but he urges that one "ought not to
leave the clear light of revelation.... It becomes us to adhere to the
holy Scriptures as our only rule of faith and practice, discipline and
worship."[i-62] In Mayhew one finds an impotent compromise between
Calvinism and the demands of reason, fostered by the Enlightenment. Like
Mayhew's, in the main, are the views of Dr. Charles Chauncy, who
reconciled the demands of reason and revelation, concluding that "the
voice of reason is the voice of God."[i-63] Jason Haven and Jonas Clarke
are typical of the orthodox rationalists who were alive to the
implications of science, and to such rationalists as Tillotson and
Locke. Haven affirms that "by the light of reason and nature, we are led
to believe in, and adore God, not only as the maker, but also as the
governor of all things."[i-64] "Revelation comes in to the assistance of
reason, and shews them to us in a clearer light than we could see them
without its aid." Clarke observes that "the light of nature teaches,
which revelation confirms."[i-65] Rev. Henry Cumings, illustrating his
indebtedness to scientific rationalism, honors "the gracious Parent of
the universe, whose tender mercies are over all his works ...,"[i-66] a
Deity "whose providence governs the world; whose voice all nature obeys;
to whose controul all second causes and subordinate agents are subject;
and whose sole prerogative it is to dispense blessings or calamities, as
to his wisdom seems best."[i-67] Simeon Howard discovers the
"perfections of the Deity, as displayed in the Creation" as well as in
the "government and redemption of the world."[i-68] Both Phillips
Payson[i-69] and Andrew Eliot[i-70] affirm the identity of "the voice of
reason, and the voice of God."
No clergyman of the eighteenth century was more terribly conscious of
the polarity of colonial thought than was Ezra Stiles. Abiel Holmes has
told the graphic story of Stiles's struggles with deism after reading
Pope, Whiston, Boyle, Trenchard and Gordon, Butler, Tindal, Collins,
Bolingbroke, and Shaftesbury.[i-71] If he finally, as a result of his
trembling and fearful doubt, reaffirmed zealously his faith in the
bibliolatry and relentless dogma of Calvinism,[i-72] Newtonian
rationalism was a means to his recovery, and throughout his life a
complement to his Calvinism.[i-73] Turning from his well-worn Bible, the
chief source of his faith, he also kindled his "devotion at the stars."
It should be remembered, however, that this tendency among Puritan
clergy to call science to the support of theology had been inaugurated
by Cotton Mather as early as 1693,[i-74] and that it was the Puritan
Mather whom Franklin acknowledged as having started him on his career
and influenced him, by his _Essays to do Good_, throughout life.
Only against this complex and as yet inadequately integrated background
of physical conditions and ideas (the dogmas of Puritanism, Quakerism,
Methodism, rationalism, scientific deism, economic and political
liberalism[i-75]--against a cosmic, social, and individual attitude, the
result of Old-World thought impinging on colonial thought and
environment) can one attempt to appraise adequately the mind and
achievements of Franklin, whose life was coterminous with the decay of
Puritan theocracy and the rise of rationalism, democracy, and science.
II. FRANKLIN'S THEORIES OF EDUCATION
Franklin's penchant for projects manifests itself nowhere more fully
than in his schemes of education, both self and formal. One may deduce a
pattern of educational principles not undeservedly called Franklin's
_theories_ of education, theories which he successfully
institutionalized, from an examination of his Junto ("the best school of
philosophy, morality, and politics that then existed in the
province"[i-76]), his Philadelphia Library Company (his "first project
of a public nature"[i-77]), his _Proposal for Promoting Useful
Knowledge among the British Plantations in America_, calling for a
scientific society of ingenious men or virtuosi, his _Proposals Relating
to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania_ and _Idea of the English
School_, which eventually fathered the University of Pennsylvania, and
from his fragmentary notes in his correspondence.
Variously apotheosized, patronized, or damned for his practicality,
expediency, and opportunism, dramatized for his allegiance to
materiality, Franklin has commonly been viewed (and not only through the
popular imagination) as one fostering in the American mind an
unimaginative, utilitarian prudence, motivated by the pedestrian virtues
of industry, frugality, and thrift. Whatever the educational effect of
Franklin's life and writings on American readers, we shall find that his
works contain schemes and theories which _transcend_ the more mundane
habits and utilitarian biases ascribed to him.
Franklin progressively felt "the loss of the learned education" his
father had planned for him, as he realized in his hunger for knowledge
that he must repair the loss through assiduous reading, accomplished
during hours stolen from recreation and sleep.[i-78] Proudly he
confessed that reading was his "only amusement."[i-79] In 1727 he formed
the Junto, or Leather Apron Club, his first educational project.
Franklin was never more eclectic than when founding the Junto. To
prevent Boston homes from becoming "the porches of hell,"[i-80] Cotton
Mather had created mutual improvement societies through which neighbors
would help one another "with a rapturous assiduity."[i-81] Mather in his
_Essays to do Good_ proposed:
That a proper number of persons in a neighborhood, whose
hearts God hath touched with a zeal to do good, should form
themselves into a society, to meet when and where they shall
agree, and to consider--"what are the disorders that we may
observe rising among us; and what may be done, either by
ourselves immediately, or by others through our advice, to
suppress those disorders?"[i-82]
Since Franklin's father was a member of one of Mather's "Associated
Families" and since Franklin as a boy read Mather's _Essays_ with rapt
attention,[i-83] and since his _Rules for a Club Established for Mutual
Improvement_ are amazingly congruent with Mather's rules proposed for
his neighborly societies, it is not improbable that Franklin in part
copied the plans of this older club. One also wonders whether Franklin
remembered Defoe's suggestions in _Essays upon Several Projects_ (1697)
for the formation of "Friendly Societies" in which members covenanted to
aid one another.[i-84] In addition, M. Faÿ has observed that the "ideal
which this society [the Junto] adopted was the same that Franklin had
discovered in the Masonic lodges of England."[i-85] Then, too, in London
during the period of Desaguliers, Sir Hans Sloane, and Sir Isaac Newton,
he would have heard much of the ideals and utility of the Royal Society.
Many of the questions discussed by the Junto are suggestive of the
calendar of the Royal Society:
Is sound an entity or body?
How may the phenomena of vapors be explained?
What is the reason that the tides rise higher in the Bay of
Fundy, than the Bay of Delaware?
How may smoky chimneys be best cured?
Why does the flame of a candle tend upwards in a spire?[i-86]
The Junto members, like Renaissance gentlemen, were determined to
convince themselves that nothing valuable to the several powers of life
should be alien to them. They were urged to communicate to one another
anything significant "in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels,
mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge."[i-87] Surely a humanistic
catholicity of interest! Schemes for getting on materially, suggestions
for improving the laws and protecting the "just liberties of the
people,"[i-88] efforts to aid the strangers in Philadelphia (an
embryonic association of commerce), curiosity in the latest remedies
used for the sick and wounded: all were to engage the minds of this
assiduously curious club. Above all, the members must be "serviceable to
_mankind_, to their country, to their friends, or to themselves."[i-89]
The intensity of the Junto's utilitarian purpose was matched only by its
humanitarian bias. Members must swear that they "love mankind in
general, of what profession or religion soever,"[i-90] and that they
believe no man should be persecuted "for mere speculative opinions, or
his external way of worship." Also they must profess to "love truth for
truth's sake," to search diligently for it and to communicate it to
others. Tolerance, the empirical method, scientific disinterestedness,
and humanitarianism had hardly gained a foothold in the colonies in
1728. On the other hand, the Junto members were urged, when throwing a
kiss to the world, not to neglect their individual ethical
development.[i-91] Franklin's humanitarian neighborliness is associated
with a rigorous ethicism. The members were invited to report "unhappy
effects of intemperance," of "imprudence, of passion, or of any other
vice or folly," and also "happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of
moderation." Franklin reflects sturdily here, and boundlessly elsewhere,
the Greek and English emphasis on the Middle Way. If this is prudential,
it is an elevated prudence.
The Philadelphia Library Company was born of the Junto and became "the
mother of all the North American subscription libraries, now so
numerous."[i-92] The colonists, "having no publick amusements to divert
their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in
a few years were observ'd by strangers to be better instructed and more
intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other
countries."[i-93] It is curious that although many articles have been
written describing the Library Company no one seems to include a study
of the climate of ideas represented in its volumes.[i-94] One must be
careful not to credit Franklin with solely presiding over the ordering
of books. At a meeting in 1732 of the company, Thomas Godfrey, probable
inventor of the quadrant and he who learned Latin to read the
_Principia_, notified the body that "Mr. Logan had let him know he would
willingly give his advice of the choice of the books ... the Committee
esteeming Mr. Logan to be a Gentleman of universal learning, and the
best judge of books in these parts, ordered that Mr. Godfrey should wait
on him and request him to favour them with a catalogue of suitable
books."[i-95] The first order included: Puffendorf's _Introduction_ and
_Laws of Nature_, Hayes upon Fluxions, Keill's _Astronomical Lectures_,
Sidney on Government, Gordon and Trenchard's _Cato's Letters_, the
_Spectator_, _Guardian_, _Tatler_, L'Hospital's _Conic Sections_,
Addison's works, Xenophon's _Memorabilia_, Palladio, Evelyn, Abridgement
of Philosophical Transactions, 'sGravesande's _Natural Philosophy_,
Homer's _Odyssey_ and _Iliad_, Bayle's _Critical Dictionary_, and
Dryden's _Virgil_. As a gift Peter Collinson included Newton's
_Principia_ in the order. The ancient phalanxes were thoroughly routed!
Then there is the MS "List of Books of the Original Philadelphia Library
in Franklin's Handwriting"[i-96] which lends recruits to the modern
battalions. Included in this list are: Fontenelle on Oracles, Woodward's
_Natural History of Fossils_ and _Natural History of the Earth_, Keill's
_Examination of Burnet's Theory of the Earth_, _Memoirs of the Royal
Academy of Surgery at Paris_, William Petty's _Essays_, Voltaire's
_Elements of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy_, Halley's _Astronomical
Tables_, Hill's _Review of the Works of the Royal Society_,
Montesquieu's _Spirit of Laws_, Burlamaqui's _Principles of Natural Law_
and _Principles of Politic Law_, Bolingbroke's _Letters on the Study and
Use of History_, and Conyer Middleton's _Miscellaneous Works_. From the
volumes owned by the Library Company in 1757 it would have been possible
for an alert mind to discover all of the implications, philosophic and
religious, of the rationale of science. No less could be found here the
political speculations which were later to aid the colonists in unyoking
themselves from England. The Library was an arsenal capable of
supplying weapons to rationalistic minds intent on besieging the
fortress of Calvinism. Defenders of natural rights could find ammunition
to wound monarchism; here authors could discover the neoclassic ideals
of _curiosa felicitas_, perspicuity, order, and lucidity reinforced by
the emphasis on clarity and correctness sponsored by the Royal Society
and inherent in Newtonianism as well as Cartesianism. In short, the
volumes contained the ripest fruition of scientific and rationalistic
modernity. One can only conjecture the extent to which this library
would perplex, astonish, and finally convert men to rationalism and
scientific deism, and release them from bondage to throne and altar.
In 1743 Franklin wrote and distributed among his correspondents _A
Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in
America_. From a letter (Feb. 17, 1735/6) of William Douglass, one-time
friend of Franklin's brother James, to Cadwallader Colden, we learn that
some years before 1736, Colden "proposed the forming a sort of Virtuoso
Society or rather Correspondence."[i-97] I. W. Riley suggests that
Franklin owes Colden thanks for having stimulated him to form the
American Philosophical Society.[i-98] There remains no convincing
evidence, however, to disprove A. H. Smyth's observation that Franklin's
_Proposal_ "appears to contain the first suggestions, in any _public
form_ [editors' italics] for an American Philosophical Society." P. S.
Du Ponceau has noted with compelling evidence that the philosophical
society formed in 1744 was the direct descendant of Franklin's
Junto.[i-99] That in part the Philadelphia Library Company was one of
the factors in the formation of the scientific society may be inferred
from Franklin's request that it be founded in Philadelphia, which,
"having the advantages of a good growing library," can "be the centre of
the Society."[i-100] The most important factor, however, was obviously
the desire to imitate the forms and ideals of the Royal Society of
London. Both societies had as their purpose the improvement of "the
common stock of knowledge"; neither was to be provincial or national in
interests, but was to have in mind the "benefit of mankind in general."
A study of Franklin's _Proposal_ will suggest the purpose of the Royal
Society as interpreted by Thomas Sprat:
Their purpose is, in short, to make faithful Records, of all
the Works of Nature, or Art, which can come within their
reach: that so the present Age, and posterity, may be able to
put a mark on the Errors, which have been strengthened by
long prescription: to restore the Truths, that have lain
neglected: to push on those, which are already known, to more
various uses: and to make the way more passable, to what
remains unreveal'd.[i-101]
The Royal Society, no less than Franklin's _Proposal_, stressed the
usefulness of its experimentation. Even as it sought "to overcome the
mysteries of all the Works of Nature"[i-102] through experimentation and
induction, the Baconian empirical method, so Franklin urged the
cultivation of "all philosophical experiments that let light into the
nature of things, tend to increase the power of man over matter, and
multiply the conveniences or pleasures of life."[i-103] Though Franklin
may have stopped short of theoretical science,[i-104] he was not only
interested in making devices but also in discovering immutable natural
laws on which he could base his mechanics for making the world more
habitable, less unknown and terrifying. Interpreting natural phenomena
in terms of gravity and the laws of electrical attraction and repulsion
is to detract from the terror in a universe presided over by a
providential Deity, exerting his wrath through portentous comets,
"fire-balls flung by an angry God."
Franklin's program is no more miscellaneous, or seemingly pedestrian,
than the practices of the Royal Society. As a discoverer of nature's
laws and their application to man's use, Franklin, the Newton of
electricity, appealed to fact and experiment rather than authority and
suggested that education in science may serve, in addition to making the
world more comfortable, to make it more habitable and less terrifying.
The ideals of scientific research and disinterestedness were dramatized
picturesquely by the Tradesman Franklin, who aided the colonist in
becoming unafraid.
Although his _Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
Pensilvania_ (1749) furnished the initial suggestion which created the
Philadelphia Academy, later the college, and ultimately the University
of Pennsylvania, it is easy to overestimate the real significance of
Franklin's influence in these schemes unless we remember that political
quarrels separated him from those who were nurturing the school in the
1750's. In 1759 Franklin wrote from London to his friend, Professor
Kinnersley, concerning the cabal in the Academy against him: "The
Trustees have reap'd the full Advantage of my Head, Hands, Heart and
Purse, in getting through the first Difficulties of the Design, and when
they thought they could do without me, they laid me aside."[i-105]
After Franklin failed to secure Samuel Johnson,[i-106] Rev. William
Smith was made Provost and Professor of Natural Philosophy of the
Academy in 1754. He quoted Franklin as saying that the Academy had
become "a narrow, bigoted institution, put into the hands of the
Proprietary party as an engine of government."[i-107]
With Milton, Locke, Fordyce, Walker, Rollin, Turnbull, and "some
others" as his sources, Franklin adapted the works of these pioneers in
education to provincial uses. (One finds it difficult to discover any
original ideas in the _Proposals_.) Like Locke and Milton, he urged that
education "supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the
Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country."[i-108] Here he
was unlike President Clap, who in 1754 explained that "the Original End
and design of Colleges was to instruct and train up persons for the Work
of the ministry.... The great design of founding this school [Yale] was
to educate ministers in our own way."[i-109] As early as 1722, in
_Dogood Paper_ No. IV, Franklin caricatured sardonically the narrow
theological curriculum of Harvard College.[i-110] Existing for the
citizenry rather than the clergy, offering instruction in English as
well as Latin and Greek, in mechanics, physical culture, natural
history, gardening, mathematics, and arithmetic rather than in sectarian
theology, Franklin's Academy was to be more secular and utilitarian than
any other school in the provinces. Indeed, Rev. George Whitefield
lamented the want of "_aliquid Christi_" in the curriculum, "to make it
as useful as I would desire it might be."
Franklin stressed the need for the acquisition of a clear and concise
literary style. He observed: "Reading should also be taught, and
pronouncing, properly, distinctly, emphatically; not with an even Tone,
which _under-does_, nor a theatrical, which _over-does_ Nature." Hence
he reflected the virtues of neoclassic perspicuity and correctness.
(These plans he more fully expressed in his _Idea of the English
School_, published in 1751.) As he grew older he apparently became less
tolerant of the teaching of the ancient languages in colonial schools:
in _Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original Founders of
the Academy of Philadelphia_ (1789), he charged that the Latin school
had swallowed the English and that he was hence "surrounded by the
Ghosts of my dear departed Friends, beckoning and urging me to use the
only Tongue now left us, in demanding that Justice to our Grandchildren,
that our Children has [_sic_] been denied."[i-111] The Latin and Greek
languages he considered "in no other light than as the _Chapeau bras_ of
modern Literature."[i-112] Like Emerson's, his opposition was to
linguistic study rather than to the classical ideas.
Although he emphasized the study of science and mechanics, it is
important to observe that he kept his balance. He warned Miss Mary
Stevenson in 1760: "There is ... a prudent Moderation to be used in
Studies of this kind. The Knowledge of Nature may be ornamental, and it
may be useful; but if, to attain an Eminence in that, we neglect the
Knowledge and Practice of essential Duties, we deserve
Reprehension."[i-113] Not without reserve did he champion the Moderns;
remembering several provocative scientific observations in Pliny, he
wrote to William Brownrigg (Nov. 7, 1773): "It has been of late too much
the mode to slight the learning of the ancients."[i-114] He would not
agree with the enthusiastic and trenchant disciple of the moderns, M.
Fontenelle, that "We are under an obligation to the ancients for having
exhausted almost all the false theories that could be found."[i-115]
Although he would agree that the empirical method of acquiring knowledge
is more reasonable than authoritarianism reared on syllogistic
foundations, and with Cowley that
Bacon has broke that scar-crow Deity ["Authority"],[i-116]
he was not blithely confident that science and the knowledge gained from
experimentation would create a more rigorously moral race. He wrote to
Priestley in 1782: "I should rejoice much, if I could once more recover
the Leisure to search with you into the Works of Nature; I mean the
_inanimate_, not the _animate_ or moral part of them, the more I
discover'd of the former, the more I admir'd them; the more I know of
the latter, the more I am disgusted with them."[i-117] He often
suggested, "As Men grow more enlightened," but seldom did this clause
carry more than an intellectual connotation. Progress in
knowledge[i-118] did not on the whole suggest to Franklin progress in
morals or the general progress of mankind.
Essentially classical in morality, extolling a temperance like that of
Xenophon, Epictetus, Cicero, Socrates, and Aristotle, Franklin could not
cheerily champion the moderns without serious reservations. Considering
only progress in knowledge, man may be considered as _pedetentim
progredientes_, but, Franklin thought, man seemed to have found it
easier to conquer lightning than himself. If science and other
contemporaneous knowledge detracted from cosmic terror, it did not solve
the problem of the mystery of evil and sin: like Shakespeare, Franklin
was perplexed by the inexplicability and ruthlessness of Man's potential
and actual malevolence.[i-119] Thus in stressing utility and vocational
adaptiveness, Franklin did not forget to stress the need for development
of character, man's internal self, and here he did not find the ancients
dispensable.[i-120] If unlike Socrates in his studies of physical
nature, he was like the Athenian gadfly in his quest for moral
perfection in the teeth of "perpetual temptation," in his strenuous and
sober effort to know himself. Too little attention has been paid
Franklin's Hellenic sobriety--even as it has had too meagre an
influence. Let Molière challenge, "The ancients are the ancients, we are
the people of today"; Franklin, although confident that he could learn
more of physical nature from Newton than from Aristotle, was not
convinced that the wisdom of Epictetus or the Golden Verses of
Pythagoras were less salutary than the wit of his own age. A modern in
his confidence in the progress of knowledge, Franklin, approaching the
problem of morality, wisely saw the ancients and moderns as
complementary. Aware of the continuity of the mind and race, he was not
willing to dismiss the ancients as fit to be imitated. Yet he failed to
discover in the welter of egoistic men any continuous moral progress,
although, unlike the determinists, he thought that the individual could
improve himself through self-knowledge and self-control. Unlike
contemporary exponents of the "original genius" cult who scorned
industrious rational study and conformity, Franklin as an educational
theorist was the exponent of reason and of conscious intellectual
industry and thrift; he would mediate between the study of nature and of
man, and, like Aristotle, he would rely not so much upon individualistic
self-expression as upon a purposeful _imitation_ of those men in the
past who had led useful and happy lives.
III. FRANKLIN'S LITERARY THEORY AND PRACTICE[i-121]
Uniting the "wit of Voltaire with the simplicity of Rousseau," Franklin
achieved a style "only surpassed by the unimprovable Hobbes of
Malmesbury, the paragon of perspicuity." Characterized by simplicity,
order, and a trenchant pointedness, his prose style was "a principal
means" of his "advancement."[i-122]
He was "extreamly ambitious ... to be a tolerable English writer." In
the _Autobiography_ he recalls that he read books in "polemic divinity,"
Plutarch's _Lives_ (probably Dryden's translation), _Pilgrims Progress_,
Defoe's _Essays upon Several Projects_, Mather's _Essays to do Good_,
Xenophon's _Memorabilia_,[i-123] the _Spectator_ papers, and the
writings of Shaftesbury and Collins.
Born in Boston, he knew the Bible,[i-124] characterized by the apostle
of Augustan correctness, Jonathan Swift, as possessing "that simplicity,
which is one of the greatest perfections in any language." If Franklin
did not achieve its "sublime eloquence," he approximated at intervals
its directness and simplicity. In reading Defoe's _Essays_ he learned
that Queen Anne's England urged that writers be "as concise as possible"
and avoid all "superfluous crowding in of insignificant words, more than
are needful to express the thing intended." (It is possible that Defoe's
efforts "to polish and refine the English tongue," to avoid "all
irregular additions that ignorance and affectation have introduced,"
influenced Franklin in favor of "correctness" and against
provincialisms.) Defoe's "explicit, easy, free, and very plain" rhetoric
is Franklin's.
After Franklin's father warned him that his arguments were not
well-ordered and trenchantly expressed, he desperately sought to acquire
a convincing prose style. In 1717 James, Franklin's elder brother,
returned from serving a printer's apprenticeship in London. James had
known and been attracted to Augustan England, the England of the
_Tatler_, _Spectator_, and _Guardian_. Familiar is Franklin's narrative
of how he patterned his fledgling style on the pages of the _Spectator_
papers, and learned to satisfy his father--and himself. Like the
neoclassicists, Franklin learned to write by imitation, by respectfully
subordinating himself to those he recognized as masters, and not, like
the romanticists, by expressing his own ego in revolt against convention
and conformity to traditional standards. The group who supplied copy for
James's _New England Courant_, we are told, were trying to write like
the _Spectator_. "The very look of an ordinary first page of the
_Courant_ is like that of the _Spectator_ page."[i-125] In the _Dogood
Papers_ (1722) and the _Busy-Body_ series (1728) Franklin's writings
show a literal indebtedness to the style and even substance of the
_Spectator_.[i-126] If, after the _Busy-Body_ essays, Franklin's
writings bear little resemblance to the elegance and glow of the
_Spectator_, he did learn from it a long-remembered lesson in
orderliness. From the _Spectator_ he may have learned to temper wit with
morality and morality with wit; he may have learned the neoclassic
objection to the "unhappy Force of an Imagination, unguided by the Check
of Reason and Judgment";[i-127] he may have acquired his distrust of
foreign phrases when English ones were as good, or better, insisting on
the use of native English undefiled. It is interesting but perhaps
futile to conjecture to what degree Franklin at this time, on reading
_Spectator_ No. 160, "On Geniuses" (warning against a servile imitation
of ancient authors, a warning which anticipates the cult of original
geniuses of later decades), would have been predisposed against ancient
literature and languages. If the _Spectator_ was partially responsible
for his pleasantries at the expense of Greek in _Dogood Paper_ No. IV,
his attitude toward the ancients is more ostensibly the result of his
later preoccupation with the sciences,[i-128] and of contact with
representatives of the deistic time-spirit whose faith in progress led
them to underrate the past.
When Franklin went to live in London in 1724-1726, and became familiar
with such men of science as Dr. Henry Pemberton and others, he must have
become aware of ideals of prose style not a little unlike those
practised by the preachers of his Boston. In Boston he had heard (and in
the polemical works in his father's library, read) sermons couched in a
style satirized in _Hudibras_ as a "Babylonish dialect ... of patched
and piebald languages" (ll. 93 ff.). Sensing the disparity between the
seventeenth-century prose styles and the empirical, logical, and
orderly method of science, the Royal Society not long after its
inception inaugurated a campaign for a clarity akin to the pattern urged
by Hobbes: "The Light of humane minds is Perspicuous Words, _Reason_ is
the Pace, Encrease of _Science_ the _way_; and the benefit of man-kind
the _end_. And on the contrary, Metaphors, and senseless and ambiguous
words, are like _ignes fatui_; and reasoning upon them, is wandering
among innumerable absurdities."[i-129] Summarizing the intent of the
stylistic reformations instituted by the Royal Society, Thomas Sprat
urged writers "to reject all the amplifications, digressions, and
swellings of style: to return back to the primitive purity, and
shortness, when men deliver'd so many things, almost in an equal number
of words ... a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive
expressions; clear senses; a native easiness: bringing all things as
near the Mathematical plainness, as they can: and preferring the
language of Artizans, Countrymen, and Merchants, before that, of Wits,
or Scholars."[i-130] It is asserted that the program of the Royal
Society "called for stylistic reform as loudly as for reformation in
philosophy. Moreover, this attitude was in the public mind indissolubly
associated with the Society."[i-131] It is only reasonable to infer that
Franklin (as a member of the Royal Society and as founder of the
American Philosophical Society) was alive to the movement toward
"undefiled plainness" which had for half a century been gathering
momentum.[i-132]
Even as Cartesianism[i-133] in France is said to have fostered logic and
lucidity of detail, and that which is universally valid and recognized
by all men, and that art which is aloof to the non-human world, so in
England may Newtonianism (which overthrew Cartesianism) have conditioned
writers to develop a uniform style, purged of tenuous rhetorical
devices. An age characterized by a worship of reason, which was supposed
to be identical in all men, an age deferring to the general mind of man,
would be hostile to the rhetorical caprices of those expressing their
private, idiosyncratic enthusiasms. If the neoclassic apotheosis of
simplicity and freedom from intricacy was the result of a "rationalistic
anti-intellectualism,"[i-134] expressed in terms of hostility to
belabored proof of ideas known to the general will, then it would seem
that one of the factors sturdily conditioning this hostility was
Newtonian science. Admitting that _reason_ leads to uniformitarianism,
one may recall that the processes of science are discoverable by reason,
and that such a cosmologist as Newton illustrated mathematically and
empirically a system, grand in its lucidity, and capable of being
apprehended by all through reason. If the deistic fear of "enthusiasm"
in religion--the individual will prevailing against the _consensus
gentium_--parallels, according to Professor Lovejoy, the neoclassic fear
of feeling and the unrestrained play of imagination in art, then
Newtonian science, as it reinforced deism, was no negligible factor in
discrediting enthusiasm, and hence indirectly militating against
originality, emotion, and the unchecked imagination. Is it not
conceivable that the Newtonian[i-135] cosmology, popularized by a vast
discipleship, challenged the scientists and men of letters alike to
achieve a corresponding order, clarity, and simplicity in poetry and
prose?
After Franklin's return from London, he reinforced his Addison-like
style with the rhetorical implications of science and Newtonianism: in
his _Preface_ (1729) to the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ he observed that an
editor ought to possess a "great Easiness and Command of Writing and
Relating Things clearly and intelligibly, and in few Words."[i-136] Good
writing, in Franklin's opinion, "should proceed regularly from things
known to things unknown [surely the method of all inductive reasoning
and science] distinctly and clearly without confusion. The words used
should be the most expressive that the language affords, provided that
they are the most generally understood. Nothing should be expressed in
two words that can be as well expressed in one; that is, no synonyms
should be used, or very rarely, but the whole should be as short as
possible, consistent with clearness; the words should be so placed as to
be agreeable to the ear in reading; summarily it should be smooth,
clear, and short, for the contrary qualities are displeasing."[i-137]
Like the members of the Royal Society, Franklin would bring the words of
written discourse "as near as possible to the spoken."[i-138] In 1753 he
observed: "If my Hypothesis [concerning waterspouts] is not the Truth
itself it is [at] least as naked: For I have not with some of our
learned Moderns, disguis'd my Nonsense in Greek, cloth'd it in Algebra
or adorn'd it with Fluxions. You have it in puris naturalibus."[i-139]
He briefly summarized his rhetorical ideal, in a letter to Hume: "In
writings intended for persuasion and for general information, one
cannot be too clear; and every expression in the least obscure is a
fault."[i-140]
Unlike Jefferson, "no friend to what is called _purism_, but a zealous
one" to neology, Franklin had an inveterate antipathy toward the use of
colloquialisms, provincialisms, and extravagant innovations.[i-141] In
another letter to Hume, he hoped that "we shall always in America make
the best English of this Island [Britain] our standard."[i-142] If he
did not hold the typical eighteenth-century view that "English must be
subjected to a process of classical regularizing,"[i-143] neither did
he, with his friend Joseph Priestley, espouse the idea of correctness,
dependent only on usage. In general, he seems to have had a tendency
toward purism; it is not unlikely that as a youth he was influenced by
Swift's _Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the
English Tongue_.[i-144] Striving for correctness, and the avoidance of
"affected Words or high-flown Phrases"[i-145] he approximated the
_curiosa felicitas_ of the neoclassicists.[i-146]
A solid neoclassicist[i-147] in style. Franklin accepted the canon of
imitation as it was imperfectly understood in the eighteenth century. To
the extent, however, that the models were conceived of as approximating
the _consensus gentium_, fragments illustrating universal reason, there
may be little disparity between neoclassic imitation and Aristotle's use
of the term in the sense of imitating a higher ethical reality. His own
life, Franklin thought, (with the exception of a few "errata") was "fit
to be imitated."[i-148] A. H. Smyth notes, perhaps extravagantly,
"Nothing but the 'Autobiography' of Benvenuto Cellini, or the
'Confessions' of Rousseau, can enter into competition with it."[i-149]
This may suggest a clue to the durable nature of Franklin's life-tale.
Cellini, it is true, was tremendously alive to Benvenuto, even as Michel
de Montaigne was interested in his own whims, but neither Cellini, nor
Montaigne, nor Franklin, could have penned the _Confessions_, the thesis
of which is that if Rousseau is not better than other men at least he is
different. Cellini, Montaigne, and Franklin, on the other hand, while
allowing us to see their fancies and singular biases, tended to
emphasize those qualities which they held in common with their age,
nation, and even the continuity of mankind. Montaigne, it will be
remembered, sought to express _la connaissance de l'homme en général_.
With no aspirations to become an original genius, Franklin, both in his
prose style and his yearning for perfection, sought the guidance of
models, which he conceived as embodying universal reason. Had he been a
writer of epics[i-150] he would with Pope have acquired "from ancient
rules a just esteem"--when the rules were, in his mind, "according to
nature."
Likewise Franklin is representative of the Enlightenment in his
description of the province of the imagination. It is an axiom that "the
belief that the imagination ought to be kept in check by reason,
pervades the critical literature of the first half of the eighteenth
century."[i-151] Franklin observes that poetasters above all need
instruction on how to govern "Fancy [Imagination] with
Judgement."[i-152] He implies that imagination is a power lending an air
of unreality to a creation, often like "the Effect of some melancholy
Humour."[i-153] He feared that the unchecked fancy would vitiate his
ideals of simplicity and correctness, and a sober and practical
argument.
Posing as no original genius independent of the wisdom of the
ages,[i-154] confessing that "from a child" he "was fond of reading" and
that as a youth "reading was the only amusement" he allowed himself,
Franklin was not backward in cataloguing many of the authors who helped
to motivate his thought. He seems to have been acquainted with portions
of Plato, Aesop, Pliny, Xenophon, Herodotus, Epictetus, Vergil, Horace,
Tacitus, Seneca, Sallust, Cicero, Tully, Milton, Jeremy Taylor, Bacon,
Dryden, Tillotson, Rabelais,[i-155] Bunyan, Fénelon, Chevalier de
Ramsay,[i-156] Pythagoras, Waller, Defoe, Addison and Steele, William
Temple, Pope, Swift, Voltaire, Boyle, Algernon Sidney, Trenchard and
Gordon,[i-157] Young, Mandeville, Locke, Shaftesbury, Collins,
Bolingbroke, Richardson, Whiston, Watts, Thomson, Burke, Cowper, Darwin,
Rowe, Rapin, Herschel, Paley, Lord Kames, Adam Smith, Hume, Robertson,
Lavoisier, Buffon, Dupont de Nemours, Whitefield, Pemberton, Blackmore,
John Ray, Petty, Turgot, Priestley, Paine, Mirabeau, Quesnay, Raynal,
Morellet, and Condorcet, to suggest only the more prominent.[i-158] Such
a catalogue tends to discredit the all too common idea that the
untutored tradesman was torpid to the information and wisdom found in
books.
If his prose style shows none of the delicate rhythms and haunting
imagery of the prose born of the romantic movement, it is nevertheless
far from pedestrian. If it seems devoid of imaginative splendor, it is
not lacking in force and persuasion.[i-159] After one has noted
Franklin's canon of simplicity and order, his insistence on
correctness, his assumed role as _Censor Morum_, his acceptance of the
doctrine of imitation and the use of imagination guided by reason, one
returns to the question of the degree to which the ideals of rhetoric
fostered by the men of science may have helped to motivate Franklin's
prose style, and to what degree his acceptance of deism augmented by
Newtonianism may have furnished him with a rationale which lent sanction
to his demand for a simple style.
Sir Humphrey Davy found in Franklin's scientific papers a language lucid
and decorous, "almost as worthy of admiration as the doctrine"[i-160]
they contain. S. G. Fisher buoyantly maintained that Franklin's "is the
most effective literary style ever used by an American." After reading
Franklin's paper on stoves he was "inclined to lay down the principle
that the test of literary genius is the ability to be fascinating about
stoves."[i-161] Whether he writes soberly (albeit tempered by Gallic
fancy) of the mutability of life, as in _The Ephemera_, or of
sophisticated social amenities, as in the letters to Madame Brillon and
Madame Helvétius, or in his memoirs, in which solid fact follows solid
fact, sifted by the years of good fortune, Franklin's style never loses
its compelling charm and vigor. If he never wrote (or uttered) less than
was demanded by the nature of his subject, neither would he have
disgusted the Clerk of Oxenford who
Nought o word spak he more than was nede.
He was no formal literary critic such as Boileau, Lessing, or Coleridge,
and no acknowledged arbiter of taste, such as Dr. Johnson. Yet Franklin,
in voluminous practice, enjoying tremendous international vogue, proved
that his theories bore the acid test of effectiveness. Indirectly he
challenged his readers to honor principles of rhetoric which could so
trenchantly serve the demands of his catholic pen, and make him one of
the most widely read of all Americans.
IV. FRANKLIN AS PRINTER AND JOURNALIST
Franklin was a printer chiefly because of two proclivities which were
basic in his personality from childhood to old age--a bent toward
practical mechanics ("handiness") and a fondness for reading
(bookishness). Further, he was a journalist and publisher chiefly
because he was a printer.
A thorough printer is both an artisan and an artist; he has both the
manual dexterity of a good workman and the aesthetic appreciation of the
amateur of beauty. Franklin always took pride in his ability to handle
the printer's tools, from the time when, at the age of twelve, he became
"a useful hand"[i-162] in the print shop of his brother James, until the
very end of his life. One of the pleasantest anecdotes of the old
printer is that which tells of his visit to the famous Didot printing
establishment in Paris, when he stepped up to a press, and motioning the
printer aside, himself took possession of the machine and printed off
several sheets. Then the American ambassador smiled at the gaping
printers and said, "Do not be astonished, Sirs, it is my former
business."[i-163]
Even in his boyhood, it was a pleasure to Franklin "to see good workmen
handle their tools," and he tells in his autobiography how much this
feeling for tools meant to him throughout his life.[i-164] His flair for
invention, though founded on this same "handiness," was not always
directed toward the production of tools; but in the two fields of
"philosophical" experimentation and the printing trade, his dexterity
and cleverness in making needful instruments and devices were
invaluable.
Partly because of the fact that printers' supplies must be imported from
England, and partly because of his natural tool-mindedness, Franklin
manufactured more of his own supplies than any other American commercial
printer before or since. He cast type, made paper molds, mixed inks,
made contributions to press building, did engraving, forwarded
experiments in stereotyping, and worked at logotypy. Long after he had
retired from the printing business. Franklin continued to influence
developments in that field. It is a common saying among printers that
one never forgets the smell of printer's ink. Franklin kept touch with
his former business through various partnerships, through correspondence
with printer friends, through the establishment of a private press in
his home at Passy during his ambassadorship to France, and through his
personal supervision of the education of his grandson in "the art
preservative of arts." "I am too old to follow printing again myself,"
he wrote to a friend, "but, loving the business, I have brought up my
grandson Benjamin to it, and have built and furnished a printing-house
for him, which he now manages under my eye."[i-165]
As to just how adept Franklin was on the distinctively aesthetic side of
printing, critics must differ. It has been customary to assume that the
output of his shop was far superior to that of the several other
printing houses in the colonies.[i-166] Such broad generalizations are
misleading, however; and it is certainly possible to find Parks and
even Bradford imprints which compare favorably enough with some of
Franklin's. In typography, the phase of printing which affords the
widest aesthetic scope, Franklin was by no means a genius. William
Parks, of Annapolis and later of Williamsburg, was at least Franklin's
peer during the seventeen-thirties and 'forties in the artistic
arrangement of type; and William Goddard, who practiced the art a little
later in several of the colonies, was his superior. Yet Franklin was an
outstanding printer in a region blessed with few good presses. The
difference between him and most of the other colonial printers may be
stated thus: Franklin maintained a high average of workmanlike (though
not inspired) performance, while his contemporaries were inclined to be
slovenly, inaccurate, and generally careless.
In the later years of his life Franklin gave no little attention to fine
printing, though as a dilettante rather than as a commercial printer. In
France he was friendly with François Ambroise Didot, the greatest French
printer of his times, and put his grandson Benjamin Franklin Bache to
school in Didot's establishment. With Pierre Simon Fournier, who ranked
next to Didot among French printers, Franklin corresponded from time to
time. In England the American printer maintained touch with prominent
practitioners of his craft from the time of his first visit abroad until
his death. Samuel Palmer, Franklin's first London employer, was but a
mediocre printer; but John Watts, to whose house the young American went
after a year at Palmer's, stood much higher in his vocation.[i-167] Both
Watts and Palmer were patrons of William Caslon, from whom Franklin
later bought type. But John Baskerville, Caslon's rival, was the founder
whom Franklin did most to encourage and to bring to the attention of
discriminating printers. The English printer with whom Franklin was upon
the terms of greatest intimacy--and that for many years--was William
Strahan, member of Parliament, King's Printer, and a successful
publisher. Strahan was a man of parts, a great letter writer, and a
friend of David Hume and Samuel Johnson. The latter referred to the
Strahan shop as "the greatest printing house in London."[i-168] Another
correspondent was John Walter, logotyper, press builder, and founder of
the London _Times_.[i-169] In all his letters to his printer friends,
Franklin shows not only a lively interest in improvements and inventions
for the trade, but also an increasing interest in the artistic side of
printing and type-founding.
The "bookish inclination" which Franklin credits in the _Autobiography_
with being the quality that decided his father to make a printer of him,
appertained to the trade because printers were commonly publishers and
sellers of books and pamphlets, and often editors and publishers of
newspapers. How the young Franklin satisfied his literary urge in the
print shop of his brother James is a familiar story, and his theories of
writing are traced in another section of this Introduction. The
contribution to literature which he made as a publisher of original
books is negligible, but he did his part both as publisher and
bookseller to spread that bookishness to which he felt that he owed much
of his own success. Like all publishers before and since, he was forced
by his customers to issue books of a lower sort than he could fully
approve in order to float editions of more desirable works: he tells
plaintively of his public's preference for "Robin Hood's Songs" over the
Psalms of his beloved Watts.[i-170] In still another way, Franklin
promoted the bookishness of his community: he founded the first of
American circulating libraries, and he built up for himself one of the
largest private libraries in the country.[i-171]
Journalism was a common by-product of the printing trade. When Franklin
and Meredith took over Keimer's _The Universal Instructor in all Arts
and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ in 1729, there were six other
newspapers being published in the colonies--three in Boston and one each
in New York, Philadelphia, and Annapolis. The Williamsburg press had a
newspaper a few years later, but the other two printing towns in the
colonies had to wait some thirty years for journalistic ventures--a
newspaper in New London and a magazine in Woodbridge.[i-172]
The fundamental question to be asked in analyzing a newspaper may be
stated thus: What is the editorial conception of the primary function of
the press? Franklin had received his early newspaper training on his
brother's _New England Courant_, which frankly acknowledged
entertainment as its primary function and relegated news to a minor
place. Of his contemporaries in 1729, the oldest, the _Boston
News-Letter_, held the publication of news to be its sole function;
while the _Boston Gazette_, the _New York Gazette_, and the _Maryland
Gazette_ took much the same attitude. In the main, they were rather
dreary reprints of stale European news. Bradford's _American Weekly
Mercury_, in Philadelphia, gave somewhat more attention to local news;
but with the exception of the Franklin-Breintnal _Busy-Body_ papers,
contributed in 1728-1729 in order to bring Keimer to his knees, the
_Mercury_ gave very little attention to the entertainment function. Only
the _New England Weekly Journal_, carrying on something of the tradition
of the old _Courant_, dealt largely in entertainment as well as in news.
This bi-functional policy was the one adopted by Franklin's
_Pennsylvania Gazette_, which was always readable and amusing at the
same time that it was newsy.
Of the editorial or opinion-forming function of newspapers there was
little evidence in Franklin's paper,[i-173] at least in the field of
politics. The obvious reason was the active governmental censorship. It
remained for John Peter Zenger to introduce that function into colonial
journalism in the _New York Weekly Journal_ in 1733: his struggle for
the freedom of the press is well known.[i-174] But the _Pennsylvania
Gazette_ never became in any degree a political organ while Franklin
edited it; and his first political pronouncement was published not in
his paper but in a pamphlet, _Plain Truth_, issued just before his
retirement from editorial duties.
Two common misconceptions in regard to Franklin's newspaper call for
correction: (1) The _Pennsylvania Gazette_ was not connected as
forerunner or ancestor with the _Saturday Evening Post_. The _Gazette_,
a newspaper to the end, closed its file in 1815;[i-175] the _Post_, a
story paper, issued its Volume I, Number 1, in 1821. Throughout much of
the latter half of the nineteenth century, the _Post_ carried the legend
"Founded in 1821" on its front page; and not until after the Curtis
Publishing Company bought it in 1897 did it begin to print the words
"Founded A.D. 1728 by Benjamin Franklin" on its cover. The sole
connection of the _Post_ with Franklin lies in the fact that it was
first issued from an office at 53 Market Street which Franklin had once
occupied.[i-176] (2) Franklin did not publish a "chain" of newspapers. A
"chain" implies some kind of co-operative connection between the various
members, but the several papers which Franklin helped to finance had no
such relationship. In some he was a six-years partner,[i-177] keeping
his interest until the resident publisher, usually a former employee,
was established; to some he made loans or, in the case of relatives,
gifts.[i-178]
One of his journalistic ventures which is not mentioned in the
_Autobiography_ is the _General Magazine_, of 1741. It missed by three
days being the first of American magazines: Andrew Bradford had learned
of Franklin's project and, with his _American Magazine_, beat him in the
race for priority. But the _American Magazine_ was a failure in three
monthly numbers, while Franklin's periodical, though more readable, died
after its sixth issue.[i-179] As an initial episode in the history of
American magazines, the _General Magazine_ has a certain eminence; but
Franklin's neglect of it when writing his _Autobiography_, after the
events of nearly fifty busy years had apparently crowded it out of his
memory, is sufficient commentary on its unimportance.
To the end of his life Franklin was proud of his trade of printing, with
its handmaiden journalism. His last will and testament begins: "I,
Benjamin Franklin, Printer...." Though clearly not the chief interest of
his life, it was one to which he was fundamentally and consistently
attached.
V. FRANKLIN'S ECONOMIC VIEWS
An eighteenth-century colonial who wrote on paper money, interest,
value, and insurance, who discussed a theory of population and the
economic aspects of the abolition of slavery, who championed free trade,
and who probably lent Adam Smith some information used in his _Wealth of
Nations_, who was an empirical agriculturist, who was "half physiocratic
before the rise of the physiocratic school"--such a colonial has,
indeed, claims to being America's pioneer economist.
Franklin's hatred of negro slavery was conditioned by more than his
humanitarian bias. It may be seen that his indictments of black cargoes
were the resultant of an interplay of his convictions that economically
slavery was enervating and dear and of his abstract sense of religious
and ethical justice. One should not minimize, however, his distrust of
slavery on other than economic bases. He was acutely influenced by the
Quakers of his colony who, like gadflies, were stinging slaveholders to
an awareness of their blood traffic, and by the rise of English
humanitarianism. In his youth he had published (first edition, 1729;
second, 1730), with no little danger to himself and his business, Ralph
Sandiford's _A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times_, an
Amos-like vituperative attack on the "unrighteous Gain" of slaveholding.
He also published works of Benjamin Lay and John Woolman.[i-180] Friend
of Anthony Benezet, Benjamin Rush, Fothergill, and Granville Sharp, and
after 1760 a member of Dr. Bray's Associates, he lent his voice and pen
to denouncing slavery on religious and ethical grounds; and in England,
after the James Sommersett trial (1772), he "began to agitate for
parliamentary action" toward the abolishing of slavery in all parts of
the British Empire.[i-181] Following the Sommersett verdict, Franklin
contributed a brief article to the _London Chronicle_ (June 18-20, 1772)
in which he denounced the "constant butchery of the human species by
this pestilential detestable traffic in the bodies and souls of
men."[i-182] Losing his temperamental urbanity when observing "the
diabolical Commerce,"[i-183] "the abominable African Trade," he
recollects approvingly that a certain French moralist[i-184] could "not
look on a piece of sugar without conceiving it stained with spots of
human blood!"[i-185] Conditioned by Quakerism, by his deism, which
suggested that "the most acceptable Service we render him [God] is doing
good to his other Children," and by the eighteenth century's growing
repugnance toward suffering and pain,[i-186] Franklin (although he took
little part in legislating against slavery in Pennsylvania) became
through his writing a model to be imitated, especially in France, by a
people more intent on becoming humane than saintly.
His letter to Anthony Benezet (London, July 14, 1773), however, clearly
indicates that for economic, as well as humanitarian reasons, he had
sought freedom for slaves:
I am glad to hear that such humane Sentiments prevail so much
more generally than heretofore, that there is Reason to hope
our Colonies may in time get clear of a Practice that
disgraces them, and, without producing any equivalent
Benefit, is dangerous to their very Existence.[i-187]
Franklin's view of the economic disabilities of slavery is best
expressed in _Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling
of Countries, Etc._ (1751). Arguing against British restraint of
colonial manufactures, he observed that "'tis an ill-grounded Opinion
that by the Labour of slaves, _America_ may possibly vie in Cheapness of
Manufactures with _Britain_. The Labour of Slaves can never be so cheap
here as the Labour of working Men is in _Britain_."[i-188] With
arithmetic based on empirical scrutiny of existing conditions,
resembling the mode of economists following Adam Smith, he charged that
slaves are economically unprofitable due to the rate of interest in the
colonies, their initial price, their insurance and maintenance, their
negligence and malevolence.[i-189] In addition, "Slaves ... pejorate the
Families that use them; the white Children become proud, disgusted with
Labour, and being educated in Idleness, are rendered unfit to get a
Living by Industry."[i-190] Slaves are hardly economical investments in
terms of colonial character. Looking to the "_English_ Sugar _Islands_"
where Negroes "have greatly diminish'd the Whites," and deprived the
poor of employment, "while a few Families acquire vast Estates," he
realized that "population was limited by means of subsistence,"[i-191]
which foreshadowed the more pessimistic progressions of Malthus. Having
just maintained that "our People must at least be doubled every 20
Years,"[i-192] and intuitively suspecting that the means for subsistence
progress more slowly, he exclaimed, "Why increase the Sons of _Africa_,
by planting them in _America_, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by
excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and
Red?"[i-193] He saw mere economic extravagance as the short-time effect
of slavery; he feared that the long-time effect would be to create an
aristocracy subsisting at the head of a vast brood of slaves and poor
whites.[i-194]
It was inevitable in a state having no staple crop, such as rice, sugar,
tobacco, or cotton, which offered at least economic justification for
negro slavery, that abolition of slaves should be urged partially on
purely economic grounds, and that Pennsylvania should have been the
first colony to legislate in favor of abolition, in 1780. Although one
may feel that economic determinism is overly simple and audacious in its
doctrinaire interpretations, one can not refuse to see the extent to
which economics tended to buttress humane and religious factors in
Franklin's mind to make him a persuasive champion of abolition.[i-195]
_A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper
Currency_[i-196] has been appraised as "by far the ablest and most
original treatise that had been written on the subject up to 1728 and
was probably the most widely read work on paper currency that appeared
in colonial America."[i-197] That Franklin's interest in paper money was
not unique, one may gather from the fact that between 1714 and 1721
"nearly thirty pamphlets appeared" on this subject in Massachusetts
alone.[i-198] One of the 1728 theses at Harvard, answered in the
affirmative, was: "Does the issue of paper money contribute to the
public good?"[i-199] "Since there was a scarcity of circulating medium,
caused by the constant drain of specie for export," explains Mr. D. R.
Dewey, "it is not strange that projects for converting credit into
wealth should have sprung up in the colonies."[i-200] Franklin argued in
his _Modest Enquiry_[i-201] that (1) "A plentiful Currency will occasion
Interest to be low," (2) it "will occasion the Trading Produce to bear a
good Price," (3) it "will encourage great Numbers of labouring and
Handicrafts Men to come and settle in the Country," and (4) it "will
occasion a less consumption of European Goods, in proportion to the
Number of the People." Thus he saw paper money as a "Morrison's Pill,"
promising to cure all economic ills.[i-202] It has been suggested that
as a printer Franklin naturally would favor issues of paper money. In
view of his later apostasy one should note that in this essay Franklin
apparently accepted the current mercantilist notions, best expressed
here in his conviction that paper money will secure a favorable balance
of trade. Demands for emissions of paper money were inevitable in a
colony in the grip of such a restrictive commercial policy as British
mercantilism. It must be observed, however, that Franklin differed from
the proper mercantilists to the extent that simple valuable metals were
not to be measures of value. Deriving his idea from Sir William Petty,
Franklin took labor as the true measure of value,[i-203]--a position
later held by Karl Marx. In his preoccupation with the growth of
manufactures and favorable balances of trade, Franklin gave no
suggestions that at least by 1767 he was to become an exponent of
agrarianism and free trade. One wonders to what extent his warnings
against the purchase of "unnecessary Householdstuff, or any superfluous
thing," his inveterate emphasis on industry and frugality, were
conditioned by his view that such indulgence would essentially cause a
preponderance of imports, hence casting against them an unfavorable
trade balance.[i-204]
In 1751 Parliament passed an act regulating in the New England colonies
the issue of paper money and preventing them "from adding a legal tender
clause thereto"; in 1764 Parliament forbade issue of legal tender money
in any of the colonies. As a member of the Pennsylvania assembly,
Franklin had successfully sponsored issues of paper money; in London,
following the 1764 act, he urged that one of the causes breeding
disrespect for Parliament was "the prohibition of making paper money
among [us]."[i-205] Economics blends into politics when we remember that
the 1764 restraining legislation was "one of the factors in the
subsequent separation, for it caused some of the suffering that
inevitably follows in the wake of an unsound monetary policy whose
onward course is suddenly checked."[i-206] In 1766 Franklin was yet an
ardent imperialist, who sought politically and economically to keep
whole "that fine and noble China Vase, the British Empire." His _Remarks
and Facts Concerning American Paper Money_ (1767), in answer to Lord
Hillsborough's Board of Trade report circulated among British merchants,
is an ardent plea for legal tender paper money. He argued that British
merchants (since yearly trade balances had regularly been in their
favor) had not been deprived of gold and silver, that paper money _had
worked_ in the Colonies,[i-207] and that British merchants had lost no
more in their colonial dealings than was inevitable in war times.
Franklin concluded that since there were no mines in the colonies, paper
money was a necessity (arguing here very shrewdly that even English
silver "is obliged to the legal Tender for Part of its Value"). Hence,
at least for colonies deserving it, the mother country should take off
the restraint on legal tender. What Franklin seems not to have known and
what the merchants had actually felt (they had their accounts staring at
them) was that in the past, especially after 1750, much of the legal
tender was in effect nothing but inconvertible fiat money. Mr. Carey
quotes from an uncollected item, Franklin's "The Legal Tender of Paper
Money in America," in which he threatened that "if the colonies were not
allowed to issue legal-tender notes there was no way in which they could
retain hard money except by boycotting English goods."[i-208] Franklin
suggested (to S. Cooper, April 22, 1779) that depreciation may not be
unmixed evil, since it may be viewed as a tax: "It should always be
remembered, that the original Intention was to sink the Bills by Taxes,
which would as effectually extinguish the Debt as an actual
Redemption."[i-209] Not a little Machiavellian for one who was not blind
to the sanctity of contracts!
With the Revolution and the attendant depreciation in currency, Franklin
tended to warn against over-issues.[i-210] Like Governor Hutchinson, who
said that "the morals of the people depreciate with the currency,"
Franklin confessed in 1783 "the many Mischiefs, the injustices, the
Corruption of Manners, &c., &c., that attended a depreciating
Currency."[i-211] There is no evidence to show that Franklin dissented
from the conservative prohibition in the Constitutional Convention of
1787 against issues of legal tender paper.[i-212]
Deborah Logan (in a letter in 1829) stated that Franklin "once told Dr.
Logan that the celebrated Adam Smith, when writing his 'Wealth of
Nations,' was in the habit of bringing chapter after chapter as he
composed it, to himself, Dr. Price and others of the literati; then
patiently hear [_sic_] their observations, and profit by their
discussion and criticism--even sometimes submitting to write whole
chapters anew, and even to reverse some of his propositions."[i-213]
James Parton observed that the allusions to the colonies which
"constitute the experimental evidence of the essential truth of the
book" were supplied by Franklin.[i-214] But Rae reasonably counters: "It
ought of course to be borne in mind that Smith had been in the constant
habit of hearing much about the American Colonies and their affairs
during his thirteen years in Glasgow from the intelligent merchants and
returned planters of that city."[i-215]
In general, we may conclude that Franklin and Smith were exponents of
free trade in proportion as they were reactionaries against British
mercantilism. Each in his reaction tended to elevate the function of
agriculture beyond reasonable limits. Unlike the physiocrats and
Franklin, however, Adam Smith did not hold that, in terms of
wealth-producing, manufacturers were sterile. Even if Franklin saw only
agriculture as _productive_, he was not blind to the utility of
manufactures, especially after the break with the mother country, when
he realized that home industry must be developed to supply the colonial
needs formerly satisfied by British exports.[i-216]
Finally, each was, in varying degrees, an exponent of laissez
faire.[i-217] Since we shall discover that politically Franklin was less
a democrat than is often supposed, we may feel that his belief in free
trade led him to embrace reservedly the principle of laissez faire,
rather than that free trade, an economic concept, was but a fragment of
a larger dogma, namely, that government should be characterized by its
passivity, frugality, and maximum negligence. V. L. Parrington
quotes[i-218] from George Whately's _Principles of Trade_, which
contained views congenial to Franklin:
When Colbert assembled some wise old merchants of France, and
desired their advice and opinion, how he could best serve and
promote commerce, their answer, after consultation, was, in
three words only, _Laissez-nous faire_: "Let us alone." It is
said by a very solid writer of the same nation, that he is
well advanced in the science of politics, who knows the full
force of that maxim. _Pas trop gouverner_: "Not to govern too
much!" _which, perhaps, would be of more use when applied to
trade, than in any other public concern_. (Present editors'
italics.)
Laissez faire in Franklin's as in Whately's view tended to be synonymous
with free trade. Laissez faire was suggested by his insistence on free
trade, as he progressively expressed his antipathy for mercantilism,
rather than that free trade was simply a natural deduction from a more
inclusive economic-political dogma.
Writing to the pro-colonial Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, whose
"sweet Retirement" at Twyford he had long enjoyed, Franklin, seeing no
hopes of a reconciliation between the colonies and Great Britain,
uttered what marked him as the first American disciple of Quesnay's
school of economic thought: "Agriculture is the great Source of Wealth
and Plenty. By cutting off our Trade you have thrown us _to the Earth_,
whence like _Antaeus_ we shall rise yearly with fresh Strength and
Vigour."[i-219] Upon learning of the colonists' "Resolutions of
Non-Importation" he wrote to "Cousin" Folger that they must promote
their own industries, especially those of the "Earth and their Sea, the
true Sources of Wealth and Plenty."[i-220] Learning that the colonists
had threatened to boycott English manufacturers by creating their own
basic industries, Franklin demurred in a letter to Cadwallader Evans:
"Agriculture is truly _productive of new wealth_; manufacturers only
change forms, and whatever value they give to the materials they work
upon, they in the mean time consume an equal value in provisions, &c. So
that riches are not _increased_ by manufacturing; the only advantage is,
that provisions in the shape of manufactures are more easily carried for
sale to foreign markets."[i-221] _Positions to be Examined, Concerning
National Wealth_[i-222] affords a succinct statement of Franklin's
agrarianism. "There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire
wealth. The first is by _war_, as the Romans did, in plundering their
conquered neighbours. This is _robbery_. The second by _commerce_, which
is generally _cheating_. The third by _agriculture_, the only _honest
way_, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the
ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in
his favour, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous
industry."[i-223] Dupont de Nemours, as early as 1769, had written: "Who
does not know that the English have today their Benjamin Franklin, who
has adopted the principles and the doctrines of our French
economists?"[i-224] Before attempting to appraise the real indebtedness
of Franklin to the physiocrats, it is well to seek to learn how he came
in contact with their ideas, and especially why by the year 1767 he was
acutely susceptible to their doctrine. In the summer of 1767, in the
company of Sir John Pringle, Franklin went to Paris, not an unknown
figure to the French savants, who were acquainted with his scientific
papers already translated into French by D'Alibard. That he was feted by
the Newtons of the physiocrats, François Quesnay and the elder Mirabeau,
as "le Savant, le Geomètre, le Physicien, l'homme à qui la nature permet
de dévoiler ses secrets,"[i-225] we are assured, when to De Nemours
(July 28, 1768) he writes regretfully: "Be so good as to present my
sincere respect to that venerable apostle, Dr. Quesnay, and to the
illustrious Ami des Hommes (of whose civilities to me at Paris I retain
a grateful remembrance)...."[i-226] Having missed Franklin in Paris
(1767), De Nemours had sent Franklin "un recueil des principaux traités
économiques du Docteur Quesnay" and his own _Physiocratie_ (1768), which
cast him in the role "of a propagandist of Physiocratie
doctrines."[i-227] Franklin admitted, "I am perfectly charmed with them,
and wish I could have stayed in France for some time, to have studied
in your school, that I might by conversing with its founders have made
myself quite a master of that philosophy."[i-228] That Franklin was not
before 1767 unacquainted with the Économistes we learn when he tells
Dupont de Nemours that Dr. Templeman had shown him the De
Nemours-Templeman correspondence when the latter was Secretary of the
London Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and
Commerce. A second trip to Paris (in 1769) to confer with Barbeu
Dubourg, an avowed physiocrat, concerning his forthcoming translation of
Franklin's works, served to acquaint him still further with the
doctrines of the new school.
Franklin's agrarianism[i-229] is congruent with physiocracy[i-230] in as
far as he observed that agriculture alone, of the many industries,
produced a surplus of wealth after all of the expenses of production had
been paid.[i-231] Each laborer produced more than enough to satisfy his
own needs. This surplus the Économistes termed the _produit net_. A
worker in manufactures, it was assumed, consumed foodstuffs and other
materials in proportion to the value he created in his manufacturing
process. Hence there obviously could be no _produit net_ accruing from
manufactures. Like the physiocrats, Franklin felt that manufactures were
_sterile_, to the extent that no new wealth was created. The physiocrats
believed, however, that laborers in manufacturing industries _could_
create a _produit net_ if they stinted themselves in consuming
foodstuffs, et cetera, but it was argued that this prudential asceticism
was not a characteristic habit. To this extent at least the physiocrats
were empirical.
Free trade no less than agrarianism characterized physiocracy. Although
Franklin indicated his antagonism toward governmental restraint of
trade, internal and among nations, in his antipathy toward British
mercantilism, it was not until after he became impregnated with French
doctrine that he began to express very fully his advocacy of free trade.
After Connecticut imposed a 5% duty on goods imported from neighboring
colonies, Franklin wrote to Jared Eliot in 1747 that it was likely that
the duty would devolve on the consumer and be "only another mode of
Taxing" the purchaser. In addition he recognized that smuggling,
virtually a colonial art, would cause the "fair Trader" to "be undersold
and ruined."[i-232] He urged that the import duty might suggest
selfishness, and might also tend to deter Connecticut commerce. Here, it
must be admitted, Franklin did not sanction free trade with a priori
appeals to the "natural order," the key in the arch of physiocracy. He
rather appealed to the instincts and observations of the prudential
tradesman. His _Plan for Regulating Indian Affairs_ (1766), unlike his
1747 letters, _suggested_ (if it did not express concretely) inviolable
laws of commerce in the words: "It seems contrary to the Nature of
Commerce, for Government to interfere in the Prices of Commodities....
It therefore seems to me, that Trade will best find and make its own
Rates; and that Government cannot well interfere, unless it would take
the whole Trade into its own hands ... and manage it by its own Servants
at its own Risque."[i-233] To Dupont de Nemours he admitted that British
mercantilism had not achieved "that wisdom which sees the welfare of the
parts in the prosperity of the whole."[i-234] To Sir Edward Newenham,
representing the County of Dublin, he expressed admiration for Irish
efforts to secure freedom of commerce, "which is the right of all
mankind." "To enjoy all the advantages of the climate, soil, and
situation in which God and nature have placed us, is as clear a right as
that of breathing; and can never be justly taken from men but as a
punishment for some atrocious crime."[i-235] Three years before he met
Quesnay (though after he had read Dupont de Nemours's letters to
Templeman), Franklin sanctioned free trade through appeal to other than
utilitarian prudence: first he admitted that British restraint of
colonial commerce, for example with the West Indies, will tend to
prevent colonists from making remittances for British manufactured
goods, since "The Cat can yield but her skin." Then with a suggestion of
philosophic generalization he hoped that "In time perhaps Mankind may be
wise enough to let Trade take its own Course, find its own Channels, and
regulate its own Proportions, etc."[i-236] Restraint of manufactures
"deprive[s] us of the Advantage God & Nature seem to have intended
us.... So selfish is the human Mind! But 'tis well there is One above
that rules these Matters with a more equal Hand. He that is pleas'd to
feed the Ravens, will undoubtedly take care to prevent a Monopoly of the
Carrion."[i-237] Glorifying the husbandman and suggesting that trade
restrictions disturb a natural order, Franklin wrote to David Hartley in
1783 that Great Britain has tended to impede "the mutual communications
among men of the gifts of God, and rendering miserable multitudes of
merchants and their families, artisans, and cultivators of the earth,
the most peaceable and innocent part of the human species."[i-238]
That Franklin was not without his influence in eighteenth-century
economic thought we may gather from Dugald Stewart's opinion that "the
expressions _laissez-faire_ and, _pas trop gouverner_ are indebted
chiefly for their extensive circulation to the short and luminous
comments of Franklin, which had so extraordinary an influence on public
opinion in the old and new world."[i-239] Mr. Carey maintains that
Franklin, unlike the physiocrats, inveighed against trade regulations
because they led to smuggling rather than because to any important
degree they violated the "natural order." The physiocrats are tenuous,
amorphous, and ambiguous when they seek to define _L'Ordre naturel_. At
times Dupont de Nemours seems to identify it with a primitivistic
past.[i-240] Quesnay, on the other hand, says: "Natural right is
indeterminate in a state of nature. The right only appears when justice
and labour have been established."[i-241] Again, he asserts: "By
entering society and making conventions for their mutual advantage men
increase the scope of natural right without incurring any restriction of
their liberties, for this is just the state of things that enlightened
reason would have chosen."[i-242] Natural order is a "providential
order": "Its laws are irrevocable, pertaining as they do to the essence
of matter and the soul of humanity. They are just the expression of the
will of God."[i-243] According to the physiocrats, the laws of the
natural order are "unique, eternal, invariable, and universal."[i-244]
Now it is true that nowhere did Franklin assert that his advocacy of
laissez faire and agrarianism was neatly dependent on these a priori
bases. Even though this is true, there are references (quoted above)
which seem to suggest that trade restrictions are violations of the very
nature of things. It is not wholly fanciful (bearing in mind Franklin's
adoration of a Deity who is the creator and sustainer of immutable,
universal physical laws which together present the mind with the concept
of a vast, wonderfully harmonized physical machine) to conjecture to
what extent this matchless physical harmony tended to challenge him with
the possibility of discovering a parallel economic machine operating
according to immutable laws capable of proof and human adaptability.
O. H. Taylor has shown that "The evolution of the idea of 'laws' in
economics has closely paralleled its evolution in the natural
sciences."[i-245] In searching for these economic constants, "the
economic mechanism was regarded as a wise device of the Creator for
causing individuals, while pursuing only their own interests, to promote
the prosperity of society; and for causing the right adjustment to one
another of supplies, demand, prices, and incomes, to take place
automatically, in consequence of the free action of all
individuals."[i-246] After giving due weight to the fact that Franklin
saw in the doctrine of the physiocrats trenchant arguments to buttress
his attacks on British mercantilism, one has cogent evidence for at
least raising the question, To what extent may his apprehension of a
demonstrable physical harmony have suggested to his speculative mind an
economic analogy?[i-247]
VI. FRANKLIN'S POLITICAL THEORIES
Plague of the Pennsylvania proprietaries, propagandist of the American
Revolution, moderator of the Constitutional Convention, Franklin was all
through his life a politician and statesman in an age characterized
above all by political speculations and changes in the destiny of
states. Colonial patriot, "arch rebel of King George III," "idol of the
court of Versailles," Franklin was a cyclopedia of political strategy
and principles. Only through a genetic survey of Franklin the political
theorist can one hope to understand his mind as he changed from
imperialist, to revolutionist, to the patriarch of the Constitutional
Convention who, like a balance wheel, moderated the extreme party
factions.
In the early 1720's, Franklin had breathed a Boston air saturated with
discontent between the royal governor and the governed. By 1730 he was
printer to the Pennsylvania Assembly and in 1736 was appointed clerk to
that body. Yet one learns little of his political biases until 1747,
when he published _Plain Truth_. In 1729 he genially asserted that he
was "no Party-man,"[i-248] and in 1746 temperately stated,
Free from the bitter Rage of Party Zeal,
All those we love who seek the publick Weal.[i-249]
His _Plain Truth_ (November, 1747), directed against the proprietary
governor as well as against the Quaker assembly, showed Franklin a party
man only if one dedicated to "the publick weal" was a party man. With
all respect for the Quaker conscience which checks military activity,
Franklin could not, however, condone its virtually prohibiting others
from defending the province's border. And the proprietaries had shown
an inveterate unwillingness to arm Pennsylvania--a reluctance which did
not, however, prevent them from collecting taxes and quitrents. On other
questions the governor and his chiefs had to contend with the opposition
of the assembly. Without opposition, the proprietary government could
serenely kennel itself in its medieval privilege of remaining dumb to an
urgent need: one remembers that eighteenth-century proprietary colonies
were "essentially feudal principalities, upon the grantees of which were
bestowed all the inferior regalities and subordinate powers of
legislation which formerly belonged to the counts palatine, while
provision was also made for the maintenance of sovereignty in the king
[the king paid little attention to Pennsylvania], and for the
realization of the objects of the grant."[i-250] While the government
remained inert, Pennsylvania would be a pawn in the steeled hands of the
French and their rum-subsidized Indian mercenaries. Appealing to
Scripture and common sense, Franklin pleaded for "Order, Discipline, and
a few Cannon."[i-251] Not untruthfully he warned that "we are like the
separate Filaments of Flax before the Thread is form'd, without
Strength, because without Connection, but UNION would make us strong,
and even formidable."[i-252] Since war existed, there was no need to
consider him a militarist because he challenged, "The Way to secure
Peace is to be prepared for War."[i-253] In the midst of _Plain Truth_
Franklin uttered what only _before_ the time of Locke could be
interpreted in terms of feudal _comitatus_: he entreated his readers to
consider, "if not as Friends, at least as Legislators, that _Protection_
is as truly due from the Government to the People, as _Obedience_ from
the People to the Government."[i-254] Suggestive of the contract theory,
this is revolutionary only in a very elementary way. With the French
writhing under the Treaty of Paris, with appeals to natural rights and
the right of revolution, this once harmless principle took on Gargantuan
significance. But Thomas Penn anticipated wisely enough the ultimate
implication of Franklin's paper; Penn intuitively saw the march of time:
"Mr. Franklin's doctrine that obedience to governors is no more due them
than protection to the people, is not fit to be in the heads of the
unthinking multitude. He is a dangerous man and I should be glad if he
inhabited any other country, as I believe him of a very uneasy spirit.
However, as he is a sort of tribune of the people, he must be treated
with regard."[i-255] It is difficult to see how Franklin's passion for
order and provincial union,[i-256] obviously necessary, could have been
considered so illiberally subversive of the government. By 1747 Franklin
had read in _Telemachus_ that kings exist for the people, not the people
for the kings; he must have read Locke's justification of the "Glorious
Revolution" and have become aware of the impetus it gave to the British
authority of consent in its subsequent constitutional history.
After his first political pamphlet, he widened his horizon from
provincial to colonial affairs. Two years before the London Board of
Trade demanded that colonial governors hold a conference with the
Iroquois, Franklin seems to have devised plans for uniting the several
colonies. He was aware of the narrow particularism shown by the
provinces; he knew also that since "Governors are often on ill Terms
with their Assemblies," no concerted military efforts could be achieved
without a military federation.[i-257] One remembers that as soon as he
could think politically he was an imperialist, a lesser William Pitt,
and in his _Increase of Mankind_ (1751) could gloat over an envisioned
thickly populated America--"What an Accession of Power to the _British_
Empire by Sea as well as Land!"[i-258] When the Board of Trade, after
British efforts to bring the colonies together had failed, demanded that
something be done, Franklin was appointed one of the commissioners to
meet at Albany in 1754. Like Franklin, Governor Glen had admitted that
the colonies were "a Rope of Sand ... loose and inconnected."[i-259]
Franklin's plan, adopted by the commissioners, called for a
Governor-General "appointed by the king" and a Grand Council made up of
members chosen by the Assembly of each of the colonies, the Governor "to
have a negation on all acts of the Grand Council, and carry into
execution whatever is agreed on by him and that Council."[i-260] Surely
not a very auspicious beginning for one who later was to favor the
legislative over the executive functions of state. The plan included the
powers of making Indian treaties of peace and war, of regulating Indian
trade and Indian purchases, of stimulating the settling of new lands, of
making laws to govern new areas, of raising soldiers, of laying general
duties, et cetera.[i-261] But Franklin did not minimize the lack of
cohesion of the colonies. We recollect that "in 1755, at a time when
their very existence was threatened by the French, Massachusetts and New
York engaged in a bitter boundary controversy leading to riot and
bloodshed."[i-262] The colonies refused to ratify the plan--"their weak
Noddles are perfectly distracted,"[i-263] wrote Franklin. He was
probably right when he observed in 1789 that had the plan been adopted
"the subsequent Separation of the Colonies from the Mother Country might
not so soon have happened."[i-264] The sending of British regulars to
America and the resulting efforts at taxation were not least among the
sparks which set off the Revolution.
Franklin's _Three Letters to Governor Shirley_ (1754), while expressing
no credulous views of the wisdom of the people, maintained in one breath
that the colonists were loyal to the Constitution and Crown as ever
colonists were and in another that "it is supposed an undoubted right of
Englishmen, not to be taxed but by their own consent given through their
representatives."[i-265] (Shirley had apparently written that the
Council in the Albany Plan should be appointed by England, and not by
the colonial assemblies.) Franklin held for the colonists' right to
English civil liberty and the right to enjoy the Constitution. Here
again we find a factor later magnified into one of the major causes of
the Revolution.
In addition to being lethargic in the defense of the Pennsylvania
borders, the proprietor refused "to be taxed except for a trifling Part
of his Estate, the Quitrents, located unimprov'd Lands, Money at
Interest, etc., etc., being exempted by Instructions to the
Governor."[i-266] Thereupon Franklin turned from colonial affairs
(which had indeed proved obstinate) to pressing local matters, when in
1757 he was appointed agent to go to London to demand that the
proprietor submit his estates to be taxed. In the _Report of the
Committee of Aggrievances of the Assembly of Pennsylvania_[i-267] (Feb.
22, 1757) it was charged that the proprietor had violated the royal
charter and the colonists' civil rights as Englishmen, and had abrogated
their natural rights, rights "inherent in every man, antecedent to all
laws."[i-268] Later it was but a short step from provincial matters to
colonial rights of revolution. In this _Report_ we see Franklin
associated for the first time expressly with the
throne-and-altar-defying concept of natural rights.
Although we have yet to review the evidence which shows that Franklin at
one stage in his political career was an arch-imperialist, we need to
digress to observe an intellectual factor which, if only fragmentarily
expressed in his political thought during his activities in behalf of
Pennsylvania liberties, was to become a momentous sanction when during
the war he became a diplomat of revolution. From the Stoics, from
Cicero, Grotius, Puffendorf, Burlamaqui, and as Rev. Jonathan
Mayhew[i-269] observes, from Plato and Demosthenes, from Sidney, Milton,
Hoadley, and Locke; in addition, from Gordon and Trenchard (see _Cato's
Letters_ and _The Independent Whig_), Blackstone, Coke--from these and
many others, the colonists derived a pattern of thought known as natural
rights, dependent on natural law.[i-270] There is no better summary of
natural rights than the Declaration of Independence; and of it John
Adams remarked: "There is not an idea in it but what has been hackneyed
in Congress for two years before."[i-271] Carl Becker pointedly
observes: "Where Jefferson got his ideas is hardly so much a question as
where he could have got away from them."[i-272] A characteristic summary
of natural law may be found in Blackstone's _Commentaries_:[i-273]
This law of nature being coeval with mankind, and dictated by
God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any
other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries and
at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary
to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force
and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this
original.[i-274]
Discoverable only by reason, natural laws are immutable and universal,
apprehensible by all men. As Hamilton wrote,
The origin of all civil government, justly established, must
be a voluntary compact between the rulers and the ruled, and
must be liable to such limitations as are necessary for the
security of the _absolute rights_ of the latter; for what
original title can any man, or set of men, have to govern
others, except their own consent? To usurp dominion over a
people in their own despite, or to grasp at a more extensive
power than they are willing to intrust, is to violate that
law of nature which gives every man a right to his personal
liberty, and can therefore confer no obligation to
obedience.[i-275]
In a pre-social state, real or hypothetical, men possess certain
natural rights, the crown of them, according to Locke,[i-276] being "the
mutual preservation of their lives, liberties, and estates, which I call
by the general name, property." In entering the social state men through
free consent are willing to sacrifice fragments of their natural rights
in order to gain civil rights. This process would seem tyrannical were
one to forget that the surrender is sanctioned by the principle of
consent. Men in sacrificing their rights expect from society (i.e., the
governors) civil rights and, in addition, protection of their
unsurrendered natural rights. A voluntary compact is achieved between
the governor and the governed. If laws are fabricated which contravene
these, the governed have retained for themselves the right of forcible
resistance. A natural inference from these premises is that sovereignty
rests with the people. In the colonies this secular social compact was
buttressed by the principle of covenants and natural rights within the
churches. Sermons became "textbooks of politics."[i-277] Miss Baldwin
has ably illustrated how before 1763 the clergy in Franklin's native New
England had popularized the "doctrines of natural right, the social
contract, and the right of resistance" as well as "the fundamental
principle of American constitutional law, that government, like its
citizens, is bounded by law and when it transcends its authority it acts
illegally."[i-278]
In an oration commemorating the Boston massacre Dr. Benjamin Church
stated the principle of the compact: "A sense of their wants and
weakness in a state of nature, doubtless inclined them to such
reciprocal aids and support, as eventually established society."[i-279]
Defining liberty as "the happiness of living under laws of our own
making by our personal consent or that of our representatives,"[i-280]
he warned that any breach of trust in the governor "effectually absolves
subjects from every bond of covenant and peace."[i-281]
Then, too, Newtonian science buttressed the principle of natural rights.
Sir Isaac Newton demonstrated mathematically that the universe was
governed by a fagot of immutable, universal, and harmonious physical
laws. These were capable of being apprehended through reason. Now even
as reason discovered the matchless physical harmony, so could reason,
men argued, ferret out unvarying, universal principles of
social-political rights. These principles constituted natural rights,
natural to the extent that all men had the power, if not the capacity,
to discover and learn them through use of their native reason. Newton
demonstrated the validity of physical law: Locke sanctioned the
supremacy of reason. Since Franklin was himself motivated by Newtonian
rationalism and was a student of Locke, there is reason to believe that
he was vibrantly aware of the extent to which the
scientific-rationalistic ideology lent sanction to man's timeless quest
for the certitude of "natural rights," antecedent to all laws.
Franklin's mission to London in 1757 as Pennsylvania agent may be
understood through an examination of _An Historical Review of the
Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania_ (London, 1759).[i-282] If
not written by him, at least "the ideas are his." Convinced that the
proprietors "seem to have no regard to the Publick Welfare, so the
private Point may be gained--'Tis like Firing a House to have
Opportunity of stealing a Trencher,"[i-283] Franklin knew that a
brilliant attack had to be made were he to intimidate the proprietary
government into assuming its charter responsibilities and granting the
colonists what they considered to be inviolable rights. By 1758 his
"Patience with the Proprietors is almost tho' not quite spent."[i-284] A
few months later, impatient with unresponsive officials, he wrote to
Joseph Galloway: "God knows when we shall see it finish'd, and our
Constitution settled firmly on the Foundation of Equity and English
Liberty: But I am not discouraged; and only wish my Constituents may
have the Patience that I have, and that I find will be absolutely
necessary."[i-285] In 1759 Franklin still found the proprietors
"obscure, uncertain and evasive," and was acutely virulent in despising
Rev. William Smith, who was in London attacking him and the Quaker
Assembly's demands.[i-286] In the same letter to Galloway he uttered a
thought which he sought to develop during his second trip to London as
Assembly agent in 1764: "For my part, I must own, I am tired of
Proprietary Government, and heartily wish for that of the Crown."
Turning to _An Historical Review_ to learn the political principles
sanctioning the Assembly's grievances against its feudal lords, one
finds that the colonists conceived it "our duty to defend the rights and
privileges we enjoy under the royal charter."[i-287] Secondly, they
reminded the lords that the laws agreed upon in England (prior to the
settling of Pennsylvania) were "of the nature of an original compact
between the proprietary and the freemen, and as such were reciprocally
received and executed."[i-288] Thirdly, they demanded the right to
exercise the "birthright of every British subject," "to have a property
of [their] own, in [their] estate, person, and reputation; subject only
to laws enacted by [their] own concurrence, either in person or by
[their] representatives."[i-289] Fourthly, they resisted the proprietors
on basis of their possession of natural rights, "antecedent to all
laws."[i-290] The editor of the protest charged that "It is the cause of
every man who deserves to be free, everywhere."[i-291] It is ironic that
this grievance should have enjoyed the sanction of one who, like Lord
Chatham, was an empire builder, one who proudly wrote, "I am a Briton,"
and even during the time he sought to retrieve the Pennsylvania
colonists' lost natural rights, entertained the ideas of a British
imperialist. Franklin little saw that the internal Pennsylvania struggle
was to be contagious, that the provincial revolt was motivated partially
at least by political theories which were to be given expression _par
excellence_ when a discontented minority created the Declaration of
Independence. In 1760 Franklin had the satisfaction of witnessing the
victory of the Assembly over the Proprietors, although he was not
unaware that the right to tax feudal lands was less than that right he
had already envisioned--the right to become a royal colony.[i-292]
But Franklin's pleas for charter, constitutional, and natural rights may
be misleading if one considers his position as suggestive of doctrinaire
republicanism, of Paine's "Government is the badge of our lost
innocence," or of Shelley's
Kings, priests, and statesmen blast the human flower.
His political activities assert the rights of the governed against the
governor; his writings often indirectly suggest the intemperance of the
governed, and the need for something more lasting than mere outer
freedom. Like Coleridge, who wrote:
[Man] may not hope from outward forms to win
The passion and the life, whose fountains are within,
white-locked Father Abraham harangued:
The Taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the
Government were the only Ones we had to pay, we might more
easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more
grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our
_Idleness_, three times as much by our _Pride_, and four
times as much by our _Folly_; and from these Taxes the
Commissioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing an
Abatement.[i-293]
With solid good sense Franklin acknowledged that "happiness in this
life rather depends on internals than externals."[i-294]
His purpose for being in London accomplished, Franklin wrote _The
Interest of Great Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies, and
the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe_ (1760). Since "there is
evidence that the pamphlet created much contemporary interest,"[i-295]
Franklin undoubtedly had some influence in causing the retention of
Canada, a retention which "made the American Revolution
inevitable."[i-296] If the release from French terrorism caused the
colonists to become myopic toward advantages lent them as a British
colony, it is appropriate in view of Franklin's later advocacy of
independence and ironic in view of his then imperialistic principles,
that he should have written _The Interest of Great Britain_. Here
Franklin, later to be a propagandist of revolution, cast himself in the
role of architect of a vast empire. For economic reasons, and for
colonial safety, he urged the retention, ridiculing the charge that the
colonies were lying in wait to declare their independence from England,
if the French were cast out from Canada.
Back in Pennsylvania in 1764 he declared the provincial government
"running fast into anarchy and confusion."[i-297] In his _Cool Thoughts
on the Present Situation of Our Public Affairs_ (1764) he set up a
sturdy antagonism between "Proprietary Interest and Power, and Popular
Liberty." Unlike the "lunatic fringe" of liberals who see "Popular
Liberty compatible only with a tendency toward anarchy" Franklin urged
that the Pennsylvania government lacked "Authority enough to keep the
common Peace."[i-298] The constitutional nature of proprietary
government had lost dignity and hence "suffers in the Opinion of the
People, and with it the Respect necessary to keep up the Authority of
Government." Almost Burkean in his apology for change, he suggested that
the popular party demand "rather and only a Change of Governor, that is,
instead of self-interested Proprietaries, a gracious King!" His
_Narrative of the Late Massacres in Lancaster County_[i-299] is a bloody
tribute to the lack of authority and police power of the current regime.
The _Petition to the King_ for a royal governor maintained that, torn by
"armed Mobs," the government was "weak, unable to support its own
Authority, and maintain the common internal Peace of the
Province."[i-300]
While petitioning for a crown colony, he found himself in 1765 faced
with a larger than provincial interest--Lord Grenville's Stamp Act
forced him into the role of one seeking definition of colonial status.
Such was his position in his examination (1766) before the House of
Commons relative to the repeal of the Stamp Act. Almost brusquely he
told his catechizers that even a moderated stamp act could not be
enforced "unless compelled by force of arms."[i-301] With a preface
asserting that colonials before 1763 were proud to be called Old-England
men, he summarized: "The authority of parliament was allowed to be valid
in all laws, except such as should lay internal taxes. It was never
disputed in laying duties to regulate commerce."[i-302] Parliament, in
the colonial view, had no right to lay internal taxes because "we are
not represented there." Mr. Merriam observes that in advancing this
legal and constitutional issue, the colonists "had in short an
antiquated theory as to the position and power of Parliament, and a
premature theory of Parliamentary representation."[i-303]
Franklin referred to the Pennsylvania colonial charter to prove that all
that was asked for was the "privileges and liberties of Englishmen."
When the examiners asked whether the colonists appealing to the Magna
Charta and constitutional rights of Englishmen could not with equal
force "object to the parliament's right of external taxation," Franklin
with cautious ambiguity declared: "They never have hitherto."[i-304]
Franklin's skill in upholding tenuous, almost "metaphysical,"
constitutional grievances (grievances, however, which were not upheld by
constitutional legalists in England) captivated Edmund Burke's
imagination: Franklin appeared to him like a schoolmaster catechizing a
pack of unruly schoolboys. Conservative in his omission of any appeal to
"natural rights," he was radical in his legalistic distinctions between
parliamentary rights to levy certain kinds of taxes. His position in
1766 and for several years following was one of seeking legal
definitions of the colonial status. Considering the popular excesses in
the colonies, Franklin's view was anything but illiberally radical.
Trying to counteract "the general Rage against America, artfully work'd
up by the Grenville Faction,"[i-305] fearful that the unthinking rabble
in the colonies might demonstrate too lustily against duties and the
redcoats,[i-306] Franklin saw, as a result of the constitutional
dilemma, the true extent of the fracture:
But after all, I doubt People in Government here will never
be satisfied without some Revenue from America, nor America
ever satisfy'd with their imposing it; so that Disputes will
from this Circumstance besides others, be perpetually
arising, till there is a consolidating union of the
whole.[i-307]
His chief demand was for a less ambiguous relation between the mother
and her offspring, for a unified, pacific commonwealth empire. Until he
left for the colonies in 1775, he tirelessly sought through
conversation, conference, and articles[i-308] sent to the British press
(in addition he "reprinted everything from America" that he "thought
might help our Common Cause") to reiterate patiently the colonies'
"Charter liberties,"[i-309] their abhorrence of Parliament-imposed
internal taxes, and the quartering of red-coated battalions. Constantly
hoping for a favorable Ministry (of a Lord Rockingham or a Shelburne),
and bemoaning the physical infirmities of Pitt which rendered him
politically impotent, Franklin felt almost romantically confident at
first of a change that must come. All the while, like Merlin's gleam,
visions of a world-encircling British empire haunted the Pennsylvania
tradesman. A letter to Barbeu Dubourg discloses at once his belief in an
imperial federation[i-310] and in the sovereignty of the colonial
assemblies: "In fact, the British empire is not a single state; it
comprehends many; and, though the Parliament of Great Britain has
arrogated to itself the power of taxing the colonies, it has no more
right to do so, than it has to tax Hanover. We have the same King, but
not the same legislatures."[i-311] Marginalia by Franklin's hand in an
anti-colonial pamphlet written by Dean Tucker indicate how completely
he (and here he represented colonial, not private, opinion) had failed
to see the growth of parliamentary power: "These Writers against the
Colonies all bewilder themselves by supposing the Colonies _within the
Realm_, which is not the case, nor ever was."[i-312]
By 1774 Franklin had discovered the futility of his imperialistic
illusions: ministries, fearing the siren colonies, had blocked their
ears with wax. The Pennsylvanian knew that "Divine Providence first
infatuates the power it designs to ruin."[i-313] He who had wished for
an empire as harmoniously companied as the orbited harmony of celestial
bodies lamented while on his way to America in 1775 that "so glorious a
Fabric as the present British Empire [was] to be demolished by these
Blunderers."[i-314] Broken was "that fine and noble China Vase, the
British Empire."[i-315] In 1774 he would have gained little cheer from
William Livingston's opinion (uttered in 1768): "I take it that clamour
is at present our best policy."[i-316]
His sense of defeat was aggravated by that ugly scene in the Cockpit in
1774 when Wedderburn bespattered the taciturn colonial agent with foul
invective. It had been charged that Franklin, the postmaster, had
purloined[i-317] letters of Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor
Oliver of Massachusetts and had sent them back to the colonies as proof
of the colonists' contention that the royal governors were hostile to
their colonial subjects. He whom (as Lord Chatham said) "all Europe held
in high Estimation for his Knowledge and Wisdom, and rank'd with our
Boyles and Newtons," was decked by Wedderburn "with the choicest flowers
of Billingsgate." In the presence of Lord Shelburne, Lord North, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Burke, Jeremy Bentham, and Priestley,
Franklin, "motionless and silent," bore the harangue of the solicitor
general for a full three hours.[i-318] Franklin's eloquent mock humility
inspired Horace Walpole to write:
Sarcastic Sawney, swol'n with spite and prate,
On silent Franklin poured his venal hate.
The calm philosopher, without reply,
Withdrew, and gave his country liberty.
As propagandist for legislative freedom, Franklin, appealing for
sanction to legalistic and constitutional liberty more than to natural
rights, was no more radical than Edmund Burke. If ever an extreme
democrat, Franklin had yet by 1775 to become one. Temperamentally
hostile to "drunken electors," the "madness of mobs," he held a
patrician attitude toward authority. Earlier, in 1768, he had written
from London: "All respect to law and government seems to be lost among
the common people, who are moreover continually inflamed by seditious
scribblers, to trample on authority and every thing that used to keep
them in order."[i-319] To Georgiana Shipley he sent (_Epitaph_ on
Squirrel Mungo's death) this Miltonic and unrepublican sentiment:
Learn hence,
Ye who blindly seek more liberty,
Whether subjects, sons, squirrels or daughters,
That apparent restraint may be real protection
Yielding peace and plenty
With security.[i-320]
In 1771 he indicted Parliament in a letter to Joseph Galloway: "Its
Censures are no more regarded than Popes' Bulls. It is despis'd for its
Venality, and abominated for its Injustice." But he hastened to show
that he had no illusions that men are natively pure, that only
governments are wicked. With almost a Hamiltonian distrust of the public
ranks he wrote: "And yet it is not clear that the People deserve a
better Parliament, since they are themselves full as corrupt and venal:
witness the Sums they accept for their Votes at almost every
Election."[i-321]
Back in the colonies, Franklin remained just long enough to help form a
constitution for Pennsylvania,[i-322] and to aid Jefferson in writing
the Declaration of Independence.[i-323] After the royal governors had
dissolved the assemblies and the Continental Congress urged the colonies
to form their own constitutions, Franklin assumed leadership in his
state and helped to compose a constitution less conservative than those
of most of the other colonies.[i-324] Created between July 15 and Sept.
28, 1776, essentially by one who had just worked on and signed the
Declaration of Independence, it is not strange that the dominant
ideology of this constitution--that of natural rights, the compact
theory, and consent of the governed--should be like that of the
Declaration. The new constitution has been called the "most democratic
constitution yet seen in America."[i-325] The unicameral legislature,
the assembly of representatives, the plan of judicial review of laws
every seven years, and other features have been looked upon as
demonstrating the dangerous ultra-democratic tendencies of Franklin. The
revolutionary Benjamin Rush, who had helped Paine with _Common Sense_,
was dismayed because, in his view, Pennsylvania "has substituted mob
government for one of the happiest governments in the world.... A single
legislature is big with tyranny. I had rather live under the government
of one man than of seventy-two."[i-326] One wonders to what extent
Franklin was responsible for the unicameral legislature when we know
that it "was the natural outcome of Penn's ideas of government as
embodied in his various charters."[i-327] The plural executive, the
right of freemen to form their militia and elect their own officers,
the extension of male suffrage, and other innovations in this
constitution were of a radical nature in as far as the populace were
given greater liberties and responsibilities than ever before in the
colonies. It seems almost incredible that the patrician-minded Franklin,
with his Puritan heritage, should have thus almost hurriedly cast
himself at the feet of the people. Certain extenuating factors may be
mentioned in an attempt not to gloss over but to understand the violent
antithesis between Franklin the imperialist and Franklin the
revolutionist. To what extent did his antipathy for proprietary
governors, as well as the general colonial experience with governors,
suggest a joint executive of a council and governor?[i-328] Since his
experience as a Whig propagandist had been to exalt colonial
legislatures, to what extent did he see in the unicameral form a plan
which would give freest movement to the legislative activity? Prior to
1776 there is little that would suggest that Franklin had any confidence
in men, _unchecked_.[i-329] Yet it is difficult to show that, in the
first flush of indignation against England and revolutionary enthusiasm,
Franklin did not favor for a time distinctly radical tendencies.
In 1776 he left, as he wrote to Jan Ingenhousz, "to procure those aids
from European powers, for enabling us to defend our freedom and
independence."[i-330] He who had "been a Servant to many publicks, thro'
a long life" went to Passy, where from the Hôtel de Valentinois of M.
Roy de Chaumont he was to direct financial efforts calculated, with
Washington's generalship, and the assiduous loyalty of a minority group,
to win the Revolution. Welcomed as the apotheosis of "les
Insurgens,"[i-331] he was virtually deified; as Turgot expressed it,
_Eripuit caelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis_. The universality of his
vogue in France was primarily due to his deistic naturalism, his wily
pleading and activities in behalf of colonial independence, the
receptivity of the Gallic mind for any marten-capped child of the New
World, and to his scientific thought and experimentation which had
fortified Reason in purging the unknown of its terror, helping thus to
make the _philosophe_ at home in his reasonable world. Three weeks after
Franklin arrived in France, one Frenchman said that "it is the mode
today for everybody to have an engraving of M. Franklin over the
mantelpiece."[i-332] France overnight became Franklinist when the savant
came to dwell at Passy. Even before the victory of Yorktown he became
_la mode_. It was to be his success to convert France's unrecognized
alliance with the colonies to an open and undisguised alliance, perhaps
even to war with England.[i-333] But even for one who enjoyed, as John
Adams wrote, a reputation "more universal than that of Leibnitz or
Newton, Frederick or Voltaire,"[i-334] it was to be a difficult task to
manipulate a Beaumarchais, a Vergennes, and others, in spite of the
well-known and inveterate economic and political grievances which the
French held for the English. The virtues he stressed in the _Morals of
Chess_ he was able to translate into a diplomatic mien, uniting
"perfect silence" with a "generous civility." As a result, his record as
minister to France is marked by complete success; but for this "it is by
no means certain that American independence would have been achieved
until many years later."[i-335]
Plagued by Frenchmen desiring places in the colonial army, feted by the
_philosophes_, sorely vexed by the need for settling countless maritime
affairs, embracing and embraced by the venerable Voltaire, corresponding
with Hartley concerning exchange of prisoners, shaping alliances and
treaties, conducting scientific experiments, investigating Mesmer,
intrigued by balloon ascensions, made the darling of several salons,
associating in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters with Bailly, Bonneville,
Warville, Condorcet, Danton, Desmoulins, D'Auberteuil, Pétion,
Saint-Étienne, Sieyès, and others, all men who helped to give shape (or
shapelessness) to the French Revolution,[i-336] Franklin found little
time to search for that philosophic repose which he had long coveted. It
may be extravagant to say that Franklin was the "Creator of
Constitutionalism in Europe,"[i-337] but we know that in 1783 he printed
the colonial constitutions for continental distribution.[i-338] It has
been suggested that Franklin was an important formative factor in
Condorcet's faith in universal suffrage, a unicameral legislature, and
the liberties guaranteed by constitutional law.[i-339] Then, too,
Franklin had signed the Declaration of Independence--a document which
the French hailed as the "restoration of humanity's title
deeds."[i-340] The Duc de la Rochefoucauld eulogized the unicameral
legislature of Pennsylvania, identifying "this grand idea" and its
"maximum of simplicity" as Franklin's creation.[i-341] Fauchet eulogized
him as "one of the foremost builders of our sacred constitution."[i-342]
Along with Helvétius, Mably, Rousseau, and Voltaire, Franklin was
considered as one who laid the foundations for the French
revolution.[i-343] Franklin's taciturnity, his "art of listening," his
diplomatic reserve, do not suggest a volatile iconoclast doing anything
consciously to bring about a republican France. This did not prevent him
from becoming a symbol of liberty by his mere presence in the land,
stimulating patriots to examine the foundations of the tyrannical
authority which they saw or imagined enslaving them. Holding no brief
for natural equality, Franklin suggested that "quiet and regular
Subordination" is "so necessary to Success."[i-344] Realist that he was,
he became almost obsessed with the innate depravity of men until he was
doubtful whether "the Species were really worth producing or
preserving."[i-345] One would not be considered excessively republican
who inveighed against the "collected passions, prejudices, and private
interests" of collective legislative bodies.[i-346] He wrote to Caleb
Whitefoord: "It is unlucky ... that the Wise and Good should be as
mortal as Common People and that they often die before others are found
fit to supply their Places."[i-347] The great proportion of mankind,
weak and selfish, need "the Motives of Religion to restrain them from
Vice."[i-348] No less extreme than J. Q. Adams's retort to Paine's
_Rights of Man_, that it is anarchic to trust government "to the custody
of a lawless and desperate rabble," was Franklin's distrust of the
unthinking majority.[i-349]
Having helped to free the colonies, Franklin fittingly became, if not
one of the fathers of the Constitution, then, due to the serenity with
which he helped to moderate the plans of extremists on both sides, at
least its godfather. If, as Mr. James M. Beck asserts, the success of
the Constitution has been the result of its approximation of the golden
mean, between monarchy and anarchy, the section and the nation, the
small and the large state, then its success may be attributed not a
little to Franklin's genius.[i-350] After small and large states had
waged a fruitless struggle over congressional representation, Franklin
spoke:
The diversity of opinion turns on two points. If a
proportional representation takes place, the small States
contend that their liberties will be in danger. If an
equality of votes is to be put in its place, the large States
say their money will be in danger. When a broad table is to
be made, and the edges the artist takes
a little from both, and makes a good joint.[i-351]
The former imperialist could not logically become a state rights
advocate. Engrossed essentially in "promoting and securing the common
Good,"[i-352] he derided the advantage the greater state would have,
asserting that he "was originally of Opinion it would be better if every
Member of Congress, or our national Council, were to consider himself
rather as a Representative of the whole, than as an Agent for the
Interests of a particular State." When Mr. Randolph considered,
To negative all laws, passed by the several States,
contravening, in the opinion of the national legislature, the
articles of union: (the following words were added to this
clause on motion of Mr. Franklin, "or any Treaties subsisting
under the authority of the union.")[i-353]
This is anything but the corollary of a defender of state rights.
Franklin was convinced that the permanence of the national view alone
could prevent federal anarchy. Addressing himself to the problem of
delegated authority Madison observed: "This prerogative of the General
Govt. is the great pervading principle that must controul the
centrifugal tendency of the States; which, without it, will continually
fly out of their proper orbits and destroy the order & harmony of the
political system."[i-354] One is tempted to see here Newton's principle
of gravity translated into terms of political nationalism; one wonders
whether it is probable that (like Madison's) Franklin's emphasis on the
harmony of the whole could have been partly conditioned by the
cohesiveness and harmony of universal physical laws incarnate in
Newtonian physics, of which he was a master.
Franklin was "apprehensive ...--perhaps too apprehensive,--that the
Government of these States may in future times end in a
Monarchy."[i-355] He suggested that moderate rather than kingly salaries
paid the chief executive would tend to allay this danger. Between
Randolph, who belabored a single executive as the "foetus of monarchy,"
and Wilson, who harbored it as the "best safeguard against tyranny,"
stood Franklin, who saw it as subversive of democratic sovereignty but
not necessarily fatal. He declared himself emphatically against the
motion that the executive have a complete negative.[i-356] Extolling
popular sovereignty, he warned that "In free Governments the rulers are
the servants, and the people their superiors & sovereigns."[i-357] He
refused to consider a plan which sought to establish a franchise only
for freeholders: "It is of great consequence that we shd. not depress
the virtue & public spirit of our common people; of which they displayed
a great deal during the war, and which contributed principally to the
favorable issue of it."[i-358] Pinckney had made a motion that rulers
should have unencumbered estates:
Doctr Franklin expressed his dislike of every thing that
tended to debase the spirit of the common people. If honesty
was often the companion of wealth, and if poverty was exposed
to peculiar temptation, it was not less true that the
possession of property increased the desire of more
property--[i-359].... This Constitution will be much read and
attended to in Europe, and if it should betray a great
partiality to the rich--will not only hurt us in the esteem
of the most liberal and enlightened men there, but discourage
the common people from removing to this Country.[i-360]
Pinckney's motion was rejected. Franklin within the Convention did not
seem to fear Gerry's threat--"the evils we experience flow from the
excess of democracy."[i-361]
Franklin suggested the adoption of a unicameral legislature, but does
not seem to have made any struggle for it. His article of 1789 in
defense of the Pennsylvania (unicameral) legislature, however, shows
that he clung to the principle as firmly as he had in 1776.[i-362] He
questioned: "The Wisdom of a few Members in one single Legislative Body,
may it not frequently stifle bad Motions in their Infancy, and so
prevent their being adopted?" In addition the bicameral house is
cumbersome and provocative of delay.
Little is known of Franklin's attitude toward the violent controversy
attendant upon efforts toward ratification. In his _Ancient Jews and
Anti-Federalists_[i-363] he warned the traducers of the new Constitution
against voiding an instrument which in his opinion was as sound as the
frailty of human reason would allow it to be. In fact, said he, it
"astonishes me, ... to find this system approaching so near to
perfection as it does."[i-364] He may be said to have been
anti-federalistic to the extent that he feared a strong executive,
guarded jealously the legislative sphere, worried little about checks
and balances, sought to accelerate popular sovereignty; he was
federalistic to the extent that he opposed state localism with national
sovereignty, was not blind to the depravity of human nature and hence
felt the need for a vigorous coercive government. To M. Le Veillard he
confessed an almost Hamiltonian distrust of the multitude: The
Constitution "has ... met with great opposition in some States, for we
are at present a nation of politicians. And, though there is a general
dread of giving too much power to our _governors_, I think we are more
in danger from too little obedience in the _governed_."[i-365] He made
the same complaint a year later: "We have been guarding against an evil
that old States are most liable to, _excess of power_ in the rulers,
but our present danger seems to be _defect of obedience_ in the
subjects."[i-366] It is difficult to reconcile his inveterate distrust
of men with his activity in behalf of an almost universal franchise,
reluctance to sanction the principle of checks and balances, and belief
in a unicameral legislature; it is difficult to reconcile the Plutarchan
fervor with which he advocated the wisdom of following great leaders
with his fear of a vigorous executive. It is not improbable that those
ideas which are generally anti-federalistic in Franklin's political view
are in part the result of his hatred of proprietary abuses which he
witnessed as a provincial statesman during his middle age.
VII. FRANKLIN AS SCIENTIST AND DEIST
Jan Ingenhousz, the celebrated physician to Maria Theresa of Austria,
wrote a letter to Franklin on May 3, 1780, which doubtless caused the
patriarch of Passy to reflect--not without sadness of heart--on the
diversified fortune which time and circumstance had devised for him. The
physician (no friend to the American revolution) implored Franklin not
to abandon "entirely the world Nature whose laws made by the supreme
wisdom and is constant and unalterable as its legislature himself
[_sic_]." Ingenhousz lamented that Franklin, "a Philosopher so often and
so successfully employed in researches of the most intricate and the
most mysterious operations of Nature,"[i-367] should have given his time
to politics.
Franklin is now most commonly viewed as a utilitarian moralist, a
successful tradesman and printer, a shrewd propagandist and financier,
the diplomat of the Revolution, and if at all as a scientist, then only
as a virtuoso, fashioning devices, such as open stoves, bifocal
spectacles, and lightning rods, for practical uses. Probably few
general readers are aware that Franklin was a disinterested scientist in
the sense that he interrogated nature with an eye to discovering its
immutable laws. It is conversely supposed that Franklin himself was
unaware of any inclination to pursue natural science to the exclusion of
those political achievements which have identified him as one of the
wiliest and sagest diplomats of the Enlightenment.
It may be learned, however (not without astonishment), that Franklin
almost from the beginning of his participation in politics resented the
time given over to such activities, as so much time lost to his
speculations and research in natural science. As early as 1752 he
wistfully (though realistically) confessed that "business sometimes
obliges one to postpone philosophical amusements."[i-368] A month after
this, he wrote to Cadwallader Colden: "I congratulate you on the
prospect you have, of passing the remainder of life in philosophical
retirement."[i-369] In the midst of investigating waterspouts, he
observed to John Perkins: "How much soever my Inclinations lead me to
philosophical Inquiries, I am so engag'd in Business, public and
private, that those more pleasing pursuits [of natural science] are
frequently interrupted...."[i-370] He urged Dr. John Fothergill to give
himself "repose, delight in viewing the Operations of nature in the
vegetable creation."[i-371] In 1765, upon completing his negotiations in
behalf of the Pennsylvania Assembly, he promised Lord Kames that he
would "engage in no other" political affairs.[i-372] To the notable
professor of physics of the University of Turin, Giambatista Beccaria,
he wrote in 1768 from London (where he had sought to have the Stamp Act
rescinded) that he had to "take away entirely" his "attention from
philosophical matters, though I have constantly cherished the hope of
returning home where I could find leisure to resume the studies that I
have shamefully put off from time to time."[i-373] Again, in 1779, he
confessed to Beccaria: "I find myself here [Passy] immers'd in Affairs,
which absorb my Attention, and prevent my pursuing those Studies in
which I always found the highest Satisfaction; and I am now grown so
old, as hardly to hope for a Return of that Leisure and Tranquillity so
necessary for Philosophical Disquisitions."[i-374] He longed (in 1782)
to have Congress release him so that he might "spend the Evening of Life
more agreeably in philosophic [devoted to natural science]
Leisure."[i-375] He who, John Winthrop claimed, "was good at starting
Game for Philosophers,"[i-376] acknowledged that he had thrown himself
on the public, which, "having as it were eaten my flesh, seemed now
resolved to pick my bones."[i-377] Reverend Manasseh Cutler visited
Franklin a few months before the patriarch's death. They ardently
discussed botany, Franklin boyish in his eagerness to show the Reverend
Mr. Cutler a massive book, containing "the whole of Linnaeus' Systema
Vegetabilies." "The Doctor seemed extremely fond, through the course of
the visit, of dwelling on Philosophical subjects, and particularly that
of natural History, while the other Gentlemen were swallowed up with
politics."[i-378] In a fictitious (?) conversation between Joseph II of
Austria and Franklin, the Newton of electricity is reported as
explaining that he was early in life attracted by natural philosophy:
"Necessity afterwards made me a politician.... I was Franklin, the
_Philosopher_ to the world, long after I had in fact, become Franklin
the Politician."[i-379] After reviewing the evidence, it seems
incredulous to doubt that, regardless of his achievements in other
fields, Franklin sought his greatest intellectual pleasure in scientific
research and speculation, and that his doctrines of scientific deism
antedated and conditioned his political, economic, and humanitarian
interests.
If Franklin's inventions have been justly praised, his affections for
the empirical scientific method and his philosophic interest in Nature's
laws have been unjustly ignored. He observed to Ebenezer Kinnersley
"that a philosopher cannot be too much on his guard in crediting their
["careless observers'"] relations of things extraordinary, and should
never build an hypothesis on any thing but clear facts and experiments,
or it will be in danger of soon falling ... like a house of
cards";[i-380] and to Abbé Soulavie, "You see I have given a loose to
imagination; but I approve much more your method of philosophizing,
which proceeds upon actual observation, makes a collection of facts, and
concludes no farther than those facts will warrant."[i-381] In 1782 he
wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, that he
longed to "sit down in sweet Society with my English philosophic
Friends, communicating to each other new Discoveries, and proposing
Improvements of old ones; all tending to extend the Power of Man over
Matter, avert or diminish the Evils he is subject to, or augment the
Number of his Enjoyments."[i-382] A careful study of his scientific
papers discloses that he was not untrained in the method of hypotheses
sustained or rejected by patient and laborious experimentation: not
fortuitously did he arrive at conclusions in electricity, which were
epochal in (1) "His rejection of the two-fluid theory of electricity
and substitution of the one-fluid theory; (2) his coinage of the
appropriate terms _positive_ and _negative_, to denote an excess or a
deficit of the common electric fluid; (3) his explanation of the Leyden
jar, and, notably, his recognition of the paramount rôle played by the
glass or dielectric; (4) his experimental demonstration of the identity
of lightning and electricity; and (5) his invention of the lightning
conductor for the protection of life and property, together with his
clear statement of its preventive and protective functions."[i-383] Not
only an inventor, Franklin inductively observed natural phenomena, and
drew conclusions until he had created a virtual _Principia_ of
electricity. His contemporaries were not loath to honor him as a second
Newton. Franklin, however, was in all of his researches under a
self-confessed yoke which doubtless tended to deny him access to the
profoundest reaches of scientific inquiry: from Philadelphia he wrote in
1753 to Cadwallader Colden, eminent mathematician (as well as versatile
scientist): "Your skill & Expertness in Mathematical Computations, will
afford you an Advantage in these Disquisitions [among them, researches
in electricity], that I lament the want of, who am like a Man searching
for some thing in a dark Room where I can only grope and guess; while
you proceed with a Candle in your Hand."[i-384]
In an effort to learn the _modus operandi_ of Franklin's philosophic
thought, let us now review its genetic development, its probable
sources, its relation to scientific deism, and the degree to which he
achieved that serene repose for which he ever strove. A pioneer American
rationalist, not without his claims to being "another Voltaire,"
Franklin as a youth read those works which were forming or interpreting
the thought patterns of the age. Born in an epoch presided over by a
Locke and a Newton, an epoch of rationalism and "supernatural"
rationalism, alike fed by physico-mathematical speculation. Franklin,
barely beyond adolescence, felt the impacts of the age of reason.
Scholars before and since M. M. Curtis have explained that "in religion
he was a Deist of the type of Lord Herbert of Cherbury."[i-385] M. Faÿ
has sought, without convincing documentary evidence, to interpret
Franklin's philosophic mind in terms of Pythagoreanism.[i-386] We may
find that these views are over simple and historically inadequate--even
wrong.
Franklin was reared "piously in the Dissenting way"[i-387] by a "pious
and prudent" Calvinistic father who died as he lived, with "entire
Dependence on his Redeemer."[i-388] "Religiously educated as a
Presbyterian,"[i-389] young Benjamin was taught that _Major est
Scripturae auctoritas quam omnis humani ingenü capacitas_. He was
nurtured on the Bible and "books in polemic divinity," and he regularly
attended services at the Old South Church. Doubtless without reflection
he was led to identify goodness with the church and its worship. He was
a part of New England's bibliolatry. Not long before he was apprenticed
to his brother James he read Cotton Mather's _Bonifacius--An Essay upon
the Good that is to be Devised and Designed by those who desire to
Answer the Great End of Life, and to do good while they live_, and
Defoe's _Essays upon Several Projects: or Effectual Ways for Advancing
the Interests of the Nation_. He confessed in 1784 that _Bonifacius_
"gave me such a turn of thinking, as to have an influence on my conduct
through life; for I have always set a greater value on the character of
a _doer of good_ than on any other kind of reputation."[i-390] Mather,
as an exponent of Christian charity, urged that man help his neighbors
"with a rapturous assiduity,"[i-391] that he may discover the "ravishing
satisfaction which he might find in relieving the distresses of a poor
miserable neighbor."[i-392] It is ironic that Mather should have
apparently aided a young man to divorce himself from the strenuous
subtleties of theology. (Franklin was too young to gather that Mather
circumspectly warned against a covenant of works, and hence was Pauline
in his advocacy of _charity_ rather than of humanitarianism.) And from
Defoe's _Essays_ Franklin received more than a penchant for projects.
Like Mather, Defoe observed that "God Almighty has commanded us to
relieve and help one another in distress."[i-393] Defoe seemed to young
Franklin to dwell on fellow-service--to promise that the good man need
not have understood all of the dogma of Old South meetinghouse.
Apprenticed to James, Franklin admitted that he "now had access to
better books."[i-394] Whatever the extent of James's library in 1718, by
1722 the _New England Courant_ collection included Burnet's _History of
the Reformation_, _Theory of the Earth_, the _Spectator_ papers, _The
Guardian_, _Art of Thinking_ [Du Port Royal], _The Tale of a Tub_, and
the writings of Tillotson.[i-395] After reading most probably in these,
and, as we are told, in Tryon's _Way to Health_, Xenophon's
_Memorabilia_, digests of some of Boyle's lectures, Anthony Collins,
Locke, and Shaftesbury, Franklin became in his Calvinist religion a
"real doubter."[i-396] He became at the age of sixteen, as a result of
reading Boyle's Lectures,[i-397] a "thorough Deist."[i-398] We cannot be
certain of the Lectures read by Franklin, but we may observe Bentley's
_Folly of Atheism_ (1692) and Derham's _Physico-Theology_ (1711-1712),
which are representative of the series provided for by Boyle. Like
Mather's _The Christian Philosopher_ (1721)[i-399] they both employ
science and rationalism to reinforce (never as equivalent to or
substitute for) scriptural theology. Fed by Newtonian physics, Bentley
discovers in gravity "the great basis of all mechanism," the "immediate
_fiat_ and finger of God, and the executions of the divine law."[i-400]
Gravity, "the powerful cement which holds together this magnificent
structure of the world,"[i-401] is the result of the Deity "who _always
acts geometrically_." Borrowing from Cockburne, Ray, Bentley, and
Fénelon, Derham offers likewise to prove the existence and operations of
the Workman from his Work.[i-402]
It is unlikely that Boyle's Lectures (characterized by orthodox
rationalism, augmented by Newtonianism) would alone have precipitated in
Franklin a "thorough deism." Not improbably Locke, Shaftesbury, and
Anthony Collins (whom Franklin mentions reading) were most militant in
overthrowing his inherited bibliolatry. Although he does not say exactly
which of Collins's works he read, Collins's rationale is repeated
clearly enough in any one of his pieces. Warring against "crack-brain'd
Enthusiasts," the "prodigious Ignorance" and "Impositions of Priests,"
against defective scriptural texts, Collins defends "our natural
Notions" against the authoritarianism of priests. Vilifying the
authority of the surplice, he apotheosizes the authority of
reason.[i-403] He intensifies the English tradition of
every-man-his-own-priest, and exclaims "How uncertain Tradition
is!"[i-404] From this militant friend of John Locke, Franklin was
doubtless impregnated with an _odium theologicum_ and an exalted idea of
the sanctity of Reason.
Having read _An Essay Concerning Human Understanding_,[i-405] Franklin
may have remembered that Locke there observed, "Nothing that is contrary
to, and inconsistent with, the clear and self-evident dictates of
reason, has a right to be urged or assented to as a matter of faith,
wherein reason hath nothing to do."[i-406] Like Collins, Locke urged a
deistic rationale:
Since then the precepts of Natural Religion are plain, and
very intelligible to all mankind, and seldom to come to be
controverted; and other revealed truths, which are conveyed
to us by books and languages, are liable to the common and
natural obscurities and difficulties incident to words;
methinks it would become us to be more careful and diligent
in observing the former, and less magisterial, positive, and
imperious, in imposing our own sense and interpretations of
the latter.[i-407]
In addition Franklin may have been influenced by Locke's implied
Newtonianism; he would suspect the subtleties of the Old South Church
when he read: "For the visible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power
appear so plainly in all the works of the creation, that a rational
creature, who will but seriously reflect on them, cannot miss the
discovery of a Deity."[i-408] Like Newton, Locke inferred an infinite
and benevolent Geometrician from "the magnificent harmony of the
universe."
Franklin also read Shaftesbury's _Characteristics_, which Warburton
quotes Pope as saying "had done more harm to revealed religion in
England than all the works of infidelity put together."[i-409] Although
he may have pondered over Shaftesbury's "virtuoso theory of
Benevolence," he was not one to be readily convinced of the innate
altruism of man. His Puritan heritage linked with an empirical realism
prevented him from becoming prey to Shaftesbury's a priori optimism. He
was aware of the potential danger of a complacent trust in natural
impulses, which often lead to
The love of sweet security in sin.
To what extent did Franklin's nascent humanitarianism--mildly provoked
by the neighborliness of Mather and Defoe--receive additional sanction
from Shaftesbury's doctrine that "compassion is the supreme form of
moral beauty, the neglect of it the greatest of all offenses against
nature's ordained harmony"?[i-410] Identifying self-love and social,
Shaftesbury saw the divine temper achieved through affection for the
public, the "universal good."[i-411] Born among men who were convinced
of the supremacy of scripture, Franklin would at first be astonished
(then perhaps liberated) upon reading in the _Characteristics_ that
"Religion excludes only perfect atheism."[i-412] From such a piece as
Shaftesbury's _An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit_ Franklin learned
that not all men preserved a union between theology and ethics,
scripture and religion. Although Shaftesbury occasionally indicated a
reverence for sacred scriptures, the totality of his thought was cast in
behalf of natural religion. He was convinced that the "Deity is
sufficiently revealed through natural Phenomena."[i-413] Extolling the
apprehension of the Deity through man's uniform reason, Shaftesbury
urbanely lampooned enthusiasm, that private revelation which threatened
to prevail against the _consensus gentium_.
By 1725 Franklin had divorced theology from morality and morality from
conscience, having punctuated his youth with faunish "errata."[i-414]
Although he was as a youth too much at ease in Zion, he did not lose
substantial (if then a theoretic) faith in the struggle between the law
of the spirit and the law of the members. Nurtured by the Bible, Bunyan,
Addison and Steele, Tryon, Socrates, and Xenophon--a blend of Christian
and classical traditions--he felt the reasonableness, if not the
saintliness, of curbing the resolute sway of his natural self.[i-415]
After five years with James, a year in Philadelphia where part of the
time he worked with Samuel Keimer,[i-416] a fanatic and bearded
Camisard, Franklin, through the duplicity of Governor Keith, found
himself in November, 1724, aboard the _London-Hope_, England-bound. It
would be unfair to Franklin were we to think him a primitive colonist to
whom England was an unreal, incalculable land. We remember that James
knew the London of Anne, Addison, Steele, Locke, and Newton. And we have
seen that the _New England Courant_ library was one of which no London
gentleman and scholar need have been ashamed. As a worker on this
newspaper Franklin had set up the names and some indications of the
thoughts of such men as Fénelon, Tillotson, Defoe, Swift, Butler, Bayle,
Isaac Watts, Blount, Burnet, Whiston, Temple, Trenchard and Gordon,
Denham, Garth, Dryden, Milton, Locke, Flamstead, and Newton.[i-417]
During his two years in London, working successively in the printing
houses of Samuel Palmer and James Watts, he mingled with many of the
leaders of the day. Probably because he had, while yet in America, read
(in the transactions of the Royal Society) of the virtuosi's interest in
asbestos, he wrote to Sir Hans Sloane, offering to show him purses made
of that novel stuff.[i-418] And we know that Sir Hans Sloane received
Franklin in his home at Bloomsbury Square. Before he met other notables
he published (what he called later an "erratum") _A Dissertation on
Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain_ (1725).[i-419] Franklin
himself said this work was the result of his setting up Wollaston's _The
Religion of Nature Delineated_[i-420] at Palmer's and his not agreeing
with the author's "reasonings." Coming to Wollaston's work (with
Franklin's _Dissertation_ and _Articles of Belief_ in mind) we can,
however, see much that Franklin agreed with, general principles which do
little more than reflect the current patterns of thought. Like Franklin,
Wollaston saw Reason as "the great law of our nature."[i-421] With Locke
he denied innate ideas.[i-422] That part of _The Religion of Nature
Delineated_ in which he searched with laborious syllogistic reasoning
for the Ultimate Cause (which could not produce itself) may have been
boring to the less agile mind of the young printer. Wollaston, however,
apologized for his syllogistic gymnastics offered in proof of Deity
since "much more may those greater motions we see in the world, and the
phenomena attending them" afford arguments for such a proof:
I mean the motions of the planets and the heavenly bodies.
For _these_ must be put into motion, either by one Common
mighty Mover, acting upon them immediately, or by causes and
laws of His Appointment; or by their respective movers, who,
for reasons to which you can by this time be no stranger,
must depend upon some _Superior_, that furnished them with
the power of doing this.[i-423]
With Newtonian rapture he marveled at "the grandness of this fabric of
the world,"[i-424] at "the chorus of planets moving periodically, by
uniform laws." Rapt in wonder, he gazed "up to the fixt stars, that
radiant numberless host of heaven." Like a Blackmore, Ray, Fontenelle,
or Newton, he felt that they were "probably all possest by proper
inhabitants."[i-425] He wondered at the "just and geometrical
arrangement of things."[i-426] These are all sentiments that Franklin
expressed in his philosophical juvenilia.[i-427] But then, Franklin
(after reading this sublimated geometry which reduced the parts of
creation to an equally sublime simplicity) noted in Wollaston that man
must be a free agent,[i-428] that good and evil are as black and white,
distinguishable,[i-429] that empirically the will is free, the author
urging with Johnsonian good sense, "The short way of knowing this
certainly is to try."[i-430] Franklin's _Dissertation_ was dedicated to
his friend James Ralph and prefaced by a misquotation from Dryden and
Lee's _Oedipus_. It purports, as Franklin wrote in 1779, "to prove the
doctrine of fate, from the supposed attributes of God ... that in
erecting and governing the world, as he was infinitely wise, he knew
what would be best; infinitely good, he must be disposed, and infinitely
powerful, he must be able to execute it: consequently all is
right."[i-431] With confidence lent him by his a priori method, he
proposed: "I. There is said to be a First Mover, who is called God,
Maker of the Universe. II. He is said to be all-wise, all-good,
all-powerful."[i-432] With the nonchalance of an abstractionist, he
concluded, "Evil doth not exist."[i-433] Transcending the sensational
necessitarianism[i-434] of Anthony Collins and John Locke, Franklin
observed (with an eye on Newton's law of gravitation) that man has
liberty, the "Liberty of the same Nature with the Fall of a heavy Body
to the Ground; it has Liberty to fall, that is, it meets with nothing to
hinder its Fall, but at the same Time it is necessitated to fall, and
has no Power or Liberty to remain suspended."[i-435] As a disciple of
Locke's psychology, Franklin reflected his concept of the _tabula rasa_
in describing an infant's mind which "is as if it were not." "All our
Ideas are first admitted by the Senses and imprinted on the Brain,
increasing in Number by Observation and Experience; there they become
the Subjects of the Soul's Action."
In the _Dissertation_ one can discover the extent to which Franklin had
absorbed (if not from Newton's own works, then from his popularizers and
intellectual sons such as Pemberton, Franklin's friend) several of the
essential tenets of Newtonianism. Here we see his belief in a universe
motivated by immutable natural laws comprising a sublimely harmonious
system reflecting a Wise Geometrician; a world in which man desires to
affect a corresponding inner heaven. Enraptured by the order of the
natural laws of Newtonianism, and like a Shaftesbury searching for a
demonstrable inner harmony, Franklin (carrying his a priorism to logical
absurdity) was unable to reconcile free will with Omniscience,
Omnipotence, and Goodness. (In how far was this partly the result of his
having been steeped in Calvinism's doctrine of Election?)
The _Dissertation_ is as appreciative of Newton's contribution to
physics and thought as Thomson's[i-436] _To the Memory of Sir Isaac
Newton_. Not unlike Franklin's framework is Shaftesbury's thought in
_An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit_.[i-437] Since Franklin
acknowledged his reading of Shaftesbury and since as late as 1730 he
borrowed heavily from the _Characteristics_, it seems probable that
Shaftesbury lent Franklin in this case some sanction for his only
metaphysical venture.[i-438]
As one result of his printing _A Dissertation_ he made the acquaintance
of Lyons, author of _The Infallibility of Human Judgement_[i-439] who
introduced him to Mandeville[i-440] and Dr. Henry Pemberton, who in
turn "Promis'd to give me an opportunity, some time or other, of seeing
Sir Isaac Newton, _of which I was extreamly desirous_; but this never
happened [the italics are the editors']."[i-441] Dr. Pemberton,
physician and mathematician, met Newton in 1722, and during the time
Franklin enjoyed his friendship was helping Newton to prepare the third
edition of the _Principia_. As a result of his aiding Newton "to
discover and understand his writings,"[i-442] Pemberton in 1728
published _A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy_. It is obvious that
Franklin could have discovered few men with a more concentrated and
enthusiastic knowledge of Newtonianism than that possessed by Dr.
Pemberton. As we have already noted, Franklin undoubtedly derived his
appreciation of Newtonian speculation not from grubbing in the
_Principia_ but from secondary sources. There is no reason to apologize
for Franklin on this score when we remember that Voltaire, who
popularized Newtonianism in France, exclaimed: "Very few people read
Newton because it is necessary to be learned to understand him. But
everybody talks about him." Desaguliers, coming to London from Oxford in
1713, observed that "he found all Newtonian philosophy generally
receiv'd among persons of all ranks and professions, and even among the
ladies by the help of experiments."[i-443] Pemberton wrote that the
desire after knowledge of Newtonianism "is by nothing more fully
illustrated, than by the inclination of men to gain an acquaintance with
the operations of nature; which disposition to enquire after the causes
of things is so general, that all men of letters, I believe, find
themselves influenced by it."[i-444] Through the sublimated mathematics
of the _Principia_, Pemberton observed, "the similitude found in all
parts of the universe makes it undoubted, that the whole is governed by
one supreme being, to whom the original is owing of the frame of nature,
which evidently is the effect of choice and design."[i-445] To what
extent Franklin later gave evidence of his knowledge of Newtonian
speculation we shall further discover in his _Articles of Belief_.
He returned in the summer of 1726 on the _Berkshire_ to Philadelphia
with Mr. Denham, a sweetly reasonable Quaker.[i-446] During this
journey he wrote his _Journal of a Voyage from London to Philadelphia_,
indicating a virtuoso's interest in all novel phenomena of nature. In
Philadelphia he worked for Denham, then Keimer, and finally established
his own printing house in 1728, a year after founding the Junto,[i-447]
and the year of his _Articles of Belief_. By this time, Franklin, like
Hume, wearied of metaphysics. Commonly this creed has been described as
illustrating the deism of Lord Herbert of Cherbury. It is true that
Franklin admits a God who ought to be worshipped, the chief parts of
worship being the cultivation of virtue and piety; but there is no
suggestion of Lord Herbert's fourth and fifth dogmas, that sin must be
atoned for by repentance, and that punishment and rewards follow this
life. His reaction against Calvinism may be shown in his failure to
include reference to scripture, the experience of faith, and the triune
godhead presided over by the redeemer Christ. As a deist he accepted
"one supreme, most perfect Being." This Deity is the "Author and Father
of the Gods themselves." "Infinite and incomprehensible," He has created
many gods, each having "made for himself one glorious Sun, attended with
a beautiful and admirable System of Planets." Franklin offered his
adoration to that "Wise and Good God, who is the author and owner of our
System." It is conventional to suggest that his interest in the
plurality of worlds and gods should be traced to Plato's
_Timaeus_.[i-448] In the absence of any conclusive evidence concerning
Franklin's study of Plato, and in view of his profound awareness of
contemporary scientific and philosophical thought, it seems more
reasonable to see the source of this idea in the thought of his own age.
Let us remember that with the growth of the heliocentric cosmology there
resulted a vast expanse of the unknown, bound to intrigue the
speculations of the philosophers of the age. We know that Ray, Fénelon,
Blackmore, Huygens, Fontenelle, Shaftesbury, Locke, and Newton all
wondered about the plurality of worlds and gods.
In company with the supernatural rationalists and deists, Franklin
exalted Reason as the experience through which God is discovered and
known. Through Reason he is "capable of observing his Wisdom in the
Creation." With Newtonian zeal, upon observing "the glorious Sun, with
his attending Worlds," he saw the Deity responsible first for imparting
"their prodigious motion," and second for maintaining "the wondrous Laws
by which they move." As we have seen above, this argument from the
design of creation to a Creator was one of the most influential and
popular of the impacts of Newtonian physics. Like Fénelon, Blackmore,
and Ray, whom he read and recommended that others read,[i-449] Franklin
exclaimed:
Thy Wisdom, thy Power, and thy Goodness are everywhere
clearly seen; in the air and in the water, in the Heaven and
on the Earth; Thou providest for the various winged Fowl, and
the innumerable Inhabitants of the Water; thou givest Cold
and Heat, Rain and Sunshine, in their Season, [et cetera].
In addition to the works mentioned above which aided Franklin in
arriving at a natural religion, it is certain that his views and even
idiom received stout reinforcement from such a passage as follows from
Ray's classic work:
There is no greater, at least no more palpable and convincing
argument of the existence of a Deity, than the admirable act
and wisdom that discovers itself in the make and
constitution, the order and disposition, the ends and uses of
all the parts and members of this stately fabric of heaven
and earth; for if in the works of art ... a curious edifice
or machine, counsel, design, and direction to an end
appearing in the whole frame, and in all the several pieces
of it, do necessarily infer the being and operation of some
intelligent architect or engineer, why shall not also in the
works of nature, that grandeur and magnificence, that
excellent contrivance for beauty, order, use &c. which is
observable in them, wherein they do as much transcend the
effects of human art as infinite power and wisdom exceeds
finite, infer the existence and efficacy of an omnipotent and
all-wise Creator?[i-450]
Then he directly referred to the Archbishop of Cambray's _Traité de
l'existence et des attributs de Dieu_. Oliver Elton observes that this
work "with its appeal to popular science, is the chief counterpart in
France to the 'physico-theology' current at the time in England."[i-451]
From the skeleton of the smallest animal, "the bones, the tendons, the
veins, the arteries, the nerves, the muscles, which compose the body of
a single man"[i-452] to "this vaulted sky" which turns "around so
regularly,"[i-453] all show "the infinite skill of its Author."[i-454]
Although Fénelon is applying Cartesian physics, here Descartes
reinforced Newtonianism; like Newton, Fénelon argued that cosmic motion
is ordered by "immutable laws," so "constant and so salutary."
Blackmore's _Creation, a Philosophical Poem_ (1712), aiming to
demonstrate "the existence of a God from the marks of wisdom, design,
contrivance, and the choice of ends and means, which appear in the
universe"[i-455] also furnished additional sanction for Franklin's
emphasis on the wondrous laws of the creation and the discovery of the
Deity in his Work. Like James Thomson, Blackmore seeks to show how
The long coherent chain of things we find
Leads to a Cause Supreme, a wise Creating Mind.[i-456]
In revolt against the contractile elements in Calvinism, Franklin
believed that God "is not offended, when he sees his Children solace
themselves in any manner of pleasant exercises and Innocent
Delights."[i-457] In his _Articles of Belief_ Franklin retains from his
_Dissertation_ his a priori concept of the Deity as a creator and
sustainer of "Wondrous Laws," immutable and beneficent. To the
depersonalized First Mover, however, he has added "some of those
Passions he has planted in us," and he suggests furthermore that the
Deity is mildly providential. A maker of systematic, if inhuman,
metaphysics in the _Dissertation_, the author of the _Articles_, in
spite of the superficial and embryonic metaphysics, succeeds better in
making himself at home in his world. To this embryonic religion (linked
with Franklin's obsession with the plurality of worlds and gods--of no
real significance save to indicate picturesquely the extent to which he
had, with the scientists of his age, extended the limits of the physical
universe) Franklin welded a pattern of ethics, prudential but stern.
Mr. Hefelbower's description of the growth of free thought might
appropriately be applied to Franklin's _Articles_: "As the supernatural
waned in radical Deism, the ethical grew in importance, until religion
was but a moral system on a theistic background."[i-458] Although the
metaphysical portions of this work are far too neighborly and casual to
be inspiring and provocative of saintliness, the ethical conclusions
(would that they were uttered less consciously and complacently!) are
worthy of the introspective force of New England's stern mind, of the
classic tradition of Socrates and Aristotle, and of England's unbending
emphasis on the middle way.[i-459] One could learn from the _Articles_
how to be just, if he did not discover what is meant by the beauty of
holiness. In 1728 Franklin, though bewildered by the tenuousness of
metaphysics, based his religion on the "everlasting tables of right
reason," plumbing the "mighty volumes of visible nature." He was thus
our pioneer scientific deist, who discovered his chief sanction in
popularized Newtonian physics.
Following Franklin's formal profession of deism buttressed by Newtonian
science in 1728, one must depend on scattered references to plot the
persistence of his philosophic ideology. His _Dialogues between
Philocles and Horatio_ (1730), borrowed[i-460] from Shaftesbury's _The
Moralists_, suggest that his _moral_ speculations were dual and not
reconciled; he seems torn between humanitarian compassion and the
self-development of the individual, unable to decide which is the nobler
good. One may observe that this moral bifurcation was inveterate in
Franklin's mind, never resolving itself into a fondness for the idea
that human nature is inexorably the product of institutions and outward
social forms. _A Witch Trial at Mount Holly_ suggests that he felt free
to handle scriptures with Aristophanic levity. His intellectual
conviction of a matchless physical harmony, as yet unmatched in the
world by a corresponding moral harmony, is joyously seen in _Preface to
Poor Richard, 1735_:
Whatever may be the Musick of the Spheres, how great soever
the Harmony of the Stars, 'tis certain there is no Harmony
among the Stargazers; but they are perpetually growling and
snarling at one another like strange Curs....[i-461]
Even Polly Baker is made to appeal to "nature and nature's God,"[i-462]
discovering in her bastard children the Deity's "divine skill and
admirable workmanship in the formation of their bodies." In _Proposals
Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania_ (1749) Franklin
remarked in a note on Natural Philosophy that "Proper Books may be,
Ray's _Wisdom of God in the Creation_, Derham's _Physico-Theology_,
[Pluche's?] _Spectacle de la Nature, &c._"[i-463] _Poor Richard_, in
addition to prognostications of weather, survey of roads, Rabelaisian
wit, and aphoristic wisdom, was a popular vehicle for the diffusion of
a Newtonianism bordering on a mild form of deism.[i-464]
Since Franklin's interest in science is too commonly discussed as if his
research were synonymous with a tinkering and utilitarian inventiveness,
it is pertinent to inquire in how far it was at least partially (or even
integrally) the result of his philosophic acceptance of Newtonianism.
Since his philosophic rationale preceded his activities in science, it
will not do to suggest that his interest in science was responsible for
his scientific deism. He wrote (August 15, 1745) to Cadwallader Colden,
who was receptive to Newtonianism, that he [Franklin] "ought to _study_
the sciences" in which hitherto he had merely dabbled.[i-465] Then
follow his electrical experiments. In one of his famous letters on the
properties and effects of electricity (sent to Peter Collinson, July 29,
1750) he allowed that the principle of repulsion "affords another
occasion of adoring that wisdom which has made all things by weight and
measure!"[i-466] Investigating--like a Newton--nature's _laws_, Franklin
at first hand added to his philosophic assurance of the existence of a
Deity, observable in the physical order.
In 1739 Franklin met Reverend George Whitefield, whose sermons and
journals he printed while the evangelist remained in the
colonies.[i-467] He first angled public opinion through the
_Pennsylvania Gazette_, promising to print Whitefield's pieces "if I
find sufficient Encouragement."[i-468] The _Pennsylvania Gazette_
piously hoped that Whitefield's heavenly discourses would be ever
remembered: "May the Impression on all our Souls remain, to the Honour
of God, both in Ministers and People!"[i-469] As editor (perhaps even
writer of some of those notices) Franklin must have squirmed in praising
the activities of one who daily cast all deists in hell! But it should
be observed that if Franklin could not accept Methodistic zeal, he loved
Whitefield, the man.[i-470] Even so did Whitefield regard Franklin, the
man and printer--though not the scientific deist. Waiting to embark for
England in 1740, Whitefield wrote to Franklin from Reedy Island: "Dear
Sir, adieu! I do not despair of your seeing the reasonableness of
Christianity. Apply to God, be willing to do the Divine Will, and you
shall know it."[i-471] Twelve years later Whitefield wrote to his
printer-deist friend: "I find that you grow more and more famous in the
learned world. As you have made a pretty considerable progress in the
mysteries of electricity, I would now humbly recommend to your diligent
unprejudiced pursuit and study the mysteries of the new birth."[i-472]
When troops had been sent to Boston, Franklin wrote a letter to
Whitefield (after January 21, 1768) which offers a significant clue for
estimating Franklin's philosophy: "I _see_ with you that our affairs are
not well managed by our rulers here below; I wish I could _believe_ with
you, that they are well attended to by those above; I rather suspect,
from certain circumstances, that though the general government of the
universe is well administered, our particular little affairs are perhaps
below notice, and left to take the chance of human prudence or
imprudence, as either may happen to be uppermost. It is, however, an
uncomfortable thought, and I leave it."[i-473] Whitefield "endorsed his
friend's letter with the words, '_Uncomfortable_ indeed! and blessed be
God, _unscriptural_!'"[i-474] If in 1786 Franklin wrote to an unknown
correspondent (perhaps Tom Paine?)[i-475] that any arguments "against
the Doctrines of a particular Providence" strike "at the Foundation of
all Religion,"[i-476] he also had written not long before that "the
Dispensations of Providence in this World puzzle my weak Reason."[i-477]
Beneath the taciturn and allegedly complacent, imperturbable Franklin
there is apparent a haunting inquietude. Never dead to his Calvinist
heritage, he sought to establish a providential relationship between the
Deity and man's fortunes, not a little chilled in the presence of the
virtually depersonalized Deity of the Enlightenment. If Calvin's God was
wrathful, he was providential; his own Deity, if benevolent and
omnipotent, seemed strangely remote from the ken of man's moral
experience. Science had shown him a Deity existing at the head of a
fagot of immutable laws. If this Creator was picturesquely unlike the
fickle gods of Olympus, he was strangely like them to the extent that he
seemed to exist apart from man's moral nature. When he wrote to his
friend, the Bishop of St. Asaph, "It seems my Fate constantly to wish
for Repose, and never to obtain it,"[i-478] was he in part longing for
the retirement when he would be able to resolve his doubts as to the
workings of Providence?
M. Marbois, discussing Franklin's religion with John Adams, quietly
noted that "Mr. Franklin adores only great Nature."[i-479] Joseph
Priestley "lamented that a man of Dr. Franklin's general good character
and great influence should have been an unbeliever in Christianity, and
also have done so much as he did to make others unbelievers."[i-480]
This evidence appears untrustworthy in light of his diffident attitude
toward church attendance, even toward scriptures, as it may be
discovered in his collected works.[i-481] Even if he did not feel the
desire to attend formal services, he seemed, like Voltaire, to feel that
they were salutary, if only to furnish the _canaille_ with the will to
obey authority. In 1751 Franklin's mother, Abiah Franklin, wrote to her
son: "I hope you will lookup to God, and thank Him for all His good
providences towards you."[i-482] If he were unable to understand God's
providences, it was certain that he did not seek to disturb others by
calling the concept of a providential deity into question.
In England and France Franklin was revered as the answer to the
Enlightenment's prayer for the ideal philosopher-scientist. Sir John
Pringle,[i-483] one of his warmest friends, in a Royal Society lecture
in honor of Maskelyne, might well have been describing Franklin's place
in eighteenth-century science when he said: "As much then remains to be
explored in the celestial regions, you [Maskelyne] are encouraged, Sir,
by what has been already attained, to persevere in these hallowed
labours, from which have been derived the greatest improvements in the
most useful arts, and the loudest declarations of the power, the wisdom,
and the goodness of the Supreme Architect in the Spacious and beautiful
fabric of the world."[i-484] To his age Franklin was "that judicious
philosopher," judicious and "enlightened" to the extent that his
experiments showed how men "may perceive not only the direction of
Divine Wisdom, but the _goodness_ of Providence towards mankind, in
having so admirably settled all things in the sublime arrangement of the
world, that it should be in the power of men to secure themselves and
their habitations against the dire effects of lightning."[i-485]
Turgot's famous epigram on Franklin, the republican-deist, that he
snatched sceptres from kings and lightning from the heavens, in part
expressed the extent to which the French public conceived of Franklin,
the scientist, as detracting from the terror in the cosmos, hence making
their reasonable world more habitable.[i-486] In the popular mind
death-dealing lightning had been the visible symbol and proof of
Calvin's wrathful and capricious Jehovah. Franklin's dramatic and widely
popularized proof that even lightning's secrets were not past finding
out, that it acted according to immutable laws and could be made man's
captive and menial slave, no doubt had a powerful influence in
encouraging the great untheological public to become ultimately more
receptive to deism. If Franklin was apotheosized as the apostle of
liberty, he was no less sanctified as a "Modern Prometheus." In his own
words, he saw science as freeing man "from vain Terrors."[i-487] To
Condorcet, his friend and disciple, Franklin was one who "was enabled to
wield a power sufficient to disarm the wrath of Heaven."[i-488]
He expressed his creed just before his death in the often-quoted letter
to Ezra Stiles.[i-489] Bearing in mind his inveterate scientific deism,
we are not surprised that his religion is one created apart from
Christian scripture, that Jesus is the conventional, amiable
philosopher, respected but not worshipped by the Enlightenment. If he
seems convinced in this letter that God "governs" the universe "by his
Providence," we have seen above that his attitude toward the Deity's
relation to man and his world was anything but sure and free from
disturbing reflection. Convinced that the Deity "ought to be
worshipped," he next observed "that the most acceptable service we
render to him is doing good to his other children." His a priori concept
of a benevolent Deity whose goodness is expressed in the harmony of the
creation, in effect challenged him to attempt to approximate this
kindness in his relations with his fellow men. Apart from provoking
humanitarianism, primarily an ethical experience guided not by
sentimentality but by reason and practicality. Franklin's natural
religion--like deism in general--failed, as scriptural religion does
not, to establish a union between theology, the religious life, and
ethical behavior. It must be seen that Franklin had no confidence in
achieving the good life through mere fellow-service: he continually
urged man to conquer passion through reason, seeming to covet pagan
sobriety more than he did the satisfaction of having aided man to
achieve greater physical ease. If he felt that "to relieve the
misfortunes of our fellow creatures is concurring with the Deity; it is
godlike,"[i-490] he warned against helping those who had failed to help
themselves, implying that the inner growth of the individual is more
significant than his outward charity to others. Whatever be the ultimate
resolution of these antithetic principles, we see that his
humanitarianism was the offspring of his a priori conceived Deity,
augmented by his experiments in science which led to discovery of
nature's laws. His emphasis on the inward and vertical growth of the
individual toward perfection, on the other hand, may be viewed as the
expression of the introspective force of his Puritan heritage and his
knowledge, direct and indirect, of classical literature. As in the
polarity of his thoughts concerning Providence, so here we see that the
_modus operandi_ of his mind is explicable in terms of the interplay of
the old and the new, Greek paganism (Socratic self-knowledge) and
Christianity and the rationale of the Enlightenment.
Before he became an economist, a statesman, a man of letters, a
scientist, he had embraced scientific deism, primarily impelled by
Newtonianism. We have observed that it is not improbable that his
agrarianism, emphasis on free trade, and tendency toward laissez faire
were partially at least the result of his efforts to parallel in
economics the harmony of the physical order. Likewise, his views on
education were conditioned by his faith in intellectual progress, in the
might of Reason, which in turn was in part the result of his scientific
deism. Then too, it may well be suggested that his theories of rhetoric
were to some degree the result of his rationalistic and scientific
habits of mind. We have also seen that his scientific deism was among
the motivating factors of his belief in natural rights, which, coupled
with his empirical awareness of concrete economic and political abuses
issuing from monarchy and imperialistic parliamentarians, made him alive
to the sovereignty of the people in their demands for civil and
political liberty. This introduction, it is hoped, has made apparent the
fact that the growth of Franklin's mind was a complex matter and that it
was moulded by a vast multitude of often diverse influences, no one of
which alone completely "explains" him. Puritanism, classicism, and
neoclassicism were all important influences. Yet perhaps the _modus
operandi_ of this myriad-minded colonial, this provincial Leonardo, is
best explained in reference to the thought pattern of scientific deism.
To see the reflection of Newton and his progeny in Franklin's
activities, be they economic, political, literary, or philosophical,
lends a compelling organic unity to the several sides of his genius,
heretofore seen as unrelated. Franklin's mind represents an intellectual
coherence--an imperfect counterpart to the physical harmony of the
Newtonian order, of which all through his life he was a disciple.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote i-1: _The Works of John Adams_, ed. by C. F. Adams (Boston,
1856), f, 660.]
[Footnote i-2: W. P. Trent, "Benjamin Franklin," _McClure's Magazine_,
VIII, 273 (Jan., 1897).]
[Footnote i-3: Cited in C. R. Weld's _History of the Royal Society_
(London, 1848), I, 146. For Baconian influence see I, 57 f. See also
Edwin Greenlaw, "The New Science and English Literature in the
Seventeenth Century," _Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine_, XIII, 331-59
(1925). Of dominant tendencies he stresses (a) a "new realism, or sense
of fact and reliance on observation and experiment"; (b) the disregard
for authority in favor of free inquiry; and (c) the development of faith
in progress, inspiring men to improve their worldly condition.]
[Footnote i-4: E. A. Burtt, _The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern
Physical Science_, 208. Newtonianism as a method and a philosophy has
been ably examined by recent scholars. See, for examples, C. Becker,
_The Declaration of Independence_, especially chap. II, and _The
Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers_; and in
Bibliography, pp. cli ff., below, W. M. Horton (chap. II); C. S. Duncan;
H. Drennon; L. Bloch; E. Halévy. See also Isabel St. John Bliss,
"Young's _Night Thoughts_ in Relation to Contemporary Christian
Apologetics," _Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XLIX,
37-70 (March, 1934); J. H. Randall, _The Making of the Modern Mind_
(Boston, 1926), chap. X ff.; H. H. Clark, "An Historical Interpretation
of Thomas Paine's Religion," _University of California Chronicle_, XXXV,
56-87 (Jan., 1933), and "Toward a Reinterpretation of Thomas Paine,"
_American Literature_, V, 133-45 (May, 1933).]
[Footnote i-5: Burtt, _op. cit._ 223.]
[Footnote i-6: Article, "Deism."]
[Footnote i-7: Article, "Nature."]
[Footnote i-8: P. Smith, _A History of Modern Culture_ (New York, 1934),
II, 17-8.]
[Footnote i-9: See S. Hefelbower, _The Relation of John Locke to English
Deism_.]
[Footnote i-10: _Primitivism and the Idea of Progress in English Popular
Literature of the Eighteenth Century_, 168-9: "One inference that might
be drawn from the theory was that while the infant whose mind is a blank
page at birth is not so well off from the primitivistic point of view as
the one who comes into the world already equipped with a complete set of
the laws of nature and a predisposition to obey them, he is infinitely
better off than the infant whose poor little mind had been loaded with
original sin by his remote ancestors. For the orthodox baby, born in
sin, there is almost no hope, except in supernatural aid; but if we
suppose that man's ideas are all derived, as Locke postulated, from
sense-impressions, then we may conclude that all men, rich and poor,
primitive and civilized, are on an equal footing intellectually at
birth. Although the primitive child does not have the help of
civilization in the development of his mind, neither does he have its
superstitions, prejudices, and corrupting influences; and he might
actually be better off than the product of civilization--at least so
many a primitivist argued. But one might draw another inference from the
_tabula rasa_ theory. Men, however corrupt they are now, may still have
a chance of regeneration if their mind is really like blank paper at
birth." For eighteenth-century primitivism see also H. N. Fairchild,
_The Noble Savage_ (New York, 1928).]
[Footnote i-11: H. J. Laski, _Political Thought in England from Locke to
Bentham_ (New York, 1920), 9. See also W. A. Dunning, _A History of
Political Theories from Luther to Montesquieu_; G. S. Veitch, _Genesis
of Parliamentary Reform_; and G. P. Gooch, _English Democratic Ideas in
the Seventeenth Century_ (2d ed., Cambridge, England, 1927).]
[Footnote i-12: K. Martin, _French Liberal Thought in the Eighteenth
Century_, 13.]
[Footnote i-13: See J. B. Bury, _The Idea of Progress_, chap. VIII; and
J. Morley, _Diderot and the Encyclopædists_, I, 6: "The great central
moral of it all was this: that human nature is good, that the world is
capable of being made a desirable abiding-place, and that the evil of
the world is the fruit of bad education and bad institutions."]
[Footnote i-14: "Shaftesbury and the Ethical Poets in England,
1700-1760," _Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XXXI (N.
S. XXIV), 277 (June, 1916).]
[Footnote i-15: See Bury, _op. cit._; Whitney, _op. cit._; and J.
Delvaille, _Essai sur l'histoire de l'idée de progrès_ (Paris, 1910).]
[Footnote i-16: R. Crane, "Anglican Apologetics and the Idea of
Progress, 1699-1745," _Modern Philology_, XXXI, 273-306 (Feb., 1934),
and 349-82 (May, 1934).]
[Footnote i-17: _The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century
Philosophers_, 30-1.]
[Footnote i-18: N. L. Torrey, _Voltaire and the English Deists_.]
[Footnote i-19: D. Mornet, _French Thought in the Eighteenth Century_,
50-1. Also see his _Les sciences de la nature en France au XVIII^e
siècle_ (Paris, 1911), and R. L. Cru, _Diderot as a Disciple of English
Thought_ (New York, 1913). See Morley, _op. cit._, I, 31 ff., and
Martin, _op. cit._]
[Footnote i-20: _An Account of the Destruction of the Jesuits in France_
(Glasgow, 1766), 61.]
[Footnote i-21: Consult M. Roustan, _The Pioneers of the French
Revolution_, and L. Ducros, _French Society in the Eighteenth Century_.]
[Footnote i-22: Quoted in J. Fiske's _The Beginnings of New England_,
73. For the seventeenth-century New England way, see especially F. H.
Foster, _A Genetic History of the New England Theology_ (Chicago, 1907);
P. Miller, _Orthodoxy in Massachusetts, 1630-1650: A Genetic Study_
(Cambridge, Mass., 1933); B. Wendell, _Cotton Mather, The Puritan
Priest_; I. W. Riley, _American Philosophy: The Early Schools_, 3-58 and
_passim_; H. W. Schneider, _The Puritan Mind_; J. Haroutunian, _Piety
versus Moralism_; R. and L. Boas, _Cotton Mather: Keeper of the Puritan
Conscience_ (New York, 1928). See Bk. V of Mather's _Magnalia_, "prose
epic of New England Puritanism" (B. Wendell, _Literary History of
America_, 50).]
[Footnote i-23: Prior to the Treaty of Paris (1763) the American
colonies were indebted primarily to English liberalism for ideas
subversive of colonial orthodoxy. If works of Fénelon, Fontenelle,
Bayle, Voltaire, and Rousseau are occasionally found in the colonies
prior to 1763, these are dwarfed beside the impact of such English minds
as those of Trenchard and Gordon, Collins, Wollaston, Tillotson, Boyle,
Shaftesbury, Locke, and Newton. It was only in the twilight of the
century that French liberalism, itself nursed on English speculation,
began to impinge on the thought-life of the colonies. See H. M. Jones,
_America and French Culture_. Also see L. Rosenthal, "Rousseau at
Philadelphia," _Magazine of American History_, VII, 46-55. See works of
Riley, Koch, Gohdes, Morais, in Bibliography, pp. cli ff., below.]
[Footnote i-24: Fiske, _op. cit._, 124.]
[Footnote i-25: F. J. Turner, _The Frontier in American History_ (New
York, 1920), 30.]
[Footnote i-26: _Ibid._, 38.]
[Footnote i-27: Whitney, _op. cit._, 83-4.]
[Footnote i-28: See R. M. Jones, _The Quakers in the American Colonies_
(London, 1921).]
[Footnote i-29: T. Hornberger's "The Date, the Source, and the
Significance of Cotton Mather's Interest in Science," _American
Literature_, VI, 413-20 (Jan., 1935), offers evidence to show that
Mather's thought in this work is latent in earlier works.]
[Footnote i-30: K. Murdock (ed.), _Selections from Cotton Mather_ (New
York, 1926), xlix-l; see G. L. Kittredge items (Murdock, lxii), and
Hornberger, _op. cit._]
[Footnote i-31: Murdock, _op. cit._, 286.]
[Footnote i-32: _Ibid._, 292.]
[Footnote i-33: _Ibid._, 349.]
[Footnote i-34: Riley, _op. cit._, 196.]
[Footnote i-35: Quoted in H. M. Morais, _Deism in Eighteenth Century
America_, 25.]
[Footnote i-36: _Ibid._, 17. See also G. A. Koch, _Republican
Religion_.]
[Footnote i-37: _Travels in North America, in the Years 1780, 1781, and
1782_ (London, 1787), I, 445.]
[Footnote i-38: F. E. Brasch, "Newton's First Critical Disciple in the
American Colonies--John Winthrop," in _Sir Isaac Newton, 1727-1927_
(Baltimore, 1928), 301.]
[Footnote i-39: H. and C. Schneider (eds.), _Samuel Johnson, President
of Kings College: His Career and Writings_ (New York, 1929), I, 6.]
[Footnote i-40: _Ibid._, I, 8-9. It will be remembered that Thomas Young
was struck with science and deism while at Yale: he it was who
introduced liberal ideas to that militant prince of deists (with Thomas
Paine), Ethan Allen.]
[Footnote i-41: _Jacobus Rohaultus physica Latine reddita et annotata
ex, Js. Newtonii principiis_ (1697).]
[Footnote i-42: _Literary Diary_, I, 556 (1775).]
[Footnote i-43: D. Stimson, _The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican
Theory_, 48.]
[Footnote i-44: See S. E. Morison, "The Harvard School of Astronomy in
the Seventeenth Century," _New England Quarterly_, VII, 3 (March,
1934).]
[Footnote i-45: _Ibid._, 7. In 1672 Harvard received her first
telescope. Such men as Winthrop and Thomas Brattle were actively
interested in science.]
[Footnote i-46: F. Cajori, _The Teaching and History of Mathematics in
the United States_, U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information,
No. 3, 1890 (Washington, D. C.), 22.]
[Footnote i-47: Brasch, _op. cit._, 308.]
[Footnote i-48: _Dictionary of American Biography_, VII, 591-2.]
[Footnote i-49: _The Newtonian System of the World ..._ (Westminster,
1728), 30.]
[Footnote i-50: _Ibid._, 6.]
[Footnote i-51: See J. Quincy, _History of Harvard University_ (Boston,
1860 [1840]), II, 4-21.]
[Footnote i-52: Jan. 12, 1727, Feb. 23, and others. Also see June 13 and
July 11 of 1734.]
[Footnote i-53: See advertisements in _Boston Gazette_, June 17-24,
1734, quoted in W. G. Bleyer's _Main Currents in the History of American
Journalism_, 73-4.]
[Footnote i-54: _Op. cit._, 25.]
[Footnote i-55: _Literary Diary_, II, 334.]
[Footnote i-56: Through the kindness of the Hollis family, Harvard (by
1764) gained a remarkable collection of scientific instruments,
possessed the Boylean lectures, Transactions of the Royal Society and of
the Academy of Science in Paris, the works of Boyle and Newton, "with a
great variety of other mathematical and philosophical treatises"
(Quincy, _op. cit._, II, 481). Notable among these items are Chambers's
_Cyclopædia_, received in 1743, and Pemberton's _View of Sir Isaac
Newton's Philosophy_, in 1752.]
[Footnote i-57: A. Bradford, _Memoir of the Life and Writings of Rev.
Jonathan Mayhew ..._ (Boston, 1838), 18-9, 46.]
[Footnote i-58: _Ibid._, 50.]
[Footnote i-59: _Ibid._, 305. Mayhew is on record as saying: "The
inspired scriptures are our only rule of faith and conduct" (_ibid._,
140).]
[Footnote i-60: _Ibid._, 75. On the other hand, he reacts against what
deism and orthodox rationalism commonly became: "A religion consisting
in nothing but a knowledge of God's attributes, and an external conduct
agreeable to his laws, would be a lifeless, insipid thing. It would be
neither a source of happiness to ourselves, nor recommend us to the
approbation of him, who requires us 'to give him our hearts.'"]
[Footnote i-61: _Ibid._, 464.]
[Footnote i-62: _Two Discourses Delivered Oct. 9th, 1760 ..._ (Boston,
1760), 66.]
[Footnote i-63: _Election-Sermon_, May 27, 1747 (Boston, 1747), 9.]
[Footnote i-64: _A Sermon_ [election], May 31, 1769 (Boston, 1769), 5.]
[Footnote i-65: _Election-Sermon_, May 30, 1781 (Boston, 1781), 4.]
[Footnote i-66: _Election-Sermon_, May 28, 1783 (Boston, 1783), 29.]
[Footnote i-67: _Ibid._, 54.]
[Footnote i-68: _Election-Sermon_, May 31, 1780 (Boston, 1780), 21.]
[Footnote i-69: _Election-Sermon_, May 27, 1778 (Boston, 1778), 7.]
[Footnote i-70: _Election-Sermon_, May 29, 1765 (Boston, 1765), 17.]
[Footnote i-71: _Life of Ezra Stiles_ (Boston, 1798), _passim_; see
especially pp. 34-54.]
[Footnote i-72: See his _United States Elevated to Glory and Honour
..._, May 8, 1783 (Worcester, 1785).]
[Footnote i-73: See _Literary Diary_ for his inveterate interest in
science and the laws of nature; see also I. M. Calder (ed.), _Letters &
Papers of Ezra Stiles ..._ (New Haven, 1933).]
[Footnote i-74: See Hornberger, _op. cit._, 419.]
[Footnote i-75: For full backgrounds, see G. P. Gooch, _English
Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century_, W. A. Dunning, _A History
of Political Theories from Luther to Montesquieu_; H. L. Osgood,
"Political Ideas of the Puritans," _Political Science Quarterly_, VI,
1-29, 201-31; Mellen Chamberlain, _John Adams ... with Other Essays_
(Boston, 1898), especially pp. 19-53, stressing the influence of
Puritanism on political liberalism; Alice Baldwin, _The New England
Clergy and the American Revolution_; J. W. Thornton, _The Pulpit of the
American Revolution_ (Boston, 1860), a collection of election sermons
edited with an extensive introduction; C. H. Van Tyne, "The Influence of
the Clergy ... in the American Revolution," _American Historical
Review_, XIX, 44-64. In stressing the influence on Franklin of European
ideas, it is important to remember that, as we shall see, it is probable
that some of Franklin's interest in doing good (charity), in science,
and in democracy may have been inspired by his exposure during his
formative years to American Puritanism.]
[Footnote i-76: _The Writings of Benjamin Franklin_, ed. by Albert Henry
Smyth (New York, 1905-1907), I, 300; (hereafter referred to as
_Writings_). For a scholarly exposition of backgrounds of educational
theory in relation to philosophy, especially the cult of progress, see
A. O. Hansen's _Liberalism and American Education in the Eighteenth
Century_, which includes a valuable bibliography. This work, however,
slights Franklin and Jefferson.]
[Footnote i-77: _Writings_, I, 312.]
[Footnote i-78: For an exhaustive survey of the means Franklin pursued
to educate himself, and suggestive notes on his ideas of education, see
F. N. Thorpe's _Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania_,
chaps. I-II, 9-203. See also Thomas Woody's _Educational Views of
Benjamin Franklin_ (New York, 1931), which in addition to relevant
selections from Franklin's works contains stimulating observations by
the editor.]
[Footnote i-79: _Writings_, I, 323.]
[Footnote i-80: _Essays to do Good_, with an Introductory Essay by
Andrew Thomson (Glasgow, 1825 [1710]), 189.]
[Footnote i-81: _Ibid._, 102.]
[Footnote i-82: _Ibid._, 192-3.]
[Footnote i-83: See his letter to Samuel Mather, May 12, 1784
(_Writings_, IX, 208-10).]
[Footnote i-84: _The Works of Daniel Defoe_, ed. by Wm. Hazlitt (London,
1843), I.]
[Footnote i-85: _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_, 119. Also see
his "Learned Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth Century,"
_American Historical Review_, XXXVII, 258 (1932), in which he suggests
that the Junto "had Masonic leanings."]
[Footnote i-86: These and others quoted in Woody, _op. cit._, 45-6
(reprinted from Sparks, _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_, II, 9-10).]
[Footnote i-87: _Writings_, II, 88.]
[Footnote i-88: _Ibid._, II, 89.]
[Footnote i-89: _Ibid._]
[Footnote i-90: _Ibid._, II, 90.]
[Footnote i-91: Questions suggestive of the Junto's interest in moral,
political, and philosophical topics are: "Is self-interest the rudder
that steers mankind, the universal monarch to whom all are tributaries?"
which causes one to suspect that Franklin had challenged his friends
with _The Fable of the Bees_; "Can any one particular form of government
suit all mankind?" which may have stirred controversies in the Junto
between logical relativists and historic absolutists, the realists and
those motivated by a priori abstractions, as, for example, in the
Burke-Paine intellectual duel; "Whether it ought to be the aim of
philosophy to eradicate the passions?" which may tend to suggest that
Franklin would gear philosophy to moral action rather than to arid
metaphysics.]
[Footnote i-92: _Writings_, I, 312.]
[Footnote i-93: _Ibid._, I, 322.]
[Footnote i-94: Since writing this the editors have noted Morais's
fragmentary use of the Company's catalogues in _Deism In Eighteenth
Century America_. For popular accounts of the general character and
function of the Company see L. Stockton, "The Old Philadelphia Library,"
_Our Continent_, Oct., 1882, 452-9; J. M. Read, Jr., "The Old
Philadelphia Library," _Atlantic Monthly_, March, 1868, 299-312; B.
Samuel, "The Father of American Libraries," _Century Magazine_, May,
1883, 81-6. The ablest survey is G. M. Abbot's _A Short History of the
Library Company of Philadelphia_. He lists, however, only the first
books ordered in 1732 through Peter Collinson.]
[Footnote i-95: Cited in Abbot, _op. cit._, 5.]
[Footnote i-96: Photostat used as source is in the William Smith Mason
Collection in Evanston, Ill.]
[Footnote i-97: "The Letters and Papers of Cadwallader Colden, Vol. II,
1730-1742," _Collections of the New York Historical Society_ (New York,
1919), II, 146-7. See also A. M. Keys, _Cadwallader Colden: A
Representative Eighteenth-Century Official_ (New York, 1906), 6-7.]
[Footnote i-98: _American Philosophy: The Early Schools_, 330.]
[Footnote i-99: _An Historical Account of the Origin and Formation of
the American Philosophical Society_ (Philadelphia, 1914); J. G.
Rosengarten, in "The American Philosophical Society," tends to agree
with Du Ponceau.]
[Footnote i-100: _Writings_, II, 229.]
[Footnote i-101: _The History of the Royal Society of London ..._ (2d
ed., London, 1702), 61.]
[Footnote i-102: _Ibid._, 64.]
[Footnote i-103: _Writings_, II, 230.]
[Footnote i-104: In 1750 he wrote: "Nor is it of much importance to us,
to know the manner in which nature executes her laws; 'tis enough if we
know the laws themselves. 'Tis of real use to know that china left in
the air unsupported will fall and break; but _how_ it comes to fall, and
_why_ it breaks, are matters of speculation. 'Tis a pleasure indeed to
know them, but we can preserve our china without it" (_Writings_, II,
434-5). We remember that even Sir Isaac Newton confessed that "the
_cause_ of gravity is what I do not pretend to know" (_Works of Richard
Bentley_, London, 1838, III, 210). He observed that "Gravity must be
caused by an agent acting constantly according to certain laws; but
whether this agent be material or immaterial, I have left to the
consideration of my readers" (_ibid._, 212).]
[Footnote i-105: _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XIII,
247-8 (1889).]
[Footnote i-106: Franklin was unable to prevail upon Johnson to accept
the provostship of the Academy. In 1752 he printed Johnson's _Elementa
Philosophica_ and suggested in _Idea of the English School_ that it be
used in the Academy. In a letter of 1754 Franklin informs Johnson that
the grammatical and mathematical parts were already being used--the rest
would be when the instructors and pupils were ready for it (E. E.
Beardsley, _Life and Correspondence of S. Johnson, D. D._, 2d ed., New
York, 1874, 180-1). In the _Elementa Philosophica_ Johnson stresses the
use of mathematics in man's study of nature (p. xv). Through
mathematics, an indispensable aid in "considering that wonderful and
amazing Power, that All-comprehending Wisdom, that inimitable Beauty,
that surprizing Harmony, that immutable Order, which abundantly discover
themselves in the Formation and Government of the Universe, we are led
to their divine Original, who is the unexhausted Source, the glorious
Fountain of all Perfection ..." (_ibid._, xiii). The _Elementa_ is a
rhapsodic manual extolling the discovery of the Deity in his Work,
through the study of the physical laws of the creation. Although
subordinated to this, there are frequent reactions against Lockian
sensationalism, suggesting an ecstatic mystical union between man and
God. On the whole, the volume is a treatise on the glories of a natural
religion (a religion of course which buttresses rather than refutes
scriptural religion).]
[Footnote i-107: Quoted in T. H. Montgomery's _A History of the
University of Pennsylvania_, 396. Smith's educational principles may be
partially seen in his "View of the Philosophy Schools" (1754) printed in
H. W. Smith's _Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith_
(Philadelphia, 1879), I, 59 f. Although he conceived Nature as affording
only "those fainter exhibitions of the Deity" (I, 156), he was a sturdy
orthodox rationalist, tending toward, yet not embracing deism.
Emphasizing the principal writings of Barrow, Maclaurin, Watts, Keill,
Locke, Hutcheson, 'sGravesande, Martin, Desaguliers, Rohault (Clarke's
edition), Ray, Derham, and Sir Isaac Newton, Smith suggests the
rationalist who buttresses scriptural revelation with the evidences of
Deity through discovery by reason of the Workman in the Work. His
_Discourses on Public Occasions in America_ (2d ed., London, 1762) are
the result "of his office as Head of a seminary of learning
[Philadelphia Academy and College]; in order to advance the interests of
Science, and therewith the interests of true Christianity" (p. vi). "A
General Idea of the College of Mirania" (1762), though written about
1752 while Smith was in New York, suggests the form of his "View": he
observes that "besides his revealed will, God has given intimations of
his will to us, by appealing to our senses in the constitution of our
nature, and the constitution and harmony of the material universe"
(_Discourses_, 44). The same titles and authors are listed as in the
"View." A Newtonian rationalist, Smith meditated: "All thy works, with
unceasing voice, echo forth thy wondrous praises. The splendid sun, with
the unnumbered orbs of heaven, thro' the pathless void, repeat their
unwearied circuits, that, to the uttermost bounds of the universe, they
may proclaim Thee the source of justest order and unabating harmony"
(_ibid._, 155). Smith arrived at his principles of rationalism
apparently without indebtedness to Franklin: there seems to be no
evidence that as provost he was merely attempting to fulfill the
scientific and rationalistic ideas latent in Franklin's _Proposals_,
that he was a tool in Franklin's hands. Indeed, they were anything but
friendly to one another. Hence, one feels that the credit for the
relatively modern curriculum should be given more abundantly to Smith
than to Franklin.]
[Footnote i-108: _Writings_, II, 388.]
[Footnote i-109: Montgomery, _op. cit._, 254 note.]
[Footnote i-110: _Writings_, II, 9-14.]
[Footnote i-111: _Writings_, X, 29.]
[Footnote i-112: _Ibid._, X, 31. Compare similar views in Benjamin
Rush's "Observations upon the Study of the Latin and Greek Languages,"
in _Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical_ (Philadelphia, 1798), and
Francis Hopkinson's "An Address to the American Philosophical Society,"
in _Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings_ (Philadelphia, 1792),
I.]
[Footnote i-113: _Writings_, IV, 22.]
[Footnote i-114: _Ibid._, VI, 153.]
[Footnote i-115: Quoted in J. B. Bury's _The Idea of Progress_, 104. See
also Lois Whitney's _Primitivism and the Idea of Progress_, especially
chap. V.]
[Footnote i-116: Bury, _op. cit._, 96.]
[Footnote i-117: _Writings_, VIII, 451.]
[Footnote i-118: For example see _ibid._, IX, 74, 557.]
[Footnote i-119: See _Writings_, VIII, 454.]
[Footnote i-120: See R. M. Gummere, "Socrates at the Printing Press.
Benjamin Franklin and the Classics," _Classical Weekly_, XXVI, 57-9
(Dec. 5, 1932).]
[Footnote i-121: Several of the following arguments are included in C.
E. Jorgenson's "Sidelights on Benjamin Franklin's Principles of
Rhetoric," _Revue Anglo-Américaine_, Feb., 1934, 208-22.]
[Footnote i-122: Hume wrote to Franklin: "You are the first philosopher,
and indeed the first great man of letters for whom we are beholden to
her [America]" (_Writings_, IV, 154). Cowper exclaimed that Franklin was
"one of the most important [men] in the literary world, that the present
age can boast of" (Parton, _op. cit._, II, 439); for other engaging
estimates of Franklin as a man of letters consult C. W. Moulton,
_Library of Literary Criticism ..._, IV, 79-106.]
[Footnote i-123: Franklin found in an appendix to Greenwood's _English
Grammar_ and in the _Memorabilia_ specimens of the Socratic method which
influenced him to adopt the manner of "the humble inquirer and doubter,"
to write and harangue with a "modest diffidence." On several occasions
he approvingly quotes Pope's rule: "to speak, tho' sure, with seeming
Diffidence." Jefferson recognized Franklin's use of this kind of
Machiavellian diffidence, noting, "It was one of the rules which, above
all others, made Dr. Franklin the most amiable of men in society, never
to contradict anybody," and that "if he was urged to announce an
opinion, he did it rather by asking questions, as if for information, or
by suggesting doubts." In the _Autobiography_ Franklin sees the Socratic
method as a necessary ally to "doing good," observing that many who mean
to be helpful "lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming
manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to
defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us."]
[Footnote i-124: Bunyan's dignified simplicity, his "sound and honest
Gospel strains," may have been one of Franklin's incentives to write
lucidly and compellingly. For Bunyan's literary ideals, see the prefaces
to his works, especially that to _Grace Abounding_. The best study of
Defoe and Swift as literary theorists is W. Gückel and E. Günther, _D.
Defoes und J. Swifts Belesenheit und literarische Kritik_ (Leipzig,
1925).]
[Footnote i-125: E. C. Cook, _Literary Influences in Colonial
Newspapers, 1704-1750_, 15. This scholarly work shows the great
influence in America of neoclassical authors.]
[Footnote i-126: For a generous catalog of the devices borrowed see
_ibid._, 15 f.]
[Footnote i-127: _Spectator_, No. 167.]
[Footnote i-128: For a fuller discussion of Franklin's view of the
ancients, see section on "Franklin's Theories of Education," p. xxxii
above.]
[Footnote i-129: Cited in R. F. Jones, "Science and English Prose Style
...," _Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XLV, 982 (Dec.,
1930). On the backgrounds of literary theories underlying the sermons
which Franklin heard, see scholarly studies such as Caroline F.
Richardson's _English Preachers and Preaching, 1640-1670_ (New York,
1928), and W. F. Mitchell's _English Pulpit Oratory_ (New York, 1932).
From 1750 on, however, the Puritan clergy in America increasingly
advocated a simple, clear, and easy style. See Howard M. Jones,
"American Prose Style; 1700-1770," _Huntington Library Bulletin_, No. 6,
115-51 (Nov., 1934).]
[Footnote i-130: _History of the Royal Society ..._ (2d ed., London,
1702), 113.]
[Footnote i-131: R. F. Jones, _op. cit._, 989. Tillotson, whom Franklin
suggested as a model worthy of emulation (_Writings_, II, 391), was
"another great exponent of the new style" (R. F. Jones, _op. cit._,
1002).]
[Footnote i-132: L. M. MacLaurin (_Franklin's Vocabulary_, 21) also
suggests Franklin's probable indebtedness to the Royal Society program.]
[Footnote i-133: O. Elton, _The Augustan Age_, 8-12.]
[Footnote i-134: A. O. Lovejoy, "The Parallel of Deism and Classicism,"
_Modern Philology_, XXIX, 281-99 (Feb., 1932).]
[Footnote i-135: Franklin's friend Henry Pemberton, in his _View of Sir
Isaac Newton's Philosophy_ (London, 1728), had said (pp. 2-3) that the
Newtonian thirst for knowledge, especially of the causes of the
operations of nature, had become "so general, that all men of letters, I
believe, find themselves influenced by it."]
[Footnote i-136: _Writings_, II, 157.]
[Footnote i-137: _Ibid._, I, 37.]
[Footnote i-138: _Ibid._, I, ix.]
[Footnote i-139: _Ibid._, III, 121. For his demand that sculpture and
music have "beautiful simplicity" of form see _ibid._, VII, 194; VIII,
578; IV, 210, 377-8, 381; V, 530; VIII, 94. On the basis of confusion of
genres, Franklin disliked the opera.]
[Footnote i-140: _Ibid._, I, 41. See also X, 33, 51.]
[Footnote i-141: Miss MacLaurin's research has disclosed that Franklin's
vocabulary (4,062 words, between 1722 and 1751) contained only 19 words
which "were discovered to be pure 'Americanisms,' and of these, 6 are
the names of herbs or grasses; 1 is derived from the name of an American
university, and 1 from the name of an American state" (_op. cit._,
38-9).]
[Footnote i-142: Quoted in Bruce, _op. cit._, II, 439. Also see his
letters to Noah Webster, _Writings_, I, 29; X, 75-6.]
[Footnote i-143: S. A. Leonard, _The Doctrine of Correctness in English
Usage, 1700-1800_, 14.]
[Footnote i-144: See L. Richardson, _A History of Early American
Magazines, 1741-1789_, index, for the vogue of Swift. In the library of
the _New England Courant_, as early as 1722, there was a copy of _The
Tale of a Tub_ (T. G. Wright, _Literary Culture in Early New England,
1620-1730_, 187-8). Franklin was probably indebted to the Dean for his
prophecies of the death of Titan Leeds (although he could have learned
the use of this device from Defoe). In _Idea of the English School_
Franklin recommends Swift for use in the sixth class (_Writings_, III,
28). His _Meditation on a Quart Mugg_ is undoubtedly derived from
Swift's _Meditation upon a Broomstick_, each forced to undergo the
indignities of a "dirty wench." In 1757 he made the acquaintance of Dr.
John Hawksworth, who in 1755 had edited Swift's works. It is likely that
this friendly union may have helped to produce Franklin's 1773
masterpieces of caustic irony and the disarmingly effective hoaxes.
Variously he quotes (acknowledged and otherwise) bits from Swift's
poetry and prose. See Herbert Davis's "Swift's View of Poetry," in
_Studies In English by Members of University College, Toronto_ (1931),
collected by M. W. Wallace.]
[Footnote i-145: _Writings_, III, 26.]
[Footnote i-146: To suggest that Franklin knew his Horace, see _ibid._,
VI, 150; VIII, 148.]
[Footnote i-147: It seems unnecessary to extend a discussion of the
didacticism inherent in Franklin's writing. Addison, and the ethical
bent of neoclassicism in general, impinging on a mind no small part of
which was motivated by its Puritan heritage, help to account for
Franklin's ethicism, a lifelong quality. References illustrating his
assumed role as _Censor Morum_ are: _Writings_, I, 37, 243; II, 4, 50,
101, 110-1, 117, 175. Franklin proposes not only to delight, but also,
in the Jonsonian and Meredithian sense, to instruct through a mild
catharsis brought about by holding up man's excesses and vagaries for
ridicule. He is firm in distinguishing good writing by its "tendency to
benefit the reader, by improving his virtue or his knowledge." Consonant
with Horace's
"To teach--to please--comprise the poet's views,
Or else at once to profit and amuse,"
and with Sidney's "to teach delightfully," Franklin's literary purpose
included a basic ethical motivation.]
[Footnote i-148: _Writings_, I, 226.]
[Footnote i-149: _Ibid._, I, 42-3.]
[Footnote i-150: Fully aware "that I am no _Poet born_" (Bruce, _op.
cit._, II, 498), apparently agreeing with his father that poets "were
generally beggars" (_Writings_ I, 240), Franklin allowed only that
writing poetry may improve one's language. Yet _Dogood Paper_ No. VII
and his estimate of Cowper (characterized by easiness in manner,
correctness in language, clarity of expression, perspicuity, and
justness of the sentiments) (_ibid._, VIII, 448-9), and the "Tears of
Pleasure" he shed over Thomson, all suggest that he was not wholly blind
to poetry. He hoped to see Philadelphia "become the Seat of the
_American_ Muses" (_ibid._, II, 245, 110; IV, 181, 184; VI, 437).]
[Footnote i-151: A. Bosker, _Literary Criticism in the Age of Johnson_,
34. For important qualifications see the thorough study by Donald F.
Bond, "'Distrust' of Imagination in English Neo-Classicism,"
_Philological Quarterly_, XIV, 54-69 (Jan., 1935). Those interested in
considering Franklin with reference to contemporary literary theory will
find full materials in J. W. Draper's _Eighteenth-Century English
Aesthetics: A Bibliography_, and additions to it by R. S. Crane, _Modern
Philology_, XXIX, 25 ff. (1931); W. D. Templeman, _ibid._, XXX, 309-16;
R. D. Havens, _Modern Language Notes_, XLVII, 118-20 (1932).]
[Footnote i-152: _Writings_, II, 24.]
[Footnote i-153: _Ibid._, V, 182; also II, 43, and VIII, 128, 163, 604.]
[Footnote i-154: See G. S. Eddy, "Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Library,"
_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 206-26
(Oct., 1924).]
[Footnote i-155: See C. E. Jorgenson, "Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais,"
_Classical Journal_, XXIX, 538-40 (April, 1934).]
[Footnote i-156: _The Travels of Cyrus._]
[Footnote i-157: _Independent Whig_ and _Cato's Letters_.]
[Footnote i-158: For an interesting summary of Franklin's references to
the classics, see R. M. Gummere, _op. cit._]
[Footnote i-159: Add to this, Franklin's use of the Swiftian hoax and
complex irony. After writing _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be
Reduced to a Small One_ (1773) he explained to a friend: "These odd ways
of presenting Matters to the publick View sometimes occasion them to be
more read, talk'd of, and more attended to" (_Writings_, VI, 137).
Parton observes that the _Edict of the King of Prussia_ "was the
nine-days' talk of the kingdom." Raynal unsuspectingly used Franklin's
_Polly Baker_, as an authentic document in his _Histoire ..._.
Franklin's _Exporting of Felons to the Colonies_, _The Sale of
Hessians_, and _A Dialogue between Britain, France, Spain, Holland,
Saxony, and America_ illustrate these trenchant devices used to achieve
a political purpose.]
[Footnote i-160: _Writings_, I, 49.]
[Footnote i-161: _The True Benjamin Franklin_, 158.]
[Footnote i-162: _Writings_, I, 239.]
[Footnote i-163: Smyth's note, _Writings_, VIII, 336.]
[Footnote i-164: _Writings_, I, 238.]
[Footnote i-165: _Writings_, X, 4 (to Mrs. Catherine Greene, March 2,
1789).]
[Footnote i-166: There were eight towns in the colonies which had
presses when Franklin went into business for himself: Cambridge, Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, New London (Conn.), Woodbridge (N.
J.), and Williamsburg. See Isaiah Thomas, _The History of Printing in
America_ (Worcester, 1810), II, _passim_.]
[Footnote i-167: "A printer of first-rate eminence," according to
Charles Henry Timperley's _A Dictionary of Printers and Printing_
(London, 1839), 714 note.]
[Footnote i-168: R. A. Austen Leigh, "William Strahan and His Ledgers,"
in _Transactions of the Bibliographical Society_, N. S. III, 286. For
Strahan see also Spottiswoode & Co.'s _The Story of a Printing House,
Being a Short Account of the Strahans and Spottiswoodes_ (London, 1911);
and Timperley, _op. cit._, 754-6.]
[Footnote i-169: See G. S. Eddy, "Correspondence Between Dr. Benjamin
Franklin and John Walter, Regarding the Logographic Process of
Printing," _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S.
XXXVIII, 349-69 (Oct., 1928).]
[Footnote i-170: _Writings_, II, 175.]
[Footnote i-171: See W. P. and J. P. Cutler, _Life, Journals and
Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler_, I, 269, letter of July 13,
1787; also G. S. Eddy, _op. cit._]
[Footnote i-172: See Thomas, _loc. cit._]
[Footnote i-173: A notable exception was the type of "letter to the
editor" which Franklin used as a means of suggesting reforms, such as
those affecting the city watch, the fire companies, and the cleaning and
lighting of the streets. See J. B. McMaster, _Benjamin Franklin as a Man
of Letters_, 82-5.]
[Footnote i-174: A correspondent of Franklin's paper commended Zenger's
stand (see _Pennsylvania Gazette_, May 11-18, 1738; reprinted in W. G.
Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism_, 66-7),
but Franklin shrewdly kept his own paper free of factional politics. See
Livingston Rutherford, _John Peter Zenger_ (New York, 1904).]
[Footnote i-175: See Clarence S. Brigham, "American Newspapers to 1820,"
_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXII, 157-9
(April, 1922), for detailed bibliography of the _Gazette_.]
[Footnote i-176: A. H. Smyth, _Philadelphia Magazines and Their
Contributors_, 200.]
[Footnote i-177: _Writings_, I, 360.]
[Footnote i-178: For a list of the printers with whom Franklin had such
connections, see M. R. King, "One Link in the First Newspaper Chain, the
_South Carolina Gazette," Journalism Quarterly_, IX, 257 (Sept., 1932).]
[Footnote i-179: For sketches of both magazines, see L. N. Richardson,
_A History of Early American Magazines_, 17-35, and F. L. Mott, _A
History of American Magazines_, 1741-1850, 71-7. See also Philip
Biddison, "The Magazine Franklin Failed to Remember," _American
Literature_, IV, 177 (June, 1932); the writer thinks certain accusations
in the Bradford-Franklin controversy over the magazines discreditable to
Franklin, so that the latter's lapse of memory saved him
"embarrassment."]
[Footnote i-180: See letter to John Wright, Nov. 4, 1789 (_Writings_, X,
60-3). For European backgrounds of Franklin's economic views see Gide
and Rist, in Bibliography. On American backgrounds the standard work is
E. A. J. Johnson's _American Economic Thought in the Seventeenth
Century_ (London, 1932), which shows the intimate relation between
economic and religious theories.]
[Footnote i-181: Lewis J. Carey, _Franklin's Economic Views_ (Garden
City, N. Y., 1928), 72.]
[Footnote i-182: Cited in Carey, 73. He had used in this article facts
lent by Benezet concerning the "detestable commerce" motivated in part
by English "laws for promoting the Guinea trade" (_Writings_, V,
431-2).]
[Footnote i-183: _Writings_, IX, 627.]
[Footnote i-184: In 1779 he professed mortification that the King of
France gave "freedom to Slaves, while a king of England is endeavouring
to make Slaves of Freemen" (_ibid._, VII, 402).]
[Footnote i-185: _Ibid._, IX, 404. See also _ibid._, 6.]
[Footnote i-186: Suggestive notes on this point may be found in N.
Foerster's article in the _American Review_, IV, 129-46 (Dec., 1934).]
[Footnote i-187: _Writings_, VI, 102. See also VI, 39-40.]
[Footnote i-188: _Ibid._, III, 66.]
[Footnote i-189: _Ibid._, III, 66-7.]
[Footnote i-190: _Ibid._, III, 68.]
[Footnote i-191: Carey, _op. cit._, 69.]
[Footnote i-192: _Writings_, III, 65.]
[Footnote i-193: _Ibid._, III, 73.]
[Footnote i-194: That others in the colonies saw slavery as an
economically unsound investment (without any reference to its being
_malum in se_) may be witnessed in an article in the _Boston
News-Letter_ (March 3, 1718): "In the previous year there had been
eighty burials of Indians and negroes in Boston. The writer argued that
the loss of £30 each amounted to £2,400. If white servants had been
employed instead, at £15 for the time of each, the 'town had saved
£1,200.' A man could procure £12 to £15 to purchase the time of a white
servant that could not pay £30 to £50 for a negro or Indian. 'The Whites
Strengthens [_sic_] and Peoples the Country, others do not'" (W. B.
Weeden, _Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789_, Boston,
1891, II, 456). Congruent with Franklin's _Observations_ is John Adams's
note that "Argument might have some weight in the abolition of slavery
in Massachusetts, but the real cause was the multiplication of labouring
white people, who would no longer suffer the rich to employ these sable
rivals so much to their injury" (_ibid._, II, 453).]
[Footnote i-195: In Franklin's view, slavery was also politically
subversive. In 1756 he feared that the slaves, along with servants and
loose people in general, would desert to the French (_Writings_, III,
359). Since the danger undoubtedly existed (_ibid._, VII, 48, 69),
Franklin had a right to be sardonic in commenting on Dr. Johnson's
advice that slaves be incited "to rise, cut the throats of their
purchasers, and resort to the British army, where they should be
rewarded with freedom" (_ibid._, X, 110-1).]
[Footnote i-196: Printed in _Maryland Gazette_ (Dec. 17, 1728); later as
pamphlet (April 3, 1729).]
[Footnote i-197: Carey, _op. cit._, 7. See _Writings_ I, 306-7, for
Franklin's own account of the effect of this work.]
[Footnote i-198: C. J. Bullock, _Essays on the Monetary History of the
United States_, 51.]
[Footnote i-199: Weeden, _op. cit._, II, 485.]
[Footnote i-200: _Financial History of the United States_, 21. Bullock
observes another factor: "Sooner or later all the plantations were
deeply involved in the mazes of a fluctuating currency, for the burdens
attending the various wars of the eighteenth century were so great as to
induce even the most conservative colonies to resort to this easy method
of meeting public obligations" (_op. cit._, 33).]
[Footnote i-201: _Writings_, II, 133-5.]
[Footnote i-202: See Carey, _op. cit._, chap. I, for suggestive survey
of this pamphlet. Carey points out Franklin's indebtedness to writings
of Sir William Petty.]
[Footnote i-203: Carey (chap. II, "Value and Interest") quotes Franklin:
"Riches of a Country are to be valued by the Quantity of Labour its
inhabitants are able to purchase, and not by the Quantity of Silver and
Gold they possess" (_Writings_, II, 144).]
[Footnote i-204: See, for example, _Plan for Saving One Hundred Thousand
Pounds_, 1755 (_Writings_, III, 293-5).]
[Footnote i-205: Writings, IV, 420: _Examination of Benjamin Franklin_.
He was obliged to admit that Massachusetts colonists had taken a calmer
view of the 1751 act (IV, 428).]
[Footnote i-206: G. L. Beer, _British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765_, 188.]
[Footnote i-207: Although it is true that Pennsylvania suffered less
from paper money because of better security (Carey, _op. cit._, 23
note), it seems curious that Franklin should have been blind to the
evils of inflation and the operations of Gresham's law.]
[Footnote i-208: Paper in William Smith Mason Collection; cited in
Carey, _op. cit._, 20. See also _Writings_, V, 189, in which he repeats
the threat. British restraint must hence provoke colonial "industry and
frugality."]
[Footnote i-209: _Writings_, VII, 294. Cf. _ibid._, IX, 231-6.]
[Footnote i-210: See _Writings_, VII, 275, 335, 341.]
[Footnote i-211: To Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1783 (_Writings_, IX,
93-5).]
[Footnote i-212: In 1779 (see _Writings_, VII, 294) Franklin explained
that the French knew little of paper currency. Mr. Carey offers
convincing evidence to show that Franklin helped to predispose the
deputies of the first National Assembly to use assignats (_op. cit._,
27-33). See _Of the Paper Money of the United States of America_
(_Writings_, IX, 231-6).]
[Footnote i-213: J. F. Watson, _Annals of Philadelphia_ (1844 ed.), I,
533.]
[Footnote i-214: Cited by J. Rae in his _Life of Adam Smith_ (London,
1895), 265.]
[Footnote i-215: _Ibid._, 266. See Carey's chapter, "Franklin's
Influence on Adam Smith," for an exhaustive survey of the _personalia_
linking Adam Smith and Franklin. Both were in London in 1773-1776 and
were occasional companions, having in 1759 met in Edinburgh at the home
of Dr. Robertson. Probably they again met in Glasgow during the same
year. Smith could have received copies of Franklin's works through Hume
and Lord Kames; among Franklin's works in Smith's library was
_Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind_; when Smith in the
_Wealth of Nations_ observes that colonial population doubles in every
twenty to twenty-five years, it seems reasonable to infer that he was
beholden to Franklin for the suggestion. It is within the realm of
reasonable inference, says Mr. Carey, that Franklin did, as Parton
urges, help to educate Smith in the colonial point of view. T. D. Eliot,
in "The Relations Between Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin before 1776,"
_Political Science Quarterly_, XXXIX, 67-96 (March, 1924), after calling
attention to the lack of extant correspondence between them and the
silence of their contemporaries concerning a vital relationship, shows a
reasonable hesitancy in observing that little is known about Smith's
alleged debt to Franklin. Like Wetzel and Carey, Eliot thinks the debt
has been exaggerated. He has been unable to prove Dr. Patten's intuition
that in 1759 Franklin went to Smith in Scotland to urge him to write a
treatise on colonial policy. In 1765 Turgot met Adam Smith. In the
following year he published his _Réflexions sur la formation et la
distribution des richesses_, antedating Smith's _Wealth of Nations_ by
ten years. See J. Delvaille's _Essai sur l'histoire de l'idée de
progrès_ (Paris, 1910), chap. IV, on Adam Smith; and Carey, _op. cit._,
152, 158-9, for the relationship between Turgot and Franklin.]
[Footnote i-216: Although both Franklin and Smith held to the labor
theory of value (Franklin was indebted to Petty for his use of the
term), Smith was confirmed in his belief before he knew of Franklin or
his works.]
[Footnote i-217: According to Jacob Viner ("Adam Smith and Laissez
Faire," in _Adam Smith, 1776-1926. Lectures to Commemorate the
Sesqui-Centennial of the Publication of 'The Wealth of Nations_,'
116-55), "Smith's major claim to fame ... seems to rest on his elaborate
and detailed application to the economic world of the concept of a
unified natural order, operating according to natural law, and if left
to its own course producing results beneficial to mankind" (p. 118),
which suggests, especially in _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, that
self-love and social are the same. When Smith came to write the _Wealth
of Nations_, he tended, Viner asserts, to distrust the operations of the
harmonious natural order--yet Viner admits that many passages tend to
corroborate his earlier view expressed in _Theory of Moral Sentiments_
and that "There is no possible room for doubt that Smith in general
believed that there was, to say the least, a stronger presumption
against government activity beyond its fundamental duties of protection
against its foreign foes and maintenance of justice" (p. 140). We shall
see elsewhere that Franklin seems to have urged a less frugal
governmental restraint in activities other than economic.]
[Footnote i-218: _The Colonial Mind_, 173. It is generally thought that
_Principles of Trade_ is "partly" Franklin's "own composition" (Carey,
_op. cit._, 161).]
[Footnote i-219: Philadelphia, Sept. 13, 1775: MS letter (unpublished)
in W. S. Mason Collection.]
[Footnote i-220: London, Sept. 29, 1769: MS letter (unpublished) in W.
S. Mason Collection.]
[Footnote i-221: London, Feb. 20, 1768 (_Writings_, V, 102).]
[Footnote i-222: Dated April 4, 1769 (_ibid._, V, 200-2).]
[Footnote i-223: _Writings_, V, 202.]
[Footnote i-224: Cited by F. W. Garrison in "Franklin and the
Physiocrats," _Freeman_, VIII, 154-6 (Oct. 24, 1923).]
[Footnote i-225: Dupont de Nemours's opinion of Franklin (_Writings_, V,
153-4).]
[Footnote i-226: _Writings_, V, 156. See W. Steell's entertaining "The
First Visit to Paris," in _Benjamin Franklin of Paris_, 3-21; also E. E.
Hale and E. E. Hale, Jr., _Franklin in France_, I, 7-13.]
[Footnote i-227: C. Gide and C. Rist, _A History of Economic Doctrines_,
4 note.]
[Footnote i-228: _Writings_, V, 155.]
[Footnote i-229: As an _experimental_ agriculturist Franklin has been
given too little honor. He performed many valuable services in
introducing Old-World plants, trees, and fruits to the New, and in
encouraging others to carry on practical botanical experiments.
Particularly from 1747 to 1757 he experimented in agriculture and was in
constant communication with that pioneer scientific husbandman, Jared
Eliot. See E. D. Ross's "Benjamin Franklin as an Eighteenth-Century
Agriculture Leader," _Journal of Political Economy_, XXXVII, 52-72
(Feb., 1929).]
[Footnote i-230: Although no scholarly substitute for the works of
Quesnay, Mirabeau, Mercier de la Rivière, Dupont de Nemours, Le Trosne,
Abbé Bandeau, Abbé Roubaud, and some pieces of the occasional physiocrat
Turgot, the following will enable the student to derive adequately for
general purposes the thought of the Économistes: H. Higgs, _The
Physiocrats_ (1897); Gide and Rist, op. cit.; L. H. Haney, _History of
Economic Thought_ (1911), 133-57; G. Weulersse, _Le mouvement
physiocratique en France (de 1756 à 1770)_; A. Smith, _Wealth of
Nations_, Bk. IV, chap. IX; J. Bonar, _Philosophy and Political Science_
(1893); in addition see critical and interpretative writings of Oncken,
Stem, Kines, Hasbach, Schelle, Bauer, Feilbogen, De Lavergne.]
[Footnote i-231: An integral idea of the French school was its advocacy
of the _impôt unique_--a single tax on land. It is difficult to find
evidence to controvert Mr. Carey's assertion that Franklin seems never
to have advocated this tax (_op. cit._, 154). However, in marginalia on
a pamphlet by Allan Ramsay, Franklin held: "Taxes must be paid out of
the Produce of the Land. There is no other possible Fund" (cited by
Carey, 155). Another reference is found in a letter of 1787 to Alexander
Small: "Our Legislators are all Land-holders; and they are not yet
persuaded, that all taxes are finally paid by the Land" (_Writings_, IX,
615). It is probable that he felt that a land tax would be dubiously
effective in view of the difficulties of collection in sparse
settlements.]
[Footnote i-232: _Writings_, II, 313 (July 16, 1747). See also _Note
Respecting Trade and Manufactures_, London, July 7, 1767 (Sparks, II,
366):
"Suppose a country, X, with three manufactures, as _cloth_,
_silk_, _iron_, supplying three other countries. A, B, C, but
is desirous of increasing the vent, and raising the price of
cloth in favor of her own clothiers.
In order to do this, she forbids the importation of foreign
cloth from A.
A, in return, forbids silks from X.
Then the silk-workers complain of a decay of trade.
And X, to content them, forbids silks from B.
B, in return, forbids iron ware from X.
Then the iron-workers complain of decay.
And X forbids the importation of iron from C.
C, in return, forbids cloth from X.
What is got by all these prohibitions?
_Answer._--All four find their common stock of the enjoyments
and conveniences of life diminished."]
[Footnote i-233: _Writings_, IV, 469-70.]
[Footnote i-234: _Ibid._, V, 155.]
[Footnote i-235: Passy, May 27, 1779 (_Writings_, VII, 332).]
[Footnote i-236: _Ibid._, IV, 242-5 (April 30, 1764). As Mr. Carey
notes. Franklin in several places. _On the Labouring Poor_ and in a
letter (IX, 240-8), suggests that private vices--demands for
luxuries--make public benefits, hence resembling, if not ultimately
derived from, Mandeville's _Fable of the Bees_. Franklin's sanction of
free trade is, however, antithetical to Mandeville's 'dog eat dog'
basis. (See Kaye's Intro. to _The Fable of the Bees_, xcviii ff.)
Franklin in no uncertain terms looks upon trade restrictions definitely
as the result of "the abominable selfishness" of men (VII, 332). As long
as selfishness is the rule, mercantilism, not economic laissez faire,
will be king. It is theoretically probable also that belief in man's
innate altruism could furnish emotional if not logical sanction for
laissez faire--but this abstraction is in Franklin's case futile, since
like Swift he was not blind to man's malevolence!]
[Footnote i-237: _Writings_, IV, 245; see also _ibid._, VIII, 107-8,
261, 19.]
[Footnote i-238: _Ibid._, IX, 41; also 63, 578, 588.]
[Footnote i-239: Cited in Carey, _op. cit._, 160-1.]
[Footnote i-240: See Gide and Rist, _op. cit._, 7 note.]
[Footnote i-241: _Ibid._, 7 note.]
[Footnote i-242: _Ibid._]
[Footnote i-243: Mercier de la Rivière, cited in _ibid._, 8 note.]
[Footnote i-244: _Ibid._, 9-10.]
[Footnote i-245: "Economics and the Idea of Natural Law," _Quarterly
Journal of Economics_, XLIV, 16 (1929). See also O. H. Taylor's valuable
dissertation, "The Idea of a 'Natural Order' in Early Modern Economic
Thought," summarized in Harvard University _Summaries of Theses_, 1928,
102-6, and available in manuscript at the Harvard University Library.]
[Footnote i-246: Taylor, "Economics and the Idea of Natural Law," _loc.
cit._, 16.]
[Footnote i-247: Even this fragmentary view of the more obvious economic
principles held by Franklin offers convincing evidence that had he been
less incidentally an economist he would have been at least a lesser Adam
Smith. Mr. Wetzel, in _Benjamin Franklin as an Economist_, offers a
convenient summary of Franklin as an economist, some items suggesting
aspects of his views which, had space permitted, we should have included
in this study: "1. Money as coin may have a value higher than its
bullion value. 2. Natural interest is determined by the rent of so much
land as the money loaned will buy. 3. High wages are not inconsistent
with a large foreign trade. 4. Population will increase as the means of
gaining a living increase. 5. A high standard of living serves to
prolong single life, and thus acts as a check upon the increase of
population. 6. People are adjusted among the different countries
according to the comparative well-being of mankind. 7. The value of an
article is determined by the amount of labor necessary to produce the
food consumed in making the article. 8. While manufactures are
advantageous, only agriculture is truly productive. 9. Manufactures will
naturally spring up in a country as the country becomes ripe for them.
10. Free trade with the world will give the greatest return at the least
expense. 11. Wherever practicable, State revenue should be raised by
direct taxes."]
[Footnote i-248: _Writings_, II, 110.]
[Footnote i-249: _Ibid._, II, 295. In 1736 Franklin wrote: "Faction, if
not timely suppressed, may overturn the balance, the palladium of
liberty, and crush us under its ruins" (cited in R. G. Gettell, _History
of American Political Thought_, 149).]
[Footnote i-250: W. R. Shepherd, _History of Proprietary Government in
Pennsylvania_ (New York, 1896), 5.]
[Footnote i-251: _Writings_, II, 351.]
[Footnote i-252: _Ibid._]
[Footnote i-253: _Ibid._, II, 352.]
[Footnote i-254: _Ibid._, II, 347.]
[Footnote i-255: Shepherd, _op. cit._, 222. In 1764 Penn thought that
Franklin was one "who may lose the government of a post office by
grasping at that of a province" (_ibid._, 564). In turn one of the
proprietors wrote to him: "Franklin is certainly destined to be our
plague" (_ibid._, 566). Penn professed not to fear "your mighty
Goliath." For proof that Franklin's fear expressed in _Plain Truth_ was
not idle see _Extracts from Chief Justice William Allen's Letter Book_,
17, 22-3, 25, 31-2.]
[Footnote i-256: _Plain Truth_ inspirited the colonists to defend
themselves, even if it failed in its larger purpose; see _Writings_, II,
354, 362.]
[Footnote i-257: To James Parker, March 20, 1750/51 (_Writings_, III,
40-5). L. C. Wroth, in _An American Bookshelf_, 1755 (Philadelphia,
1934), 12 ff., reviews A. Kennedy's _The Importance of Gaining the
Friendship of the Indians to the British Interest_ (1751), to which was
appended a letter, prefiguring the Albany Plan of Union. This letter,
Mr. Wroth observes, was by Franklin. C. E. Merriam states that "The
storm centre of the democratic movement during the colonial period was
the conflict between the governors and the colonial legislatures or
assemblies" (_A History of American Political Theories_, 34). Also see
E. B. Greene, _The Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North
America_.]
[Footnote i-258: _Writings_, III, 71.]
[Footnote i-259: Cited in G. L. Beer, _British Colonial Policy_,
1754-1765, 17.]
[Footnote i-260: _Writings_, III, 197.]
[Footnote i-261: For a suggestive source study see Mrs. L. K. Mathews's
"Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union, 1750-1775," _American
Political Science Review_, VIII, 393-412 (Aug., 1914).]
[Footnote i-262: Cited in Beer, _op. cit._, 49.]
[Footnote i-263: _Writings_, III, 242.]
[Footnote i-264: _Ibid._, III, 226. As Beer has pointed out (_op. cit._,
23 note), since the plan was not ratified, it never went before the
Crown; hence Franklin's retrospective glance is misleading: "The Crown
disapproved it, as having placed too much Weight in the Democratic Part
of the Constitution; and every Assembly as having allowed too much to
Prerogative. So it was totally rejected" (_Writings_, III, 227).]
[Footnote i-265: _Ibid._, III, 233.]
[Footnote i-266: To Peter Collinson, Nov. 22, 1756 (_Writings_, III,
351).]
[Footnote i-267: As A. H. Smyth says, this was probably _inspired_ by
Franklin although not written by him; at any rate "it undoubtedly
reflects" his opinions (III, vi). Isaac Sharpless observes that Franklin
"had sympathy with their [Quakers'] demands for political freedom, but
none for their non-military spirit" (_Political Leaders of Provincial
Pennsylvania_, New York, 1919, 178).]
[Footnote i-268: _Writings_, III, 372.]
[Footnote i-269: A. Bradford, _Memoir of the Life and Writings of Rev.
J. Mayhew_ (Boston, 1838), 119.]
[Footnote i-270: See for capable studies: B. F. Wright, _American
Interpretations of Natural Law_; C. F. Mullett, _Fundamental Law and the
American Revolution_; D. G. Ritchie, _Natural Rights_ (London, 1895),
and his "Contributions to the History of the Social Contract Theory,"
_Political Science Quarterly_, VI, 656-76 (1891); C. Becker, _The
Declaration of Independence_, chap. II; C. E. Merriam, _op. cit._, chap.
II; H. J. Laski, _Political Thought in England from Locke to Bentham_
(New York, 1920).]
[Footnote i-271: Becker, _op. cit._, 24.]
[Footnote i-272: _Ibid._, 27.]
[Footnote i-273: Burke said that nearly as many copies of this work were
sold in the colonies as in Great Britain. It will be remembered that
Hamilton leaned heavily on Blackstone in _The Farmer Refuted_ (1773).]
[Footnote i-274: Cited in Wright, _op. cit._, 11.]
[Footnote i-275: _The Farmer Refuted._ For discussion of changes in
Hamilton's political theory see F. C. Prescott's Introduction to
_Hamilton and Jefferson_ (American Writers Series, New York, 1934).]
[Footnote i-276: Franklin acknowledges his close reading of Locke's
_Essay Concerning Human Understanding_ (_Writings_, I, 243). In 1749 he
urges that Locke be read in the Philadelphia Academy (II, 387) and
refers again to the great logician in _Idea of the English School_ (III,
28). He is supposed to have defended in spirited debate Locke's treatise
on Toleration (I, 179). The catalogues of the Philadelphia Library
Company disclose that by 1757 all of Locke's works had been obtained.
One may ask how an alert eighteenth-century mind could have escaped the
impact of Locke's thought.
It is more difficult to establish satisfactorily a nexus between
Rousseau's and Franklin's minds. Mr. George Simpson Eddy has kindly
allowed us to consult his "Catalogue of Pamphlets, Once a Part of the
Library of Benjamin Franklin, and now owned by the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania" in which are included Rousseau's _Preface de la Nouvelle
Hélöise ..._ (1761) and _Discours sur l'économie politique ..._ (1760).
Even if Rousseau's mistress, Countess d'Houdetot, feted Franklin in
1781, and Franklin was acquainted with Rousseau's physician,
Achille-Guillaume le Bègue de Presle, and directly in 1785 mentions
Rousseau on child-education (_Writings_, IX, 334), one can not be sure
to what extent Rousseau's writings may have aided Franklin in
formulating notions similar to the social contract theory (IX, 138).]
[Footnote i-277: Cited in A. M. Baldwin, _The New England Clergy and the
American Revolution_, 6.]
[Footnote i-278: _Ibid._, xii. See also C. H. Van Tyne's able study,
"The Influence of the Clergy, and of Religious and Sectarian Forces, on
the American Revolution," _American Historical Review_, XIX, 44-64
(Oct., 1913). He takes issue with the economic determinists and
concludes that of all the causes of the Revolution, religious causes are
"among the most important" (p. 64). The Revolution was in large measure
caused by a conflict of political ideas, and these were disseminated
mostly by the clergy.]
[Footnote i-279: _An Oration, Delivered March 5, 1773_ (Boston, 1773),
6.]
[Footnote i-280: _Ibid._, 10-11.]
[Footnote i-281: _Ibid._, 8. Also see S. Stillman, _Election-Sermon_,
May 26, 1779 (Boston, 1779); J. Clarke, _Election-Sermon_, May 30, 1781
(Boston, 1781).]
[Footnote i-282: Although Franklin denied having written it (_Writings_,
IV, 82), Mr. Ford (_Franklin Bibliography_, III) asserts that "this work
must still be treated as from Franklin's pen." He sent 500 copies to
Pennsylvania consigned to his partner, David Hall, for distribution.]
[Footnote i-283: To Joseph Galloway, April 11, 1757 (unpublished MS
letter in W. S. Mason Collection). For a description of the unpublished
Franklin-Galloway correspondence see W. S. Mason's article in
_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_ for Oct., 1924.]
[Footnote i-284: To Joseph Galloway, Feb. 17, 1758 (unpublished MS
letter in W. S. Mason Collection).]
[Footnote i-285: June 10, 1758 (unpublished MS letter in W. S. Mason
Collection).]
[Footnote i-286: April 7, 1759 (unpublished MS letter in W. S. Mason
Collection).]
[Footnote i-287: _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_ (Philadelphia, 1809),
II, 147.]
[Footnote i-288: _Ibid._, II, 7.]
[Footnote i-289: _Ibid._, II, 1.]
[Footnote i-290: _Ibid._, II, vii.]
[Footnote i-291: _Ibid._, II, xvi.]
[Footnote i-292: Apropos of many colonial ferments, not unlike the one
we have considered above, Carl Becker writes: "Throughout the eighteenth
century, little colonial aristocracies played their part, in imagination
clothing their governor in the decaying vesture of Old-World tyrants and
themselves assuming the homespun garb, half Roman and half Puritan, of a
virtuous republicanism.... It was the illusion of sharing in great
events rather than any low mercenary motive that made Americans guard
with jealous care their legislative independence" (_The Eve of the
Revolution_, New Haven, 1918, 60). Also see C. H. Lincoln, _The
Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania, 1760-1776_.]
[Footnote i-293: _Writings_, III, 408-9.]
[Footnote i-294: _Ibid._, III, 457.]
[Footnote i-295: V. W. Crane, "Certain Writings of Benjamin Franklin on
the British Empire and the American Colonies," _Papers of the
Bibliographical Society_, XXVIII, Pt. 1, 6 (1934). Also see W. L. Grant,
"Canada vs. Guadaloupe," _American Historical Review_, XVII, 735-43,
(Oct., 1911-July, 1912).]
[Footnote i-296: Beer, _op. cit._, 313.]
[Footnote i-297: _Writings_, IV, 224.]
[Footnote i-298: _Ibid._, IV, 229.]
[Footnote i-299: The massacre led by the "Paxton boys."]
[Footnote i-300: _Writings_, IV, 314.]
[Footnote i-301: _Writings_, IV, 418.]
[Footnote i-302: _Ibid._, IV, 419. See Beer, _op. cit._, 294 f.]
[Footnote i-303: _A History of American Political Theories_, 46.]
[Footnote i-304: _Writings_, IV, 445-6.]
[Footnote i-305: To Joseph Galloway, May 20, 1767 (photostat of
unpublished MS letter in W. S. Mason Collection; original in W. L.
Clements Library).]
[Footnote i-306: To Joseph Galloway, Aug. 20, 1768 (photostat of
unpublished MS letter in W. S. Mason Collection; original in W. L.
Clements Library).]
[Footnote i-307: To Joseph Galloway, April 14, 1767 (photostat of
unpublished MS letter in W. S. Mason Collection; original in W. L.
Clements Library). Cf. also letter to the same, Jan. 11, 1770, _ibid._]
[Footnote i-308: See, for example, _An Edict by the King of Prussia_
(1773)--for its effect see _Writings_, VI, 146--and _Rules by Which a
Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One_ (1773). Crane, _op. cit._,
concludes that Franklin appears as "the chief agent of the American
propaganda in England, especially between 1765 and 1770" (p. 26). For
treatment of American propagandists see P. G. Davidson, "Whig
Propagandists of the American Revolution," _American Historical Review_,
XXXIX, 442-53 (April, 1934), and his _Revolutionary Propagandists in New
England, New York and Pennsylvania, 1763-1776_ (unpublished
dissertation, University of Chicago, 1929); summarized in _Abstracts of
Theses_, Humanistic Series VII, 239-42; F. J. Hinkhouse, _The
Preliminaries of the American Revolution as Seen in the English Press_
(New York, 1926).]
[Footnote i-309: _Writings_, V, 297.]
[Footnote i-310: See R. G. Adams, _Political Ideas of the American
Revolution_, 35, 62-3.]
[Footnote i-311: Oct. 2, 1770 (_Writings_, V, 280). See also _Causes of
the American Discontents before 1768_ (V, 78 f., 160-2). An aspect of
his loyalty to the crown may be seen in his hatred of French desire to
separate the colonies from England (V, 47, 231, 254, 323). The printing
of the _Examination_ and other of Franklin's pieces in Europe buttressed
the predisposition of France to hate Great Britain (V, 231). The best
comprehensive treatment of backgrounds is C. H. Van Tyne's _The Causes
of the War of Independence_.]
[Footnote i-312: _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXV,
311 (1901). See also _ibid._, 307-22, and XXVI, 81-90, 255-64 (1902).
See _Writings_, VI, 144.]
[Footnote i-313: _Writings_, VI, 173.]
[Footnote i-314: _Ibid._, VI, 319. His unpublished letters of 1775 in
the Original Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin with the Bishop of St.
Asaph (in the W. S. Mason Collection) emphasize his progressive apathy
toward a reconciliation. Especially see letters of May 15 and July 7.]
[Footnote i-315: _Ibid._, VI, 460.]
[Footnote i-316: Cited in Davidson, _op. cit._, 442.]
[Footnote i-317: Hugh Williamson claimed that he actually gave Franklin
the letters. Apparently another person went to the office where the
letters were archived and posing as an authorized person secured the
desired correspondence (D. Hosack, _Biographical Memoir of Hugh
Williamson_, New York, 1820, 37 ff.).]
[Footnote i-318: For an interesting account of this episode see Parton,
_op. cit._, 1, chap. IX.]
[Footnote i-319: _Writings_, V, 134. Franklin and Burke were friendly;
see their correspondence. The best exposition of Burke's doctrines is
that by John MacCunn, _The Political Philosophy of Edmund Burke_
(London, 1913).]
[Footnote i-320: _Ibid._, V, 439; see also 527.]
[Footnote i-321: London, April 20, 1771; unpublished MS letter in W. S.
Mason Collection. Compare with Abbé Raynal's opinion that "society is
essentially good; government, as is well known, may be, and is but too
often evil" (_The Revolution of America_, Dublin, 1781, 45).]
[Footnote i-322: M. Eiselen (_Franklin's Political Theories_, Garden
City, N. Y., 1928) observes that Franklin as presiding officer had
actually little to do with casting the instrument. From his later paper
on the Constitution it is possible, however, to see that he accepted
most of its major ideas (pp. 57-8). See S. B. Harding, "Party Struggles
over the First Pennsylvania Constitution," _Annual Report of the
American Historical Association for 1894_, 371-402.]
[Footnote i-323: That Franklin "had more to do with the phraseology of
the Declaration of Independence than has been recognized up to now" (J.
C. Fitzpatrick, _Spirit of the Revolution_, Boston, 1924, 11) has been
shown by Becker, _op. cit._]
[Footnote i-324: See text in S. E. Morison, _Sources and Documents
Illustrating the American Revolution, 1764-1788, and the Formation of
the Federal Constitution_ (Oxford, 1923, 162-76).]
[Footnote i-325: C. H. Lincoln, _The Revolutionary Movement in
Pennsylvania, 1760-1776_, 277.]
[Footnote i-326: Cited in N. G. Goodman, _Benjamin Rush_ (Philadelphia,
1934), 62. Another wrote that the unicameral form is good "if men were
wise and virtuous as angels" (Lincoln, _op. cit._, 282; see also 283).
The American Philosophical Society, of which Franklin was president,
declared against it.]
[Footnote i-327: T. F. Moran, _The Rise and Development of the Bicameral
System in America_ (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and
Political Science, 13th ser., V [Baltimore, 1895]), 42. The legislative
Council (upper chamber) had been destroyed by the 1701 constitution. See
B. A. Konkle, _George Bryan and the Constitution of Pennsylvania_
(Philadelphia, 1922), 114. P. L. Ford ("The Adoption of the Pennsylvania
Constitution of 1776," _Political Science Quarterly_, X, Sept., 1895,
426-59) observes: "The one-chamber legislature and the annual election
were hardly the work of the Convention, for they were merely transferred
from the Penn Charter; having yielded such admirable results in the
past, it is not strange that they were grafted into the new instrument"
(p. 454).]
[Footnote i-328: Defending (in 1789) the Pennsylvania constitution,
Franklin wrote, "Have we not experienced in this Colony, when a Province
under the Government of the Proprietors, the Mischiefs of a second
Branch existing in the Proprietary Family, countenanced and aided by an
Aristocratic Council?" (_Writings_, X, 56.)]
[Footnote i-329: In 1775 he submitted to the Second Continental Congress
his _Articles of Confederation_ (_Writings_, VI, 420-6) which called for
a "firm League of Friendship" motivated by a unicameral assembly and a
plural executive, a Council of twelve. It was democratic also in its
"basing representation upon population instead of financial support"
(Eiselen, _op. cit._, 54).]
[Footnote i-330: _Writings_, VII, 48.]
[Footnote i-331: _Ibid._, VII, 23. No dull sidelight on the quality of
Franklin's radicalism during this period is the fact that he brought
Thomas Paine to the colonies and was partly responsible for the writing
of _Common Sense_. It is alleged that Franklin considered Paine "his
adopted political son" (cited in M. D. Conway's _Life of Thomas Paine_,
3d ed., New York, 1893, II, 468). For explication of Paine's political
theories see C. E. Merriam, "Political Theories of Thomas Paine,"
_Political Science Quarterly_, XIV, 389-403.]
[Footnote i-332: Hale and Hale, _op. cit._, I, 70; see also 75.]
[Footnote i-333: _Ibid._, I, 32.]
[Footnote i-334: Cited in J. B. Perkins, _France in the American
Revolution_, 140.]
[Footnote i-335: _Ibid._, 127.]
[Footnote i-336: See D. J. Hill, "A Missing Chapter of Franco-American
History," _American Historical Review_, XXI, 709-19, (July, 1916).]
[Footnote i-337: _Ibid._, 710.]
[Footnote i-338: _Writings_, IX, 132. The Due de la Rochefoucauld
translated them into French (IX, 71). Franklin thought they would induce
emigration to the colonies. See the scores of requests (on the part of
notable Frenchmen) and thanks for copies of the constitutions of the
United States listed in _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in
the Library of the American Philosophical Society_.]
[Footnote i-339: J. S. Schapiro, _Condorcet and the Rise of Liberalism_,
79-81 and _passim_.]
[Footnote i-340: _Ibid._, 222.]
[Footnote i-341: Cited in W. T. Franklin's edition, I, 303-4. E. P.
Oberholtzer, essentially hostile to Franklin, is obliged to admit that
Franklin "seems not to have had more than an advisory part" in making
the Constitution of 1776. He adds that if Franklin did not form it, "he
was at any rate a loyal defender of its principles," and that he seems
to have allowed the French to think that the Constitution was his own
(_The Referendum in America_, New York, 1900, 26-42). For Franklin's
later defenses of unicameralism, see _Writings_, IX, 645, 674; X; 56-8.]
[Footnote i-342: Cited in B. Faÿ, _The Revolutionary Spirit In France
and America_, 289. Faÿ shows that in France the "revolutionary leaders"
who took lessons from Franklin regarded him as "the prophet and saint of
a new religion," as the "high priest of Philosophy." See also E. J.
Lowell, _The Eve of the French Revolution_ (Boston, 1892), chaps. XVI
and XVIII.]
[Footnote i-343: B. Faÿ, _The Revolutionary Spirit in France and
America_, 302.]
[Footnote i-344: _Writings_, VIII, 34.]
[Footnote i-345: _Ibid._, VIII, 452; June 7, 1782 (to Joseph
Priestley).]
[Footnote i-346: _Ibid._, IX, 241.]
[Footnote i-347: _Ibid._, IX, 330.]
[Footnote i-348: _Ibid._, IX, 521; see also IX, 489.]
[Footnote i-349: Although the preponderance of evidence bears out the
trustworthiness of this assertion, one can not idly dismiss his _Some
Good Whig Principles_ or disregard his expressed belief that the people
"seldom continue long in the wrong" and if misled they "come right
again, and double their former affections" (cited in W. C. Bruce,
_Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed_, II, 100; also see _Writings_, X,
130). There is a clearly evident polarity in Franklin's mind between
ultra-democratic faith and a rigorous observation that if "people" are
so constituted, many men are utter rascals. One almost senses a
dichotomy between Franklin the politician and Franklin the man and
moralist.]
[Footnote i-350: See his _The Constitution of the United States_ (New
York, 1924).]
[Footnote i-351: _The Records of the Federal Convention_, ed. by Max
Farrand, I, 488; see _Writings_, IX, 602-3, 595-9.]
[Footnote i-352: _Writings_, IX, 596.]
[Footnote i-353: _The Records of the Federal Convention_, I, 47.]
[Footnote i-354: _Ibid._, I, 165.]
[Footnote i-355: _Writings_, IX, 593.]
[Footnote i-356: _The Records of the Federal Convention_, I, 109.]
[Footnote i-357: _Ibid._, II, 120.]
[Footnote i-358: _Ibid._, II, 204.]
[Footnote i-359: Franklin objected to primogeniture and entail.]
[Footnote i-360: _Ibid._, II, 249.]
[Footnote i-361: Gettell, _op. cit._, 122.]
[Footnote i-362: _Writings_, X, 56-8.]
[Footnote i-363: _Ibid._, IX, 698-703.]
[Footnote i-364: _Ibid._, IX, 608.]
[Footnote i-365: _Ibid._, IX, 638.]
[Footnote i-366: _Writings_, X, 7.]
[Footnote i-367: Letter in American Philosophical Society Library; cited
by B. M. Victory, _Benjamin Franklin and Germany_, 128.]
[Footnote i-368: _Writings_, III, 96.]
[Footnote i-369: _Ibid._, III, 97.]
[Footnote i-370: _Ibid._, III, 107.]
[Footnote i-371: _Ibid._, IV, 221.]
[Footnote i-372: _Ibid._, IV, 377.]
[Footnote i-373: _Ibid._, V, 165. He repeated this thought to Beccaria
in 1773 (_ibid._, VI, 112). Also see V, 206, 410-1, VII, 49.]
[Footnote i-374: _Ibid._, VII, 418; also see VIII, 211.]
[Footnote i-375: _Ibid._, VIII, 315; also see letter to Priestley, June
7, 1782, VIII, 451; to Comte de Salmes, July 5, 1785, IX, 361.]
[Footnote i-376: _Ibid._, IX, 652.]
[Footnote i-377: _Ibid._, IX, 621. He wrote this after he was
reappointed President of Pennsylvania in 1787. He confessed, however,
that this honor gave him "no small pleasure."]
[Footnote i-378: W. P. and J. P. Cutler, _Life, Journals and
Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler_, I, 269-70.]
[Footnote i-379: _Joseph and Benjamin, A Conversation_, Trans. from a
French Manuscript (London, 1787), 72. If this meeting never took place,
the reported conversation is anything but "decidedly silly" as Ford
opines (_Franklin Bibliography_, #936, 371).]
[Footnote i-380: _Writings_, IV, 143.]
[Footnote i-381: _Ibid._, VIII, 601. Also see IX, 53.]
[Footnote i-382: _Ibid._, VIII, 593.]
[Footnote i-383: Brother Potamian and J. J. Walsh, _Makers of
Electricity_, 126.]
[Footnote i-384: "Letters and Papers of Cadwallader Colden, IV
(1748-54)," _Collections of the New York Historical Society_ (1920),
372.]
[Footnote i-385: "An Outline of Philosophy in America," _Western Reserve
University Bulletin_ (March, 1896). See also I. W. Riley, _American
Philosophy: The Early Schools_, 229-65.]
[Footnote i-386: _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_, iv.]
[Footnote i-387: _Writings_, I, 295.]
[Footnote i-388: _Boston News-Letter_, Jan. 17, 1744/5. Also see
1669-1882. _An Historical Catalogue of the Old South Church (Third
Church), Boston_ (Boston, 1883), 304.]
[Footnote i-389: _Writings_, I, 324.]
[Footnote i-390: _Writings_, IX, 208.]
[Footnote i-391: _Essays to do Good_, with an Introductory Essay by A.
Thomson (Glasgow, 1825), 102.]
[Footnote i-392: _Ibid._, 213-4.]
[Footnote i-393: _Works of Daniel Defoe_, ed. by Wm. Hazlitt (London,
1843), I, 22.]
[Footnote i-394: _Writings_, I, 239.]
[Footnote i-395: See _New England Courant_, No. 48, June 25-July 2,
1722.]
[Footnote i-396: _Writings_, I, 244.]
[Footnote i-397: Consecrated to piety, Robert Boyle at his death left
£50 per annum, for a clergyman elected to "preach eight sermons in the
year for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels,
_viz._ Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans...." (_Works of
Robert Boyle_, London, 1772, I, clxvii.)]
[Footnote i-398: _Writings_, I, 295.]
[Footnote i-399: In his Introduction to _Selections from Cotton Mather_
(New York, 1926), xlix-li, K. B. Murdock agrees with I. W. Riley that
_The Christian Philosopher_ (1721) represents the first stage of the
reaction from scriptural Calvinism to the scientific deism of Paine and
Franklin. T. Hornberger's "The Date, the Source, and the Significance of
Cotton Mather's Interest in Science" (_loc. cit._) shows that "as early
as 1693 Cotton Mather was expressing that delight in the wonder and
beauty of design in the external world which Professors Murdock and
Riley regard as deistic in tendency," that he "was unconsciously
vacillating between two points of view."]
[Footnote i-400: _Works of Richard Bentley_, ed. by A. Dyce (London,
1838), III, 74-5.]
[Footnote i-401: _Ibid._, III, 79.]
[Footnote i-402: _Physico-Theology ..._ (5th ed., London, 1720), 25-6.
God's "exquisite Workmanship" is seen in "every Creature" (p. 27).]
[Footnote i-403: See _A Discourse of Free-Thinking_ (London, 1713).]
[Footnote i-404: _Priestcraft in Perfection ..._ (London, 1710).]
[Footnote i-405: _Writings_, I, 243.]
[Footnote i-406: A. C. Fraser ed. (Oxford, 1894), II, 425-6.]
[Footnote i-407: _Ibid._, II, 121. For Locke and his place in the age
see S. G. Hefelbower's _The Relation of John Locke to English Deism_.
About the time he read Locke, Franklin notes he studied Arnauld and
Nicole's _La logique ou l'art de penser_. Mr. G. S. Eddy has informed
one of the editors that the Library Company of Philadelphia owns John
Ozell's translation of the work (London, 1718), and that this was the
copy owned by Franklin. (See Lowndes's _Bibliographer's Manual_, IV,
1930, and _Dictionary of National Biography_, "John Ozell.") In accord
with the English deistic and rationalistic tendency, _La logique_ admits
that Aristotle's authority is not good, that "Men cannot long endure
such constraint" (Thomas S. Bayne's trans., 8th ed., Edinburgh and
London, n.d., 23). Indebted to Pascal and Descartes, it admits with the
latter that geometry and astronomy may help one achieve justness of
mind, but it vigorously asserts that this justness of mind is more
important than speculative science (p. 1). Anti-sensational, it denies
"that all our ideas come through sense" (p. 34), affirming that we have
within us ideas of things (p. 31). It is uncertain of the value of
induction, which "is never a certain means of acquiring perfect
knowledge" (p. 265; see also 304, 307, 308, 350). It accords little
praise to the sciences and reason, and seems wary of metaphysical
speculation, assuring more humbly that "Piety, wisdom, moderation, are
without doubt the most estimable qualities in the world" (p. 291). As we
shall discover, this work on the whole seems to have had (with the
exception of the last very general principle) little formative influence
on the young mind which was fast impregnating itself with scientific
deism. Were it not for the recurring implications (particularly in the
harvest of editions of the _Autobiography_) that _La logique_ is as
significant for our study as, for example, the works of Locke and
Shaftesbury, this note would be pedantic supererogation.]
[Footnote i-408: A. C. Fraser, _op. cit._, I, 99. See also 190, 402-3;
II, 65, 68, 352.]
[Footnote i-409: Cited in C. A. Moore, "Shaftesbury and the Ethical
Poets in England, 1700-1760," _Publications of the Modern Language
Association_, XXXI (N. S. XXIV), 276 (June, 1916).]
[Footnote i-410: _Ibid._, 271.]
[Footnote i-411: J. M. Robertson, ed., _Characteristics ..._ (New York,
1900), I, 27.]
[Footnote i-412: _Ibid._, I, 241-2.]
[Footnote i-413: Moore, _op. cit._, 267.]
[Footnote i-414: In _Dogood Paper_ No. XIV Franklin suggests
(autobiographically?): "In Matters of Religion, he that alters his
Opinion on a _religious Account_, must certainly go thro' much Reading,
hear many Arguments on both Sides, and undergo many Struggles in his
Conscience, before he can come to a full Resolution" (_Writings_, II,
46).]
[Footnote i-415: He read Thomas Tryon's _The Way to Health, Long Life
and Happiness_, probably the second edition (London, 1691), a copy of
which is in the W. S. Mason Collection. Tryon holds that no "greater
Happiness" than Attic sobriety is "attainable upon Earth" (p. 1). Divine
Temperance is the "spring head of all Virtues" (p. 33). Inward harmony
"is both the Glory and the Happiness, the Joy and Solace of created
Beings, the celebrated Musick of the Spheres, the Eccho of Heaven, the
Business of Seraphims, and the Imployment of Eternity" (p. 500). From
Xenophon he learned that "self-restraint" is "the very corner-stone of
virtue." The classic core of the _Memorabilia_ is the love of the
moderate contending with the love of the incontinent. Franklin has
impressed many as representing an American Socrates. Emerson was certain
that Socrates "had a Franklin-like wisdom" (Centenary Ed., IV, 72).
Franklin's fondness for Socratic centrality, discipline, and knowledge
of self is fragmentarily shown by the aphorisms appropriated in _Poor
Richard_. There are scores of the quality of the following: "He that
lives carnally won't live eternally." "Who has deceived thee so oft as
thyself?" "Caesar did not merit the triumphal car more than he that
conquers himself." "If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins." "A
man in a Passion rides a mad Horse." "There are three Things extremely
hard, Steel, a Diamond and to know one's self." Consult T. H. Russell's
_The Sayings of Poor Richard, 1733-1758_.]
[Footnote i-416: See S. Bloore, "Samuel Keimer. A Footnote to the Life
of Franklin," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV,
255-87 (July, 1930), and "Samuel Keimer," in _Dictionary of American
Biography_, X, 288-9. In 1724 Samuel Keimer (probably with Franklin's
aid) reprinted Gordon and Trenchard's _The Independent Whig_. (See W. J.
Campbell's _A Short-Title Check List of all the Books, Pamphlets,
Broadsides, known to have been printed by Benjamin Franklin_.) Franklin
also was acquainted with their _Cato's Letters_, having helped to set up
parts from it while working on the _New England Courant_. _The
Independent Whig_ emphasizes humanitarian morality rather than
theological dogma, morality which "prompts us to do good to all Men, and
to all Men alike" (London, 1721, xlviii). It is fearful of metaphysical
vagaries (p. 26). Warring against priests and their "Monkey Tricks at
Church" (p. 165)--"One Drop of Priestcraft is enough to contaminate the
Ocean" (p. 168)--it sets up a violent antithesis between reason and
authority (p. 212), declaring that "we must judge from Scripture what is
Orthodoxy" _but_ "we must judge from Reason, what is Scripture" (p.
276). Tilting at a Deity "revengeful, cruel, capricious, impotent, vain,
fond of Commendation and Flattery," exalting an "All-powerful, All-wise,
and All-merciful God" (p. 413), _The Independent Whig_, like Franklin's
_Articles_, suggests that "it is absurd to suppose, that we can direct
the All-wise Being in the Dispensation of his Providence; or can flatter
or persuade him out of his eternal Decrees" (p. 436). In _Cato's
Letters_ (3rd ed., 4 vols., London, 1733), which were tremendously
popular in the American colonies, Franklin could have read that "The
People have no Biass to be Knaves" (I, 178), that man "cannot enter into
the Rationale of God's punishing all Mankind for the Sin of their first
Parents, which they could not help" (IV, 38), "That we cannot provoke
him, when we intend to adore him; that the best Way to serve him, is to
be serviceable to one another" (IV, 103). Jesus instituted a natural
religion, a worship of One Immutable God, free from priests, sacrifices,
and ceremonies, in which one shows through "doing Good to men" his
adoration for God (IV, 265-6). Here are observations which could easily
have reinforced Franklin's deistic rationale. For interesting evidence
of further deistic and rationalistic works available to Franklin, see L.
C. Wroth's _An American Bookshelf_, 1755.]
[Footnote i-417: One of the editors has examined the photostated _New
England Courant_ in the W. S. Mason Collection. For readable accounts of
this newspaper see: W. G. Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of
American Journalism_, chaps. I-II; C. A. Duniway, _The Development of
Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_, 97-103; W. C. Ford, "Franklin's
New England Courant," _Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical
Society_, LVII, 336-53 (April, 1924); H. F. Kane, "James Franklin
Senior, Printer of Boston and Newport," _American Collector_, III, 17-26
(Oct., 1926).]
[Footnote i-418: See _Writings_, II, 52-3.]
[Footnote i-419: One of the editors has used the Huth copy now possessed
by W. S. Mason. Not included in the Sparks, Bigelow, or Smyth editions
of his works, it was printed by Parton as an Appendix to his _Life_; by
I. W. Riley, _op. cit._, and recently edited by L. C. Wroth for The
Facsimile Text Society.]
[Footnote i-420: Franklin must have been mistaken in his belief that he
set up the second edition. The work was privately printed in 1722,
reprinted in 1724 and a second time in 1725. Hence Franklin really set
up the _third_ edition. For an extensive analysis of this work, see C.
G. Thompson's dissertation, _The Ethics of William Wollaston_ (Boston,
1922).]
[Footnote i-421: Wollaston, _op. cit._, 15.]
[Footnote i-422: _Ibid._, 23.]
[Footnote i-423: _Ibid._, 78-9.]
[Footnote i-424: _Ibid._, 80.]
[Footnote i-425: _Ibid._]
[Footnote i-426: _Ibid._, 83.]
[Footnote i-427: It would be interesting to know whether Franklin's much
discussed prudential virtues (listed in _Autobiography_) were not in
part motivated by Wollaston's pages 173-80.]
[Footnote i-428: _Ibid._, 7.]
[Footnote i-429: _Ibid._, 26.]
[Footnote i-430: _Ibid._, 63 ff.]
[Footnote i-431: _Writings_, VII, 412.]
[Footnote i-432: _A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity_, _Pleasure
and Pain_ (London, 1725), 4.]
[Footnote i-433: _Ibid._, 5.]
[Footnote i-434: For an incisive exposition of the earlier and
contemporary controversy regarding freedom of the will, see C. H. Faust
and T. H. Johnson's Introduction to _Jonathan Edwards_ (American Writers
Series, New York, 1935), xliii-lxiv.]
[Footnote i-435: _A Dissertation ..._, 10-1.]
[Footnote i-436: In Franklin's liturgy of the '30's (in the
_Autobiography_) he quotes from Thomson's _Winter_ (lines 217 ff.).
While the references to Thomson are few in the complete works, his later
influence on Franklin need not be underestimated. See Franklin's letter
to W. Strahan (_Writings_, II, 242-3) in which he confesses that "That
charming Poet has brought more Tears of Pleasure into my Eyes than all I
ever read before." It is not inconceivable that in Thomson Franklin
found additional sanction for his humanitarian bias. One remembers the
wide differences between the humanitarianism of Thomson and Franklin.
Franklin's practical and masculine-humanitarianism keyed to the saving
of time and energy was unlike the sentimental warmheartedness often
displayed by Thomson. Franklin was never moved to tears at beholding the
worm's "convulsive twist in agonizing folds."]
[Footnote i-437: Phillips Russell has suggested _Spectator_, No. 183, as
Franklin's probable source in Part II of the _Dissertation_. There,
pleasure and pain are "such constant yoke-fellows." This intuitive
assertion can hardly be conceived as the elaborate metaphysical
rationale upon which this idea rests in Franklin's work.]
[Footnote i-438: Robertson, _op. cit._, 239-40.]
[Footnote i-439: London (4th ed.), 1724. A despiser of authoritarianism
in religion, intrigued by the physico-deistic thought of his day, Lyons
(with a vituperative force akin to Thomas Paine's) damns those who damn
men for revolting against divine and absolute revelation (p. 25). "Men
have _Reason_ sufficient to find out proper and regular ways for
improving and perfecting their laws." Faith he calls "an unintelligible
Chymæra of the Phantasie" (p. 92). The doctrine of the Trinity "is one
of the most nice Inventions that ever the subtlest Virtuoso constru'd to
puzzle the Wit of Man with" (p. 112). Through faith people make of God
"only a confus'd unintelligible Description of a _Heterogeneous Monster_
of their own Making" (p. 117). Deistically he opines that "we shall soon
see that the Object of _True Religion_, and all Rational Mens
Speculations, is an Eternal, Unchangeable, Omnipotent Being, infinitely
Good, Just and Wise" (p. 123). Like Toland he urges, "To pretend to
Believe a Thing or the Working of a Miracle, is a stupid and gaping
Astonishment" (p. 195). Although he enjoyed Franklin's dissertation, he
does not in his work hold to Franklin's necessitarianism: "Nothing
interrupts Men, but only as they interrupt one another" (p. 238).
Religion to Lyons is remote from books, but is found in the "unalterable
laws of Nature, which no Authority can destroy, or Interpolator corrupt"
(p. 252).]
[Footnote i-440: Although Franklin indicates in his _Autobiography_ that
he delighted to listen to Mandeville hold forth at the Horns, there
seems to be traceable in his writings no direct influence of
Mandeville's thought. (One may wonder whether Franklin's use of the name
"Horatio" in his 1730 dialogues between Philocles and Horatio could be
traced to Mandeville's use of the name in his dialogues between
Cleomenes and Horatio.) Mandeville's empirical view of man's essential
egoism would have found sympathetic response from Franklin. On the other
hand, Mandeville's ethical rigorism (see Kaye's Introd. to The _Fable of
the Bees_) differs from the utilitarian cast Franklin sheds over his
strenuous ethicism. One may suspect that like a Bunyan, a Swift, a
Rabelais, Mandeville would have fortified Franklin against accepting too
blithely Shaftesbury's faith in man's innate altruism, even if he did
not short-circuit Franklin's growing humanitarianism.]
[Footnote i-441: _Writings_, I, 278.]
[Footnote i-442: David Brewster, _Life of Sir Isaac Newton_ (New York,
1831), 258. For fuller treatment see his _Memoirs of the Life, Writings,
and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton_ (Edinburgh, 1855), II, 378 ff., and
_passim_.]
[Footnote i-443: Quoted in C. S. Duncan, _op. cit._, 16. See
Desaguliers's _A System of Experimental Philosophy, Prov'd by Mechanicks
..._ (London, 1719), and his _The Newtonian System of the World, The
Best Model of Government: An Allegorical Poem_ (Westminster, 1728). The
popularizers of Newton were legion: see especially Watts, Derham, Ray,
Huygens, Blackmore, Locke, Thomson, Shaftesbury, S. Clarke, Whiston,
Keill, Maclaurin.]
[Footnote i-444: _A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy_ (London,
1728), 2-3.]
[Footnote i-445: _Ibid._, 405. Cf. also 13, 18, 181, 406.]
[Footnote i-446: Not to be neglected in a summary of the factors
influencing Franklin during his youth is Quakerism. Taught in Boston to
suspect the Quakers, in Philadelphia in the midst of their stronghold he
came soon, one may imagine, to have a sympathetic regard for them.
Quakerism, in its antagonism towards sacraments and ceremonies, in its
emphasis on the priesthood of every man and the right of private
judgment, in its strenuous effort to promote fellow-service, was
congenial to the young printer, reacting against Presbyterianism. Like
the radical thought of the age, Quakerism refused first place to
scriptural revelation, which became secondary to the light within, the
dictates of one's heart. Often, we may suspect, the light within was
blended with the concept in deism, that regardless of the promptings of
scripture, each man has within him a natural sense which enables him to
apprehend the truths of nature. The effort of deism to simplify religion
was historically shared by Quakerism. During the years we have under
consideration Franklin was endeavoring to make a simple worship out of
the subtle theology which had been offered him during his early years.
Presbyterianism had frowned upon a covenant of works; Quakerism
attempted to express its covenant with God in terms of human kindliness,
fellowship, and service.]
[Footnote i-447: It would be interesting to know if M. Faÿ is able to
document his statement that the Junto "had Masonic leanings" ("Learned
Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth Century," _American
Historical Review_, XXXVII, 258 [1932]). R. F. Gould (_The History of
Freemasonry_, London, 1887, III, 424) conjectures whether where was a
lodge in Boston as early as 1720 but can offer no evidence of a real
history of Masonry in the colonies until 1730, when colonial Masonry
"may be said to have its commencement." Chroniclers of Franklin's
Masonic career have found no documentary evidence of his affiliation
with Masonry until February, 1731, when he entered St. John's Lodge. See
J. F. Sachse, _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason_; J. H. Tatsch,
_Freemasonry in the Thirteen Colonies_ (New York, 1924); _Early
Newspaper Accounts of Free Masonry in Pennsylvania, England, Ireland,
and Scotland. From 1730 to 1750 by Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Reprinted from
Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette_ (Philadelphia, 1886); _Masonic Letters
of Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia to H. Price of Boston_, ed. by C.
P. MacCalla (Philadelphia, 1888); M. M. Johnson, _The Beginnings of
Freemasonry in America_ (New York, 1924). See "Prefatory Note" in W. B.
Loewy's reprint of Anderson's _Constitutions_ (a reprint of Franklin's
imprint of 1734) in _Publications of the Masonic Historical Society of
New York_, No. 3 (New York, 1905). Arriving in London only seven years
after the inauguration of the Grand Lodge, Franklin could hardly have
been unaware of the broader speculations of Masonry. In London only a
year after Anderson's _Constitutions_ were printed (in 1723), he may
conceivably have read the volume.
Stressing toleration, the universality of natural religion, morality
rather than theology, reason rather than faith, Masonry could easily
have augmented these ideas as they were latent or already developed in
Franklin's mind. Scholars have yet to work out the extent to which
Freemasonry, yokefellow of deism, reinforced free thought and was one of
the subversive forces breaking down colonial orthodoxy. B. Faÿ's
_Revolution and Freemasonry, 1680-1800_ neglects non-political
influences of Freemasonry.
Although there is no evidence that Franklin as early as 1728 read such
works (popular in the colonies) as De Ramsay's _The Travels of Cyrus_
and Rowe's translation of _The Golden Sayings of Pythagoras_, the manner
in which oriental lore augmented science and Masonry in fostering deism
is an intriguing problem in eighteenth-century colonial letters.]
[Footnote i-448: See I. W. Riley, _op. cit._, 249. Also see C. M. Walsh,
"Franklin and Plato," _Open Court_, XX, 129 ff.]
[Footnote i-449: See _Writings_, II, 95-6 (1728).]
[Footnote i-450: John Ray's _The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works
of the Creation_ (London, 1827; first ed. 1691), 31-2.]
[Footnote i-451: _The Augustan Age_, 54-5.]
[Footnote i-452: _Selections from the Writings of Fénelon_, ed. by Mrs.
Follen (Boston, 1861), 51-2.]
[Footnote i-453: _Ibid._, 59.]
[Footnote i-454: _Ibid._, 47.]
[Footnote i-455: In Preface to _The Works of the British Poets_, ed. by
R. Anderson (London, 1795), 592. Since Franklin frequented Batson's in
Cornhill, it is possible that through Dr. Pemberton he might have met
Sir R. Blackmore, who was one of its best patrons.]
[Footnote i-456: _Ibid._, 611.]
[Footnote i-457: See Ray, _op. cit._, 143: "I persuade myself, that the
beautiful and gracious Author of man's being and faculties, and all
things else, delights in the beauty of his creation, and is well pleased
with the industry of man, in adorning the earth with beautiful cities
and castles...."]
[Footnote i-458: _The Relation of John Locke to English Deism_, 133.]
[Footnote i-459: See P. S. Wood, "Native Elements in English
Neo-Classicism," _Modern Philology_, XXIV, 201-8 (Nov., 1926).]
[Footnote i-460: See C. E. Jorgenson's "The Source of Benjamin
Franklin's Dialogues between Philocles and Horatio (1730)," _American
Literature_, VI, 337-9 (Nov., 1934).]
[Footnote i-461: _Writings_, II, 203.]
[Footnote i-462: _Ibid._, II, 467.]
[Footnote i-463: Facsimile reprint by W. Pepper (Philadelphia, 1931), 27
note.]
[Footnote i-464: See _Almanac_ for 1753.]
[Footnote i-465: _Writings_, II, 288.]
[Footnote i-466: _Ibid._, II, 429. See also II, 434-5.]
[Footnote i-467: See W. J. Campbell, _op. cit._]
[Footnote i-468: No. 570 (Nov. 15, 1739), No. 565 (Oct. 11, 1739), and
No. 628 (Dec. 25, 1740), for example, are loaded with tributes to the
effective preaching and contagious saintliness of this preacher of the
Great Awakening.]
[Footnote i-469: No. 618 (Oct. 16, 1740). Franklin's _General Magazine
and Historical Chronicle_ contains many Whitefield references.]
[Footnote i-470: _Writings_, II, 316. In general, emotional Methodism
was not responsive to science as a basis for rationalistic deism,
although to a considerable extent Methodism and deism synchronized in
their endeavor to relieve social suffering. See U. Lee's able study,
_The Historical Backgrounds of Early Methodist Enthusiasm_ (New York,
1931).]
[Footnote i-471: Rev. L. Tyerman, _Life of the Reverend George
Whitefield_ (London, 1876), I, 439.]
[Footnote i-472: _Ibid._, II, 283-4.]
[Footnote i-473: _Ibid._, II, 540-1.]
[Footnote i-474: _Ibid._, II, 541.]
[Footnote i-475: See H. H. Clark's "An Historical Interpretation of
Thomas Paine's Religion," _University of California Chronicle_, XXXV,
56-87 (Jan., 1933), and "Toward a Reinterpretation of Thomas Paine,"
_American Literature_, V, 133-45 (May, 1933).]
[Footnote i-476: _Writings_, IX, 520.]
[Footnote i-477: _Ibid._, VIII, 561. See also IX, 506.]
[Footnote i-478: Aug. 22, 1784; unpublished letter in W. S. Mason
Collection. Also see _Writings_, VIII, 113; IX, 476, 488, 621.]
[Footnote i-479: I. W. Riley, _American Thought from Puritanism to
Pragmatism_, 76.]
[Footnote i-480: Parton, _op. cit._, I, 546.]
[Footnote i-481: He admonished Deborah, his wife, that she "should go
oftener to Church" (_Writings_, IV, 202), and his daughter, Sarah, "Go
constantly to Church, whoever preaches" (_Ibid._, IV, 287).]
[Footnote i-482: _Letters to Benjamin Franklin from His Family and
Friends, 1751-1790_ (New York, 1859), 10.]
[Footnote i-483: Franklin's English friends, Dr. Richard Price, Joseph
Priestley, Rev. David Williams, Dr. John Fothergill, Peter Collinson,
Sir Joseph Banks, Jonathan Shipley, Lord Kames, Sir William Jones, et
cetera, though not all deists, found Newtonian science useful in
augmenting their philosophies.]
[Footnote i-484: _A Discourse ..._ (London, 1775), 33. For background
material on the history of this concept see L. E. Hicks, _A Critique of
Design-Arguments_ (New York, 1883).]
[Footnote i-485: N. Meredith, _Considerations on the Utility of
Conductors for Lightning ..._ (London, 1789), 44-5. See especially the
characteristic notice in _Monthly Review ..._, XLII (London, 1770),
199-210, 298-308.]
[Footnote i-486: For references see B. Faÿ, _The Revolutionary Spirit in
France and America_; E. E. Hale and E. E. Hale, Jr., _Franklin in
France_; L. Amiable, _Un loge maçonnique d'avant 1789 ..._.]
[Footnote i-487: _Writings_, IX, 436.]
[Footnote i-488: W. T. Franklin ed. of Franklin's _Writings_ (London,
1818), I, 433.]
[Footnote i-489: See similar expression in letter to Mme Brillon, cited
in J. M. Stifler, _The Religion of Benjamin Franklin_, 55-6.]
[Footnote i-490: _Writings_, III, 135.]
_CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE_
1706. Benjamin Franklin born in Boston, January 17 (January 6,
1705, O. S.).
1714-16. After a year in Boston Grammar School is sent to learn
writing and arithmetic in school kept by George Brownell, from
which, after a year, he is taken to assist his father, Josiah,
a candlemaker.
1717. James Franklin returns from England, following apprenticeship
as printer.
1718. Benjamin is apprenticed to brother James.
1718-23. Period of assiduous reading in Anthony Collins,
Shaftesbury, Locke, Addison and Steele, Cotton Mather, Bunyan,
Defoe, etc.
1719. Writes and hawks ballads of the "Grub-Street" style, "The
Lighthouse Tragedy" and "The Taking of Teach the Pirate."
1721-23. Aids brother in publishing the _New England Courant_.
During 1722-23 in charge of paper after James is declared
objectionable by the authorities.
1722. His _Dogood Papers_ printed anonymously in the _New England
Courant_.
1723. Breaks his indentures and leaves for New York; eventually
arrives in Philadelphia.
1723-24. Employed by Samuel Keimer, a printer in Philadelphia.
1724. Visits Cotton Mather and Governor Burnet (New York). Meets
James Ralph, Grub-Street pamphleteer, historian, and poet in
the Thomson tradition. Patronized by Governor Keith. Leaves
for London in November on the _London-Hope_ to buy type, etc.,
for printing shop to be set up in his behalf by Keith. Upon
arrival he and Ralph take lodgings in Little Britain.
1725-26. Employed in Palmer's and Watts's printing houses.
1725. Publishes _A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain_. One result of this is acquaintance with Lyons,
author of _The Infallibility of Human Judgement_. Through him
Franklin meets Bernard Mandeville and Dr. Henry Pemberton, who
is preparing a third edition of Sir Isaac Newton's
_Principia_. Is received by Sir Hans Sloane in Bloomsbury
Square. Conceives of setting up a swimming school in London.
1726. On July 21, with Mr. Denham, merchant and Quaker, leaves for
Philadelphia on the _Berkshire_. Between July 22 and October
11 writes _Journal of a Voyage from London to Philadelphia_.
Employed by Denham until latter's death in 1727.
1727. Ill of pleurisy and composes his epitaph. After recovery
returns to Keimer's printing house. Forms his Junto club.
Employed in Burlington, New Jersey, on a job of printing paper
money.
1728. Forms partnership with Hugh Meredith. Writes _Articles of
Belief and Acts of Religion_, and _Rules for a Club_--his
Junto club "Constitution."
1729. Buys Keimer's _The Universal Instructor in all Arts and
Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ (begun December 24, 1728).
Changes name to _Pennsylvania Gazette_, first issue, XL,
September 25-October 2, 1729. (Published by Franklin until
1748, by Franklin and David Hall from 1748 to 1766, after
which Hall, until his death, and others publish it until
1815.) Contributes to _American Weekly Mercury_ six papers of
_The Busy-Body_, February 4, 1729-March 27, 1729. Writes and
prints _A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a
Paper Currency_.
1730. Appointed Public Printer by Pennsylvania Assembly (incumbent
until 1764). Partnership with Meredith dissolved. Marries
Deborah Read (Mrs. Rogers). Prints in _Pennsylvania Gazette_
his _Dialogues between Philocles and Horatio_.
1731. First public venture: founds the Philadelphia Library Company,
first subscription library in America. Begins partnership
with Thomas Whitemarsh, Charleston, S. C. (1732, publishes
_South Carolina Gazette_.) Begins Masonic affiliations: enters
St. John's Lodge in February. William Franklin born.
1732. Begins _Poor Richard's Almanack_ (for 1733). His son Francis
Folger Franklin born (dies of smallpox in 1736). Elected
junior grand warden of St. John's Lodge.
1733. Begins to study languages, French, Italian, Spanish, and
continues Latin.
1734. Elected grand master of Masons of Pennsylvania for 1734-35.
Reprints Anderson's _Constitutions_, first Masonic book
printed in America.
1735. Writes and prints three pamphlets in defense of Rev. Mr.
Hemphill. Prints, in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, _Protection
of Towns from Fire_. Secretary of St. John's Lodge until 1738.
Writes introduction for and prints Logan's _Cato's Moral
Distiches_, first classic translated and printed in the
colonies.
1736. Establishes the Union Fire Company, the first in Philadelphia.
Chosen clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
1737. Appointed postmaster of Philadelphia (incumbent until 1753);
also justice of the peace.
1739. Beginning of friendship with the Reverend George Whitefield.
1740. Announces (November 13) _The General Magazine and Historical
Chronicle_.
1741. Six issues (January-June) of this magazine (the first planned
and the second issued in the colonies). With J. Parker
establishes a printing house in New York.
1742. Invents Franklin open stove.
1743. _A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British
Plantations in America_ (circular letter sent to his friends).
1744. Establishes the American Philosophical Society and becomes its
first secretary. Daughter Sarah born. _An Account of the New
Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-places._ Writes preface to and
prints Logan's translation of Cicero's _Cato Major_. Reprints
Richardson's _Pamela_. Father dies.
1746. _Reflections on Courtship and Marriage_, first of his writings
reprinted in Europe. Peter Collinson sends a Leyden vial as
gift to Library Company of Philadelphia. Having witnessed Dr.
Spence's experiments, Franklin now begins his study of
electricity.
1747. _Plain Truth: or, Serious Considerations on the Present State
of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pennsylvania._
1748. Withdraws from active service in his printing and bookselling
house (Franklin and Hall). _Advice to a Young Tradesman._
Chosen member of the Council of Philadelphia.
1749. Appointed provincial grand master of colonial Masons (through
1750). _Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
Pensilvania._ Founds academy which later develops into
University of Pennsylvania. Reprints Bolingbroke's _On the
Spirit of Patriotism_.
1750. Appointed as one of the commissioners to make treaty with the
Indians at Carlisle.
1751. _Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at
Philadelphia in America, By Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and
Communicated in several Letters to Mr. P. Collinson, of
London, F. R. S._ (London.) _Idea of the English School,
Sketch'd out for the Consideration of the Trustees of the
Philadelphia Academy._ Member of Assembly from Philadelphia
(incumbent until 1764). _Observations Concerning the Increase
of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, Etc._ Aids Dr. Bond to
establish Pennsylvania hospital.
1752. Collinson edition of Franklin's works translated into French.
Alleged kite experiment proves identity of lightning and
electricity. Invents lightning rod; in September raises one
over his own house. Mother dies. Aids in establishing the
first fire insurance company in the colonies.
1753. Appointed (jointly with William Hunter) deputy postmaster
general of North America Post, a position he held until 1774.
Makes ten-weeks' survey of roads and post offices in northern
colonies. Abbé Nollet attacks Franklin in _Lettres sur
l'électricité_ (Paris). Beccaria defends Franklin's electrical
theories against Abbé Nollet. Receives M. A. from Harvard and
from Yale. Receives Sir Godfrey Copley medal from the Royal
Society.
1754. Proposes Albany Plan of Union. Second edition of _Experiments
and Observations on Electricity_.
1755. _An Act for the Better Ordering and Regulating such as are
Willing and Desirous to be United for Military Purposes within
the Province of Pennsylvania._ _A Dialogue Between X, Y, & Z,
concerning the Present State of Affairs in Pennsylvania._ Aids
General Braddock in getting supplies and transportation.
1756. Supervises construction efforts in province of Pennsylvania (a
task begun in 1755). Chosen Fellow of the Royal Society of
London. Chosen a member of the London Society of Arts. _Plan
for Settling the Western Colonies in North America, with
Reasons for the Plan._ M. D'Alibard's edition of Franklin's
electrical experiments (French translation). Receives M. A.
from William and Mary College.
1757. Appointed colonial agent for Province of Pennsylvania (arrives
in London July 26). _The Way to Wealth_ (for 1758). (In 1889
Ford noted: "Seventy editions of it have been printed in
English, fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and nine in
Italian. It has been translated into Spanish, Danish, Swedish,
Welsh, Polish, Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian, Dutch, Catalan,
Chinese, Modern Greek and Phonetic writing. It has been
printed at least four hundred times, and is today as popular
as ever.")
1759. Receives Doctor of Laws degree from University of St. Andrews.
September 5, made burgess and guild-brother of Edinburgh. _An
Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of
Pennsylvania._ (See Ford, pp. 110-111, where he suggests that
this "must still be treated as from Franklin's pen.") _Parable
against Persecution._ Meets Adam Smith, Hume, Lord Kames,
etc., in home of Dr. Robertson at Edinburgh. Makes many
electrical experiments. Chosen honorary member of
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh.
1760. Provincial grand master of Pennsylvania Masons. _The Interest
of Great Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies._
Elected to society of Dr. Bray's Associates. (Corresponding
member until 1790.) Successful close of his issue with the
proprietaries.
1761. Tour of Holland and Belgium.
1762. Receives degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford. Leaves
England in August, arrives in America in October.
1763. Travels through colonies to inspect and regulate post offices.
1764. Appointed agent for Province of Pennsylvania to petition king
for change from proprietary to royal government. Leaves for
London in November. _Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of
Our Public Affairs._ _A Narrative of the Late Massacres in
Lancaster County._ _Preface to the Speech of Joseph Galloway,
Esq._
1765. Presents Grenville with resolution of Pennsylvania Assembly
against Stamp Act.
1766. Examined in House of Commons relative to repeal of the Stamp
Act. _Physical and Meteorological Observations._ With Sir John
Pringle visits Germany and Holland (June-August). Chosen
foreign member of the Royal Society of Sciences, Göttingen.
1767. With Sir John Pringle visits France (August 28-October 8).
Meets French Physiocrats. _Remarks and Facts Concerning
American Paper Money._
1768. Preface to _Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania_ (J.
Dickinson). _A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of
Spelling._ _Causes of the American Discontents before 1768._
_Art of Swimming._ Appointed London agent for colony of
Georgia.
1769. Visits France (July-August). Appointed New Jersey agent in
London. Elected first president of the American Philosophical
Society.
1770. Appointed London agent for Massachusetts Assembly.
1771. Begins _Autobiography_ (from 1706 to 1731) while visiting the
Bishop of St. Asaph at Twyford. Three-months' tour of Ireland
and Scotland. Entertained by Hume and Lord Kames. Chosen
corresponding member of Learned Society of Sciences,
Rotterdam.
1772. Chosen foreign member of Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris.
1773. _Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer_ (with Sir Francis
Dashwood). _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a
Small One._ M. Barbeu Dubourg's edition of _Œuvres de M.
Franklin_. Sends Hutchinson-Oliver letters to Massachusetts.
1774. Examined by Wedderburn before the Privy Council (January 29)
in regard to the Hutchinson-Oliver correspondence. Contributes
notes to George Whately's second edition of _Principles of
Trade_. Dismissed as deputy postmaster general of North
America. Deborah Franklin dies December 19.
1775. First postmaster general under Confederation. Returns to
America in May. Member of Philadelphia Committee of Safety.
Chosen a delegate to second Continental Congress. _An Account
of Negotiations in London for Effecting a Reconciliation
between Great Britain and the American Colonies._ Appointed
member of Committee of Secret Correspondence.
1776. A commissioner to Canada. Presides over Constitutional
Convention of Pennsylvania. Appointed one of committee to
frame Declaration of Independence. In September appointed one
of three commissioners from Congress to the French court.
Leaves Philadelphia October 27; reaches Paris December 21.
1777. Elected member of Loge des Neuf Sœurs. Chosen associate
member of Royal Medical Society of Paris.
1778. Assists at initiation of Voltaire in Loge des Neuf Sœurs.
Officiates at Masonic funeral service of Voltaire. Signs
commercial treaty and alliance for mutual defense with France.
_The Ephemera._ Altercation with Arthur Lee.
1779. Minister plenipotentiary to French court. _The Whistle._
_Morals of Chess._ B. Vaughan edits Franklin's _Political,
Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces_.
1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._
1781. Chosen Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences:
elected foreign member of Academy of Sciences, Letters, and
Arts of Padua, for work in natural philosophy and politics.
Appointed one of the peace commissioners to negotiate treaty
of peace between England and United States.
1782. Elected Venerable of Loge des Neuf Sœurs.
1783. Signs treaty with Sweden. Prints _Constitutions of the United
States_. Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh. Interest in balloons. Signs the Treaty of Paris
with John Jay and John Adams.
1784. With Le Roy, Bailly, Guillotin, Lavoisier, and others,
investigates Mesmer's animal magnetism (results in numerous
pamphlet reports). _Remarks Concerning the Savages of North
America. Advice to Such as Would Remove to America._ Chosen
member of Royal Academy of History, Madrid. At Passy resumes
work on _Autobiography_, beyond 1731.
1785. _Maritime Observations._ _On the Causes and Cure of Smoky
Chimneys._ Signs treaty of amity and commerce with Prussia.
Resigns as minister to French Court, and returns to
Philadelphia. President of Council of Pennsylvania (incumbent
for three years). Associate member of Academy of Sciences,
Literature, and Arts of Lyons. Councillor for Philadelphia
until 1788. Member of Philadelphia Society for the Promotion
of Agriculture, and Royal Society of Physics, National History
and Arts of Orleans, and honorary member of Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society.
1786. Chosen corresponding member of Society of Agriculture of
Milan.
1787. President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of
Slavery (incumbent until death). Pennsylvania delegate to
Constitutional Convention. Chosen honorary member of Medical
Society of London. Aids in establishing the Society for
Political Enquiry; elected its first president.
1788. At Philadelphia works on _Autobiography_, from 1731-1757.
1789. _Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original
Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia_ and several papers in
behalf of abolition of slavery. At Philadelphia resumes
_Autobiography_, from 1757 to 1759. Chosen member of Imperial
Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.
1790. Paper on the slave trade, _To the Editor of the Federal
Gazette_, March 23. Dies, April 17, in Philadelphia.
_SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY_
Starred items are of primary importance.
I. WORKS
Only the most useful and historically significant editions are here
listed. The student interested in other editions of Franklin's works,
the publication of his separate pamphlets, his contributions to
newspapers and periodicals, and his editorial activities should consult
P. L. Ford's _Franklin Bibliography_. Many of these items are
conveniently listed in _The Cambridge History of American Literature_,
I, 442 ff.
_Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in
America, By Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and Communicated in several
Letters to P. Collinson, of London, F. R. S._ London: 1751. (For
various editions and translations of this and the supplementary
letters added to first edition, consult Ford's _Bibliography_.)
_Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces; ... Written by
Benj. Franklin, LL. D. and F. R. S.... Now first collected, With
Explanatory Plates, Notes_, ... [ed. by Benjamin Vaughan]. London:
1779. ("The work is ably performed, many pieces being for the first
time printed as Franklin's; and contains valuable notes. But what
gives a special value to this collection is that it is the only
edition of Franklin's writings [other than his scientific], which was
printed during his life time; was done with Franklin's knowledge and
consent, and contains an 'errata' made by him for it" [Ford, p. 161].
Review in _Monthly Review_, LXII, 199-210, 298-308, describes his
electrical experiments as constituting a "_principia_" of electricity.
See also Smyth, VII, 410-13, for Franklin's own opinion.)
_Mémoires de la vie privée de Benjamin Franklin, écrits par luimême, et
adressés à son fils; suivis d'un précis historique de sa vie
politique, et de plusieurs pièces, relatives à ce père de la liberté._
Paris: 1791. (First edition of Franklin's _Autobiography_ to the year
1731; translation attributed to Dr. Jacques Gibelin. "The remainder of
his life is a translation from Wilmer's _Memoirs_ of Franklin, with
the most objectionable statements omitted" [Ford, p. 183]. For a
succinct history of _Autobiography_, editions, printing, translation,
and fortunes of the MS see Bigelow's introduction to _Autobiography_.)
_Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL. D. F. R. S.
&c.... Written by himself to a late period, and continued to the time
of his death, by his Grandson; William Temple Franklin. Now first
published from the original MSS...._ 3 vols. London: 1818. (The
standard collection, according to A. H. Smyth, until Sparks's edition.
Representative review in _Analectic Magazine_, XI, 449-84, June,
1818.)
_The Works of Benjamin Franklin; containing several political and
historical tracts not included in any former edition, and many letters
official and private not hitherto published; with notes and a life of
the author_, by Jared Sparks. 10 vols. Boston: 1836-1840. (Although
Sparks took undesirable editorial liberties with the MSS, rephrasing,
emending, and deleting, this edition still possesses value for its
notes and inclusion of pieces which Smyth does not include, but which
_may_ have been written by Franklin. Includes many valuable letters to
Franklin. For reviews see _North American Review_, LIX, 446, and
LXXXIII, 402.)
_Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Edited from his Manuscript, with
Notes and an Introduction_, by John Bigelow. Philadelphia: 1868. (To
quote Ford: "This is not only the first appearance of the
autobiography from Franklin's own copy, but also the first publication
in English of the four parts, and the first publication of the very
important 'outline' autobiography. It is therefore the first edition
of _the_ autobiography" [p. 199].)
_The Life of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself. Now first edited
from original manuscripts and from his printed correspondence and
other writings_, by John Bigelow. 3 vols. Philadelphia: 1874.
(Bigelow text of _Autobiography_ and extracts from Franklin's other
works.)
_The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin including his private as well
as his official and scientific correspondence, and numerous letters
and documents now for the first time printed with many others not
included in any former collection, also the unmutilated and correct
version of his autobiography._ Comp. and ed. by John Bigelow. 10 vols.
New York: 1887-1889. (Corrects many of Sparks's errors and adds "some
six hundred new pieces." For first time works are chronologically
arranged.)
*_The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, collected and edited with a Life
and Introduction_, by Albert Henry Smyth. 10 vols. New York:
1905-1907. (The standard edition. It is unfortunate that the editor
has omitted pieces which are either too Rabelaisian or too
metaphysically radical, such as the _Dissertation_ of 1725, or are, in
his mind, _probably_ not written by Franklin.)
II. COLLECTIONS AND REPRINTS
No attempt has been made to include the learned journal articles which
reprint occasional letters not in Smyth. Letters which aid in
understanding Franklin's mind have been referred to in the Introduction
and Notes.
Chinard, Gilbert. _Les amitiés américaines de Madame d'Houdetot,
d'après sa correspondance inédite avec Benjamin Franklin et Thomas
Jefferson._ Paris: 1924.
Diller, Theodore. _Franklin's Contribution to Medicine._ Brooklyn: 1912.
(Able collection of Franklin's letters bearing on medicine. Franklin
is described "as one of the greatest benefactors, friends, and patrons
of the medical profession as well as a most substantial contributor to
the science and art of medicine.")
[Franklin, Benjamin.] _A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain._ Reproduced from the first edition, with a bibliographical
note by Lawrence C. Wroth. The Facsimile Text Society, New York: 1930.
(Although A. H. Smyth omitted this work from his _Writings of
Benjamin Franklin_, suggesting that "the work has no value," it is
difficult to see how a study of the _modus operandi_ of Franklin's
mind could be thoroughly made without it. Parton in his _Life and
Times of Benjamin Franklin_, and I. W. Riley in his _American
Philosophy: The Early Schools_ have reprinted it in appendices.)
Franklin, Benjamin. _Poor Richard's Almanack. Being the Almanacks of
1733, 1749, 1756, 1757, 1758, first written under the name of Richard
Saunders._ With a foreword by Phillips Russell. Garden City, N. Y.:
1928. ("First facsimile edition of a group of the Almanacks to be
published.")
Franklin, Benjamin. _The Prefaces, Proverbs, and Poems of Benjamin
Franklin Originally Printed in Poor Richard's Almanacs for 1733-1758._
Collected and ed. by P. L. Ford. Brooklyn: 1890. (Best collection of
its kind; in addition contains account of popularity and function of
almanacs in colonial period.)
Franklin, Benjamin. _Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
Pensilvania._ Facsimile reprint, with an introduction by William
Pepper. Philadelphia: 1931. (Franklin's notes omitted in Smyth.
_Proposals_ also reprinted by the William L. Clements Library, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: 1927; "though not a facsimile reprint," it does
include the notes. Thomas Woody in his _Educational Views of Benjamin
Franklin_ [New York: 1931] reprints it with the notes.)
Franklin, Benjamin. _The Sayings of Poor Richard, 1733-1758._ Condensed
and ed. by T. H. Russell. N.p.: n.d. (Best aphorisms chronologically
arranged.)
Goodman, N. G., ed. _The Ingenious Dr. Franklin; Selected Scientific
Letters of Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1931. (Includes several
items not published in Smyth edition.)
_Letters to Benjamin Franklin, from his Family and Friends, 1751-1790._
[Ed. by William Duane.] New York: 1859.
Pepper, William. _The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia:
1911. (Essentially quotations from the A. H. Smyth edition. Franklin
is viewed as "an early and great hygienist.")
Stifler, J. M., ed. "_My Dear Girl._" _The Correspondence of Benjamin
Franklin with Polly Stevenson, Georgiana and Catherine Shipley._ New
York: 1927. (Engaging collection showing Franklin's "capacity for
lively and enduring friendship" [p. vii]. Many of the letters _to_
Franklin "printed now for the first time." Contains several of
Franklin's letters hitherto unpublished.)
III. BIOGRAPHIES
Becker, Carl. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Dictionary of American
Biography_. New York: 1931. VI, 585-98. (The most authoritative brief
biography.)
*Bruce, W. C. _Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed._ 2 vols. New York:
1917. (In spite of occasional extravagant statements and a
conservative temperament preventing him from discussing Franklin's
religion with sympathetic and historical insight, Mr. Bruce has
provided a brilliant and perspicuous survey. "Self-revealed" fails to
do justice to Bruce's incisive commentary.)
*Faÿ, Bernard. _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times._ Boston: 1929. (A
readable critical biography said to be based on "six hundred to nine
hundred unpublished letters." Would have been more useful had it been
given scholarly documentation. Some new light on Franklin's Masonic
activities and his efforts during 1757-1762 to effect the growth of a
British empire. [Faÿ used the Franklin-Galloway correspondence in the
W. S. Mason and W. L. Clements collections.] Believes that Franklin
was a "follower of the seventeenth-century English Pythagoreans":
since this belief is largely undocumented, one feels it curious that
Pythagoreanism should bulk larger than the pattern of thought provoked
by Locke and Newton. See very critical reviews by H. M. Jones in
_American Literature_, II, 306-12 [Nov., 1930], and W. C. Bruce,
_American Historical Review_, XXXV, 634 ff. [April, 1930]. The latter
concludes that "there is very little, indeed, in the text of the book
under review that makes any unquestionably substantial addition to our
pre-existing knowledge of Franklin, or is marked by anything that can
be termed freshness of interpretation.")
Faÿ, Bernard. _The Two Franklins: Fathers of American Democracy._
Boston: 1933. (Charmingly spirited portrait of patriarchal Franklin of
Passy [reworking of materials in _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern
Times_]. Faÿ's habit of mingling quotation, paraphrase, and intuition
in use of Bache's Diary suggests untrustworthy documentation. The
second Franklin is, of course, Benjamin Franklin Bache [1769-1798, son
of Sally Franklin and Richard Bache], editor of the republican _Aurora
General Advertiser_. For a judicial, unsympathetic review see A.
Guerard's in the _New York Herald Tribune Books_, Oct. 22, 1933. J. A.
Krout, in the _American Historical Review_, XXXIX, 741-2 [July, 1934],
observes that Faÿ "fails to establish the elder Franklin's paternal
relation to the democratic forces of the 'revolutionary' decade after
1790.")
Fisher, S. G. _The True Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1899. (Highly
prejudiced interpretation with disproportionate attention to
Franklin's acknowledged shortcomings.)
*Ford, P. L. _The Many-Sided Franklin._ New York: 1899. (A gracefully
solid and inclusive standard work.)
Hale, E. E., and Hale, E. E., Jr. _Franklin in France. From Original
Documents, Most of Which Are Now Published for the First Time._ 2
vols. Boston: 1887-1888. (Convenient collection of letters to
Franklin; authors had access to Stevens and American Philosophical
Society collections. Franklin letters and documents here given later
published in Smyth. Useful chapters on Franklin's friends, his vogue
in France, meetings with Voltaire, his activities in science, his
interest in balloons, and investigation of Mesmerism. See reviews in
_Dial_, VIII, 7, IX, 204; _Nation_, XLIV, 368; _Athenaeum_, II, 77
[1887]; _Atlantic Monthly_, LX, 318.)
McMaster, J. B. _Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters._ American Men of
Letters series. Boston: 1887. (Fullest account of this aspect of the
many-minded Franklin. See also MacLaurin and Jorgenson items, pp.
clxv, clxvi below.)
More, P. E. _Benjamin Franklin._ Riverside Biographical Series. Boston:
1900. (Suggestive of a _précis_ of Parton's _Life_ with judicial, if
not historical, penetration. Stimulating notes, such as the following:
Franklin was "a great pagan, who lapsed now and then into the
pseudo-religious platitudes of the eighteenth-century deists.")
Morse, John Torrey, Jr. _Benjamin Franklin._ American Statesmen series.
Boston: 1889. (Compact account stressing his political and diplomatic
career.)
*Parton, James. _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin._ 2 vols. New York:
1864. (Although not all works ascribed to Franklin by Parton are by
his pen, and although new materials have been added to the Franklin
canon, he remains the most encyclopedic and often the most penetrating
of Franklin's biographers. He deserves credit for printing in an
appendix Franklin's _Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain_. For reviews see _North American Review_ [July, 1864];
_Atlantic Monthly_ [Sept., 1864]; _London Quarterly_, XXIII, 483;
_Littell's Living Age_, LXXXIV, 289.)
Russell, Phillips. _Benjamin Franklin, the First Civilised American._
New York: 1926. (The _esprit_ and readableness of this popular work do
not offset its lack of precision, historical scholarship, and taste.)
Smyth, Albert H. "Life of Benjamin Franklin," in Vol. X, 141-510, of
_The Writings of Benjamin Franklin_. (Stimulating survey.)
Swift, Lindsay. _Benjamin Franklin._ Beacon Biographies of Eminent
Americans. Boston: 1910. (Brief series of biographical "impressions"
arranged chronologically.)
Weems, Mason L. _The Life of Benjamin Franklin, with many Choice
Anecdotes and Admirable Sayings of this Great Man._ Baltimore: 1815.
(One would think it unfair to smile at a writer who had the wit to
describe Franklin as one who "with such equal ease, could play the
_Newton_ or the _Chesterfield_, and charm alike the lightnings and the
ladies." Contains some imaginative, though intuitive, remarks on
Franklin's religion.)
IV. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES
Abbe, C. "Benjamin Franklin as Meteorologist," _Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society_, XLV, 117-28 (1906). ("Worthy
co-laborer" with Newton, Huygens, Descartes, Boyle, and Gay-Lussac.
He is "the first meteorologist of America," "pioneer of the rational
long-range forecasters.")
Abbot, G. M. _A Short History of the Library Company of Philadelphia:
Compiled from the Minutes, together with some personal reminiscences._
Philadelphia: 1913.
Amiable, L. _Une loge maçonnique d'avant 1789. La R.·. L.·. Les Neuf
Sœurs._ Paris: 1897. (Fullest account of Franklin's activities in
French Freemasonry.)
_Analectic Magazine_, XI, 449-84 (June, 1818). (Review of W. T.
Franklin's edition of Franklin's works. Complexion of this eulogy
suggested by: "His name is now exalted in Europe above any others of
the eighteenth century.")
Angoff, Charles. _A Literary History of the American People._ New York:
1931. II, 295-310. (It would be difficult to match the debonair
ignorance of this violently hostile essay.)
"A Poem on the Death of Franklin," _Proceedings of the New Jersey
Historical Society_, XV, 109 (Jan., 1930). (A typical elegy based on
theme suggested by Turgot's epigram on Franklin.)
Bache, R. M. "Smoky Torches in Franklin's Honor," _Critic_, XLVIII,
561-6 (June, 1906). (Charming in its caustic though just view that
"articles on Franklin have verged on superfluity.")
Bache, R. M. "The So-Called 'Franklin Prayer-Book,'" _Pennsylvania
Magazine of History and Biography_, XXI, 225-34 (1897). (See Rev. John
Wright's account of the same in _Early Prayer Books of America_ [St.
Paul: 1896], pp. 386-99.)
Biddison, P. "The Magazine Franklin Failed to Remember," _American
Literature_, IV, 177-80 (May, 1932). (Survey of the Franklin-Webbe
altercation concerning the inauguration of Franklin's _General
Magazine, and Historical Chronicle ..._, 1741.)
Bigelow, John. "Franklin as the Man," _Independent_, LX, 69-72 (Jan. 11,
1906). (Stresses his tolerance, common sense, and "constitutional
unwillingness to dogmatize.")
Bleyer, W. G. _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism._
Boston: 1927. (Chapters I-II contain excellent survey of the _New
England Courant_, and the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ during its formative
years. Bibliography, pp. 431-41.)
Bloore, Stephen. "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library
Company," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIX, 42-56
(Jan., 1935). (Valuable notes on Franklin's collaborator in
_Busy-Body_ series.)
Bloore, Stephen. "Samuel Keimer. A Foot-note to the Life of Franklin,"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 255-87 (July,
1930). (Readers of the _Autobiography_ will appreciate this excellent
study of one who figures prominently in its pages.)
Brett-James, N. G. _The Life of Peter Collinson._ London: [1917]. (Many
notes on Franklin-Collinson friendship. Collinson, it is remembered,
"started Franklin on his career as a researcher in electricity.")
Buckingham, J. T. _Specimens of Newspaper Literature; with Personal
Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Reminiscences._ 2 vols. Boston: 1850. (Vol. I,
49-88, discusses _New England Courant_. Identifies _Dogood Papers_ as
Franklin's.)
Bullen, H. L. "Benjamin Franklin and What Printing Did for Him,"
_American Collector_, II, 284-91 (May, 1926).
Butler, Ruth L. _Doctor Franklin, Postmaster General._ Garden City, N.
Y.: 1928. (A sturdily documented study illustrating that Franklin
"furnished the most highly efficient administration to the postal
system during the colonial period.")
Canby, H. S. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Classic Americans_. New York:
1931, pp. 34-45. (Spirited estimate partly vitiated by excessive
emphasis on influence of Quakerism; Canby observes that Franklin's
mind represents "Quakerism conventionalized, stylized, and Deicized.")
*Carey, Lewis J. _Franklin's Economic Views._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1928.
(Excellent survey.)
Cestre, Charles. "Franklin, homme représentatif," _Revue
Anglo-Américaine_, 409-23, 505-22 (June, August, 1928).
Choate, J. H. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Abraham Lincoln, and Other
Addresses in England_. New York: 1910, pp. 47-94. (Sanely eulogistic
biographical survey.)
Condorcet, Marquis de. _Éloge de M. Franklin, lu à la séance publique de
l'Académie des Sciences, le 13 Nov., 1790...._ Paris: 1791. (Both a
eulogy, and an interpretation of _why_ France, as representative of
the Enlightenment, eulogized the Philadelphia tradesman. By the most
sublime of the _philosophes_.)
Cook, E. C. _Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750._ New
York: 1912. (Trenchant analysis of Franklin's indebtedness to Addison
and Steele--especially in the _Dogood Papers_--the character of the
_New England Courant_, advertisements of books in _Pennsylvania
Gazette_, etc. "Benjamin Franklin was the only prominent man of the
period who deliberately attempted to spread the knowledge and love of
literature among his countrymen.")
Crane, V. W. "Certain Writings of Benjamin Franklin on the British
Empire and the American Colonies," _Papers of the Bibliographical
Society_, XXVIII, Pt. 1, 1-27 (1934). (Newly identified Franklin
papers more than double existing canon. He becomes "the chief agent of
the American propaganda in England, especially between 1765 and 1770."
New canon promises to "illuminate the development of Franklin's
political ideas." Very significant.)
Cumston, C. G. "Benjamin Franklin from the Medical Viewpoint," _New York
Medical Journal_, LXXXIX, 3-12 (Jan. 2, 1909). (Useful survey.)
Cutler, W. P., and Cutler, J. P. _Life, Journals and Correspondence of
Rev. Manasseh Cutler._ 2 vols. Cincinnati: 1888. (Portrait of
patriarchal Franklin at age of eighty-four.)
Dickinson, A. D. "Benjamin Franklin, Bookman," _Bookman_, LIII, 197-205
(May, 1921). (Brief account of Franklin imprints.)
_Discours du Comte de Mirabeau. Dans la séance du 11 Juin, sur la mort
de Benjamin Francklin_ [_sic_]. Imprimé par ordre de l'Assemblée
National. Paris: 1790.
Draper, J. W. "Franklin's Place in the Science of the Last Century,"
_Harper's Magazine_, LXI, 265-75 (July, 1880). (Franklin's discoveries
"were only embellishments of his life." Superficial.)
Duniway, C. A. _The Development of Freedom of the Press in
Massachusetts._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1906. (Chapter VI includes account
of James Franklin and the _New England Courant_.)
Eddy, G. S. "Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Library," _Proceedings of the
American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 206-26 (Oct., 1924). (This
indefatigable scholar has ascertained the titles of 1350 volumes in
Franklin's library. This survey article does not list the titles.)
*Eiselen, M. R. _Franklin's Political Theories._ Garden City, N. Y.:
1928. (Thoughtful survey.)
Eiselen, M. R. _The Rise of Pennsylvania Protectionism._ Philadelphia:
1932. (University of Pennsylvania dissertation. Chapter I describes
Franklin's holding to laissez faire in a state dominantly
protectionist.)
Eliot, T. D. "The Relations Between Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin
before 1776," _Political Science Quarterly_, XXXIX, 67-96 (March,
1924). (Exhaustive documentary data which fails to establish specific
and incontrovertible Franklin influence on Smith.)
"Excerpts from the Papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush," _Pennsylvania Magazine
of History and Biography_, XXIX, 15-30 (Jan., 1905). (Includes
"Conversations with Franklin," pp. 23-8: Franklin terms Latin and
Greek the "quackery of literature"; is alleged to have reprobated the
Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, in that it placed "the Supreme
power of the State in the hands of a Single legislature." Other
interesting sidelights.)
Farrand, Max, ed. _The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787._ 3
vols. New Haven: 1911. (Records show Franklin as a sober moderator:
when rival factions tended to render the convention impotent, he
said, "When a broad table is to be made, and the edges the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good
joint.")
Fauchet, Claude. _Éloge civique de Benjamin Franklin, prononcé, le 21
Juillet 1790, dans la Rotonde, au nom de la Commune de Paris._ Paris:
1790.
Faÿ, Bernard. "Franklin et Mirabeau collaborateurs," _Revue de
Littérature Comparée_, VIII, 5-28 (1928). (Franklin furnished
materials for Mirabeau's _Considerations on the Order of
Cincinnatus_.)
Faÿ, Bernard. "Learned Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth
Century," _American Historical Review_, XXXVII, 255-66 (Jan., 1932).
(Urges that like all learned societies in the eighteenth century,
Franklin's Junto and American Philosophical Society "had Masonic
leanings.")
Faÿ, Bernard. "Le credo de Franklin," _Correspondant_, 570-8 (Feb. 25,
1930).
Faÿ, Bernard. "Les débuts de Franklin en France," _Revue de Paris_,
577-605 (Feb. 1, 1931).
Faÿ, Bernard. "Les dernières amours d'un philosophe," _Correspondant_,
381-96 (May 10, 1930).
Faÿ, Bernard. "Le triomphe de Franklin en France," _Revue de Paris_,
872-96 (Feb. 15, 1931).
Ford, P. L. "Franklin as Printer and Publisher," _Century Magazine_,
LVII, 803-17 (April, 1899).
Ford, W. C. "Franklin and Chatham," _Independent_, LX, 94-7 (Jan. 11,
1906).
Ford, W. C. "Franklin's New England Courant," _Proceedings of the
Massachusetts Historical Society_, LVII, 336-53 (April, 1924).
Ford, W. C. "One of Franklin's Friendships. From Hitherto Unpublished
Correspondence between Madame de Brillon and Benjamin Franklin,
1776-1789," _Harper's Magazine_, CXIII, 626-33 (Sept., 1906).
Foster, J. W. "Franklin as a Diplomat," _Independent_, LX, 84-9 (Jan.
11, 1906).
Fox, R. H. _Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends; Chapters in Eighteenth
Century Life._ London: 1919. (Franklin and Fothergill, "lovers of
nature and keen students of physical science," met in 1757. See also
J. C. Lettsom, _Memoirs of John Fothergill_, 4th ed., London: 1786.)
Garrison, F. W. "Franklin and the Physiocrats," _Freeman_, VIII, 154-6
(Oct. 24, 1923). (Transcended by Carey's chapter in _Franklin's
Economic Views_, but has quotation from Dupont de Nemours [1769]: "Who
does not know that the English have today their Benjamin Franklin, who
has adopted the principles and the doctrines of our French
economists?")
Goggio, E. "Benjamin Franklin and Italy," _Romanic Review_, XIX, 302-8
(Oct., 1928). (Largely through the efforts of G. Beccaria, "Benjamin
Franklin was one of the first Americans to gain eminence and
popularity among the people of Italy.")
Goode, G. B. "The Literary Labors of Benjamin Franklin," _Proceedings of
the American Philosophical Society_, XXVIII, 177-97 (1890).
Grandgent, C. H. "Benjamin Franklin the Reformer," in _Prunes and
Prisms, with Other Odds and Ends_. Cambridge, Mass.: 1928, pp. 86-97.
("The principles advocated in his unfinished exposition [on spelling
reform] are those which phoneticians now advocate.")
Greene, S. A. "The Story of a Famous Book," _Atlantic Monthly_, XXVII,
207-12 (Feb., 1871). (A kind of _précis_ of Bigelow's Introduction to
_Autobiography_.)
Griswold, A. W. "Three Puritans on Prosperity," _New England Quarterly_,
VII, 475-93 (Sept., 1934). (Cotton Mather, Timothy Dwight, and
Franklin. One wonders by what right Franklin is dubbed the "soul of
Puritanism.")
Guedalla, Philip. "Dr. Franklin," in _Fathers of the Revolution_. New
York: 1926, pp. 215-34. (Chatty popular review of "the first
high-priest of the religion of efficiency.")
Guillois, Antoine. _Le salon de Madame Helvétius._ Paris: 1894.
Gummere, R. M. "Socrates at the Printing Press. Benjamin Franklin and
the Classics," _Classical Weekly_, XXVI, 57-9 (Dec. 5, 1932). (Survey
of his references to the classics, with occasional estimates of impact
on his mind.)
Hale, E. E. "Ben Franklin's Ballads," _New England Magazine_, N. S.
XVIII, 505-7 (1898). (Thinks "The Downfall of Piracy," found in
Ashton's _Real Sea-Songs_, is "one of the two lost ballads" Franklin
mentions in _Autobiography_.)
Hale, E. E. "Franklin as Philosopher and Moralist," _Independent_, LX,
89-93 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Does not go beyond terming Franklin's
philosophy common sense.)
Harrison, Frederic. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Memories and Thoughts_. New
York: 1906, pp. 119-23. (Keen appraisal.)
Hart, C. H. "Benjamin Franklin in Allegory," _Century Magazine_, XLI (N.
S. XIX), 197-204 (Dec., 1890). (The French sanctify Franklin in
allegory.)
Hart, C. H. "Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An Inquiry
Demonstrating that She Was Deborah Read, Wife of Benjamin Franklin,"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXXV, 308-14 (July,
1911). (Plausible circumstantial evidence is offered.)
Hays, I. M. _The Chronology of Benjamin Franklin, Founder of the
American Philosophical Society._ Philadelphia: 1904.
Hill, D. J. "A Missing Chapter of Franco-American History," _American
Historical Review_, XXI, 709-19 (July, 1916). (Political interests of
Masonic "Lodge of the Nine Sisters," Paris, of which Franklin was an
active member. Franklin described as "creator of constitutionalism in
Europe.")
Houston, E. J. "Franklin as a Man of Science and an Inventor," _Journal
of the Franklin Institute_, CLXI, Nos. 4-5, 241-383 (April-May, 1906).
Hulbert, C. _Biographical Sketches of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, General
Washington, and Thomas Paine; with an Essay on Atheism and
Infidelity._ London: 1820. (Franklin and Washington made almost
saintly to contrast with Paine, "a notorious Unbeliever." Quotes one
who sees Franklin as "the patriot of the world, the playmate of the
lightning, the philosopher of liberty.")
Jackson, M. K. _Outlines of the Literary History of Colonial
Pennsylvania._ Lancaster, Pa.: 1906. (Especially chapter III, which
surveys Franklin as man of letters.)
Jernegan, M. W. "Benjamin Franklin's 'Electrical Kite' and Lightning
Rod," _New England Quarterly_, I, 180-96 (April, 1928). ("The question
still remains however whether Franklin flew his kite _before_ he heard
of the French experiments, and thus discovered the identity of
lightning and electricity independently." Summarizes and supersedes:
McAdie, A., "The Date of Franklin's Kite Experiment," _Proceedings of
the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 188-205; Rotch, A. L.,
"Did Benjamin Franklin Fly His Electrical Kite before He Invented the
Lightning Rod?" _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N.
S. XVIII, 115-23.)
Jordan, J. W. "Franklin as a Genealogist," _Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography_, XXIII, 1-22 (April, 1899).
Jorgenson, C. E. "A Brand Flung at Colonial Orthodoxy. Samuel Keimer's
'Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences,'" _Journalism
Quarterly_, XII, 272-7 (Sept., 1935). (Shows deistic tendencies.)
Jorgenson, C. E. "The New Science in the Almanacs of Ames and Franklin,"
_New England Quarterly_, VIII, 555-61 (Dec., 1935). (Newtonianism and
scientific deism diffused through these popular almanacs.)
Jorgenson, C. E. "Sidelights on Benjamin Franklin's Principles of
Rhetoric," _Revue Anglo-Américaine_, 208-22 (Feb., 1934). (Franklin's
principles in general are consonant with the eighteenth-century
neoclassic ideals.)
Jorgenson, C. E. "The Source of Benjamin Franklin's Dialogues between
Philocles and Horatio (1730)," _American Literature_, VI, 337-9 (Nov.,
1934). (The source is Shaftesbury's "The Moralists," in the
_Characteristics_.)
*Jusserand, J. J. "Franklin in France," in _Essays Offered to Herbert
Putnam...._ Ed. by W. W. Bishop and A. Keogh. New Haven: 1929, pp.
226-47. (Delightful summary.)
Kane, Hope F. "James Franklin Senior, Printer of Boston and Newport,"
_American Collector_, III, 17-26 (Oct., 1926). (A study of his _New
England Courant_ and his place in the development of freedom of the
press.)
King, M. R. "One Link in the First Newspaper Chain, _The South Carolina
Gazette," Journalism Quarterly_, IX, 257-68 (Sept., 1932). (Franklin's
partnership with Thomas Whitemarsh in 1731 is here alleged to have
begun the first American newspaper "chain.")
Kite, Elizabeth S. "Benjamin Franklin--Diplomat," _Catholic World_,
CXLII, 28-37 (Oct., 1935). (An intelligent and appreciative brief
survey of the subject, with a considerable preface showing the extent
to which Franklin's worldly success grew out of his religious views.)
Lees, F. "The Parisian Suburb of Passy: Its Architecture in the Days of
Franklin," _Architectural Record_, XII, 669-83 (Dec., 1902). (Several
good illustrations included.)
Livingston, L. S. _Franklin and His Press at Passy; An Account of the
Books, Pamphlets, and Leaflets Printed There, including the Long-Lost
Bagatelles._ The Grolier Club, New York: 1914. (For additions to this
work begun by L. S. Livingston, see R. G. Adams, "The 'Passy-ports'
and Their Press," _American Collector_, IV, 177-80 [Aug., 1927], which
includes bibliography useful to study of the Passy imprints.)
MacDonald, William. "The Fame of Franklin," _Atlantic Monthly_, XCVI.
450-62 (Oct., 1905).
Mackay, Constance D'A. _Franklin. A Play._ New York: 1922.
MacLaurin, Lois M. _Franklin's Vocabulary._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1928.
(His "conservative ideas about linguistic innovations" are to a
notable degree achieved in his practices. For example, of a vocabulary
of 4062 words used in his writings between 1722 and 1751, "only 19
were discovered to be pure 'Americanisms.'")
McMaster, J. B. "Franklin in France," _Atlantic Monthly_, LX, 318-26
(Sept., 1887). (Good survey, based on Hale and Hale, _Franklin in
France_.)
Malone, Kemp. "Benjamin Franklin on Spelling Reform," _American Speech_,
I, 96-100 (Nov., 1925). (Franklin was the "first American to tackle
English phonetics scientifically.")
Mason, W. S. "Franklin and Galloway: Some Unpublished Letters,"
_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 227-58
(Oct., 1924). (Significant sidelights cast on "the problems of
Pennsylvania colonial history from 1757 to 1760." Excellent summary of
Franklin's and Galloway's victory over the Proprietors. Mr. Mason's
collection includes many valuable letters [Franklin-Galloway] between
1757 and 1772, not published in Smyth.)
Mathews, Mrs. L. K. "Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union,
1750-1775," _American Political Science Review_, VIII, 393-412 (Aug.,
1914).
Melville, Herman. _Israel Potter._ London: 1923. (Graphic intuitive
portrait of Franklin: he lives as a "household Plato," "a practical
Magian in linsey-woolsey," a "didactically waggish," prudent courtier
who "was everything but a poet.")
_Mémoires de l'Abbé Morellet, de l'Académie Française, sur le
dixhuitième siècle et sur la Révolution._ 2 vols. Paris: 1821.
(Especially II, 286-311. Franklin viewed as very emblem of Liberty.)
Montgomery, T. H. _A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its
Foundation to A. D. 1770._ Philadelphia: 1900.
_Monthly Review; or Literary Journal: By Several Hands._ London: 1770.
XLII, 199-210, 298-308. ("The experiments and observations of Dr.
Franklin constitute the _principia_ of electricity, and form the basis
of a system equally simple and profound.")
*More, P. E. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Shelburne Essays_, Fourth Series.
New York: 1906, pp. 129-55. (Provocative appraisal: stresses
Franklin's "contemporaneity," his tendency to be oblivious to the
past--a suggestive, if a moot point.)
Morgan, W. _Memoirs of the Life of Rev. Richard Price._ London: 1815.
(Notes on Franklin's relations with Price during early 1760's;
meetings at Royal Society and London Coffee-house.)
Mottay, F. _Benjamin Franklin et la philosophie pratique._ Paris: 1886.
(Good model for citizens of a free nation and "le véritable catechisme
de l'homme vertueux." Also several just remarks on his style which
possesses "les mots épiques d'un Corneille et les élégantes
périphrases d'un Racine.")
Moulton, C. W., ed. _Library of Literary Criticism of English and
American Authors_. Buffalo, N. Y.: 1901. IV, 79-106. (Stimulating
assembly of extracts which aids student in discovering the history of
Franklin's reputation.)
Mustard, W. P. "Poor Richard's Poetry," _Nation_, LXXXII, 239, 279
(March 22, April 5, 1906). (Indicates Franklin's borrowings from
Dryden, Pope, Prior, Gay, Swift, and others.)
Nichols, E. L. "Franklin as a Man of Science," _Independent_, LX, 79-84
(Jan. 11, 1906). (Franklin's mind "turned ever by preference to the
utilitarian and away from the theoretical and speculative aspects of
things.")
"Notice sur Benjamin Franklin," in _Œuvres posthumes de Cabanis_.
Paris: 1825, pp. 219-74. (Representative in its rapturous eulogy.)
Oberholtzer, E. P. _The Literary History of Philadelphia._ Philadelphia:
1906. (Chap. II, "The Age of Franklin," written with conservative
bias, belabors Franklin who as a statesman "was almost as wrong as
Paine and Mirabeau." What Voltaire was to France, Franklin was to his
native city and state.)
Oswald, J. C. _Benjamin Franklin in Oil and Bronze._ New York: 1926.
("Probably the features and form of no man who ever lived were
delineated so frequently and in such a variety of ways as were those
of Benjamin Franklin." Best survey of its kind, including many
excellent reproductions.)
Oswald, J. C. _Benjamin Franklin, Printer._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1917.
(Fullest and ablest account of this phase of Franklin's life.)
Owen, E. D. "Where Did Benjamin Franklin Get the Idea for His Academy?"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LVIII, 86-94 (Jan.,
1934). (Inconclusive evidence attributing it to Dr. Philip Doddridge.)
*Parker, Theodore. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Historic Americans_. Ed.
with notes by S. A. Eliot. Boston: 1908 [written in 1858]. (Franklin
"thinks, investigates, theorizes, invents, but never does he dream."
Although Parker, an idealist and reformer, exalts "the sharp outline
of his [Franklin's] exact idea," his humanitarianism, his combining
the "rare excellence of Socrates and Bacon" in making things "easy
for all to handle and comprehend," he concludes that Franklin is "a
saint devoted to the almighty dollar." There are few more readable
estimates.)
*Parrington, V. L. "Benjamin Franklin," in _The Colonial Mind,
1620-1800_. New York: 1927, pp. 164-78. (Emphasizes Franklin's
tendencies toward agrarian democracy; Parrington's indifference to the
genetic approach and his chronic economic determinism lead him to
slight the primary importance of Franklin's religious and philosophic
views in conditioning his other activities.)
Pennington, E. L. "The Work of the Bray Associates in Pennsylvania,"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LVIII, 1-25 (Jan.,
1934). (Franklin's humanitarian interest in negro education. In 1758
he writes from London urging school for instructing young Negroes in
Philadelphia.)
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXV, 307-22, 516-26
(1901), XXVI, 81-90, 255-64 (1902). (Reprints one of Dean Tucker's
pamphlets with Franklin's annotations. Casts light on Franklin's
loyalty to the Crown, while rebellious against Parliament.)
Potamian, Brother, and Walsh, J. J. _Makers of Electricity._ New York:
1909. ("Franklin and Some Contemporaries," chapter II, pp. 68-132, by
Brother Potamian, is an excellent survey of Franklin's contributions
to the science of electricity.)
Powell, E. P. "A Study of Benjamin Franklin," _Arena_, VIII, 477-91
(Sept., 1893). (Fair survey of Franklin as a diplomatist.)
Priestley, J. _The History and Present State of Electricity, with
Original Experiments._ London: 1767. (Many notes observing Franklin's
"truly philosophical greatness of mind." Preface contains suggestive
generalizations concerning function of the natural philosopher:
especially, he who experiments in electricity discerns laws of nature,
"that is, of the God of nature himself.")
Rava, Luigi. "La fortuna di Beniamino Franklin in Italia," Prefazione al
volume _Beniamino Franklin_ di Lawrence Shaw Mayo. Firenze: n.d.
Repplier, Emma. "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor," _Lippincott's
Magazine_, LXXVII, 63-70 (Jan., 1906). (Concerning those who during
the Revolution wrote Franklin for favors and places.)
Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Money," _Pennsylvania
Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 52-64 (Jan., 1930).
Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin's Mission to Canada and the Causes of
Its Failure," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_,
XLVIII, 111-58 (April, 1924).
*Riley, I. W. _American Philosophy: The Early Schools._ New York: 1907,
pp. 229-65. (Conventional view of Franklin's deism; with C. M. Walsh
[see below], Riley overemphasizes influence of Plato on Franklin's
thought.)
Riley, I. W. _American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism and
Beyond._ New York: 1915, pp. 68-77. (Graphic glimpses of "most
precocious of the American skeptics.")
Rosengarten, J. G. "The American Philosophical Society," reprinted from
_Founders' Week Memorial Volume_. Philadelphia: 1908.
Ross, E. D. "Benjamin Franklin as an Eighteenth-Century Agriculture
Leader," _Journal of Political Economy_, XXXVII, 52-72 (Feb., 1929).
(No "rural sentimentalist," Franklin experimented in agriculture,
particularly during 1747-1755, as a utilitarian idealist. Quotes one
who suggests Franklin was "half physiocratic before the rise of the
physiocratic school." Excellent and well-documented survey.)
Sachse, J. F. _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason._ Philadelphia: 1906.
("To write the history of Franklin as a Freemason is virtually to
chronicle the early Masonic history of America." Soundly documented
survey. Includes useful chronological table of Franklin's Masonic
activities.)
*Sainte-Beuve, C. A. _Portraits of the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. by K.
P. Wormeley, with a critical introduction by E. Scherer. New York:
1905. I, 311-75. (The two essays on Franklin in _Causeries du lundi_
are "here put together," though with no important omissions from
either. Brilliant portrait of the "most gracious, smiling, and
persuasive utilitarian," one who assigned "no part to human
imagination.")
Seipp, Erika. _Benjamin Franklins Religion und Ethik._ Darmstadt: 1932.
(Suggestive, though brief, view of Franklin's deism and
utilitarianism. Attempts to see his thought in reference to various
representative deists. This is not, however, a "source" study.)
Shepherd, W. R. _History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania._ New
York: 1896. (Franklin emerges as "a sort of tribune to the people," a
"mighty Goliath," a "plague" in the eyes of the feudalistic rulers of
Pennsylvania, "a huge fief." Author relatively unsympathetic to
Franklin.)
*Sherman, S. P. "Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment," in _Americans_.
New York: 1922, pp. 28-62. (Penetrating survey and estimate.)
Smith, William, D.D. _Eulogium on Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia:
1792. (One agrees with P. L. Ford, that this work "forms a somewhat
amusing contrast to the savageness of the Doctor's earlier writings
against Franklin." Bombastic in its rhetoric and eulogy.)
Smythe, J. H., Jr., comp. _The Amazing Benjamin Franklin._ New York:
1929. (Anthology of brief, popular estimates. If individual notes are
trivial, the collection illustrates Franklin's many-mindedness, a
Renaissance versatility.)
Sonneck, O. G. "Benjamin Franklin's Relation to Music," _Music_, XIX,
1-14 (Nov., 1900).
Steell, Willis. _Benjamin Franklin of Paris, 1776-1785._ New York: 1928.
(An undocumented, partly imaginative, popular account.)
Stifler, J. M. _The Religion of Benjamin Franklin._ New York: 1925.
(Popular survey. Warm appreciation of Franklin's _penchant_ for
projects of a humanitarian sort.)
Stuber, Henry. "Life of Franklin" [a biography meant as a continuation
of Franklin's _Autobiography_], in _Columbian Magazine and Universal
Asylum_, May, July, September, October, November, 1790, and February,
March, May, June, 1791.
*Thorpe, F. N., ed. _Benjamin Franklin and the University of
Pennsylvania._ U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No.
2 (1892). Washington: 1893. (See especially chapters I, II, written by
Thorpe, which deal particularly with Franklin's ideas of self and
formal education.)
Titus, Rev. Anson. "Boston When Ben Franklin Was a Boy," _Proceedings of
the Bostonian Society_, pp. 55-72 (1906). (Brief suggestive view of
the climate of opinion with regard to inoculation, Newtonianism, and
Lockian sensationalism.)
Trent, W. P. "Benjamin Franklin," _McClure's Magazine_, VIII, 273-7
(Jan., 1897). ("The most complete representative of his century that
any nation can point to." Franklin "thoroughly represents his age in
its practicality, in its devotion to science, in its intellectual
curiosity, in its humanitarianism, in its lack of spirituality, in its
calm self-content--in short, in its exaltation of prose and reason
over poetry and faith." An enthusiastic and wise account.)
Trowbridge, John. "Franklin as a Scientist," _Publications of the
Colonial Society of Massachusetts_, XVIII (1917). (Excellent
appreciation of Franklin's capacity for inductive reasoning.)
Tuckerman, H. T. "Character of Franklin," _North American Review_,
LXXXIII, 402-22 (Oct., 1856). (Praises disinterestedness of Franklin
as a scientist, as "one whom Bacon would have hailed as a disciple,"
although he "is not adapted to beguile us 'along the line of infinite
desires.'")
Tudury, M. "Poor Richard," _Bookman_, LXIV, 581-4 (Jan., 1927). (Popular
glance at "cynical patriarch of American letters.")
_Typothetae Bulletin_, XXII, No. 15 (Jan. 11, 1926). (Issue devoted to
the printer Franklin.)
Vicq d'Azyr, Félix. _Éloge de Franklin._ N.p.: 1791.
Victory, Beatrice M. _Benjamin Franklin and Germany._ Americana
Germanica series, No. 21. Press of the University of Pennsylvania:
1915. (Sources reflecting Franklin's reputation in Germany of
particular interest.)
Walsh, C. M. "Franklin and Plato," _Open Court_, XX, 129-33 (March,
1906). (An attempt to interpret his _Articles of Belief_, 1728, in
terms of the _Timaeus_, _Protagoras_, _Republic_, and _Euthyphro_.)
Webster, Noah. _Dissertations on the English Language: With Notes,
Historical and Critical. To which is added, By Way of Appendix, an
Essay on a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Dr. Franklins Arguments on
that Subject._ Boston: 1789. (Notable remarks on Franklin's
perspicuous and correct style which is "plain and elegantly neat": he
"writes for the child as well as the philosopher.")
Wendell, Barrett. _A Literary History of America._ New York: 1900.
(Franklin estimate, pp. 92-103.)
Wetzel, W. A. _Benjamin Franklin as an Economist._ Johns Hopkins
University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Thirteenth
Series, IX, 421-76. Baltimore: 1895. (Useful summary, but superseded
by Carey's _Franklin's Economic Views_.)
Wharton, A. H. "The American Philosophical Society," _Atlantic Monthly_,
LXI, 611-24 (May, 1888).
Bibliographical suggestions relating to Franklin's American friends and
contemporaries will be found following the brief but scholarly studies
in the _Dictionary of American Biography_. Of these see especially John
Adams (also G. Chinard, _Honest John Adams_, Boston, 1933); Samuel
Adams; Ethan Allen; Nathaniel Ames; Joel Barlow (also V. C. Miller,
_Joel Barlow: Revolutionist, London, 1791-92_, Hamburg, 1932, and T. A.
Zunder, _Early Days of Joel Barlow_, New Haven, 1934); John Bartram;
William Bartram (also N. Fagin, _William Bartram_, Baltimore, 1933);
Hugh H. Brackenridge (also C. Newlin, _Brackenridge_, Princeton, 1933);
Cadwallader Colden; John Dickinson; Philip Freneau; Francis Hopkinson;
T. Jefferson; Cotton Mather; Jonathan Mayhew; Thomas Paine; David
Rittenhouse; Dr. Benjamin Rush (also N. Goodman, _Rush_, Philadelphia,
1934); Rev. William Smith; Ezra Stiles; John Trumbull; Noah Webster.
V. THE AGE OF FRANKLIN
Adams, J. T. _Provincial Society, 1690-1763._ (Volume III of _A History
of American Life_, ed. Fox and Schlesinger.) New York: 1927.
(Contains useful "Critical Essay on Authorities" consulted, pp.
324-56, which serves as a guide for further study of many phases of
the social history of the period.)
Adams, R. G. _Political Ideas of the American Revolution._ Durham, N.
C.: 1922.
Andrews, C. M. _The Colonial Background of the American Revolution._ New
Haven: 1924. (Stresses economic factors and the need of viewing the
subject from the European angle; profitably used as companion study to
Beer's _British Colonial Policy_.)
Baldwin, Alice M. _The New England Clergy and the American Revolution._
Durham, N. C.: 1928. (Prior to 1763 the clergy popularized "doctrines
of natural right, the social contract, and the right of resistance"
and principles of American constitutional law.)
Beard, C. A. _The Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy._ New York:
1915. (Suggestive, if _other_ factors are not neglected. See C. H.
Hull's review in _American Historical Review_, XXII, 401-3.)
Becker, Carl. _The Declaration of Independence; A Study in the History
of Political Ideas._ New York: 1922. (Excellent survey of natural
rights, and the extent to which this concept was influenced by
Newtonianism.)
Becker, Carl. _The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century
Philosophers._ New Haven: 1932. (R. S. Crane observes, after calling
attention to certain obscurities and confusions: "The description of
the general temper of the 'philosophers,' the characterization of the
principal eighteenth-century historians, much at least of the final
chapter on the idea of progress--these can be read with general
approval for their content and with a satisfaction in Becker's prose
style that is unalloyed by considerations of exegesis or terminology"
[_Philological Quarterly_, XIII, 104-6].)
Beer, George L. _British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765._ New York: 1933
[1907].
Bemis, S. F. _The Diplomacy of the American Revolution._ New York; 1935.
(Brilliant exposition of French, Spanish, Austrian, and other
diplomacy relative to the Revolution. Should be supplemented by Frank
Monaghan's _John Jay_.)
Bloch, Léon. _La philosophie de Newton._ Paris: 1908. (A comprehensive,
standard exposition.)
Bosker, Aisso. _Literary Criticism in the Age of Johnson._ Groningen:
1930. (Reviewed by N. Foerster in _Philological Quarterly_, XI,
216-7.)
Brasch, F. E. "The Royal Society of London and Its Influence upon
Scientific Thought in the American Colonies," _Scientific Monthly_,
XXXIII, 336-55, 448-69 (1931). (Useful survey.)
Brinton, Crane. _A Decade of Revolutions, 1789-1799._ New York: 1934.
(Useful on the pattern of ideas associated with the French Revolution;
has a full and up-to-date "Bibliographical Essay," pp. 293-322, with
critical commentary.)
Bullock, C. J. _Essays on the Monetary History of the United States._
New York: 1900. (Useful bibliography, pp. 275-88.)
Burnett, E. C., ed. _Letters of Members of the Continental Congress._
Washington, D. C.: 1921. (Seven volumes now published include letters
to 1784. Contain a mass of new material of first importance, edited
with notes, cross-references, and introductions.)
Burtt, E. A. _The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science; A
Historical and Critical Essay._ New York: 1925.
Bury, J. B. _The Idea of Progress._ New York: 1932 (new edition).
(Standard English work on the topic. See also Jules Delvaille, _Essai
sur l'histoire de l'idée de progrès_ [Paris, 1910], a more
encyclopedic book.)
Channing, Edward. _A History of the United States._ New York: 1912.
(Volumes II-III.)
Clark, H. H. "Factors to be Investigated in American Literary History
from 1787 to 1800," _English Journal_, XXIII, 481-7 (June, 1934).
(Suggests the genetic interrelations of classical ideas;
neoclassicism; the scientific spirit, rationalism, and deism;
primitivism and the idea of progress; physical America and the
frontier spirit; agrarianism and laissez faire; Federalism versus
Democracy, whether Jeffersonian or French; sentimentalism and
humanitarianism; Gothicism; and conflicting currents of aesthetic
theory.)
Clark, H. H., ed. _Poems of Freneau._ New York: 1929. (F. L. Pattee says
of the Introduction, "No one has ever traced out better the
ramifications of French Revolution deism in America and the effects of
its clash with Puritanism" [_American Literature_, II, 316-7]. Also
see Clark's "Thomas Paine's Theories of Rhetoric," _Transactions of
the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters_, XXVIII, 307-39
[1933], which discusses relationships between deism and literary
theory.)
Clark, J. M., Viner, J., and others. _Adam Smith, 1776-1926._ Chicago:
1928. (Brilliant essays on various aspects of Smith's thought and
influence. See especially Jacob Viner's "Adam Smith and
Laissez-Faire," pp. 116-55, which shows the relations in Smith's mind
between economics and religion, between laissez faire and "the
harmonious order of nature" posited by the scientific deists.)
Crane, R. S. "Anglican Apologetics and the Idea of Progress, 1699-1745,"
_Modern Philology_, XXXI, 273-306 (Feb., 1934), 349-82 (May, 1934).
(Demonstrates in masterly fashion how the idea of progress grew out of
orthodox defenses of revealed religion, current in Franklin's
formative years. Modifies the conventional view that the Church was
hostile to the idea of progress and that it derived exclusively from
the scientific spirit.)
Davidson, P. G., Jr. "Whig Propagandists of the American Revolution,"
_American Historical Review_, XXXIX, 442-53 (April, 1934). (Also see
_Revolutionary Propaganda in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania,
1763-1776_. Unpublished dissertation, University of Chicago, 1929.)
"Deism," in _The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge_,
III, 391-7 (by Ernst Troeltsch).
De la Fontainerie, F., tr. and ed. _French Liberalism and Education in
the Eighteenth Century: The Writings of La Chalotais, Turgot, Diderot,
and Condorcet on National Education._ New York: 1932. (Convenient
source book.)
Dewey, D. R. _Financial History of the United States._ New York: 1924
(9th ed.). (Bristles with bibliographical aids for study of eighteenth
century.)
Draper, J. W. _Eighteenth Century English Aesthetics: A Bibliography._
Heidelberg: 1931. (Source materials, pp. 61-128, for aesthetics of
literature and drama: includes in appendix, pp. 129-40, ablest
secondary works to 1931. An invaluable guide. See additions by R. S.
Crane, _Modern Philology_, XXIX, 251 ff. [1931], W. D. Templeman,
_ibid._, XXX, 309-16, R. D. Havens, _Modern Language Notes_, XLVII,
118-20 [1932].)
Drennon, Herbert. "Newtonianism: Its Method, Theology, and Metaphysics,"
_Englische Studien_, LXVIII, 397-409 (1933-1934). (Other parts of Mr.
Drennon's brilliant doctoral dissertation, _James Thomson and
Newtonianism_ [University of Chicago, 1928], have been published in
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XLIX, 71-80, March,
1934; in _Studies in Philology_, XXXI, 453-71, July, 1934; and in
_Philological Quarterly_, XIV, 70-82, Jan., 1935.)
Ducros, Louis. _French Society in the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. from the
French by W. de Geijer; with a Foreword by J. A. Higgs-Walker. London:
1927.
Duncan, C. S. _The New Science and English Literature in the Classical
Period._ Menasha, Wis.: 1913. (Scholarly.)
Dunning, W. A. _A History of Political Theories from Luther to
Montesquieu._ New York: 1905, and _A History of Political Theories
from Rousseau to Spencer_. New York: 1920. (Standard works.)
Elton, Oliver. _The Augustan Age._ New York: 1899, and _A Survey of
English Literature, 1730-1780_. 2 vols. London: 1928. (Acute on
literary trends, though hardly adequate on ideas.)
Evans, Charles. _American Bibliography._ Chicago: 1903-1934. (Volumes
I-XII, 1639-1799.)
Faÿ, Bernard. _Revolution and Freemasonry, 1680-1800._ Boston: 1935.
(Stimulating conjectures vitiated by extravagant and undocumented
conclusions.)
Faÿ, Bernard. _The Revolutionary Spirit in France and America._ Tr. by
R. Guthrie. New York: 1927. (Especially valuable for notes on the
vogue of Franklin in France. Highly important comprehensive survey of
French influence in America, and the impetus our revolution gave to
French liberalism.)
Fisher, S. G. _The Quaker Colonies. A Chronicle of the Proprietors of
the Delaware._ New Haven: 1921. (Useful bibliography, pp. 231-4.)
Fiske, John. _The Beginnings of New England, or the Puritan Theocracy in
Its Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty._ Boston: 1896 [1889].
(See also Perry Miller's _Orthodoxy in Massachusetts, 1630-1650_. _A
Genetic Study._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1933.)
Gettell, R. G. _History of American Political Thought._ New York: 1928.
(The standard comprehensive treatment of its subject. Has good
bibliographies.)
Gide, Charles, and Rist, Charles. _A History of Economic Doctrines from
the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day._ Authorized
translation from the second revised and augmented edition of 1913
under the direction of the late Professor Wm. Smart, by R. Richards.
Boston: 1915. (Excellent survey of physiocracy.)
Gierke, Otto. _Natural Law and the Theory of Society, 1500 to 1800._
With a Lecture on The Ideas of Natural Law and Humanity, by Ernst
Troeltsch. Tr. with an introduction by E. Barker. 2 vols. Cambridge,
England: 1934. (A standard work, with excellent notes, especially
valuable on European backgrounds.)
Gohdes, Clarence. "Ethan Allen and his _Magnum Opus_," _Open Court_,
XLIII, 128-51 (March, 1929). (Suggests the eighteenth-century battle
between revelation and reason, the latter as buttressed by Lockian
sensationalism and Newtonian science.)
Greene, E. B. _The Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North
America._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1898. (Inveterate divergence between
provincial governor and provincial assemblies foreshadowed the
American Revolution.)
Halévy, E. _The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism._ Tr. by M. Morris,
with a preface by A. D. Lindsay. London: 1928. (A comprehensive,
authoritative work.)
Hansen, A. O. _Liberalism and American Education in the Eighteenth
Century._ With an introduction by E. H. Reisner. New York: 1926. (A
good bibliography of primary sources and a poor bibliography of
secondary sources, pp. 265-96. Although this slights Franklin and
deals especially with plans following Franklin's death, it surveys
educational ideals with reference to the ideas of the Enlightenment,
ideas latent in Franklin's writings.)
Haroutunian, Joseph. _Piety versus Moralism, the Passing of the New
England Theology._ New York: 1932. (An important scholarly work
arguing reluctantly that Puritanism declined because it was
theocentric and inadequate to the social needs of the time. Has an
excellent bibliography.)
Hefelbower, S. G. _The Relation of John Locke to English Deism._
Chicago: 1918. (The relation between Locke and the English deists is
"not causal, nor do they mark different stages of the same movement";
they are "related as coordinate parts of the larger progressive
movement of the age." Stresses Locke's tolerance, rationalism, and
natural religion.)
Higgs, Henry. _The Physiocrats. Six Lectures on the French Économistes
of the Eighteenth Century._ London: 1897. (Gide and Rist term this a
"succinct account" of the physiocratic system.)
Hildeburn, C. R. _Issues of the Pennsylvania Press. A Century of
Printing, 1685-1784._ 2 vols. Philadelphia: 1885-1886. (A highly
useful guide to what was being read in Pennsylvania year by year.)
Horton, W. M. _Theism and the Scientific Spirit._ New York: 1933.
(Popular accounts of "Copernican world" and "God in the Newtonian
world" in chapters I-II.)
Humphrey, Edward. _Nationalism and Religion in America, 1774-1789._
Boston: 1924.
Jameson, J. F. _The American Revolution Considered as a Social
Movement._ Princeton, N. J.: 1926. (Brief and general, but
suggestive.)
Jones, H. M. _America and French Culture, 1750-1848._ Chapel Hill, N.
C.: 1927. (A monumental, elaborately documented comprehensive work,
containing an excellent bibliography.)
Jones, H. M. "American Prose Style: 1700-1770," _Huntington Library
Bulletin_, No. 6, 115-51 (Nov., 1934). (Shows that Puritan preachings
inculcated the ideal of a simple, lucid, and dignified style.)
Kaye, F. B., ed. _The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick
Benefits. With a Commentary Critical, Historical, and Explanatory._ 2
vols. Oxford: 1924. (The introduction is the most lucid and
penetrating commentary on Mandeville in relation to the pattern of
ideas of his age. See L. I. Bredvold's review in _Journal of English
and Germanic Philology_, XXIV, 586-9, Oct., 1925.)
Koch, G. A. _Republican Religion: The American Revolution and the Cult
of Reason._ New York: 1933. ("A vast body of facts about a host of
obscure figures"--reviewed by H. H. Clark in _Journal of Philosophy_,
XXXI, 135-8. Contains an elaborate bibliography.)
Kraus, M. _Intercolonial Aspects of American Culture on the Eve of the
Revolution._ New York: 1928. (Scholarly.)
Lecky, W. E. H. _A History of England in the Eighteenth Century._ 7
vols. New York: 1892-1893 (new ed.). (A standard work, containing a
finely documented treatment of the political aspects of the American
Revolution.)
Leonard, S. A. _The Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage,
1700-1800._ Madison, Wis.: 1929. (Authoritative.)
Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien. _History of Modern Philosophy in France._ Chicago:
1899.
Lincoln, C. H. _The Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania, 1760-1776._
Philadelphia: 1901. (A highly important study showing that local
sectional strife which would have eventually led to conflict
synchronized with the strife between the colony and England.)
Lovejoy, A. O. "The Parallel of Deism and Classicism," _Modern
Philology_, XXIX, 281-99 (Feb., 1932). ("A systematic statement of the
rationalistic _preconceptions_ which, when applied in matters of
religion terminated in Deism, when applied in aesthetics produced
Classicism. An illuminating synthesis, done throughout with
characteristic finesse and discrimination" [_Philological Quarterly_,
XII, 106, April, 1933].)
McIlwain, C. H. _The American Revolution: A Constitutional
Interpretation._ New York: 1923. (Offers defense of revolution on
English constitutional grounds.)
Martin, Kingsley. _French Liberal Thought in the Eighteenth Century: A
Study of Political Ideas from Bayle to Condorcet._ Boston: 1929.
(Stimulating survey of ideology motivating the French revolution, "a
dramatic moment when feudalism, clericalism and divine monarchy
collapsed.")
Merriam, C. E. _A History of American Political Theories._ New York:
1924 [1903]. (Authoritative, brief treatment.)
Monaghan, Frank. _John Jay, Defender of Liberty._ New York: 1935. (A
brilliant biography and a fully documented study of the activities and
diplomacy of the Continental Congress. Supplements S. F. Bemis; see
above.)
Moore, C. A. "Shaftesbury and the Ethical Poets in England, 1700-1760,"
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XXXI (N. S. XXIV),
264-325 (June, 1916). (Penetrating and brilliant survey of the growth
of altruism, to be supplemented by R. S. Crane's studies of earlier
sources.)
Morais, H. M. _Deism in Eighteenth Century America._ New York: 1934. (If
little space is given to the implications of Deism in terms of
political, economic, and literary theory, and if the leaders of
deistic thought, such as Franklin, Jefferson, and Paine are too
lightly dealt with, this work is "substantial, precise,
well-documented, modest, cautious, and objective." Has a good
bibliography. Reviewed by H. H. Clark, _American Literature_, VI,
467-9, Jan., 1935. See also Morais's "Deism in Revolutionary America,
1763-89," _International Journal of Ethics_, XLII, 434-53, July,
1932.)
Morley, John. _Diderot and the Encyclopædists._ 2 vols. London: 1923. (A
suggestive survey, parts of which have been superseded by more recent
studies.)
Mornet, Daniel. _French Thought in the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. by L. M.
Levin. New York: 1929. (Lucid and penetrating survey; suggestive notes
on the influence of speculation motivated by science.)
Mornet, Daniel. _Les origines intellectuelles de la Révolution française
(1715-1787)._ Paris: 1933. (A brilliant work, concluding that without
the extraordinary diffusion of radical ideas in all classes in France,
the States-General in 1789 would not have adopted revolutionary
measures. See C. Brinton's review, _American Historical Review_,
XXXIX, 726-7, 1934.)
Morse, W. N. "Lectures on Electricity in Colonial Times," _New England
Quarterly_, VII, 364-74 (June, 1934). (Presents fourteen items on the
vogue of electrical experiments, 1747-1765.)
Mott, F. L. _A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850._ New York:
1930.
Mullett, C. F. _Fundamental Law and the American Revolution, 1760-1776._
New York: 1933. (A highly important scholarly study, with excellent
bibliography of relevant investigations of recent date. Supplements B.
F. Wright.)
Ornstein, Martha. _The Rôle of Scientific Societies in the Seventeenth
Century._ New York: 1913. Reprinted, University of Chicago Press:
1928. (Shows their radical influence. See suggestive reviews in
_American Historical Review_, XXXIV, 386-7, 1929; and _Times Literary
Supplement_ [London], 679, Sept. 27, 1928.)
Osgood, H. L. _The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century._ 4 vols.
New York: 1924-1925. (Standard work on political aspects.)
Perkins, J. B. _France in the American Revolution._ Boston: 1911.
(Includes able survey of Franklin's efforts in behalf of colonies.)
Richardson, L. N. _A History of Early American Magazines, 1741-1789._
New York: 1931. (An encyclopedic survey indispensable to all students
of the period. Enormously documented.)
Robertson, J. M. _A Short History of Free Thought, Ancient and Modern._
2 vols. London: 1915. (Third edition, revised and expanded. An
important survey, if somewhat militantly partisan.)
Roustan, Marius. _The Pioneers of the French Revolution._ Tr. by F.
Whyte, with an Introduction by H. J. Laski. Boston: 1926. (Thesis:
"The spirit of the _philosophes_ was the spirit of the Revolution."
Highly readable, but inferior to parallel studies by Martin and Mornet
in incisive analysis of patterns of ideas. Stresses picturesque social
aspects.)
Schapiro, J. S. _Condorcet and the Rise of Liberalism in France._ New
York: 1934. (Condorcet is the "almost perfect expression of the
pioneer liberalism of the period"; he is viewed as the "last of the
encyclopedists and the most universal of all." A lucid scholarly
study, although hardly superseding Alengry's _Condorcet_.)
Schlesinger, A. M. "The American Revolution," in _New Viewpoints in
American History_. New York: 1922, pp. 160-83. (A brief but excellent
interpretation, stressing economic factors, and presenting a useful
"Bibliographical Note," pp. 181-3, including references to studies of
political and religious factors. See also studies of the latter by R.
G. Adams, Alice Baldwin, Carl Becker, B. F. Wright, C. F. Mullett, C.
H. Van Tyne, and Edward Humphrey.)
Schneider, H. W. _The Puritan Mind._ New York: 1930. (An acute scholarly
study, with excellent bibliography. The stress on ideas supplements
and balances Parrington's tendency to dismiss ideas as by-products of
economic factors.)
Smith, T. V. _The American Philosophy of Equality._ Chicago: 1927.
(Chapter I includes discussion of "natural rights," with recognition
of the influence of European theorists.)
Smyth, A. H. _The Philadelphia Magazines and Their Contributors,
1741-1850._ Philadelphia: 1892. (Brief descriptive account, mostly
superseded by the relevant sections in F. L. Mott's and L. N.
Richardson's histories.)
Stephen, Leslie. _A History of English Thought in the Eighteenth
Century._ 2 vols. London: 1902 (3rd ed.). (As J. L. Laski observes, it
is "almost insolent to praise such work." In certain aspects, however,
it has been superseded by studies by such men as R. S. Crane, A. O.
Lovejoy, H. M. Jones, etc.)
Stimson, Dorothy. _The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory of
the Universe._ Hanover, N. H.: 1917.
Taylor, O. H. "Economics and the Idea of Natural Law," _Quarterly
Journal of Economics_, XLIV, 1-39 (Nov., 1929). ("The evolution of the
idea of 'law' in economics" paralleling "its evolution in the natural
sciences" led to belief in an economic mechanism which "was regarded
as a wise device of the Creator for causing individuals, while
pursuing only their own interests, to promote the prosperity of
society, and for causing the right adjustment to one another of
supplies, demands, prices, and incomes, to take place automatically,
in consequence of the free action of all individuals." The author
suggests that there is evident an incongruous dichotomy between the
mechanistic idea of the physiocrats and their assumption that
enlightened men "would be able to use government as a scientific tool
for carrying out purely rationalistic measures in the common
interest." See also outline of his doctoral thesis on this subject.
Harvard University _Summaries of Theses_ [1928], 102-6. An
authoritative study of an important subject.)
Torrey, N. L. _Voltaire and the English Deists._ New Haven: 1930. (Shows
Voltaire's great indebtedness to Newtonianism, which he popularized in
France, and to earlier deists than Bolingbroke. Authoritative.)
Turberville, A. S., ed. _Johnson's England. An Account of the Life and
Manners of His Age._ 2 vols. Oxford University Press: 1933. (Although
this collaborative work neglects political, religious, economic, and
aesthetic ideas, it embodies readable and authoritative surveys of
external aspects of social history, viewed from many angles. Contains
useful bibliographies. See review by H. H. Clark, _American Review_,
II, No. 4 [Feb., 1934].)
Tyler, M. C. _A History of American Literature, 1607-1765_ (2 vols. New
York: 1878), and _The Literary History of the American Revolution_ (2
vols. New York: 1897). (Somewhat grandiloquent but very full survey,
including Loyalists. Excellent on literary aspects but partly
superseded on ideas. Contains excellent bibliography of primary
sources.)
Van Tyne, C. H. _The Causes of the War of Independence._ Boston: 1922.
(Brilliant both in interpretation and style, and well balanced in
considering economic, political, social, religious, and philosophic
factors.)
Veitch, G. S. _The Genesis of Parliamentary Reform._ London: 1913.
(Useful for English backgrounds.)
Weld, C. R. _A History of the Royal Society with Memoirs of the
Presidents._ 2 vols. London: 1848.
Wendell, Barrett. _Cotton Mather, the Puritan Priest._ Cambridge, Mass.:
1926 [1891]. (A sympathetic study of one of Franklin's masters, based
on a deep knowledge of the Puritan spirit.)
Weulersse, Georges. _Le mouvement physiocratique en France_ (_de 1756 à
1770_). 2 vols. Paris: 1910. (The standard treatment.)
White, A. D. _A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in
Christendom._ 2 vols. New York: 1897. (Prominent attention given to
colonial eighteenth century.)
Whitney, Lois. _Primitivism and the Idea of Progress in English Popular
Literature of the Eighteenth Century._ Baltimore: 1934. (An acute
study of the history of an important idea, especially as embodied in
novels. Occasionally misleading because Miss Whitney does not always
pay necessary attention to the major individuals' change of attitude,
to their genetic development. Contains no bibliography. See Bury,
above.)
Williams, David. "The Influence of Rousseau on Political Opinion,
1760-1795," _English Historical Review_, XLVIII, 414-30 (1933).
Winsor, Justin, ed. _Narrative and Critical History of America._ 8 vols.
Boston: [1884-] 1889. (Especially valuable for bibliographical notes.)
Wright, B. F. _American Interpretations of Natural Law. A Study in the
History of Political Thought._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1931. (An able
outline of main trends, although it neglects evidence both in
eighteenth-century sermons and in legal papers of colonial attorneys.
Shows strong influence of Grotius, Puffendorf, and Locke on
Revolutionary theories. Should be supplemented by C. F. Mullett's
parallel book. Reviewed by R. B. Morris, _American Historical Review_,
XXXVII, 561-2, April, 1932.)
Wright, T. G. _Literary Culture in Early New England, 1620-1730._ New
Haven: 1920. (Valuable for its check lists of colonial libraries,
suggesting books current in Franklin's formative years. The best
treatment of its subject although it neglects the literary and
aesthetic theories of the period. To be supplemented by books by C. F.
Richardson, W. F. Mitchell, and E. C. Cook.)
Further background studies may be found in _The Cambridge History of
English Literature_, Cambridge and New York, 1912-1914, VIII-XI, and
_The Cambridge History of American Literature_, New York, 1917, Vol. I.
See also the more up-to-date bibliographies in P. Smith's _A History of
Modern Culture_, New York, 1934, II, 647-76; R. S. Crane's _A Collection
of English Poems, 1660-1800_, New York, 1932, pp. 1115-42; and
especially O. Shepard and P. S. Wood, _English Prose and Poetry,
1660-1800_, Boston, 1934, pp. xxxiii-xxxviii and pp. 937-1067. For
bibliographical guides, see note following, p. clxxxviii.
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CHECK LISTS
Boggess, A. C., and Witmer, E. R. _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin
Franklin in the Library of the University of Pennsylvania._ (Being
the Appendix to the _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in
the Library of the American Philosophical Society_, edited by I. M.
Hays.) Philadelphia: 1908. (This valuable work lists letters to
Franklin, letters from Franklin, and miscellaneous letters, with
brief notes on the topics discussed in each letter and place of
publication in cases where the letters have been published.)
_Books Printed by Benjamin Franklin. Born Jan. 17, 1706._ New York:
1906. (Lists best known imprints; useful although eclipsed by
Campbell.)
*_The Cambridge History of American Literature._ New York: 1917. I,
442-52. (Lists of "Collected Works," "Separate Works," and
"Contributions to Periodicals" constitute a convenient abridgment of
Ford, but the list, "Biographical and Critical," limited to two pages,
is at best inadequately suggestive.)
Campbell, W. J. _The Collection of Franklin Imprints in the Museum of
the Curtis Publishing Company. With a Short-Title Check List of All
the Books, Pamphlets, Broadsides, &c., known to have been printed by
Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1918.
Campbell, W. J. _A Short-Title Check List of All the Books, Pamphlets,
Broadsides, &c., known to have been printed by Benjamin Franklin._
Philadelphia: 1918.
*Faÿ, B. _Benjamin Franklin bibliographie et étude sur les sources
historiques relatives à sa vie_ (Vol. III of _Benjamin Franklin,
bourgeois d'Amérique et citoyen du monde_.) Paris: 1931. (Faÿ, in
_Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_, pp. 517-33, has furnished
"only a summary bibliography," which, in spite of its occasional
inaccuracies and infelicities in form, contains many useful items,
American, English, and French; especially valuable for notes on
several manuscript collections. In this French edition the
bibliography is more detailed.)
*Ford, P. L. _Franklin Bibliography. A List of Books Written by, or
Relating to Benjamin Franklin._ Brooklyn, N. Y.: 1889. (The standard,
time-honored work, unfortunately not superseded.)
Ford, W. C. _List of the Benjamin Franklin Papers in the Library of
Congress._ Washington, D. C.: 1905.
Hays, I. M. _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library
of the American Philosophical Society._ Vols. II-VI in _The Record of
the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of
Benjamin Franklin, under the Auspices of the American Philosophical
Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, April 17
to 20, 1906_. Philadelphia: 1908. (A. H. Smyth purports to have
printed in his ten-volume edition all of Franklin's letters in this
collection. Valuable especially for letters addressed to Franklin.)
"List of Works in the New York Public Library by or Relating to Benjamin
Franklin," _Bulletin of New York Public Library_, X, No. 1. New York:
1906, pp. 29-83.
Rosengarten, J. G. "Some New Franklin Papers," _University of
Pennsylvania Alumni Register_, 1-7 (July, 1903). (A report to the
Board of Trustees saying "there are over five hundred pieces of MS
among the collection of Franklin papers recently added to the Library
of the University." These range from 1731 to Franklin's latest
correspondence. Only a few of these pieces are described.)
Stevens, Henry. _Benjamin Franklin's Life and Writings. A
Bibliographical Essay on the Stevens Collection of Books and
Manuscripts Relating to Doctor Franklin._ London: 1881. (Pp. 21-40
contain a list of "Franklin's Printed Works.")
Swift, Lindsay. "Catalogue of Works Relating to Benjamin Franklin in the
Boston Public Library," _Bulletin of the Boston Public Library_, V,
217-31, 276-84, 420-33. Boston: 1883. (Including Dr. S. A. Green's
collection, this was the "immediate predecessor" to Ford.)
For current articles the student should consult especially the
bibliographies in _Philological Quarterly_, _American Literature_,
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, bibliographical
bulletins of the Modern Humanities Research Association, and Grace G.
Griffin's annual bibliography, _Writings on American History_.
*
_Selections from_
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
*
NOTE: Superior figures through the text refer to notes in pp. 529 ff.
_From the_ AUTOBIOGRAPHY[1]
TWYFORD, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's, 1771.
DEAR SON, I have ever had a Pleasure in obtaining any little Anecdotes
of my Ancestors. You may remember the Enquiries I made among the Remains
of my Relations when you were with me in England; and the journey I
undertook for that purpose. Now imagining it may be equally agreable to
you to know the Circumstances of _my_ Life, many of which you are yet
unacquainted with; and expecting a Weeks uninterrupted Leisure in my
present Country Retirement, I sit down to write them for you. To which I
have besides some other Inducements. Having emerg'd from the Poverty and
Obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a State of Affluence and some
Degree of Reputation in the World, and having gone so far thro' Life
with a considerable Share of Felicity, the conducing Means I made use
of, which, with the Blessing of God, so well succeeded, my Posterity may
like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own
Situations, and therefore fit to be imitated. That Felicity, when I
reflected on it, has induc'd me sometimes to say, that were it offer'd
to my Choice, I should have no Objection to a Repetition of the same
Life from its Beginning, only asking the Advantages Authors have in a
second Edition to correct some Faults of the first. So would I if I
might, besides corr[ecting] the Faults, change some sinister Accidents
and Events of it for others more favourable, but tho' this were deny'd,
I should still accept the Offer. However, since such a Repetition is not
to be expected, the next Thing most like living one's Life over again,
seems to be a _Recollection_ of that Life; and to make that Recollection
as durable as possible, the putting it down in Writing. Hereby, too, I
shall indulge the Inclination so natural in old Men, to be talking of
themselves and their own past Actions, and I shall indulge it, without
being troublesome to others who thro' respect to Age might think
themselves oblig'd to give me a Hearing, since this may be read or not
as any one pleases. And lastly (I may as well confess it, since my
Denial of it will be believ'd by no Body) perhaps I shall a good deal
gratify my own _Vanity_. Indeed I scarce ever heard or saw the
introductory Words, _Without vanity I may say_, &c. but some vain thing
immediately follow'd. Most People dislike Vanity in others whatever
share they have of it themselves, but I give it fair Quarter wherever I
meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of Good to the
Possessor and to others that are within his Sphere of Action: And
therefore in many Cases it would not be quite absurd if a Man were to
thank God for his Vanity among the other Comforts of Life.--
And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all Humility to
acknowledge, that I owe the mention'd Happiness of my past Life to his
kind Providence, which led me to the Means I us'd and gave them Success.
My Belief of this, induces me to _hope_, tho' I must not _presume_, that
the same Goodness will still be exercis'd towards me in continuing that
Happiness, or in enabling me to bear a fatal Reverse, which I may
experience as others have done, the Complexion of my future Fortune
being known to him only: in whose Power it is to bless to us even our
Afflictions.
The Notes one of my Uncles (who had the same kind of Curiosity in
collecting Family Anecdotes) once put into my Hands, furnish'd me with
several Particulars relating to our Ancestors. From these Notes I learnt
that the Family had liv'd in the same Village, Ecton in
Northamptonshire, for 300 Years, and how much longer he knew not
(perhaps from the Time when the Name _Franklin_ that before was the name
of an Order of People, was assum'd by them for a Surname, when others
took surnames all over the kingdom)[,] on a Freehold of about 30 Acres,
aided by the Smith's Business, which had continued in the Family till
his Time, the eldest son being always bred to that Business[.] A Custom
which he and my Father both followed as to their eldest Sons.--When I
search'd the Register at Ecton, I found an Account of their Births,
Marriages and Burials, from the Year 1555 only, there being no Register
kept in that Parish at any time preceding.--By that Register I
perceiv'd that I was the youngest Son of the youngest Son for 5
Generations back. My Grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at
Ecton till he grew too old to follow Business longer, when he went to
live with his Son John, a Dyer at Banbury in Oxfordshire, with whom my
Father serv'd an Apprenticeship. There my Grandfather died and lies
buried. We saw his Gravestone in 1758. His eldest Son Thomas liv'd in
the House at Ecton, and left it with the Land to his only Child, a
Daughter, who, with her Husband, one Fisher of Wellingborough sold it to
Mr. Isted, now Lord of the Manor there. My Grandfather had 4 Sons that
grew up, viz Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what
Account I can of them at this distance from my Papers, and if these are
not lost in my Absence, you will among them find many more Particulars.
Thomas was bred a Smith under his Father, but being ingenious, and
encourag'd in Learning (as all his Brothers likewise were) by an Esquire
Palmer then the principal Gentleman in that Parish, he qualify'd himself
for the Business of Scrivener, became a considerable Man in the County
Affairs, was a chief Mover of all publick Spirited Undertakings for the
County or Town of Northampton and his own village, of which many
instances were told us; and he was at Ecton much taken Notice of and
patroniz'd by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, Jan. 6, old Stile,
just 4 Years to a Day before I was born. The Account we receiv'd of his
Life and Character from some old People at Ecton, I remember struck you
as something extraordinary, from its Similarity to what you knew of
mine. Had he died on the same Day, you said one might have suppos'd a
Transmigration.--John was bred a Dyer, I believe of Woollens. Benjamin,
was bred a Silk Dyer, serving an Apprenticeship at London. He was an
ingenious Man, I remember him well, for when I was a Boy he came over to
my Father in Boston, and lived in the House with us some Years. He lived
to a great Age. His Grandson Samuel Franklin now lives in Boston. He
left behind him two Quarto Volumes, MS of his own Poetry, consisting of
little occasional Pieces address'd to his Friends and Relations, of
which the following sent to me, is a Specimen. [Although Franklin wrote
in the margin "Here insert it," the poetry is not given.] He had form'd
a Shorthand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it I
have now forgot it. I was nam'd after this Uncle, there being a
particular Affection between him and my Father. He was very pious, a
great Attender of Sermons of the best Preachers, which he took down in
his Shorthand and had with him many Volumes of them. He was also much of
a Politician, too much perhaps for his Station. There fell lately into
my Hands in London a Collection he had made of all the principal
Pamphlets relating to Publick Affairs from 1641 to 1717. Many of the
Volumes are wanting, as appears by the Numbering, but there still
remains 8 Vols. Folio, and 24 in 4.^to and 8.^vo.--A Dealer in old Books
met with them, and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought
them to me. It seems my Uncle must have left them here when he went to
America, which was above 50 years since. There are many of his Notes in
the Margins.--
This obscure Family of ours was early in the Reformation, and continu'd
Protestants thro' the Reign of Queen Mary, when they were sometimes in
Danger of Trouble on Account of their Zeal against Popery. They had got
an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fastened open
with Tapes under and within the Frame of a Joint Stool. When my Great
Great Grandfather read it [it] to his Family, he turn'd up the joint
Stool upon his Knees, turning over the Leaves then under the Tapes. One
of the Children stood at the Door to give Notice if he saw the Apparitor
coming, who was an Officer of the Spiritual Court. In that Case the
Stool was turn'd down again upon its feet, when the Bible remain'd
conceal'd under it as before. This Anecdote I had from my Uncle
Benjamin.--The Family continu'd all of the Church of England till about
the End of Charles the 2^ds Reign, when some of the Ministers that had
been outed for Nonconformity, holding Conventicles in Northamptonshire,
Benjamin and Josiah adher'd to them, and so continu'd all their Lives.
The rest of the Family remain'd with the Episcopal Church.
Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his Wife with three
Children into New England, about 1682. The Conventicles having been
forbidden by Law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable
Men of his Acquaintance to remove to that Country, and he was prevail'd
with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their Mode
of Religion with Freedom.--By the same Wife he had 4 Children more born
there, and by a second wife ten more, in all 17, of which I remember 13
sitting at one time at his Table, who all grew up to be Men and Women,
and married. I was the youngest Son, and the youngest Child but two, and
was born in Boston, N. England. My mother, the 2^d wife was Abiah
Folger, a daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first Settlers of New
England, of whom honourable mention is made by Cotton Mather, in his
Church History of that Country, (entitled Magnalia Christi Americana) as
_a godly learned Englishman_, if I remember the Words rightly. I have
heard that he wrote sundry small occasional Pieces, but only one of them
was printed which I saw now many years since. It was written in 1675, in
the home-spun Verse of that Time and People, and address'd to those then
concern'd in the Government there. It was in favour of Liberty of
Conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other Sectaries,
that had been under Persecution; ascribing the Indian Wars and other
Distresses, that had befallen the Country to that Persecution, as so
many Judgments of God, to punish so heinous an Offense; and exhorting a
Repeal of those uncharitable Laws. The whole appear'd to me as written
with a good deal of Decent Plainness and manly Freedom. The six last
concluding Lines I remember, tho' I have forgotten the two first of the
Stanza, but the Purport of them was that his Censures proceeded from
Good will, and therefore he would be known as the Author,
"Because to be a Libeller, (says he)
I hate it with my Heart.
From[A] Sherburne Town where now I dwell,
My Name I do put here,
Without Offense, your real Friend,
It is Peter Folgier."
[A] In MS Franklin notes, "In the Island of Nantucket."
My elder Brothers were all put Apprentices to different Trades. I was
put to the Grammar School at Eight Years of Age, my Father intending to
devote me as the Tithe of his Sons to the Service of the Church. My
early Readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as
I do not remember when I could not read) and the Opinion of all his
Friends that I should certainly make a good Scholar, encourag'd him in
this Purpose of his. My Uncle Benjamin too approv'd of it, and propos'd
to give me all his Shorthand Volumes of Sermons I suppose as a Stock to
set up with, if I would learn his Character. I continu'd however at the
Grammar School not quite one Year, tho' in that time I had risen
gradually from the Middle of the Class of that Year to be the Head of
it, and farther was remov'd into the next Class above it, in order to go
with that into the third at the End of the Year. But my Father in the
mean time, from a View of the Expence of a College Education which,
having so large a Family, he could not well afford, and the mean Living
many so educated were afterwards able to obtain, Reasons that he gave to
his Friends in my Hearing, altered his first Intention, took me from the
Grammar School, and sent me to a School for Writing and Arithmetic kept
by a then famous Man, Mr. Geo. Brownell, very successful in his
Profession generally, and that by mild encouraging Methods. Under him I
acquired fair Writing pretty soon, but I fail'd in the Arithmetic, and
made no Progress in it.--At Ten Years old, I was taken home to assist my
Father in his Business, which was that of a Tallow Chandler and Sope
Boiler. A Business he was not bred to, but had assumed on his Arrival in
New England and on finding his Dying Trade would not maintain his
Family, being in little Request. Accordingly I was employed in cutting
Wick for the Candles, filling the Dipping Mold, and the Molds for cast
Candles, attending the Shop, going of Errands, etc.--I dislik'd the
Trade and had a strong Inclination for the Sea; but my Father declar'd
against it; however, living near the Water, I was much in and about it,
learnt early to swim well, and to manage Boats, and when in a Boat or
Canoe with other Boys I was commonly allow'd to govern, especially in
any case of Difficulty; and upon other Occasions I was generally a
Leader among the Boys, and sometimes led them into Scrapes, of w^ch I
will mention one Instance, as it shows an early projecting public
Spirit, tho' not then justly conducted. There was a salt Marsh that
bounded part of the Mill Pond, on the Edge of which at Highwater, we
us'd to stand to fish for Min[n]ows. By much Trampling, we had made it a
mere Quagmire. My Proposal was to build a Wharff there fit for us to
stand upon, and I show'd my Comrades a large Heap of Stones which were
intended for a new House near the Marsh, and which would very well suit
our Purpose. Accordingly in the Evening when the Workmen were gone, I
assembled a Number of my Playfellows; and working with them diligently
like so many Emmets, sometimes two or three to a Stone, we brought them
all away and built our little Wharff.--The next Morning the Workmen were
surpriz'd at Missing the Stones; which were found in our Wharff; Enquiry
was made after the Removers; we were discovered and complain'd of;
several of us were corrected by our Fathers; and tho' I pleaded the
Usefulness of the Work, mine convinc'd me that nothing was useful which
was not honest.
I think you may like to know something of his Person and Character. He
had an excellent Constitution of Body, was of middle Stature, but well
set and very strong. He was ingenious, could draw prettily, was skill'd
a little in Music and had a clear pleasing Voice, so that when he play'd
Psalm Tunes on his Violin and sung withal as he sometimes did in an
Evening after the Business of the Day was over, it was extreamly
agreable to hear. He had a mechanical Genius too, and on occasion was
very handy in the Use of other Tradesmen's Tools. But his great
Excellence lay in a sound Understanding, and solid Judgment in
prudential Matters, both in private and publick Affairs. In the latter
indeed he was never employed, the numerous Family he had to educate and
the straitness of his Circumstances, keeping him close to his Trade, but
I remember well his being frequently visited by leading People, who
consulted him for his Opinion in Affairs of the Town or of the Church he
belong'd to and show'd a good deal of Respect for his Judgment and
advice. He was also much consulted by private Persons about their
affairs when any Difficulty occurr'd, and frequently chosen an
Arbitrator between contending Parties.--At his Table he lik'd to have as
often as he could, some sensible Friend or Neighbour to converse with,
and always took care to start some ingenious or useful Topic for
Discourse, which might tend to improve the Minds of his Children. By
this means he turn'd our Attention to what was good, just, and prudent
in the Conduct of Life; and little or no Notice was ever taken of what
related to the Victuals on the Table, whether it was well or ill drest,
in or out of season, of good or bad flavour, preferable or inferior to
this or that other thing of the kind; so that I was bro't up in such a
perfect Inattention to those Matters as to be quite Indifferent what
kind of Food was set before me, and so unobservant of it, that to this
Day, if I am ask'd I can scarce tell a few Hours after Dinner, what I
din'd upon. This has been a Convenience to me in travelling, where my
Companions have been sometimes very unhappy for want of a suitable
Gratification of their more delicate[,] because better instructed[,]
tastes and appetites.
My Mother had likewise an excellent Constitution. She suckled all her 10
Children. I never knew either my Father or Mother to have any Sickness
but that of which they dy'd he at 89, and she at 85 years of age. They
lie buried together at Boston, where I some years since placed a Marble
Stone over their Grave with this Inscription:
JOSIAH FRANKLIN
And ABIAH his Wife
Lie here interred.
They lived lovingly together in Wedlock
Fifty-five Years.
Without an Estate or any gainful Employment,
By constant labour and Industry,
With God's blessing,
They maintained a large Family
Comfortably;
And brought up thirteen Children,
And seven Grandchildren
Reputably.
From this Instance, Reader,
Be encouraged to Diligence in thy Calling,
And Distrust not Providence.
He was a pious and prudent Man,
She a discreet and virtuous Woman.
Their youngest Son,
In filial Regard to their Memory,
Places this Stone.
J. F. born 1655--Died 1744--Ætat 89.
A. F. born 1667--Died 1752----85.
By my rambling Digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd to
write more methodically.--But one does not dress for private Company as
for a publick Ball. 'Tis perhaps only Negligence.--
To return. I continu'd thus employ'd in my Father's Business for two
Years, that is till I was 12 Years old; and my Brother John, who was
bred to that Business having left my Father, married and set up for
himself at Rhodeisland, there was all Appearance that I was destin'd to
supply his Place and be a Tallow Chandler. But my Dislike to the Trade
continuing, my Father was under Apprehensions that if he did not find
one for me more agreable, I should break away and get to Sea, as his Son
Josiah had done to his great Vexation. He therefore sometimes took me to
walk with him, and see Joiners, Bricklayers, Turners, Braziers, etc. at
their Work, that he might observe my Inclination, and endeavour to fix
it on some Trade or other on Land. It has ever since been a Pleasure to
me to see good Workmen handle their Tools; and it has been useful to me,
having learnt so much by it, as to be able to do little Jobs myself in
my House, when a Workman could not readily be got; and to construct
little Machines for my Experiments while the Intention of making the
Experiment was fresh and warm in my Mind. My Father at last fix'd upon
the Cutler's Trade, and my Uncle Benjamin's Son Samuel who was bred to
that Business in London[,] being about that time establish'd in Boston,
I was sent to be with him some time on liking. But his Expectations of a
Fee with me displeasing my Father, I was taken home again.--
From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came
into my Hands was ever laid out in Books. Pleas'd with the Pilgrim's
Progress, my first Collection was of John Bunyan's Works, in separate
little Volumes. I afterwards sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's
Historical Collections; they were small Chapmen's Books and cheap, 40 or
50 in all.--My Father's little Library consisted chiefly of Books in
polemic Divinity, most of which I read, and have since often regretted,
that at a time when I had such a Thirst for Knowledge, more proper Books
had not fallen in my Way, since it was now resolv'd I should not be a
Clergyman. Plutarch's Lives there was, in which I read abundantly, and I
still think that time spent to great ["Great" seems to have been
deleted.] Advantage. There was also a Book of Defoe's, called an Essay
on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather's, called Essays to do Good which
perhaps gave me a Turn of thinking that had an influence on some of the
principal future Events of my Life.
This Bookish inclination at length determin'd my Father to make me a
Printer, tho' he had already one Son (James) of that Profession. In 1717
my Brother James return'd from England with a Press and Letters to set
up his Business in Boston. I lik'd it much better than that of my
Father, but still had a Hankering for the Sea.--To prevent the
apprehended Effect of such an Inclination, my Father was impatient to
have me bound to my Brother. I stood out some time, but at last was
persuaded and signed the Indentures, when I was yet but 12 Years old.--I
was to serve as an Apprentice till I was 21 Years of Age, only I was to
be allow'd Journeyman's Wages during the last Year. In a little time I
made great Proficiency in the Business, and became a useful Hand to my
Brother. I now had Access to better Books. An Acquaintance with the
Apprentices of Booksellers, enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one,
which I was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in my Room
reading the greatest Part of the Night, when the Book was borrow'd in
the Evening and to be return'd early in the Morning[,] lest it should be
miss'd or wanted. And after some time an ingenious Tradesman Mr. Matthew
Adams who had a pretty Collection of Books, and who frequented our
Printing House, took Notice of me, invited me to his Library, and very
kindly lent me such Books as I chose to read. I now took a Fancy to
Poetry, and made some little Pieces. My Brother, thinking it might turn
to account encourag'd me, and put me on composing two occasional
Ballads. One was called The _Lighthouse Tragedy_, and contained an Acc^t
of the drowning of Capt. Worthilake with his Two Daughters; the other
was a Sailor Song on the Taking of _Teach_ or Blackbeard the Pirate.
They were wretched Stuff, in the Grub-street Ballad Stile, and when they
were printed he sent me about the Town to sell them. The first sold
wonderfully, the Event being recent, having made a great Noise. This
flatter'd my Vanity. But my Father discourag'd me, by ridiculing my
Performances, and telling me Verse-makers were generally Beggars; so I
escap'd being a Poet, most probably a very bad one. But as Prose Writing
has been of great Use to me in the Course of my Life, and was a
principal Means of my Advancement, I shall tell you how in such a
Situation I acquir'd what little Ability I have in that Way.
There was another Bookish Lad in the Town, John Collins by Name, with
whom I was intimately acquainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond
we were of Argument, and very desirous of confuting one another. Which
disputacious Turn, by the way, is apt to become a very bad Habit, making
People often extreamly disagreeable in Company, by the Contradiction
that is necessary to bring it into Practice, and thence, besides souring
and spoiling the Conversation, is productive of Disgusts and perhaps
Enmities where you may have occasion for Friendship. I had caught it by
reading my Father's Books of Dispute about Religion. Persons of good
Sense, I have since observ'd, seldom fall into it, except Lawyers,
University Men, and Men of all Sorts that have been bred at Edinborough.
A Question was once somehow or other started between Collins and me, of
the Propriety of educating the Female Sex in Learning, and their
Abilities for Study. He was of Opinion that it was improper, and that
they were naturally unequal to it. I took the contrary Side, perhaps a
little for Dispute['s] sake. He was naturally more eloquent, had a
ready Plenty of Words, and sometimes as I thought bore me down more by
his Fluency than by the Strength of his Reasons. As we parted without
settling the Point, and were not to see one another again for some time,
I sat down to put my Arguments in Writing, which I copied fair and sent
to him. He answer'd and I reply'd. Three of [or] four Letters of a Side
had pass'd, when my Father happen'd to find my Papers, and read them.
Without ent'ring into the Discussion, he took occasion to talk to me
about the Manner of my Writing, observ'd that tho' I had the Advantage
of my Antagonist in correct Spelling and pointing (which I ow'd to the
Printing House) I fell far short in elegance of Expression, in Method
and in Perspicuity, of which he convinc'd me by several Instances. I saw
the Justice of his Remarks, and thence grew more attentive to the
_Manner_ in writing, and determin'd to endeavour at Improvement.--
About this time I met with an odd Volume of the Spectator. It was the
Third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over
and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the Writing
excellent, and wish'd if possible to imitate it. With that View, I took
some of the Papers, and making short Hints of the Sentiment in each
Sentence, laid them by a few Days, and then without looking at the Book,
try'd to compleat the Papers again, by expressing each hinted Sentiment
at length, and as fully as it had been express'd before, in any suitable
Words, that should come to hand.
Then I compar'd my Spectator with the Original, discover'd some of my
Faults and corrected them. But I found I wanted a Stock of Words or a
Readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have
acquir'd before that time, if I had gone on making Verses, since the
continual Occasion for Words of the same Import but of different Length,
to suit the Measure, or of different Sound for the Rhyme, would have
laid me under a constant Necessity of searching for Variety, and also
have tended to fix that Variety in my Mind, and make me Master of it.
Therefore I took some of the Tales and turn'd them into Verse: And after
a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the Prose, turn'd them back
again. I also sometimes jumbled my Collections of Hints into Confusion,
and after some Weeks, endeavour'd to reduce them into the best Order,
before I began to form the full Sentences, and compleat the Paper. This
was to teach me Method in the Arrangement of Thoughts. By comparing my
work afterwards with the original, I discover'd many faults and amended
them; but I sometimes had the Pleasure of Fancying that in certain
Particulars of small Import, I had been lucky enough to improve the
Method or the Language and this encourag'd me to think I might possibly
in time come to be a tolerable English Writer, of which I was extreamly
ambitious.
My Time for these Exercises and for Reading, was at Night, after Work or
before it began in the Morning; or on Sundays, when I contrived to be in
the Printing House alone, evading as much as I could the common
Attendance on publick Worship, which my Father used to exact of me when
I was under his Care: And which indeed I still thought a Duty; tho' I
could not, as it seemed to me, afford the Time to practise it.
When about 16 Years of Age, I happen'd to meet with a Book, written by
one Tryon, recommending a Vegetable Diet. I determined to go into it. My
Brother being yet unmarried, did not keep House, but boarded himself and
his Apprentices in another Family. My refusing to eat Flesh occasioned
an Inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. I made
myself acquainted with Tryon's Manner of preparing some of his Dishes,
such as Boiling Potatoes or Rice, making Hasty Pudding, and a few
others, and then propos'd to my Brother, that if he would give me Weekly
half the Money he paid for my Board I would board myself. He instantly
agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save half what he paid
me. This was an additional Fund for buying Books. But I had another
Advantage in it. My Brother and the rest going from the Printing House
to their Meals, I remain'd there alone, and dispatching presently my
light Repast, (which often was no more than a Bisket or a Slice of
Bread, a Handful of Raisins or a Tart from the Pastry Cook's, and a
Glass of Water) had the rest of the Time till their Return, for Study,
in which I made the greater Progress from that greater Clearness of
Head and quicker Apprehension which usually attend Temperance in Eating
and Drinking. And now it was that being on some Occasion made asham'd of
my Ignorance in Figures, which I had twice failed in Learning when at
School, I took Cocker's Book of Arithmetick, and went thro' the whole by
myself with great Ease. I also read Seller's and Sturmy's Books of
Navigation, and became acquainted with the little Geometry they contain,
but never proceeded far in that Science.--And I read about this Time
Locke on Human Understanding, and the Art of Thinking by Mess^rs du Port
Royal.
While I was intent on improving my Language, I met with an English
Grammar (I think it was Greenwood's) at the End of which there were two
little Sketches of the Arts of Rhetoric and Logic, the latter finishing
with a Specimen of a Dispute in the Socratic Method. And soon after I
procur'd Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein there are many
Instances of the same Method. I was charm'd with it, adopted it, dropt
my abrupt Contradiction, and positive Argumentation, and put on the
humble Enquirer and Doubter. And being then, from reading Shaftesbury
and Collins, become a real Doubter in many Points of our religious
Doctrine, I found this Method safest for myself and very embarrassing to
those against whom I us'd it, therefore I took a Delight in it,
practis'd it continually and grew very artful and expert in drawing
People even of superior Knowledge into Concessions the Consequences of
which they did not foresee, entangling them in Difficulties out of which
they could not extricate themselves, and so obtaining Victories that
neither myself nor my Cause always deserved.--I continu'd this Method
some few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the Habit of
expressing myself in Terms of modest Diffidence, never using when I
advance any thing that may possibly be disputed, the Words, _Certainly_,
_undoubtedly_; or any others that give the Air of Positiveness to an
Opinion; but rather say, I conceive, or I apprehend a Thing to be so or
so, It appears to me, or I should think it so or so for such and such
Reasons, or I imagine it to be so, or it is so if I am not mistaken.
This Habit I believe has been of great Advantage to me, when I have had
occasion to inculcate my Opinions and persuade Men into Measures that I
have been from time to time engag'd in promoting.--And as the chief Ends
of Conversation are to _inform_, or to be _informed_, to _please_ or to
_persuade_, I wish wellmeaning sensible Men would not lessen their Power
of doing Good by a Positive assuming Manner that seldom fails to
disgust, tends to create Opposition, and to defeat every one of those
Purposes for which Speech was given us, to wit, giving or receiving
Information, or Pleasure: For if you would _inform_, a positive
dogmatical Manner in advancing your Sentiments, may provoke
Contradiction and prevent a candid Attention. If you wish Information
and Improvement from the Knowledge of others and yet at the same time
express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present Opinions, modest
sensible Men, who do not love Disputation, will probably leave you
undisturbed in the Possession of your Error; and by such a Manner you
can seldom hope to recommend yourself in _pleasing_ your Hearers, or to
persuade those whose Concurrence you desire.--Pope says, judiciously,
_Men should be taught as if you taught them not,
And things unknown propos'd as things forgot,--_
farther recommending it to us,
_To speak tho' sure, with seeming Diffidence._
And he might have coupled with this Line that which he has coupled with
another, I think less properly,
_For want of Modesty is want of Sense._
If you ask why _less properly_, I must repeat the lines;
"Immodest Words admit of _no_ Defence;
_For_ Want of Modesty is Want of Sense."
Now is not _Want of Sense_ (where a Man is so unfortunate as to want it)
some Apology for his _Want of Modesty?_ and would not the Lines stand
more justly thus?
Immodest Words admit _but this_ Defence,
That Want of Modesty is Want of Sense.
This however I should submit to better Judgments.--
My Brother had in 1720 or 21, begun to print a Newspaper. It was the
second that appear'd in America, and was called _The New England
Courant_.[2] The only one before it, was _the Boston News Letter_. I
remember his being dissuaded by some of his Friends from the
Undertaking, as not likely to succeed, one Newspaper being in their
Judgment enough for America.--At this time 1771 there are not less than
five and twenty.--He went on however with the Undertaking, and after
having work'd in composing the Types and printing off the Sheets, I was
employ'd to carry the Papers thro' the Streets to the Customers.--He had
some ingenious Men among his Friends who amus'd themselves by writing
little Pieces for this Paper, which gain'd it Credit, and made it more
in Demand; and these Gentlemen often visited us.--Hearing their
Conversations, and their Accounts of the Approbation their Papers were
receiv'd with, I was excited to try my Hand among them. But being still
a Boy, and suspecting that my Brother would object to printing any Thing
of mine in his Paper if he knew it to be mine, I contriv'd to disguise
my Hand, and writing an anonymous Paper I put it in at Night under the
Door of the Printing House. It was found in the Morning and communicated
to his Writing Friends when they call'd in as usual. They read it,
commented on it in my Hearing, and I had the exquisite Pleasure, of
finding it met with their Approbation, and that in their different
Guesses at the Author none were named but Men of some Character among us
for Learning and Ingenuity.--I suppose now that I was rather lucky in my
Judges: And that perhaps they were not really so very good ones as I
then esteem'd them. Encourag'd however by this, I wrote and convey'd in
the same Way to the Press several more Papers, which were equally
approv'd, and I kept my Secret till my small Fund of Sense for such
Performances was pretty well exhausted, and then I discovered it; when I
began to be considered a little more by my Brother's Acquaintance, and
in a manner that did not quite please him, as he thought, probably with
reason, that it tended to make me too vain. And perhaps this might be
one Occasion of the Differences that we began to have about this Time.
Tho' a Brother, he considered himself as my Master, and me as his
Apprentice; and accordingly expected the same Services from me as he
would from another; while I thought he demean'd me too much in some he
requir'd of me, who from a Brother expected more Indulgence. Our
Disputes were often brought before our Father, and I fancy I was either
generally in the right, or else a better Pleader, because the Judgment
was generally in my favour: But my Brother was passionate and had often
beaten me, which I took extreamly amiss; and thinking my Apprenticeship
very tedious, I was continually wishing for some Opportunity of
shortening it, which at length offered in a manner unexpected.[B]
[B] I fancy his harsh and tyrannical Treatment of me, might be a
means of impressing me with that Aversion to arbitrary Power
that has stuck to me thro' my whole life [_Franklin's note._]
One of the Pieces in our Newspaper, on some political Point which I have
now forgotten, gave Offence to the Assembly. He was taken up, censur'd
and imprison'd for a Month by the Speaker's Warrant, I suppose because
he would not discover his Author. I too was taken up and examin'd before
the Council; but tho' I did not give them any Satisfaction, they
contented themselves with admonishing me, and dismiss'd me; considering
me perhaps as an Apprentice who was bound to keep his Master's Secrets.
During my Brother's Confinement, which I resented a good deal,
notwithstanding our private Differences, I had the Management of the
Paper, and I made bold to give our Rulers some Rubs in it, which my
Brother took very kindly, while others began to consider me in an
unfavourable Light, as a young Genius that had a Turn for Libelling and
Satyr. My Brother's Discharge was accompany'd with an Order of the
House, (a very odd one) _that James Franklin should no longer print the
Paper called the New England Courant_. There was a Consultation held in
our Printing House among his Friends what he should do in this Case.
Some propos'd to evade the Order by changing the Name of the Paper; but
my Brother seeing Inconveniences in that, it was finally concluded on
as a better Way, to let it be printed for the future under the Name of
_Benjamin Franklin_. And to avoid the Censure of the Assembly that might
fall on him, as still printing it by his Apprentice, the Contrivance
was, that my old Indenture should be return'd to me with a full
Discharge on the Back of it, to be shown on Occasion; but to secure to
him the Benefit of my Service I was to sign new Indentures for the
Remainder of the Term, w^ch were to be kept private. A very flimsy
Scheme it was, but however it was immediately executed, and the Paper
went on accordingly under my Name for several Months. At length a fresh
Difference arising between my Brother and me, I took upon me to assert
my Freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce the new
Indentures. It was not fair in me to take this Advantage, and this I
therefore reckon one of the first Errata of my life: But the Unfairness
of it weighed little with me, when under the Impressions of Resentment,
for the Blows his Passion too often urg'd him to bestow upon me. Tho' he
was otherwise not an ill-natur'd Man: Perhaps I was too saucy and
provoking.
When he found I would leave him, he took care to prevent my getting
Employment in any other Printing-House of the Town, by going round and
speaking to every Master, who accordingly refus'd to give me Work. I
then thought of going to New York as the nearest Place where there was a
Printer: and I was the rather inclin'd to leave Boston, when I reflected
that I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the governing
Party; and from the arbitrary Proceedings of the Assembly in my
Brother's Case it was likely I might if I stay'd soon bring myself into
Scrapes; and farther that my indiscrete Disputations about Religion
began to make me pointed at with Horror by good People, as an Infidel or
Atheist. I determin'd on the Point: but my Father now siding with my
Brother, I was sensible that if I attempted to go openly, Means would be
used to prevent me. My Friend Collins therefore undertook to manage a
little for me. He agreed with the Captain of a New York Sloop for my
Passage, under the Notion of my being a young Acquaintance of his that
had got a naughty Girl with Child, whose Friends would compel me to
marry her, and therefore I could not appear or come away publickly. So I
sold some of my Books to raise a little Money, Was taken on board
privately, and as we had a fair Wind[,] in three Days I found myself in
New York near 300 Miles from home, a Boy of but 17, without the least
Recommendation to or Knowledge of any Person in the Place, and with very
little Money in my Pocket.
My Inclinations for the Sea, were by this time worne out, or I might now
have gratify'd them. But having a Trade, and supposing myself a pretty
good Workman, I offer'd my Service to the Printer in the Place, old Mr
W^m Bradford, who had been the first Printer in Pensilvania, but remov'd
from thence upon the Quarrel of Geo. Keith.--He could give me no
Employment, having little to do, and Help enough already: But, says he,
my Son at Philadelphia has lately lost his principal Hand, Aquila Rose,
by Death. If you go thither I believe he may employ you.--Philadelphia
was 100 Miles farther. I set out, however, in a Boat for Amboy, leaving
my Chest and Things to follow me round by Sea. In crossing the Bay we
met with a Squall that tore our rotten Sails to pieces, prevented our
getting into the Kill, and drove us upon Long Island. In our Way a
drunken Dutchman, who was a Passenger too, fell overboard; when he was
sinking I reach'd thro' the Water to his shock Pate and drew him up so
that we got him in again. His ducking sober'd him a little, and he went
to sleep, taking first out of his Pocket a Book which he desir'd I would
dry for him. It prov'd to be my old favourite Author Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress in Dutch, finely printed on good Paper with copper Cuts, a
Dress better than I had ever seen it wear in its own Language. I have
since found that it has been translated into most of the Languages of
Europe, and suppose it has been more generally read than any other Book
except perhaps the Bible. Honest John was the first that I know of who
mix'd Narration and Dialogue, a Method of Writing very engaging to the
Reader, who in the most interesting Parts finds himself, as it were
brought into the Company, and present at the Discourse. Defoe in his
Cruso, his Moll Flanders, Religious Courtship, Family Instructor, and
other Pieces, has imitated it with Success. And Richardson has done the
same in his Pamela, etc.--
When we drew near the Island we found it was at a Place where there
could be no Landing, there being a great Surff on the stony Beach. So we
dropt Anchor and swung round towards the Shore. Some People came down to
the Water Edge and hallow'd to us, as we did to them. But the Wind was
so high and the Surff so loud, that we could not hear so as to
understand each other. There were Canoes on the Shore, and we made Signs
and hallow'd that they should fetch us, but they either did not
understand us, or thought it impracticable. So they went away, and Night
coming on, we had no Remedy but to wait till the Wind should abate, and
in the mean time the Boatman and I concluded to sleep if we could, and
so crouded into the Scuttle with the Dutchman who was still wet, and the
Spray beating over the Head of our Boat, leak'd thro' to us, so that we
were soon almost as wet as he. In this Manner we lay all Night with very
little Rest. But the Wind abating the next Day, we made a Shift to reach
Amboy before Night, having been 30 Hours on the Water without Victuals,
or any Drink but a Bottle of filthy Rum: The Water we sail'd on being
salt.--
In the Evening I found myself very feverish, and went in to Bed. But
having read somewhere that cold Water drank plentifully was good for a
Fever, I follow'd the Prescription, sweat plentifully most of the Night,
my Fever left me, and in the Morning crossing the Ferry, I proceeded on
my Journey, on foot, having 50 Miles to Burlington, where I was told I
should find Boats that would carry me the rest of the Way to
Philadelphia.
It rain'd very hard all the Day, I was thoroughly soak'd, and by Noon a
good deal tir'd, so I stopt at a poor Inn, where I staid all Night,
beginning now to wish I had never left home. I cut so miserable a Figure
too, that I found by the Questions ask'd me I was suspected to be some
runaway Servant, and in danger of being taken up on that Suspicion.
However I proceeded the next Day, and got in the Evening to an Inn
within 8 or 10 Miles of Burlington, kept by one Dr Brown.--
He ent[e]red into Conversation with me while I took some Refreshment,
and finding I had read a little, became very sociable and friendly. Our
Acquaintance continu'd as long as he liv'd. He had been, I imagine, an
itinerant Doctor, for there was no Town in England, or Country in
Europe, of which he could not give a very particular Account. He had
some Letters, and was ingenious, but much of an Unbeliever, and wickedly
undertook, some Years after to travesty the Bible in doggrel Verse as
Cotton had done Virgil. By this means he set many of the Facts in a very
ridiculous Light, and might have hurt weak minds if his Work had been
publish'd:--but it never was.--At his House I lay that Night, and the
next Morning reach'd Burlington.--But had the Mortification to find that
the regular Boats were gone, a little before my coming, and no other
expected to go till Tuesday, this being Saturday. Wherefore I returned
to an old Woman in the Town of whom I had bought Gingerbread to eat on
the Water, and ask'd her Advice; she invited me to lodge at her House
till a Passage by Water should offer: and being tired with my foot
Travelling, I accepted the Invitation. She understanding I was a
Printer, would have had me stay at that Town and follow my Business,
being ignorant of the Stock necessary to begin with. She was very
hospitable, gave me a Dinner of Ox Cheek with great Goodwill, accepting
only of a Pot of Ale in return. And I thought myself fix'd till Tuesday
should come. However walking in the Evening by the Side of the River, a
Boat came by, which I found was going towards Philadelphia, with several
People in her. They took me in, and as there was no wind, we row'd all
the Way; and about Midnight not having yet seen the City, some of the
Company were confident we must have pass'd it, and would row no farther,
the others knew not where we were, so we put towards the Shore, got into
a Creek, landed near an old Fence[,] with the Rails of which we made a
Fire, the Night being cold, in October, and there we remain'd till
Daylight. Then one of the Company knew the Place to be Cooper's Creek a
little above Philadelphia, which we saw as soon as we got out of the
Creek, and arriv'd there about 8 or 9 o'Clock, on the Sunday morning,
and landed at the Market street Wharff.--
I have been the more particular in this Description of my Journey, and
shall be so of my first Entry into that City, that you may in your Mind
compare such unlikely Beginnings with the Figure I have since made
there. I was in my Working Dress, my best Cloaths being to come round by
Sea. I was dirty from my Journey; my Pockets were stuff'd out with
Shirts and Stockings; I knew no Soul, nor where to look for Lodging. I
was fatigued with Travelling, Rowing and Want of Rest. I was very
hungry, and my whole Stock of Cash consisted of a Dutch Dollar and about
a Shilling in Copper. The latter I gave the People of the Boat for my
Passage, who at first refus'd it on Acc^t of my Rowing; but I insisted
on their taking it, a Man being sometimes more generous when he has but
a little Money than when he has plenty, perhaps thro' Fear of being
thought to have but little. Then I walk'd up the Street, gazing about,
till near the Market House I met a Boy with Bread. I had made many a
Meal on Bread, and inquiring where he got it, I went immediately to the
Baker's he directed me to in Second Street; and ask'd for Bisket,
intending such as we had in Boston, but they it seems were not made in
Philadelphia, then I ask'd for a threepenny Loaf, and was told they had
none such: so not considering or knowing the Difference of Money and the
greater Cheapness nor the Names of his Bread, I bad[e] him give me
threepenny worth of any sort. He gave me accordingly three great Puffy
Rolls. I was surpriz'd at the Quantity, but took it, and having no room
in my Pockets, walk'd off, with a Roll under each Arm, and eating the
other. Thus I went up Market Street as far as fourth Street, passing by
the Door of Mr. Read, my future Wife's Father, when she standing at the
Door saw me, and thought I made as I certainly did a most awkward
ridiculous Appearance. Then I turn'd and went down Chestnut Street and
part of Walnut Street, eating my Roll all the Way, and coming round
found myself again at Market Street Wharff, near the Boat I came in, to
which I went for a Draught of the River Water, and being fill'd with one
of my Rolls, gave the other two to a Woman and her Child that came down
the River in the Boat with us and were waiting to go farther. Thus
refresh'd I walk'd again, up the Street, which by this time had many
clean dress'd People in it who were all walking the same Way; I join'd
them, and thereby was led into the great Meeting House of the Quakers
near the Market. I sat down among them, and after looking round awhile
and hearing nothing said; being very drowsy thro' Labour and want of
Rest the preceding Night, I fell fast asleep, and continu'd so till the
Meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This was
therefore the first House I was in or slept in, in Philadelphia.--
Walking again down towards the River, and looking in the Faces of
People, I met a young Quaker Man whose Countenance I lik'd, and
accosting him requested he would tell me where a Stranger could get
Lodging. We were then near the Sign of the Three Mariners. Here, says
he, is one Place that entertains Strangers, but it is not a reputable
House; if thee wilt walk with me, I'll show thee a better. He brought me
to the Crooked Billet in Water Street. Here I got a Dinner. And while I
was eating it, several sly Questions were ask'd me, as it seem'd to be
suspected from my youth and Appearance, that I might be some Runaway.
After Dinner my Sleepiness return'd: and being shown to a Bed, I lay
down without undressing, and slept till Six in the Evening; was call'd
to Supper; went to Bed again very early and slept soundly till next
Morning. Then I made myself as tidy as I could, and went to Andrew
Bradford the Printer's. I found in the Shop the old Man his Father, whom
I had seen at New York, and who travelling on horseback had got to
Philadelphia before me. He introduc'd me to his Son, who receiv'd me
civilly, gave me a Breakfast, but told me he did not at present want a
Hand, being lately supply'd with one. But there was another Printer in
town lately set up, one Keimer, who perhaps might employ me; if not, I
should be welcome to lodge at his House, and he would give me a little
Work to do now and then till fuller Business should offer.
The old Gentleman said, he would go with me to the new Printer: And when
we found him, Neighbor, says Bradford, I have brought to see you a young
Man of your Business, perhaps you may want such a One. He ask'd me a few
Questions, put a Composing Stick in my Hand to see how I work'd, and
then said he would employ me soon, tho' he had just then nothing for me
to do. And taking old Bradford whom he had never seen before, to be one
of the Towns People that had a Good Will for him, enter'd into a
Conversation on his present Undertaking and Prospects; while Bradford
not discovering that he was the other Printer's Father, on Keimer's
saying he expected soon to get the greatest Part of the Business into
his own Hands, drew him on by artful Questions and starting little
Doubts, to explain all his Views, what Interest he rely'd on, and in
what manner he intended to proceed.--I who stood by and heard all, saw
immediately that one of them was a crafty old Sophister, and the other a
mere Novice. Bradford left me with Keimer, who was greatly surpriz'd
when I told him who the old Man was.
Keimer's Printing House I found, consisted of an old shatter'd Press,
and one small worn-out Fount of English, which he was then using
himself, composing in it an Elegy on Aquila Rose before-mentioned, an
ingenious young Man of excellent Character much respected in the Town,
Clerk of the Assembly, and a pretty Poet. Keimer made Verses, too, but
very indifferently. He could not be said to write them, for his Manner
was to compose them in the Types directly out of his Head; so there
being no Copy, but one Pair of Cases, and the Elegy likely to require
all the Letter[s], no one could help him.--I endeavour'd to put his
Press (which he had not yet us'd, and of which he understood nothing)
into Order fit to be work'd with; and promising to come and print off
his Elegy as soon as he should have got it ready, I return'd to
Bradford's who gave me a little Job to do for the present, [and] there I
lodged and dieted. A few Days after[,] Keimer sent for me to print off
the Elegy. And now he had got another Pair of Cases, and a Pamphlet to
reprint, on which he set me to work.--
These two Printers I found poorly Qualified for their Business. Bradford
had not been bred to it, and was very illiterate; and Keimer tho'
something of a Scholar, was a mere Compositor, knowing nothing of
Presswork. He had been one of the French Prophets and could act their
enthusiastic Agitations. At this time he did not profess any particular
Religion, but something of all on occasion; was very ignorant of the
World, and had, as I afterward found, a good deal of the Knave in his
Composition. He did not like my Lodging at Bradford's while I work'd
with him. He had a House indeed, but without Furniture, so he could not
lodge me: But he got me a Lodging at Mr. Read's beforementioned, who was
the Owner of his House. And my Chest and Clothes being come by this
time, I made rather a more respectable Appearance in the Eyes of Miss
Read than I had done when she first happen'd to see me eating my Roll in
the Street.--
I began now to have some Acquaintance among the young People of the
Town, that were Lovers of Reading with whom I spent my Evenings very
pleasantly and gaining Money by my Industry and Frugality, I lived very
agreably, forgetting Boston as much as I could, and not desiring that
any there should know where I resided, except my Friend Collins who was
in my Secret, and kept it when I wrote to him. At length an Incident
happened that sent me back again much sooner than I had intended.--
I had a Brother-in-law, Robert Holmes, Master of a Sloop, that traded
between Boston and Delaware. He being at New Castle 40 Miles below
Philadelphia, heard there of me, and wrote me a Letter, mentioning the
Concern of my Friends in Boston at my abrupt Departure, assuring me of
their Good will to me, and that every thing would be accommodated to my
Mind if I would return, to which he exhorted me very earnestly. I wrote
an Answer to his Letter, thank'd him for his Advice, but stated my
Reasons for quitting Boston fully, and in such a Light as to convince
him I was not so wrong as he had apprehended. Sir William Keith[3]
Governor of the Province, was then at New Castle, and Capt. Holmes
happening to be in Company with him when my Letter came to hand, spoke
to him of me, and show'd him the Letter. The Governor read it, and
seem'd surpriz'd when he was told my Age. He said I appear'd a young Man
of promising Parts, and therefore should be encouraged: The Printers at
Philadelphia were wretched ones, and if I would set up there, he made
no doubt I should succeed; for his Part, he would procure me the publick
Business, and do me every other Service in his Power. This my
Brother-in-law afterwards told me in Boston. But I knew as yet nothing
of it; when one Day Keimer and I being at Work together near the Window,
we saw the Governor and another Gentleman (which prov'd to be Col.
French, of New Castle) finely dress'd, come directly across the Street
to our House, and heard them at the Door. Keimer ran down immediately,
thinking it a Visit to him. But the Governor enquir'd for me, came up,
and with a Condescension and Politeness I had been quite unus'd to, made
me many Compliments, desired to be acquainted with me, blam'd me kindly
for not having made myself known to him when I first came to the Place,
and would have me away with him to the Tavern where he was going with
Col. French to taste as he said some excellent Madeira. I was not a
little surpriz'd, and Keimer star'd like a Pig poison'd. I went however
with the Governor and Col. French, to a Tavern [at] the Corner of Third
Street, and over the Madeira he propos'd my Setting up my Business, laid
before me the Probabilities of Success, and both he and Col. French,
assur'd me I should have their Interest and Influence in procuring the
Publick Business of both Governments. On my doubting whether my Father
would assist me in it, Sir William said he would give me a Letter to
him, in which he would state the Advantages, and he did not doubt of
prevailing with him. So it was concluded I should return to Boston in
the first Vessel with the Governor's Letter recommending me to my
Father. In the mean time the Intention was to be kept secret, and I went
on working with Keimer as usual, the Governor sending for me now and
then to dine with him, a very great Honour I thought it, and conversing
with me in the most affable, familiar, and friendly manner imaginable.
About the End of April 1724 a little Vessel offer'd for Boston. I took
leave of Keimer as going to see my Friends. The Governor gave me an
ample Letter, saying many flattering things of me to my Father, and
strongly recommending the Project of my setting up at Philadelphia, as a
Thing that must make my Fortune. We struck on a Shoal in going down the
Bay and sprung a Leak, we had a blustering time at Sea, and were oblig'd
to pump almost continually, at which I took my Turn. We arriv'd safe
however at Boston in about a Fortnight.--I had been absent Seven Months
and my Friends had heard nothing of me; for my Br. Holmes was not yet
return'd; and had not written about me. My unexpected Appearance
surpriz'd the Family; all were however very glad to see me and made me
Welcome, except my Brother. I went to see him at his Printing-House: I
was better dress'd than ever while in his Service, having a genteel new
Suit from Head to foot, a Watch, and my Pockets lin'd with near Five
Pounds Sterling in Silver. He receiv'd me not very frankly, look'd me
all over, and turn'd to his Work again. The JourneyMen were inquisitive
where I had been, what sort of a Country it was, and how I lik'd it? I
prais'd it much, and the happy Life I led in it; expressing strongly my
Intention of returning to it; and one of them asking what kind of Money
we had there, I produc'd a handful of Silver and spread it before them,
which was a kind of Raree Show they had not been us'd to, Paper being
the Money of Boston. Then I took an Opportunity of letting them see my
Watch: and lastly, (my Brother still grum and sullen) I gave them a
Piece of Eight to drink, and took my Leave.--This Visit of mine offended
him extreamly. For when my Mother some time after spoke to him of a
Reconciliation, and of her Wishes to see us on good Terms together, and
that we might live for the future as Brothers, he said, I had insulted
him in such a Manner before his People that he could never forget or
forgive it. In this however he was mistaken.--
My Father received the Governor's Letter with some apparent Surprize;
but said little of it to me for some Days; when Capt. Holmes returning,
he show'd it to him, ask'd if he knew Keith, and what kind of a Man he
was: Adding his Opinion that he must be of small Discretion, to think of
setting a Boy up in Business who wanted yet 3 Years of being at Man's
Estate. Holmes said what he could in fav^r of the Project; but my Father
was clear in the Impropriety of it; and at last gave a flat Denial to
it. Then he wrote a civil Letter to Sir William thanking him for the
Patronage he had so kindly offered me, but declining to assist me as yet
in Setting up, I being in his Opinion too young to be trusted with the
Management of a Business so important, and for which the Preparation
must be so expensive.--
My Friend and Companion Collins, who was a Clerk at the Post-Office,
pleas'd with the Account I gave him of my new Country, determin'd to go
thither also: And while I waited for my Fathers Determination, he set
out before me by Land to Rhodeisland, leaving his Books which were a
pretty Collection of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy, to come with
mine and me to New York where he propos'd to wait for me. My Father,
tho' he did not approve Sir William's Proposition was yet pleas'd that I
had been able to obtain so advantageous a Character from a Person of
such Note where I had resided, and that I had been so industrious and
careful as to equip myself so handsomely in so short a time: therefore
seeing no Prospect of an Accommodation between my Brother and me, he
gave his Consent to my Returning again to Philadelphia, advis'd me to
behave respectfully to the People there, endeavour to obtain the general
Esteem, and avoid lampooning and libelling to which he thought I had too
much Inclination; telling me, that by steady Industry and a prudent
Parsimony, I might save enough by the time I was One and Twenty to set
me up, and that if I came near the Matter he would help me out with the
rest. This was all I could obtain, except some small Gifts as Tokens of
his and my Mother's Love, when I embark'd again for New-York, now with
their Approbation and their Blessing.--
The Sloop putting in at Newport, Rhodeisland, I visited my Brother John,
who had been married and settled there some Years. He received me very
affectionately, for he always lov'd me. A Friend of his, one Vernon,
having some Money due to him in Pensilvania, about 35 Pounds Currency,
desired I would receive it for him, and keep it till I had his
Directions what to remit it in. Accordingly he gave me an Order.--This
afterwards occasion'd me a good deal of Uneasiness. At Newport we took
in a Number of Passengers for New York: Among which were two young
Women, Companions, and a grave, sensible Matron-like Quaker-Woman with
her Attendants.--I had shown an obliging readiness to do her some little
Services which impress'd her I suppose with a degree of Good-will
towards me.--Therefore when she saw a daily growing Familiarity between
me and the two Young Women, which they appear'd to encourage, she took
me aside and said, Young Man, I am concern'd for thee, as thou has no
Friend with thee, and seems not to know much of the World, or of the
Snares Youth is expos'd to; depend upon it those are very bad Women, I
can see it in all their Actions, and if thee art not upon thy Guard,
they will draw thee into some Danger: they are Strangers to thee, and I
advise thee in a friendly Concern for thy Welfare, to have no
Acquaintance with them. As I seem'd at first not to think so ill of them
as she did, she mention'd some Things she had observ'd and heard that
had escap'd my Notice; but now convinc'd me she was right. I thank'd her
for her kind Advice, and promis'd to follow it.--When we arriv'd at New
York, they told me where they liv'd, and invited me to come and see
them: but I avoided it. And it was well I did: For the next Day, the
Captain miss'd a Silver Spoon and some other Things that had been taken
out of his Cabbin, and knowing that these were a Couple of Strumpets, he
got a Warrant to search their Lodgings, found the stolen Goods, and had
the Thieves punish'd. So tho' we had escap'd a sunken Rock which we
scrap'd upon in the Passage, I thought this Escape of rather more
Importance to me. At New York I found my Friend Collins, who had arriv'd
there some Time before me. We had been intimate from Children, and had
read the same Books together: But he had the Advantage of more time for
reading, and Studying and a wonderful Genius for Mathematical Learning
in which he far outstript me. While I liv'd in Boston most of my Hours
of Leisure for Conversation were spent with him, and he continu'd a
sober as well as an industrious Lad; was much respected for his Learning
by several of the Clergy and other Gentlemen, and seem'd to promise
making a good Figure in Life: but during my Absence he had acquir'd a
Habit of Sotting with Brandy; and I found by his own Account and what I
heard from others, that he had been drunk every day since his Arrival
at New York, and behav'd very oddly. He had gam'd too and lost his
Money, so that I was oblig'd to discharge his Lodgings, and defray his
Expenses to and at Philadelphia: Which prov'd extreamly inconvenient to
me. The then Governor of N[ew] York, Burnet, Son of Bishop Burnet
hearing from the Captain that a young Man, one of his Passengers, had a
great many Books, desired he would bring me to see him. I waited upon
him accordingly, and should have taken Collins with me but that he was
not sober. The Gov^r treated me with great Civility, show'd me his
Library, which was a very large one, and we had a good deal of
Conversation about Books and Authors. This was the second Governor who
had done me the Honour to take Notice of me, which to a poor Boy like me
was very pleasing.--We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received on the Way
Vernon's Money, without which we could hardly have finish'd our Journey.
Collins wish'd to be employ'd in some Counting House; but whether they
discover'd his Dramming by his Breath, or by his Behaviour, tho' he had
some Recommendations, he met with no Success in any Application, and
continu'd Lodging and Boarding at the same House with me and at my
Expense. Knowing I had that Money of Vernon's he was continually
borrowing of me, still promising Repayment as soon as he should be in
Business. At length he had got so much of it, that I was distress'd to
think what I should do, in case of being call'd on to remit it. His
Drinking continu'd, about which we sometimes quarrel'd, for when a
little intoxicated he was very fractious. Once in a Boat on the Delaware
with some other young Men, he refused to row in his Turn: I will be
row'd home, says he. We will not row you, says I. You must or stay all
Night on the Water, says he, just as you please. The others said, Let us
row; what signifies it? But my Mind being soured with his other Conduct,
I continu'd to refuse. So he swore he would make me row, or throw me
overboard; and coming along stepping on the Thwarts towards me, when he
came up and struck at me I clapt my Hand under his Crutch, and rising
pitch'd him head-foremost into the River. I knew he was a good Swimmer,
and so was under little Concern about him; but before he could get
round to lay hold of the Boat, we had with a few Strokes pull'd her out
of his Reach. And ever when he drew near the Boat, we ask'd if he would
row, striking a few Strokes to slide her away from him.--He was ready to
die with Vexation, and obstinately would not promise to row; however
seeing him at last beginning to tire, we lifted him in; and brought him
home dripping wet in the Evening. We hardly exchang'd a civil Word
afterwards; and a West India Captain who had a Commission to procure a
Tutor for the Sons of a Gentleman at Barbadoes, happening to meet with
him, agreed to carry him thither. He left me then, promising to remit me
the first Money he should receive in order to discharge the Debt. But I
never heard of him after. The Breaking into this Money of Vernon's was
one of the first great Errata of my Life[.] And this Affair show'd that
my Father was not much out in his Judgment when he suppos'd me too Young
to manage Business of Importance. But Sir William, on reading his
Letter, said he was too prudent. There was great Difference in Persons,
and Discretion did not always accompany Years, nor was Youth always
without it. And since he will not set you up, says he, I will do it
myself. Give me an Inventory of the Things necessary to be had from
England, and I will send for them. You shall repay me when you are able;
I am resolv'd to have a good Printer here, and I am sure you must
succeed. This was spoken with such an Appearance of Cordiality, that I
had not the least doubt of his meaning what he said. I had hitherto kept
the Proposition of my Setting up[,] a Secret in Philadelphia, and I
still kept it. Had it been known that I depended on the Governor,
probably some Friend that knew him better would have advis'd me not to
rely on him, as I afterwards heard it as his known Character to be
liberal of Promises which he never meant to keep.--Yet unsolicited as he
was by me, how could I think his generous Offers insincere? I believ'd
him one of the best Men in the World.--
I presented him an Inventory of a little Print[8] House, amounting by my
Computation to about 100£ Sterling. He lik'd it, but ask'd me if my
being on the Spot in England to chuse the Types and see that every thing
was good of the kind, might not be of some Advantage. Then, says he,
when there, you may make Acquaintances and establish Correspondencies in
the Bookselling and Stationary Way. I agreed that this might be
advantageous. Then, says he, get yourself ready to go with Annis; which
was the annual Ship, and the only one at that Time usually passing
between London and Philadelphia. But it would be some Months before
Annis sail'd, so I continu'd working with Keimer, fretting about the
Money Collins had got from me; and in daily Apprehensions of being
call'd upon by Vernon, which however did not happen for some Years
after.--
I believe I have omitted mentioning that in my first Voyage from Boston,
being becalm'd off Block Island, our People set about catching Cod and
haul'd up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my Resolution of not
eating animal Food; and on this Occasion, I consider'd with my Master
Tryon, the taking every Fish as a kind of unprovoked Murder, since none
of them had or ever could do us any Injury that might justify the
Slaughter. All this seem'd very reasonable.--But I had formerly been a
great Lover of Fish, and when this came hot out of the Frying Pan, it
smelt admirably well. I balanc'd some time between Principle and
Inclination: till I recollected, that when the Fish were opened, I saw
smaller Fish taken out of their Stomachs: Then thought I, if you eat one
another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you. So I din'd upon Cod very
heartily and continu'd to eat with other People, returning only now and
then occasionally to a vegetable Diet. So convenient a thing it is to be
a _reasonable Creature_, since it enables one to find or make a Reason
for every thing one has a mind to do.
Keimer and I liv'd on a pretty good familiar Footing and agreed
tolerably well: for he suspected nothing of my Setting up. He retain'd a
great deal of his old Enthusiasms, and lov'd Argumentation. We therefore
had many Disputations. I used to work him so with my Socratic Method,
and had trepann'd him so often by Questions apparently so distant from
any Point we had in hand, and yet by degrees led to the Point, and
brought him into Difficulties and Contradictions that at last he grew
ridiculously cautious, and would hardly answer me the most common
Question, without asking first, _What do you intend to infer from that?_
However it gave him so high an Opinion of my Abilities in the Confuting
Way, that he seriously propos'd my being his Colleague in a Project he
had of setting up a new Sect. He was to preach the Doctrines, and I was
to confound all Opponents. When he came to explain with me upon the
Doctrines, I found several Conundrums which I objected to, unless I
might have my Way a little too, and introduce some of mine. Keimer wore
his Beard at full Length, because somewhere in the Mosaic Law it is
said, _thou shalt not mar the Corners of thy beard_. He likewise kept
the seventh day Sabbath; and these two Points were Essentials with him.
I dislik'd both, but agreed to admit them upon Condition of his adopting
the Doctrine of using no animal Food. I doubt, says he, my Constitution
will not bear that. I assur'd him it would, and that he would be the
better for it. He was usually a great Glutton, and I promis'd myself
some Diversion in half-starving him. He agreed to try the Practice if I
would keep him Company. I did so and we held it for three Months. We had
our Victuals dress'd and brought to us regularly by a Woman in the
Neighbourhood, who had from me a List of 40 Dishes to be prepar'd for us
at different times, in all which there was neither Fish Flesh nor Fowl,
and the whim suited me the better at this time from the Cheapness of it,
not costing us above 18^d Sterling each, per Week. I have since kept
several Lents most strictly, leaving the common Diet for that, and that
for the common, abruptly, without the least Inconvenience: So that I
think there is little in the Advice of making those Changes by easy
Gradations. I went on pleasantly, but Poor Keimer suffer'd grievously,
tir'd of the Project, long'd for the Flesh Pots of Egypt, and order'd a
roast Pig. He invited me and two Women Friends to dine with him, but it
being brought too soon upon the table, he could not resist the
Temptation, and ate it all up before we came.--
I had made some Courtship during this time to Miss Read. I had a great
Respect and Affection for her, and had some Reason to believe she had
the same for me: but as I was about to take a long Voyage, and we were
both very young, only a little above 18, it was thought most prudent by
her Mother to prevent our going too far at present, as a Marriage if it
was to take place would be more convenient after my Return, when I
should be as I expected set up in my Business. Perhaps too she thought
my Expectations not so well founded as I imagined them to be.--
My chief Acquaintances at this time were, Charles Osborne, Joseph
Watson, and James Ralph; all Lovers of Reading. The two first were
Clerks to an eminent Scrivener or Conveyancer in the Town, Charles
Brogden; the other was Clerk to a Merchant. Watson was a pious sensible
young Man, of great Integrity.--The others rather more lax in their
Principles of Religion, particularly Ralph, who as well as Collins had
been unsettled by me, for which they both made me suffer.--Osborne was
sensible, candid, frank, sincere and affectionate to his Friends; but in
literary Matters too fond of Criticising. Ralph, was ingenious, genteel
in his Manners, and extreamly eloquent; I think I never knew a prettier
Talker. Both of them great Admirers of Poetry, and began to try their
Hands in little Pieces. Many pleasant Walks we four had together on
Sundays into the Woods near Schuylkill, where we read to one another and
conferr'd on what we read. Ralph was inclin'd to pursue the Study of
Poetry, not doubting but he might become eminent in it and make his
Fortune by it, alledging that the best Poets must when they first began
to write, make as many Faults as he did.--Osborne dissuaded him, assur'd
him he had no Genius for Poetry, and advis'd him to think of nothing
beyond the Business he was bred to; that in the mercantile way tho' he
had no Stock, he might by his Diligence and Punctuality recommend
himself to Employment as a Factor, and in time acquire wherewith to
trade on his own Account. I approv'd the amusing one's self with Poetry
now and then, so far as to improve one's Language, but no farther. On
this it was propos'd that we should each of us at our next Meeting
produce a Piece of our own Composing, in order to improve by our mutual
Observations, Criticisms and Corrections. As Language and Expression was
what we had in View, we excluded all Considerations of Invention, by
agreeing that the Task should be a Version of the 18^th Psalm, which
describes the Descent of a Deity. When the Time of our Meeting drew
nigh, Ralph call'd on me first, and let me know his Piece was ready. I
told him I had been busy, and having little Inclination had done
nothing. He then show'd me his Piece for my Opinion; and I much approv'd
it, as it appear'd to me to have great Merit. Now, says he, Osborne
never will allow the least Merit in any thing of mine, but makes 1000
Criticisms out of mere Envy. He is not so jealous of you. I wish
therefore you would take this Piece, and produce it as yours. I will
pretend not to have had time, and so produce nothing: We shall then see
what he will say to it. It was agreed, and I immediately transcrib'd it
that it might appear in my own hand. We met. Watson's Performance was
read: there were some Beauties in it: but many Defects. Osborne's was
read: It was much better. Ralph did it Justice, remark'd some Faults,
but applauded the Beauties. He himself had nothing to produce. I was
backward, seem'd desirous of being excused, had not had sufficient Time
to correct, etc. but no Excuse could be admitted, produce I must. It was
read and repeated; Watson and Osborne gave up the Contest; and join'd in
applauding it immoderately. Ralph only made some Criticisms and propos'd
some Amendments, but I defended my Text. Osborne was against Ralph, and
told him he was no better a Critic than Poet; so he dropt the Argument.
As they two went home together, Osborne express'd himself still more
strongly in favour of what he thought my Production, having restrain'd
himself before as he said, lest I should think it Flattery. But who
would have imagin'd, says he, that Franklin had been capable of such a
Performance; such Painting, such Force! such Fire! he has even improv'd
the Original! In his common Conversation, he seems to have no Choice of
Words; he hesitates and blunders; and yet, good God, how he
writes!--When we next met, Ralph discover'd the Trick we had plaid him,
and Osborne was a little laught at. This Transaction fix'd Ralph in his
Resolution of becoming a Poet. I did all I could to dissuade him from
it, but he continued scribbling Verses, till _Pope_ cur'd him. He became
however a pretty good Prose Writer. More of him hereafter. But as I may
not have occasion again to mention the other two, I shall just remark
here, that Watson died in my Arms a few Years after, much lamented,
being the best of our Set. Osborne went to the West Indies, where he
became an eminent Lawyer and made Money, but died young. He and I had
made a serious Agreement, that the one who happen'd first to die, should
if possible make a friendly Visit to the other, and acquaint him how he
found things in that Separate State. But he never fulfill'd his Promise.
The Governor, seeming to like my Company, had me frequently to his
House; and his Setting me up was always mention'd as a fix'd thing. I
was to take with me Letters recommendatory to a Number of his Friends,
besides the Letter of Credit to furnish me with the necessary Money for
purchasing the Press and Types, Paper, etc. For these Letters I was
appointed to call at different times, when they were to be ready, but a
future time was still named.--Thus we went on till the Ship whose
Departure too had been several times postponed was on the Point of
sailing. Then when I call'd to take my Leave and receive the Letters,
his Secretary, Dr. Bard, came out to me and said the Governor was
extreamly busy, in writing, but would be down at Newcastle before the
Ship, and there the Letters would be delivered to me.
Ralph, tho' married and having one Child, had determined to accompany me
in this Voyage. It was thought he intended to establish a
Correspondence, and obtain Goods to sell on Commission. But I found
afterwards, that thro' some Discontent with his Wife's Relations, he
purposed to leave her on their Hands, and never return again.--Having
taken leave of my Friends, and interchang'd some Promises with Miss
Read, I left Philadelphia in the Ship, which anchor'd at Newcastle. The
Governor was there. But when I went to his Lodging, the Secretary came
to me from him with the civillest Message in the World, that he could
not then see me being engag'd in Business of the utmost Importance, but
should send the Letters to me on board, wish'd me heartily a good Voyage
and a speedy Return, etc. I return'd on board, a little puzzled, but
still not doubting.--
Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a famous Lawyer of Philadelphia, had taken Passage
in the same Ship for himself and Son: and with Mr. Denham a Quaker
Merchant, and Messrs. Onion and Russell[,] Masters of an Iron Work in
Maryland, had engag'd the Great Cabin; so that Ralph and I were forc'd
to take up with a Birth in the Steerage: And none on board knowing us,
were considered as ordinary Persons.--But Mr. Hamilton and his Son (it
was James, since Governor) return'd from New Castle to Philadelphia, the
Father being recall'd by a great Fee to plead for a seized Ship.--And
just before we sail'd Col. French coming on board, and showing me great
Respect, I was more taken Notice of, and with my Friend Ralph invited by
the other Gentlemen to come into the Cabin, there being now Room.
Accordingly we remov'd thither.
Understanding that Col. French had brought on board the Governor's
Dispatches, I ask'd the Captain for those Letters that were to be under
my Care. He said all were put into the Bag together; and he could not
then come at them; but before we landed in England, I should have an
Opportunity of picking them out. So I was satisfy'd for the present, and
we proceeded on our Voyage. We had a sociable Company in the Cabin, and
lived uncommonly well, having the Addition of all Mr. Hamilton's Stores,
who had laid in plentifully. In this Passage Mr. Denham contracted a
Friendship for me that continued during his Life. The Voyage was
otherwise not a pleasant one, as we had a great deal of bad Weather.
When we came into the Channel, the Captain kept his Word with me, and
gave me an Opportunity of examining the Bag for the Governor's Letters.
I found none upon which my Name was put, as under my Care; I pick'd out
6 or 7 that by the Hand writing I thought might be the promis'd Letters,
especially as one of them was directed to Basket the King's printer, and
another to some Stationer. We arriv'd in London the 24^th of December,
1724.--I waited upon the Stationer who came first in my Way, delivering
the Letter as from Gov. Keith. I don't know such a Person, says he: but
opening the Letter, O, this is from Riddlesden; I have lately found him
to be a compleat Rascal, and I will have nothing to do with him, nor
receive any Letters from him. So putting the Letter into my Hand, he
turn'd on his Heel and left me to serve some Customer. I was surprized
to find these were not the Governor's Letters. And after recollecting
and comparing Circumstances, I began to doubt his Sincerity.--I found my
Friend Denham, and opened the whole Affair to him. He let me into
Keith's Character, told me there was not the least Probability that he
had written any Letters for me, that no one who knew him had the
smallest Dependence on him, and he laught at the Notion of the
Governor's giving me a Letter of Credit, having as he said no Credit to
give.--On my expressing some Concern about what I should do: He advis'd
me to endeavour getting some Employment in the Way of my Business. Among
the Printers here, says he, you will improve yourself; and when you
return to America, you will set up to greater Advantage.--
We both of us happen'd to know, as well as the Stationer, that
Riddlesden the Attorney, was a very Knave. He had half ruin'd Miss
Read's Father by acquiring his note he bound for him. By his Letter it
appear'd, there was a secret Scheme on foot to the Prejudice of
Hamilton, (suppos'd to be then coming over with us,) and that Keith was
concern'd in it with Riddlesden. Denham, who was a Friend of Hamilton's,
thought he ought to be acquainted with it. So when he arriv'd in
England, which was soon after, partly from Resentment and Ill-Will to
Keith and Riddlesden, and partly from Good Will to him: I waited on him,
and gave him the Letter. He thank'd me cordially, the Information being
of Importance to him. And from that time he became my Friend, greatly to
my Advantage afterwards on many Occasions.
But what shall we think of a Governor's playing such pitiful Tricks, and
imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant Boy! It was a Habit he had
acquired. He wish'd to please every body; and, having little to give, he
gave Expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious sensible Man, a pretty
good Writer, and a good Governor for the People, tho' not for his
Constituents the Proprietaries, whose Instructions he sometimes
disregarded.--Several of our best Laws were of his Planning, and pass'd
during his Administration.--
Ralph and I were inseparable Companions. We took Lodgings together in
Little Britain at 3/6 p[er] Week, as much as we could then afford. He
found some Relations, but they were poor and unable to assist him. He
now let me know his Intentions of remaining in London, and that he never
meant to return to Philad^a--He had brought no Money with him, the whole
he could muster having been expended in paying his Passage. I had 15
Pistoles: So he borrowed occasionally of me, to subsist while he was
looking out for Business.--He first endeavoured to get into the
Playhouse, believing himself qualify'd for an Actor; but Wilkes to whom
he apply'd, advis'd him candidly not to think of that Employment, as it
was impossible he should succeed in it.--Then he propos'd to Roberts, a
Publisher in Paternoster Row, to write for him a Weekly Paper like the
Spectator, on certain Conditions, which Roberts did not approve. Then he
endeavour'd to get Employm^t as a Hackney Writer to copy for the
Stationers and Lawyers about the Temple: but could find no Vacancy.--
I immediately got into Work at Palmer's then a famous Printing House in
Bartholomew Close; and here I continu'd near a Year. I was pretty
diligent; but spent with Ralph a good deal of my Earnings in going to
Plays and other Places of Amusement. We had together consum'd all my
Pistoles, and now just rubb'd on from hand to mouth. He seem'd quite to
forget his Wife and Child, and I by degrees my Engagements w^th Miss
Read, to whom I never wrote more than one Letter, and that was to let
her know I was not likely soon to return. This was another of the great
Errata of my Life, which I should wish to correct if I were to live it
over again.--In fact, by our Expences, I was constantly kept unable to
pay my Passage.
At Palmer's I was employ'd in composing for the second Edition of
Woollaston's [_sic_] Religion of Nature. Some of his Reasonings not
appearing to me well-founded, I wrote a little metaphysical Piece, in
which I made Remarks on them. It was entitled, _A Dissertation on
Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and pain_. I inscrib'd it to my Friend
Ralph.--I printed a small Number. It occasion'd my being more consider'd
by Mr. Palmer, as a young Man of some Ingenuity, tho' he seriously
Expostulated with me upon the Principles of my Pamphlet which to him
appear'd abominable. My printing this Pamphlet was another Erratum.
In our House there lodg'd a young Woman; a Millener, who I think had a
Shop in the Cloisters. She had been genteelly bred, was sensible and
lively, and of most pleasing Conversation. Ralph read Plays to her in
the Evenings, they grew intimate, she took another Lodging, and he
follow'd her. They liv'd together some time, but he being still out of
Business, and her Income not sufficient to maintain them with her Child,
he took a Resolution of going from London, to try for a Country School,
which bethought himself well qualify'd to undertake, as he wrote an
excellent Hand, and was a Master of Arithmetic and Accounts.--This
however he deem'd a Business below him, and confident of future better
Fortune when he should be unwilling to have it known that he once was so
meanly employ'd, he chang'd his Name, and did me the Honour to assume
mine.--For I soon after had a Letter from him, acquainting me, that he
was settled in a small Village in Berkshire, I think it was, where he
taught reading and writing to 10 or a dozen Boys at 6 pence each p[er]
Week, recommending Mrs. T. to my Care, and desiring me to write to him
directing for Mr. Franklin Schoolmaster at such a Place. He continu'd to
write frequently, sending me large Specimens of an Epic Poem, which he
was then composing, and desiring my Remarks and Corrections.--These I
gave him from time to time, but endeavour'd rather to discourage his
Proceeding. One of Young's Satires was then just publish'd. I copy'd and
sent him a great Part of it, which set in a strong Light the Folly of
pursuing the Muses with any Hope of Advancement by them. All was in
vain. Sheets of the Poem continu'd to come by every Post. In the mean
time Mrs. T. having on his Account lost her Friends and Business, was
often in Distresses, and us'd to send for me, and borrow what I could
spare to help her out of them. I grew fond of her Company, and being at
this time under no Religious Restraints, and presuming on my Importance
to her, I attempted Familiarities, (another Erratum) which she repuls'd
with a proper Resentment, and acquainted him with my Behaviour. This
made a Breach between us, and when he return'd again to London, he let
me know he thought I had cancell'd all the Obligations he had been under
to me.--So I found I was never to expect his Repaying me what I lent to
him or advanc'd for him. This was however not then of much Consequence,
as he was totally unable: And in the Loss of his Friendship I found
myself reliev'd from a Burthen. I now began to think of getting a little
Money beforehand; and expecting better Work, I left Palmer's to work at
Watts's near Lincoln's Inn Fields, a still greater Printing House. Here
I continu'd all the rest of my Stay in London.
While I lodg'd in Little Britain I made an Acquaintance with one Wilcox
a Bookseller, whose Shop was at the next Door. He had an immense
Collection of second-hand Books. Circulating Libraries were not then in
Use; but we agreed that on certain reasonable Terms which I have now
forgotten, I might take, read and return any of his Books. This I
esteem'd a great Advantage, and I made as much use of it as I could.--
My Pamphlet by some means falling into the Hands of one Lyons, a
Surgeon, Author of a Book intitled _The Infallibility of Human
Judgment_, it occasioned an Acquaintance between us; he took great
Notice of me, call'd on me often, to converse on those Subjects, carried
me to the Horns a pale Alehouse in ----Lane, Cheapside, and introduc'd
me to Dr. Mandevil[l]e, Author of the Fable of the Bees who had a Club
there, of which he was the Soul, being a most facetious entertaining
Companion. Lyons too introduced me to Dr. Pemberton, at Batson's Coffee
House, who promis'd to give me an Opportunity some time or other of
seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of which I was extreamly desirous; but this
never happened.
I had brought over a few Curiosities among which the principal was a
Purse made of the Asbestos, which purifies by Fire. Sir Hans Sloane
heard of it, came to see me, and invited me to his House in Bloomsbury
Square; where he show'd me all his Curiosities, and persuaded me to let
him add that to the Number, for which he paid me handsomely.[4]--
At my first Admission into this Printing House, I took to working at
Press, imagining I felt a Want of the Bodily Exercise I had been us'd to
in America, where Presswork is mix'd with Composing, I drank only Water,
the other Workmen, near 50 in Number, were great Guzzlers of Beer. On
occasion I carried up and down Stairs a large Form of Types in each
hand, when others carried but one in both Hands. They wonder'd to see
from this and several Instances that the water-American as they call'd
me was _stronger_ than themselves who drank _strong_ beer. We had an
Alehouse Boy who attended always in the House to supply the Workmen. My
Companion at the Press, drank every day a Pint before Breakfast, a Pint
at Breakfast with his Bread and Cheese; a Pint between Breakfast and
Dinner; a Pint at Dinner; a Pint in the Afternoon about Six o'Clock, and
another when he had done his Day's-Work. I thought it a detestable
Custom.--But it was necessary, he suppos'd, to drink _strong_ Beer that
he might be _strong_ to labour. I endeavour'd to convince him that the
Bodily Strength afforded by Beer could only be in proportion to the
Grain or Flour of the Barley dissolved in the Water of which it was
made; that there was more Flour in a Penny-worth of Bread, and therefore
if he would eat that with a Pint of Water, it would give him more
Strength than a Quart of Beer.--He drank on however, and had 4 or 5
Shillings to pay out of his Wages every Saturday Night for that muddling
Liquor; an Expence I was free from.--And thus these poor Devils keep
themselves always under.
Watts after some Weeks desiring to have me in the Composing-Room, I left
the Pressmen. A new _Bienvenu_ or Sum for Drink; being 5/, was demanded
of me by the Compositors. I thought it an Imposition, as I had paid
below. The Master thought so too, and forbad[e] my Paying it. I stood
out two or three Weeks, was accordingly considered as an Excommunicate,
and had so many little Pieces of private Mischief done me, by mixing my
Sorts, transposing my Pages, breaking my Matter, etc. etc. and if I were
ever so little out of the Room, and all ascrib'd to the Chapel Ghost,
which they said ever haunted those not regularly admitted, that
notwithstanding the Master's Protection, I found myself oblig'd to
comply and pay the Money; convinc'd of the Folly of being on ill Terms
with those one is to live with continually. I was now on a fair Footing
with them, and soon acquir'd considerable Influence. I propos'd some
reasonable Alterations in their Chapel[C] Laws, and carried them against
all Opposition. From my Example a great Part of them, left their
muddling Breakfast of Beer and Bread and Cheese, finding they could with
me be supply'd from a neighbouring House with a large Porringer of hot
Water-gruel, sprinkled with Pepper, crumb'd with Bread, and a Bit of
Butter in it, for the Price of a Pint of Beer, viz., three halfpence.
This was a more comfortable as well as cheaper Breakfast, and kept their
Heads clearer.--Those who continu'd sotting with Beer all day, were
often, by not paying, out of Credit at the Alehouse, and us'd to make
Interest with me to get Beer, _their Light_, as they phras'd it, _being
out_. I watch'd the Pay table on Saturday Night, and collected what I
stood engag'd for them, having to pay some times near Thirty Shillings a
Week on their Accounts.--This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good
Riggite, that is a jocular verbal Satyrist, supported my Consequence in
the Society.--My constant Attendance, (I never making a St. Monday),
recommended me to the Master; and my uncommon Quickness at Composing,
occasion'd my being put upon all Work of Dispatch which was generally
better paid. So I went on now very agreably.--
[C] A Printing House is always called a Chappel [_sic_], by the
Workmen. [_Franklin's note._]
My Lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found another in
Duke-street opposite to the Romish Chapel. It was two pair of Stairs
backwards at an Italian Warehouse. A Widow Lady kept the House; she had
a Daughter and a Maid Servant, and a Journey-man who attended the
Warehouse, but lodg'd abroad. After sending to enquire my Character at
the House where I last lodg'd, she agreed to take me in at the same Rate
3/6 p[er] Week, cheaper as she said from the Protection she expected in
having a Man lodge in the House. She was a Widow, an elderly Woman, had
been bred a Protestant, being a Clergyman's Daughter, but was converted
to the Catholic Religion by her Husband, whose Memory she much
revered[;] had lived much among People of Distinction, and knew a 1000
Anecdotes of them as far back as the Times of Charles the Second. She
was lame in her Knees with the Gout, and therefore seldom stirr'd out of
her Room, so sometimes wanted Company; and hers was so highly amusing
[Franklin first wrote "agreable"; both it and "amusing" are deleted in
the MS.] to me; that I was sure to spend an Evening with her whenever
she desired it. Our Supper was only half an Anchovy each, on a very
little Strip of Bread and Butter, and half a Pint of Ale between us. But
the Entertainment was in her Conversation. My always keeping good Hours,
and giving little Trouble in the Family, made her unwilling to part with
me; so that when I talk'd of a Lodging I had heard of, nearer my
Business, for 2/ a Week, which, intent as I now was on saving Money,
made some Difference; she bid me not think of it, for she would abate me
two Shillings a Week for the future, so I remain'd with her at 1/6 as
long as I staid in London.--
In a Garret of her House there lived a Maiden Lady of 70 in the most
retired Manner, of whom my Landlady gave me this Account, that she was a
Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when young and lodg'd in a Nunnery
with an Intent of becoming a Nun: but the Country not agreeing with her,
she return'd to England, where there being no Nunnery, she had vow'd to
lead the Life of a Nun as near as might be done in those Circumstances:
Accordingly she had given all her Estate to charitable Uses, reserving
only Twelve Pounds a Year to live on, and out of this Sum she still gave
a great deal in Charity, living herself on Watergruel only, and using no
Fire but to boil it.--She had lived many Years in that Garret, being
permitted to remain there gratis by successive Catholic Tenants of the
House below, as they deem'd it a Blessing to have her there. A Priest
visited her, to confess her every Day. I have ask'd her, says my
Landlady, how she, as she liv'd, could possibly find so much Employment
for a Confessor? O, says she, it is impossible to avoid _vain Thoughts_.
I was permitted once to visit her: She was chearful and polite, and
convers'd pleasantly. The Room was clean, but had no other Furniture
than a Matras, a Table with a Crucifix and Book, a Stool, which she gave
me to sit on, and a Picture over the Chimney of St. _Veronica_,
displaying her Handkerchief with the miraculous Figure of Christ's
bleeding Face on it, which she explain'd to me with great Seriousness.
She look'd pale, but was never sick, and I give it as another Instance
on how small an Income Life and Health may be supported.
At Watts's Printinghouse I contracted an Acquaintance with an ingenious
young Man, one Wygate, who having wealthy Relations, had been better
educated than most Printers, was a tolerable Latinist, spoke French, and
lov'd Reading. I taught him and a Friend of his, to swim, at twice going
into the River, and they soon became good Swimmers. They introduc'd me
to some Gentlemen from the Country who went to Chelsea by Water to see
the College and Don Saltero's Curiosities.[5] In our Return, at the
Request of the Company, whose Curiosity Wygate had excited, I stript and
leapt into the River, and swam from near Chelsea to Blackfryars,
performing on the Way many Feats of Activity both upon and under Water,
that surpriz'd and pleas'd those to whom they were Novelties.--I had
from a Child been ever delighted with this Exercise, had studied and
practis'd all Thevenot's Motions and Positions, added some of my own,
aiming at the graceful and easy, as well as the Useful. All these I took
this Occasion of exhibiting to the Company, and was much flatter'd by
their Admiration.--And Wygate, who was desirous of becoming a Master,
grew more and more attach'd to me, on that account, as well as from the
Similarity of our Studies. He at length propos'd to me travelling all
over Europe together, supporting ourselves everywhere by working at our
Business. I was once inclin'd to it. But mentioning it to my good Friend
Mr. Denham, with whom I often spent an Hour, when I had Leisure. He
dissuaded me from it, advising me to think only of returning to
Pensilvania, which he was now about to do.
I must record one Trait of this good Man's Character. He had formerly
been in Business at Bristol, but fail'd in Debt to a Number of People,
compounded and went to America. There, by a close Application to
Business as a Merchant, he acquir'd a plentiful Fortune in a few Years.
Returning to England in the Ship with me, He invited his old Creditors
to an Entertainment, at which he thank'd them for the easy Composition
they had favour'd him with, and when they expected nothing but the
Treat, every Man at the first Remove, found under his Plate an Order on
a Banker for the full Amount of the unpaid Remainder with Interest.
He now told me he was about to return to Philadelphia, and should carry
over a great Quantity of Goods in order to open a Store there: He
propos'd to take me over as his Clerk, to keep his Books (in which he
would instruct me) copy his Letters, and attend the Store. He added,
that as soon as I should be acquainted with mercantile Business he would
promote me by sending me with a Cargo of Flour and Bread etc to the West
Indies, and procure me Commissions from others; which would be
profitable, and if I manag'd well, would establish me handsomely. The
Thing pleas'd me, for I was grown tired of London, remember'd with
Pleasure the happy Months I had spent in Pennsylvania, and wish'd again
to see it. Therefore I immediately agreed, on the Terms of Fifty Pounds
a Year, Pensylvania Money less indeed than my then present Gettings as a
Compositor, but affording a better Prospect.--
I now took leave of Printing; as I thought for ever, and was daily
employ'd in my new Business; going about with Mr. Denham among the
Tradesmen, to purchase various Articles, and seeing them pack'd up,
doing Errands, calling upon Workmen to dispatch, etc. and when all was
on board, I had a few Days Leisure. On one of these Days I was to my
Surprise sent for by a great Man I knew only by Name, a Sir William
Wyndham and I waited upon him. He had heard by some means or other of my
Swimming from Chelsey to Blackfryars, and of my teaching Wygate and
another young Man to swim in a few Hours. He had two Sons about to set
out on their Travels; he wish'd to have them first taught Swimming; and
propos'd to gratify me handsomely if I would teach them.--They were not
yet come to Town and my Stay was uncertain, so I could not undertake it.
But from this Incident I thought it likely, that if I were to remain in
England and open a Swimming School, I might get a good deal of Money.
And it struck me so strongly, that had the Overture been sooner made me,
probably I should not so soon have returned to America.--After many
Years, you and I had something of more Importance to do with one of
these Sons of Sir William Wyndham, become Earl of Egremont, which I
shall mention in its Place.--[This promise Franklin did not fulfill.]
Thus I spent about 18 Months in London. Most Part of the Time, I work'd
hard at my Business, and spent but little upon myself except in seeing
Plays, and in Books.--My Friend Ralph had kept me poor. He owed me about
27 Pounds; which I was now never likely to receive; a great Sum out of
my small Earnings. I lov'd him notwithstanding, for he had many amiable
Qualities.--Tho' I had by no means improv'd my Fortune. But I had pick'd
up some very ingenious Acquaintance whose Conversation was of great
Advantage to me, and I had read considerably.
We sail'd from Gravesend on the 23^d of July 1726. For the Incidents of
the Voyage, I refer you to my Journal, where you will find them all
minutely related. Perhaps the most important Part of that Journal is the
_Plan_ [This Plan is not found in the _Journal_ printed in _Writings_,
II, 53-86.] to be found in it which I formed at Sea, for regulating my
future Conduct in Life. It is the more remarkable, as being formed when
I was so young, and yet being pretty faithfully adhered to quite thro'
to old Age.--We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, where I
found sundry Alterations. Keith was no longer Governor, being superceded
by Major Gordon: I met him walking the Streets as a common Citizen. He
seem'd a little asham'd at seeing me, but pass'd without saying any
thing. I should have been as much asham'd at seeing Miss Read, had not
her Fr^ds, despairing with Reason of my Return, after the Receipt of my
Letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a Potter, which was
done in my Absence. With him however she was never happy, and soon
parted from him, refusing to cohabit with him, or bear his Name[,] it
being now said that he had another Wife. He was a worthless Fellow tho'
an excellent Workman[,] which was the Temptation to her Friends. He got
into Debt, ran away in 1727 or 28. and went to the West Indies, and died
there. Keimer had got a better House, a Shop well supply'd with
Stationary[,] plenty of new Types, a number of Hands tho' none good, and
seem'd to have a great deal of Business.
Mr. Denham took a Store in Water Street, where we open'd our Goods. I
attended the Business diligently, studied Accounts, and grew in a little
Time expert at selling. We lodg'd and boarded together, he counsell'd me
as a Father, having a sincere Regard for me: I respected and lov'd him:
and we might have gone on together very happily: But in the Beginning of
Feb^y 172-6/7 when I had just pass'd my 21^st Year, we both were taken
ill. My Distemper was a Pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off:--I
suffered a good deal, gave up the Point in my own mind, and was rather
disappointed when I found my Self recovering; regretting in some degree
that I must now some time or other have all that disagreeable Work to do
over again.--I forget what his Distemper was. It held him a long time,
and at length carried him off. He left me a small Legacy in a
nuncupative Will, as a Token of his Kindness for me, and he left me once
more to the wide World. For the Store was taken into the Care of his
Executors, and my Employment under him ended:--My Brother-in-law Holmes,
being now at Philadelphia, advised my Return to my Business. And Keimer
tempted me with an Offer of large Wages by the Year to come and take the
Management of his Printing-House, that he might better attend his
Stationer's Shop.--I had heard a bad Character of him in London, from
his Wife and her Friends, and was not fond of having any more to do with
him. I try'd for farther Employment as a Merchant's Clerk; but not
readily meeting with any, I clos'd again with Keimer.--
I found in _his_ House these Hands; Hugh Meredith a Welsh-Pensilvanian,
30 Years of Age, bred to Country Work: honest, sensible, had a great
deal of solid Observation, was something of a Reader, but given to
drink: Stephen Potts, a young Country Man of full Age, bred to the
Same:--of uncommon natural Parts, and great Wit and Humour, but a little
idle. These he had agreed with at extream low Wages, p[er] Week, to be
rais'd a Shilling every 3 Months, as they would deserve by improving in
their Business, and the Expectation of these high Wages to come on
hereafter was what he had drawn them in with. Meredith was to work at
Press, Potts at Bookbinding, which he by Agreement, was to teach them,
tho' he knew neither one nor t'other. John ---- a wild Irishman brought
up to no Business, whose Service for 4 Years Keimer had purchas'd from
the Captain of a Ship. He too was to be made a Pressman. George Webb, an
Oxford Scholar, whose Time for 4 Years he had likewise bought, intending
him for a Compositor: of whom more presently. And David Harry, a Country
Boy, whom he had taken Apprentice. I soon perceiv'd that the Intention
of engaging me at Wages so much higher than he had been us'd to give,
was to have these raw cheap Hands form'd thro' me, and as soon as I had
instructed them, then, they being all articled to him, he should be able
to do without me.--I went on however, very chearfully; put his Printing
House in Order, which had been in great Confusion, and brought his Hands
by degrees to mind their Business and to do it better.
It was an odd Thing to find an Oxford Scholar in the Situation of a
bought Servant. He was not more than 18 Years of Age, and gave me this
Account of himself; that he was born in Gloucester, educated at a
Grammar School there, had been distinguish'd among the Scholars for some
apparent Superiority in performing his Part when they exhibited Plays;
belong'd to the Witty Club there, and had written some Pieces in Prose
and Verse which were printed in the Gloucester Newspapers.--Thence he
was sent to Oxford; where he continu'd about a Year, but not
well-satisfy'd, wishing of all things to see London and become a Player.
At length receiving his Quarterly Allowance of 15 Guineas, instead of
discharging his Debts, he walk'd out of Town, hid his Gown in a Furz
Bush, and footed it to London, where having no Friend to advise him, he
fell into bad Company, soon spent his Guineas, found no means of being
introduc'd among the Players, grew necessitous, pawn'd his Cloaths and
wanted Bread. Walking the Street very hungry, and not knowing what to do
with himself, a Crimp's Bill was put into his Hand, offering immediate
Entertainment and Encouragement to such as would bind themselves to
serve in America. He went directly, sign'd the Indentures, was put into
the Ship and came over; never writing a Line to acquaint his Friends
what was become of him. He was lively, witty, good-natur'd, and a
pleasant Companion, but idle, thoughtless and imprudent to the last
Degree.
John the Irishman soon ran away. With the rest I began to live very
agreably; for they all respected me, the more as they found Keimer
incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learnt something
daily. We never work'd on a Saturday, that being Keimer's Sabbath. So I
had two Days for Reading.--My Acquaintance with ingenious People in the
Town, increased. Keimer himself treated me with great Civility, and
apparent Regard; and nothing now made me uneasy but my Debt to Vernon,
which I was yet unable to pay being hitherto but a poor Oeconomist. He
however kindly made no Demand of it.
Our Printing-House often wanted Sorts, and there was no Letter Founder
in America. I had seen Types cast at James's in London, but without much
Attention to the Manner: However I now contriv'd a Mould, made use of
the Letters we had, as Puncheons, struck the Matrices in Lead, and thus
supply'd in a pretty tolerable way all Deficiencies. I also engrav'd
several Things on occasion. I made the Ink, I was Warehouse-man and
every thing, in short quite a Factotum.--
But however serviceable I might be, I found that my Services became
every Day of less Importance, as the other Hands improv'd in the
Business. And when Keimer paid my second Quarter's Wages, he let me know
that he felt them too heavy, and thought I should make an Abatement. He
grew by degrees less civil, put on more of the Master, frequently found
Fault, was captious and seem'd ready for an Out-breaking. I went on
nevertheless with a good deal of Patience, thinking that his incumber'd
Circumstances were partly the Cause. At length a Trifle snapt our
Connexion. For a great Noise happening near the Courthouse, I put my
Head out of the Window to see what was the Matter. Keimer being in the
Street look'd up and saw me, call'd out to me in a loud voice and angry
Tone to mind my Business, adding some reproachful Words, that nettled me
the more for their Publicity, all the Neighbours who were looking out on
the same Occasion being Witnesses how I was treated. He came up
immediately into the Printing-House, continu'd the Quarrel, high Words
pass'd on both Sides, he gave me the Quarter's Warning we had
stipulated, expressing a Wish that he had not been oblig'd to so long a
Warning: I told him his Wish was unnecessary for I would leave him that
Instant; and so taking my Hat walk'd out of Doors; desiring Meredith
whom I saw below to take care of some Things I left, and bring them to
my Lodging.--
Meredith came accordingly in the Evening, when we talk'd my Affair over.
He had conceiv'd a great Regard for me, and was very unwilling that I
should leave the House while he remain'd in it. He dissuaded me from
returning to my native Country which I began to think of. He reminded me
that Keimer was in debt for all he possess'd, that his Creditors began
to be uneasy, that he kept his Shop miserably, sold often without Profit
for ready Money, and often trusted without keeping Accounts. That he
must therefore fail; which would make a Vacancy I might profit of.--I
objected my Want of Money. He then let me know, that his Father had a
high Opinion of me, and from some Discourse that had pass'd between
them, he was sure would advance Money to set us up, if I would enter
into Partner Ship with him. My Time, says he, will be out with Keimer in
the Spring. By that time we may have our Press and Types in from London:
I am sensible I am no Workman. If you like it, Your Skill in the
Business shall be set against the Stock I furnish; and we will share the
Profits equally.--The Proposal was agreable, and I consented. His Father
was in Town, and approv'd of it, the more as he saw I had great
Influence with his Son, had prevail'd on him to abstain long from
Dramdrinking, and he hop'd might break him of that wretched Habit
entirely, when we came to be so closely connected. I gave an Inventory
to the Father, who carry'd it to a Merchant; the Things were sent for;
the Secret was to be kept till they should arrive, and in the mean time
I was to get work if I could at the other Printing House. But I found no
Vacancy there, and so remain'd idle a few Days, when Keimer, on a
Prospect of being employ'd to print some Paper-Money, in New Jersey,
which would require Cuts and various Types that I only could supply, and
apprehending Bradford might engage me and get the Jobb from him, sent me
a very civil Message, that old Friends should not part for a few Words
the Effect of sudden Passion, and wishing me to return. Meredith
persuaded me to comply, as it would give more Opportunity for his
Improvement under my daily Instructions.--So I return'd, and we went on
more smoothly than for some time before. The New Jersey Jobb was
obtained. I contriv'd a Copper-Plate Press for it, the first that had
been seen in the Country. I cut several Ornaments and Checks for the
Bills. We went together to Burlington, where I executed the Whole to
Satisfaction, and he received so large a Sum for the Work, as to be
enabled thereby to keep his Head much longer above Water.
At Burlington I made an Acquaintance with many principal People of the
Province. Several of them had been appointed by the Assembly a Committee
to attend the Press, and take Care that no more Bills were printed than
the Law directed. They were therefore by Turns constantly with us, and
generally he who attended brought with him a Friend or two for Company.
My Mind having been much more improv'd by Reading than Keimer's, I
suppose it was for that Reason my Conversation seem'd to be more valu'd.
They had me to their Houses, introduc'd me to their Friends and show'd
me much Civility, while he, tho' the Master, was a little neglected. In
truth he was an odd Fish, ignorant of common Life, fond of rudely
opposing receiv'd Opinions, slovenly to extream dirtiness, enthusiastic
in some Points of Religion, and a little Knavish withal. We continu'd
there near 3 Months, and by that time I could reckon among my acquired
Friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the Secretary of the Province,
Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper and several of the Smiths, Members of
Assembly, and Isaac Decow the Surveyor General. The latter was a shrewd
sagacious old Man, who told me that he began for himself when young by
wheeling Clay for the Brickmakers, learnt to write after he was of Age,
carry'd the Chain for Surveyors, who taught him Surveying, and he had
now by his Industry acquir'd a good Estate; and says he, I foresee, that
you will soon work this Man out of his Business and make a Fortune in it
at Philadelphia. He had not then the least Intimation of my Intention to
set up there or any where. These Friends were afterwards of great use to
me, as I occasionally was to some of them. They all continued their
Regard for me as long as they lived.--
Before I enter upon my public Appearance in Business it may be well to
let you know the then State of my Mind, with regard to my Principles and
Morals, that you may see how far those influenc'd the future Events of
my Life. My Parent's [_sic_] had early given me religious Impressions,
and brought me through my Childhood piously in the Dissenting Way. But I
was scarce 15 when, after doubting by turns of several Points as I found
them disputed in the different Books I read, I began to doubt of
Revelation it self. Some Books against Deism fell into my Hands; they
were said to be the Substance of Sermons preached at Boyle's Lectures.
It happened that they wrought an Effect on me quite contrary to what was
intended by them: For the Arguments of the Deists which were quoted to
be refuted, appeared to me much Stronger than the Refutations. In short
I soon became a thorough Deist. My Arguments perverted some others,
particularly Collins and Ralph: but each of them having afterwards
wrong'd me greatly without the least Compunction and recollecting
Keith's Conduct towards me, (who was another Freethinker) and my own
towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at Times gave me great Trouble, I
began to suspect that this Doctrine tho' it might be true, was not very
useful.--My London Pamphlet, which had for its Motto these Lines of
Dryden
_Whatever is, is right. Tho' purblind Man
Sees but a Part of the Chain, the nearest Link,
His Eyes not carrying to the equal Beam,
That poises all, above._
And from the Attributes of God, his infinite Wisdom, Goodness and Power
concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the World, and that
Vice and Virtue were empty Distinctions, no such Things existing:
appear'd now not so clever a Performance as I once thought it; and I
doubted whether some Error had not insinuated itself unperceiv'd, into
my Argument, so as to infect all that follow'd, as is common in
metaphysical Reasonings.--I grew convinc'd that _Truth_, _Sincerity_ and
_Integrity_ in Dealings between Man and Man, were of the utmost
Importance to the Felicity of Life, and I form'd written Resolutions,
(w^ch still remain in my Journal Book) to practice them everwhile I
lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me as such; but I
entertain'd an Opinion, that tho' certain Actions might not be bad
_because_ they were forbidden by it, or good _because_ it commanded
them; yet probably those Actions might be forbidden _because_ they were
bad for us, or commanded _because_ they were beneficial to us, in their
own Natures, all the Circumstances of things considered. And this
Persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian Angel, or
accidental favourable Circumstances and Situations, or all together,
preserved me (thro' this dangerous Time of Youth and the hazardous
Situations I was sometimes in among Strangers, remote from the Eye and
Advice of my Father) without any _wilful_ gross Immorality or Injustice
that might have been expected from my Want of Religion. I say _wilful_,
because the Instances I have mentioned, had something of _Necessity_ in
them, from my Youth, Inexperience, and the Knavery of others. I had
therefore a tolerable Character to begin the World with, I valued it
properly, and determin'd to preserve it.--
We had not been long return'd to Philadelphia, before the New Types
arriv'd from London. We settled with Keimer, and left him by his Consent
before he heard of it.--We found a House to hire near the Market, and
took it. To lessen the Rent, (which was then but 24£ a Year tho' I have
since known it let for 70) We took in Tho' Godfrey a Glazier and his
Family, who were to pay a considerable Part of it to us, and we to board
with them. We had scarce opened our Letters and put our Press in Order,
before George House, an Acquaintance of mine, brought a Countryman to
us, whom he had met in the Street enquiring for a Printer. All our Cash
was now expended in the Variety of Particulars we had been obliged to
procure and this Countryman's Five Shillings being our first Fruits, and
coming so seasonably, gave me more Pleasure than any Crown I have since
earned; and from the Gratitude I felt towards House, has made me often
more ready, than perhaps I should otherwise have been to assist young
Beginners.
There are Croakers in every Country always boding its Ruin. Such a one
then lived in Philadelphia, a Person of Note, an elderly Man, with a
wise Look, and very grave Manner of speaking. His Name was Samuel
Mickle. This Gentleman, a Stranger to me, stopt one Day at my Door, and
asked me if I was the young Man who had lately opened a new Printing
House: Being answered in the Affirmative, he said he was sorry for me,
because it was an expensive Undertaking and the Expence would be lost;
for Philadelphia was a sinking Place, the People already half Bankrupts
or near being so; all Appearances to the contrary, such as hew Buildings
and the Rise of Rents being to his certain Knowledge fallacious; for
they were in fact among the Things that would soon ruin us.--And he gave
me such a Detail of Misfortunes, now existing or that were soon to
exist, that he left me half melancholy. Had I known him before I engaged
in this Business, probably I never should have done it.--This Man
continued to live in this decaying Place; and to declaim in the same
Strain, refusing for many Years to buy a House there, because all was
going to Destruction, and at last I had the Pleasure of seeing him give
five times as much for one as he might have bought it for, when he first
began his Croaking.
I should have mentioned before, that in the Autumn of the proceeding
Year I had formed most of my ingenious Acquaintance into a Club of
mutual Improvement, which we called the Junto. We met on Friday
Evenings. The Rules I drew up required that every Member in his Turn
should produce one or more Queries on any Point of Morals, Politics or
Natural Philosophy, to be discussed by the Company, and once in three
Months produce and read an Essay of his own Writing on any Subject he
pleased. Our Debates were to be under the Direction of a President and
to be conducted in the sincere Spirit of Enquiry after Truth, without
Fondness for Dispute, or Desire of Victory; and to prevent Warmth all
Expressions of Positiveness in Opinions or direct Contradiction, were
after some time made contraband and prohibited under small pecuniary
Penalties.--The first Members were Joseph Breintnal,[6] a Copyer of
Deeds for the Scriveners; a good-natur'd friendly middle-ag'd Man, a
great Lover of Poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some
that was tolerable; very ingenious in many little Nicknackeries, and of
sensible Conversation. Thomas Godfrey,[7] a self-taught Mathematician,
great in his Way, and afterwards Inventor of what is now call'd Hadley's
Quadrant. But he knew little out of his way, and was not a pleasing
Companion, as like most Great Mathematicians I have met with, he
expected universal Precision in every thing said, or was forever denying
or distinguishing upon Trifles, to the Disturbance of all Conversation.
He soon left us. Nicholas Scull, a Surveyor, afterwards
Surveyor-General, who lov'd Books, and sometimes made a few Verses.
William Parsons,[8] bred a Shoemaker, but loving Reading, had acquir'd a
considerable Share of Mathematics, which he first studied with a View to
Astrology that he afterwards laught at. He also became Surveyor General.
William Maugridge, a Joiner, a most exquisite Mechanic and a solid
sensible Man. Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb, I have
Characteris'd before. Robert Grace, a young Gentleman of some Fortune,
generous, lively and witty, a Lover of Punning and of his Friends. And
William Coleman, then a Merchant's Clerk, about my Age, who had the
coolest clearest Head, the best Heart, and the exactest Morals, of
almost any Man I ever met with. He became afterwards a Merchant of great
Note, and one of our Provincial Judges. Our Friendship continued without
Interruption to his death upwards of 40 Years. And the club continu'd
almost as long[,] and was the best School of Philosophy, and Politics
that then existed in the Province; for our Queries which were read the
Week preceding their Discussion, put us on reading with Attention upon
the several Subjects, that we might speak more to the purpose: and here
too we acquired better Habits of Conversation, every thing being studied
in our Rules which might prevent our disgusting each other. From hence
the long Continuance of the Club, which I shall have frequent Occasion
to speak farther of hereafter; But my giving this Account of it here, is
to show something of the Interest I had, every one of these exerting
themselves in recommending Business to us.--Brientnal particularly
procur'd us from the Quakers, the Printing 40 Sheets of their History
[William Sewel's], the rest being to be done by Keimer: and upon this we
work'd exceeding hard, for the Price was low. It was a Folio, Pro Patria
Size, in Pica with Long Primer Notes. I compos'd of it a Sheet a Day,
and Meredith work'd it off at Press. It was often 11 at Night and
sometimes later, before I had finish'd my Distribution for the next days
Work: For the little Jobbs sent in by our other Friends now and then put
us back. But so determin'd I was to continue doing a Sheet a Day of the
Folio, that one Night when having impos'd my Forms, I thought my Days
Work over, one of them by accident was broken and two Pages reduc'd to
pie, I immediately distributed and compos'd it over again before I went
to bed. And this Industry visible to our Neighbours began to give us
Character and Credit; particularly I was told, that mention being made
of the new Printing Office at the Merchants every-night Club, the
general Opinion was that it must fail, there being already two Printers
in the Place, Keimer and Bradford; but Dr. Baird (whom you and I saw
many Years after at his native Place, St. Andrews in Scotland) gave a
contrary Opinion; for the Industry of that Franklin, says he, is
superior to any thing I ever saw of the kind: I see him still at work
when I go home from Club; and he is at Work again before his Neighbours
are out of bed. This struck the rest, and we soon after had Offers from
one of them to Supply us with Stationary. But as yet we did not chuse to
engage in Shop Business.
I mention this Industry the more particularly and the more freely, tho'
it seems to be talking in my own Praise, that those of my Posterity who
shall read it, may know the Use of that Virtue, when they see its
Effects in my Favour throughout this Relation.--
George Webb, who had found a Friend that lent him wherewith to purchase
his Time of Keimer, now came to offer himself as a Journeyman to us. We
could not then imploy him, but I foolishly let him know, as a Secret,
that I soon intended to begin a Newspaper, and might then have Work for
him. My Hopes of Success as I told him were founded on this, that the
then only Newspaper [the _American Weekly Mercury_], printed by Bradford
was a paltry thing, wretchedly manag'd, no way entertaining; and yet was
profitable to him.--I therefore thought a good Paper could scarcely fail
of good Encouragem^t. I requested Webb not to mention it, but he told it
to Keimer, who immediately, to be beforehand with me, published
Proposals for Printing one himself, on which Webb was to be employ'd.--I
resented this, and to counteract them, as I could not yet begin our
Paper, I wrote several Pieces of Entertainment for Bradford's Paper,
under the Title of the Busy Body which Brientnal continu'd some Months.
By this means the Attention of the Publick was fix'd on that Paper, and
Keimer's Proposals which we burlesqu'd and ridicul'd, were disregarded.
He began his Paper[9] however, and after carrying it on three Quarters
of a Year, with at most only 90 Subscribers, he offer'd it to me for a
Trifle, and I having been ready some time to go on with it, took it in
hand directly, and it prov'd in a few years extreamly profitable to me.
I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular Number, though our
Partnership still continu'd. The Reason may be, that in fact the whole
Management of the Business lay upon me. Meredith was no Compositor, a
poor Pressman, and seldom sober. My Friends lamented my Connection with
him, but I was to make the best of it.
Our first Papers made a quite different Appearance from any before in
the Province, a better Type and better printed [In MS is found: "Insert
these Remarks, in a Note."]: but some spirited Remarks of my Writing on
the Dispute then going on between Gov^r Burnet and the Massachusetts
Assembly, struck the principal People, occasion'd the Paper and the
Manager of it to be much talk'd of, and in a few Weeks brought them all
to be our Subscribers. Their Example was follow'd by many, and our
Number went on growing continually.--This was one of the first good
Effects of my having learnt a little to scribble. Another was, that the
leading Men, seeing a News Paper now in the hands of one who could also
handle a Pen, thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me. Bradford
still printed the Votes and Laws and other Publick Business. He had
printed an Address of the House to the Governor in a coarse blundering
manner; We reprinted it elegantly and correctly, and sent one to every
Member. They were sensible of the Difference, it strengthen'd the Hands
of our Friends in the House, and they voted us their Printers for the
Year ensuing.
Among my Friends in the House I must not forget Mr. Hamilton before
mentioned, who was then returned from England and had a Seat in it. He
interested himself for me strongly in that Instance, as he did in many
others afterwards, continuing his Patronage till his Death.[D] M^r
Vernon about this time put me in mind of the Debt I ow'd him: but did
not press me. I wrote him an ingenuous Letter of Acknowledgments, crav'd
his Forbearance a little longer which he allow'd me, and as soon as I
was able I paid the Principal with Interest and many Thanks.--So that
Erratum was in some degree corrected.--
[D] I got his Son once 500 £. [_Franklin's note._]
But now another Difficulty came upon me, which I had never the least
Reason to expect. Mr. Meredith's Father, who was to have paid for our
Printing House according to the Expectations given me, was able to
advance only one Hundred Pounds, Currency, which had been paid, and a
Hundred more was due to the Merchant; who grew impatient and su'd us
all. We gave Bail, but saw that if the Money could not be rais'd in
time, the Suit must come to a Judgment and Execution, and our hopeful
Prospects must with us be ruined, as the Press and Letters must be sold
for Payment, perhaps at half Price.--In this Distress two true Friends
whose Kindness I have never forgotten nor ever shall forget while I can
remember any thing, came to me separately[,] unknown to each other, and
without any Application from me, offering each of them to advance me all
the Money that should be necessary to enable me to take the whole
Business upon myself if that should be practicable, but they did not
like my continuing the Partnership with Meredith, who as they said was
often seen drunk in the Streets, and playing at low Games in Alehouses,
much to our Discredit. These two Friends were _William Coleman_ and
_Robert Grace_. I told them I could not propose a Separation while any
Prospect remain'd of the Merediths fulfilling their Part of our
Agreement. Because I thought myself under great Obligations to them for
what they had done and would do if they could. But if they finally
fail'd in their Performance, and our Partnership must be dissolv'd, I
should then think myself at Liberty to accept the Assistance of my
Friends. Thus the matter rested for some time. When I said to my
Partner, perhaps your Father is dissatisfied at the Part you have
undertaken in this Affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for you
and me what he would for you alone: If that is the Case, tell me, and I
will resign the whole to you and go about my Business. No[,] says he, my
Father has really been disappointed and is really unable; and I am
unwilling to distress him farther. I see this is a Business I am not fit
for. I was bred a Farmer, and it was a Folly in me to come to Town and
put my Self at 30 Years of Age an Apprentice to learn a new Trade. Many
of our Welsh People are going to settle in North Carolina where Land is
cheap: I am inclin'd to go with them, and following my old Employment.
You may find Friends to assist you. If you will take the Debts of the
Company upon you, return to my Father the hundred Pound he has advanc'd,
pay my little personal Debts, and give me Thirty Pounds and a new
Saddle, I will relinquish the Partnership and leave the whole in your
Hands. I agreed to this Proposal. It was drawn up in Writing, sign'd and
seal'd immediately. I gave him what he demanded and he went soon after
to Carolina; from whence he sent me next Year two long Letters,
containing the best Account that had been given of that Country, the
Climate, Soil, Husbandry, etc. for in those Matters he was very
judicious. I printed them in the Papers, and they gave grate
Satisfaction to the Publick.
As soon as he was gone, I recurr'd to my two Friends; and because I
would not give an unkind Preference to either, I took half what each had
offered and I wanted, of one, and half of the other; paid off the
Company Debts, and went on with the Business in my own Name, advertising
that the Partnership was dissolved. I think this was in or about the
Year 1729 [July 14, 1730].--
About this Time there was a Cry among the People for more Paper-Money,
only 15,000£ being extant in the Province and that soon to be sunk. The
wealthy Inhabitants oppos'd any Addition, being against all Paper
Currency, from an Apprehension that it would depreciate as it had done
in New England to the Prejudice of all Creditors.--We had discuss'd this
Point in our Junto, where I was on the Side of an Addition, being
persuaded that the first small Sum struck in 1723 had done much good, by
increasing the Trade[,] Employment, and Number of Inhabitants in the
Province, since I now saw all the old Houses inhabited, and many new
ones building, where as I remember'd well, that when I first walk'd
about the Streets of Philadelphia, eating my Roll, I saw most of the
Houses in Walnut Street between Second and Front Streets with Bills on
their Doors, to be let; and many likewise in Chesnut Street, and other
Streets; which made me then think the Inhabitants of the City were
deserting it, one after another.--Our Debates possess'd me so fully of
the Subject, that I wrote and printed an anonymous Pamphlet on it,
entituled, _The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency_. It was well
receiv'd by the common People in general; but the Rich Men dislik'd it;
for it increas'd and strengthen'd the Clamour for more Money; and they
happening to have no Writers among them that were able to answer it,
their Opposition slacken'd, and the Point was carried by a Majority in
the House. My Friends there, who conceiv'd I had been of some Service,
thought fit to reward me, by employing me in printing the Money, a very
profitable Jobb, and a great Help to me.--This was another Advantage
gain'd by my being able to write[.] The Utility of this Currency became
by Time and Experience so evident, as never afterwards to be much
disputed, so that it grew soon to 55,000£ and in 1739 to 80,000£ since
which it arose during War to upwards of 350,000£. Trade, Building and
Inhabitants all the while increasing. Tho' I now think there are Limits
beyond which the Quantity may be hurtful.--
I soon after obtain'd, thro' my Friend Hamilton, the Printing of the New
Castle Paper Money, another profitable Jobb, as I then thought it; small
Things appearing great to those in small Circumstances. And these to me
were really great Advantages, as they were great Encouragements. He
procured me also the Printing of the Laws and Votes of that Government
which continu'd in my Hands as long as I follow'd the Business.--
I now open'd a little Stationer's Shop. I had in it Blanks of all
Sorts[,] the correctest that ever appear'd among us, being assisted in
that by my Friend Brientnal; I had also Paper, Parchment, Chapmen's
Books, etc. One Whitema[r]sh[,] a Compositor I had known in London, an
excellent Workman now came to me and work'd with me constantly and
diligently, and I took an Apprentice the Son of Aquila Rose. I began now
gradually to pay off the Debt I was under for the Printing-House. In
order to secure my Credit and Character as a Tradesman, I took care not
only to be in _Reality_ Industrious and frugal, but to avoid all
_Appearances_ of the Contrary. I drest plainly; I was seen at no Places
of idle Diversion; I never went out a fishing or Shooting; a Book,
indeed, sometimes debauch'd me from my Work; but that was seldom, snug,
and gave no Scandal: and to show that I was not above my Business, I
sometimes brought home the Paper I purchas'd at the Stores, thro' the
Streets on a Wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem'd an industrious thriving
young Man, and paying duly for what I bought, the Merchants who
imported Stationary solicited my Custom, others propos'd supplying me
with Books, I went on swimmingly.--In the mean time Keimer's Credit and
Business declining daily, he was at last forc'd to sell his
Printing-house to satisfy his Creditors. He went to Barbadoes, there
lived some Years, in very poor Circumstances.
His Apprentice David Harry, whom I had instructed while I work'd with
him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having bought his Materials. I
was at first apprehensive of a powerful Rival in Harry, as his Friends
were very able, and had a good deal of Interest. I therefore propos'd a
Partnership to him; which he, fortunately for me, rejected with Scorn.
He was very proud, dress'd like a Gentleman, liv'd expensively, took
much Diversion and Pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and neglected his
Business, upon which all Business left him; and finding nothing to do,
he follow'd Keimer to Barbadoes; taking the Printing-house with him[.]
There this Apprentice employ'd his former Master as a Journeyman. They
quarrel'd often, Harry went continually behindhand, and at length was
forc'd to sell his Types, and return to his Country work in Pensilvania.
The Person that bought them, employ'd Keimer to use them, but in a few
years he died. There remain'd now no Competitor with me at Philadelphia,
but the old one, Bradford, who was rich and easy, did a little Printing
now and then by straggling Hands, but was not very anxious about it.
However, as he kept the Post Office, it was imagined he had better
Opportunities of obtaining News, his Paper was thought a better
Distributer of Advertisements than mine, and therefore had many more,
which was a profitable thing to him and a Disadvantage to me. For tho' I
did indeed receive and send Papers by Post, yet the publick Opinion was
otherwise; for what I did send was by Bribing the Riders who took them
privately: Bradford being unkind enough to forbid it: which occasion'd
some Resentment on my Part; and I thought so meanly of him for it, that
when I afterwards came into his Situation, I took care never to imitate
it.
I had hitherto continu'd to board with Godfrey who lived in Part of my
House with his Wife and Children, and had one Side of the Shop for his
Glazier's Business, tho' he work'd little, being always absorb'd in his
Mathematics.--Mrs. Godfrey projected a Match for me with a Relation's
Daughter, took Opportunities of bringing us often together, till a
serious Courtship on my Part ensu'd, the Girl being in herself very
deserving. The old Folks encourag'd me by continual Invitations to
Supper, and by leaving us together, till at length it was time to
explain. Mrs. Godfrey manag'd our little Treaty. I let her know that I
expected as much Money with their Daughter as would pay off my Remaining
Debt for the Printinghouse, which I believe was not then above a Hundred
Pounds. She brought me Word they had no such Sum to spare. I said they
might mortgage their House in the Loan Office.--The Answer to this after
some Days was, that they did not approve the Match; that on Enquiry of
Bradford they had been inform'd the Printing Business was not a
profitable one, the Types would soon be worn out and more wanted, that
S. Keimer and D. Harry had fail'd one after the other, and I should
probably soon follow them; and therefore I was forbidden the House, and
the Daughter shut up.--Whether this was a real Change of Sentiment, or
only Artifice, on a Supposition of our being too far engag'd in
Affection to retract, and therefore that we should steal a Marriage,
which would leave them at Liberty to give or with[h]old what they
pleas'd, I know not: But I suspected the latter, resented it, and went
no more. Mrs. Godfrey brought me afterwards some more favourable
Accounts of their Disposition, and would have drawn me on again: But I
declared absolutely my Resolution to have nothing more to do with that
Family. This was resented by the Godfreys, we differ'd, and they
removed, leaving me the whole House, and I resolved to take no more
Inmates. But this Affair having turn'd my Thoughts to Marriage, I look'd
round me, and made Overtures of Acquaintance in other Places; but soon
found that the Business of a Printer being generally thought a poor one,
I was not to expect Money with a Wife unless with such a one, as I
should not otherwise think agreable.--In the mean time, that
hard-to-be-govern'd Passion of Youth, had hurried me frequently into
Intrigues with low Women that fell in my Way, which were attended with
some Expence and great Inconvenience, besides a continual Risque to my
Health by a Distemper which of all Things I dreaded, tho' by great good
Luck I escaped it.--
A friendly Correspondence as Neighbours and old Acquaintances, had
continued between me and Mrs. Read's Family, who all had a Regard for me
from the time of my first Lodging in their House. I was often invited
there and consulted in their Affairs, wherein I sometimes was of
service.--I pity'd poor Miss Read's unfortunate Situation, who was
generally dejected, seldom chearful, and avoided Company. I consider'd
my Giddiness and Inconstancy when in London as in a great degree the
Cause of her Unhappiness; tho' the Mother was good enough to think the
Fault more her own than mine, as she had prevented our Marrying before I
went thither, and persuaded the other Match in my Absence. Our mutual
Affection was revived, but there were now great Objections to our Union.
That Match was indeed look'd upon as invalid, a preceding Wife being
said to be livin[g] in England; but this could not easily be prov'd,
because of the Distance[.] And tho' there was a Report of his Death, it
was not certain. The[n] tho' it should be true, he had left many Debts
which his Successor might be call'd [on] to pay. We venture['d] however,
over all these Difficulties, and I [took] her to Wife Sept. 1. 1730.[10]
None of the Inconveniencies happen[ed] that we had apprehended, she
prov'd a good and faithful Helpmate, assisted me much by attending the
Shop, we throve together, and have ever mutually endeavour'd to make
each other happy. Thus I corrected that great _Erratum_ as wel[l] as I
could.
About [th]is Time our Club meeting, not at a Tavern, but in a little
Room of Mr. Grace's set apart for that Purpose; a Proposition was made
by me that since our Books were often referr'd to in our Disquisitions
upon the Queries, it might be convenient to us to have them all together
where we met, that upon Occasion they might be consulted; and by thus
clubbing our Books to a common Library, we should, while we lik'd to
keep them together, have each of us the Advantage of using the Books of
all the other Members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each
owned the whole. It was lik'd and agreed to, and we fill'd one End of
the Room with such Books as we could best spare. The Number was not so
great as we expected; and tho' they had been of great Use, yet some
Inconveniencies occurring for want of due Care of them, the Collection
after about a Year was separated, and each took his Books home again.
And now I sent on foot my first Project of a public Nature, [th]at for a
Subscription Library. [I] drew up the Proposals, got them put into Form
by our great Scrivener Brockden, and by the help of my Friends in the
Junto, procur'd Fifty Subscribers of 40/ each to begin with and 10/ a
Year for 50 Years, the Term our Company was to continue. We afterwards
obtain'd a Charter, the Company being increas'd to 100. This was the
Mother of all the N American Subscription Libraries now so numerous, is
become a great thing itself, and continually increasing.--These
Libraries have improv'd the general Conversation of the Americans, made
the common Tradesmen and Farmers as intelligent as most Gentlemen from
other Countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the
Stand so generally made throughout the Colonies in Defence of their
Privileges.--[11]
* * * * *
This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for
which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repair'd in some
degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me.
Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no time in
taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in my business
continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was indebted for my
printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be educated, and I had
to contend with for business two printers, who were established in the
place before me. My circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My
original habits of frugality continuing, and my father having, among his
instructions to me when a boy, frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon,
"Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings,
he shall not stand before mean men," I from thence considered industry
as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encourag'd me,
tho' I did not think that I should ever literally _stand before kings_,
which, however, has since happened; for I have stood before _five_, and
even had the honour of sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to
dinner.
We have an English proverb that says, "_He that would thrive, must ask
his wife_." It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to
industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me chearfully in my
business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old
linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle servants,
our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For
instance, my breakfast was a long time bread and milk (no tea), and I
ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But
mark how luxury will enter families, and make a progress, in spite of
principle: being call'd one morning to breakfast, I found it in a China
bowl, with a spoon of silver! They had been bought for me without my
knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of
three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had no other excuse or apology
to make, but that she thought _her_ husband deserv'd a silver spoon and
China bowl as well as any of his neighbors. This was the first
appearance of plate and China in our house, which afterward, in a course
of years, as our wealth increas'd, augmented gradually to several
hundred pounds in value.
I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and tho' some of the
dogmas of that persuasion, such as _the eternal decrees of God_,
_election_, _reprobation, etc._, appeared to me unintelligible, others
doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the
sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious
principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity;
that he made the world, and govern'd it by his Providence; that the most
acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are
immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded,
either here or hereafter. These I esteem'd the essentials of every
religion; and, being to be found in all the religions we had in our
country, I respected them all, tho' with different degrees of respect,
as I found them more or less mix'd with other articles, which, without
any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serv'd
principally to divide us, and make us unfriendly to one another. This
respect to all, with an opinion that the worst had some good effects,
induc'd me to avoid all discourse that might tend to lessen the good
opinion another might have of his own religion; and as our province
increas'd in people, and new places of worship were continually wanted,
and generally erected by voluntary contribution, my mite for such
purpose, whatever might be the sect, was never refused.
Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of its
propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly
paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian
minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to visit me
sometimes as a friend, and admonish me to attend his administrations,
and I was now and then prevail'd on to do so, once for five Sundays
successively. Had he been in my opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might
have continued, notwithstanding the occasion I had for the Sunday's
leisure in my course of study; but his discourses were chiefly either
polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of our
sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since
not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc'd, their aim
seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens.
At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth chapter of
Philippians, "_Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest,
just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any virtue, or any
praise, think on these things_." And I imagin'd, in a sermon on such a
text, we could not miss of having some morality. But he confin'd himself
to five points only, as meant by the apostle, viz.: 1. Keeping holy the
Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy Scriptures. 3.
Attending duly the publick worship. 4. Partaking of the Sacrament. 5.
Paying a due respect to God's ministers. These might be all good things;
but, as they were not the kind of good things that I expected from that
text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from any other, was
disgusted, and attended his preaching no more. I had some years before
compos'd a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own private use
(viz., in 1728), entitled _Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion_. I
return'd to the use of this, and went no more to the public assemblies.
My conduct might be blameable, but I leave it, without attempting
further to excuse it; my present purpose being to relate facts, and not
to make apologies for them.
It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of
arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any
fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination,
custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew,
what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the
one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of
more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employ'd in
guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took
the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for
reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction
that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient
to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken,
and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any
dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I
therefore contrived the following method.
In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my
reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different
writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance,
for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by
others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure,
appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice
and ambition. I propos'd to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use
rather more names, with fewer ideas annex'd to each, than a few names
with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that
at that time occurr'd to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to
each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I gave to its
meaning.
These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
1. TEMPERANCE
Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling
conversation.
3. ORDER
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business
have its time.
4. RESOLUTION
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you
resolve.
5. FRUGALITY
Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; _i.e._, waste
nothing.
6. INDUSTRY
Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all
unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak,
speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your
duty.
9. MODERATION
Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they
deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY
Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness,
weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY
Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
My intention being to acquire the _habitude_ of all these virtues, I
judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the
whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I
should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I
should have gone thro' the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of
some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang'd them
with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to
procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where
constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the
unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual
temptations. This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more
easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I
improv'd in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtain'd
rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing
to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking,
which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave _Silence_ the
second place. This and the next, _Order_, I expected would allow me more
time for attending to my project and my studies. _Resolution_, once
become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavours to obtain all the
subsequent virtues; _Frugality_ and Industry freeing me from my
remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make
more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving
then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his _Golden
Verses_, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the following
method for conducting that examination.
I made a little book,[12] in which I allotted a page for each of the
virtues. I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns,
one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the
day. I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the
beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on
which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black
spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed
respecting that virtue upon that day.
_Form of the Pages_
+------------------------------+
| TEMPERANCE. |
+------------------------------+
| EAT NOT TO DULNESS. |
| DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION. |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | S.| M.| T.| W.| T.| F.| S.|
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|T.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|S.| * | * | | * | | * | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|O.|* *| * | * | | * | * | * |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|R.| | | * | | | * | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|F.| | * | | | * | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|I.| | | * | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|S.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|J.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|M.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|C.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|T.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|C.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|H.| | | | | | | |
+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues
successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every
the least offence against _Temperance_, leaving the other virtues to
their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day.
Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T, clear
of spots, I suppos'd the habit of that virtue so much strengthen'd, and
its opposite weaken'd, that I might venture-extending my attention to
include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of
spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could go thro' a course compleat
in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him who, having
a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at
once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of
the beds at a time, and, having accomplish'd the first, proceeds to a
second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of seeing on
my pages the progress I made in virtue, by clearing successively my
lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I should
be happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily
examination.
This my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's _Cato_:
Here will I hold. If there's a power above us
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud
Thro' all her works), He must delight in virtue;
And that which he delights in must be happy.
Another from Cicero,
O vitæ Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix expultrixque
vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex præceptis tuis actus,
peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus.
Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or virtue:
Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand
riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all
her paths are peace.--iii. 16, 17.
And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and
necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I
formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables of
examination, for daily use.
_O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide!
Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest
interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that
wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children
as the only return in my power for thy continual favours to
me._
I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's
_Poems_, viz.:
Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!
O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
From every low pursuit; and fill my soul
With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!
The precept of _Order_ requiring that _every part of my business should
have its allotted time_, one page in my little book contain'd the
following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural
day.
THE MORNING. {5} Rise, wash, and address _Powerful
_Question._ What good {6} Goodness!_ Contrive day's business,
shall I do this day? { } and take the resolution of the
{ } day; prosecute the present study,
{7} and breakfast.
8}
9} Work.
10}
11}
NOON. {12} Read, or overlook my accounts,
{ 1} and dine.
2}
3}
4} Work.
5}
EVENING. {6} Put things in their places. Supper.
_Question._ What good {7} Music or diversion, or conversation.
have I done to-day? {8} Examination of the day.
{9}
{10}
{11}
{12}
NIGHT. { 1} Sleep.
{ 2}
{ 3}
{ 4}
I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and
continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was
surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined;
but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the trouble
of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping out the
marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new
course, became full of holes, I transferr'd my tables and precepts to
the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn
with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines I mark'd my
faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out
with a wet sponge. After a while I went thro' one course only in a year,
and afterward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them
entirely, being employ'd in voyages and business abroad, with a
multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little
book with me.
My scheme of ORDER gave me the most trouble; and I found that, tho' it
might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave him the
disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it
was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who must mix with
the world, and often receive people of business at their own hours.
_Order_, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I found
extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it,
and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the
inconvenience attending want of method. This article, therefore, cost me
so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I
made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses,
that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with
a faulty character in that respect, like the man who, in buying an ax of
a smith, my neighbour, desired to have the whole of its surface as
bright as the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he
would turn the wheel; he turn'd, while the smith press'd the broad face
of the ax hard and heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it
very fatiguing. The man came every now and then from the wheel to see
how the work went on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without
farther grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on, turn on; we shall have
it bright by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled." "Yes," says the man,
"_but I think I like a speckled ax best_." And I believe this may have
been the case with many, who, having, for want of some such means as I
employ'd, found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits
in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle, and
concluded that "_a speckled ax was best_"; for something, that pretended
to be reason, was every now and then suggesting to me that such extream
nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind of foppery in morals,
which, if it were known, would make me ridiculous; that a perfect
character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and
hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself,
to keep his friends in countenance.
In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I
am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it.
But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so
ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the
endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been
if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by
imitating the engraved copies, tho' they never reach the wish'd-for
excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavour, and
is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.
It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little
artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor ow'd the constant
felicity of his life, down to his 79th year in which this is written.
What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand of Providence;
but, if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoy'd ought to
help his bearing them with more resignation. To Temperance he ascribes
his long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good
constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of his
circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge
that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some
degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the
confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon
him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even
in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of
temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company
still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance. I
hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and
reap the benefit.
It will be remark'd that, tho' my scheme was not wholly without
religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets of
any particular sect. I had purposely avoided them; for, being fully
persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method, and that it might
be serviceable to people in all religions, and intending some time or
other to publish it, I would not have any thing in it that should
prejudice any one, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a little
comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the advantages of
possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice; and I
should have called my book THE ART OF VIRTUE,[E] because it would have
shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which would have
distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not
instruct and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's man of verbal
charity, who only, without showing to the naked and hungry how or where
they might get clothes or victuals, exhorted them to be fed and
clothed.--James ii. 15, 16.
[E] Nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as virtue.
[_Franklin's note._]
But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this
comment was never fulfilled. I did, indeed, from time to time, put down
short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, etc., to be made use of in
it, some of which I have still by me; but the necessary close attention
to private business in the earlier part of my life, and public business
since, have occasioned my postponing it; for, it being connected in my
mind with _a great and extensive project_, that required the whole man
to execute, and which an unforeseen succession of employs prevented my
attending to, it has hitherto remain'd unfinish'd.
In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this doctrine,
that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but
forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature of man alone considered;
that it was, therefore, every one's interest to be virtuous who wish'd
to be happy even in this world; and I should, from this circumstance
(there being always in the world a number of rich merchants, nobility,
states, and princes, who have need of honest instruments for the
management of their affairs, and such being so rare), have endeavoured
to convince young persons that no qualities were so likely to make a
poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity.
My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend
having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my
pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content
with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing,
and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several
instances; I determined endeavouring to cure myself, if I could, of this
vice or folly among the rest, and I added _Humility_ to my list, giving
an extensive meaning to the word.
I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the _reality_ of this
virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the _appearance_ of it. I
made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of
others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself,
agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or
expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as
_certainly_, _undoubtedly_, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, _I
conceive_, _I apprehend_, or _I imagine_ a thing to be so or so; or it
_so appears to me at present_. When another asserted something that I
thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him
abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition;
and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or
circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there
_appear'd_ or _seem'd_ to me some difference, etc. I soon found the
advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in
went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions
procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less
mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily
prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I
happened to be in the right.
And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural
inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that
perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical
expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of
integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much weight
with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations
in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I became a
member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much
hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I
generally carried my points.
In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to
subdue as _pride_. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle
it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every
now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often
in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly
overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.[13]...
Having mentioned _a great and extensive project_ which I had conceiv'd,
it seems proper that some account should be here given of that project
and its object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the following
little paper, accidentally preserv'd, viz.:
_Observations_ on my reading history, in Library, May 19th,
1731.
"That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions,
etc., are carried on and affected by parties.
"That the view of these parties is their present general
interest, or what they take to be such.
"That the different views of these different parties occasion
all confusion.
"That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man
has his particular private interest in view.
"That as soon as a party has gain'd its general point, each
member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which,
thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and
occasions more confusion.
"That few in public affairs act from a meer view of the good
of their country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho' their
actings bring real good to their country, yet men primarily
considered that their own and their country's interest was
united, and did not act from a principle of benevolence.
"That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the
good of mankind.
"There seems to me at present to be great occasion for
raising a United Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous
and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be
govern'd by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise
men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to,
than common people are to common laws.
"I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is
well qualified, can not fail of pleasing God, and of meeting
with success.
B. F."
Revolving this project in my mind, as to be undertaken hereafter, when
my circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure, I put down from
time to time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurr'd to me
respecting it. Most of these are lost; but I find one purporting to be
the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the
essentials of every known religion, and being free of every thing that
might shock the professors of any religion. It is express'd in these
words, viz.:
"That there is one God, who made all things.
"That he governs the world by his providence.
"That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and
thanksgiving.
"But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to
man.
"That the soul is immortal.
"And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice,
either here or hereafter."
My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun and spread at
first among young and single men only; that each person to be initiated
should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should have
exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination and practice of
the virtues, as in the before-mention'd model; that the existence of
such a society should be kept a secret, till it was become considerable,
to prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons, but that
the members should each of them search among his acquaintance for
ingenuous, well-disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, the
scheme should be gradually communicated; that the members should engage
to afford their advice, assistance, and support to each other in
promoting one another's interests, business, and advancement in life;
that, for distinction, we should be call'd _The Society of the Free and
Easy_: free, as being, by the general practice and habit of the virtues,
free from the dominion of vice; and particularly by the practice of
industry and frugality, free from debt, which exposes a man to
confinement, and a species of slavery to his creditors.
This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I
communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it with some
enthusiasm; but my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was
under of sticking close to my business, occasion'd my postponing the
further prosecution of it at that time; and my multifarious occupations,
public and private, induc'd me to continue postponing, so that it has
been omitted till I have no longer strength or activity left sufficient
for such an enterprise; tho' I am still of opinion that it was a
practicable scheme, and might have been very useful, by forming a great
number of good citizens; and I was not discourag'd by the seeming
magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of
tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs
among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all
amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes
the execution of that same plan his sole study and business.
In 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of _Richard
Saunders_; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five years, commonly
call'd _Poor Richard's Almanack_. I endeavour'd to make it both
entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand,
that I reap'd considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten
thousand.[14] And observing that it was generally read, scarce any
neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a
proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who
bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little
spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar with
proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality,
as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being
more difficult for a man in want, to act always honestly, as, to use
here one of those proverbs, _it is hard for an empty sack to stand
upright_.
These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages and nations, I
assembled and form'd into a connected discourse prefix'd to the Almanack
of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an
auction. The bringing all these scatter'd counsels thus into a focus
enabled them to make greater impression. The piece, being universally
approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Continent; reprinted
in Britain on a broad side, to be stuck up in houses; two translations
were made of it in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy and
gentry, to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants.
In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign
superfluities, some thought it had its share of influence in producing
that growing plenty of money which was observable for several years
after its publication.
I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of communicating
instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from
the Spectator, and other moral writers; and sometimes publish'd little
pieces of my own, which had been first compos'd for reading in our
Junto. Of these are a Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever
might be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not properly be
called a man of sense; and a discourse on self-denial, showing that
virtue was not secure till its practice became a habitude, and was free
from the opposition of contrary inclinations. These may be found in the
papers about the beginning of 1735.[15]
In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all libelling and
personal abuse, which is of late years become so disgraceful to our
country. Whenever I was solicited to insert any thing of that kind, and
the writers pleaded, as they generally did, the liberty of the press,
and that a newspaper was like a stage-coach, in which any one who would
pay had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the piece
separately if desired, and the author might have as many copies as he
pleased to distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me to
spread his detraction; and that, having contracted with my subscribers
to furnish them with what might be either useful or entertaining, I
could not fill their papers with private altercation, in which they had
no concern, without doing them manifest injustice. Now, many of our
printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of individuals by
false accusations of the fairest characters among ourselves, augmenting
animosity even to the producing of duels; and are, moreover, so
indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on the government of
neighboring states, and even on the conduct of our best national allies,
which may be attended with the most pernicious consequences. These
things I mention as a caution to young printers, and that they may be
encouraged not to pollute their presses and disgrace their profession
by such infamous practices, but refuse steadily, as they may see by my
example that such a course of conduct will not, on the whole, be
injurious to their interests.
* * * * *
I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much a
master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease. I then
undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also learning it, us'd
often to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding this took up too much
of the time I had to spare for study, I at length refus'd to play any
more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every game should
have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the grammar to be got
by heart, or in translations, etc., which tasks the vanquish'd was to
perform upon honour, before our next meeting. As we play'd pretty
equally, we thus beat one another into that language. I afterwards with
a little painstaking, acquir'd as much of the Spanish as to read their
books also.
I have already mention'd that I had only one year's instruction in a
Latin school, and that when very young, after which I neglected that
language entirely. But, when I had attained an acquaintance with the
French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpriz'd to find, on looking over a
Latin Testament, that I understood so much more of that language than I
had imagined, which encouraged me to apply myself again to the study of
it, and I met with more success, as those preceding languages had
greatly smooth'd my way.
From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some
inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages. We are told that
it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having acquir'd that,
it will be more easy to attain those modern languages which are deriv'd
from it; and yet we do not begin with the Greek, in order more easily to
acquire the Latin. It is true that, if you can clamber and get to the
top of a staircase without using the steps, you will more easily gain
them in descending; but certainly, if you begin with the lowest you will
with more ease ascend to the top; and I would therefore offer it to the
consideration of those who superintend the education of our youth,
whether, since many of those who begin with the Latin quit the same
after spending some years without having made any great proficiency, and
what they have learnt becomes almost useless, so that their time has
been lost, it would not have been better to have begun with the French,
proceeding to the Italian, etc.; for, tho', after spending the same
time, they should quit the study of languages and never arrive at the
Latin, they would, however, have acquired another tongue or two, that,
being in modern use, might be serviceable to them in common life.
* * * * *
Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and afforded such satisfaction
to the members, that several were desirous of introducing their friends,
which could not well be done without exceeding what we had settled as a
convenient number, viz., twelve. We had from the beginning made it a
rule to keep our institution a secret, which was pretty well observ'd;
the intention was to avoid applications of improper persons for
admittance, some of whom, perhaps, we might find it difficult to refuse.
I was one of those who were against any addition to our number, but,
instead of it, made in writing a proposal, that every member separately
should endeavour to form a subordinate club, with the same rules
respecting queries, etc., and without informing them of the connection
with the Junto. The advantages proposed were, the improvement of so many
more young citizens by the use of our institutions; our better
acquaintance with the general sentiments of the inhabitants on any
occasion, as the Junto member might propose what queries we should
desire, and was to report to the Junto what pass'd in his separate club;
the promotion of our particular interests in business by more extensive
recommendation, and the increase of our influence in public affairs, and
our power of doing good by spreading thro' the several clubs the
sentiments of the Junto.
The project was approv'd, and every member undertook to form his club,
but they did not all succeed. Five or six only were compleated, which
were called by different names, as the Vine, the Union, the Band, etc.
They were useful to themselves, and afforded us a good deal of
amusement, information, and instruction, besides answering, in some
considerable degree, our views of influencing the public opinion on
particular occasions, of which I shall give some instances in course of
time as they happened.
* * * * *
I began now to turn my thoughts a little to public affairs,[16]
beginning, however, with small matters. The city watch was one of the
first things that I conceiv'd to want regulation. It was managed by the
constables of the respective wards in turn; the constable warned a
number of housekeepers to attend him for the night. Those who chose
never to attend, paid him six shillings a year to be excus'd, which was
suppos'd to be for hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, much more
than was necessary for that purpose, and made the constableship a place
of profit; and the constable, for a little drink, often got such
ragamuffins about him as a watch, that respectable housekeepers did not
choose to mix with. Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected, and
most of the nights spent in tippling. I thereupon wrote a paper to be
read in Junto, representing these irregularities, but insisting more
particularly on the inequality of this six-shilling tax of the
constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it, since a
poor widow housekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by the watch
did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as much as the
wealthiest merchant, who had thousands of pounds' worth of goods in his
stores.
On the whole, I proposed as a more effectual watch, the hiring of proper
men to serve constantly in that business; and as a more equitable way of
supporting the charge, the levying a tax that should be proportion'd to
the property. This idea, being approv'd by the Junto, was communicated
to the other clubs, but as arising in each of them; and though the plan
was not immediately carried into execution, yet, by preparing the minds
of people for the change, it paved the way for the law obtained a few
years after, when the members of our clubs were grown into more
influence.
About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in Junto, but it was
afterward publish'd) on the different accidents and carelessnesses by
which houses were set on fire, with cautions against them, and means
proposed of avoiding them. This was much spoken of as a useful piece,
and gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a company
for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance in
removing and securing of goods when in danger. Associates in this scheme
were presently found, amounting to thirty. Our articles of agreement
oblig'd every member to keep always in good order, and fit for use, a
certain number of leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for
packing and transporting of goods), which were to be brought to every
fire; and we agreed to meet once a month and spend a social evening
together, in discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to us
upon the subject of fires, as might be useful in our conduct on such
occasions.
The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more desiring to
be admitted than we thought convenient for one company, they were
advised to form another, which was accordingly done; and this went on,
one new company being formed after another, till they became so numerous
as to include most of the inhabitants who were men of property; and now,
at the time of my writing this, tho' upward of fifty years since its
establishment, that which I first formed, called the Union Fire Company,
still subsists and flourishes, tho' the first members are all deceas'd
but myself and one, who is older by a year than I am. The small fines
that have been paid by members for absence at the monthly meetings have
been apply'd to the purchase of fire-engines, ladders, fire-hooks, and
other useful implements for each company, so that I question whether
there is a city in the world better provided with the means of putting a
stop to beginning conflagrations; and, in fact, since these
institutions, the city has never lost by fire more than one or two
houses at a time, and the flames have often been extinguished before the
house in which they began has been half consumed.
In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, who
had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at
first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy,
taking a dislike to him, soon refus'd him their pulpits, and he was
oblig'd to preach in the fields. The multitudes of all sects and
denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was matter
of speculation to me, who was one of the number, to observe the
extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they
admir'd and respected him, notwithstanding his common abuse of them, by
assuring them they were naturally _half beasts and half devils_. It was
wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants.
From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem'd as if
all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk thro'
the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families
of every street.
* * * * *
I happened soon after to attend one of his sermons, in the course of
which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I
silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a
handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles
in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the
coppers. Another stroke of his oratory made me asham'd of that, and
determin'd me to give the silver; and he finish'd so admirably, that I
empty'd my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. At
this sermon there was also one of our club, who, being of my sentiments
respecting the building in Georgia and, suspecting a collection might be
intended, had, by precaution, emptied his pockets before he came from
home. Towards the conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt a strong
desire to give, and apply'd to a neighbour, who stood near him, to
borrow some money for the purpose. The application was unfortunately
[made] to perhaps the only man in the company who had the firmness not
to be affected by the preacher. His answer was, "_At any other time,
Friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee freely; but not now, for thee
seems to be out of thy right senses_."
* * * * *
He [Rev. Whitefield] us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion,
but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.
Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to
his death.[17]
The following instance will show something of the terms on which we
stood. Upon one of his arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote to me
that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he could
lodge when there, as he understood his old friend and host, Mr. Benezet
was removed to Germantown. My answer was, "You know my house, if you can
make shift with its scanty accommodations, you will be most heartily
welcome." He reply'd, that if I made that kind offer for Christ's sake,
I should not miss of a reward. And I returned, "_Don't let me be
mistaken, it was not for Christ's sake, but for your sake_." One of our
common acquaintance jocosely remark'd, that, knowing it to be the custom
of the saints, when they received any favour, to shift the burden of the
obligation from off their own shoulders, and place it in heaven, I had
contriv'd to fix it on earth.
The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he consulted me
about his Orphan House concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to
the establishment of a college.
He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences
so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great distance,
especially as his auditories, however numerous, observ'd the most exact
silence. He preach'd one evening from the top of the Court-house steps,
which are in the middle of Market-street, and on the west side of
Second-street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were
fill'd with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being among the
hindmost in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could
be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards the river; and I
found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise
in that street obscur'd it. Imagining then a semicircle, of which my
distance should be the radius, and that it were fill'd with auditors, to
each of whom I allow'd two square feet, I computed that he might well be
heard by more than thirty thousand. This reconcil'd me to the newspaper
accounts of his having preach'd to twenty-five thousand people in the
fields, and to the antient histories of generals haranguing whole
armies, of which I had some times doubted.
* * * * *
I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with my being
established in Pennsylvania. There were, however, two things that I
regretted, there being no provision for defense, nor for a compleat
education of youth; no militia, nor any college. I therefore, in 1743,
drew up a proposal for establishing an academy; and at that time,
thinking the Reverend Mr. Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person to
superintend such an institution, I communicated the project to him; but
he, having more profitable views in the service of the proprietaries,
which succeeded, declin'd the undertaking; and, not knowing another at
that time suitable for such a trust, I let the scheme lie a while
dormant. I succeeded better the next year, 1744, in proposing and
establishing a Philosophical Society. The paper I wrote for that purpose
will be found among my writings, when collected.
* * * * *
Peace being concluded, and the association business therefore at an end,
I turn'd my thoughts again to the affair of establishing an academy. The
first step I took was to associate in the design a number of active
friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good part; the next was to write
and publish a pamphlet, entitled _Proposals Relating to the Education of
Youth in Pennsylvania_. This I distributed among the principal
inhabitants gratis, and as soon as I could suppose their minds a little
prepared by the perusal of it, I set on foot a subscription for opening
and supporting an academy; it was to be paid in quotas yearly for five
years; by so dividing it, I judg'd the subscription might be larger, and
I believe it was so, amounting to no less, if I remember right, than
five thousand pounds.
In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their publication, not
as an act of mine, but of some _publick-spirited gentlemen_, avoiding as
much as I could, according to my usual rule, the presenting myself to
the publick as the author of any scheme for their benefit.
The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate execution, chose
out of their number twenty-four trustees, and appointed Mr. Francis,
then attorney-general, and myself to draw up constitutions for the
government of the academy; which being done and signed, a house was
hired, masters engag'd, and the schools opened, I think, in the same
year, 1749.
* * * * *
In 1746, being at Boston, I met there with a Dr. Spence, who was lately
arrived from Scotland, and show'd me some electric experiments. They
were imperfectly perform'd, as he was not very expert; but, being on a
subject quite new to me, they equally surpris'd and pleased me. Soon
after my return to Philadelphia, our library company receiv'd from Mr.
P. Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, a present of a
glass tube, with some account of the use of it in making such
experiments. I eagerly seized the opportunity of repeating what I had
seen at Boston; and, by much practice, acquir'd great readiness in
performing those, also, which we had an account of from England, adding
a number of new ones. I say much practice, for my house was continually
full, for some time, with people who came to see these new wonders.
To divide a little this incumbrance among my friends, I caused a number
of similar tubes to be blown at our glass-house, with which they
furnish'd themselves, so that we had at length several performers. Among
these, the principal was Mr. Kinnersley, an ingenious neighbor, who,
being out of business, I encouraged to undertake showing the experiments
for money, and drew up for him two lectures, in which the experiments
were rang'd in such order, and accompanied with such explanations in
such method, as that the foregoing should assist in comprehending the
following. He procur'd an elegant apparatus for the purpose, in which
all the little machines that I had roughly made for myself were nicely
form'd by instrument-makers. His lectures were well attended, and gave
great satisfaction; and after some time he went thro' the colonies,
exhibiting them in every capital town, and pick'd up some money. In the
West India Islands, indeed, it was with difficulty the experiments could
be made, from the general moisture of the air.
Oblig'd as we were to Mr. Collinson for his present of the tube, etc., I
thought it right he should be inform'd of our success in using it, and
wrote him several letters containing accounts of our experiments. He got
them read in the Royal Society, where they were not at first thought
worth so much notice as to be printed in their Transactions. One paper,
which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the sameness of lightning with
electricity, I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an acquaintance of mine, and one of
the members also of that society, who wrote me word that it had been
read, but was laughed at by the connoisseurs. The papers, however, being
shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of too much value to be
stifled, and advis'd the printing of them. Mr. Collinson then gave them
to _Cave_ for publication in his Gentleman's Magazine; but he chose to
print them separately in a pamphlet, and Dr. Fothergill wrote the
preface. Cave, it seems, judged rightly for his profit, for by the
additions that arrived afterward they swell'd, to a quarto volume, which
has had five editions, and cost him nothing for copy-money.
It was, however, some time before those papers were much taken notice of
in England. A copy of them happening to fall into the hands of the Count
de Buffon, a philosopher deservedly of great reputation in France, and,
indeed, all over Europe, he prevailed with M. Dalibard to translate them
into French, and they were printed at Paris. The publication offended
the Abbé Nollet, preceptor in Natural Philosophy to the royal family,
and an able experimenter, who had form'd and publish'd a theory of
electricity, which then had the general vogue. He could not at first
believe that such a work came from America, and said it must have been
fabricated by his enemies at Paris, to decry his system. Afterwards,
having been assur'd that there really existed such a person as Franklin
at Philadelphia, which he had doubted, he wrote and published a volume
of Letters, chiefly address'd to me, defending his theory, and denying
the verity of my experiments, and of the positions deduc'd from them.
I once purpos'd answering the abbé, and actually began the answer; but,
on consideration that my writings contain'd a description of experiments
which any one might repeat and verify, and if not to be verifi'd, could
not be defended; or of observations offer'd as conjectures, and not
delivered dogmatically, therefore not laying me under any obligation to
defend them; and reflecting that a dispute between two persons, writing
in different languages, might be lengthened greatly by mistranslations,
and thence misconceptions of one another's meaning, much of one of the
abbé's letters being founded on an error in the translation, I concluded
to let my papers shift for themselves, believing it was better to spend
what time I could spare from public business in making new experiments,
than in disputing about those already made. I therefore never answered
M. Nollet, and the event gave me no cause to repent my silence; for my
friend M. le Roy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause and
refuted him; my book was translated into the Italian, German, and Latin
languages; and the doctrine it contain'd was by degrees universally
adopted by the philosophers of Europe, in preference to that of the
abbé; so that he lived to see himself the last of his sect, except
Monsieur B----, of Paris, his _élève_ and immediate disciple.
What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity, was the success
of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messrs. Dalibard and De Lor
at Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This engag'd the public
attention every where. M. de Lor, who had an apparatus for experimental
philosophy, and lectur'd in that branch of science, undertook to repeat
what he called the _Philadelphia Experiments_; and, after they were
performed before the king and court, all the curious of Paris flocked to
see them. I will not swell this narrative with an account of that
capital experiment, nor of the infinite pleasure I receiv'd in the
success of a similar one I made soon after with a kite at Philadelphia,
as both are to be found in the histories of electricity.
Dr. Wright, an English physician, when at Paris, wrote to a friend, who
was of the Royal Society, an account of the high esteem my experiments
were in among the learned abroad, and of their wonder that my writings
had been so little noticed in England. The Society, on this, resum'd the
consideration of the letters that had been read to them; and the
celebrated Dr. Watson drew up a summary account of them, and of all I
had afterwards sent to England on the subject, which he accompanied with
some praise of the writer. This summary was then printed in their
Transactions; and some members of the Society in London, particularly
the very ingenious Mr. Canton, having verified the experiment of
procuring lightning from the clouds by a pointed rod, and acquainting
them with the success, they soon made me more than amends for the slight
with which they had before treated me. Without my having made any
application for that honour, they chose me a member, and voted that I
should be excus'd the customary payments, which would have amounted to
twenty-five guineas; and ever since have given me their Transactions
gratis. They also presented me with the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley
for the year 1753, the delivery of which was accompanied by a very
handsome speech of the president, Lord Macclesfield, wherein I was
highly honoured.
* * * * *
DOGOOD PAPERS, NO. I
(From Monday March 26. to Monday April 2. 1722.)
_To the Author of the_ New-England Courant.
SIR,
It may not be improper in the first Place to inform your Readers, that I
intend once a Fortnight to present them, by the Help of this Paper, with
a short Epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their
Entertainment.
And since it is observed, that the Generality of People, now a days, are
unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read, until they are
in some measure informed who or what the Author of it is, whether he be
_poor_ or _rich_, _old_ or _young_, a _Scollar_ or a _Leather Apron
Man_, &c. and give their Opinion of the Performance, according to the
Knowledge which they have of the Author's Circumstances, it may not be
amiss to begin with a short Account of my past Life and present
Condition, that the Reader may not be at a Loss to judge whether or no
my Lucubrations are worth his reading.
At the time of my Birth, my Parents were on Ship-board in their Way from
_London_ to _N. England_. My Entrance into this troublesome World was
attended with the Death of my Father, a Misfortune, which tho' I was not
then capable of knowing, I shall never be able to forget; for as he,
poor Man, stood upon the Deck rejoycing at my Birth, a merciless Wave
entred the Ship, and in one Moment carry'd him beyond Reprieve. Thus was
the _first_ Day which I saw, the _last_ that was seen by my Father; and
thus was my disconsolate Mother at once made both a _Parent_ and a
_Widow_.
When we arrived at _Boston_ (which was not long after) I was put to
Nurse in a Country Place, at a small Distance from the Town, where I
went to School, and past my Infancy and Childhood in Vanity and
Idleness, until I was bound out Apprentice, that I might no longer be a
Charge to my Indigent Mother, who was put to hard Shifts for a Living.
My Master was a Country Minister, a pious good-natur'd young Man, & a
Batchelor: He labour'd with all his Might to instil vertuous and godly
Principles into my tender Soul, well knowing that it was the most
suitable Time to make deep and lasting Impressions on the Mind, while it
was yet untainted with Vice, free and unbiass'd. He endeavour'd that I
might be instructed in all that Knowledge and Learning which is
necessary for our Sex, and deny'd me no Accomplishment that could
possibly be attained in a Country Place, such as all Sorts of
Needle-Work, Writing, Arithmetick, &c. and observing that I took a more
than ordinary Delight in reading ingenious Books, he gave me the free
Use of his Library, which tho' it was but small, yet it was well chose,
to inform the Understanding rightly and enable the Mind to frame great
and noble Ideas.
Before I had liv'd quite two Years with this Reverend Gentleman, my
indulgent Mother departed this Life, leaving me as it were by my self,
having no Relation on Earth within my Knowledge.
I will not abuse your Patience with a tedious Recital of all the
frivolous Accidents of my Life, that happened from this Time until I
arrived to Years of Discretion, only inform you that I liv'd a chearful
Country Life, spending my leisure Time either in some innocent Diversion
with the neighbouring Females, or in some shady Retirement, with the
best of Company, _Books_. Thus I past away the Time with a Mixture of
Profit and Pleasure, having no Affliction but what was imaginary and
created in my own Fancy; as nothing is more common with us Women, than
to be grieving for nothing, when we have nothing else to grieve for.
As I would not engross too much of your Paper at once, I will defer the
Remainder of my Story until my next Letter; in the mean time desiring
your Readers to exercise their Patience, and bear with my Humours now
and then, because I shall trouble them but seldom. I am not insensible
of the Impossibility of pleasing all, but I would not willingly
displease any; and for those who will take Offence where none is
intended, they are beneath the Notice of
_Your Humble Servant_,
SILINC DOGOOD.
_As the Favour of Mrs. Dogood's Correspondence is acknowledged by the
Publisher of this Paper, lest any of her Letters should miscarry, he
desires they may for the future be deliver'd at his Printing-House, or
at the Blue Ball in Union-Street, and no Questions shall be ask'd of the
Bearer._
DOGOOD PAPERS, NO. IV
(From Monday May 7. to Monday May 14. 1722.)
_An sum etiam nunc vel Græcè loqui vel_ Latinè docendus?
CICERO.
_To the Author of the_ New-England Courant.
SIR,
Discoursing the other Day at Dinner with my Reverend Boarder, formerly
mention'd, (whom for Distinction sake we will call by the Name of
_Clericus_,) concerning the Education of Children, I ask'd his Advice
about my young Son _William_, whether or no I had best bestow upon him
Academical Learning, or (as our Phrase is) _bring him up at our
College_: He perswaded me to do it by all Means, using many weighty
Arguments with me, and answering all the Objections that I could form
against it; telling me withal, that he did not doubt but that the Lad
would take his Learning very well, and not idle away his Time as too
many there now-a-days do. These words of _Clericus_ gave me a Curiosity
to inquire a little more strictly into the present Circumstances of that
famous Seminary of Learning; but the Information which he gave me, was
neither pleasant, nor such as I expected.
As soon as Dinner was over, I took a solitary Walk into my Orchard,
still ruminating on _Clericus's_ Discourse with much Consideration,
until I came to my usual Place of Retirement under the _Great
Apple-Tree_; where having seated my self, and carelessly laid my Head on
a verdant Bank, I fell by Degrees into a soft and undisturbed Slumber.
My waking Thoughts remained with me in my Sleep, and before I awak'd
again, I dreamt the following DREAM.
I fancy'd I was travelling over pleasant and delightful Fields and
Meadows, and thro' many small Country Towns and Villages; and as I
pass'd along, all Places resounded with the Fame of the Temple of
LEARNING: Every Peasant, who had wherewithal, was preparing to send one
of his Children at least to this famous Place; and in this Case most of
them consulted their own Purses instead of their Childrens Capacities:
So that I observed, a great many, yea, the most part of those who were
travelling thither, were little better than Dunces and Blockheads. Alas!
Alas!
At length I entred upon a spacious Plain, in the Midst of which was
erected a large and stately Edifice: It was to this that a great Company
of Youths from all Parts of the Country were going; so stepping in among
the Crowd, I passed on with them, and presently arrived at the Gate.
The Passage was Kept by two sturdy Porters named _Riches_ and
_Poverty_, and the latter obstinately refused to give Entrance to any
who had not first gain'd the Favour of the former; so that I observed,
many who came even to the very Gate, were obliged to travel back again
as ignorant as they came, for want of this necessary Qualification.
However, as a Spectator I gain'd Admittance, and with the rest entred
directly into the Temple.
In the Middle of the great Hall stood a stately and magnificent Throne,
which was ascended to by two high and difficult Steps. On the Top of it
sat LEARNING in awful State; she was apparelled wholly in Black, and
surrounded almost on every Side with innumerable Volumes in all
Languages. She seem'd very busily employ'd in writing something on half
a Sheet of Paper, and upon Enquiry, I understood she was preparing a
Paper, call'd, _The New-England Courant_. On her Right Hand sat
_English_, with a pleasant smiling Countenance, and handsomely attir'd;
and on her left were seated several _Antique Figures_ with their Faces
vail'd. I was considerably puzzl'd to guess who they were, until one
informed me, (who stood beside me,) that those Figures on her left Hand
were _Latin_, _Greek_, _Hebrew_, &c. and that they were very much
reserv'd, and seldom or never unvail'd their Faces here, and then to few
or none, tho' most of those who have in this Place acquir'd so much
Learning as to distinguish them from _English_, pretended to an intimate
Acquaintance with them. I then enquir'd of him, what could be the Reason
why they continued vail'd, in this Place especially: He pointed to the
Foot of the Throne, where I saw _Idleness_, attended with _Ignorance_,
and these (he informed me) were they, who first vail'd them, and still
kept them so.
Now I observed, that the whole Tribe who entred into the Temple with me,
began to climb the Throne; but the Work; proving troublesome and
difficult to most of them, they withdrew their Hands from the Plow, and
contented themselves to sit at the Foot, with Madam _Idleness_ and her
Maid _Ignorance_, until those who were assisted by Diligence and a
docible Temper, had well nigh got up the first Step: But the Time
drawing nigh in which they could no way avoid ascending, they were fain
to crave the Assistance of those who had got up before them, and who,
for the Reward perhaps of a _Pint of Milk_, or a _Piece of Plumb-Cake_,
lent the Lubbers a helping Hand, and sat them in the Eye of the World,
upon a Level with themselves.
The other Step being in the same Manner ascended, and the usual
Ceremonies at an End, every Beetle-Scull seem'd well satisfy'd with his
own Portion of Learning, tho' perhaps he was _e'en just_ as ignorant as
ever. And now the Time of their Departure being come, they march'd out
of Doors to make Room for another Company, who waited for Entrance: And
I, having seen all that was to be seen, quitted the Hall likewise, and
went to make my Observations on those who were just gone out before me.
Some I perceiv'd took to Merchandizing, others to Travelling, some to
one Thing, some to another, and some to Nothing; and many of them from
henceforth, for want of Patrimony, liv'd as poor as church Mice, being
unable to dig, and asham'd to beg, and to live by their Wits it was
impossible. But the most Part of the Crowd went along a large beaten
Path, which led to a Temple at the further End of the Plain, call'd,
_The Temple of Theology_. The Business of those who were employ'd in
this Temple being laborious and painful, I wonder'd exceedingly to see
so many go towards it; but while I was pondering this Matter in my Mind,
I spy'd _Pecunia_ behind a Curtain, beckoning to them with her Hand,
which Sight immediately satisfy'd me for whose Sake it was, that a great
Part of them (I will not say all) travel'd that Road. In this Temple I
saw nothing worth mentioning, except the ambitious and fraudulent
Contrivances of _Plagius_, who (notwithstanding he had been severely
reprehended for such Practices before) was diligently transcribing some
eloquent Paragraphs out of _Tillotson's_ Works, &c. to embellish his
own.
Now I bethought my self in my Sleep, that it was Time to be at Home, and
as I fancy'd I was travelling back thither, I reflected in my Mind on
the extream Folly of those Parents, who, blind to their Childrens
Dulness, and insensible of the Solidity of their Skulls, because they
think their Purses can afford it, will needs send them to the Temple of
Learning, where, for want of a suitable Genius, they learn little more
than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a Room genteely,
(which might as well be acquir'd at a Dancing-School,) and from whence
they return, after Abundance of Trouble and Charge, as great Blockheads
as ever, only more proud and self-conceited.
While I was in the midst of these unpleasant Reflections, _Clericus_
(who with a Book in his Hand was walking under the Trees) accidentally
awak'd me; to him I related my Dream with all its Particulars, and he,
without much Study, presently interpreted it, assuring me, _That it was
a lively Representation of HARVARD COLLEGE, Etcetera._
_I remain, Sir,
Your Humble Servant,_
SILENCE DOGOOD.
DOGOOD PAPERS, NO. V
(From Monday May 21. to Monday May 28. 1722.)
_Mulier Muliere magis congruet._--TER.
_To the Author of the_ New-England Courant.
SIR,
I shall here present your Readers with a Letter from one, who informs me
that I have begun at the wrong End of my Business, and that I ought to
begin at Home, and censure the Vices and Follies of my own Sex, before I
venture to meddle with your's: Nevertheless, I am resolved to dedicate
this Speculation to the Fair Tribe, and endeavour to show, that Mr.
_Ephraim_ charges Women with being particularly guilty of Pride,
Idleness, &c. wrongfully, inasmuch as the Men have not only as great a
Share in those Vices as the Women, but are likewise in a great Measure
the Cause of that which the Women are guilty of. I think it will be best
to produce my Antagonist, before I encounter him.
_To Mrs._ DOGOOD.
_Madam_,
My Design in troubling you with this Letter is, to desire you
would begin with your own Sex first: Let the first Volley of
your Resentments be directed against _Female_ Vice; let
Female Idleness, Ignorance and Folly, (which are Vices more
peculiar to your Sex than to our's,) be the Subject of your
Satyrs, but more especially Female Pride, which I think is
intollerable. Here is a large Field that wants Cultivation,
and which I believe you are able (if willing) to improve with
Advantage; and when you have once reformed the Women, you
will find it a much easier Task to reform the Men, because
Women are the prime Causes of a great many Male Enormities.
This is all at present from
_Your Friendly Wellwisher,_
Ephraim Censorious.
After Thanks to my Correspondent for his Kindness in cutting out Work
for me, I must assure him, that I find it a very difficult Matter to
reprove Women separate from the Men; for what Vice is there in which the
Men have not as great a Share as the Women? and in some have they not a
far greater, as in Drunkenness, Swearing, &c.? And if they have, then it
follows, that when a Vice is to be reproved, Men, who are most culpable,
deserve the most Reprehension, and certainly therefore, ought to have
it. But we will wave this point at present, and proceed to a particular
Consideration of what my Correspondent calls _Female Vice_.
As for Idleness, if I should _Quære_, Where are the greatest Number of
its Votaries to be found, with us or the Men? it might I believe be
easily and truly answer'd, _With the latter_. For, notwithstanding the
Men are commonly complaining how hard they are forc'd to labour, only to
maintain their Wives in Pomp and Idleness, yet if you go among the
Women, you will learn, that _they have always more Work upon their Hands
than they are able to do_, and that _a Woman's Work is never done_, &c.
But however, Suppose we should grant for once, that we are generally
more idle than the Men, (without making any Allowance for the _Weakness
of the Sex_,) I desire to know whose Fault it is? Are not the Men to
blame for their Folly in maintaining us in Idleness? Who is there that
can be handsomely supported in Affluence, Ease and Pleasure by another,
that will chuse rather to earn his Bread by the Sweat of his own Brows?
And if a Man will be so fond and so foolish, as to labour hard himself
for a Livelihood, and suffer his Wife in the mean Time to sit in Ease
and Idleness, let him not blame her if she does so, for it is in a great
Measure his own Fault.
And now for the Ignorance and Folly which he reproaches us with, let us
see (if we are Fools and Ignoramus's) whose is the Fault, the Men's or
our's. An ingenious Writer, having this Subject in Hand, has the
following Words, wherein he lays the Fault wholly on the Men, for not
allowing Women the Advantages of Education.
"I have (says he) often thought of it as one of the most
barbarous Customs in the World, considering us as a civiliz'd
and Christian Country, that we deny the Advantages of
Learning to Women. We reproach the Sex every Day with Folly
and Impertinence, while I am confident, had they the
Advantages of Education equal to us, they would be guilty of
less than our selves. One would wonder indeed how it should
happen that Women are conversible at all, since they are only
beholding to natural Parts for all their Knowledge. Their
Youth is spent to teach them to stitch and sow, or make
Baubles. They are taught to read indeed, and perhaps to write
their Names, or so; and that is the Heigth of a Womans
Education. And I would but ask any who slight the Sex for
their Understanding, What is a Man (a Gentleman, I mean) good
for that is taught no more? If Knowledge and Understanding
had been useless Additions to the Sex, God Almighty would
never have given them Capacities, for he made nothing
Needless. What has the Woman done to forfeit the Priviledge
of being taught? Does she plague us with her Pride and
Impertinence? Why did we not let her learn, that she might
have had more Wit? Shall we upraid Women with Folly, when
'tis only the Error of this inhumane Custom that hindred them
being made wiser."
So much for Female Ignorance and Folly; and now let us a little consider
the Pride which my Correspondent thinks is _intolerable_. By this
Expression of his, one would think he is some dejected Swain, tyranniz'd
over by some cruel haughty Nymph, who (perhaps he thinks) has no more
Reason to be proud than himself. _Alas-a-day!_ What shall we say in this
Case! Why truly, if Women are proud, it is certainly owing to the Men
still; for if they will be such _Simpletons_ as to humble themselves at
their Feet, and fill their credulous Ears with extravagant Praises of
their Wit, Beauty, and other Accomplishments (perhaps where there are
none too,) and when Women are by this Means perswaded that they are
Something more than humane, what Wonder is it, if they carry themselves
haughtily, and live extravagantly. Notwithstanding, I believe there are
more Instances of extravagant Pride to be found among Men than among
Women, and this Fault is certainly more hainous in the former than in
the latter.
Upon the whole, I conclude, that it will be impossible to lash any Vice,
of which the Men, are not equally guilty with the Women, and
consequently deserve an equal (if not a greater), Share in the Censure.
However, I exhort both to amend, where both are culpable, otherwise they
may expect to be severely handled by
Sir,
_Your Humble Servant,_
SILENCE DOGOOD.
N. B. _Mrs._ Dogood _has lately left her Seat in the Country, and come
to Boston, where she intends to tarry for the Summer Season, in order to
compleat her Observations of the present reigning Vices of the Town._
DOGOOD PAPERS, NO. VII
(From Monday June 18. to Monday June 25. 1722.)
_Give me the Muse, whose generous Force,
Impatient of the Reins,
Pursues an unattempted Course,
Breaks all the Criticks Iron Chains._
WATTS.
_To the Author of the_ New-England Courant.
SIR,
It has been the Complaint of many Ingenious Foreigners, who have
travell'd amongst us, _That good Poetry is not to be expected in_
New-England. I am apt to Fancy, the Reason is, not because our
Countrymen are altogether void of a Poetical Genius, nor yet because we
have not those Advantages of Education which other Countries have, but
purely because we do not afford that Praise and Encouragement which is
merited, when any thing extraordinary of this Kind is produc'd among us:
Upon which Consideration I have determined, when I meet with a Good
Piece of _New-England_ Poetry, to give it a suitable Encomium, and
thereby endeavour to discover to the World some of its Beautys, in order
to encourage the Author to go on, and bless the World with more, and
more Excellent Productions.
There has lately appear'd among us a most Excellent Piece of Poetry,
entituled, _An Elegy upon the much Lamented Death of Mrs._ Mehitebell
Kitel, _Wife of Mr._ John Kitel _of_ Salem, _Etc._ It may justly be said
in its Praise, without Flattery to the Author, that it is the most
_Extraordinary_ Piece that was ever wrote in _New-England_. The Language
is so soft and Easy, the Expression so moving and pathetick, but above
all, the Verse and Numbers so Charming and Natural, that it is almost
beyond Comparison.
The Muse _disdains[F]
Those Links and Chains,
Measures and Rules of Vulgar Strains,
And o'er the Laws of Harmony a Sovereign Queen she reigns._
[F] Watts. [_Franklin's note._]
I find no English Author, Ancient or Modern, whose Elegies may be
compar'd with this, in respect to the Elegance of Stile, or Smoothness
of Rhime; and for the affecting Part, I will leave your Readers to
judge, if ever they read any Lines, that would sooner make them _draw
their Breath_ and Sigh, if not shed Tears, than these following.
_Come let us mourn, for we have lost a
Wife, a Daughter, and a Sister,
Who has lately taken Flight, and
greatly we have mist her._
In another place,
Some little Time _before she yielded up her Breath,
She said, I ne'er shall hear one Sermon more on Earth.
She kist her Husband_ some little Time _before she expir'd,
Then lean'd her Head the Pillow on, just out of Breath and tir'd._
But the Threefold Appellation in the first Line
--_a Wife, a Daughter, and a Sister_,
must not pass unobserved. That Line in the celebrated _Watts_,
GUNSTON, _the Just, the Generous, and the Young,_
is nothing Comparable to it. The latter only mentions three
Qualifications of _one_ Person who was deceased, which therefore could
raise Grief and Compassion but for _One_. Whereas the former, (_our most
excellent Poet_) gives his Reader a Sort of an Idea of the Death of
_Three Persons_, viz.
--_a Wife, a Daughter, and a Sister,_
which is _Three Times_ as great a Loss as the Death of _One_, and
consequently must raise _Three Times_ as much Grief and Compassion in
the Reader.
I should be very much straitened for Room, if I should attempt to
discover even half the Excellencies of this Elegy which are obvious to
me. Yet I cannot omit one Observation, which is, that the Author has (to
his Honour) invented a new Species of Poetry, which wants a Name, and
was never before known. His muse scorns to be confin'd to the old
Measures and Limits, or to observe the dull Rules of Criticks;
_Nor_ Rapin _gives her Rules to fly, nor_ Purcell _Notes to Sing._
WATTS.
Now 'tis Pity that such an Excellent Piece should not be dignify'd with
a particular Name; and seeing it cannot justly be called, either _Epic_,
_Sapphic_, _Lyric_, or _Pindaric_, nor any other Name yet invented, I
presume it may, (in Honour and Remembrance of the Dead) be called the
KITELIC. Thus much in the Praise of _Kitelic Poetry_.
It is certain, that those Elegies which are of our own Growth, (and our
Soil seldom produces any other sort of Poetry) are by far the greatest
part, wretchedly Dull and Ridiculous. Now since it is imagin'd by many,
that our Poets are honest, well-meaning Fellows, who do their best, and
that if they had but some Instructions how to govern Fancy with
Judgment, they would make indifferent good Elegies; I shall here subjoin
a Receipt for that purpose, which was left me as a Legacy, (among other
valuable Rarities) by my Reverend Husband. It is as follows,
A RECEIPT _to make_ a New-England Funeral ELEGY.
For the Title of your Elegy. _Of these you may have enough
ready made to your Hands, but if you should chuse to make it
your self, you must be sure not to omit the words_ Ætatis
Suæ, _which will Beautify it exceedingly._
For the Subject of your Elegy. _Take one of your Neighbours
who has lately departed this Life; it is no great matter at
what Age the Party dy'd, but it will be best if he went away
suddenly, being_ Kill'd, Drown'd, _or_ Frose to Death.
_Having chose the Person, take all his Virtues, Excellencies,
&c. and if he have not enough, you may borrow some to make up
a sufficient Quantity: To these add his last Words, dying
Expressions, &c. if they are to be had; mix all these
together, and be sure you strain them well. Then season all
with a Handful or two of Melancholly Expressions, such as_,
Dreadful, Deadly, cruel cold Death, unhappy Fate, weeping
Eyes, &c. _Have mixed all these Ingredients well, put them
into the empty Scull of some_ young Harvard; (_but in Case
you have ne'er a One at Hand, you may use your own_,) _there
let them Ferment for the Space of a Fortnight, and by that
Time they will be incorporated into a Body, which take out,
and having prepared a sufficient Quantity of double Rhimes,
such as_ Power, Flower; Quiver, Shiver; Grieve us, Leave us;
tell you, excel you; Expeditions, Physicians; Fatigue him,
Intrigue him; &c. _you must spread all upon Paper, and if you
can procure a Scrap of Latin to put at the End, it will
garnish it mightily, then having affixed your Name at the
Bottom, with a_ Mœstus Composuit, _you will have an
Excellent Elegy._
N. B. _This Receipt will serve when a Female is the Subject
of your Elegy, provided you borrow a greater Quantity of
Virtues, Excellencies, &c._
SIR,
_Your Servant,_
SILENCE DOGOOD.
_P.S._ I shall make no other Answer to _Hypercarpus's_ Criticism on my
last Letter than this, _Mater me genuit, peperit mox filia matrem_.
DOGOOD PAPERS, NO. XII
(From Monday September 3. to Monday September 10. 1722.)
_Quod est in corde sobrii, est in ore ebrii._
_To the Author of the_ New-England Courant.
SIR,
It is no unprofitable tho' unpleasant Pursuit, diligently to inspect and
consider the Manners & Conversation of Men, who, insensible of the
greatest Enjoyments of humane Life, abandon themselves to Vice from a
false Notion of _Pleasure_ and _good Fellowship_. A true and natural
Representation of any Enormity, is often the best Argument against it
and Means of removing it, when the most severe Reprehensions alone, are
found ineffectual.
I would in this Letter improve the little Observation I have made on the
Vice of _Drunkeness_, the better to reclaim the _good Fellows_ who
usually pay the Devotions of the Evening to _Bacchus_.
I doubt not but _moderate Drinking_ has been improv'd for the Diffusion
of Knowledge among the ingenious Part of Mankind, who want the Talent of
a ready Utterance, in order to discover the Conceptions of their Minds
in an entertaining and intelligible Manner. 'Tis true, drinking does not
_improve_ our Faculties, but it enables us to use them; and therefore I
conclude, that much Study and Experience, and a little Liquor, are of
absolute Necessity for some Tempers, in order to make them accomplish'd
Orators. _Dic. Ponder_ discovers an excellent Judgment when he is
inspir'd with a Glass or two of _Claret_, but he passes for a Fool among
those of small Observation, who never saw him the better for Drink. And
here it will not be improper to observe, That the moderate Use of
Liquor, and a well plac'd and well regulated Anger, often produce this
same Effect; and some who cannot ordinarily talk but in broken Sentences
and false Grammar, do in the Heat of Passion express themselves with as
much Eloquence as Warmth. Hence it is that my own Sex are generally the
most eloquent, because the most passionate. "It has been said in the
Praise of some Men," (says an ingenious Author,) "that they could talk
whole Hours together upon any thing; but it must be owned to the Honour
of the other Sex, that there are many among them who can talk whole
Hours together upon Nothing. I have known a Woman branch out into a long
extempore Dissertation on the Edging of a Petticoat, and chide her
Servant for breaking a China Cup, in all the Figures of Rhetorick."
But after all it must be consider'd, that no Pleasure can give
Satisfaction or prove advantageous to a _reasonable Mind_, which is not
attended with the _Restraints of Reason_. Enjoyment is not to be found
by Excess in any sensual Gratification; but on the contrary, the
immoderate Cravings of the Voluptuary, are always succeeded with
Loathing and a palled Apetite. What Pleasure can the Drunkard have in
the Reflection, that, while in his Cups, he retain'd only the Shape of a
Man, and acted the Part of a Beast; or that from reasonable Discourse a
few Minutes before, he descended to Impertinence and Nonsense?
I cannot pretend to account for the different Effects of Liquor on
Persons of different Dispositions, who are guilty of Excess in the Use
of it. 'Tis strange to see Men of a regular Conversation become rakish
and profane when intoxicated with Drink, and yet more surprizing to
observe, that some who appear to be the most profligate Wretches when
sober, become mighty religious in their Cups, and will then, and at no
other Time address their Maker, but when they are destitute of Reason,
and actually affronting him. Some shrink in the Wetting, and others
swell to such an unusual Bulk in their Imaginations, that they can in an
Instant understand all Arts and Sciences, by the liberal Education of a
little vivyfying _Punch_, or a sufficient Quantity of other exhilerating
Liquor.
And as the Effects of Liquor are various, so are the Characters given to
its Devourers. It argues some Shame in the Drunkards themselves, in that
they have invented numberless Words and Phrases to cover their Folly,
whose proper Significations are harmless, or have no Signification at
all. They are seldom known to be _drunk_, tho they are very often
_boozey_, _cogey_, _tipsey_, _fox'd_, _merry_, _mellow_, _fuddl'd_,
_groatable_, _Confoundedly cut_, _See two Moons_, are _Among the
Philistines_, _In a very good Humour_, _See the Sun_, or, _The Sun has
shone upon them_; they _Clip the King's English_, are _Almost froze_,
_Feavourish_, _In their Altitudes_, _Pretty well enter'd_, &c.[18] In
short, every Day produces some new Word or Phrase which might be added
to the Vocabulary of the _Tiplers_: But I have chose to mention these
few, because if at any Time a Man of Sobriety and Temperance happens to
_cut himself confoundedly_, or is _almoss froze_, or _feavourish_, or
accidentally _sees the Sun_, &c. he may escape the Imputation of being
_drunk_, when his Misfortune comes to be related.
_I am_ SIR,
_Your Humble Servant,_
SILENCE DOGOOD.
EDITORIAL PREFACE TO THE NEW ENGLAND COURANT
(_From Monday, February 4, to Monday, February 11, 1723_)
The late Publisher of this Paper,[19] finding so many Inconveniences
would arise by his carrying the Manuscripts and publick News to be
supervis'd by the Secretary, as to render his carrying it on
unprofitable, has intirely dropt the Undertaking. The present Publisher
having receiv'd the following Piece, desires the Readers to accept of it
as a Preface to what they may hereafter meet with in this Paper.
Non ego mordaci distrinxi Carmine quenquam
Nulla vonenato Litera onista Joco est.
Long has the Press groaned in bringing forth an hateful, but numerous
Brood of Party Pamphlets, malicious Scribbles, and Billinsgate Ribaldry.
The Rancour and bitterness it has unhappily infused into Men's minds,
and to what a Degree it has sowred and leaven'd the Tempers of Persons
formerly esteemed some of the most sweet and affable, is too well known
here, to need any further Proof or Representation of the Matter.
No generous and impartial Person then can blame the present Undertaking,
which is designed purely for the Diversion and Merriment of the Reader.
Pieces of Pleasancy and Mirth have a secret Charm in them to allay the
Heats and Tumours of our Spirits, and to make a Man forget his restless
Resentments. They have a strange Power to tune the harsh Disorders of
the Soul, and reduce us to a serene and placid State of Mind.
The main Design of this Weekly Paper will be to entertain the Town with
the most comical and diverting Incidents of Humane Life, which in so
large a Place as _Boston_ will not fail of a universal Exemplification:
Nor shall we be wanting to fill up these Papers with a grateful
Interspersion of more serious Morals which may be drawn from the most
ludicrous and odd Parts of Life.
As for the Author, that is the next Question. But tho' we profess
ourselves ready to oblige the ingenious and courteous Reader with most
Sorts of Intelligence, yet here we beg a Reserve. Nor will it be of any
Manner of Advantage either to them or to the Writers, that their names
should be published; and therefore in this Matter we desire the Favour
of you to suffer us to hold our Tongues: Which tho' at this Time of Day
it may sound like a very uncommon Request, yet it proceeds from the very
Hearts of your Humble Servants.
By this Time the Reader perceives that more than one are engaged in the
present Undertaking. Yet is there one Person, an Inhabitant of this Town
of _Boston_, whom we honour as a Doctor in the Chair, or a perpetual
Dictator.
The Society had design'd to present the Publick with his Effigies, but
that the Limner, to whom he was presented for a Draught of his
Countenance, descryed (and this he is ready to offer upon Oath) Nineteen
Features in his Face, more than ever he beheld in any Humane Visage
before; which so raised the Price of his Picture, that our Master
himself forbid the Extravagance of coming up to it. And then besides,
the Limner objected a Schism in his face, which splits it from his
Forehead in a strait Line down to his chin, in such sort, that Mr.
Painter protests it is a double Face, and he'll have _Four Pounds_ for
the Pourtraiture. However, tho' this double Face has spoilt us of a
pretty Picture, yet we all rejoiced to see old _Janus_ in our Company.
There is no Man in _Boston_ better qualified than old _Janus_ for a
_Couranteer_, or if you please, an _Observator_, being a Man of such
remarkable _Opticks_, as to look two ways at once.
As for his Morals, he is a chearly Christian, as the Country Phrase
expresses it. A Man of good Temper, courteous Deportment, sound
Judgment; a mortal Hater of Nonsense, Foppery, Formality, and endless
Ceremony.
As for his club, they aim at no greater Happiness or Honour, than the
Publick be made to know, that it is the utmost of their Ambition to
attend upon and do all imaginable good Offices to good old _Janus_ the
Couranteer, who is and always will be the Readers humble Servant.
P.S. Gentle Readers, we design never to let a Paper pass without a Latin
Motto if we can possibly pick one up, which carries a Charm in it to the
Vulgar, and the learned admire the pleasure of Construing. We should
have obliged the World with a Greek scrap or two, but the Printer has no
Types, and therefore we intreat the candid Reader not to impute the
defect to our Ignorance, for our Doctor can say all the _Greek_ Letters
by heart.
A DISSERTATION ON LIBERTY AND NECESSITY, PLEASURE AND PAIN
To Mr. J. R.
[London, 1725]
SIR,
I have here, according to your Request, given you my _present_ Thoughts
of the _general State of Things_ in the Universe. Such as they are, you
have them, and are welcome to 'em; and if they yield you any Pleasure or
Satisfaction, I shall think my Trouble sufficiently compensated. I know
my Scheme will be liable to many Objections from a less discerning
Reader than your self; but it is not design'd for those who can't
understand it. I need not give you any Caution to distinguish the
hypothetical Parts of the Argument from the conclusive: You will easily
perceive what I design for Demonstration, and what for Probability only.
The whole I leave entirely to you, and shall value my self more or less
on this account, in proportion to your Esteem and Approbation.
* * * * *
Sect. I. _Of_ Liberty _and_ Necessity
I. _There is said to be a_ First Mover, _who is called_ GOD, _Maker of
the Universe._
II. _He is said to be all-wise, all-good, all powerful._
These two Propositions being allow'd and asserted by People of almost
every Sect and Opinion; I have here suppos'd them granted, and laid them
down as the Foundation of my Argument; What follows then, being a Chain
of Consequences truly drawn from them, will stand or fall as they are
true or false.
III. _If He is all-good, whatsoever He doth must be good._
IV. _If He is all-wise, whatsoever He doth must be wise._
The Truth of these Propositions, with relation to the two first, I think
may be justly call'd evident; since, either that infinite Goodness will
act what is ill, or infinite Wisdom what is, not wise, is too glaring a
Contradiction not to be perceiv'd by any Man of common Sense, and
deny'd as soon as understood.
V. _If He is all-powerful, there can be nothing either existing or
acting in the Universe_ against _or_ without _his Consent, and what He
consents to must be good, because He is good, therefore_ Evil _doth not
exist._
_Unde Malum?_ has been long a Question, and many of the Learned have
perplex'd themselves and Readers to little Purpose in Answer to it. That
there are both Things and Actions to which we give the Name of _Evil_,
is not here deny'd, as _Pain_, _Sickness_, _Want_, _Theft_, _Murder_,
&c. but that these and the like are not in reality _Evils_, _Ills_, or
_Defects_ in the Order of the Universe, is demonstrated in the next
Section, as well as by this and the following Proposition. Indeed, to
suppose any Thing to exist or be done, _contrary_ to the Will of the
Almighty, is to suppose him not almighty; or that Something (the Cause
of _Evil_) is more mighty than the Almighty; an Inconsistence that I
think no One will defend: And to deny any Thing or Action, which he
consents to the existence of, to be good, is entirely to destroy his two
Attributes of _Wisdom_ and _Goodness_.
_There is nothing done in the Universe_, say the Philosophers, _but what
God either does, or_ permits _to be done_. This, as He is Almighty, is
certainly true: But what need of this Distinction between _doing_ and
_permitting_? Why, first they take it for granted that many Things in
the Universe exist in such a Manner as is not for the best, and that
many Actions are done which ought not to be done, or would be better
undone; these Things or Actions they cannot ascribe to God as His,
because they have already attributed to Him infinite Wisdom and
Goodness; Here then is the Use of the Word _Permit_; He _permits_ them
to be done, _say they_. But we will reason thus: If God permits an
Action to be done, it is because he wants either _Power_ or
_Inclination_ to hinder it; in saying he wants _Power_, we deny Him to
be _almighty_; and if we say He wants _Inclination_ or _Will_, it must
be, either because He is not Good, or the Action is not _evil_, (for all
Evil is contrary to the Essence of _Infinite Goodness_.) The former is
inconsistent with his before-given Attribute of Goodness, therefore the
latter must be true.
It will be said, perhaps, that _God permits evil Actions to be done,
for_ wise _Ends and Purposes_. But this Objection destroys itself; for
whatever an infinitely good God hath wise Ends in suffering to _be_,
must be good, is thereby made good, and cannot be otherwise.
VI. _If a Creature is made by God, it must depend upon God, and receive
all its Power from Him, with which Power the Creature can do nothing
contrary to the Will of God, because God is Almighty; what is not
contrary to His Will, must be agreeable to it; what is agreeable to it,
must be good, because He is Good; therefore a Creature can do nothing
but what is good._
This Proposition is much to the same Purpose with the former, but more
particular; and its Conclusion is as just and evident. Tho' a Creature
may do many Actions which by his Fellow Creatures will be nam'd _Evil_,
and which will naturally and necessarily cause or bring upon the Doer,
certain _Pains_ (which will likewise be call'd _Punishments_;) yet this
Proposition proves, that he cannot act what will be in itself really
Ill, or displeasing to God. And that the painful Consequences of his
evil Actions (_so call'd_) are not, as indeed they ought not to be,
_Punishments_ or Unhappinesses, will be shewn hereafter.
Nevertheless, the late learned Author of _The Religion of Nature_,
(which I send you herewith) has given us a Rule or Scheme, whereby to
discover which of our Actions ought to be esteem'd and denominated
_good_, and which _evil_; It is in short this, "Every Action which is
done according to _Truth_, is good; and every Action contrary to Truth,
is evil: To act according to Truth is to use and esteem every Thing as
what it is, &c. Thus if _A_ steals a Horse from _B_, and rides away upon
him, he uses him not as what he is in Truth, _viz._ the Property of
another, but as his own, which is contrary to Truth, and therefore
_evil_." But, as this Gentleman himself says, (Sect. I. Prop. VI.) "In
order to judge rightly what any Thing is, it must be consider'd, not
only what it is in one Respect, but also what it may be in any other
Respect; and the whole Description of the Thing ought to be taken in: So
in this Case it ought to be consider'd, that _A_ is naturally a
_covetous_ Being, feeling an Uneasiness in the want of _B's_ Horse,
which produces an Inclination for stealing him, stronger than his Fear
of Punishment for so doing. This is _Truth_ likewise, and _A_ acts
according to it when he steals the Horse. Besides, if it is prov'd to be
a _Truth_, that _A_ has not Power over his own Actions, it will be
indisputable that he acts according to Truth, and impossible he should
do otherwise.
I would not be understood by this to encourage or defend Theft; 'tis
only for the sake of the Argument, and will certainly have no _ill
Effect_. The Order and Course of Things will not be affected by
Reasoning of this Kind; and 'tis as just and necessary, and as much
according to Truth, for _B_ to dislike and punish the Theft of his
Horse, as it is for _A_ to steal him.
VII. _If the Creature is thus limited in his Actions, being able to do
only such Things as God would have him to do, and not being able to
refuse doing what God would have done; then he can have no such Thing as
Liberty, Free-will or Power to do or refrain an Action._
By _Liberty_ is sometimes understood the Absence of Opposition; and in
this Sense, indeed, all our Actions may be said to be the Effects of our
Liberty: But it is a Liberty of the same Nature with the Fall of a heavy
Body to the Ground; it has Liberty to fall, that is, it meets with
nothing to hinder its Fall, but at the same Time it is necessitated to
fall, and has no Power or Liberty to remain suspended.
But let us take the Argument in another View, and suppose ourselves to
be, in the common sense of the Word, _Free Agents_. As Man is a Part of
this great Machine, the Universe, his regular Acting is requisite to the
regular moving of the whole. Among the many Things which lie before him
to be done, he may, as he is at Liberty and his Choice influenc'd by
nothing, (for so it must be, or he is not at Liberty) chuse any one, and
refuse the rest. Now there is every Moment something _best_ to be done,
which is alone then _good_, and with respect to which, every Thing else
is at that Time _evil_. In order to know which is best to be done, and
which not, it is requisite that we should have at one View all the
intricate Consequences of every Action with respect to the general Order
and Scheme of the Universe, both present and future; but they are
innumerable and incomprehensible by any Thing but Omniscience. As we
cannot know these, we have but as one Chance to ten thousand, to hit on
the right Action; we should then be perpetually blundering about in the
Dark, and putting the Scheme in Disorder; for every wrong Action of a
Part, is a Defect or Blemish in the Order of the Whole. Is it not
necessary then, that our Actions should be over-rul'd and govern'd by an
all-wise Providence?--How exact and regular is every Thing in the
_natural_ World! How wisely in every Part contriv'd! We cannot here find
the least Defect! Those who have study'd the mere animal and vegetable
Creation, demonstrate that nothing can be more harmonious and beautiful!
All the heavenly Bodies, the Stars and Planets, are regulated with the
utmost Wisdom! And can we suppose less Care to be taken in the Order of
the _moral_ than in the _natural_ System? It is as if an ingenious
Artificer, having fram'd a curious Machine or Clock, and put its many
intricate Wheels and Powers in such a Dependance on one another, that
the whole might move in the most exact Order and Regularity, had
nevertheless plac'd in it several other Wheels endu'd with an
independent _Self-Motion_, but ignorant of the general Interest of the
Clock; and these would every now and then be moving wrong, disordering
the true Movement, and making continual Work for the Mender: which might
better be prevented, by depriving them of that Power of Self-Motion, and
placing them in a Dependance on the regular Part of the Clock.
VIII. _If there is no such Thing as Free-Will in Creatures, there can be
neither Merit nor Demerit in Creatures._
IX. _And therefore every Creature must be equally esteem'd by the
Creator._
These Propositions appear to be the necessary Consequences of the
former. And certainly no Reason can be given, why the Creator should
prefer in his Esteem one Part of His Works to another, if with equal
Wisdom and Goodness he design'd and created them all, since all Ill or
Defect, as contrary to his Nature, is excluded by his Power. We will sum
up the Argument thus, When the Creator first design'd the Universe,
either it was His Will and Intention that all Things should exist and
be in the Manner they are at this Time; or it was his Will they should
_be_ otherwise, _i.e._ in a different Manner: To say it was His Will
Things should be otherwise than they are, is to say Somewhat hath
contradicted His Will, and broken His Measures, which is impossible
because inconsistent with his Power; therefore we must allow that all
Things exist now in a Manner agreeable to His Will, and in consequence
of that are all equally Good, and therefore equally esteem'd by Him.
I proceed now to shew, that as all the Works of the Creator are equally
esteem'd by Him, so they are, as in Justice they ought to be, equally
us'd.
* * * * *
Sect. II. _Of_ Pleasure _and_ Pain.
I. _When a Creature is form'd and endu'd with Life, 'tis suppos'd to
receive a Capacity of the Sensation of_ Uneasiness _or_ Pain.
It is this distinguishes Life and Consciousness from unactive
unconscious Matter. To know or be sensible of Suffering or being acted
upon is _to live_; and whatsoever is not so, among created Things, is
properly and truly _dead_.
All _Pain_ and _Uneasiness_ proceeds at first from and is caus'd by
Somewhat without and distinct from the Mind itself. The Soul must first
be acted upon before it can re-act. In the Beginning of Infancy it is as
if it were not; it is not conscious of its own Existence, till it has
receiv'd the first Sensation of _Pain_; then, and not before, it begins
to feel itself, is rous'd, and put into Action; then it discovers its
Powers and Faculties, and exerts them to expel the Uneasiness. Thus is
the Machine set on work; this is Life. We are first mov'd by _Pain_, and
the whole succeeding Course of our Lives is but one continu'd Series of
Action with a View to be freed from it. As fast as we have excluded one
Uneasiness another appears, otherwise the Motion would cease. If a
continual Weight is not apply'd, the Clock will stop. And as soon as the
Avenues of Uneasiness to the Soul are choak'd up or cut off, we are
dead, we think and act no more.
II. _This Uneasiness, whenever felt, produces_ Desire _to be freed from
it, great in exact proportion to the Uneasiness._
Thus is _Uneasiness_ the first Spring and Cause of all Action; for till
we are uneasy in Rest, we can have no Desire to move, and without Desire
of moving there can be no voluntary Motion. The Experience of every Man
who has observ'd his own Actions will evince the Truth of this; and I
think nothing need be said to prove that the _Desire_ will be equal to
the _Uneasiness_, for the very Thing implies as much: It is not
_Uneasiness_ unless we desire to be freed from it, nor a great
_Uneasiness_ unless the consequent Desire is great.
I might here observe, how necessary a Thing in the Order and Design of
the Universe this _Pain_ or _Uneasiness_ is, and how beautiful in its
Place! Let us but suppose it just now banish'd the World entirely, and
consider the Consequence of it: All the Animal Creation would
immediately stand stock still, exactly in the Posture they were in the
Moment Uneasiness departed; not a Limb, not a Finger would henceforth
move; we should all be reduc'd to the Condition of Statues, dull and
unactive: Here I should continue to sit motionless with the Pen in my
Hand thus------and neither leave my Seat nor write one Letter more. This
may appear odd at first View, but a little Consideration will make it
evident; for 'tis impossible to assign any other Cause for the voluntary
Motion of an Animal than its _uneasiness_ in Rest. What a different
Appearance then would the Face of Nature make, without it! How necessary
is it! And how unlikely that the Inhabitants of the World ever were, or
that the Creator ever design'd they should be, exempt from it!
I would likewise observe here, that the VIIIth Proposition in the
preceding Section, viz. _That there is neither Merit nor Demerit_, &c.
is here again demonstrated, as infallibly, tho' in another manner: For
since _Freedom from Uneasiness_ is the End of all our Actions, how is it
possible for us to do any Thing disinterested?--How can any Action be
meritorious of Praise or Dispraise, Reward or Punishment, when the
natural Principle of _Self-Love_ is the only and the irresistible Motive
to it?
III. _This_ Desire _is always fulfill'd or satisfy'd_,
In the _Design_ or _End_ of it, tho' not in the _Manner_: The first is
requisite, the latter not. To exemplify this, let us make a Supposition;
A Person is confin'd in a House which appears to be in imminent Danger
of Falling, this, as soon as perceiv'd, creates a violent _Uneasiness_,
and that instantly produces an equal strong _Desire_, the _End_ of which
is _freedom from the Uneasiness_, and the _Manner_ or Way propos'd to
gain this _End_, is _to get out of the House_. Now if he is convinc'd by
any Means, that he is mistaken, and the House is not likely to fall, he
is immediately freed from his _Uneasiness_, and the _End_ of his Desire
is attain'd as well as if it had been in the _Manner_ desir'd, viz.
_leaving the House_.
All our different Desires and Passions proceed from and are reducible to
this one Point, _Uneasiness_, tho' the Means we propose to ourselves for
expelling of it are infinite. One proposes _Fame_, another _Wealth_, a
third _Power_, &c. as the Means to gain this _End_; but tho' these are
never attain'd, if the Uneasiness be remov'd by some other Means, the
_Desire_ is satisfy'd. Now during the Course of Life we are ourselves
continually removing successive Uneasinesses as they arise, and the
_last_ we suffer is remov'd by the _sweet Sleep_ of Death.
IV. _The fulfilling or Satisfaction of this_ Desire, _produces the
Sensation of_ Pleasure, _great or small in exact proportion to the_
Desire.
_Pleasure_ is that Satisfaction which arises in the Mind upon, and is
caus'd by, the accomplishment of our _Desires_, and by no other Means at
all; and those Desires being above shewn to be caus'd by our _Pains_ or
_Uneasinesses_, it follows that _Pleasure_ is wholly caus'd by _Pain_,
and by no other Thing at all.
V. _Therefore the Sensation of_ Pleasure _is equal, or in exact
proportion to the Sensation of_ Pain.
As the _Desire_ of being freed from Uneasiness is equal to the
_Uneasiness_, and the _Pleasure_ of satisfying that Desire equal to the
_Desire_, the _Pleasure_ thereby produc'd must necessarily be equal to
the _Uneasiness_ or _Pain_ which produces it: of three Lines, _A_, _B_,
and _C_, if _A_ is equal to _B_, and _B_ to _C_, _C_ must be equal to
_A_. And as our _Uneasinesses_ are always remov'd by some Means or
other, it follows that _Pleasure_ and _Pain_ are in their Nature
inseparable: So many Degrees as one Scale of the Ballance descends, so
many exactly the other ascends; and one cannot rise or fall without the
Fall or Rise of the other: 'Tis impossible to taste of _Pleasure_,
without feeling its preceding proportionate _Pain_; or to be sensible of
_Pain_, without having its necessary Consequent _Pleasure_: The _highest
Pleasure_ is only Consciousness of Freedom from the _deepest Pain_, and
Pain is not Pain to us unless we ourselves are sensible of it. They go
Hand in Hand; they cannot be divided.
You have a View of the whole Argument in a few familiar Examples: The
_Pain_ of Abstinence from Food, as it is greater or less, produces a
greater or less _Desire_ of Eating, the Accomplishment of this _Desire_
produces a greater or less _Pleasure_ proportionate to it. The _Pain_ of
Confinement causes the _Desire_ of Liberty, which accomplish'd, yields a
_Pleasure_ equal to that _Pain_ of Confinement. The _Pain_ of Labour and
Fatigue causes the _Pleasure_ of Rest, equal to that _Pain_. The _Pain_
of Absence from Friends, produces the _Pleasure_ of Meeting in exact
proportion. _&c._
This is the _fixt Nature_ of Pleasure and Pain, and will always be found
to be so by those who examine it.
One of the most common Arguments for the future Existence of the Soul,
is taken from the generally suppos'd Inequality of Pain and Pleasure in
the present; and this, notwithstanding the Difficulty by outward
Appearances to make a Judgment of another's Happiness, has been look'd
upon as almost unanswerable: but since _Pain_ naturally and infallibly
produces a _Pleasure_ in proportion to it, every individual Creature
must, in any State of _Life_, have an equal Quantity of each, so that
there is not, on that Account, any Occasion for a future Adjustment.
Thus are all the Works of the Creator _equally_ us'd by him; And no
Condition of Life or Being is in itself better or preferable to another:
The Monarch is not more happy than the Slave, nor the Beggar more
miserable than _Crœsus_. Suppose _A_, _B_, and _C_, three distinct
Beings; _A_ and _B_, animate, capable of _Pleasure_ and _Pain_, _C_ an
inanimate Piece of Matter, insensible of either. _A_ receives ten
Degrees of _Pain_, which are necessarily succeeded by ten Degrees of
_Pleasure_: _B_ receives fifteen of _Pain_, and the consequent equal
Number of _Pleasure_: _C_ all the while lies unconcern'd, and as he has
not suffer'd the former, has no right to the latter. What can be more
equal and just than this? When the Accounts come to be adjusted, _A_ has
no Reason to complain that his Portion of _Pleasure_ was five Degrees
less than that of _B_, for his Portion of _Pain_ was five Degrees less
likewise: Nor has _B_ any Reason to boast that his _Pleasure_ was five
Degrees greater than that of _A_, for his _Pain_ was proportionate: They
are then both on the same Foot with _C_, that is, they are neither
Gainers nor Losers.
It will possibly be objected here, that even common Experience shews us,
there is not in Fact this Equality: "Some we see hearty, brisk and
chearful perpetually, while others are constantly burden'd with a heavy
Load of Maladies and Misfortunes, remaining for Years perhaps in
Poverty, Disgrace, or Pain, and die at last without any Appearance of
Recompence." Now tho' 'tis not necessary, when a Proposition is
demonstrated to be a general Truth, to shew in what manner it agrees
with the particular Circumstances of Persons, and indeed ought not to be
requir'd; yet, as this is a common Objection, some Notice may be taken
of it: And here let it be observ'd, that we cannot be proper Judges of
the good or bad Fortune of Others; we are apt to imagine, that what
would give us a great Uneasiness or a great Satisfaction, has the same
Effect upon others: we think, for Instance, those unhappy, who must
depend upon Charity for a mean Subsistence, who go in Rags, fare hardly,
and are despis'd and scorn'd by all; not considering that Custom renders
all these Things easy, familiar, and even pleasant. When we see Riches,
Grandeur and a chearful Countenance, we easily imagine Happiness
accompanies them, when oftentimes 'tis quite otherwise: Nor is a
constantly sorrowful Look, attended with continual Complaints, an
infallible Indication of Unhappiness. In short, we can judge by nothing
but Appearances, and they are very apt to deceive us. Some put on a gay
chearful Outside, and appear to the World perfectly at Ease, tho' even
then, some inward Sting, some secret Pain imbitters all their Joys, and
makes the Ballance even: Others appear continually dejected and full of
Sorrow; but even Grief itself is sometimes _pleasant_, and Tears are not
always without their Sweetness: Besides, Some take a Satisfaction in
being thought unhappy, (as others take a Pride in being thought humble,)
these will paint their Misfortunes to others in the strongest Colours,
and leave no Means unus'd to make you think them throughly miserable; so
great a Pleasure it is to them _to be pitied_. Others retain the Form
and outside Shew of Sorrow, long after the Thing itself, with its Cause,
is remov'd from the Mind; it is a Habit they have acquir'd and cannot
leave. These, with many others that might be given, are Reasons why we
cannot make a true Estimate of the _Equality_ of the Happiness and
Unhappiness of others; and unless we could, Matter of Fact cannot be
opposed to this Hypothesis. Indeed, we are sometimes apt to think, that
the Uneasinesses we ourselves have had, outweigh our Pleasures; but the
Reason is this, the Mind takes no Account of the latter, they flip away
un-remark'd, when the former leave more lasting Impressions on the
Memory. But suppose we pass the greatest part of Life in Pain and
Sorrow, suppose we die by Torments and _think no more_, 'tis no
Diminution to the Truth of what is here advanc'd; for the _Pain_, tho'
exquisite, is not so to the _last_ Moments of Life, the Senses are soon
benumm'd, and render'd incapable of transmitting it so sharply to the
Soul as at first; She perceives it cannot hold long, and 'tis an
_exquisite Pleasure_ to behold the immediate Approaches of Rest. This
makes an Equivalent tho' Annihilation should follow: For the Quantity of
_Pleasure_ and _Pain_ is not to be measur'd by its Duration, any more
than the Quantity of Matter by its Extension; and as one cubic Inch may
be made to contain, by Condensation, as much Matter as would fill ten
thousand cubic Feet, being more expanded, so one single Moment of
_Pleasure_ may outweigh and compensate an Age of _Pain_.
It was owing to their Ignorance of the Nature of Pleasure and Pain that
the Antient Heathens believ'd the idle Fable of their _Elizium_, that
State of uninterrupted Ease and Happiness! The Thing is intirely
impossible in Nature! Are not the Pleasures of the Spring made such by
the Disagreeableness of the Winter? Is not the Pleasure of fair Weather
owing to the Unpleasantness of foul? Certainly. Were it then always
Spring, were the Fields always green and nourishing, and the Weather
constantly serene and fair, the Pleasure would pall and die upon our
Hands; it would cease to be Pleasure to us, when it is not usher'd in by
Uneasiness. Could the Philosopher visit, in reality, every Star and
Planet with as much Ease and Swiftness as he can now visit their Ideas,
and pass from one to another of them in the Imagination; it would be a
_Pleasure_ I grant; but it would be only in proportion to the _Desire_
of accomplishing it, and that would be no greater than the _Uneasiness_
suffer'd in the Want of it. The Accomplishment of a long and difficult
Journey yields a great _Pleasure_; but if we could take a Trip to the
Moon and back again, as frequently and with as much Ease as we can go
and come from Market, the Satisfaction would be just the same.
The _Immateriality_ of the Soul has been frequently made use of as an
Argument for its _Immortality_; but let us consider, that tho' it should
be allow'd to be immaterial, and consequently its Parts incapable of
Separation or Destruction by any Thing material, yet by Experience we
find, that it is not incapable of Cessation of _Thought_, which is its
Action. When the Body is but a little indispos'd it has an evident
Effect upon the Mind; and a right Disposition of the Organs is requisite
to a right Manner of Thinking. In a sound Sleep sometimes, or in a
Swoon, we cease to think at all; tho' the Soul is not therefore then
annihilated, but _exists_ all the while tho' it does not _act_; and may
not this probably be the Case after Death? All our Ideas are first
admitted by the Senses and imprinted on the Brain, increasing in Number
by Observation and Experience; there they become the Subjects of the
Soul's Action. The Soul is a mere Power or Faculty of _contemplating_
on, and _comparing_ those Ideas when it has them; hence springs Reason:
But as it can _think_ on nothing but Ideas, it must have them before it
can _think_ at all. Therefore as it may exist before it has receiv'd any
Ideas, it may exist before it _thinks_. To remember a Thing, is to have
the Idea of it still plainly imprinted on the Brain, which the Soul can
turn to and contemplate on Occasion. To forget a Thing, is to have the
Idea of it defac'd and destroy'd by some Accident, or the crouding in
and imprinting of great variety of other Ideas upon it, so that the Soul
cannot find out its Traces and distinguish it. When we have thus lost
the Idea of any one Thing, we can _think_ no more, or _cease to think_,
on that Thing; and as we can lose the Idea of one Thing, so we may of
ten, twenty, a hundred, &c. and even of all Things, because they are not
in their Nature permanent; and often during Life we see that some Men,
(by an Accident or Distemper affecting the Brain,) lose the greatest
Part of their Ideas, and remember very little of their past Actions and
Circumstances. Now upon _Death_, and the Destruction of the Body, the
Ideas contain'd in the Brain, (which are alone the Subjects of the
Soul's Action) being then likewise necessarily destroy'd, the Soul, tho'
incapable of Destruction itself, must then necessarily _cease to think_
or _act_, having nothing left to think or act upon. It is reduc'd to its
first unconscious State before it receiv'd any Ideas. And to cease to
_think_ is but little different from _ceasing to be_.
Nevertheless, 'tis not impossible that this same _Faculty_ of
contemplating Ideas may be hereafter united to a new Body, and receive a
new Set of Ideas; but that will no way concern us who are now living;
for the Identity will be lost, it is no longer that same _Self_ but a
new Being.
I shall here subjoin a short Recapitulation of the Whole, that it may
with all its Parts be comprehended at one View.
1. _It is suppos'd that God the Maker and Governour of the Universe, is
infinitely wise, good, and powerful._
2. _In consequence of His Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, it is asserted,
that whatever He doth must be infinitely wise and good;_
3. _Unless He be interrupted, and His Measures broken by some other
Being, which is impossible because He is Almighty._
4. _In consequence of His infinite Power, it is asserted, that nothing
can exist or be done in the Universe which is not agreeable to His Will,
and therefore good._
5. _Evil is hereby excluded, with all Merit and Demerit; and likewise
all preference in the Esteem of God, of one Part of the Creation to
another._ This is the Summary of the first Part.
Now our common Notions of Justice will tell us, that if all created
Things are equally esteem'd by the Creator, they ought to be equally
us'd by Him; and that they are therefore equally us'd, we might embrace
for Truth upon the Credit, and as the true Consequence of the foregoing
Argument. Nevertheless we proceed to confirm it, by shewing _how_ they
are equally us'd, and that in the following Manner.
1. _A Creature when endu'd with Life or Consciousness, is made capable
of Uneasiness or Pain._
2. _This Pain produces Desire to be freed from it, in exact proportion
to itself._
3. _The Accomplishment of this Desire produces an equal Pleasure._
4. _Pleasure is consequently equal to Pain._
From these Propositions it is observ'd,
1. _That every Creature hath as much Pleasure as Pain._
2. _That Life is not preferable to Insensibility; for Pleasure and Pain
destroy one another: That Being which has ten Degrees of Pain subtracted
from ten of Pleasure, has nothing remaining, and is upon an equality
with that Being which is insensible of both._
3. _As the first Part proves that all Things must be equally us'd by the
Creator because equally esteem'd; so this second Part demonstrates that
they are equally esteem'd because equally us'd._
4. _Since every Action is the Effect of Self-Uneasiness, the Distinction
of Virtue and Vice is excluded; and_ Prop. VIII. _in_ Sect. I. _again
demonstrated._
5. _No State of Life can be happier than the present, because Pleasure
and Pain are inseparable._
Thus both Parts of this Argument agree with and confirm one another, and
the Demonstration is reciprocal.
I am sensible that the Doctrine here advanc'd, if it were to be
publish'd, would meet with but an indifferent Reception. Mankind
naturally and generally love to be flatter'd: Whatever sooths our Pride,
and tends to exalt our Species above the rest of the Creation, we are
pleas'd with and easily believe, when ungrateful Truths shall be with
the utmost Indignation rejected. "What! bring ourselves down to an
Equality with the Beasts of the Field! with the _meanest_ part of the
Creation! 'Tis insufferable!" But, (to use a Piece of _common_ Sense)
our _Geese_ are but _Geese_ tho' we may think 'em _Swans_, and Truth
will be Truth tho' it sometimes prove mortifying and distasteful.
RULES FOR A CLUB ESTABLISHED FOR MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT[20]
[1728]
Previous Question, To Be Answered At Every Meeting
Have you read over these queries this morning, in order to consider what
you might have to offer the Junto touching any one of them? viz.
1. Have you met with any thing in the author you last read, remarkable,
or suitable to be communicated to the Junto? particularly in history,
morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of
knowledge.
2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in
conversation?
3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and
what have you heard of the cause?
4. Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, and by what
means?
5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere,
got his estate?
6. Do you know of a fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action,
deserving praise and imitation; or who has lately committed an error,
proper for us to be warned against and avoid?
7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or
heard; of imprudence, of passion, or of any other vice or folly?
8. What happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of moderation, or of
any other virtue?
9. Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If
so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?
10. Whom do you know that are shortly going voyages or journeys, if one
should have occasion to send by them?
11. Do you think of any thing at present, in which the Junto may be
serviceable to _mankind_, to their country, to their friends, or to
themselves?
12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that
you have heard of? And what have you heard or observed of his character
or merits? And whether, think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to
oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?
13. Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it
lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?
14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your _country_,
of which it would be proper to move the legislature for an amendment? Or
do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?
15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of
the people?
16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? And what can the
Junto do towards securing it?
17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or
any of them, can procure for you?
18. Have you lately heard any member's character attacked, and how have
you defended it?
19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto
to procure redress?
20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of
your honourable designs?
21. Have you any weighty affair on hand, in which you think the advice
of the Junto may be of service?
22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?
23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and
injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
24. Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of
the Junto, which might be amended?
-- -- -- -- --
Any person to be qualified [as a member of the Junto], to stand up, and
lay his hand upon his breast, and be asked these questions, viz.
1. Have you any particular disrespect to any present members? _Answer._
I have not.
2. Do you sincerely declare, that you love mankind in general, of what
profession or religion soever? _Answer._ I do.
3. Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name, or
goods, for mere speculative opinions, or his external way of worship?
_Answer._ No.
4. Do you love truth for truth's sake, and will you endeavour
impartially to find and receive it yourself, and communicate it to
others? _Answer._ Yes.
ARTICLES OF BELIEF AND ACTS OF RELIGION
IN TWO PARTS[21]
Here will I hold. If there is a Pow'r above us,
(And that there is, all Nature cries aloud,
Thro' all her Works) He must delight in Virtue;
And that which he delights in must be Happy.
--CATO.
PART I
Philad^a, NOV. 20: 1728
FIRST PRINCIPLES
I believe there is one supreme, most perfect Being, Author and Father of
the Gods themselves. For I believe that Man is not the most perfect
Being but one, rather that as there are many Degrees of Beings his
Inferiors, so there are many Degrees of Beings superior to him.
Also, when I stretch my Imagination thro' and beyond our System of
Planets, beyond the visible fix'd Stars themselves, into that Space that
is every Way infinite, and conceive it fill'd with Suns like ours, each
with a Chorus of Worlds forever moving round him, then this little Ball
on which we move, seems, even in my narrow Imagination, to be almost
Nothing, and myself less than nothing, and of no sort of Consequence.
When I think thus, I imagine it great Vanity in me to suppose, that the
_Supremely Perfect_ does in the least regard such an inconsiderable
Nothing as Man. More especially, since it is impossible for me to have
any positive clear idea of that which is infinite and incomprehensible,
I cannot conceive otherwise than that he _the Infinite Father_ expects
or requires no Worship or Praise from us, but that he is even infinitely
above it.
But, since there is in all Men something like a natural principle, which
inclines them to DEVOTION, or the Worship of some unseen Power;
And since Men are endued with Reason superior to all other Animals, that
we are in our World acquainted with;
Therefore I think it seems required of me, and my Duty as a Man, to pay
Divine Regards to SOMETHING.
I conceive then, that the INFINITE has created many beings or Gods,
vastly superior to Man, who can better conceive his Perfections than we,
and return him a more rational and glorious Praise.
As, among Men, the Praise of the Ignorant or of Children is not regarded
by the ingenious Painter or Architect, who is rather honour'd and
pleas'd with the approbation of Wise Men & Artists.
It may be that these created Gods are immortal; or it may be that after
many Ages, they are changed, and others Supply their Places.
Howbeit, I conceive that each of these is exceeding wise and good, and
very powerful; and that Each has made for himself one glorious Sun,
attended with a beautiful and admirable System of Planets.
It is that particular Wise and good God, who is the author and owner of
our System, that I propose for the object of my praise and adoration.
For I conceive that he has in himself some of those Passions he has
planted in us, and that, since he has given us Reason whereby we are
capable of observing his Wisdom in the Creation, he is not above caring
for us, being pleas'd with our Praise, and offended when we slight Him,
or neglect his Glory.
I conceive for many Reasons, that he is a _good Being_; and as I should
be happy to have so wise, good, and powerful a Being my Friend, let me
consider in what manner I shall make myself most acceptable to him.
Next to the Praise resulting from and due to his Wisdom, I believe he is
pleas'd and delights in the Happiness of those he has created; and since
without Virtue Man can have no Happiness in this World, I firmly believe
he delights to see me Virtuous, because he is pleased when he sees Me
Happy.
And since he has created many Things, which seem purely design'd for the
Delight of Man, I believe he is not offended, when he sees his Children
solace themselves in any manner of pleasant exercises and Innocent
Delights; and I think no Pleasure innocent, that is to Man hurtful.
I _love_ him therefore for his Goodness, and I _adore_ him for his
Wisdom.
Let me then not fail to praise my God continually, for it is his Due,
and it is all I can return for his many Favours and great Goodness to
me; and let me resolve to be virtuous, that I may be happy, that I may
please Him, who is delighted to see me happy. Amen!
ADORATION
PREL. Being mindful that before I address the Deity, my soul ought to be
calm and serene, free from Passion and Perturbation, or otherwise
elevated with Rational Joy and Pleasure, I ought to use a Countenance
that expresses a filial Respect, mixed w^th a kind of Smiling, that
Signifies inward Joy, and Satisfaction, and Admiration.
O wise God, my good Father!
Thou beholdest the sincerity of my Heart and of my Devotion; Grant me a
Continuance of thy Favour!
1. O Creator, O Father! I believe that thou art Good, and that thou art
_pleas'd with the pleasure_ of thy children.--Praised be thy name for
Ever!
2. By thy Power hast thou made the glorious Sun, with his attending
Worlds; from the energy of thy mighty Will, they first received [their
prodigious] motion, and by thy Wisdom hast thou prescribed the wondrous
Laws, by which they move.--Praised be thy name for Ever!
3. By thy Wisdom hast thou formed all Things. Thou hast created Man,
bestowing Life and Reason, and placed him in Dignity superior to thy
other earthly Creatures.--Praised be thy name for Ever!
4. Thy Wisdom, thy Power, and thy Goodness are everywhere clearly seen;
in the air and in the water, in the Heaven and on the Earth; Thou
providest for the various winged Fowl, and the innumerable Inhabitants
of the Water; thou givest Cold and Heat, Rain and Sunshine, in their
Season, & to the Fruits of the Earth Increase.--Praised be thy name for
Ever!
5. Thou abhorrest in thy Creatures Treachery and Deceit, Malice,
Revenge, [_Intemperance_,] and every other hurtful Vice; but Thou art a
Lover of Justice and Sincerity, of Friendship and Benevolence, and every
Virtue. Thou art my Friend, my Father, and my Benefactor.--Praised be
thy name, O God, for Ever! Amen!
[After this, it will not be improper to read part of some such Book as
Ray's _Wisdom of God in the Creation_, or _Blackmore on the Creation_,
or the Archbishop of Cambray's _Demonstration of the Being of a God_,
&c., or else spend some Minutes in a serious Silence, contemplating on
those Subjects.]
Then sing
MILTON'S HYMN TO THE CREATOR
"These are thy Glorious Works, Parent of Good!
Almighty, Thine this Universal Frame,
Thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous then!
Speak ye who best can tell, Ye Sons of Light,
Angels, for ye behold him, and with Songs
And Choral Symphonies, Day without Night,
Circle his Throne rejoicing you in Heav'n,
On Earth join all ye creatures to extol
Him first, him last, him midst, and without End.
"Fairest of Stars, last in the Train of Night,
If rather Thou belongst not to the Dawn,
Sure Pledge of Day! thou crown'st the smiling Morn
With thy bright Circlet, Praise him in thy Sphere
While Day arises, that sweet Hour of Prime.
Thou Sun, of this great World, both Eye and Soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater; Sound his Praise
In thy eternal Course; both when thou climb'st,
And when high Noon hast gain'd, and when thou fall'st.
Moon! that now meet'st the orient sun, now fly'st,
With the fixed Stars, fixed in their orb that flies,
And ye five other wandering Fires, that move
In mystic Dance not without Song; resound
His Praise, that out of Darkness called up Light.
Air! and ye Elements! the eldest Birth
Of Nature's womb, that in Quaternion run
Perpetual Circle, multiform, and mix
And nourish all things, let your ceaseless Change
Vary to our great Maker still new Praise.
Ye mists and Exhalations, that now rise
From Hill or steaming lake, dusky or grey,
Till the Sun paint your fleecy skirts with Gold,
In honour to the World's Great Author rise;
Whether to deck with Clouds the uncolor'd sky,
Or wet the thirsty Earth w^th falling show'rs,
Rising or falling still advance his Praise.
His Praise, ye Winds! that from 4 quarters blow,
Breathe soft or Loud; and wave your Tops, ye Pines!
With every Plant, in sign of worship wave.
Fountains! and ye that warble, as ye flow
Melodious Murmurs, warbling tune his Praise.
Join voices all ye living souls, ye Birds!
That singing, up to Heaven's high gate ascend,
Bear on your wings, & in your Note his Praise;
Ye that in Waters glide! and ye that walk
The Earth! and stately tread or lowly creep;
Witness _if I be silent_, Ev'n or Morn,
To Hill, or Valley, Fountain, or Fresh Shade,
Made Vocal by my Song, and taught his Praise."
[Here follows the Reading of some Book, or part of a Book, Discoursing
on and exciting to Moral Virtue.]
PETITION
Inasmuch as by Reason of our Ignorance We cannot be certain that many
Things, which we often hear mentioned in the Petitions of Men to the
Deity, would prove real Goods, if they were in our Possession, and as I
have reason to hope and believe that the Goodness of my Heavenly Father
will not withold from me a suitable share of Temporal Blessings, if by a
Virtuous and holy Life I conciliate his Favour and Kindness, Therefore I
presume not to ask such things, but rather humbly and with a Sincere
Heart, express my earnest desires that he would graciously assist my
Continual Endeavours and Resolutions of eschewing Vice and embracing
Virtue; which Kind of Supplications will _at least be thus far
beneficial, as they remind me_ in a solemn manner of my Extensive duty.
That I may be preserved from Atheism & Infidelity, Impiety,
and Profaneness, and, in my Addresses to Thee, carefully
avoid Irreverence and ostentation, Formality and odious
Hypocrisy,--Help me, O Father!
That I may be loyal to my Prince, and faithful to my country,
careful for its good, valiant in its defence, and obedient to
its Laws, abhorring Treason as much as Tyranny,--Help me, O
Father!
That I may to those above me be dutiful, humble, and
submissive; avoiding Pride, Disrespect, and Contumacy,--Help
me, O Father!
That I may to those below me be gracious, Condescending, and
Forgiving, using Clemency, protecting _innocent Distress_,
avoiding Cruelty, Harshness, and Oppression, Insolence, and
unreasonable Severity,--Help me, O Father!
That I may refrain from Censure, Calumny and Detraction; that
I may avoid and abhor Deceit and Envy, Fraud, Flattery, and
Hatred, Malice, Lying, and Ingratitude,--Help me, O Father!
That I may be sincere in Friendship, faithful in trust, and
Impartial in Judgment, watchful against Pride, and against
Anger (that momentary Madness),--Help me, O Father!
That I may be just in all my Dealings, temperate in my
Pleasures, full of Candour and Ingenuity, Humanity and
Benevolence,--Help me, O Father!
That I may be grateful to my Benefactors, and generous to my
Friends, exercising Charity and Liberality to the Poor, and
Pity to the Miserable,--Help me, O Father!
That I may avoid Avarice and Ambition, Jealousie, and
Intemperance, Falsehood, Luxury, and Lasciviousness,--Help
me, O Father!
That I may possess Integrity and Evenness of Mind, Resolution
in Difficulties, and Fortitude under Affliction; that I may
be punctual in performing my promises, Peaceable and prudent
in my Behaviour,--Help me, O Father!
That I may have Tenderness for the Weak, and reverent Respect
for the Ancient; that I may be Kind to my Neighbours,
good-natured to my Companions, and hospitable to
Strangers,--Help me, O Father!
That I may be averse to Talebearing, Backbiting, Detraction,
Slander, & Craft, and overreaching, abhor Extortion, Perjury,
and every Kind of wickedness,--Help me, O Father!
That I may be honest and open-hearted, gentle, merciful, and
good, cheerful in spirit, rejoicing in the Good of
others,--Help me, O Father!
That I may have a constant Regard to Honour and Probity, that
I may possess a perfect innocence and a good Conscience, and
at length become truly Virtuous and Magnanimous,--Help me,
good God; help me, O Father![G]
And, forasmuch as ingratitude is one of the most odious of
vices, let me not be unmindful gratefully to acknowledge the
favours I receive from Heaven.
[G] At this point the original MS ends. The subsequent
paragraph, including the "Thanks," is found only in William
Temple Franklin's transcript, now in the Library of Congress.
[_Smyth's note._]
THANKS
For peace and liberty, for food and raiment, for corn, and
wine, and milk, and every kind of healthful
nourishment,--Good God, I thank thee!
For the common benefits of air and light; for useful fire and
delicious water,--Good God, I thank thee!
For knowledge, and literature, and every useful art, for my
friends and their prosperity, and for the fewness of my
enemies,--Good God, I thank thee!
For all thy innumerable benefits; for life, and reason, and
the use of speech; for health, and joy, and every pleasant
hour,--My good God, I thank thee!
THE BUSY-BODY, NO. 1[22]
Tuesday, February 4th, 1728/9
MR. ANDREW BRADFORD,
I design this to acquaint you, that I, who have long been one of your
Courteous Readers, have lately entertain'd some Thoughts of setting up
for an Author mySelf; not out of the least Vanity, I assure you, or
Desire of showing my Parts, but purely for the Good of my Country.
I have often observ'd with Concern that your Mercury is not always
equally entertaining. The Delay of Ships expected in, and want of fresh
Advices from Europe, make it frequently very Dull; and I find the
Freezing of our River has the same Effect on News as on Trade. With more
Concern have I continually observ'd the growing Vices and Follies of my
Country-folk; and, tho' Reformation is properly the concern of every
Man; that is, Every one ought to mend One; yet 'tis too true in this
Case, that what is every Body's Business is nobody's Business; and the
Business is done accordingly. I therefore, upon mature Deliberation,
think fit to take Nobody's Business wholly into my own Hands; and, out
of Zeal for the Publick Good, design to erect mySelf into a Kind of
_Censor Morum_; proposing, with your Allowance, to make Use of the
_Weekly Mercury_ as a Vehicle in which my Remonstrances shall be
convey'd to the World.
I am sensible I have in this Particular undertaken a very unthankful
Office, and expect little besides my Labour for my Pains. Nay, 'tis
probable I may displease a great Number of your Readers, who will not
very well like to pay 10s. a Year for being told of their Faults. But,
as most People delight in Censure when they themselves are not the
Objects of it, if any are offended at my publickly exposing their
private Vices, I promise they shall have the Satisfaction, in a very
little Time, of seeing their good Friends and Neighbours in the same
Circumstances.
However, let the Fair Sex be assur'd that I shall always treat them and
their Affairs with the utmost Decency and Respect. I intend now and then
to dedicate a Chapter wholly to their Service; and if my Lectures any
Way contribute to the Embellishment of their Minds and brightning of
their Understandings, without offending their Modesty, I doubt not of
having their Favour and Encouragement.
'Tis certain, that no Country in the World produces naturally finer
Spirits than ours; Men of Genius for every kind of Science, and capable
of acquiring to Perfection every Qualification that is in Esteem among
Mankind. But as few here have the Advantage of good Books, for want of
which, good Conversation is still more scarce, it would doubtless have
been very acceptable to your Readers, if, instead of an old out-of-date
Article from Muscovy or Hungary, you had entertained them with some
well-chosen Extract from a good Author. This I shall sometimes do, when
I happen to have nothing of my own to say that I think of more
Consequence. Sometimes I propose to deliver Lectures of Morality or
Philosophy, and (because I am naturally enclin'd to be meddling with
Things that don't concern me) perhaps I may sometimes talk Politicks.
And if I can by any means furnish out a Weekly Entertainment for the
Publick that will give a rational Diversion, and at the same Time be
instructive to the Readers, I shall think my Leisure Hours well
employ'd: And if you publish this, I hereby invite all ingenious
Gentlemen and others (that approve of such an Undertaking) to my
Assistance and Correspondence.
'Tis like by this Time, you have a Curiosity to be acquainted with my
Name and Character. As I do not aim at publick Praise, I design to
remain concealed; and there are such Numbers of our Family and Relations
at this Time in the Country, that tho' I've sign'd my Name at full
Length, I am not under the least Apprehension of being distinguish'd and
discover'd by it. My Character, indeed, I would favour you with, but
that I am cautious of praising mySelf, lest I should be told my
Trumpeter's dead: And I cannot find in my Heart at present, to say any
Thing to my own Disadvantage.
It is very common with Authors, in their first Performances, to talk to
their Readers thus; "If this meets with a SUITABLE Reception; Or, If
this should meet with DUE Encouragement, I shall hereafter publish, &c."
This only manifests the Value they put on their own Writings, since they
think to frighten the Publick into their Applause, by threatning, that
unless you approve what they have already wrote, they intend never to
write again; when perhaps it mayn't be a Pin Matter whether they ever do
or no. As I have not observ'd the Criticks to be more favourable on this
Account, I shall always avoid saying any Thing of the Kind; and conclude
with telling you, that, if you send me a Bottle of Ink and a Quire of
Paper by the Bearer, you may depend on hearing further from, Sir, your
most humble Servant,
THE BUSY-BODY.
THE BUSY-BODY, NO. 2
Tuesday, February 11, 1728/9
All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing side.
--POPE.
Monsieur de la Rochefoucault tells us somewhere in his Memoirs, that the
Prince of Condé delighted much in ridicule, and used frequently to shut
himself up for half a day together in his chamber, with a gentleman that
was his favorite, purposely to divert himself with examining what was
the foible or ridiculous side of every noted person in the court. That
gentleman said afterwards in some company, that he thought nothing was
more ridiculous in anybody, than this same humour in the Prince; and I
am somewhat inclined to be of this opinion. The general tendency there
is among us to this embellishment, which I fear has too often grossly
imposed upon my loving countrymen instead of wit, and the applause it
meets with from a rising generation, fill me with fearful apprehensions
for the future reputation of my country. A young man of modesty (which
is the most certain indication of large capacities) is hereby
discouraged from attempting to make any figure in life; his
apprehensions of being out-laughed will force him to continue in a
restless obscurity, without having an opportunity of knowing his own
merit himself or discovering it to the world, rather than venture to
oppose himself in a place where a pun or a sneer shall pass for wit,
noise for reason, and the strength of the argument be judged by that of
the lungs.
Among these witty gentlemen let us take a view of Ridentius. What a
contemptible figure does he make with his train of paltry admirers! This
wight shall give himself an hour's diversion with the cock of a man's
hat, the heels of his shoes, an unguarded expression in his discourse,
or even some personal defect; and the height of his low ambition is to
put some one of the company to the blush, who perhaps must pay an equal
share of the reckoning with himself. If such a fellow makes laughing the
sole end and purpose of his life; if it is necessary to his
constitution, or if he has a great desire of growing suddenly fat, let
him eat; let him give public notice where any dull stupid rogue may get
a quart of four-penny for being laughed at; but it is barbarously
unhandsome, when friends meet for the benefit of conversation and a
proper relaxation from business, that one should be the butt of the
company, and four men made merry at the cost of the fifth.
How different from this character is that of the good-natured, gay
Eugenius, who never spoke yet but with a design to divert and please,
and who was never yet baulked in his intention. Eugenius takes more
delight in applying the wit of his friends, than in being admired
himself; and if any one of the company is so unfortunate as to be
touched a little too nearly, he will make use of some ingenious artifice
to turn the edge of ridicule another way, choosing rather to make
himself a public jest, than be at the pain of seeing his friend in
confusion.
Among the tribe of laughers, I reckon the petty gentlemen that write
satires, and carry them about in their pockets, reading them themselves
in all company they happen into; taking an advantage of the ill taste of
the town to make themselves famous for a pack of paltry, low nonsense,
for which they deserve to be kicked rather than admired, by all who have
the least tincture of politeness. These I take to be the most
incorrigible of all my readers; nay, I expect they will be squibbing at
the Busy-Body himself. However, the only favour he begs of them is this,
that if they cannot control their overbearing itch of scribbling, let
him be attacked in downright biting lyrics; for there is no satire he
dreads half so much as an attempt towards a panegyric.
THE BUSY-BODY, NO. 3
Tuesday, February 18th, 1728/9
Non vultus instantis Tyranni
Mente quatit solidâ,--neque Auster,
Dux inquieti turbidus Adriæ,
Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus.
--HOR.
It is said that the Persians, in their ancient Constitution, had publick
Schools in which Virtue was taught as a Liberal Art or Science; and it
is certainly of more Consequence to a Man, that he has learnt to govern
his Passions; in spite of Temptation to be just in his Dealings, to be
Temperate in his Pleasures, to support himself with Fortitude under his
Misfortunes, to behave with Prudence in all Affairs, and in every
Circumstance of Life; I say, it is of much more real Advantage to him
to be thus qualified, than to be a Master of all the Arts and Sciences
in the World beside.
Virtue alone is sufficient to make a Man Great, Glorious, and Happy. He
that is acquainted with Cato, as I am, cannot help thinking as I do now,
and will acknowledge he deserves the Name, without being honour'd by it.
Cato is a Man whom Fortune has plac'd in the most obscure Part of the
Country. His Circumstances are such, as only put him above Necessity,
without affording him many Superfluities; Yet who is greater than Cato?
I happened but the other Day to be at a House in Town, where, among
others, were met Men of the most Note in this Place. Cato had Business
with some of them, and knock'd at the Door. The most trifling Actions of
a Man, in my Opinion, as well as the smallest Features and Lineaments of
the Face, give a nice Observer some Notion of his Mind. Methought he
rapp'd in such a peculiar Manner, as seem'd of itself to express there
was One, who deserv'd as well as desir'd Admission. He appear'd in the
plainest Country Garb; his Great Coat was coarse, and looked old and
threadbare; his Linnen was home-spun; his Beard perhaps of Seven Days'
Growth; his Shoes thick and heavy; and every Part of his Dress
corresponding. Why was this Man receiv'd with such concurring Respect
from every Person in the Room, even from those who had never known him
or seen him before? It was not an exquisite Form of Person, or Grandeur
of Dress, that struck us with Admiration.
I believe long Habits of Virtue have a sensible Effect on the
Countenance. There was something in the Air of his Face, that manifested
the true Greatness of his Mind, which likewise appear'd in all he said,
and in every Part of his Behaviour, obliging us to regard him with a
Kind of Veneration. His Aspect is sweetened with Humanity and
Benevolence, and at the same Time enboldned with Resolution, equally
free from a diffident Bashfulness and an unbecoming Assurance. The
Consciousness of his own innate Worth and unshaken Integrity renders him
calm and undaunted in the Presence of the most Great and Powerful, and
upon the most extraordinary Occasions. His strict Justice and known
Impartiality make him the Arbitrator and Decider of all Differences,
that arise for many Miles around him, without putting his Neighbours to
the Charge, Perplexity, and Uncertainty of Law-Suits. He always speaks
the Thing he means, which he is never afraid or asham'd to do, because
he knows he always means well, and therefore is never oblig'd to blush,
and feel the Confusion of finding himself detected in the Meanness of a
Falsehood. He never contrives Ill against his Neighbour, and therefore
is never seen with a lowring, suspicious Aspect. A mixture of Innocence
and Wisdom makes him ever seriously chearful. His generous Hospitality
to Strangers, according to his Ability; his Goodness, his Charity, his
Courage in the Cause of the Oppressed, his Fidelity in Friendship, his
Humility, his Honesty and Sincerity, his Moderation, and his Loyalty to
the Government; his Piety, his Temperance, his Love to Mankind, his
Magnanimity, his Publick-Spiritedness, and in fine, his consummate
Virtue, make him justly deserve to be esteem'd the Glory of his Country.
"The Brave do never shun the Light;
Just are their Thoughts, and open are their Tempers;
Freely without Disguise they love and hate;
Still are they found in the fair Face of Day,
And Heaven and Men are Judges of their Actions."
--ROWE.
Who would not rather chuse, if it were in his Choice, to merit the above
Character, than be the richest, the most learned, or the most powerful
Man in the Province without it?
Almost every Man has a strong natural Desire of being valu'd and
esteem'd by the rest of his Species, but I am concern'd and griev'd to
see how few fall into the Right and only infallible Method of becoming
so. That laudable Ambition is too commonly misapply'd, and often ill
employ'd. Some to make themselves considerable pursue Learning, others
grasp at Wealth; some aim at being thought witty; and others are only
careful to make the most of an handsome Person; But what is Wit, or
Wealth, or Form, or Learning, when compar'd with Virtue? 'Tis true, we
love the handsome, we applaud the Learned, and we fear the Rich and
Powerful; but we even Worship and adore the Virtuous. Nor is it strange;
since Men of Virtue are so rare, so very rare to be found. If we were as
industrious to become Good as to make ourselves Great, we should become
really Great by being Good, and the Number of valuable Men would be much
increased; but it is a Grand Mistake to think of being Great without
Goodness; and I pronounce it as certain, that there was never yet a
truly Great Man, that was not at the same Time truly Virtuous.
O Cretico! thou sowre Philosopher! Thou cunning Statesman! Thou art
crafty, but far from being Wise. When wilt thou be esteem'd, regarded,
and belov'd like Cato? When wilt thou, among thy Creatures, meet with
that unfeign'd respect and warm Good-will, that all Men have for him?
Wilt thou never understand, that the cringing, mean, submissive
Deportment of thy Dependents, is (like the worship paid by Indians to
the Devil) rather thro' Fear of the Harm thou may'st do to them, than
out of Gratitude for the Favours they have receiv'd of thee? Thou art
not wholly void of Virtue; there are many good Things in thee, and many
good Actions reported of thee. Be advised by thy Friend. Neglect those
musty Authors; let them be cover'd with Dust, and moulder on their
proper Shelves; and do thou apply thyself to a Study much more
profitable, The knowledge of Mankind and of thySelf.
# # # # #
This is to give Notice, that the Busy-Body strictly forbids all Persons,
from this Time forward, of what Age, Sex, Rank, Quality, Degree, or
Denomination soever, on any Pretence, to enquire who is the Author of
this Paper, on Pain of his Displeasure, (his own near and Dear Relations
only excepted).
'Tis to be observ'd, that if any bad Characters happen to be drawn in
the Course of these Papers, they mean no particular Person, if they are
not particularly apply'd.
Likewise, that the Author is no Party-man, but a general Meddler.
N. B. Cretico lives in a neighbouring Province.
THE BUSY-BODY, NO. 4
Tuesday, February 25, 1728/9.
Ne quid nimis.
In my first Paper I invited the Learned and the Ingenious to join with
me in this Undertaking, and I now repeat that Invitation. I would have
such Gentlemen take this Opportunity (by trying their Talent in Writing)
of diverting themselves and their Friends, and improving the Taste of
the Town. And because I would encourage all Wit of our own Growth and
Produce, I hereby promise, that whoever shall send me a little Essay on
some moral or other Subject, that is fit for publick View in this
Manner, (and not basely borrow'd from any other Author,) I shall receive
it with Candour, and take care to place it to the best Advantage. It
will be hard if we cannot muster up in the whole Country a sufficient
Stock of Sense to supply the _Busy-Body_ at least for a Twelvemonth.
For my own Part, I have already profess'd, that I have the Good of my
Country wholly at Heart in this Design, without the least sinister View;
my chief Purpose being to inculcate the noble Principles of Virtue, and
depreciate Vice of every kind. But, as I know the Mob hate Instruction,
and the Generality would never read beyond the first Line of my
Lectures, if they were actually fill'd with nothing but wholesome
Precepts and Advice, I must therefore sometimes humor them in their own
Way. There are a Set of Great Names in the Province, who are the common
Objects of Popular Dislike. If I can now and then overcome my
Reluctance, and prevail with myself to satyrize a little one of these
Gentlemen, the Expectation of meeting with such a Gratification will
induce many to read me through, who would otherwise proceed immediately
to the Foreign News. As I am very well assured the greatest Men among us
have a sincere Love for their Country, notwithstanding its Ingratitude,
and the Insinuations of the Envious and Malicious to the contrary, so I
doubt not but they will chearfully tolerate me in the Liberty I design
to take for the End above mentioned.
As yet I have but few Correspondents, tho' they begin now to increase.
The following Letter, left for me at the Printer's, is one of the first
I have receiv'd, which I regard the more for that it comes from one of
the Fair Sex, and because I have myself oftentimes suffer'd under the
Grievance therein complain'd of.
"TO THE BUSY-BODY
"_Sir_,
"You having set yourself up for a _Censuror Morum_, (as I
think you call it), which is said to mean a Reformer of
_Manners_, I know no Person more proper to be apply'd to for
Redress in all the Grievances we suffer from Want of
_Manners_, in some People. You must know I am a single Woman,
and keep a Shop in this Town for a Livelyhood. There is a
certain Neighbour of mine, who is really agreeable Company
enough, and with whom I have had an Intimacy of some Time
standing; but of late she makes her visits so excessively
often, and stays so very long every Visit, that I am tir'd
out of all Patience. I have no Manner of Time at all to
myself; and you, who seem to be a wise Man, must needs be
sensible that every Person has little Secrets and Privacies,
that are not proper to be expos'd even to the nearest Friend.
Now I cannot do the least Thing in the World, but she must
know all about it; and it is a Wonder I have found an
Opportunity to write you this Letter. My Misfortune is, that
I respect her very well, and know not how to disoblige her so
much as to tell her I should be glad to have less other
Company; for if I should once hint such a Thing, I am afraid
she would resent it so as never to darken my Door again.
"But alas, Sir, I have not yet told you half my Affliction.
She has two Children, that are just big enough to run about
and do pretty Mischief; these are continually along with
Mamma, either in my Room or Shop, if I have ever so many
Customers or People with me about Business. Sometimes they
pull the Goods off my low Shelves down to the Ground, and
perhaps where one of them has just been making Water. My
Friend takes up the Stuff, and cries, 'Eh! thou little wicked
mischievous Rogue! But, however, it has done no great
Damage; 'tis only wet a little;' and so puts it up upon the
Shelf again. Sometimes they get to my Cask of Nails behind
the Counter, and divert themselves, to my great Vexation,
with mixing my Ten-penny, and Eight-penny, and Four-penny,
together. I endeavour to conceal my Uneasiness as much as
possible, and with a grave Look go to Sorting them out. She
cries, 'Don't thee trouble thyself, Neighbour: Let them play
a little; I'll put all to rights myself before I go.' But
Things are never so put to rights, but that I find a great
deal of Work to do after they are gone. Thus, Sir, I have all
the Trouble and Pesterment of Children, without the Pleasure
of--calling them my own; and they are now so us'd to being
here, that they will be content nowhere else. If she would
have been so kind as to have moderated her Visits to ten
times a Day, and stay'd but half an hour at a Time, I should
have been contented, and I believe never have given you this
Trouble. But this very Morning they have so tormented me,
that I could bear no longer; for, while the Mother was asking
me twenty impertinent Questions, the youngest got to my
Nails, and with great Delight rattled them by handfuls all
over the Floor; and the other, at the same Time, made such a
terrible Din upon my Counter with a Hammer, that I grew half
distracted. I was just then about to make myself a new Suit
of Pinners; but in the Fret and Confusion I cut it quite out
of all Manner of Shape, and utterly spoil'd a Piece of the
first Muslin.
"Pray, Sir, tell me what I shall do; and talk a little
against such unreasonable Visiting in your next Paper; tho' I
would not have her affronted with me for a great Deal, for
sincerely I love her and her Children, as well, I think, as a
Neighbour can, and she buys a great many Things in a Year at
my Shop. But I would beg her to consider, that she uses me
unmercifully, Tho' I believe it is only for want of Thought.
But I have twenty Things more to tell you besides all this:
There is a handsome Gentleman, that has a Mind (I don't
question) to make love to me, but he can't get the least
Opportunity to--O dear! here she comes again; I must
conclude, yours, &c.
"PATIENCE."
Indeed, 'tis well enough, as it happens, that she is come to shorten
this Complaint, which I think is full long enough already, and probably
would otherwise have been as long again. However, I must confess, I
cannot help pitying my Correspondent's Case; and, in her Behalf, exhort
the Visitor to remember and consider the Words of the Wise Man,
"Withdraw thy Foot from the House of thy Neighbour, lest he grow weary
of thee, and so hate thee." It is, I believe, a nice thing, and very
difficult, to regulate our Visits in such a Manner, as never to give
Offence by coming too seldom, or too often, or departing too abruptly,
or staying too long. However, in my Opinion, it is safest for most
People in a general way, who are unwilling to disoblige, to visit
seldom, and tarry but a little while in a Place, notwithstanding
pressing invitations, which are many times insincere. And tho' more of
your Company should be really desir'd, yet in this Case, too much
Reservedness is a Fault more easily excus'd than the Contrary.
Men are subjected to various Inconveniences meerly through lack of a
small Share of Courage, which is a Quality very necessary in the common
Occurrences of Life, as well as in a Battle. How many Impertinences do
we daily suffer with great Uneasiness, because we have not Courage
enough to discover our Dislike? And why may not a Man use the Boldness
and Freedom of telling his Friends, that their long Visits sometimes
incommode him? On this Occasion, it may be entertaining to some of my
Readers, if I acquaint them with the _Turkish_ Manner of entertaining
Visitors, which I have from an Author of unquestionable Veracity; who
assures us, that even the Turks are not so ignorant of Civility and the
Arts of Endearment, but that they can practise them with as much
Exactness as any other Nation, whenever they have a Mind to shew
themselves obliging.
"When you visit a Person of Quality," (says he) "and have
talk'd over your Business, or the Complements, or whatever
Concern brought you thither, he makes a Sign to have Things
serv'd in for the Entertainment, which is generally, a
little Sweetmeat, a Dish of Sherbet, and another of Coffee;
all which are immediately brought in by the Servants, and
tender'd to all the Guests in Order, with the greatest Care
and Awfulness imaginable. At last comes the finishing Part
of your Entertainment, which is, Perfuming the Beards of the
Company; a Ceremony which is perform'd in this Manner. They
have for the Purpose a small Silver Chaffing-Dish, cover'd
with a Lid full of Holes, and fixed upon a handsome Plate.
In this they put some fresh Coals, and upon them a piece of
_Lignum Aloes_, and shutting it up, the smoak immediately
ascends with a grateful Odour thro' the Holes of the Cover.
This smoak is held under every one's Chin, and offer'd as it
were a Sacrifice to his Beard. The bristly Idol soon
receives the Reverence done to it, and so greedily takes in
and incorporates the gummy Steam, that it retains the Savour
of it, and may serve for a Nosegay a good while after.
"This Ceremony may perhaps seem ridiculous at first hearing,
but it passes among the _Turks_ for a high Gratification.
And I will say this in its Vindication, that its Design is
very wise and useful. For it is understood to give a civil
Dismission to the Visitants, intimating to them, that the
Master of the House has Business to do, or some other
Avocation, that permits them to go away as soon as they
please, and the sooner after this Ceremony the better. By
this Means you may, at any Time, without Offence, deliver
yourself from being detain'd from your Affairs by tedious
and unseasonable Visits; and from being constrain'd to use
that Piece of Hypocrisy, so common in the World, of pressing
those to stay longer with you, whom perhaps in your Heart
you wish a great Way off for having troubled you so long
already."
Thus far my Author. For my own Part, I have taken such a Fancy to this
Turkish Custom, that for the future I shall put something like it in
Practice. I have provided a Bottle of right French Brandy for the Men,
and Citron-Water for the Ladies. After I have treated with a Dram, and
presented a Pinch of my best Snuff, I expect all Company will retire,
and leave me to pursue my Studies for the Good of the Publick.
# # # # #
ADVERTISEMENT
I give Notice, that I am now actually compiling, and design to publish
in a short Time, the true History of the Rise, Growth, and Progress of
the renowned Tiff-Club. All Persons who are acquainted with any Facts,
Circumstances, Characters, Transactions, &c. which will be requisite to
the Perfecting and Embellishment of the said Work, are desired to
communicate the same to the Author, and direct their Letters to be left
with the Printer hereof.
The Letter, sign'd "_Would-be-Something_," is come to hand.
PREFACE TO THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE
October 2, 1729
The Pennsylvania Gazette being now to be carry'd on by other Hands, the
Reader may expect some Account of the Method we design to proceed
in.[23]
Upon a view of Chambers's great Dictionaries, from whence were taken the
Materials of the _Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences_, which
usually made the First Part of this Paper, we find that besides their
containing many Things abstruse or insignificant to us, it will probably
be fifty Years before the Whole can be gone thro' in this Manner of
Publication. There are likewise in those Books continual References from
Things under one Letter of the Alphabet to those under another, which
relate to the same Subject, and are necessary to explain and compleat
it; these taken in their Turn may perhaps be Ten Years distant; and
since it is likely that they who desire to acquaint themselves with any
particular Art or Science, would gladly have the whole before them in
much less time, we believe our Readers will not think such a Method of
communicating Knowledge to be a proper One.
However, tho' we do not intend to continue the Publication of those
Dictionaries in a regular Alphabetical Method, as has hitherto been
done; yet as several Things exhibited from them in the Course of these
Papers, have been entertaining to such of the Curious, who never had and
cannot have the Advantage of good Libraries; and as there are many
Things still behind, which being in this Manner made generally known,
may perhaps become of considerable Use, by giving such Hints to the
excellent natural Genius's of our Country, as may contribute either to
the Improvement of our present Manufactures, or towards the Invention of
new Ones; we propose from Time to Time to communicate such particular
Parts as appear to be of the most general Consequence.
As to the "Religious Courtship," Part of which has been retal'd to the
Publick in these Papers, the Reader may be inform'd, that the whole Book
will probably in a little Time be printed and bound up by itself; and
those who approve of it, will doubtless be better pleas'd to have it
entire, than in this broken interrupted Manner.
There are many who have long desired to see a good News-Paper in
Pennsylvania; and we hope those Gentlemen who are able, will contribute
towards the making This such. We ask Assistance, because we are fully
sensible, that to publish a good News-Paper is not so easy an
Undertaking as many People imagine it to be. The Author of a Gazette (in
the Opinion of the Learned) ought to be qualified with an extensive
Acquaintance with Languages, a great Easiness and Command of Writing and
Relating Things clearly and intelligibly, and in few Words; he should be
able to speak of War both by Land and Sea; be well acquainted with
Geography, with the History of the Time, with the several Interests of
Princes and States, the Secrets of Courts, and the Manners and Customs
of all Nations. Men thus accomplish'd are very rare in this remote Part
of the World; and it would be well if the Writer of these Papers could
make up among his Friends what is wanting in himself.
Upon the Whole, we may assure the Publick, that as far as the
Encouragement we meet with will enable us, no Care and Pains shall be
omitted, that may make the Pennsylvania Gazette as agreeable and useful
an Entertainment as the Nature of the Thing will allow.
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN PHILOCLES AND HORATIO, MEETING ACCIDENTALLY IN THE
FIELDS, CONCERNING VIRTUE AND PLEASURE
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, June 23, 1730.][24]
_Philocles._ My friend _Horatio_! I am very glad to see you; prithee,
how came such a Man as you alone? and musing too? What Misfortune in
your Pleasures has sent you to Philosophy for Relief?
_Horatio._ You guess very right, my dear _Philocles_! We
Pleasure-hunters are never without 'em; and yet, so enchanting is the
Game! we can't quit the Chace. How calm and undisturbed is your Life!
How free from present Embarrassments and future Cares! I know you love
me, and look with Compassion upon my Conduct; Shew me then the Path
which leads up to that constant and invariable Good, which I have heard
you so beautifully describe, and which you seem so fully to possess.
_Phil._ There are few Men in the World I value more than you, _Horatio_!
for amidst all your Foibles and painful Pursuits of Pleasure, I have oft
observed in you an honest Heart, and a Mind strongly bent towards
Virtue. I wish, from my Soul, I could assist you in acting steadily the
Part of a reasonable Creature; for, if you would not think it a Paradox,
I should tell you I love you better than you do yourself.
_Hor._ A Paradox indeed! Better than I do myself! When I love my dear
self so well, that I love every Thing else for my own sake.
_Phil._ He only loves himself well, who rightly and judiciously loves
himself.
_Hor._ What do you mean by that, _Philocles_! You Men of Reason and
Virtue are always dealing in Mysteries, tho' you laugh at 'em when the
Church makes 'em. I think he loves himself very well and very
judiciously too, as you call it, who allows himself to do whatever he
pleases.
_Phil._ What, though it be to the Ruin and Destruction of that very Self
which he loves so well! That Man alone loves himself rightly, who
procures the greatest possible Good to himself thro' the whole of his
Existence; and so pursues Pleasure as not to give for it more than 'tis
worth.
_Hor._ That depends all upon Opinion. Who shall judge what the Pleasure
is worth? Supposing a pleasing Form of the fair Kind strikes me so much,
that I can enjoy nothing without the Enjoyment of that one Object. Or,
that Pleasure in general is so favorite a Mistress, that I will take her
as Men do their Wives, for better, for worse; mind no Consequences, nor
regarding what's to come. Why should I not do it?
_Phil._ Suppose, _Horatio_, that a Friend of yours entred into the World
about Two-and-Twenty, with a healthful vigorous Body, and a fair
plentiful Estate of about Five Hundred Pounds a Year; and yet, before he
had reached Thirty, should, by following his Pleasures, and not, as you
say, duly regarding Consequences, have run out of his Estate, and
disabled his Body to that Degree, that he had neither the Means nor
Capacity of Enjoyment left, nor any Thing else to do but wisely shoot
himself through the Head to be at rest; what would you say to this
unfortunate Man's Conduct? Is it wrong by Opinion or Fancy only? Or is
there really a Right and Wrong in the Case? Is not one Opinion of Life
and Action juster than another? Or, one Sort of Conduct preferable to
another? Or, does that miserable Son of Pleasure appear as reasonable
and lovely a Being in your Eyes, as a Man who, by prudently and rightly
gratifying his natural Passions, had preserved his Body in full Health,
and his Estate entire, and enjoy'd both to a good old Age, and then died
with a thankful Heart for the good Things he had received, and with an
entire Submission to the Will of Him who first called him into Being?
Say, _Horatio_! are these Men equally wise and happy? And is every Thing
to be measured by mere Fancy and Opinion, without considering whether
that Fancy or Opinion be right?
_Hor._ Hardly so neither, I think; yet sure the wise and good Author of
Nature could never make us to plague us. He could never give us
Passions, on purpose to subdue and conquer 'em; nor produce this Self of
mine, or any other self, only that it may be denied; for that is denying
the Works of the great Creator himself. Self-denial, then, which is what
I suppose you mean by Prudence, seems to me not only absurd, but very
dishonourable to that Supreme Wisdom and Goodness, which is supposed to
make so ridiculous and Contradictious a Creature, that must be always
fighting with himself in order to be at rest, and undergo voluntary
Hardships in order to be happy: Are we created sick, only to be
commanded to be Sound? Are we born under one Law, our Passions, and yet
bound to another, that of Reason? Answer me, _Philocles_, for I am
warmly concerned for the Honour of Nature, the Mother of us all.
_Phil._ I find, Horatio, my two Characters have affrighted you; so that
you decline the Trial of what is Good, by reason: And had rather make a
bold Attack upon Providence; the usual Way of you Gentlemen of Fashion,
who, when by living in Defiance of the eternal Rules of Reason, you have
plunged yourselves into a thousand Difficulties, endeavour to make
yourselves easy by throwing the Burden upon Nature. You are, _Horatio_,
in a very miserable Condition indeed; for you say you can't be happy if
you controul your Passions; and you feel yourself miserable by an
unrestrained Gratification of 'em; so that here's Evil, irremediable
Evil, either way.
_Hor._ That is very true, at least it appears so to me: Pray, what have
you to say, _Philocles_! in Honour of Nature or Providence; methinks I'm
in Pain for her: How do you rescue her? poor Lady!
_Phil._ This, my dear _Horatio_, I have to say; that what you find Fault
with and clamour against, as the most terrible Evil in the World,
Self-denial; is really the greatest Good, and the highest
Self-gratification: If indeed, you use the Word in the Sense of some
weak sour Moralists, and much weaker Divines, you'll have just Reason to
laugh at it; but if you take it, as understood by Philosophers and Men
of Sense, you will presently see her Charms, and fly to her Embraces,
notwithstanding her demure Looks, as absolutely necessary to produce
even your own darling sole Good, Pleasure: For, Self-denial is never a
Duty, or a reasonable Action, but as 'tis a natural Means of procuring
more Pleasure than you can taste without it so that this grave,
Saint-like Guide to Happiness, as rough and dreadful as she has been
made to appear, is in truth the kindest and most beautiful Mistress in
the World.
_Hor._ Prithee, _Philocles_! do not wrap yourself in Allegory and
Metaphor. Why do you teaze me thus? I long to be satisfied, what this
Philosophical Self-denial is, the Necessity and Reason of it; I'm
impatient, and all on Fire; explain, therefore, in your beautiful,
natural easy Way of Reasoning, what I'm to understand by this grave Lady
of yours, with so forbidding, downcast Looks, and yet so absolutely
necessary to my Pleasures. I stand ready to embrace her; for you know,
Pleasure I court under all Shapes and Forms.
_Phil._ Attend then, and you'll see the Reason of this Philosophical
Self-denial. There can be no absolute Perfection in any Creature;
because every Creature is derived, and dependent: No created Being can
be All-wise, All-good, and All-powerful, because his Powers and
Capacities are finite and limited; consequently whatever is created
must, in its own Nature, be subject to Error, Irregularity, Excess, and
Disorder. All intelligent, rational Agents find in themselves a Power of
judging what kind of Beings they are; what Actions are proper to
preserve 'em, and what Consequences will generally attend them, what
Pleasures they are form'd for, and to what Degree their Natures are
capable of receiving them. All we have to do then, _Horatio_, is to
consider, when we are surpriz'd with a new Object, and passionately
desire to enjoy it, whether the gratifying that Passion be consistent
with the gratifying other Passions and Appetites, equal if not more
necessary to us. And whether it consists with our Happiness To-morrow,
next Week, or next Year; for, as we all wish to live, we are obliged by
Reason to take as much Care for our future, as our present Happiness,
and not build one upon the Ruins of t'other. But, if thro' the Strength
and Power of a present Passion, and thro' want of attending to
Consequences, we have err'd and exceeded the Bounds which Nature or
Reason have set us; we are then, for our own Sakes, to refrain, or deny
ourselves a present momentary Pleasure for a future, constant and
durable one: So that this Philosophical Self-denial is only refusing to
do an Action which you strongly desire; because 'tis inconsistent with
your Health, Fortunes, or Circumstances in the World; or, in other
Words, because 'twould cost you more than 'twas worth. You would lose by
it, as a Man of Pleasure. Thus you see, _Horatio_! that Self-denial is
not only the most reasonable, but the most pleasant Thing in the World.
_Hor._ We are just coming into Town, so that we can't pursue this
Argument any farther at present; you have said a great deal for Nature,
Providence, and Reason: Happy are they who can follow such divine
Guides.
_Phil._ _Horatio!_ good Night; I wish you wise in your Pleasures.
_Hor._ I wish, _Philocles_! I could be as wise in my Pleasures as you
are pleasantly Wise; your Wisdom is agreeable, your Virtue is amiable,
and your Philosophy the highest Luxury. Adieu! thou enchanting Reasoner!
A SECOND DIALOGUE BETWEEN PHILOCLES AND HORATIO, CONCERNING VIRTUE AND
PLEASURE
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, July 9, 1730.]
_Philocles._ Dear _Horatio_! where hast thou been these three or four
Months? What new Adventures have you fallen upon since I met you in
these delightful, all-inspiring Fields, and wondred how such a
Pleasure-hunter as you could bear being alone?
_Horatio._ O _Philocles_, thou best of Friends, because a Friend to
Reason and Virtue, I am very glad to see you. Don't you remember, I told
you then, that some Misfortunes in my Pleasures had sent me to
Philosophy for Relief? But now I do assure you, I can, without a Sigh,
leave other Pleasures for those of Philosophy; I can hear the Word
_Reason_ mentioned, and Virtue praised, without Laughing. Don't I bid
fair for Conversion, think you?
_Phil._ Very fair, _Horatio_! for I remember the Time when Reason,
Virtue, and Pleasure, were the same Thing with you: When you counted
nothing Good but what pleas'd, nor any thing Reasonable but what you got
by; When you made a Jest of a Mind, and the Pleasures of Reflection, and
elegantly plac'd your sole Happiness, like the rest of the Animal
Creation, in the Gratifications of Sense.
_Hor._ I did so: But in our last Conversation, when walking upon the
Brow of this Hill, and looking down on that broad, rapid River, and yon
widely-extended beautifully-varied Plain, you taught me another
Doctrine: You shewed me, that Self-denial, which above all Things I
abhorred, was really the greatest Good, and the highest
Self-gratification, and absolutely necessary to produce even my own
darling sole Good, Pleasure.
_Phil._ True: I told you that Self-denial was never a Duty but when it
was a natural Means of procuring more Pleasure than we could taste
without it: That as we all strongly desire to live, and to live only to
enjoy, we should take as much Care about our future as our present
Happiness; and not build one upon the Ruins of 'tother: That we should
look to the End, and regard Consequences: and if, thro' want of
Attention we had err'd, and exceeded the Bounds which Nature had set us,
we were then obliged, for our own Sakes, to refrain or deny ourselves a
present momentary Pleasure for a future, constant, and durable Good.
_Hor._ You have shewn, _Philocles_, that Self-denial, which weak or
interested Men have rendred the most forbidding, is really the most
delightful and amiable, the most reasonable and pleasant Thing in the
World. In a Word, if I understand you aright, Self-denial is, in Truth,
Self-recognising, Self-acknowledging, or Self-owning. But now, my
Friend! you are to perform another Promise; and shew me the Path which
leads up to that constant, durable, and invariable Good, which I have
heard you so beautifully describe, and which you seem so fully to
possess: Is not this Good of yours a mere Chimera? Can any Thing be
constant in a World which is eternally changing! and which appears to
exist by an everlasting Revolution of one Thing into another, and where
every Thing without us, and every Thing within us, is in perpetual
Motion? What is this constant, durable Good, then, of yours? Prithee,
satisfy my Soul, for I'm all on Fire, and impatient to enjoy her.
Produce this eternal blooming Goddess with never-fading Charms, and see,
whether I won't embrace her with as much Eagerness and Rapture as you.
_Phil._ You seem enthusiastically warm, _Horatio_; I will wait till you
are cool enough to attend to the sober, dispassionate Voice of Reason.
_Hor._ You mistake me, my dear _Philocles_! my Warmth is not so great as
to run away with my Reason: it is only just raised enough to open my
Faculties, and fit them to receive those eternal Truths, and that
durable Good, which you so triumphantly boasted of. Begin, then; I'm
prepared.
_Phil._ I will. I believe, _Horatio_! with all your Skepticism about
you, you will allow that Good to be constant which is never absent from
you, and that to be durable, which never Ends but with your Being.
_Hor._ Yes, go on.
_Phil._ That can never be the Good of a Creature, which when present,
the Creature may be miserable, and when absent, is certainly so.
_Hor._ I think not; but pray explain what you mean; for I am not much
used to this abstract Way of Reasoning.
_Phil._ I mean all the Pleasures of Sense. The Good of Man cannot
consist in the mere Pleasures of Sense; because, when any one of those
Objects which you love is absent, or can't be come at, you are certainly
miserable: and if the Faculty be impair'd, though the Object be present,
you can't enjoy it. So that this sensual Good depends upon a thousand
Things without and within you, and all out of your Power. Can this then
be the Good of Man? Say, _Horatio_! what think you, Is not this a
chequer'd, fleeting, fantastical Good? Can that, in any propriety of
Speech, be called the Good of Man which even, while he is tasting, he
may be miserable; and which when he cannot taste, he is necessarily so?
Can that be our Good, which costs us a great deal of Pains to obtain;
which cloys in possessing; for which we must wait the Return of Appetite
before we can enjoy again? Or, is that our Good, which we can come at
without Difficulty; which is heightened by Possession, which never ends
in Weariness and Disappointment; and which, the more we enjoy, the
better qualified we are to enjoy on?
_Hor._ The latter, I think; but why do you torment me thus? _Philocles_!
shew me this Good immediately.
_Phil._ I have shewed you what 'tis not; it is not sensual, but 'tis
rational and moral Good. It is doing all the Good we can to others, by
Acts of Humanity, Friendship, Generosity, and Benevolence: This is that
constant and durable Good, which will afford Contentment and
Satisfaction always alike, without Variation or Diminution. I speak to
your Experience now, _Horatio_! Did you ever find yourself weary of
relieving the Miserable? or of raising the Distressed into Life or
Happiness? Or rather, don't you find the Pleasure grow upon you by
Repetition, and that 'tis greater in the Reflection than in the Act
itself? Is there a Pleasure upon Earth to be compared with that which
arises from the Sense of making others happy? Can this Pleasure ever be
absent, or ever end but with your Being? Does it not always accompany
you? Doth not it lie down and rise with you? live as long as you live?
give you Consolation in the Article of Death, and remain with you in
that gloomy Hour, when all other Things are going to forsake you, or you
them?
_Hor._ How glowingly you paint, _Philocles_! Methinks _Horatio_ is
amongst the Enthusiasts. I feel the Passion: I am enchantingly
convinced; but I don't know why: Overborn by something stronger than
Reason. Sure some Divinity speaks within me; but prithee, _Philocles_,
give me cooly the Cause, why this rational and moral Good so infinitely
excels the meer natural or sensual.
_Phil._ I think, _Horatio_! that I have clearly shewn you the Difference
between merely natural or sensual Good, and rational or moral Good.
Natural or sensual Pleasure continues no longer than the Action itself;
but this divine or moral Pleasure continues when the Action is over,
and swells and grows upon your Hand by Reflection: The one is
inconstant, unsatisfying, of short Duration, and attended with
numberless Ills; the other is constant, yields full Satisfaction, is
durable, and no Evils preceding, accompanying, or following it. But, if
you enquire farther into the Cause of this Difference, and would know
why the moral Pleasures are greater than the sensual; perhaps the Reason
is the same as in all other Creatures, That their Happiness or chief
Good consists in acting up to their chief Faculty, or that Faculty which
distinguishes them from all Creatures of a different Species. The chief
Faculty in a Man is his Reason; and consequently his chief Good; or that
which may be justly called his Good, consists not merely in Action, but
in reasonable Action. By reasonable Actions, we understand those Actions
which are preservative of the human Kind, and naturally tend to produce
real and unmixed Happiness; and these Actions, by way of Distinction, we
call Actions morally Good.
_Hor._ You speak very clearly, _Philocles_! but, that no Difficulty may
remain upon my Mind, pray tell me what is the real Difference between
natural Good and Ill, and moral Good and Ill? for I know several People
who use the Terms without Ideas.
_Phil._ That may be: The Difference lies only in this; that natural Good
and Ill is Pleasure and Pain: Moral Good and Ill is Pleasure or Pain
produced with Intention and Design; for 'tis the Intention only that
makes the Agent morally Good or Bad.
_Hor._ But may not a Man, with a very good Intention, do an ill Action?
_Phil._ Yes, but, then he errs in his Judgment, tho' his Design be good.
If his Error is inevitable, or such as, all Things considered, he could
not help, he is inculpable: But if it arose through want of Diligence in
forming his Judgment about the Nature of human Actions, he is immoral
and culpable.
_Hor._ I find, then, that in order to please ourselves rightly, or to do
good to others morally, we should take great Care of our Opinions.
_Phil._ Nothing concerns you more; for, as the Happiness or real Good of
Men consists in right Action, and right Action cannot be produced
without right Opinion, it behoves us, above all Things in this World, to
take Care that our Opinions of Things be according to the Nature of
Things. The Foundation of all Virtue and Happiness is Thinking rightly.
He who sees an Action is right, that is, naturally tending to Good, and
does it because of that Tendency, he only is a moral Man; and he alone
is capable of that constant, durable, and invariable Good, which has
been the Subject of this Conversation.
_Hor._ How, my dear philosophical Guide, shall I be able to know, and
determine certainly, what is Right and Wrong in Life?
_Phil._ As easily as you distinguish a Circle from a Square, or Light
from Darkness. Look, _Horatio_, into the sacred Book of Nature; read
your own Nature, and view the Relation which other Men stand in to you,
and you to them; and you'll immediately see what constitutes human
Happiness, and consequently what is Right.
_Hor._ We are just coming into Town, and can say no more at present. You
are my good Genius, _Philocles_. You have shewed me what is good. You
have redeemed me from the Slavery and Misery of Folly and Vice, and made
me a free and happy Being.
_Phil._ Then I am the happiest Man in the World. Be steady, _Horatio_!
Never depart from Reason and Virtue.
_Hor._ Sooner will I lose my Existence. Good Night, _Philocles_.
_Phil._ Adieu! dear _Horatio_!
A WITCH TRIAL AT MOUNT HOLLY
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Oct. 22, 1730.]
"Saturday last, at Mount-Holly, about 8 Miles from this Place
[Burlington, N. J.] near 300 People were gathered together to see an
Experiment or two tried on some Persons accused of Witchcraft. It seems
the Accused had been charged with making their Neighbours' Sheep dance
in an uncommon Manner, and with causing Hogs to speak and sing Psalms,
etc., to the great Terror and Amazement of the king's good and
peaceable Subjects in this Province; and the Accusers, being very
positive that if the Accused were weighed in Scales against a Bible, the
Bible would prove too heavy for them; or that, if they were bound and
put into the River they would swim; the said Accused, desirous to make
Innocence appear, voluntarily offered to undergo the said Trials if 2 of
the most violent of their Accusers would be tried with them. Accordingly
the Time and Place was agreed on and advertised about the Country; The
Accusers were 1 Man and 1 Woman: and the Accused the same. The Parties
being met and the People got together, a grand Consultation was held,
before they proceeded to Trial; in which it was agreed to use the Scales
first; and a Committee of Men were appointed to search the Men, and a
Committee of Women to search the Women, to see if they had any Thing of
Weight about them, particularly Pins. After the Scrutiny was over a huge
great Bible belonging to the Justice of the Place was provided, and a
Lane through the Populace was made from the Justice's House to the
Scales, which were fixed on a Gallows erected for that Purpose opposite
to the House, that the Justice's Wife and the rest of the Ladies might
see the Trial without coming amongst the Mob, and after the Manner of
Moorfields a large Ring was also made. Then came out of the House a
grave, tall Man carrying the Holy Writ before the supposed Wizard etc.,
(as solemnly as the Sword-bearer of London before the Lord Mayor) the
Wizard was first put in the Scale, and over him was read a Chapter out
of the Books of Moses, and then the Bible was put in the other Scale,
(which, being kept down before) was immediately let go; but, to the
great Surprize of the Spectators, Flesh and Bones came down plump, and
outweighed that great good Book by abundance.[25] After the same Manner
the others were served, and their Lumps of Mortality severally were too
heavy for Moses and all the Prophets and Apostles. This being over, the
Accusers and the rest of the Mob, not satisfied with this Experiment,
would have the Trial by Water. Accordingly a most solemn Procession was
made to the Millpond, where both Accused and Accusers being stripped
(saving only to the Women their Shifts) were bound Hand and Foot and
severally placed in the Water, lengthways, from the Side of a Barge or
Flat, having for Security only a Rope about the Middle of each, which
was held by some in the Flat. The accused man being thin and spare with
some Difficulty began to sink at last; but the rest, every one of them,
swam very light upon the Water. A Sailor in the Flat jump'd out upon the
Back of the Man accused thinking to drive him down to the Bottom; but
the Person bound, without any Help, came up some time before the other.
The Woman Accuser being told that she did not sink, would be duck'd a
second Time; when she swam again as light as before. Upon which she
declared, That she believed the Accused had bewitched her to make her so
light, and that she would be duck'd again a Hundred Times but she would
duck the Devil out of her. The Accused Man, being surpriz'd at his own
Swimming, was not so confident of his Innocence as before, but said, 'If
I am a Witch, it is more than I know.' The more thinking Part of the
Spectators were of Opinion that any Person so bound and placed in the
Water (unless they were mere Skin and Bones) would swim, till their
Breath was gone, and their Lungs fill'd with Water. But it being the
general Belief of the Populace that the Women's shifts and the Garters
with which they were bound help'd to support them, it is said they are
to be tried again the next warm Weather, naked."
AN APOLOGY FOR PRINTERS
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, June 10, 1731.]
Being frequently censur'd and condemn'd by different Persons for
printing Things which they say ought not to be printed, I have sometimes
thought it might be necessary to make a standing Apology for my self,
and publish it once a Year, to be read upon all Occasions of that
Nature. Much Business has hitherto hindered the execution of this
Design; but having very lately given extraordinary Offence by printing
an Advertisement with a certain N. B. at the End of it, I find an
Apology more particularly requisite at this Juncture, tho' it happens
when I have not yet Leisure to write such a Thing in the proper Form,
and can only in a loose manner throw those Considerations together which
should have been the Substance of it.
I request all who are angry with me on the Account of printing things
they don't like, calmly to consider these following Particulars.
1. That the Opinions of Men are almost as various as their Faces; an
Observation general enough to become a common Proverb, _So many Men so
many Minds._
2. That the Business of Printing has chiefly to do with Mens Opinions;
most things that are printed tending to promote some, or oppose others.
3. That hence arises the peculiar Unhappiness of that Business, which
other Callings are no way liable to; they who follow Printing being
scarce able to do any thing in their way of getting a Living, which
shall not probably give Offence to some, and perhaps to many; whereas
the Smith, the Shoemaker, the Carpenter, or the Man of any other Trade,
may work indifferently for People of all Persuasions, without offending
any of them: and the Merchant may buy and sell with Jews, Turks,
Hereticks and Infidels of all sorts, and get Money by every one of them,
without giving Offence to the most orthodox, of any sort; or suffering
the least Censure or Ill will on the Account from any Man whatever.
4. That it is as unreasonable in any one Man or Set of Men to expect to
be pleas'd with every thing that is printed, as to think that nobody
ought to be pleas'd but themselves.
5. Printers are educated in the Belief, that when Men differ in Opinion,
both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the
Publick; and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is
always an overmatch for the latter: Hence they chearfully serve all
contending Writers that pay them well, without regarding on which side
they are of the Question in Dispute.
6. Being thus continually employ'd in serving both Parties, Printers
naturally acquire a vast Unconcernedness as to the right or wrong
Opinions contain'd in what they print; regarding it only as the Matter
of their daily labour: They print things full of Spleen and Animosity,
with the utmost Calmness and Indifference, and without the least
Ill-will to the Persons reflected on; who nevertheless unjustly think
the Printer as much their Enemy as the Author, and join both together in
their Resentment.
7. That it is unreasonable to imagine Printers approve of every thing
they print, and to censure them on any particular thing accordingly;
since in the way of their Business they print such great variety of
things opposite and contradictory. It is likewise as unreasonable what
some assert, "That Printers ought not to print any Thing but what they
approve;" since if all of that Business should make such a Resolution,
and abide by it, an End would thereby be put to Free Writing, and the
World would afterwards have nothing to read but what happen'd to be the
Opinions of Printers.
8. That if all Printers were determin'd not to print any thing till they
were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed.
9. That if they sometimes print vicious or silly things not worth
reading, it may not be because they approve such things themselves, but
because the People are so viciously and corruptly educated that good
things are not encouraged. I have known a very numerous Impression of
Robin Hood's Songs go off in this Province at 2s. per Book, in less than
a Twelvemonth; when a small Quantity of David's Psalms (an excellent
Version) have lain upon my Hands above twice the Time.
10. That notwithstanding what might be urg'd in behalf of a Man's being
allow'd to do in the Way of his Business whatever he is paid for, yet
Printers do continually discourage the Printing of great Numbers of bad
things, and stifle them in the Birth. I my self have constantly refused
to print anything that might countenance Vice, or promote Immorality;
tho' by complying in such Cases with the corrupt Taste of the Majority I
might have got much Money. I have also always refus'd to print such
things as might do real Injury to any Person, how much soever I have
been solicited, and tempted with Offers of Great Pay; and how much
soever I have by refusing got the Ill-will of those who would have
employ'd me. I have hitherto fallen under the Resentment of large Bodies
of Men, for refusing absolutely to print any of their Party or Personal
Reflections. In this Manner I have made my self many Enemies, and the
constant Fatigue of denying is almost insupportable. But the Publick
being unacquainted with all this, whenever the poor Printer happens
either through Ignorance or much Persuasion, to do any thing that is
generally thought worthy of Blame, he meets with no more Friendship or
Favour on the above Account, than if there were no Merit in't at all.
Thus, as Waller says,
Poets lose half the Praise they would have got
Were it but known what they discreetly blot;
Yet are censur'd for every bad Line found in their Works with the utmost
Severity.
I come now to the Particular Case of the N. B. above mention'd, about
which there has been more Clamour against me, than ever before on any
other Account.--In the Hurry of other Business an Advertisement was
brought to me to be printed; it signified that such a Ship lying at such
a Wharff, would sail for Barbadoes in such a Time, and that Freighters
and Passengers might agree with the Captain at such a Place; so far is
what's common: But at the Bottom this odd Thing was added, "N. B. No Sea
Hens nor Black Gowns will be admitted on any Terms." I printed it, and
receiv'd my Money; and the Advertisement was stuck up round the Town as
usual. I had not so much Curiosity at that time as to enquire the
Meaning of it, nor did I in the least imagine it would give so much
Offence. Several good Men are very angry with me on this Occasion; they
are pleas'd to say I have too much Sense to do such things ignorantly;
that if they were Printers they would not have done such a thing on any
Consideration; that it could proceed from nothing but my abundant Malice
against Religion and the Clergy. They therefore declare they will not
take any more of my Papers, nor have any farther Dealings with me; but
will hinder me of all the Custom they can. All this is very hard!
I believe it had been better if I had refused to print the said
Advertisement. However, 'tis done, and cannot be revok'd. I have only
the following few Particulars to offer, some of them in my behalf, by
way of Mitigation, and some not much to the Purpose; but I desire none
of them may be read when the Reader is not in a very good Humour.
1. That I really did it without the least Malice, and imagin'd the N. B.
was plac'd there only to make the Advertisement star'd at, and more
generally read.
2. That I never saw the Word Sea-Hens before in my Life; nor have I yet
ask'd the meaning of it; and tho' I had certainly known that Black Gowns
in that place signified the Clergy of the Church of England, yet I have
that confidence in the generous good Temper of such of them as I know,
as to be well satisfied such a trifling mention of their Habit gives
them no Disturbance.
3. That most of the Clergy in this and the neighbouring Provinces, are
my Customers, and some of them my very good Friends; and I must be very
malicious indeed, or very stupid, to print this thing for a small
Profit, if I had thought it would have given them just Cause of Offence.
4. That if I had much Malice against the Clergy, and withal much Sense;
'tis strange I never write or talk against the Clergy myself. Some have
observed that 'tis a fruitful Topic, and the easiest to be witty upon of
all others; yet I appeal to the Publick that I am never guilty this way,
and to all my Acquaintances as to my Conversation.
5. That if a Man of Sense had Malice enough to desire to injure the
Clergy, this is the foolishest Thing he could possibly contrive for that
Purpose.
6. That I got Five Shillings by it.
7. That none who are angry with me would have given me so much to let it
alone.
8. That if all the People of different Opinions in this Province would
engage to give me as much for not printing things they don't like, as I
can get by printing them, I should probably live a very easy Life; and
if all Printers were everywhere so dealt by, there would be very little
printed.
9. That I am oblig'd to all who take my Paper, and am willing to think
they do it out of meer Friendship. I only desire they would think the
same when I deal with them. I thank those who leave off, that they have
taken it so long. But I beg they would not endeavour to dissuade others,
for that will look like Malice.
10. That 'tis impossible any Man should know what he would do if he was
a Printer.
11. That notwithstanding the Rashness and Inexperience of Youth, which
is most likely to be prevail'd with to do things that ought not to be
done; yet I have avoided printing such Things as usually give Offence
either to Church or State, more than any Printer that has followed the
Business in this Province before.
12. And lastly, That I have printed above a Thousand Advertisements
which made not the least mention of _Sea-Hens_ or _Black Gowns_, and
this being the first Offence, I have the more Reason to expect
Forgiveness.
I take leave to conclude with an old Fable, which some of my Readers
have heard before, and some have not.
"A certain well-meaning Man and his Son, were travelling
towards a Market Town, with an Ass which they had to sell.
The Road was bad; and the old Man therefore rid, but the Son
went a-foot. The first Passenger they met, asked the Father
if he was not ashamed to ride by himself, and suffer the
poor Lad to wade along thro' the Mire; this induced him to
take up his Son behind him: He had not travelled far, when
he met others, who said, they are two unmerciful Lubbers to
get both on the Back of that poor Ass, in such a deep Road.
Upon this the old Man gets off, and let his Son ride alone.
The next they met called the Lad a graceless, rascally young
Jackanapes, to ride in that Manner thro' the Dirt, while his
aged Father trudged along on Foot; and they said the old Man
was a Fool, for suffering it. He then bid his Son come down,
and walk with him, and they travell'd on leading the Ass by
the Halter; 'till they met another Company, who called them
a Couple of senseless Blockheads, for going both on Foot in
such a dirty Way, when they had an empty Ass with them,
which they might ride upon. The old Man could bear no
longer; My Son, said he, it grieves me much that we cannot
please all these People. Let me throw the Ass over the next
Bridge, and be no further troubled with him."
Had the old Man been seen acting this last Resolution, he would probably
have been called a Fool for troubling himself about the different
Opinions of all that were pleas'd to find Fault with him: Therefore,
tho' I have a Temper almost as complying as his, I intend not to imitate
him in this last Particular. I consider the Variety of Humors among Men,
and despair of pleasing every Body; yet I shall not therefore leave off
Printing. I shall continue my Business. I shall not burn my Press and
melt my Letters.
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD, 1733
COURTEOUS READER,
I might in this place attempt to gain thy Favour, by declaring that I
write Almanacks with no other View than that of the publick Good; but in
this I should not be sincere; and Men are now adays too wise to be
deceiv'd by Pretences how specious soever. The plain Truth of the Matter
is, I am excessive poor, and my Wife, good Woman, is, I tell her,
excessive proud; she cannot bear, she says, to sit spinning in her Shift
of Tow, while I do nothing but gaze at the Stars; and has threatned more
than once to burn all my Books and Rattling-Traps (as she calls my
Instruments) if I do not make some profitable Use of them for the Good
of my Family. The Printer has offer'd me some considerable share of the
Profits, and I have thus begun to comply with my Dame's Desire.
Indeed this Motive would have had Force enough to have made me publish
an Almanack many Years since, had it not been overpowered by my Regard
for my good Friend and Fellow Student Mr. _Titan Leeds_, whose Interest
I was extreamly unwilling to hurt: But this Obstacle (I am far from
speaking it with Pleasure) is soon to be removed, since inexorable
Death, who was never known to respect Merit, has already prepared the
mortal Dart, the fatal Sister has already extended her destroying
Shears, and that ingenious Man must soon be taken from us. He dies, by
my Calculation made at his Request, on Oct. 17. 1733. 3 h. 29 m. P. M.
at the very instant of the ☌ of ☉ and ☿: By his own Calculation he will
survive till the 26th of the same Month.[26] This small Difference
between us we have disputed whenever we have met these 9 Years past; but
at length he is inclinable to agree with my Judgment: Which of us is
most exact, a little Time will now determine. As therefore these
Provinces may not longer expect to see any of his Performances after
this Year, I think my self free to take up the Task, and request a share
of the publick Encouragement; which I am the more apt to hope for on
this Account, that the Buyer of my Almanack may consider himself, not
only as purchasing an useful Utensil, but as performing an Act of
Charity, to his poor _Friend and Servant_
R. SAUNDERS.
A MEDITATION ON A QUART MUGG[27]
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, July 19, 1733.]
Wretched, miserable, and unhappy Mug! I pity thy luckless Lot, I
commiserate thy Misfortunes, thy Griefs fill me with Compassion, and
because of thee are Tears made frequently to burst from my Eyes.
How often have I seen him compell'd to hold up his Handle at the Bar,
for no other Crime than that of being empty; then snatch'd away by a
surly Officer, and plung'd suddenly into a Tub of cold Water: Sad
Spectacle, and Emblem of human Penury, oppress'd by arbitrary Power! How
often is he hurry'd down into a dismal Vault, sent up fully laden in a
cold Sweat, and by a rude Hand thrust into the Fire! How often have I
seen it obliged to undergo the Indignities of a dirty Wench; to have
melting Candles dropt on its naked Sides, and sometimes in its Mouth, to
risque being broken into a thousand Pieces, for Actions which itself was
not guilty of! How often is he forced into the Company of boisterous
Sots, who lay all their nonsence, Noise, profane Swearing, Cursing, and
Quarreling, on the harmless Mug, which speaks not a Word! They overset
him, maim him, and sometimes turn him to Arms offensive or defensive, as
they please; when of himself he would not be of either Party, but would
as willingly stand still. Alas! what Power, or Place, is provided, where
this poor Mug, this unpitied Slave, can have Redress of his Wrongs and
Sufferings? Or where shall he have a Word of Praise bestow'd on him for
his Well doings, and faithful Services? If he prove of a large size, his
Owner curses him, and says he will devour more than he'll earn: If his
Size be small, those whom his Master appoints him to serve will curse
him as much, and perhaps threaten him with the Inquisition of the
Standard. Poor Mug, unfortunate is thy Condition! Of thy self thou
wouldst do no Harm, but much Harm is done with thee! Thou art accused of
many Mischiefs; thou art said to administer Drunkenness, Poison, and
broken Heads: But none praise thee for the good Things thou yieldest!
Shouldest thou produce double Beer, nappy Ale, stallcop Cyder, or Cyder
mull'd, fine Punch, or cordial Tiff; yet for all these shouldst thou not
be prais'd, but the rich Liquors themselves, which tho' within thee,
will be said to be foreign to thee! And yet, so unhappy is thy Destiny,
thou must bear all their Faults and Abominations! Hast thou been
industriously serving thy Employers with Tiff or Punch, and instantly
they dispatch thee for Cyder, then must thou be abused for smelling of
Rum. Hast thou been steaming their Noses gratefully, with mull'd Cyder
or butter'd Ale, and then offerest to refresh their Palates with the
best of Beer, they will curse thee for thy Greasiness. And how, alas!
can thy Service be rendered more tolerable to thee? If thou submittest
thyself to a Scouring in the Kitchen, what must thou undergo from sharp
Sand, hot Ashes, and a coarse Dishclout; besides the Danger of having
thy Lips rudely torn, thy Countenance disfigured, thy Arms dismantled,
and thy whole Frame shatter'd, with violent Concussions in an Iron Pot
or Brass Kettle! And yet, O Mug! if these Dangers thou escapest, with
little Injury, thou must at last untimely fall, be broken to Pieces, and
cast away, never more to be recollected and form'd into a Quart Mug.
Whether by the Fire, or in a Battle, or choak'd with a Dishclout, or by
a Stroke against a Stone, thy Dissolution happens; 'tis all alike to thy
avaritious Owner; he grieves not for thee, but for the Shilling with
which he purchased thee! If thy Bottom Part should chance to survive, it
may be preserv'd to hold bits of Candles, or Blacking for Shoes, or
Salve for kibed Heels; but all thy other Members will be for ever buried
in some miry Hole; or less carefully disposed of, so that little
Children, who have not yet arrived to Acts of Cruelty, may gather them
up to furnish out their Baby Houses: Or, being cast upon the Dunghill,
they will therewith be carted into Meadow Grounds; where, being spread
abroad and discovered, they must be thrown to the Heap of Stones, Bones
and Rubbish; or being left until the Mower finds them with his Scythe,
they will with bitter Curses be tossed over the Hedge; and so serve for
unlucky Boys to throw at Birds and Dogs; until by Length of Time and
numerous Casualties, they shall be press'd into their Mother Earth, and
be converted to their original Principles.
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD, 1734
COURTEOUS READERS,
Your kind and charitable Assistance last Year, in purchasing so large an
Impression of my Almanacks, has made my Circumstances much more easy in
the World, and requires my grateful Acknowledgment. My Wife has been
enabled to get a Pot of her own, and is no longer oblig'd to borrow one
from a Neighbour; nor have we ever since been without something of our
own to put in it. She has also got a pair of Shoes, two new Shifts, and
a new warm Petticoat; and for my part, I have bought a second-hand Coat,
so good, that I am now not asham'd to go to Town or be seen there. These
Things have render'd her Temper so much more pacifick than it us'd to
be, that I may say, I have slept more, and more quietly within this last
Year, than in the three foregoing Years put together. Accept my hearty
Thanks therefor, and my sincere Wishes for your Health and Prosperity.
In the Preface to my last Almanack, I foretold the Death of my dear old
Friend and Fellow-Student, the learned and ingenious Mr. _Titan Leeds_,
which was to be on the 17th of _October_, 1733, 3 h. 29 m. P. M. at the
very Instant of the ☌ of ☉ and ☿. By his own Calculation he was to
survive till the 26th of the same Month, and expire in the Time of the
Eclipse, near 11 o'clock A. M. At which of these Times he died, or
whether he be really yet dead, I cannot at this present Writing
positively assure my Readers; forasmuch as a Disorder in my own Family
demanded my Presence, and would not permit me as I had intended, to be
with him in his last Moments, to receive his last Embrace, to close his
Eyes, and do the Duty of a Friend in performing the last Offices to the
Departed. Therefore it is that I cannot positively affirm whether he be
dead or not; for the Stars only show to the Skilful, what will happen in
the natural and universal Chain of Causes and Effects; but 'tis well
known, that the Events which would otherwise certainly happen at certain
Times in the Course of Nature are sometimes set aside or postpon'd for
wise and good Reasons by the immediate particular Dispositions of
Providence; which particular Dispositions the Stars can by no Means
discover or foreshow. There is however (and I cannot speak it without
Sorrow) there is the strongest Probability that my dear Friend is _no
more_; for there appears in his Name, as I am assured, an Almanack for
the Year 1734, in which I am treated in a very gross and unhandsome
Manner; in which I am called _a false Predicter_, _an Ignorant_, _a
conceited Scribler_, _a Fool_, _and a Lyar_. Mr. _Leeds_ was too well bred
to use any Man so indecently and so scurrilously, and moreover his
Esteem and Affection for me was extraordinary: So that it is to be
feared that Pamphlet may be only a Contrivance of somebody or other, who
hopes perhaps to sell two or three Year's Almanacks still, by the sole
Force and Virtue of Mr. _Leeds's_ Name; but certainly, to put Words
into the Mouth of a Gentleman and a Man of Letters, against his Friend,
which the meanest and most scandalous of the People might be asham'd to
utter even in a drunken Quarrel, is an unpardonable Injury to his
Memory, and an Imposition upon the Publick.
Mr. _Leeds_ was not only profoundly skilful in the useful Science he
profess'd, but he was a Man of _exemplary Sobriety_, a most _sincere
Friend_, and an _exact Performer of his Word_. These valuable
Qualifications, with many others so much endear'd him to me, that
although it should be so, that, contrary to all Probability, contrary to
my Prediction and his own, he might possibly be yet alive, yet my Loss
of Honour as a Prognosticator, cannot afford me so much Mortification,
as his Life, Health and Safety would give me Joy and Satisfaction.
I am, _Courteous and Kind Reader
Your poor Friend and Servant,_
Octob. 30. 1733. R. SAUNDERS.
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD, 1735
COURTEOUS READER,
This is the third Time of my appearing in print, hitherto very much to
my own Satisfaction, and, I have reason to hope, to the Satisfaction of
the Publick also; for the Publick is generous, and has been very
charitable and good to me. I should be ungrateful then, if I did not
take every Opportunity of expressing my Gratitude; for _ingratum si
dixeris, omnia dixeris_: I therefore return the Publick my most humble
and hearty Thanks.
Whatever may be the Musick of the Spheres, how great soever the Harmony
of the Stars, 'tis certain there is no Harmony among the Stargazers; but
they are perpetually growling and snarling at one another like strange
Curs, or like some Men at their Wives: I had resolved to keep the Peace
on my own part, and affront none of them; and I shall persist in that
Resolution: But having receiv'd much Abuse from _Titan Leeds_ deceas'd
(_Titan Leeds_ when living would not have us'd me so!) I say, having
receiv'd much Abuse from the Ghost of _Titan Leeds_, who pretends to be
still living, and to write Almanacks in Spight of me and my Predictions,
I cannot help saying, that tho' I take it patiently, I take it very
unkindly. And whatever he may pretend, 'tis undoubtedly true that he is
really defunct and dead. First because the Stars are seldom
disappointed, never but in the Case of wise Men, _sapiens dominabitur
astris_, and they foreshow'd his Death at the Time I predicted it.
Secondly, 'Twas requisite and necessary he should die punctually at that
Time, for the Honour of Astrology, the Art professed both by him and his
Father before him. Thirdly, 'Tis plain to every one that reads his last
two Almanacks (for 1734 and 35) that they are not written with that
_Life_ his Performances use to be written with; the Wit is low and flat,
the little Hints dull and spiritless, nothing smart in them but
_Hudibras's_ Verses against Astrology at the Heads of the Months in the
last, which no Astrologer but a _dead one_ would have inserted, and no
Man _living_ would or could write such Stuff as the rest. But lastly I
convince him in his own Words, that he is dead (_ex ore suo condemnatus
est_) for in his Preface to his Almanack for 1734, he says "_Saunders
adds another_ GROSS FALSHOOD _in his Almanack, viz. that by my own
Calculation I shall survive until the 26th of the said Month October
1733, which is as untrue as the former_." Now if it be, as Leeds says,
_untrue_ and a _gross Falshood_ that he surviv'd till the 26th of
October 1733, then it is certainly _true_ that he died _before_ that
Time: And if he died before that Time, he is dead now, to all Intents
and Purposes, any thing he may say to the contrary notwithstanding. And
at what Time before the 26th is it so likely he should die, as at the
Time by me predicted, _viz._ the 17th of October aforesaid? But if some
People will walk and be troublesome after Death, it may perhaps be born
with a little, because it cannot well be avoided unless one would be at
the Pains and Expence of laying them in the _Red Sea_; however, they
should not presume too much upon the Liberty allow'd them; I know
Confinement must needs be mighty irksome to the free Spirit of an
Astronomer, and I am too compassionate to proceed suddenly to
Extremities with it; nevertheless, tho' I resolve with Reluctance, I
shall not long defer, if it does not speedily learn to treat its living
Friends with better Manners,
I am, _Courteous Reader, your obliged Friend and Servant_
Octob. 30. 1734 R. SAUNDERS.
HINTS FOR THOSE THAT WOULD BE RICH
[October, 1736--From _Poor Richard_, 1737]
The Use of Money is all the Advantage there is in having Money.
For £6 a Year you may have the Use of £100 if you are a Man of known
Prudence and Honesty.
He that spends a Groat a day idly, spends idly above £6 a year, which is
the Price of using £100.
He that wastes idly a Groat's worth of his Time per Day, one Day with
another, wastes the Privilege of using £100 each Day.
He that idly loses 5s. worth of time, loses 5s. and might as prudently
throw 5s. in the River.
He that loses 5s. not only loses that Sum, but all the Advantage that
might be made by turning it in Dealing, which, by the time that a young
Man becomes old, amounts to a comfortable Bag of Money.
_Again_, He that sells upon Credit, asks a Price for what he sells
equivalent to the Principal and Interest of his Money for the Time he is
like to be kept out of it: therefore He that buys upon Credit, pays
Interest for what he buys. And he that pays ready Money, might let that
Money out to Use; so that He that possesses any Thing he has bought,
pays Interest for the Use of it.
_Consider then_ when you are tempted to buy any unnecessary
Householdstuff, or any superfluous thing, whether you will be willing to
pay _Interest, and Interest upon Interest_ for it as long as you live;
and more if it grows worse by using.
_Yet, in buying goods, 'tis best to pay Ready Money, because_, He that
sells upon Credit, expects to lose _5 per Cent_ by bad Debts; therefore
he charges, on all he sells upon Credit, an Advance that shall make up
for that Deficiency.
Those who pay for what they buy upon Credit, pay their Share of this
Advance.
He that pays ready Money, escapes or may escape that Charge.
A Penny sav'd is Twopence clear,
A Pin a Day is a Groat a Year.
TO JOSIAH FRANKLIN[28]
Philadelphia, April 13, 1738.
HONOURED FATHER,
I have your favours of the 21st of March, in which you both seem
concerned lest I have imbibed some erroneous opinions. Doubtless I have
my share; and when the natural weakness and imperfection of human
understanding is considered, the unavoidable influence of education,
custom, books, and company upon our ways of thinking, I imagine a man
must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of
boldness who affirms, that all the doctrines he holds are true, and all
he rejects are false. And perhaps the same may be justly said of every
sect, church, and society of men, when they assume to themselves that
infallibility, which they deny to the Pope and councils.
I think opinions should be judged of by their influences and effects;
and, if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more
vicious, it may be concluded he holds none that are dangerous; which I
hope is the case with me.
I am sorry you should have any uneasiness on my account; and if it were
a thing possible for one to alter his opinions in order to please
another, I know none whom I ought more willingly to oblige in that
respect than yourselves. But, since it is no more in a man's power to
_think_ than to _look_ like another, methinks all that should be
expected from me is to keep my mind open to conviction, to hear
patiently and examine attentively, whatever is offered me for that end;
and, if after all I continue in the same errors, I believe your usual
charity will induce you to rather pity and excuse, than blame me. In the
mean time your care and concern for me is what I am very thankful for.
My mother grieves, that one of her sons is an Arian, another an
Arminian. What an Arminian or an Arian is, I cannot say that I very well
know. The truth is, I make such distinctions very little my study. I
think vital religion has always suffered, when orthodoxy is more
regarded than virtue; and the Scriptures assure me, that at the last day
we shall not be examined what we _thought_, but what we _did_; and our
recommendation will not be, that we said, _Lord! Lord!_ but that we did
good to our fellow creatures. See Matt. xxv.
As to the freemasons, I know no way of giving my mother a better account
of them than she seems to have at present, since it is not allowed that
women should be admitted into that secret society. She has, I must
confess, on that account some reason to be displeased with it; but for
any thing else, I must entreat her to suspend her judgment till she is
better informed, unless she will believe me, when I assure her that they
are in general a very harmless sort of people, and have no principles or
practices that are inconsistent with religion and good manners.
We have had great rains here lately, which, with the thawing of snow on
the mountains back of our country, have made vast floods in our rivers,
and, by carrying away bridges, boats, &c., made travelling almost
impracticable for a week past; so that our post has entirely missed
making one trip.
I hear nothing of Dr. Crook, nor can I learn any such person has ever
been here.
I hope my sister Jenny's child is by this time recovered. I am your
dutiful son.
B. FRANKLIN.
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD, 1739
KIND READER,
Encouraged by thy former Generosity, I once more present thee with an
Almanack, which is the 7th of my Publication. While thou art putting
Pence in my Pocket, and furnishing my Cottage with necessaries, _Poor
Dick_ is not unmindful to do something for thy Benefit. The Stars are
watch'd as narrowly as old _Bess_ watch'd her Daughter, that thou mayst
be acquainted with their Motions, and told a Tale of their Influences
and Effects, which may do thee more good than a Dream of last Year's
Snow.
Ignorant Men wonder how we Astrologers foretell the Weather so exactly,
unless we deal with the old black Devil. Alas! 'tis as easy as ******
For Instance; The Stargazer peeps at the Heavens thro' a long Glass: He
sees perhaps TAURUS, or the great Bull, in a mighty Chafe, stamping on
the Floor of his House, swinging his Tail about, stretching out his
Neck, and opening wide his Mouth. 'Tis natural from these Appearances to
judge that this furious Bull is puffing, blowing and roaring. Distance
being consider'd and Time allow'd for all this to come down, there you
have Wind and Thunder. He spies perhaps VIRGO (or the Virgin;) she turns
her Head round as it were to see if any body observ'd her; then
crouching down gently, with her Hands on her Knees, she looks wistfully
for a while right forward. He judges rightly what she's about: And
having calculated the Distance and allow'd Time for its Falling, finds
that next Spring we shall have a fine _April_ shower. What can be more
natural and easy than this? I might instance the like in many other
particulars; but this may be sufficient to prevent our being taken for
Conjurors. O the wonderful Knowledge to be found in the Stars! Even the
smallest Things are written there, if you had but Skill to read: When my
Brother J-m-n erected a Scheme to know which was best for his sick
Horse, to sup a new-laid Egg, or a little Broth, he found that the Stars
plainly gave their Verdict for Broth, and the Horse having sup'd his
Broth;--Now, what do you think became of that Horse? You shall know in
my next.
Besides the usual Things expected in an Almanack, I hope the profess'd
Teachers of Mankind will excuse my scattering here and there some
instructive Hints in Matters of Morality and Religion. And be not thou
disturbed, O grave and sober Reader, if among the many serious Sentences
in my Book, thou findest me trifling now and then, and talking idly. In
all the Dishes I have hitherto cook'd for thee, there is solid Meat
enough for thy Money. There are Scraps from the Table of Wisdom, that
will if well digested, yield strong Nourishment to thy Mind. But
squeamish Stomachs cannot eat without Pickles; which, 'tis true are good
for nothing else, but they provoke an Appetite. The Vain Youth that
reads my Almanack for the sake of an idle Joke, will perhaps meet with a
serious Reflection, that he may ever after be the better for.
Some People observing the great Yearly Demand for my Almanack, imagine I
must by this Time have become rich, and consequently ought to call
myself _Poor Dick_ no longer. But, the Case is this,
When I first begun to publish, the Printer made a fair Agreement with me
for my Copies, by Virtue of which he runs away with the greatest Part of
the Profit.--However, much good may't do him; I do not grudge it him; he
is a Man I have a great Regard for, and I wish his Profit ten times
greater than it is. For I am, dear Reader, his, as well as thy
_Affectionate Friend_
R. SAUNDERS.
A PROPOSAL
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE BRITISH PLANTATIONS IN AMERICA
Philadelphia, May 14, 1743.
The English are possessed of a long tract of continent, from Nova Scotia
to Georgia, extending north and south through different climates, having
different soils, producing different plants, mines, and minerals, and
capable of different improvements, manufactures, &c.
The first drudgery of settling new colonies, which confines the
attention of people to mere necessaries, is now pretty well over; and
there are many in every province in circumstances that set them at ease,
and afford leisure to cultivate the finer arts and improve the common
stock of knowledge. To such of these who are men of speculation, many
hints must from time to time arise, many observations occur, which if
well examined, pursued, and improved, might produce discoveries to the
advantage of some or all of the British plantations, or to the benefit
of mankind in general.
But as from the extent of the country such persons are widely separated,
and seldom can see and converse or be acquainted with each other, so
that many useful particulars remain uncommunicated, die with the
discoverers, and are lost to mankind; it is, to remedy this
inconvenience for the future, proposed,
That one society be formed of _virtuosi_ or ingenious men,
residing in the several colonies, to be called _The American
Philosophical Society_, who are to maintain a constant
correspondence.
That Philadelphia, being the city nearest the centre of the
continent colonies, communicating with all of them northward
and southward by post, and with all the islands by sea, and
having the advantage of a good growing library, be the centre
of the Society.
That at Philadelphia there be always at least seven members,
viz. a physician, a botanist, a mathematician, a chemist, a
mechanician, a geographer, and a general natural philosopher,
besides a president, treasurer, and secretary.
That these members meet once a month, or oftener, at their
own expense, to communicate to each other their observations
and experiments, to receive, read, and consider such letters,
communications, or queries as shall be sent from distant
members; to direct the dispersing of copies of such
communications as are valuable, to other distant members, in
order to procure their sentiments thereupon.
That the subjects of the correspondence be: all
new-discovered plants, herbs, trees, roots, their virtues,
uses, &c.; methods of propagating them, and making such as
are useful, but particular to some plantations, more general;
improvements of vegetable juices, as ciders, wines, &c.; new
methods of curing or preventing diseases; all new-discovered
fossils in different countries, as mines, minerals, and
quarries; new and useful improvements in any branch of
mathematics; new discoveries in chemistry, such as
improvements in distillation, brewing, and assaying of ores;
new mechanical inventions for saving labour, as mills and
carriages, and for raising and conveying of water, draining
of meadows, &c.; all new arts, trades, and manufactures, that
may be proposed or thought of; surveys, maps, and charts of
particular parts of the sea-coasts or inland countries;
course and junction of rivers and great roads, situation of
lakes and mountains, nature of the soil and productions; new
methods of improving the breed of useful animals; introducing
other sorts from foreign countries; new improvements in
planting, gardening, and clearing land; and all philosophical
experiments that let light into the nature of things, tend to
increase the power of man over matter, and multiply the
conveniences or pleasures of life.
That a correspondence, already begun by some intended
members, shall be kept up by this Society with the ROYAL
SOCIETY of London, and with the DUBLIN SOCIETY.
That every member shall have abstracts sent him quarterly, of
every thing valuable communicated to the Society's Secretary
at Philadelphia; free of all charge except the yearly payment
hereafter mentioned.
That, by permission of the postmaster-general, such
communications pass between the Secretary of the Society and
the members, postage-free.
That, for defraying the expense of such experiments as the
Society shall judge proper to cause to be made, and other
contingent charges for the common good, every member send a
piece of eight per annum to the treasurer, at Philadelphia,
to form a common stock, to be disbursed by order of the
President with the consent of the majority of the members
that can conveniently be consulted thereupon, to such persons
and places where and by whom the experiments are to be made,
and otherwise as there shall be occasion; of which
disbursements an exact account shall be kept, and
communicated yearly to every member.
That, at the first meetings of the members at Philadelphia,
such rules be formed for regulating their meetings and
transactions for the general benefit, as shall be convenient
and necessary; to be afterwards changed and improved as there
shall be occasion, wherein due regard is to be had to the
advice of distant members.
That, at the end of every year, collections be made and
printed, of such experiments, discoveries, and improvements,
as may be thought of public advantage; and that every member
have a copy sent him.
That the business and duty of the Secretary be to receive all
letters intended for the Society, and lay them before the
President and members at their meetings; to abstract,
correct, and methodize such papers as require it, and as he
shall be directed to do by the President, after they have
been considered, debated, and digested in the Society; to
enter copies thereof in the Society's books, and make out
copies for distant members; to answer their letters by
direction of the President, and keep records of all material
transactions of the Society.
Benjamin Franklin, the writer of this Proposal, offers himself to serve
the Society as their secretary, till they shall be provided with one
more capable.
SHAVERS AND TRIMMERS
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, June 23, 1743.]
Alexander Miller, Peruke-maker, in _Second-street, Philadelphia_, takes
Opportunity to acquaint his Customers, that he intends to leave off the
Shaving Business after the 22d of _August_ next.
TO MR. FRANKLIN
_Sir_,
It is a common Observation among the People of _Great Britain_ and
_Ireland_, that the Barbers are reverenced by the lower Classes of the
Inhabitants of those Kingdoms, and in the more remote Parts of those
Dominions, as the sole Oracles of Wisdom and Politicks. This at first
View seems to be owing to the odd Bent of Mind and peculiar Humour of
the People of those Nations: But if we carry this Observation into other
Parts, we shall find the same Passion equally prevalent throughout the
whole civilized World; and discover in every little Market-Town and
Village the 'Squire, the Exciseman, and even the Parson himself,
listening with as much Attention to a Barber's News, as they would to
the profound Revelations of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, or principal
Secretary of State.
Antiquity likewise will furnish us with many Confirmations of the Truth
of what I have here asserted. Among the old _Romans_ the Barbers were
understood to be exactly of the same Complection I have here described.
I shall not trouble your Readers with a Multitude of Examples taken from
Antiquity. I shall only quote one Passage in _Horace_, which may serve
to illustrate the Whole, and is as follows.
Strenuus et fortis, causisq; Philippus agendis
Clarus, ab officiis octavam circiter horam
Dum redit: atq; foro nimium distare carinas
Jam grandis natu queritur, conspexit, ut aiunt,
Adrasum quendam vacuâ tonsoris in umbrâ.
Cultello proprios purgantem leniter ungues.
Hor. Epist. Lib. I. 7.
By which we may understand, that the _Tonsoris Umbra, or_ Barber's Shop,
was the common Rendezvous of every idle Fellow, who had no more to do
than to pair his Nails, talk Politicks, and see, and to be seen.
But to return to the Point in Question. If we would know why the Barbers
are so eminent for their Skill in Politicks, it will be necessary to lay
aside the Appellation of Barber, and confine ourselves to that of Shaver
and Trimmer, which will naturally lead us to consider the near Relation
which subsists between Shaving, Trimming and Politicks, from whence we
shall discover that Shaving and Trimming is not the Province of the
Mechanic alone, but that there are their several Shavers and Trimmers at
Court, the Bar, in Church and State.
And first, Shaving or Trimming, in a strict mechanical Sense of the
Word, signifies a cutting, sheering, lopping off, and fleecing us of
those Excrescencies of Hair, Nails, Flesh, &c., which burthen and
disguise our natural Endowments. And is not the same practised over the
whole World, by Men of every Rank and Station? Does not the corrupt
Minister lop off our Privileges and fleece us of our Money? Do not the
Gentlemen of the long Robe find means to cut off those Excrescencies of
the Nation, Highwaymen, Thieves and Robbers? And to look into the
Church, who has been more notorious for shaving and fleecing, than that
Apostle of Apostles, that Preacher of Preachers, the Rev. Mr. G. W.?[29]
But I forbear making farther mention of this spiritual Shaver and
Trimmer, lest I should affect the Minds of my Readers as deeply as his
Preaching has affected their Pockets.
The second Species of Shavers and Trimmers are those who, according to
the _English_ Phrase, _make the best of a bad Market_: Such as cover
(what is called by an eminent Preacher) _their poor Dust_ in tinsel
Cloaths and gaudy Plumes of Feathers. A Star, and Garter, for Instance,
adds Grace, Dignity and Lustre to a gross corpulent Body; and a
competent Share of religious Horror thrown into the Countenance, with
proper Distortions of the Face, and the Addition of a lank Head of Hair,
or a long Wig and Band, commands a most profound Respect to Insolence
and Ignorance. The Pageantry of the Church of _Rome_ is too well known
for me to instance: It will not however be amiss to observe, that his
Holiness the Pope, when he has a Mind to fleece his Flock of a good
round Sum, sets off the Matter with Briefs, Pardons, Indulgencies, &c.
&c. &c.
The Third and last Kind of Shavers and Trimmers are those who (in
Scripture Language) are carried away with every Wind of Doctrine. The
Vicars of Bray, and those who exchange their Principles with the Times,
may justly be referred to this Class. But the most odious Shavers and
Trimmers of this Kind, are a certain set of Females, called (by the
polite World) JILTS. I cannot give my Readers a more perfect Idea of
these than by quoting the following Lines of the Poet:
Fatally fair they are, and in their Smiles
The Graces, little Loves, and young Desires inhabit:
But they are false luxurious in their Appetites,
And all the Heav'n they hope for, is Variety.
One Lover to another still succeeds,
Another and another after that,
And the last Fool is welcome as the former;
'Till having lov'd his Hour out, he gives his Place,
And mingles with the Herd that went before him.
_Rowe's Fair Penitent._
Lastly, I cannot but congratulate my Neighbours on the little Favour
which is shown to Shavers and Trimmers by the People of this Province.
The Business is at so low an Ebb, that the worthy Gentleman whose
Advertisement I have chosen for the Motto of my Paper, acquaints us he
will leave it off after the 22d of _August_ next. I am of Opinion that
all possible Encouragement ought to be given to Examples of this Kind,
since it is owing to this that so perfect an Understanding is cultivated
among ourselves, and the Chain of Friendship is brightened and
perpetuated with our good Allies, the _Indians_. The Antipathy which
these sage Naturalists bear to Shaving and Trimming, is well known.
_I am, Yours, &c._
TO THE PUBLICK
* * * Causis Philippus agendis
Clarus, * * *
S. P. D.
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, June 30, 1743.]
My Paper on Shavers and Trimmers, in the last _Gazette_, being generally
condemn'd, I at first imputed it to the Want of Taste and Relish for
Pieces of that Force and Beauty, which none but University-bred
Gentlemen can _produce_: But upon Advice of Friends, whose Judgment I
could depend on, I examined _myself_ and to my Shame must confess, that
I found myself to be an uncircumcised Jew, whose Excrescencies of Hair,
Nails, Flesh, &c. did burthen and disguise my Natural Endowments; but
having my Hair and Nails since lopp'd off and shorn, and my fleshly
Excrescencies circumcised, I now appear in my wonted Lustre, and expect
a speedy Admission among the _Levites_, which I have already the Honour
of among the Poets and Natural Philosophers. I have one Thing more to
add, which is, That I had no real Animosity against the Person whose
Advertisement I made the Motto of my Paper; but (as may appear to all
who have been Big with Pieces of this Kind) what I had long on my Mind,
I at last unburden'd myself of. O! these JILTS still run in my Mind.
N. B. The Publick perhaps may suppose this Confession forced upon me;
but if they _repair_ to the P---- Pe in Second-street, they may see Me,
or the Original hereof under my own Hand, and be convinced that this is
genuine.
PREFACE TO LOGAN'S TRANSLATION OF "CATO MAJOR"[30]
The Printer to the Reader
This Version of Cicero's Tract _de Senectute_, was made Ten Years since,
by the Honourable and Learned Mr. Logan, of this City; undertaken partly
for his own Amusement, (being then in his 60th Year, which is said to be
nearly the Age of the Author when he wrote it) but principally for the
Entertainment of a Neighbour then in his grand Climacteric; and the
Notes were drawn up solely on that Neighbour's Account, who was not so
well acquainted as himself with the Roman History and Language: Some
other Friends, however, (among whom I had the Honour to be ranked)
obtained Copies of it in MS. And, as I believed it to be in itself equal
at least, if not far preferable to any other Translation of the same
Piece extant in our Language, besides the Advantage it has of so many
valuable Notes, which at the same time they clear up the Text, are
highly instructive and entertaining; I resolved to give it an
Impression, being confident that the Publick would not unfavourably
receive it.
A certain Freed-man of _Cicero's_ is reported to have said of a
medicinal Well, discovered in his Time, wonderful for the Virtue of its
Waters in restoring Sight to the Aged, That it was a Gift of the
bountiful Gods to Men, to the end that all might now have the Pleasure
of reading his Master's Works. As that Well, if still in being, is at
too great a Distance for our Use, I have, _Gentle Reader_, as thou
seest, printed this Piece of _Cicero's_ in a large and fair Character,
that those who begin to think on the Subject of Old Age, (which seldom
happens till their Sight is somewhat impair'd by its Approaches) may
not, in Reading, by the _Pain_ small Letters give the Eyes, feel the
_Pleasure_ of the Mind in the least allayed.
I shall add to these few Lines my hearty Wish, that this first
Translation of a _Classic_ in this _Western World_, may be followed with
many others, performed with equal Judgment and Success; and be a happy
Omen, that _Philadelphia_ shall become the Seat of the _American_ Muses.
Philadelphia, Febr. 29. 1743/4.
TO JOHN FRANKLIN, AT BOSTON[31]
Philadelphia [March 10], 1745.
--Our people are extremely impatient to hear of your success at Cape
Breton. My shop is filled with thirty inquirers at the coming in of
every post. Some wonder the place is not yet taken. I tell them I shall
be glad to hear that news three months hence. Fortified towns are hard
nuts to crack; and your teeth have not been accustomed to it. Taking
strong places is a particular trade, which you have taken up without
serving an apprenticeship to it. Armies and veterans need skilful
engineers to direct them in their attack. Have you any? But some seem
to think forts are as easy taken as snuff. Father Moody's prayers look
tolerably modest. You have a fast and prayer day for that purpose; in
which I compute five hundred thousand petitions were offered up to the
same effect in New England, which added to the petitions of every family
morning and evening, multiplied by the number of days since January
25th, make forty-five millions of prayers; which, set against the
prayers of a few priests in the garrison, to the Virgin Mary, give a
vast balance in your favour.
If you do not succeed, I fear I shall have but an indifferent opinion of
Presbyterian prayers in such cases, as long as I live. Indeed, in
attacking strong towns I should have more dependence on _works_, than on
_faith_; for, like the kingdom of heaven, they are to be taken by force
and violence; and in a French garrison I suppose there are devils of
that kind, that they are not to be cast out by prayers and fasting,
unless it be by their own fasting for want of provisions. I believe
there is Scripture in what I have wrote, but I cannot adorn the margin
with quotations, having a bad memory, and no Concordance at hand;
besides no more time than to subscribe myself, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD, 1746
Who is _Poor Richard_? People oft enquire,
Where lives? What is he? never yet the nigher.
Somewhat to ease your Curiositee,
Take these slight Sketches of my Dame and me.
Thanks to kind Readers and a careful Wife,
With plenty bless'd, I lead an easy Life;
My business Writing; less to drain the Mead,
Or crown the barren Hill with useful Shade;
In the smooth Glebe to see the Plowshare worn,
And fill the Granary with needful Corn.
Press nectareous Cyder from my loaded Trees,
Print the sweet Butter, turn the Drying Cheese.
Some Books we read, tho' few there are that hit
The happy Point where Wisdom joins with Wit;
That set fair Virtue naked to our View,
And teach us what is _decent_, what is _true_.
The Friend sincere, and honest Man, with Joy
Treating or treated oft our Time employ.
Our Table next, Meals temperate; and our Door
Op'ning spontaneous to the bashful Poor.
Free from the bitter Rage of Party Zeal,
All those we love who seek the publick Weal.
Nor blindly follow Superstitious Love,
Which cheats deluded Mankind o'er and o'er,
Not over righteous, quite beyond the Rule,
Conscience perplext by every canting Tool.
Nor yet when Folly hides the dubious Line,
When Good and Bad the blended Colours join:
Rush indiscreetly down the dangerous Steep,
And plunge uncertain in the darksome Deep.
Cautious, if right; if wrong resolv'd to part
The Inmate Snake that folds about the Heart.
Observe the _Mean_, the _Motive_, and the _End_,
Mending ourselves, or striving still to mend.
Our Souls sincere, our Purpose fair and free,
Without Vain Glory or Hypocrisy:
Thankful if well; if ill, we kiss the Rod;
Resign with Hope, and put our Trust in God.
THE SPEECH OF POLLY BAKER[32]
[Printed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, April, 1747.]
The Speech of Miss Polly Baker before a Court of Judicature, at
Connecticut near Boston in New England; where she was prosecuted the
fifth time, for having a Bastard Child: Which influenced the Court to
dispense with her Punishment, and which induced one of her Judges to
marry her the next Day--by whom she had fifteen Children.
"May it please the honourable bench to indulge me in a few
words: I am a poor, unhappy woman, who have no money to fee
lawyers to plead for me, being hard put to it to get a
living. I shall not trouble your honours with long speeches;
for I have not the presumption to expect that you may, by any
means, be prevailed on to deviate in your Sentence from the
law, in my favour. All I humbly hope is, that your honours
would charitably move the governor's goodness on my behalf,
that my fine may be remitted. This is the fifth time,
gentlemen, that I have been dragg'd before your court on the
same account; twice I have paid heavy fines, and twice have
been brought to publick punishment, for want of money to pay
those fines. This may have been agreeable to the laws, and I
don't dispute it; but since laws are sometimes unreasonable
in themselves, and therefore repealed; and others bear too
hard on the subject in particular circumstances, and
therefore there is left a power somewhere to dispense with
the execution of them; I take the liberty to say, that I
think this law, by which I am punished, both unreasonable in
itself, and particularly severe with regard to me, who have
always lived an inoffensive life in the neighbourhood where I
was born, and defy my enemies (if I have any) to say I ever
wrong'd any man, woman, or child. Abstracted from the law, I
cannot conceive (may it please your honours) what the nature
of my offense is. I have brought five fine children into the
world, at the risque of my life; I have maintain'd them well
by my own industry, without burthening the township, and
would have done it better, if it had not been for the heavy
charges and fines I have paid. Can it be a crime (in the
nature of things, I mean) to add to the king's subjects, in a
new country, that really wants people? I own it, I should
think it rather a praiseworthy than a punishable action. I
have debauched no other woman's husband, nor enticed any
other youth; these things I never was charg'd with; nor has
any one the least cause of complaint against me, unless,
perhaps, the ministers of justice, because I have had
children without being married, by which they have missed a
wedding fee. But can this be a fault of mine? I appeal to
your honours. You are pleased to allow I don't want sense;
but I must be stupified to the last degree, not to prefer
the honourable state of wedlock to the condition I have lived
in. I always was, and still am willing to enter into it; and
doubt not my behaving well in it, having all the industry,
frugality, fertility, and skill in economy appertaining to a
good wife's character. I defy any one to say I ever refused
an offer of that sort: on the contrary, I readily consented
to the only proposal of marriage that ever was made me, which
was when I was a virgin, but too easily confiding in the
person's sincerity that made it, I unhappily lost my honour
by trusting to his; for he got me with child, and then
forsook me.
"That very person, you all know, he is now become a
magistrate of this country; and I had hopes he would have
appeared this day on the bench, and have endeavoured to
moderate the Court in my favour; then I should have scorn'd
to have mentioned it; but I must now complain of it, as
unjust and unequal, that my betrayer and undoer, the first
cause of all my faults and miscarriages (if they must be
deemed such), should be advanced to honour and power in this
government that punishes my misfortunes with stripes and
infamy. I should be told, 'tis like, that were there no act
of Assembly in the case, the precepts of religion are
violated by my transgressions. If mine is a religious
offense, leave it to religious punishments. You have already
excluded me from the comforts of your church communion. Is
not that sufficient? You believe I have offended heaven, and
must suffer eternal fire: Will not that be sufficient? What
need is there then of your additional fines and whipping? I
own I do not think as you do, for, if I thought what you call
a sin was really such, I could not presumptuously commit it.
But, how can it be believed that heaven is angry at my having
children, when to the little done by me towards it, God has
been pleased to add his divine skill and admirable
workmanship in the formation of their bodies, and crowned the
whole by furnishing them with rational and immortal souls?
"Forgive me, gentlemen, if I talk a little extravagantly on
these matters; I am no divine, but if you, gentlemen, must be
making laws, do not turn natural and useful actions into
crimes by your prohibitions. But take into your wise
consideration the great and growing number of batchelors in
the country, many of whom, from the mean fear of the expences
of a family, have never sincerely and honourably courted a
woman in their lives; and by their manner of living leave
unproduced (which is little better than murder) hundreds of
their posterity to the thousandth generation. Is not this a
greater offense against the publick good than mine? Compel
them, then, by law, either to marriage, or to pay double the
fine of fornication every year. What must poor young women
do, whom customs and nature forbid to solicit the men, and
who cannot force themselves upon husbands, when the laws take
no care to provide them any, and yet severely punish them if
they do their duty without them; the duty of the first and
great command of nature and nature's God, _encrease and
multiply_; a duty, from the steady performance of which
nothing has been able to deter me, but for its sake I have
hazarded the loss of the publick esteem, and have frequently
endured publick disgrace and punishment; and therefore ought,
in my humble opinion, instead of a whipping, to have a statue
erected to my memory."
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD, 1747
COURTEOUS READER,
This is the 15th Time I have entertain'd thee with my annual
Productions; I hope to thy Profit as well as mine. For besides the
astronomical Calculations, and other Things usually contain'd in
Almanacks, which have their daily Use indeed while the Year continues,
but then become of no Value, I have constantly interspers'd _moral_
Sentences, _prudent_ Maxims, and _wise_ Sayings, many of them containing
_much good Sense_ in _very few_ Words, and therefore apt to leave
_strong_ and _lasting_ Impressions on the Memory of young Persons,
whereby they may receive Benefit as long as they live, when both
Almanack and Almanack-maker have been long thrown by and forgotten. If I
now and then insert a Joke or two, that seem to have little in them, my
Apology _is_ that such may have their Use, since perhaps for their Sake
light airy Minds peruse the rest, and so are struck by somewhat of more
Weight and Moment. The Verses on the Heads of the Months are also
generally design'd to have the same Tendency. I need not tell thee that
not many of them are of my own Making. If thou hast any Judgment in
Poetry, thou wilt easily discern the Workman from the Bungler. I know as
well as thee, that I am no _Poet born_; and it is a Trade I never
learnt, nor indeed could learn. _If I make Verses, 'tis in Spight--of
Nature and my Stars, I write._ Why then should I give my Readers _bad
Lines_ of my own, when _good Ones_ of other People's are so plenty? 'Tis
methinks a poor Excuse for the bad Entertainment of Guests, that the
Food we set before them, tho' coarse and ordinary, _is of one's own
Raising, off one's own Plantation_, &c. when there is Plenty of what is
ten times better, to be had in the Market.--On the contrary, I assure
ye, my Friends, that I have procur'd the best I could for ye, and _much
Good may't do ye...._
_I am thy poor Friend, to serve thee,_
R. SAUNDERS.
TO PETER COLLINSON
Philad^a Aug^t 14, 1747.
SIR
I have lately written two long Letters to you on the Subject of
Electricity, one by the Governor's Vessel, the other per Mesnard. On
some further Experiments since I have observ'd a Phenomenon or two, that
I cannot at present account for on the Principle laid down in those
Letters, and am therefore become a little diffident of my Hypothesis,
and asham'd that I have express'd myself in so positive a manner. In
going on with these Experiments how many pretty Systems do we build
which we soon find ourselves oblig'd to destroy! If there is no other
Use discover'd of Electricity this however is something considerable,
that it may _help to make a vain man humble_.
I must now request that you would not Expose those Letters; or if you
communicate them to any Friends you would at least conceal my Name. I
have not Time to add but that I am, Sir,
Your obliged and most hum^e Serv^t
B. FRANKLIN.
PREFACE TO POOR RICHARD IMPROVED, 1748
KIND READER
The favourable Reception my annual Labours have met with from the
Publick these 15 Years past, has engaged me in Gratitude to endeavour
some Improvements of my Almanack. And since my Friend _Taylor_ is no
more, whose _Ephemerides_ so long and so agreeably serv'd and
entertain'd these Provinces, I have taken the Liberty to imitate his
well-known Method, and give two Pages for each Month; which affords me
Room for several valuable Additions, as will best appear on Inspection
and Comparison with former Almanacks. Yet I have not so far follow'd his
Method, as not to continue my own when I thought it preferable; and thus
my Book is increas'd to a Size beyond his, and contains much more
Matter.
Hail Night serene! thro' Thee where'er we turn
Our wond'ring Eyes, Heav'n's Lamps profusely burn;
And Stars unnumber'd all the Sky adorn.
But lo!--what's that I see appear?
It seems far off a pointed flame;
From Earthwards too the shining Meteor came:
How swift it climbs th' etherial Space!
And now it traverses each Sphere,
And seems some knowing Mind, familiar to the Place,
Dame, hand my Glass, the longest, strait prepare;
'Tis He--'tis TAYLOR'S Soul, that travels there.
O stay! thou happy Spirit, stay,
And lead me on thro' all th' unbeaten Wilds of Day;
Where Planets in pure Streams of Ether driven,
Swim thro' the blue Expanse of Heav'n.
There let me, thy Companion, stray
From Orb to Orb, and now behold
Unnumber'd Suns, all Seas of molten Gold,
And trace each Comet's wandring Way.--
Souse down into Prose again, my Muse; for Poetry's no more thy Element,
than Air is that of the Flying-Fish; whose Flights, like thine, are
therefore always short and heavy.--
ADVICE TO A YOUNG TRADESMAN
[1748]
TO MY FRIEND, A. B.:
As you have desired it of me, I write the following hints, which have
been of service to me, and may, if observed, be so to you.
Remember, that _time_ is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by
his labour, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though
he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to
reckon _that_ the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown
away, five shillings besides.
Remember, that _credit_ is money. If a man lets his money lie in my
hands after it is due, he gives me the interest, or so much as I can
make of it during that time. This amounts to a considerable sum where a
man has good and large credit, and makes good use of it.
Remember, that money is of the prolific, generating nature. Money can
beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and so on. Five shillings
turned is six, turned again it is seven and three-pence, and so on till
it becomes an hundred pounds. The more there is of it, the more it
produces every turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker. He
that kills a breeding sow, destroys all her offspring to the thousandth
generation. He that murders a crown, destroys all that it might have
produced, even scores of pounds.
Remember, that six pounds a year is but a groat a day. For this little
sum (which may be daily wasted either in time or expense unperceived) a
man of credit may, on his own security, have the constant possession and
use of an hundred pounds. So much in stock, briskly turned by an
industrious man, produces great advantage.
Remember this saying, _The good paymaster is lord of another man's
purse_. He that is known to pay punctually and exactly to the time he
promises, may at any time, and on any occasion, raise all the money his
friends can spare. This is sometimes of great use. After industry and
frugality, nothing contributes more to the raising of a young man in the
world than punctuality and justice in all his dealings; therefore never
keep borrowed money an hour beyond the time you promised, lest a
disappointment shut up your friend's purse for ever.
The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded.
The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or nine at night, heard
by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer; but, if he sees you at
a billiard-table, or hears your voice at a tavern, when you should be at
work, he sends for his money the next day; demands it, before he can
receive it, in a lump.
It shows, besides, that you are mindful of what you owe; it makes you
appear a careful as well as an honest man, and that still increases your
credit.
Beware of thinking all your own that you possess, and of living
accordingly. It is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into.
To prevent this, keep an exact account for some time, both of your
expenses and your income. If you take the pains at first to mention
particulars, it will have this good effect: you will discover how
wonderfully small, trifling expenses mount up to large sums, and will
discern what might have been, and may for the future be saved, without
occasioning any great inconvenience.
In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the way to
market. It depends chiefly on two words, _industry_ and _frugality_;
that is, waste neither _time_ nor _money_, but make the best use of
both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them
every thing. He that gets all he can honestly, and saves all he gets
(necessary expenses excepted), will certainly become _rich_, if that
Being who governs the world, to whom all should look for a blessing on
their honest endeavours, doth not, in his wise providence, otherwise
determine.
AN OLD TRADESMAN.
TO GEORGE WHITEFIELD
Philadelphia, July 6, 1749.
DEAR SIR
Since your being in England, I have received two of your favours and a
box of books to be disposed of. It gives me great pleasure to hear of
your welfare and that you purpose soon to return to America.
We have no news here worth writing to you. The affair of the building
remains in _statu quo_, there having been no new application to the
Assembly about it, or anything done in consequence of the former.
I have received no money on your account from Mr. Thanklin, or from
Boston. Mrs. Read and your other friends here, in general, are well, and
will rejoice to see you again.
I am glad to hear that you have frequent opportunities of preaching
among the great. If you can gain them to a good and exemplary life,
wonderful changes will follow in the manners of the lower ranks; for _ad
exemplum regis_, etc. On this principle, Confucius, the famous Eastern
reformer, proceeded. When he saw his country sunk in vice, and
wickedness of all kinds triumphant, he applied himself first to the
grandees; and having, by his doctrine, won _them_ to the cause of
virtue, the commons followed in multitudes. The mode has a wonderful
influence on mankind; and there are numbers who, perhaps, fear less the
being in hell, than out of the fashion. Our most western reformations
began with the ignorant mob; and when numbers of them were gained,
interest and party views drew in the wise and great. Where both methods
can be used, reformations are likely to be more speedy. O that some
method could be found to make them lasting! He who discovers that will,
in my opinion, deserve more, ten thousand times, than the inventor of
the longitude.
My wife and family join in the most cordial salutations to you and good
Mrs. Whitefield.
I am, dear Sir, your very affectionate friend, and most obliged humble
Servant
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
PROPOSALS RELATING TO THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH IN PENSILVANIA
PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED IN THE YEAR, MDCCXLIX[33]
"Advertisement to the Reader.
"It has long been regretted as a Misfortune to the Youth of
this Province, that we have no ACADEMY, in which they might
receive the Accomplishments of a regular Education. The
following Paper of Hints towards forming a Plan for that
Purpose, is so far approv'd by some publick-spirited
Gentlemen, to whom it has been privately communicated, that
they have directed a Number of Copies to be made by the Press,
and properly distributed, in order to obtain the Sentiments
and Advice of Men of Learning, Understanding, and Experience
in these Matters; and have determined to use their Interest
and best Endeavours, to have the Scheme, when compleated,
carried gradually into Execution; in which they have Reason to
believe they shall have the hearty Concurrence and Assistance
of many who are Wellwishers to their Country. Those who
incline to favour the Design with their Advice, either as to
the Parts of Learning to be taught, the Order of Study, the
Method of Teaching, the Œconomy of the School, or any other
Matter of Importance to the Success of the Undertaking, are
desired to communicate their Sentiments as soon as may be, by
Letter directed to B. FRANKLIN, _Printer_, in PHILADELPHIA."
PROPOSALS
The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages,
as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and
of Commonwealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a
principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper
Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding
Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves,
and to their Country.
Many of the first Settlers of these Provinces were Men who had received
a good Education in _Europe_, and to their Wisdom and good Management we
owe much of our present Prosperity. But their Hands were full, and they
could not do all Things. The present Race are not thought to be
generally of equal Ability: For though the _American_ Youth are allow'd
not to want Capacity; yet the best Capacities require Cultivation, it
being truly with them, as with the best Ground, which unless well tilled
and sowed with profitable Seed, produces only ranker Weeds.
That we may obtain the Advantages arising from an Increase of Knowledge,
and prevent as much as may be the mischievous Consequences that would
attend a general Ignorance among us, the following _Hints_ are offered
towards forming a Plan for the Education of the Youth of _Pennsylvania_,
viz.
It is propos'd,
That some Persons of Leisure and publick Spirit apply for a CHARTER, by
which they may be incorporated, with Power to erect an ACADEMY for the
Education of Youth, to govern the same, provide Masters, make Rules,
receive Donations, purchase Lands, etc., and to add to their Number,
from Time to Time such other Persons as they shall judge suitable.
That the Members of the Corporation make it their Pleasure, and in some
Degree their Business, to visit the Academy often, encourage and
countenance the Youth, countenance and assist the Masters, and by all
Means in their Power advance the Usefulness and Reputation of the
Design; that they look on the Students as in some Sort their Children,
treat them with Familiarity and Affection, and, when they have behav'd
well, and gone through their Studies, and are to enter the World,
zealously unite, and make all the Interest that can be made to establish
them, whether in Business, Offices, Marriages, or any other Thing for
their Advantage, preferably to all other Persons whatsoever even of
equal Merit.
And if Men may, and frequently do, catch such a Taste for cultivating
Flowers, for Planting, Grafting, Inoculating, and the like, as to
despise all other Amusements for their Sake, why may not we expect they
should acquire a Relish for that _more useful_ Culture of young Minds.
_Thompson_ says,
"'Tis Joy to see the human Blossoms blow,
When infant Reason grows apace, and calls
For the kind Hand of an assiduous Care.
Delightful Task! to rear the tender Thought,
To teach the young Idea how to shoot;
To pour the fresh Instruction o'er the Mind,
To breathe th' enliv'ning Spirit, and to fix
The generous Purpose in the glowing Breast."
That a House be provided for the ACADEMY, if not in the Town, not many
Miles from it; the Situation high and dry, and if it may be, not far
from a River, having a Garden, Orchard, Meadow, and a Field or two.
That the House be furnished with a Library (if in the Country, if in the
Town, the Town Libraries may serve) with Maps of all Countries, Globes,
some mathematical Instruments, an Apparatus for Experiments in Natural
Philosophy, and for Mechanics; Prints, of all Kinds, Prospects,
Buildings, Machines, &c.
That the Rector be a Man of good Understanding, good Morals, diligent
and patient, learn'd in the Languages and Sciences, and a correct pure
Speaker and Writer of the _English_ Tongue; to have such Tutors under
him as shall be necessary.
That the boarding Scholars diet together, plainly, temperately, and
frugally.
That, to keep them in Health, and to strengthen and render active their
Bodies, they be frequently exercis'd in Running, Leaping, Wrestling, and
Swimming, &c.
That they have peculiar Habits to distinguish them from other Youth, if
the Academy be in or near the Town; for this, among other Reasons, that
their Behaviour may be the better observed.
As to their STUDIES, it would be well if they could be taught _every
Thing_ that is useful, and _every Thing_ that is ornamental: But Art is
long, and their Time is short. It is therefore propos'd that they learn
those Things that are likely to be _most useful_ and _most ornamental_.
Regard being had to the several Professions for which they are intended.
All should be taught to write a _fair Hand_, and swift, as that is
useful to All. And with it may be learnt something of _Drawing_, by
Imitation of Prints, and some of the first Principles of Perspective.
_Arithmetick_, _Accounts_, and some of the first Principles of
_Geometry_ and _Astronomy_.
The _English_ Language might be taught by Grammar; in which some of our
best Writers, as _Tillotson_, _Addison_, _Pope_, _Algernoon Sidney_,
_Cato's Letters_, &c; should be Classicks: the _Stiles_ principally to
be cultivated, being the _clear_ and the _concise_. Reading should also
be taught, and pronouncing, properly, distinctly, emphatically; not with
an even Tone, which _under-does_, nor a theatrical, which _over-does_
Nature.
To form their Stile they should be put on Writing Letters to each other,
making Abstracts of what they read; or writing the same Things in their
own Words; telling or writing Stories lately read, in their own
Expressions. All to be revis'd and corrected by the Tutor, who should
give his Reasons, and explain the Force and Import of Words, &c.
To form their Pronunciation, they may be put on making Declamations,
repeating Speeches, delivering Orations, &c.; The Tutor assisting at the
Rehearsals, teaching, advising, correcting their Accent, &c.
But if History be made a constant Part of their Reading, such as the
Translations of the _Greek_ and _Roman_ Historians, and the modern
Histories of ancient _Greece_ and _Rome_, &c. may not almost all Kinds
of useful Knowledge be that Way introduc'd to Advantage, and with
Pleasure to the Student? As
GEOGRAPHY, by reading with Maps, and being required to point out the
Places _where_ the greatest Actions were done, to give their old and new
Names, with the Bounds, Situation, Extent of the Countries concern'd,
&c.
CHRONOLOGY, by the Help of _Helvicus_ or some other Writer of the Kind,
who will enable them to tell _when_ those Events happened; what Princes
were Cotemporaries, what States or famous Men flourish'd about that
Time, &c. The several principal Epochas to be first well fix'd in their
Memories.
ANTIENT CUSTOMS, religious and civil, being frequently mentioned in
History, will give Occasion for explaining them; in which the Prints of
Medals, Basso-Relievos, and antient Monuments will greatly assist.
MORALITY, by descanting and making continual Observations on the Causes
of the Rise or Fall of any Man's Character, Fortune, Power &c. mention'd
in History; the Advantages of Temperance, Order, Frugality, Industry,
Perseverance &c., &c. Indeed the general natural Tendency of Reading
good History must be, to fix in the Minds of Youth deep Impressions of
the Beauty and Usefulness of Virtue of all Kinds, Publick Spirit,
Fortitude, &c.
_History_ will show the wonderful Effects of ORATORY, in governing,
turning and leading great Bodies of Mankind, Armies, Cities, Nations.
When the Minds of Youth are struck with Admiration at this, then is the
Time to give them the Principles of that Art, which they will study with
Taste and Application. Then they may be made acquainted with the best
Models among the antients, their Beauties being particularly pointed out
to them. Modern Political Oratory being chiefly performed by the Pen and
Press, its Advantages over the Antient in some Respects are to be shown;
as that its Effects are more extensive, more lasting, &c.
_History_ will also afford frequent Opportunities of showing the
Necessity of a _Publick Religion_, from its Usefulness to the Publick;
the Advantage of a Religious Character among private Persons; the
Mischiefs of Superstition, &c. and the Excellency of the CHRISTIAN
RELIGION above all others antient or modern.
_History_ will also give Occasion to expatiate on the Advantage of Civil
Orders and Constitutions; how Men and their Properties are protected by
joining in Societies and establishing Government; their Industry
encouraged and rewarded, Arts invented, and Life made more comfortable:
The Advantages of _Liberty_, Mischiefs of _Licentiousness_, Benefits
arising from good Laws and a due Execution of Justice, &c. Thus may the
first Principles of sound _Politicks_ be fix'd in the Minds of Youth.
On _Historical_ Occasions, Questions of Right and Wrong, Justice and
Injustice, will naturally arise, and may be put to Youth, which they may
debate in Conversation and in Writing. When they ardently desire
Victory, for the Sake of the Praise attending it, they will begin to
feel the Want, and be sensible of the Use of _Logic_, or the Art of
Reasoning to _discover_ Truth, and of Arguing to _defend_ it, and
_convince_ Adversaries. This would be the Time to acquaint them with the
Principles of that Art. Grotius, Puffendorff, and some other Writers of
the same Kind, may be used on these Occasions to decide their Disputes.
Publick Disputes warm the Imagination, whet the Industry, and strengthen
the natural Abilities.
When Youth are told, that the Great Men whose Lives and Actions they
read in History, spoke two of the best Languages that ever were, the
most expressive, copious, beautiful; and that the finest Writings, the
most correct Compositions, the most perfect Productions of human Wit and
Wisdom, are in those Languages, which have endured Ages, and will endure
while there are Men; that no Translation can do them Justice, or give
the Pleasure found in Reading the Originals; that those Languages
contain all Science; that one of them is become almost universal, being
the Language of Learned Men in all Countries; that to understand them is
a distinguishing Ornament, &c. they may be thereby made desirous of
learning those Languages, and their Industry sharpen'd in the
Acquisition of them. All intended for Divinity, should be taught the
_Latin_ and _Greek_; for Physick, the _Latin_, _Greek_, and _French_;
for Law, the _Latin_ and _French_; Merchants, the _French_, _German_,
and _Spanish_: And though all should not be compell'd to learn _Latin_,
_Greek_, or the modern foreign Languages; yet none that have an ardent
Desire to learn them should be refused; their _English_, Arithmetick and
other Studies absolutely necessary, being at the same Time not neglected.
If the new _Universal History_ were also read, it would give a
_connected_ Idea of human Affairs, so far as it goes, which should be
follow'd by the best modern Histories, particularly of our Mother
Country; then of these Colonies; which should be accompanied with
Observations on their Rise, Encrease, Use to _Great Britain_,
Encouragements, Discouragements, etc. the Means to make them flourish,
secure their Liberties, &c.
With the History of Men, Times, and Nations, should be read at proper
Hours or Days, some of the best _Histories of Nature_, which would not
only be delightful to Youth, and furnish them with Matter for their
Letters, &c. as well as other History; but afterwards of great Use to
them, whether they are Merchants, Handicrafts, or Divines; enabling the
first the better to understand many Commodities, Drugs, &c; the second
to improve his Trade or Handicraft by new Mixtures, Materials, &c., and
the last to adorn his Discourses by beautiful Comparisons, and
strengthen them by new Proofs of Divine Providence. The Conversation of
all will be improved by it, as Occasions frequently occur of making
Natural Observations, which are instructive, agreeable, and entertaining
in almost all Companies. _Natural History_ will also afford
Opportunities of introducing many Observations, relating to the
Preservation of Health, which may be afterwards of great Use.
_Arbuthnot_ on Air and _Aliment_, _Sanctorius_ on Perspiration, _Lemery_
on Foods, and some others, may now be read, and a very little
Explanation will make them sufficiently intelligible to Youth.
While they are reading Natural History, might not a little _Gardening_,
_Planting_, _Grafting_, _Inoculating_, etc., be taught and practised;
and now and then Excursions made to the neighbouring Plantations of the
best Farmers, their Methods observ'd and reason'd upon for the
Information of Youth? The Improvement of Agriculture being useful to
all, and Skill in it no Disparagement to any.
The History of _Commerce_, of the Invention of Arts, Rise of
Manufactures, Progress of Trade, Change of its Seats, with the Reasons,
Causes, &c., may also be made entertaining to Youth, and will be useful
to all. And this, with the Accounts in other History of the prodigious
Force and Effect of Engines and Machines used in War, will naturally
introduce a Desire to be instructed in _Mechanicks_, and to be inform'd
of the Principles of that Art by which weak Men perform such Wonders,
Labour is sav'd, Manufactures expedited, &c. This will be the Time to
show them Prints of antient and modern Machines, to explain them, to let
them be copied, and to give Lectures in Mechanical Philosophy.
With the whole should be constantly inculcated and cultivated, that
_Benignity of Mind_, which shows itself in _searching for_ and _seizing_
every Opportunity _to serve_ and _to oblige_; and is the Foundation of
what is called GOOD BREEDING; highly useful to the Possessor, and most
agreeable to all.
The Idea of what is _true Merit_ should also be often presented to
Youth, explain'd and impress'd on their _Minds_, as consisting in an
_Inclination_ join'd with an _Ability_ to serve Mankind, one's Country,
Friends and Family; which _Ability_ is (with the Blessing of God) to be
acquir'd or greatly encreas'd by _true Learning_; and should indeed be
the great _Aim_ and _End_ of all Learning.
IDEA OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL
Sketch'd out for the Consideration of the Trustees of the Philadelphia
Academy [1751][34]
It is expected that every Scholar to be admitted into this School, be at
least able to pronounce and divide the Syllables in Reading, and to
write a legible Hand. None to be receiv'd that are under ---- Years of
Age.
FIRST OR LOWEST CLASS
Let the first Class learn the _English Grammar_ Rules, and at the same
time let particular Care be taken to improve them in _Orthography_.
Perhaps the latter is best done by _Pairing_ the Scholars, two of those
nearest equal in their Spelling to be put together; let these strive for
Victory, each propounding Ten Words every Day to the other to be spelt.
He that spells truly most of the other's Words, is Victor for that Day;
he that is Victor most Days in a Month, to obtain a Prize, a pretty neat
Book of some Kind useful in their future Studies. This Method fixes the
Attention of Children extreamly to the Orthography of Words, and makes
them good Spellers very early. 'Tis a Shame for a Man to be so ignorant
of this little Art, in his own Language, as to be perpetually
confounding Words of like Sound and different Significations; the
Consciousness of which Defect, makes some Men, otherwise of good
Learning and Understanding, averse to Writing even a common Letter.
Let the Pieces read by the Scholars in this Class be short, such as
_Croxall's_ Fables,[35] and little Stories. In giving the Lesson, let it
be read to them; let the Meaning of the difficult Words in it be
explained to them, and let them con it over by themselves before they
are called to read to the Master, or Usher; who is to take particular
Care that they do not read too fast, and that they duly observe the
Stops and Pauses. A Vocabulary of the most usual difficult Words might
be formed for their Use, with Explanations; and they might daily get a
few of those Words and Explanations by Heart, which would a little
exercise their Memories; or at least they might write a Number of them
in a small Book for the Purpose, which would help to fix the Meaning of
those Words in their Minds, and at the same Time furnish every one with
a little Dictionary for his future Use.
THE SECOND CLASS
to be taught Reading with Attention, and with proper Modulations of the
Voice, according to the Sentiments and Subject.
Some short Pieces, not exceeding the Length of a _Spectator_, to be
given this Class as Lessons (and some of the easier _Spectators_ would
be very suitable for the Purpose.) These Lessons might be given over
Night as Tasks, the Scholars to study them against the Morning. Let it
then be required of them to give an Account, first of the Parts of
Speech, and Construction of one or two Sentences; this will oblige them
to recur frequently to their Grammar, and fix its principal Rules in
their Memory. Next of the _Intention_ of the Writer, or the _Scope_ of
the Piece; the Meaning of each Sentence, and of every uncommon Word.
This would early acquaint them with the Meaning and Force of Words, and
give them that most necessary Habit, of Reading with Attention.
The Master then to read the Piece with the proper Modulations of Voice,
due Emphasis, and suitable Action, where Action is required; and put the
Youth on imitating his Manner.
Where the Author has us'd an Expression not the best, let it be pointed
out; and let his Beauties be particularly remarked to the Youth.
Let the Lessons for Reading be varied, that the Youth may be made
acquainted with good Stiles of all Kinds in Prose and Verse, and the
proper Manner of reading each Kind. Sometimes a well-told Story, a Piece
of a Sermon, a General's Speech to his Soldiers, a Speech in a Tragedy,
some Part of a Comedy, an Ode, a Satyr, a Letter, Blank Verse,
Hudibrastick, Heroic, etc. But let such Lessons for Reading be chosen,
as contain some useful Instruction, whereby the Understandings or Morals
of the Youth, may at the same Time be improv'd.
It is requir'd that they should first study and understand the Lessons,
before they are put upon reading them properly, to which End each Boy
should have an _English_ Dictionary, to help him over Difficulties. When
our Boys read _English_ to us, we are apt to imagine _they_ understand
what _they_ read, because _we_ do, and because 'tis their Mother Tongue.
But they often read as Parrots speak, knowing little or nothing of the
Meaning. And it is impossible a Reader should give the due Modulation to
his Voice, and pronounce properly, unless his Understanding goes before
his Tongue, and makes him Master of the Sentiment. Accustoming Boys to
read aloud what they do not first understand, is the Cause of those even
set Tones so common among Readers, which when they have once got a Habit
of using, they find so difficult to correct: By which Means, among Fifty
Readers, we scarcely find a good One. For want of good Reading, Pieces
publish'd with a View to influence the Minds of Men for their own or the
publick Benefit, lose Half their Force. Were there but one good Reader
in a Neighbourhood, a publick Orator might be heard throughout a Nation
with the same Advantages, and have the same Effect on his Audience, as
if they stood within the Reach of his Voice.
THE THIRD CLASS
to be taught Speaking properly and gracefully, which is near of Kin to
good Reading, and naturally follows it in the Studies of Youth. Let the
Scholars of this Class begin with learning the Elements of Rhetoric from
some short System, so as to be able to give an Account of the most usual
Tropes and Figures. Let all their bad Habits of Speaking, all Offences
against good Grammar, all corrupt or foreign Accents, and all improper
Phrases, be pointed out to them. Short Speeches from the _Roman_, or
other History, or from our _Parliamentary Debates_, might be got by
heart, and deliver'd with the proper Action, &c. Speeches and Scenes in
our best Tragedies and Comedies (avoiding every Thing that could injure
the Morals of Youth) might likewise be got by Rote, and the Boys
exercis'd in delivering or acting them; great Care being taken to form
their Manner after the truest Models.
For their farther Improvement, and a little to vary their Studies, let
them now begin to read _History_, after having got by Heart a short
Table of the principal Epochas in Chronology. They may begin with
_Rollin's Antient and Roman Histories_, and proceed at proper Hours as
they go thro' the subsequent Classes, with the best Histories of our own
Nation and Colonies. Let Emulation be excited among the Boys by giving,
Weekly, little Prizes, or other small Encouragements to those who are
able to give the best Account of what they have read, as to Times,
Places, Names of Persons, &c. This will make them read with Attention,
and imprint the History well in their Memories. In remarking on the
History, the Master will have fine Opportunities of instilling
Instruction of various Kinds, and improving the Morals as well as the
Understandings of Youth.
The Natural and Mechanic History contain'd in the _Spectacle de la
Nature_, might also be begun in this Class, and continued thro' the
subsequent Classes by other Books of the same Kind: For next to the
Knowledge of _Duty_, this Kind of Knowledge is certainly the most
useful, as well as the most entertaining. The Merchant may thereby be
enabled better to understand many Commodities in Trade; the
Handicraftsman to improve his Business by new Instruments, Mixtures and
Materials; and frequently Hints are given of new Manufactures, or new
Methods of improving Land, that may be set on foot greatly to the
Advantage of a Country.
THE FOURTH CLASS
to be taught Composition. Writing one's own Language well, is the next
necessary Accomplishment after good Speaking. 'Tis the Writing-Master's
Business to take Care that the Boys make fair Characters, and place them
straight and even in the Lines: But to _form their Stile_, and even to
take Care that the Stops and Capitals are properly disposed, is the Part
of the _English_ Master. The Boys should be put on Writing Letters to
each other on any common Occurrences, and on various Subjects, imaginary
Business, &c., containing little Stories, Accounts of their late
Reading, what Parts of Authors please them, and why; Letters of
Congratulation, of Compliment, of Request, of Thanks, of Recommendation,
of Admonition, of Consolation, of Expostulation, Excuse, &c. In these
they should be taught to express themselves clearly, concisely, and
naturally, without affected Words or high-flown Phrases. All their
Letters to pass through the Master's Hand, who is to point out the
Faults, advise the Corrections, and commend what he finds right. Some of
the best Letters published in our own Language, as _Sir William
Temple's_, those of _Pope_, and his Friends, and some others, might be
set before the Youth as Models, their Beauties pointed out and explained
by the Master, the Letters themselves transcrib'd by the Scholar.
Dr. Johnson's _Ethices Elementa_,[36] or First Principles of Morality,
may now be read by the Scholars, and explain'd by the Master, to lay a
solid Foundation of Virtue and Piety in their Minds. And as this Class
continues the Reading of History, let them now at proper Hours receive
some farther Instruction in Chronology, and in that Part of Geography
(from the Mathematical Master), which is necessary to understand the
Maps and Globes. They should also be acquainted with the modern Names of
the Places they find mention'd in antient Writers. The Exercises of good
Reading, and proper Speaking, still continued at suitable Times.
FIFTH CLASS
To improve the Youth in _Composition_, they may now, besides continuing
to write Letters, begin to write little Essays in Prose, and sometimes
in Verse, not to make them Poets, but for this Reason, that nothing
acquaints a Lad so speedily with Variety of Expression, as the Necessity
of finding such Words and Phrases as will suit with the Measure, Sound,
and Rhime of Verse, and at the same time well express the Sentiment.
These Essays should all pass under the Master's Eye, who will point out
their Faults, and put the Writer on correcting them. Where the Judgment
is not ripe enough for forming new Essays, let the Sentiments of a
_Spectator_ be given, and requir'd to be cloath'd in a Scholar's own
Words; or the Circumstances of some good Story, the Scholar to find
Expression. Let them be put sometimes on abridging a Paragraph of a
diffuse Author, sometimes on dilating or amplifying what is wrote more
closely. And now let Dr. Johnson's _Noetica_, or First Principles of
Human Knowledge, containing a Logic, or Art of Reasoning, &c. be read by
the Youth, and the Difficulties that may occur to them be explained by
the Master. The Reading of History, and the Exercises of good Reading
and just Speaking, still continued.
SIXTH CLASS
In this Class, besides continuing the Studies of the preceding, in
History, Rhetoric, Logic, Moral and Natural Philosophy, the best
_English_ Authors may be read and explain'd; as _Tillotson_, _Milton_,
_Locke_, _Addison_, _Pope_, _Swift_, the higher Papers in the
_Spectator_ and _Guardian_, the best Translations of _Homer_, _Virgil_,
and _Horace_, of _Telemachus_, _Travels of Cyrus_, &c.[37]
Once a Year let there be publick Exercises in the Hall, the Trustees and
Citizens present. Then let fine gilt Books be given as Prizes to such
Boys as distinguish themselves and excel the others in any Branch of
Learning, making three Degrees of Comparison; giving the best Prize to
him that performs best; a less valuable One to him that comes up next to
the best; and another to the third. Commendations, Encouragement and
Advice to the rest; keeping up their Hopes, that by Industry they may
excel another Time. The Names of those that obtain the Prizes to be
yearly printed in a List.
The Hours of each Day are to be divided and dispos'd in such a Manner,
as that some Classes may be with the Writing-Master, improving their
Hands, others with the Mathematical Master, learning Arithmetick,
Accompts, Geography, Use of the Globes, Drawing, Mechanicks, &c.; while
the rest are in the _English_ School, under the _English_ Master's Care.
Thus instructed, Youth will come out of this School fitted for learning
any Business, Calling or Profession, except such wherein Languages are
required; and tho' unacquainted with any antient or foreign Tongue, they
will be Masters of their own, which is of more immediate and general
Use; and withal will have attain'd many other valuable Accomplishments;
the Time usually spent in acquiring those Languages, often without
Success, being here employ'd in laying such a Foundation of Knowledge
and Ability, as, properly improv'd, may qualify them to pass thro' and
execute the several Offices of civil Life, with Advantage and Reputation
to themselves and Country.
B.F.
TO C[ADWALLADER] C[OLDEN] ESQ. AT NEW YORK
Communicated to Mr. Collinson
[Philadelphia] 1751.
SIR,
I inclose you answers, such as my present hurry of business will permit
me to make, to the principal queries contained in yours of the 28th
instant, and beg leave to refer you to the latter piece in the printed
collection of my papers, for farther explanation of the difference
between what are called _electrics per se_, and _non-electrics_. When
you have had time to read and consider these papers, I will endeavour to
make any new experiments you shall propose, that you think may afford
farther light or satisfaction to either of us; and shall be much obliged
to you for such remarks, objections, &c., as may occur to you.
I forget whether I wrote you that I have melted brass pins and steel
needles, inverted the poles of the magnetic needle, given a magnetism
and polarity to needles that had none, and fired dry gunpowder by the
electric spark. I have five bottles that contain 8 or 9 gallons each,
two of which charg'd, are sufficient for those purposes: but I can
charge and discharge them altogether. There are no bounds (but what
expence and labour give) to the force man may raise and use in the
electrical way: for bottle may be added to bottle _in infinitum_, and
all united and discharged together as one, the force and effect
proportioned to their number and size. The greatest known effects of
common lightning may, I think, without much difficulty, be exceeded in
this way, which a few years since could not have been believed, and even
now may seem to many a little extravagant to suppose. So we are got
beyond the skill of _Rabelais's_ devils of two years old, who, he
humorously says, had only learnt to thunder and lighten a little round
the head of a cabbage.[38]
I am, with sincere respect,
Your most obliged humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
EXPORTING OF FELONS TO THE COLONIES
[From the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, May 9, 1751.]
TO THE PRINTERS OF THE GAZETTE
By a Passage in one of your late Papers, I understand that the
Government at home will not suffer our mistaken Assemblies to make any
Law for preventing or discouraging the Importation of Convicts from
Great Britain, for this kind Reason, '_That such Laws are against the
Publick Utility, as they tend to prevent the_ IMPROVEMENT _and_ WELL
PEOPLING _of the Colonies_.'
Such a tender _parental_ Concern in our _Mother Country_ for the
_Welfare_ of her _Children_, calls aloud for the highest _Returns_ of
Gratitude and Duty. This every one must be sensible of: But 'tis said,
that in our present Circumstances it is absolutely impossible for us to
make _such_ as are adequate to the Favour. I own it; but nevertheless
let us do our Endeavour. 'Tis something to show a grateful Disposition.
In some of the uninhabited Parts of these Provinces, there are Numbers
of these venomous Reptiles we call RATTLE-SNAKES; Felons-convict from
the Beginning of the World: These, whenever we meet with them, we put to
Death, by Virtue of an old Law, _Thou shalt bruise his Head_. But as
this is a sanguinary Law, and may seem too cruel; and as however
mischievous those Creatures are with us, they may possibly change their
Natures, if they were to change the Climate; I would humbly propose,
that this general Sentence of _Death_ be changed for _Transportation_.
In the Spring of the Year, when they first creep out of their Holes,
they are feeble, heavy, slow, and easily taken; and if a small Bounty
were allow'd _per_ Head, some Thousands might be collected annually, and
_transported_ to _Britain_. There I would propose to have them carefully
distributed in _St. James's Park_, in the _Spring-Gardens_ and other
Places of Pleasure about _London_; in the Gardens of all the Nobility
and Gentry throughout the Nation; but particularly in the Gardens of
the _Prime Ministers_, the _Lords of Trade_ and _Members of Parliament_;
for to them we are _most particularly_ obliged.
There is no human Scheme so perfect, but some Inconveniencies may be
objected to it: Yet when the Conveniencies far exceed, the Scheme is
judg'd rational, and fit to be executed. Thus Inconveniencies have been
objected to that _good_ and _wise_ Act of Parliament, by virtue of which
all the _Newgates_ and _Dungeons_ in _Britain_ are emptied into the
Colonies. It has been said, that these Thieves and Villains introduc'd
among us, spoil the Morals of Youth in the Neighbourhoods that entertain
them, and perpetrate many horrid Crimes: But let not _private Interests_
obstruct _publick_ Utility. Our _Mother_ knows what is best for us. What
is a little _Housebreaking_, _Shoplifting_, or _Highway Robbing_; what
is a _Son_ now and then _corrupted_ and _hang'd_, a Daughter _debauch'd_
and _pox'd_, a Wife _stabb'd_, a Husband's _Throat cut_, or a Child's
_Brains beat out_ with an Axe, compar'd with this 'IMPROVEMENT and WELL
PEOPLING of the Colonies!'
Thus it may perhaps be objected to my Scheme, that the _Rattle-Snake_ is
a mischievous Creature, and that his changing his Nature with the Clime
is a mere Supposition, not yet confirm'd by sufficient Facts. What then?
Is not Example more prevalent than Precept? And may not the honest rough
British Gentry, by a Familiarity with these Reptiles, learn to _creep_,
and to _insinuate_, and to _slaver_, and to _wriggle_ into Place (and
perhaps to _poison_ such as stand in their Way) Qualities of no small
Advantage to Courtiers! In comparison of which 'IMPROVEMENT and PUBLICK
UTILITY,' what is a _Child_ now and then kill'd by their venomous Bite,
... or even a favourite _Lap Dog_?
I would only add, that this exporting of Felons to the Colonies, may be
consider'd as a _Trade_, as well as in the Light of a _Favour_. Now all
Commerce implies Returns: Justice requires them: There can be no Trade
without them. And _Rattle-Snakes_ seem the most _suitable Returns_ for
the _Human Serpents_ sent us by our _Mother_ Country. In this, however,
as in every other Branch of Trade, she will have the Advantage of us.
She will reap _equal_ Benefits without equal Risque of the
Inconveniencies and Dangers. For the _Rattle-Snake_ gives Warning
before he attempts his Mischief; which the Convict does not. I am
_Yours_, &c.
AMERICANUS.
OBSERVATIONS
CONCERNING THE INCREASE OF MANKIND, PEOPLING OF COUNTRIES, ETC.
Written in Pensilvania, 1751[39]
1. Tables of the Proportion of Marriages to Births, of Deaths to Births,
of Marriages to the Numbers of Inhabitants, &c., form'd on Observaions
[_sic_] made upon the Bills of Mortality, Christnings, &c., of populous
Cities, will not suit Countries; nor will Tables form'd on Observations
made on full-settled old Countries, as _Europe_, suit new Countries, as
_America_.
2. For People increase in Proportion to the Number of Marriages, and
that is greater in Proportion to the Ease and Convenience of supporting
a Family. When families can be easily supported, more Persons marry, and
earlier in Life.
3. In Cities, where all Trades, Occupations, and Offices are full, many
delay marrying till they can see how to bear the Charges of a Family;
which Charges are greater in Cities, as Luxury is more common: many live
single during Life, and continue Servants to Families, Journeymen to
Trades; &c. hence Cities do not by natural Generation supply themselves
with Inhabitants; the Deaths are more than the Births.
4. In Countries full settled, the Case must be nearly the same; all
Lands being occupied and improved to the Heighth; those who cannot get
Land, must Labour for others that have it; when Labourers are plenty,
their Wages will be low; by low Wages a family is supported with
Difficulty; this Difficulty deters many from Marriage, who therefore
long continue Servants and single. Only as the Cities take Supplies of
People from the Country, and thereby make a little more Room in the
Country; Marriage is a little more encourag'd there, and the Births
exceed the Deaths.
5. _Europe_ is generally full settled with Husbandmen, Manufacturers,
&c., and therefore cannot now much increase in People: _America_ is
chiefly occupied by Indians, who subsist mostly by Hunting. But as the
Hunter, of all Men, requires the greatest Quantity of Land from whence
to draw his Subsistence, (the Husbandman subsisting on much less, the
Gardner on still less, and the Manufacturer requiring least of all), the
_Europeans_ found _America_ as fully settled as it well could be by
Hunters; yet these, having large Tracks, were easily prevail'd on to
part with Portions of Territory to the new Comers, who did not much
interfere with the Natives in Hunting, and furnish'd them with many
Things they wanted.
6. Land being thus plenty in _America_, and so cheap as that a labouring
man, that understands Husbandry, can in a short Time save Money enough
to purchase a Piece of new Land sufficient for a Plantation, whereon he
may subsist a Family, such are not afraid to marry; for, if they even
look far enough forward to consider how their Children, when grown up,
are to be provided for, they see that more Land is to be had at rates
equally easy, all Circumstances considered.
7. Hence Marriages in _America_ are more general, and more generally
early, than in _Europe_. And if it is reckoned there, that there is but
one Marriage per Annum among 100 persons, perhaps we may here reckon
two; and if in _Europe_ they have but 4 Births to a Marriage (many of
their Marriages being late), we may here reckon 8, of which if one half
grow up, and our Marriages are made, reckoning one with another at 20
Years of Age, our People must at least be doubled every 20 Years.
8. But notwithstanding this Increase, so vast is the Territory of _North
America_, that it will require many Ages to settle it fully; and, till
it is fully settled, Labour will never be cheap here, where no Man
continues long a Labourer for others, but gets a Plantation of his own,
no Man continues long a Journeyman to a Trade, but goes among those new
Settlers, and sets up for himself, &c. Hence Labour is no cheaper now in
_Pennsylvania_, than it was 30 Years ago, tho' so many Thousand
labouring People have been imported.
9. The Danger therefore of these Colonies interfering with their Mother
Country in Trades that depend on Labour, Manufactures, &c., is too
remote to require the attention of _Great Britain_.
10. But in Proportion to the Increase of the Colonies, a vast Demand is
growing for British Manufactures, a glorious Market wholly in the Power
of _Britain_, in which Foreigners cannot interfere, which will increase
in a short Time even beyond her Power of supplying, tho' her whole Trade
should be to her Colonies: Therefore _Britain_ should not too much
restrain Manufactures in her Colonies. A wise and good Mother will not
do it. To distress, is to weaken, and weakening the Children weakens the
whole Family.
11. Besides if the Manufactures of _Britain_ (by reason of the
_American_ Demands) should rise too high in Price, Foreigners who can
sell cheaper will drive her Merchants out of Foreign Markets; Foreign
Manufactures will thereby be encouraged and increased, and consequently
foreign Nations, perhaps her Rivals in Power, grow more populous and
more powerful; while her own Colonies, kept too low, are unable to
assist her, or add to her Strength.
12. 'Tis an ill-grounded Opinion that by the Labour of slaves, _America_
may possibly vie in Cheapness of Manufactures with _Britain_. The Labour
of Slaves can never be so cheap here as the Labour of working Men is in
_Britain_. Any one may compute it. Interest of Money is in the Colonies
from 6 to 10 per Cent. Slaves one with another cost 30£ Sterling per
Head. Reckon then the Interest of the first Purchase of a Slave, the
Insurance or Risque on his Life, his Cloathing and Diet, Expences in his
Sickness and Loss of Time, Loss by his Neglect of Business (Neglect is
natural to the Man who is not to be benefited by his own Care or
Diligence), Expence of a Driver to keep him at Work, and his Pilfering
from Time to Time, almost every Slave being _by Nature_ a Thief, and
compare the whole Amount with the Wages of a Manufacturer of Iron or
Wood in _England_, you will see that Labour is much cheaper there than
it ever can be by Negroes here. Why then will _Americans_ purchase
Slaves? Because Slaves may be kept as long as a _Man_ pleases, or has
Occasion for their Labour; while hired Men are continually leaving their
masters (often in the midst of his Business,) and setting up for
themselves.--Sec. 8.
13. As the Increase of People depends on the Encouragement of Marriages,
the following Things must diminish a Nation, viz. 1. _The being
conquered_; for the Conquerors will engross as many Offices, and exact
as much Tribute or Profit on the Labour of the conquered, as will
maintain them in their new Establishment, and this diminishing the
Subsistence of the Natives, discourages their Marriages, and so
gradually diminishes them, while the foreigners increase. 2. _Loss of
Territory._ Thus, the _Britons_ being driven into _Wales_, and crowded
together in a barren Country insufficient to support such great Numbers,
diminished 'till the People bore a Proportion to the Produce, while the
_Saxons_ increas'd on their abandoned lands; till the Island became full
of _English_. And, were the _English_ now driven into _Wales_ by some
foreign Nation, there would in a few Years, be no more Englishmen in
_Britain_, than there are now people in _Wales_. 3. _Loss of Trade._
Manufactures exported, draw Subsistence from Foreign Countries for
Numbers; who are thereby enabled to marry and raise Families. If the
Nation be deprived of any Branch of Trade, and no new Employment is
found for the People occupy'd in that Branch, it will also be soon
deprived of so many People. 4. _Loss of Food._ Suppose a Nation has a
Fishery, which not only employs great Numbers, but makes the Food and
Subsistence of the People cheaper. If another Nation becomes Master of
the Seas, and prevents the Fishery, the People will diminish in
Proportion as the Loss of Employ and Dearness of Provision, makes it
more difficult to subsist a Family. 5. _Bad Government and insecure
Property._ People not only leave such a Country, and settling Abroad
incorporate with other Nations, lose their native Language, and become
Foreigners, but, the Industry of those that remain being discourag'd,
the Quantity of Subsistence in the Country is lessen'd, and the Support
of a Family becomes more difficult. So heavy Taxes tend to diminish a
People. 6. _The Introduction of Slaves._ The Negroes brought into the
_English_ Sugar _Islands_ have greatly diminish'd the Whites there; the
Poor are by this Means deprived of Employment, while a few Families
acquire vast Estates; which they spend on Foreign Luxuries, and
educating their Children in the Habit of those Luxuries; the same Income
is needed for the Support of one that might have maintain'd 100. The
Whites who have Slaves, not labouring, are enfeebled, and therefore not
so generally prolific; the Slaves being work'd too hard, and ill fed,
their Constitutions are broken, and the Deaths among them are more than
the Births; so that a continual Supply is needed from _Africa_. The
Northern Colonies, having few Slaves, increase in Whites. Slaves also
pejorate[40] the Families that use them; the white Children become
proud, disgusted with Labour, and being educated in Idleness, are
rendered unfit to get a Living by Industry.
14. Hence the Prince that acquires new Territory, if he finds it vacant,
or removes the Natives to give his own People Room; the Legislator that
makes effectual Laws for promoting of Trade, increasing Employment,
improving Land by more or better Tillage, providing more Food by
Fisheries; securing Property, &c. and the Man that invents new Trades,
Arts, or Manufactures, or new Improvements in Husbandry, may be properly
called _Fathers_ of their Nation, as they are the Cause of the
Generation of Multitudes, by the Encouragement they afford to Marriage.
15. As to Privileges granted to the married, (such as the _Jus trium
Liberorum_ among the _Romans_,) they may hasten the filling of a Country
that has been thinned by War or Pestilence, or that has otherwise vacant
Territory; but cannot increase a People beyond the Means provided for
their Subsistence.
16. Foreign Luxuries and needless Manufactures, imported and used in a
Nation, do, by the same Reasoning, increase the People of the Nation
that furnishes them, and diminish the People of the Nation that uses
them. Laws, therefore, that prevent such Importations, and on the
contrary promote the Exportation of Manufactures to be consumed in
Foreign Countries, may be called (with Respect to the People that make
them) _generative Laws_, as, by increasing Subsistence they encourage
Marriage. Such Laws likewise strengthen a Country, doubly, by increasing
its own People and diminishing its Neighbours.
17. Some _European_ Nations prudently refuse to consume the Manufactures
of _East-India_:--They should likewise forbid them to their Colonies;
for the Gain to the Merchant is not to be compar'd with the Loss, by
this Means, of People to the Nation.
18. Home Luxury in the Great increases the Nation's Manufacturers
employ'd by it, who are many, and only tends to diminish the Families
that indulge in it, who are few. The greater the common fashionable
Expence of any Rank of People, the more cautious they are of Marriage.
Therefore Luxury should never be suffer'd to become common.
19. The great Increase of Offspring in particular Families is not always
owing to greater Fecundity of Nature, but sometimes to Examples of
Industry in the Heads, and industrious Education; by which the Children
are enabled to provide better for themselves, and their marrying early
is encouraged from the Prospect of good Subsistence.
20. If there be a Sect, therefore, in our Nation, that regard Frugality
and Industry as religious Duties, and educate their Children therein,
more than others commonly do; such Sect must consequently increase more
by natural Generation, than any other sect in _Britain_.
21. The Importation of Foreigners into a Country, that has as many
Inhabitants as the present Employments and Provisions for Subsistence
will bear, will be in the End no Increase of People; unless the New
Comers have more Industry and Frugality than the Natives, and then they
will provide more Subsistence, and increase in the Country; but they
will gradually eat the Natives out. Nor is it necessary to bring in
Foreigners to fill up any occasional Vacancy in a Country; for such
Vacancy (if the Laws are good, sec. 14, 16,) will soon be filled by
natural Generation. Who can now find the Vacancy made in _Sweden_,
_France_, or other Warlike Nations, by the Plague of Heroism, 40 years
ago; in _France_, by the Expulsion of the Protestants, in _England_, by
the Settlement of her Colonies; or in _Guinea_, by 100 Years Exportation
of Slaves, that has blacken'd half _America_? The thinness of
Inhabitants in _Spain_ is owing to National Pride and Idleness, and
other Causes, rather than to the Expulsion of the Moors, or to the
making of new Settlements.
22. There is, in short, no Bound to the prolific Nature of Plants or
Animals, but what is made by their crowding and interfering with each
other's means of Subsistence. Was the Face of the Earth vacant of other
Plants, it might be gradually sowed and overspread with one Kind only;
as, for Instance, with Fennel; and were it empty of other Inhabitants,
it might in a few Ages be replenish'd from one Nation only; as, for
Instance, with _Englishmen_. Thus there are suppos'd to be now upwards
of One Million _English_ Souls in _North-America_, (tho' 'tis thought
scarce 80,000 have been brought over Sea,) and yet perhaps there is not
one the fewer in _Britain_, but rather many more, on Account of the
Employment the Colonies afford to Manufacturers at Home. This Million
doubling, suppose but once in 25 Years, will, in another Century, be
more than the People of _England_, and the greatest Number of
_Englishmen_ will be on this Side the Water. What an Accession of Power
to the _British_ Empire by Sea as well as Land! What Increase of Trade
and Navigation! What Numbers of Ships and Seamen! We have been here but
little more than 100 years, and yet the Force of our Privateers in the
late War, united, was greater, both in Men and Guns, than that of the
whole _British_ Navy in Queen _Elizabeth's_ Time. How important an
Affair then to _Britain_ is the present Treaty for settling the Bounds
between her Colonies and the _French_, and how careful should she be to
secure Room enough, since on the Room depends so much the Increase of
her People.
23. In fine, a Nation well regulated is like a Polypus; take away a
Limb, its Place is soon supply'd; cut it in two, and each deficient Part
shall speedily grow out of the Part remaining. Thus if you have Room and
Subsistence enough, as you may by dividing, make ten Polypes out of one,
you may of one make ten Nations, equally populous and powerful; or
rather increase a Nation ten fold in Numbers and Strength.[41]
And since Detachments of _English_ from _Britain_, sent to _America_,
will have their Places at Home so soon supply'd and increase so largely
here; why should the _Palatine Boors_ be suffered to swarm into our
Settlements and, by herding together, establish their Language and
Manners, to the Exclusion of ours? Why should _Pennsylvania_, founded by
the _English_, become a Colony of _Aliens_, who will shortly be so
numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will
never adopt our Language or Customs any more than they can acquire our
Complexion?
24. Which leads me to add one Remark, that the Number of purely white
People in the World is proportionably very small. All _Africa_ is black
or tawny; _Asia_ chiefly tawny; _America_ (exclusive of the new Comers)
wholly so. And in _Europe_, the _Spaniards_, _Italians_, _French_,
_Russians_, and _Swedes_, are generally of what we call a swarthy
Complexion; as are the _Germans_ also, the _Saxons_ only excepted, who,
with the _English_, make the principal Body of White People on the Face
of the Earth. I could wish their Numbers were increased. And while we
are, as I may call it, _Scouring_ our Planet, by _clearing America_ of
Woods, and so making this Side of our Globe reflect a brighter Light to
the Eyes of Inhabitants in _Mars_ or _Venus_, why should we, in the
Sight of Superior Beings, darken its People? Why increase the Sons of
_Africa_, by planting them in _America_, where we have so fair an
Opportunity, by excluding all Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the
lovely White and Red? But perhaps I am partial to the Complexion of my
Country, for such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind.
TO PETER COLLINSON[42]
Electrical Kite
[Philadelphia] Oct. 19, 1752.
SIR,
As frequent mention is made in public papers from _Europe_ of the
success of the _Philadelphia_ experiment for drawing the electric fire
from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high buildings,
&c., it may be agreeable to the curious to be informed, that the same
experiment has succeeded in _Philadelphia_, though made in a different
and more easy manner, which is as follows:
Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as to
reach to the four corners of a large thin silk handkerchief when
extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the
cross, so you have the body of a kite; which being properly accommodated
with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like those made of
paper; but this being of silk, is fitter to bear the wet and wind of a
thunder-gust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the
cross is to be fixed a very sharp-pointed wire, rising a foot or more
above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be tied a
silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key may be fastened.
This kite is to be raised when a thunder-gust appears to be coming on,
and the person who holds the string must stand within a door or window,
or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be wet; and care
must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame of the door or
window. As soon as any of the thunder-clouds come over the kite, the
pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with
all the twine, will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the twine
will stand out every way, and be attracted by an approaching finger. And
when the rain has wet the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the
electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the
key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be
charged; and from electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled,
and all the other electric experiments be performed, which are usually
done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the
sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely
demonstrated.
B. FRANKLIN.
[NOTE.--The _Almanack_ for 1753 which follows is an exact facsimile of
the copy in the W. S. Mason Collection, here reproduced through the
kindness of Mr. Mason. See note [43].]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes: (For "Poor Richard Improved" only)
As this section is intended to be a facsimile representation of the
original Poor Richards Almanack of 1753;
1. Inconsistencies in capitalization, column header names, punctuation,
typography and incomplete words have all been retained.
2. Black line page borders have been omitted, page breaks are indicated
for the reader as *(page break)*. A long ellipses line "--"
indicates a horizontal line across a single page dividing it into
sections.
3. Where the "Hymn" and "Article" texts "skip" pages, the first word
of the continued text has been retained for reference and placed
in [square brackets], excepting that words originally split between
pages have been joined and the next word selected as the marker word.
4. The use of planet and aspect smybols occasionally affects the
alignment of table columns, therefore this section is best viewed
using a monospace font such as "Courier New" or another with the
word "mono" in it's title.
5. Where Sun and Moon data tables were too wide to fit in this e-text
format, the table has been divided into "pieces". An arrow -->
indicates that the table or text immediately BELOW originally
appeared to the right.
* * * * *
Poor =RICHARD= improved:
----------------------
=BEING AN=
=ALMANACK=
=AND=
=_EPHEMERIS_=
=OF THE=
MOTIONS of the =SUN= and =MOON=;
=THE TRUE=
PLACES and ASPECTS of the PLANETS;
=THE=
=_RISING_= and =_SETTING_= of the =_SUN_=;
=AND THE=
Rising, Setting _and_ Southing _of the_ Moon,
=FOR THE=
YEAR of our =LORD= 1753:
Being the First after LEAP-YEAR.
Containing also,
The Lunations, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Judgment of the
Weather, Rising and Setting of the Planets, Length of
Days and Nights, Fairs, Courts, Roads, &c. Together
with useful Tables, chronological Observations, and
entertaining Remarks.
----------------------
Fitted to the Latitude of Forty Degrees, and a Meridian
of near fire Hours West from _London_; but may, without
sensible Error, serve all the NORTHERN COLONIES.
----------------------
By =_RICHARD SAUNDERS_=, Philom.
----------------------
----------------------
=_PHILADELPHIA_=:
Printed and Sold by =B. FRANKLIN=, and =D. HALL=.
*(page break)*
The Anatomy of Man's Body as govern'd by the
Twelve Constellations.
----------------------
♈ The Head and Face.
♊ ♉
Arms Neck
♌ ♋
Heart Breast
[Illustration]
♎ ♍
Reins Bowels
♐ ♏
Thighs Secrets
♒ ♑
Legs Knees
♓ The Feet.
_To know where the Sign is._
First Find the Day of the Month, and against the Day
you have the Sign or Place of the Moon in the 5th Column.
Then finding the Sign here, it shews the Part of the
Body it governs.
----------------------
_The Names and Characters of the Seven Planets._
☉ Sol, ♄ Saturn, ♃ Jupiter, ♂ Mars, ♀ Venus,
☿ Mercury, ☽ Luna, ☊ Dragons Head and ☋ Tail.
----------------------
_The Five Aspects._
☌ Conjunction, ☍ Opposition, ✱ Sextile,
△ Trine, □ Quartile.
----------------------
_Common Notes for the Year 1753. N. S._
Golden Number 6 } { Dominical Letter G
Epact 25 } { Cycle of the Sun 26
*(page break)*
COURTEOUS READER,
=This= is the twentieth Time of my addressing thee in this
Manner, and I have reason to flatter myself my Labours have
not been unacceptable to the Publick. I am particularly
pleas'd to understand that my _Predictions of the Weather_
give such general Satisfaction; and indeed, such Care is taken
in the Calculations, on which those Predictions are founded,
that I could almost venture to say, there's not a single One
of them, promising _Snow_, _Rain_, _Hail_, _Heat_, _Frost_,
_Fogs_, _Wind_, or _Thunder_, but what comes to pass
_punctually_ and _precisely_ on the very Day, in some Place or
other on this little _diminutive_ Globe of ours; (and when you
consider the vast Distance of the Stars from whence we take
our Aim, you must allow it no small Degree of Exactness to hit
any Part of it) I say on this Globe; for tho' in other Matters
I confine the Usefulness of my _Ephemeris_ to the _Northern
Colonies_, yet in that important Matter of the Weather, which
is of such _general Concern_, I would have it more extensively
useful, and therefore take in both Hemispheres, and all
Latitudes from _Hudson's Bay_ to _Cape Horn_.
You will find this Almanack in my former Method, only
conformable to the _New-Stile_ established by the Act of
Parliament, which I gave you in my last at length; the new Act
since made for Amendment of that first Act, not affecting us
in the least, being intended only to regulate some Corporation
Matters in _England_, before unprovided for. I have only added
a Column in the second Page of each Month, containing the Days
of the _Old Stile_ opposite to their corresponding Days in the
_New_, which may, in many Cases, be of Use; and so conclude
(believing you will excuse a short Preface, when it is to make
Room for something better)
_Thy Friend and Servant_,
=R. SAUNDERS.=
----------------------
=HYMN= _to the_ CREATOR, _from_ Psalm CIV.
=Awake=, my Soul! with Joy thy God adore;
Declare his Greatness; celebrate his Pow'r;
Who, cloath'd with Honour, and with Glory crown'd,
Shines forth, and cheers his Universe around.
Who with a radiant Veil of heavenly Light
Himself conceals from all created Sight.
Who rais'd the spacious Firmament on high,
And spread the azure Curtain of the Sky.
Whose awful Throne Heav'n's starry Arch sustains,
Whose Presence not Heav'n's vast Expanse restrains.
Whose Ways unsearchable no Eye can find,
The Clouds his Chariot, and his Wings the Wind
Whom Hosts of mighty Angels own their Lord,
And flaming Seraphim fulfil his Word.
Whose Pow'r of old the solid Earth did found,
Self-pois'd, self-center'd, and with Strength girt round;
*(page break)*
From her appointed Sphere forbid to fly,
Or rush unbalanc'd thro' the trackless Sky.
To reas'ning Man the sov'reign Rule assign'd,
His Delegate o'er each inferior Kind;
Too soon to fall from that distinguish'd Place,
His Honours stain'd with Guilt and foul Disgrace.
He saw the Pride of Earth's aspiring Lord,
And in his Fury gave the dreadful Word:
Straight o'er her peopled Plains his Floods were pour'd,
And o'er the Mountains the proud Billows roar'd.
Athwart the Face of Earth the Deluge sweeps,
And whelms the impious Nations in the Deeps:
Again God spake----and at his pow'rful Call
The raging Floods asswage, the Waters fall,
The Tempests hear his Voice, and straight obey,
And at his Thunder's Roar they haste away:
From off the lofty Mountains they subside,
And gently thro' the winding Vallies glide,
Till in the spacious Caverns of the Deep
They sink together, and in Silence sleep.
There he hath stretch'd abroad their liquid Plains,
And there Omnipotence their Rage restrains,
That Earth no more her Ruins may deplore,
And guilty Mortals dread their Wrath no more.
He bids the living Fountains burst the Ground,
And bounteous spread their Silver Streams around:
Down from the Hills they draw their shining Train,
Diffusing Health and Beauty o'er the Plain.
There the fair Flocks allay the Summer's Rage,
And panting Savages their Flame asswage.
On their sweet winding Banks th' aerial Race
In artless Numbers warble forth his Praise,
Or chant the harmless Raptures of their Loves,
And cheer the Plains, and wake the vocal Groves.
Forth from his Treasures in the Skies he pours
His precious Blessings in refreshing Show'rs.
Each dying Plant with Joy new Life receives,
And thankful Nature smiles, and Earth revives.
The fruitful Fields with Verdure he bespreads,
The Table of the Race that haunts the Meads,
And bids each Forest, and each flow'ry Plain
Send forth their native Physic for the Swain.
*(page break)*
Thus doth the various Bounty of the Earth
Support each Species crowding into Birth.
In purple Streams she bids her Vintage flow,
And Olives on her Hills luxuriant grow,
One with its generous Juice to cheer the Heart,
And one illustrious Beauty to impart;
And Bread of all Heav'n's precious Gifts the chief
From desolating Want the sure Relief.
Which with new Life the feeble Limbs inspires,
And all the Man with Health and Courage fires.
The Cloud-topt Hills with waving Woods are crown'd,
Which wide extend their sacred Shades around,
There _Lebanon_'s proud Cedars nod their Heads;
There _Bashan_'s lofty Oaks extend their Shades:
The pointed Firs rise tow'ring to the Clouds,
And Life and warbling Numbers fill the Woods.
Nor gentle Shades alone, nor verdant Plains,
Nor fair enamell'd Meads, nor flow'ry Lawns,
But e'en rude Rocks and dreary Desarts yield
Retreats for the wild Wand'rers of the Field.
Thy Pow'r with Life and Sense all Nature fills,
Each Element with varied Being swells,
Race after Race arising view the Light,
Then silent pass away, and sink in Night.
The Gift of Life thus boundlesly bestow'd,
Proclaims th' exhaustless Hand, the Hand of God.
Nor less thy Glory in the etherial Spheres,
Nor less thy ruling Providence appears.
There from on high the gentle Moon by Night
In solemn Silence sheds her Silver Light,
And thence the glorious Sun pours forth his Beams,
Thence copious spreads around his quick'ning Streams.
Each various Orb enjoys the golden Day,
And Worlds of Life hang on his chearful Ray.
Thus Light and Darkness their fix'd Course maintain,
And still the kind Vicissitudes remain:
For when pale Night her sable Curtain spreads,
And wraps all Nature in her awful Shades,
Soft Slumbers gently seal each mortal Eye,
Stretch'd at their Ease the weary Lab'rers lie.
The restless Soul 'midst Life's vain Tumults tost,
Forgets her Woes, and ev'ry Care is lost.
*(page break)*
=JANUARY.= _I Month._
Then from their Dens the rav'nous Monsters creep,
Whilst in their Folds the harmless Bestial sleep.
The furious Lion roams in quest of Prey,
To gorge his Hunger till the Dawn of Day;
His hideous Roar with Terror shakes the Wood,
As from his Maker's Hand he asks his Food.
Again the Sun his Morning Beams displays,
And fires the eastern Mountain with his Rays.
[Before]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ri.|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|2|=CIRCUMCISION.= |7 24 |4 36 |♐ 11 | ☽ with ♂
| 2|3| _Clouds and_ |7 24 |4 36 | 23 | ☽ with ♄
| 3|4| _cold, with_ |7 23 |4 37 |♑ 5 | ♃ rise 4 23
| 4|5| _snow;_ |7 23 |4 37 | 17 | _Tis against_
| 5|6|Days inc. 4 m. |7 23 |4 37 | 29 | ☽ with ☿ _some_
| 6|7|=EPIPHANY.= |7 22 |4 38 |♒ 10 | ♂ rise 4 44
| 7|G|1 p. Epiph. |7 22 |4 38 | 22 | ☽ w. ♀ _Mens_
| 8|2| _wind and_ |7 21 |4 39 |♓ 4 | _Principle to pay_
| 9|3| _falling_ |7 21 |4 39 | 16 | _Interest, and_
|10|4|Days inc. 10 m. |7 20 |4 40 | 28 | _seems against_
|11|5| _weather,_ |7 19 |4 41 |♈ 10 | ♃ s. 11 6 _others_
|12|6| _then_ |7 18 |4 42 | 23 | ♄ rise 5 42
|13|7| _very cold,_ |7 17 |4 43 |♉ 6 | Sirius so. 10 52
|14|G|2 p. Epiph. |7 16 |4 44 | 19 | ✱ ♄ ♀ _Interest_
|15|2|Day incr. 18 m. |7 16 |4 44 |♊ 2 | 7 *s so. 7 42
|16|3| _wintry_ |7 15 |4 45 | 16 | ♃ so. 10 39
|17|4| _weather;_ |7 14 |4 46 |♋ 0 | ♂ rise 4 36
|18|5| _but grows more_ |7 13 |4 47 | 15 | ☽ with ♃ to
|19|6|Day 9 36 long. |7 12 |4 48 |♌ 1 | ☉ in ♒ _pay_
|20|7| _moderate,_ |7 12 |4 48 | 17 | △ ♃ ♀ _the_
|21|G|3 p. Epiph. |7 11 |4 49 |♍ 3 | _Principal._
|22|2| _followed by_ |7 10 |4 50 | 18 | ♀ sets 8 2
|23|3| _clouds, wind_ |7 9 |4 51 |♎ 2 | _Philosophy as_
|24|4| _and_ |7 8 |4 52 | 15 | _well as Foppery_
|25|5|Conv. St. =PAUL.= |7 7 |4 53 | 28 | ✱ ♂ ☿ _often_
|26|6|Day incr. 38 m. |7 6 |4 54 |♏ 11 | _changes Fashion._
|27|7| _cold, with_ |7 5 |4 55 | 24 | ♄ rise 4 48
|28|G|4 p. Epiph. |7 4 |4 56 |♐ 7 | 7 *s sou. 6 47
|29|2| _snow or_ |7 3 |4 57 | 19 | Sirius sou. 9 44
|30|3|K. Char. behead. |7 2 |4 58 |♑ 1 | ☽ with ♄ & ♂
|31|4| _rain._ |7 1 |4 59 | 13 | ☽ with ☿
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=JANUARY= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
New ☽ 4 8 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
First Q. 12 at noon. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Full ● 19 10 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Last Q. 26 4 mor. | | ♑ | ♐ | ♋ | ♐ | ♒ | ♑ |
| 1| 12 | 29 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 26 | N. 2
{12 ♏ 12 Deg. | 6| 17 | 30 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 24 | 5
☊ {22 11 |12| 23 | ♑ 0 | 9 | 15 | 29 | 19 | 2
{31 10 |17| 28 | 1 | 8 | 19 | ♓ 5 | 14 | S. 4
|22| ♒ 3 | 1 | 8 | 22 | 11 | 13 | 4
|27| 8 | 2 | 7 | 26 | 17 | 15 | N. 1
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ rise | ☽ sou: | T. | O S | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+ l t |
| 1| 4 39 | 9 M 41 | 12 | d i |
| 2| 5 33 | 10 30 | 1 | l |
| 3| Moon | 11 19 | 2 | e.|
| 4| sets. | 12 6 | 3 | 24 |
| 5| A. | A. 53 | 3 | 25 |
| 6| 7 0 | 1 36 | 4 | 26 |
| 7| 8 0 | 2 18 | 5 | 27 |
| 8| 8 54 | 3 0 | 6 | 28 |
| 9| 9 50 | 3 43 | 6 | 29 |
|10| 10 47 | 4 27 | 7 | 30 |
|11| 11 46 | 5 10 | 8 | 31 |
|12| 12 50 | 5 55 | 8 | Jan. |
|13| M. 50 | 6 44 | 9 | |
|14| 1 51 | 7 34 | 10 | 3 |
|15| 2 52 | 8 28 | 11 | 4 |
|16| 3 56 | 9 23 | 12 | 5 |
|17| 4 57 | 10 22 | 1 | 6 |
|18| Moon | 11 21 | 2 | 7 |
|19| rises | 12 25 | 3 | 8 |
|20| A. | Morn. | 3 | 9 |
|21| 7 56 | 1 30 | 4 | 10 |
|22| 9 11 | 2 26 | 5 | 11 |
|23| 10 18 | 3 16 | 6 | 12 |
|24| 11 19 | 4 5 | 7 | 13 |
|25| 12 22 | 4 54 | 7 | 14 |
|26| M 22 | 5 43 | 8 | 15 |
|27| 1 17 | 6 34 | 9 | 16 |
|28| 2 21 | 7 26 | 10 | 17 |
|29| 3 16 | 8 14 | 11 | 18 |
|30| 4 3 | 9 3 | 12 | 19 |
|31| 4 44 | 9 51 | 12 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
=The= Greatness of that Power, which has been exerted in the
Creation, though every Object in Nature shews it, will best
appear by considering a little the =GREAT= Works, properly so
called, of Nature; the Sun, and Planets, and the fixed Stars.
The Sun and Moon, the most conspicuous to us of all the
celestial Bodies, are the only ones mentioned in the sacred
Text: But the Invention of that noblest of Instruments the
Telescope, and the Sagacity of the Astronomers of later Ages,
whose Observations have improved and corrected those of the
foregoing, afford us a very different Idea of the Solar
System, from what the single Consideration of those two most
conspicuous Bodies gives us. As this may probably fall into
the Hands of some, who have not Leisure or Opportunities of
reading Books of Astronomy, the following brief View of our
System, and of the Immensity of the Creation, according to
the Theory of the Moderns, may not be unacceptable.
It is proper, in the first Place, just to mention, That the
real Magnitudes, Distances, Orbits, and other Affections of
the Bodies of our System are determined by what Astronomers
call their Parallaxes, and by their Elongations from the Sun,
and their apparent Magnitudes, and other analogical Methods,
which would take up by far too much Time to explain here; by
which it is possible to determine
[their]
*(page break)*
=FEBRUARY.= _II Month._
Before him fly the Horrors of the Night;
He looks upon the World--and all is Light.
Then the lone Wand'rers of the dreary Waste
Affrighted to their Holds return in Haste,
To Man give up the World, his native Reign,
Who then resumes his Pow'r, and rules the Plain.
How various are thy Works, Creator wise!
How to the Sight Beauties on Beauties rise!
[Where]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|5|Days 10 h. long. |7 0 |5 0 |♑ 25 | ♃ sou. 9 28
| 2|6|Purification _V. M._ |6 59 |5 1 |♒ 7 | ♂ rise 4 20
| 3|7| _Clouds_ |6 58 |5 2 | 19 | _Setting too good_
| 4|G|5 p. Epiph. |6 56 |5 4 |♓ 1 | _an Example_
| 5|2| _and wind,_ |6 55 |5 5 | 13 | ☿ rise 5 34
| 6|3| _with_ |6 54 |5 6 | 25 | ☌ ☽ ♀ ☌ ♄ ♂
| 7|4| _falling_ |6 53 |5 7 |♈ 7 | ♀ sets 8 2 _is a_
| 8|5|Days incr. 1 6 |6 52 |5 8 | 20 | _Kind of Slander_
| 9|6| _weather,_ |6 51 |5 9 |♉ 3 | _seldom forgiven;_
|10|7| _then fair_ |6 50 |5 10 | 16 | _'tis_ Scandalum
|11|G|6 p. Epiph. |6 48 |5 12 | 29 | Magnatum.
|12|2| _and cold;_ |6 47 |5 13 |♊ 13 | □ ♃ ♀ _A great_
|13|3| _changeable_ |6 46 |5 14 | 27 | ♄ rise 3 49
|14|4|=VALENTINE.= |6 45 |5 15 |♋ 12 | ☽ W. ♃ _Talker_
|15|5|Days inc. 1 22 |6 43 |5 17 | 27 | □ ♂ ♀ _may be_
|16|6| _and like for_ |6 42 |5 18 |♌ 12 | 7 *s sets 1 0
|17|7| _rain, or snow,_ |6 41 |5 19 | 27 | ♃ sou. 8 21
|18|G|Septuagesima. |6 40 |5 20 |♏ 12 | ☉ in ♓ _no Fool,_
|19|2| _then follows_ |6 38 |5 22 | 26 | Sirius sou. 8 21
|20|3|Day 10 46 long. |6 37 |5 23 |♎ 10 | ♂ rise 4 5
|21|4| _clear and cold_ |6 36 |5 24 | 24 | ♀ sets 9 0
|22|5| _weather; but_ |6 35 |5 25 |♏ 8 | ✱ ☉ ♄ _but he_
|23|6| _soon changes to_ |6 33 |5 27 | 21 | _is one that_
|24|7|St. Matthias. |6 32 |5 28 |♐ 3 | △ ☉ ♃ _relies_
|25|G|Sexagesima. |6 31 |5 29 | 15 | _on him._
|26|2| _snow_ |6 30 |5 30 | 27 | ♄ rises 3 0
|27|3| _or cold rain._ |6 28 |5 32 |♑ 9 | ☽ with ♄
|28|4|Day inc. 1 56 m. |6 27 |5 33 | 21 | ☽ with ♂
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=FEBRUARY= hath XXVIII Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
New ☽ 3 3 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
First Q. 10 12 aft. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Full ● 17 3 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Last Q. 24 7 aft. | | ♒ | ♑ | ♋ | ♑ | ♓ | ♑ |
| 1| 13 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 23 | 19 | N. 5
{12 ♏ 9 Deg. | 6| 18 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 29 | 24 | 4
☊ {22 8 |12| 24 | 3 | 6 | 7 | ♈ 6 | ♒ 0 | S. 3
{28 7 |17| 29 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 5
|22| ♓ 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 17 | 14 | 0
|27| 19 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 23 | 22 | N. 4
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ rise | ☽ sou: | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+ |
| 1| 5 29 | 10 39 | 1 | 21 |
| 2| Moon | 12 24 | 2 | 22 |
| 3| sets | A. 9 | 3 | 23 |
| 4| A. | 12 52 | 3 | 24 |
| 5| 7 45 | 1 35 | 4 | 25 |
| 6| 8 39 | 2 18 | 5 | 26 |
| 7| 9 39 | 3 1 | 6 | 27 |
| 8| 10 41 | 3 50 | 6 | 28 |
| 9| 11 44 | 4 38 | 7 | 29 |
|10| 12 47 | 5 29 | 8 | 30 |
|11| M. 47 | 6 19 | 9 | 31 |
|12| 1 43 | 7 18 | 10 | Feb. |
|13| 2 46 | 8 17 | 11 | |
|14| 3 41 | 9 16 | 12 | 3 |
|15| 4 34 | 10 15 | 1 | 4 |
|16| Moon | 11 14 | 2 | 5 |
|17| rises | 12 10 | 3 | 6 |
|18| A. | Morn | 3 | 7 |
|19| 7 53 | 1 6 | 4 | 8 |
|20| 9 2 | 1 57 | 4 | 9 |
|21| 10 9 | 2 48 | 5 | 10 |
|22| 11 19 | 3 40 | 6 | 11 |
|23| 12 17 | 4 32 | 7 | 12 |
|24| M. 17 | 5 20 | 8 | 13 |
|25| 1 8 | 6 8 | 9 | 14 |
|26| 2 0 | 6 58 | 9 | 15 |
|27| 2 48 | 7 47 | 10 | 16 |
|28| 3 27 | 8 34 | 11 | 17 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
their Magnitudes and Distances, when those Distances are
not too great to yield a Parallax. Astronomers, for Example,
know certainly the Distance of the Moon from the Earth,
_viz._ 240 thousand Miles, because the Moon yields a very
sensible Parallax; and they know, that the Sun's Distance
from the Earth is very probably, at least, ten thousand Times
the Diameter or Thickness of the Earth, which is about eight
thousand Miles, and brings the whole Distance to about eighty
Millions of Miles. It is, I say, hardly to be doubted, that
the Distance from the Sun to the Earth is, at least, eighty
Millions of Miles; but it is not certainly known, whether it
is not a great deal more. In the Year 1761, the Distance of
all the Planets from the Sun will be determined to a great
Degree of Exactness by Observations on a Transit of the
Planet _Venus_ over the Face of the Sun, which is to happen
the 6th of _May_, O.S. in that Year. But, according to the
present Theory, the Sun, to appear of the Magnitude he does
to our Eyes at the Distance of eighty Millions of Miles, must
be a Body a great many hundred thousand Times larger than the
Earth, so that if his Centre were placed where that of the
Earth is, his outward Surface would extend one hundred and
forty thousand Miles higher than the Orbit of the Moon, his
Diameter or Thickness being seven hundred and sixty thousand
Miles, whereas that of the Earth is but about eight thousand.
This amazing World
[of]
*(page break)*
=MARCH.= _III Month._
Where Goodness worthy of a God bestows
His Gifts on all, and without Bounds o'erflows;
Where Wisdom bright appears, and Pow'r divine,
And where Infinitude itself doth shine;
Where Excellence invisible's exprest,
And in his glorious Works the God appears confest.
With Life thy Hand hath stock'd this earthly Plain,
Nor less the spacious Empire of the Main.
[There]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|5|St. =DAVID.= |6 26 |5 34 |♒ 3 | ✱ ♀ ☿ _When_
| 2|6| _Cool and_ |6 24 |5 36 | 15 | 7 *s set 12 0
| 3|7| _windy,_ |6 23 |5 37 | 27 | ☽ w. ☿ _Reason_
| 4|G|Shrove Sunday. |6 22 |5 38 |♓ 9 | ♃ sou. 7 25
| 5|2| _then snow_ |6 20 |5 40 | 21 | ♀ sets 9 28
| 6|3|Shrove Tuesday. |6 19 |5 41 |♈ 4 | _preaches, if you_
| 7|4|Ash Wednesday. |6 18 |5 42 | 17 | ✱ ♄ ☿ _won't_
| 8|5|Days 11 28 long |6 16 |5 44 |♉ 0 | ☽ w. ♀ _hear her_
| 9|6| _follow'd by sharp_|6 15 |5 45 | 13 | ♂ ri. 3 50 _she'll_
|10|7| _nipping weather;_ |6 14 |5 46 | 26 | △ ♄ ♀ _box your_
|11|G|1st in Lent. |6 12 |5 48 |♊ 9 | Sirius so. 7 6.
|12|2|Day inc. 2 28 m. |6 11 |5 49 | 23 | ☍ ♄ ♃ _Ears._
|13|3| _now fine and_ |6 10 |5 50 |♋ 7 | ☽ with ♃
|14|4|Ember Week. |6 8 |5 52 | 21 | ♄ rise 2 4
|15|5| _pleasant for_ |6 7 |5 53 |♌ 6 | ♃ set 2 9
|16|6| _the season;_ |6 6 |5 54 | 21 | Sirius set 11 51
|17|7|St. =PATRICK.= |6 4 |5 56 |♍ 6 | ♂ rise 3 43
|18|G|2d in Lent. |6 3 |5 57 | 21 | 7 *s set 11 4
|19|2| _then_ |6 2 |5 58 |♎ 5 | ☌ ☉ ☿ Equal
|20|3|Days 12 long. |6 0 |6 0 | 19 | ☉ in ♈ Day and
|21|4| _clouds_ |5 59 |6 1 |♏ 3 | □ ♄ ☿ Night.
|22|5| _and_ |5 58 |6 2 | 17 | ✱ ♂ ☿ _It is not_
|23|6| _high winds_ |5 56 |6 4 |♐ 0 | □ ♃ ☿ _Leisure_
|24|7|Days inc. 3 h. |5 55 |6 5 | 12 | ♀ sets 9 57
|25|G|Annunciation. |5 54 |6 6 | 24 | □ ☉ ♄ _that is_
|26|2| _with rain and_ |5 52 |6 8 |♑ 6 | ☽ with ♄ _not_
|27|3| _cold, but_ |5 51 |6 9 | 18 | □ ☉ ♃ _used._
|28|4| _grows_ |5 50 |6 10 |♒ 0 | ♄ rise 1 17
|29|5| _more_ |5 48 |6 12 | 12 | ☽ with ♂
|30|6| _moderate._ |5 47 |6 13 | 24 | Sirius set 11 0
|31|7|Day 12 30 long. |5 45 |6 15 |♓ 6 | ♃ sets 1 15
+--+--+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=MARCH= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
New ☽ 4 11 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
First Q. 12 10 mor. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Full ● 19 1 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Last Q. 26 at noon. | | ♓ | ♑ | ♋ | ♑ | ♈ | ♓ |
| 4| 14 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 29 | 0 | N. 4
{12 ♏ 7 Deg. | 9| 19 | 5 | 6 | 26 | ♉ 4 | 9 | S. 1
☊ {22 6 |12| 22 | 5 | 6 | 28 | 7 | 15 | 4
{31 6 |17| 27 | 5 | 6 | ♒ 2 | 12 | 25 | 4
|22| ♈ 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 17 | ♈ 6 | N. 1
|27| 7 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 23 | 16 | 5
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ rise | ☽ sou: | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+ |
| 1| 4 4 | 9 M 21 | 12 | 18 |
| 2| 4 44 | 10 6 | 1 | 19 |
| 3| Moon | 10 50 | 1 | 20 |
| 4| sets. | 11 34 | 2 | 21 |
| 5| A. | A. 17 | 3 | 22 |
| 6| 7 35 | 1 4 | 4 | 23 |
| 7| 8 35 | 1 51 | 4 | 24 |
| 8| 9 40 | 2 41 | 5 | 25 |
| 9| 10 39 | 3 30 | 6 | 26 |
|10| 11 44 | 4 22 | 7 | 27 |
|11| 12 43 | 5 15 | 8 | 28 |
|12| M. 43 | 6 13 | 9 | Mar. |
|13| 1 36 | 7 10 | 10 | |
|14| 2 27 | 8 7 | 11 | 3 |
|15| 3 19 | 9 4 | 12 | 4 |
|16| 4 2 | 10 1 | 1 | 5 |
|17| 4 42 | 10 58 | 1 | 6 |
|18| Moon | 11 54 | 2 | 7 |
|19| rises | 12 44 | 3 | 8 |
|20| A. | M. 44 | 3 | 9 |
|21| 9 3 | 1 37 | 4 | 10 |
|22| 10 12 | 2 30 | 5 | 11 |
|23| 11 15 | 3 24 | 6 | 12 |
|24| 12 4 | 4 12 | 7 | 13 |
|25| M. 4 | 5 0 | 8 | 14 |
|26| 0 43 | 5 49 | 8 | 15 |
|27| 1 29 | 6 38 | 9 | 16 |
|28| 2 12 | 7 24 | 10 | 17 |
|29| 2 47 | 8 10 | 11 | 18 |
|30| 3 21 | 8 54 | 11 | 19 |
|31| 3 50 | 9 38 | 12 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+-----------+
of Fire turns once round in about twenty-five Days. This is
known by a Number of dusky Spots, which appear upon the Sun's
Face, so as to be seen sometimes with the naked Eye, when he
shines through a thin Cloud or Mist; but are always
observable with the Help of a Telescope, with a dark Glass
for the Security of the Eye. These Spots could not be visible
at the Distance of the Sun, if they were not as large as the
whole Earth; but such of them as appear of a considerable
Breadth, as they often do, must be still vastly larger. They
never continue long to make the same Appearance; but are
always rising and vanishing again. They are probably
Exhalations floating in the Sun's Atmosphere at some Distance
from his Body, or Masses of Cynder fallen from that
Atmosphere upon his Surface.
This glorious Luminary, the Centre of our System, has six
opaque Globes, commonly called the Planets, going round him
at different Distances, and in different Periods, but all
from West to East, as follows.
1. _Mercury_, a Body considerably inferior in Size to the
Earth, performs his Course in about three Months, which is
his Year, at the Distance of thirty Millions of Miles from
the Sun. The Heat of the Sun in _Mercury_ (if there be no
Provision made for mitigating it) must be such, as, if it
were the same on the Earth, would keep all the Waters upon it
constantly boiling; And the Brightness of the
[Sun's]
*(page break)*
=APRIL.= _IV Month._
There the tall Ships the rolling Billows sweep,
And bound triumphant o'er th' unfathom'd Deep.
There great Leviathan in regal Pride,
The scaly Nations crouding by his Side,
Far in the dark Recesses of the Main
O'er Nature's Wastes extends his boundless Reign.
Round the dark Bottoms of the Mountains roves,
The hoary Deep swells dreadful as he moves.
[Now]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|G|4th in Lent. |5 44 |6 16 |♓ 18 | ♂ rise 3 22
| 2|2| _Rain, and_ |5 43 |6 17 |♈ 0 | _The Good-will_
| 3|3| _mild_ |5 42 |6 18 | 13 | _of the Governed_
| 4|4| _weather,_ |5 40 |6 20 | 26 | ☽ w. ☿ _will be_
| 5|5|Days inc. 3 32 m. |5 39 |6 21 |♉ 19 | ✱ ☉ ♂ _starv'd,_
| 6|6| _grows windy_ |5 38 |6 22 | 22 | ♀ sets 10 26 _if_
| 7|7| _and cool, then_ |5 37 |6 23 |♊ 6 | ☽ w. ♀ _not fed_
| 8|G|5th in Lent. |5 35 |6 25 | 20 | 7 *s sets 9 50 _by_
| 9|2| _warm and_ |5 34 |6 26 |♋ 4 | ☽ with ♃ _the_
|10|3| _springing,_ |5 33 |6 27 | 18 | _good Deeds of_
|11|4|Days 12 56 long. |5 32 |6 28 |♌ 2 | _the Governors._
|12|5| _follow'd_ |5 30 |6 30 | 16 | ♄ rise 12 21
|13|6| _by clouds_ |5 29 |6 31 |♍ 1 | 7 *s sets 9 30
|14|7| _and rain,_ |5 28 |6 32 | 15 | ♃ set 12 26
|15|G|Palm Sunday. |5 26 |6 34 | 29 | Sirius set 10 2
|16|2| _then fair and_ |5 25 |6 35 |♎ 13 | ♂ rise 2 55
|17|3| _pleasant again;_ |5 24 |6 36 | 27 | ♀ sets 10 37
|18|4|Days 13 16 long. |5 23 |6 37 |♏ 10 | _Paintings and_
|19|5|Maund. Thursday |5 22 |6 38 | 23 | ☉ in ♉ _Fightings_
|20|6|Good Friday. |5 20 |6 40 |♐ 6 | _are best_
|21|7| _now rain_ |5 19 |6 41 | 19 |7 *s set 9 0
|22|G|Easter-day. |5 18 |6 42 |♑ 2 | ☽ with ♄
|23|2|St. George. |5 17 |6 43 | 14 | Sirius sets 9 33
|24|3| _and cool,_ |5 16 |6 44 | 26 | _seen at a_
|25|4|St. Mark. |5 15 |6 45 |♒ 8 | △ ☉ ♄
|26|5|Pr. Will. b. 1721 |5 13 |6 47 | 20 | _distance._
|27|6| _then clouds_ |5 12 |6 48 |♓ 2 | ☽ with ♂
|28|7|Day 13 38 long. |5 11 |6 49 | 14 | ♄ rise 11 20
|29|G|1 past Easter. |5 10 |6 50 | 26 | ✱ ☉ ♃
|30|2| _and wind._ |5 8 |6 52 |♈ 9 | ♃ sets 11 37
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=APRIL= hath XXX Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
New ☽ 3 2 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
First Q. 10 5 aft. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Full ● 17 2 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Last Q. 25 8 mor. | | ♈ | ♑ | ♋ | ♒ | ♉ | ♈ |
| 1| 12 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 28 | 26 | N. 4
{12 ♏ 6 Deg. | 6| 17 | 6 | 8 | 16 | ♊ 3 | ♉ 4 | S. 1
☊ {22 6 |12| 23 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 8 | 12 | 5
{30 6 |17| 28 | 6 | 9 | 24 | 12 | 17 | 1
|22| ♉ 3 | 6 | 9 | 28 | 15 | 19 | N. 4
|27| 8 | 6 | 10 | ♓ 1 | 18 | 19 | 4
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ rise | ☽ sou: | T. | | -->
+--+---------+-----------+----+ |
| 1| 4 19 | 10 21 | 1 | 21 |
| 2| Moon | 11 4 | 2 | 22 |
| 3| sets. | 11 53 | 2 | 23 |
| 4| A. | A. 41 | 3 | 24 |
| 5| 8 38 | 1 32 | 4 | 25 |
| 6| 9 41 | 2 22 | 5 | 26 |
| 7| 10 48 | 3 19 | 6 | 27 |
| 8| 11 51 | 4 16 | 7 | 28 |
| 9| 12 40 | 5 14 | 8 | 29 |
|10| M. 40 | 6 11 | 9 | 30 |
|11| 1 25 | 7 6 | 10 | 31 |
|12| 2 6 | 8 0 | 11 | Apr. |
|13| 2 46 | 8 53 | 11 | |
|14| 3 25 | 9 46 | 12 | 3 |
|15| 4 0 | 10 38 | 1 | 4 |
|16| Moon | 11 29 | 2 | 5 |
|17| rises | 12 21 | 3 | 6 |
|18| A. | M. 21 | 3 | 7 |
|19| 8 52 | 1 12 | 4 | 8 |
|20| 9 56 | 2 6 | 5 | 9 |
|21| 10 53 | 3 0 | 6 | 10 |
|22| 11 39 | 3 49 | 6 | 11 |
|23| 12 17 | 4 37 | 7 | 12 |
|24| M. 17 | 5 28 | 8 | 13 |
|25| 0 49 | 6 20 | 9 | 14 |
|26| 1 23 | 7 0 | 10 | 15 |
|27| 1 58 | 7 40 | 10 | 16 |
|28| 2 30 | 8 23 | 11 | 17 |
|29| 3 1 | 9 6 | 12 | 18 |
|30| 3 28 | 9 55 | 12 | 19 |
+--+----------+----------+-----------+
Sun's Light must be such as would be quite intolerable to
Eyes like ours. But it does not follow, that _Mercury_ is
therefore uninhabitable; since it can be no Difficulty for
the Divine Power and Wisdom to accommodate the Inhabitants to
the Place they are to inhabit; as the Cold we see Frogs and
Fishes bear very well, would soon deprive any of our Species
of Life. To an Eye such as ours, the Sun, seen from this
Planet, would appear seven times as large as he does to us.
He is always so near the Sun, that we have no Opportunity of
discovering whether he turns round upon his own Axis, or not,
and consequently cannot determine what Length the Days and
Nights in _Mercury_ are. He is seen sometimes with Telescopes
horned like the Moon, and sometimes like a Half moon, but
never fully illuminated, because that Side of the Planet, on
which the Sun shines, is never turned full towards us, except
when he is so near the Sun, as to be lost in the Brightness
of his Beams. His enlightned Side is always towards the Sun,
which shews, that he only shines with the borrowed Light of
the Sun. That this Planet revolves round the Sun in an Orbit
nearer to him, than that of the Earth, is plain, because he
is never seen opposite to the Sun, but always in the West,
when he is seen at Sun-setting, and in the East, when he is
seen at Sun-rising; and that never beyond the Distance of
twenty-eight degrees from the Sun (a Degree is about
[twice]
*(page break)*
=MAY.= _V Month._
Now views the awful Throne of antient Night,
Then mounts exulting to the Realms of Light;
Now launches to the Deep, now stems the Shore,
An Ocean scarce contains the wild Uproar.
Whate'er of Life replenishes the Flood,
Or walks the Earth, or warbles thro' the Wood,
In Nature's various Wants to thee complains,
The Hand, which gave the Life, the Life sustains.
[To]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|3|=PHILIP & JACOB.= |5 7 |6 53 |♈ 22 | ♂ rise 2 30
| 2|4| _Rain and_ |5 6 |6 54 |♉ 5 | ♀ set 10 28
| 3|5|Day inc. 4 40 |5 5 |6 55 | 18 | ☽ w ☿ ✱ ♄ ♂
| 4|6| _gusts_ |5 3 |6 57 |♊ 2 | _If you would_
| 5|7| _in some_ |5 2 |6 58 | 16 | ☽ with ♀ _reap_
| 6|G|2 past Easter. |5 1 |6 59 |♋ 0 | ☌ ☉ ☿ _Praise_
| 7|2| _places, with_ |5 0 |7 0 | 14 | ☽ with ♃ _you_
| 8|3| _thunder,_ |4 59 |7 1 | 28 | 7 *s set 7 56
| 9|4|Day 14 4 long. |4 58 |7 2 |♌ 13 | _must sow the_
|10|5| _then fine_ |4 57 |7 3 | 27 | Sirius set 8 27
|11|6| _growing_ |4 56 |7 4 |♍ 11 | ✱ ♂ ☿ _Seeds,_
|12|7| _weather,_ |4 56 |7 4 | 25 | ♄ rise 10 28
|13|G|3 past Easter. |4 55 |7 5 |♎ 9 | ✱ ♃ ☿ _Gentle_
|14|2| _pleasant,_ |4 54 |7 6 | 23 | ♃ set 10 49
|15|3| _with_ |4 53 |7 7 |♏ 6 | ♂ rise 2 3
|16|4|Day inc. 5 6 |4 52 |7 8 | 19 | _Words and_
|17|5| _wind and_ |4 51 |7 9 |♐ 2 | ♀ set 9 46
|18|6| _flying_ |4 50 |7 10 | 15 | _useful Deeds._
|19|7| _clouds,_ |4 49 |7 11 | 28 | _Ignorance leads_
|20|G|4 past Easter. |4 48 |7 12 |♑ 10 | ☉ in ♊ ☌ ☽ ♄
|21|2| _follow'd_ |4 47 |7 13 | 22 | _Men into a_
|22|3|Days 14 28 long. |4 46 |7 14 |♒ 4 | _Party, and_
|23|4| _by heat,_ |4 45 |7 15 | 16 | _Shame keeps_
|24|5| _then_ |4 44 |7 16 | 28 | _them from getting_
|25|6| _rain and_ |4 44 |7 16 |♓ 10 | _out again._
|26|7| _thunder,_ |4 43 |7 17 | 22 | ☽ with ♂
|27|G|Rogation Sunday |4 42 |7 18 |♈ 4 | ♄ rise 9 26
|28|2|Day inc. 5 26 |4 42 |7 18 | 17 | ♃ set 10 6
|29|3|K. Cha. resto. |4 41 |7 19 |♉ 0 | ♂ rise 1 32
|30|4| _pleasant._ |4 41 |7 19 | 13 | ☽ with ☿ _Haste_
|31|5|Ascension Day. |4 40 |7 20 | 27 | _makes Waste._
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=MAY= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
New ☽ 3 2 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
First Q. 9 10 aft. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Full ● 17 2 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Last Q. 24 12 aft. | | ♉ | ♑ | ♋ | ♓ | ♊ | ♉ |
| 2| 12 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 21 | 17 | N. 0
{12 ♏ 6 Deg. | 7| 17 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 23 | 14 | S. 5
☊ {22 6 |12| 22 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 25 | 12 | 3
{31 5 |17| 27 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 27 | 11 | N. 2
|22| ♊ 2 | 5 | 14 | 20 | 26 | 11 | 5
|27| 6 | 5 | 15 | 24 | 25 | 14 | 3
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ rise | ☽ sou: | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+ |
| 1| 4 0 | 10 44 | 1 | 20 |
| 2| Moon | 11 31 | 2 | 21 |
| 3| sets. | A. 21 | 3 | 22 |
| 4| A. | 1 17 | 4 | 23 |
| 5| 9 43 | 2 14 | 5 | 24 |
| 6| 10 40 | 3 12 | 6 | 25 |
| 7| 11 29 | 4 10 | 7 | 26 |
| 8| 12 3 | 5 6 | 8 | 27 |
| 9| M. 3 | 6 2 | 9 | 28 |
|10| 0 48 | 6 54 | 9 | 29 |
|11| 1 23 | 7 45 | 10 | 30 |
|12| 2 2 | 8 37 | 11 | May |
|13| 2 36 | 9 29 | 12 | |
|14| 3 12 | 10 20 | 1 | 3 |
|15| 3 45 | 11 8 | 2 | 4 |
|16| Moon | 11 56 | 2 | 5 |
|17| rises | 12 48 | 3 | 6 |
|18| A. | M. 48 | 3 | 7 |
|19| 9 31 | 1 42 | 4 | 8 |
|20| 10 14 | 2 30 | 5 | 9 |
|21| 10 51 | 3 19 | 6 | 10 |
|22| 11 29 | 4 6 | 7 | 11 |
|23| 12 0 | 4 53 | 7 | 12 |
|24| Morn | 5 36 | 8 | 13 |
|25| 0 27 | 6 19 | 9 | 14 |
|26| 0 56 | 7 2 | 10 | 15 |
|27| 1 27 | 7 45 | 10 | 16 |
|28| 1 58 | 8 32 | 11 | 17 |
|29| 2 30 | 9 20 | 12 | 18 |
|30| 3 8 | 10 13 | 1 | 19 |
|31| Moon | 11 6 | 2 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+-----------+
twice the apparent Breadth of the Moon.) The same
Considerations prove, that the next Planet, _viz._
2. _Venus_ revolves round the Sun in an Orbit including that
of _Mercury_ within it: For she is always seen in the
Neighbourhood of the Sun, and never appears in the West when
the Sun is in the East, nor contrariwise; nor ever removes
above forty-eight Degrees from him. When she is on one Side
of her Orbit, she it our Morning- and on the other, our
Evening Star. This Planet turns round upon its own Axis in
twenty-three Hours, as the Earth does in twenty-four. _Venus_
performs her annual Revolution round the Sun in two hundred
twenty-four Days, at the Distance of about fifty-nine
Millions of Miles from the Sun. She is nearly of the Size of
the Earth. She appears through a Telescope exactly as the
Moon does to the naked Eye, partly enlightened, and partly
dark, and with the same Inequalities on her Face as on that
of the Moon. Some Astronomers fancy they have seen a
Satellite or Moon near _Venus_, like that belonging to the
Earth: But it is not yet certain whether they have deceived
themselves or not.
3. The Earth, which we inhabit, possesses the next Place in
the Solar System, and, at the Distance of about eighty
Millions of Miles, as above, performs her yearly Revolution
round the Sun in about three hundred sixty-five Days, and at
the same time, as a Bowl upon a
[Bowling-]
*(page break)*
=JUNE= _VI Month._
To each th' appointed Sustenance bestows,
To each the noxious and the healthful shows.
Thou spread'st thy Bounty--meagre Famine flies:
Thou hid'st thy Face--their vital Vigour dies.
Thy pow'ful Word again restores their Breath;
Renew'd Creation triumphs over Death.
Th' Almighty o'er his Works casts down his Eye,
And views their various Excellence with joy;
[His]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | |Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|6| _Clouds and_ |4 40 |7 20 |♊ 11 | ♀ set 8 17
| 2|7| _like for_ |4 39 |7 21 | 25 | ☽ with ♀ _Many_
| 3|G|6 past Easter. |4 39 |7 21 |♋ 9 | ☽ with ♃ _have_
| 4|2| _rain, with_ |4 39 |7 21 | 24 | _quarrel'd about_
| 5|3|Day 14 44 long. |4 38 |7 22 |♌ 9 | _Religion, that_
| 6|4| _wind and_ |4 38 |7 22 | 23 | ☿ rise 3 28
| 7|5| _thunder;_ |4 38 |7 22 |♍ 7 | _never practis'd_
| 8|6|Days inc 5 36 |4 37 |7 23 | 21 | ☌ ☉ ♀ _it._
| 9|7| _flying_ |4 37 |7 23 |♎ 5 | Sudden Power
|10|G|Whitsunday. |4 37 |7 23 | 19 | □ ♄ ♂ _is apt to_
|11|2|St. =BARNABAS.= |4 36 |7 24 |♏ 2 | _be insolent_, Sudden
|12|6| _clouds, warm_ |4 36 |7 24 | 15 | ♄ ri. 8 13
|13|4|Ember Week. |4 36 |7 24 | 28 | ♃ set 9 8
|14|5|Days 14 50 |4 35 |7 25 |♐ 11 | ♂ rise 12 52
|15|6| _and inclin'd_ |4 35 |7 25 | 24 | Liberty _saucy;_
|16|7| _to rain,_ |4 35 |7 25 |♑ 6 | ☌ ☽ ♄ ✱ ♂ ☿
|17|G|Trinity Sunday |4 35 |7 25 | 18 | _that behaves best_
|18|2|Days inc. 5 40 |4 35 |7 25 |♒ 0 | ☌ ♀ ☿ _which_
|19|3| _with wind_ |4 35 |7 25 | 12 | _has grown gradually._
|20|4| _and_ |4 35 |7 25 | 24 | ✱ ♂ ♀
|21|5|Corp Christ. |4 35 |7 25 |♓ 6 | ☉ in ♋
|22|6|K. Geo. Acces. |4 35 |7 25 | 18 | _He that best_
|23|7| _thunder,_ |4 35 |7 25 |♈ 0 | _understands the_
|24|G|St. =JOHN.= |4 35 |7 25 | 12 | ☌ ☽ ♂ ☍ ☉ ♄
|25|2| Baptist. _then_ |4 35 |7 25 | 25 | _World, least_
|26|3| _cooler,_ |4 35 |7 25 |♉ 8 | ♃ set 8 32 _likes_
|27|4| _but soon_ |4 35 |7 25 | 21 | ♄ rise 7 8 _it._
|28|5|Days 14 50 |4 35 |7 25 |♊ 5 | ☌ ☽ ♀ ☍ ♄ ☿
|29|6| _grows hot again._ |4 36 |7 24 | 19 | ♂ rise 12 14
|30|7|St. =PETER.= |4 36 |7 24 |♋ 4 | ☽ with ☿
|King =GEORGE='s 27th Year begins the 22d Day
+----+-----------------------+-----+-----+------------------------------+
*(page break)*
=JUNE= hath XXX Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
New ☽ 1 at noon. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
First Q. 8 6 mor. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Full ● 15 at noon. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Last Q. 23 4 aft. | | ♊ | ♑ | ♋ | ♓ | ♊ | ♉ |
New ☽ 30 9 aft. | 1| 11 | 5 | 16 | 27 | 23 | 18 | S. 3
| 6| 16 | 4 | 18 | ♈ 1 | 20 | 23 | 5
{12 ♏ 5 Deg. |12| 22 | 4 | 19 | 5 | 15 | ♊ 1 | N. 1
☊ {22 4 |17| 26 | 4 | 20 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 5
{30 3 |22| ♋ 1 | 3 | 21 | 13 | 11 | 20 | 4
|27| 6 | 3 | 22 | 16 | 10 | ♋ 1 | S. 1
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ Set. | ☽ sou: | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+ |
| 1| sets. | A. 3 | 3 | 21 |
| 2| A. | 1 0 | 4 | 22 |
| 3| 9 15 | 1 58 | 4 | 23 |
| 4| 10 7 | 2 56 | 5 | 24 |
| 5| 10 49 | 3 52 | 6 | 25 |
| 6| 11 25 | 4 47 | 7 | 26 |
| 7| 12 0 | 5 38 | 8 | 27 |
| 8| Morn | 6 28 | 9 | 28 |
| 9| 0 34 | 7 20 | 10 | 29 |
|10| 1 8 | 8 11 | 11 | 30 |
|11| 1 42 | 8 58 | 11 | 31 |
|12| 2 16 | 9 46 | 12 | June |
|13| 2 57 | 10 38 | 1 | |
|14| Moon | 11 29 | 2 | 3 |
|15| rises | 12 23 | 3 | 4 |
|16| A. | M. 23 | 3 | 5 |
|17| 8 51 | 1 9 | 4 | 6 |
|18| 9 26 | 1 55 | 4 | 7 |
|19| 10 0 | 2 40 | 5 | 8 |
|20| 10 27 | 3 24 | 6 | 9 |
|21| 10 53 | 4 8 | 7 | 10 |
|22| 11 23 | 4 50 | 7 | 11 |
|23| 11 51 | 5 32 | 8 | 12 |
|24| 12 22 | 6 18 | 9 | 13 |
|25| M 22 | 7 4 | 10 | 14 |
|26| 0 55 | 7 53 | 10 | 15 |
|27| 1 32 | 8 42 | 11 | 16 |
|28| 2 14 | 9 39 | 12 | 17 |
|29| Moon | 10 36 | 1 | 18 |
|30| sets | 11 37 | 2 | 19 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
Bowling-green not only proceeds forward, but likewise turns
round upon its own Axis, so does the Earth turn once round
upon its Axis as it goes along, every twenty-four Hours. It
is astonishing, and even frightful to think, that this vast
and cumbrous Globe of Earth and Sea, which is almost
twenty-five thousand Miles in Circumference, has received
such an Impulse from the Almighty Arm, as has carried it
constantly for above these five thousand Years, that we know
of, round the Sun at the Rate of at least fifty thousand
Miles every Hour, which it must absolutely do, to go round
the Sun in a Year at the Distance of eighty Millions of Miles
from him. So that, if an Angel were to come from some other
World, and to place himself near the Earth's Way, he would
see it pass by him with a Swiftness, to which that of a
Cannon Ball is but as one to one hundred, and would be left
behind by it no less than the above Number of Miles in the
Space of one Hour. There is no more Reason to doubt, that the
Earth goes in this Manner round the Sun, than there would be
for a Passenger in a Ship on smooth Water, who saw the
Objects upon Land continually passing by, to doubt whether
the Vessel he was in, or the Shore, was in Motion. We see the
Sun continually changes his Place with respect to the fixed
Stars, and must own it to be highly improbable that this
Change of Place is owing to any Change in the whole Heavens,
[which,]
*(page break)*
=JULY.= _VII Month._
His Works with Rev'rence own his pow'rful Hand,
And humble Nature waits his dread Command,
He looks upon the Earth--her Pillars shake,
And from her Centre her Foundations quake.
The Hills he touches--Clouds of Smoke arise,
And sulph'rous Streams mount heavy to the Skies.
Whilst Life informs this Frame, that Life shall be
(O First and Greatest!) sacred all to Thee.
[Thy]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|G|2 past Trin. |4 30 |7 24 |♋ 19 | ☽ with ♃
| 2|2|Days dec. 2 m. |4 36 |7 24 |♌ 4 | ☌ ☉ ☿ Anger
| 3|3| _Clouds_ |4 37 |7 23 | 19 | _is never without_
| 4|4| _and_ |4 37 |7 23 |♍ 4 | _a Reason, but_
| 5|5| _wind,_ |4 37 |7 23 | 19 | _seldom with a_
| 6|6| _then hot, |4 38 |7 22 |♎ 2 | _good One._
| 7|7|Days dec. 6 m. |4 38 |7 22 | 16 | ♀ rise 2 27
| 8|G|3 past Trin. |4 39 |7 21 | 29 | _He that is of_
| 9|2| _follow'd by_ |4 39 |7 21 |♏ 12 | □ ♃ ♂ ☌ ♃ ☿
|10|3| _rain and_ |4 40 |7 20 | 25 | _Opinion Money_
|11|4| _thunder-gusts_ |4 40 |7 20 |♐ 8 | _will do every_
|12|5| |4 41 |7 19 | 20 | ♄ sou. 10 42
|13|6| _in many_ |4 41 |7 19 |♑ 2 | ☽ w. ♄ _Thing,_
|14|7|Days dec. 14 m. |4 42 |7 18 | 14 | ♂ rise 11 38
|15|G|4 past Trin. |4 43 |7 17 | 26 | _may well be_
|16|2| _places, then_ |4 43 |7 17 |♒ 8 | _suspected of_
|17|3| _more_ |4 44 |7 16 | 20 | ♀ rise 2 3
|18|4| _settled and_ |4 45 |7 15 |♓ 2 | ☌ ☉ ♃ _doing_
|19|5|Days dec 20 m. |4 45 |7 15 | 14 | ✱ ♀ ☿ _every_
|20|6| _somewhat_ |4 46 |7 14 | 26 | 7 *s rise 12 6
|21|7| _cooler; but_ |4 47 |7 13 |♈ 8 | △ ♄ ♂ _Thing_
|22|G|5 past Trin. |4 48 |7 12 | 21 | ☉ in ♌ _for_
|23|2| _grows hot_ |4 49 |7 11 |♉ 4 | ☽ w. ♂ _Money._
|24|3|Dog Days begin |4 50 |7 10 | 17 | _An ill Wound,_
|25|4|St. =JAMES.= |4 50 |7 10 |♊ 0 | _but not an ill_
|26|5| _again, and_ |4 51 |7 9 | 14 | ☽ w. ♀ _Name,_
|27|6|Day 14 16 long. |4 52 |7 8 | 28 | □ ☉ ♂ _may be_
|28|7| _thunder_ |4 53 |7 7 |♋ 13 | ♄ sou. 9 30
|29|G|6 past Trin. |4 54 |7 6 | 28 | ☽ w. ♃ _healed._
|30|2| _follows with_ |4 55 |7 5 |♌ 13 | ♂ rise 10 58
|31|3| _rain._ |4 56 |7 4 | 28 | ☽ with ☿
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=JULY= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places. |
First Q. 7 at noon. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Full ● 15 6 mor. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Last Q. 23 6 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
New ☽ 30 1 mor. | | ♋ | ♑ | ♋ | ♈ | ♊ | ♋ |
| 2| 11 | 3 | 23 | 20 | 10 | 11 | S. 5
{12 ♏ 2 Deg. | 7| 16 | 2 | 24 | 23 | 11 | 21 | 1
☊ {22 1 |12| 20 | 2 | 25 | 26 | 12 | ♌ 1 | N. 4
{31 0 |17| 25 | 2 | 26 | 29 | 14 | 11 | 5
|22| ♌ 0 | 1 | 27 | ♉ 2 | 17 | 20 | 1
|27| 5 | 1 | 29 | 5 | 20 | 28 | S. 4
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ sets | ☽ sou. | T. | | -->
+--+----------+---------+----+------+
| 1| A. | A. 38 | 3 | 20 |
| 2| 8 38 | 1 35 | 4 | 21 |
| 3| 9 19 | 2 32 | 5 | 22 |
| 4| 9 57 | 3 27 | 6 | 23 |
| 5| 10 30 | 4 19 | 7 | 24 |
| 6| 11 5 | 5 9 | 8 | 25 |
| 7| 11 37 | 5 59 | 8 | 26 |
| 8| 12 13 | 6 48 | 9 | 27 |
| 9| M. 13 | 7 37 | 10 | 28 |
|10| 0 53 | 8 29 | 11 | 29 |
|11| 1 33 | 9 19 | 12 | 30 |
|12| 2 24 | 10 12 | 1 | July |
|13| 3 15 | 10 59 | 1 | |
|14| Moon | 11 45 | 2 | 3 |
|15| rise | 12 34 | 3 | 4 |
|16| A. | M. 34 | 3 | 5 |
|17| 8 21 | 1 12 | 4 | 6 |
|18| 8 50 | 1 55 | 4 | 7 |
|19| 9 20 | 2 38 | 5 | 8 |
|20| 9 49 | 3 22 | 6 | 9 |
|21| 10 18 | 4 6 | 7 | 10 |
|22| 10 50 | 4 54 | 7 | 11 |
|23| 11 26 | 5 42 | 8 | 12 |
|24| 12 7 | 6 30 | 9 | 13 |
|25| M. 7 | 7 23 | 10 | 14 |
|26| 0 50 | 8 20 | 11 | 15 |
|27| 1 45 | 9 18 | 12 | 16 |
|28| 2 47 | 10 18 | 1 | 17 |
|29| 4 0 | 11 18 | 2 | 18 |
|30| Moon | A. 16 | 3 | 19 |
|31| sets | 1 15 | 4 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
which, considering the Distance of the starry Heavens, would
require a Motion infinitely more rapid than that above
ascribed to the Earth. As for the common Objection against
the Earth's Motion, that we are not sensible of it, and that
a Stone thrown up from the Earth ought not to fall down upon
the same Place again; it is answered at once by the above
Comparison of a Ship, from which (as has been often found by
Experiment) a Ball fired directly up in the Air, does not
fall behind the Ship, let her Motion be ever so swift, but,
partaking of the Ship's Motion, is carried forward in the
Air, and falls down again upon the Deck. And as to the
Objections taken from some Scripture Expressions, which seem
to contradict the Theory of the Earth's Motion, it is plain,
from innumerable Instances, that Revelation was not given to
Mankind to make them Philosophers or deep Reasoners, but to
improve them in Virtue and Piety; and that it was therefore
proper it should be expressed in a Manner accommodated to
common Capacities and popular Opinions in all Points merely
speculative, and which were not to have any direct Influence
upon the Hearts and Lives of Men. The Truth of the Matter is,
that the Demonstrations given by the incomparable Sir _Isaac
Newton_, have established the Doctrine of the Motion of the
Earth and other Planets, and the Comets round the Sun, and of
the
[secondary]
*(page break)*
=AUGUST.= _VIII Month._
Thy Praise my Morning Song, my daily Theme,
My Ev'ning Subject, and my Midnight Dream,
When Grief oppresses, and when Pain assails;
When all the Man, and all the Stoic fails;
When fierce Tentation's stormy Billows roll;
When Guilt and Horror overwhelm my Soul;
With outward Ills contending Passions join'd,
To shake frail Virtue, and unhinge the Mind;
[When]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|4|Lammas Day. |4 57 |7 3 |♍ 13 | ♀ rise 1 40
| 2|5| _More temperate_ |4 58 |7 2 | 27 | _When out of Favour,_
| 3|6|Days dec. 46 m. |4 58 |7 2 |♎ 11 | _none know_
| 4|7| _then_ |4 59 |7 1 | 25 | _thee; when in,_
| 5|G|7 past Trin. |5 0 |7 0 |♏ 9 | _thou dost not_
| 6|2| _clouds, with_ |5 1 |6 59 | 22 | △ ♂ ☿ _know_
| 7|3| _rain_ |5 2 |6 58 |♐ 5 | 7 *s rise 10 55
| 8|4|Day 13 54 long. |5 3 |6 57 | 17 | _thyself._
| 9|5| _and_ |5 4 |6 56 | 29 | ☽ with ♄
|10|6|St. Lawrence. |5 5 |6 55 |♑ 11 | _A lean Award_
|11|7| _thunder;_ |5 6 |6 54 | 23 | ☿ sets 7 54
|12|G|8 past Trin. |5 8 |6 52 |♒ 5 | ♄ sou. 8 30
|13|2| _sultry weather,_ |5 9 |6 51 | 17 | ♃ rises 3 32
|14|3| _clouds, and_ |5 10 |6 50 | 29 | ♂ rise 10 25
|15|4|Assum. V. =MARY.= |5 11 |6 49 |♓ 11 | 7 *s rise 10 25
|16|5| _rain;_ |5 13 |6 47 | 23 | _is better than a_
|17|6|Days dec. 1 18 |5 14 |6 46 |♈ 5 | ♀ rise 1 37
|18|7| _then more_ |5 15 |6 45 | 17 | _fat Judgment._
|19|G|9 past Trin. |5 16 |6 44 | 29 | _God, Parents,_
|20|2|Day 13 26 long. |5 17 |6 43 |♉ 12 | _and Instructors,_
|21|3| _temperate,_ |5 18 |6 42 | 25 | ☽ with ♂ _can_
|22|4| _clear_ |5 20 |6 40 |♊ 8 | ☉ in ♍ △ ☉ ♄
|23|5| _and fair;_ |5 21 |6 39 | 22 | _never be_
|24|6|St. =BARTHOL.= |5 22 |6 38 |♋ 6 | 7 *s rise 9 52
|25|7| _flying_ |5 24 |6 36 | 21 | ☽ with ♀ _requited._
|26|G|10 past Trin. |5 25 |6 35 |♌ 6 | ☽ w. ♃
|27|2|Days dec. 1 42 |5 26 |6 34 | 21 | ♄ sou. 7 36
|28|3| _clouds and_ |5 27 |6 33 |♍ 6 | ♃ rise 2 54
|29|4| _perhaps_ |5 28 |6 32 | 21 | ☽ with ☿
|30|5|Day 13 h. long |5 30 |6 30 |♎ 6 | △ ♂ ☿
|31|6| _rain._ |5 31 |6 29 | 21 | ♂ rise 9 54
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=AUGUST= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
First Q. 5 8 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Full ● 13 9 aft. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Last Q. 21 9 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
New ☽ 28 10 mor. | | ♌ | ♑ | ♌ | ♉ | ♊ | ♍ |
| 1| 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 24 | 5 | S. 4
{12 ♎ 29 Deg. | 6| 14 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 28 | 11 | N. 2
☊ {22 29 |12| 20 | 0 | 2 | 15 | ♋ 4 | 17 | 5
{31 28 |17| 25 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 9 | 22 | 2
|22| ♍ 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 14 | 24 | S. 3
|27| 4 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 19 | 25 | 5
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ sets | ☽ sou. | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
| 1| 8 A. 25 | 2 A. 9 | 5 | 21 |
| 2| 9 3 | 3 1 | 6 | 22 |
| 3| 9 37 | 3 53 | 6 | 23 |
| 4| 10 12 | 4 44 | 7 | 24 |
| 5| 10 56 | 5 36 | 8 | 25 |
| 6| 11 37 | 6 28 | 9 | 26 |
| 7| 12 22 | 7 18 | 10 | 27 |
| 8| M. 22 | 8 18 | 11 | 28 |
| 9| 1 12 | 8 57 | 11 | 29 |
|10| 2 2 | 9 45 | 12 | 30 |
|11| 2 52 | 10 33 | 1 | 31 |
|12| Moon | 11 18 | 2 | Aug. |
|13| rises | 12 3 | 2 | |
|14| A. | M. 3 | 3 | 3 |
|15| 7 25 | 0 36 | 3 | 4 |
|16| 7 43 | 1 20 | 4 | 5 |
|17| 8 22 | 2 4 | 5 | 6 |
|18| 8 51 | 2 49 | 5 | 7 |
|19| 9 25 | 3 33 | 6 | 8 |
|20| 10 3 | 4 23 | 7 | 9 |
|21| 10 47 | 5 13 | 8 | 10 |
|22| 11 42 | 6 10 | 9 | 11 |
|23| 12 37 | 7 6 | 10 | 12 |
|24| M. 37 | 8 6 | 11 | 13 |
|25| 1 39 | 9 6 | 12 | 14 |
|26| 2 51 | 10 4 | 1 | 15 |
|27| 4 5 | 11 1 | 2 | 16 |
|28| Moon | 11 58 | 2 | 17 |
|29| sets. | A. 55 | 3 | 18 |
|30| 7 A. 46 | 1 50 | 4 | 19 |
|31| 8 23 | 2 45 | 5 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
secondary Planets or Satellites round their Primaries, in
such a Manner, as leaves no Room for any, but such as do not
understand them, to hesitate about it. The Sun's apparent
Rising and Setting is therefore owing to the Earth's turning
round upon its own Axis; and his apparent Change of Place
among the fixed Stars, to our real Change of Situation round
the Sun. The different Seasons of the Year, with all their
delightful Varieties, are owing to the most simple
Contrivance that can be imagined, _viz._ The Inclination of
the Earth's Axis to the Plane of the Ecliptic. Any Person who
has not an Opportunity of seeing an Orrery, may easily
represent this by an Apple or any other round Body with a
Wire thrust through the Middle of it, and carried round a
Table having a Candle placed on the Middle; if the lower End
of the Wire be made to touch the Table all the Way round, and
to lean a little, the upper End still pointing towards the
same Side of the Room, by turning the Skewer round, as it is
carried along, it will be easy to understand how the Earth's
Turning once round upon her own Axis, makes a Day and a
Night; and by carrying the Apple round the Table, it will be
easy to shew how the Sun (represented by the Candle) must
seem to change Place with regard to the fixed Stars; and by
observing how differently the Light of the Candle enlightens
the different Parts of the Apple as the Wire points toward
[it]
*(page break)*
=SEPTEMBER.= _IX Month._
When Nature sinks; when Death's dark Shades arise,
And this World's Glories vanish from these Eyes;
Then may the Thought of Thee be ever near,
To calm the Tumult, and compose the Fear.
In all my Woes thy Favour my Defence;
Safe in thy Mercy, not my Innocence,
And through what future Scenes thy Hand may guide
My wond'ring Soul, and thro' what States untry'd,
[What]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|7|Dog Days end |5 32 |6 28 |♏ 5 | ✱ ♀ ☿ _He that_
| 2|G|11 past Trin. |5 33 |6 27 | 18 | ✱ ♂ ♀ _builds_
| 3|2| _Clouds_ |5 34 |6 26 |♐ 1 | ♀ rises 1 51
| 4|3| _and_ |5 35 |6 25 | 14 | _before he counts_
| 5|4|Days dec. 22 |5 36 |6 24 | 27 | ☽ with ♄ _the_
| 6|5| _like for_ |5 38 |6 22 |♑ 9 | _Cost, acts foolishly;_
| 7|6| _rain; then_ |5 39 |6 21 | 21 | 7 *s rise 9 0
| 8|7|Nativ. V. =MARY.= |5 40 |6 20 |♒ 3 | _and he_
| 9|G|12 past Trin |5 41 |6 19 | 15 | _that counts before_
|10|2| _wind,_ |5 43 |6 17 | 27 | _he builds,_
|11|3|Days 12 32 long. |5 44 |6 16 |♓ 8 | _finds he did not_
|12|4|Days dec. 2 22 |5 46 |6 14 | 20 | ♄ set 11 16
|13|5| _fair and_ |5 47 |6 13 |♈ 2 | 7 *s rise 8 40
|14|6|Holy Rood. |5 49 |6 11 | 14 | ♃ ri. 2 11 _count_
|15|7| _pleasant_ |5 50 |6 10 | 26 | ☌ ♃ ♀ _wisely_.
|16|G|13 past Trin. |5 51 |6 9 |♉ 9 | ♂ rise 9 11
|17|2|Days 12 16 long. |5 53 |6 7 | 22 | ♀ rise 2 14
|18|3| _for some_ |5 54 |6 6 |♊ 5 | ☽ with ♂
|19|4|Ember Week. |5 56 |6 4 | 18 | Patience _in_
|20|5| _days;_ |5 57 |6 3 |♋ 2 | _Market, is_
|21|6|St. =MATTHEW.= |5 58 |6 2 | 16 | _worth Pounds_
|22|7| _then clouds_ |6 0 |6 0 |♌ 0 | ☉ in ♎ □ ☉ ♄
|23|G|14 past Trin. |6 1 |5 59 | 14 | ☽ w. ♃ & ♀ _in a_
|24|2| _with wind_ |6 3 |5 57 | 29 | △ ☉ _Year._
|25|3| _and_ |6 4 |5 56 |♍ 14 | ☽ w. ☿ _Danger_
|26|4| _rain_ |6 5 |5 55 | 29 | 7 *s rise 7 52 _is_
|27|5|Days decr. 3 h. |6 7 |5 53 |♎ 14 | ♄ set 10 21
|28|6| _towards the end._ |6 9 |5 51 | 28 | ♃ rise 1 30
|29|7|St. =MICHAEL.= |6 9 |5 51 |♏ 12 | ♂ r. 8 32 _Sauce_
|30|G|Day 13 h. long |5 30 |6 30 | 26 | _for Prayers._
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=SEPTEMBER= hath XXX Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
First Q. 4 8 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Full ● 12 at noon. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Last Q. 20 4 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
New ☽ 26 9 aft. | | ♍ | ♑ | ♌ | ♉ | ♋ | ♍ |
| 1| 9 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 24 | 24 | N. 1
{12 ♎ 28 Deg. | 6| 14 | 0 | 7 | 27 | 29 | 20 | 5
☊ {22 28 |12| 20 | 0 | 9 | 29 | ♌ 6 | 14 | 3
{30 28 |17| 25 | 0 | 9 | ♊ 0 | 11 | 12 | S. 2
|22| ♎ 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 17 | 13 | 5
|27| 5 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 23 | 17 | 1
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ sets | ☽ sou. | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
| 1| 9 1 | 3 36 | 6 | 21 |
| 2| 9 41 | 4 27 | 7 | 22 |
| 3| 10 23 | 5 17 | 8 | 23 |
| 4| 11 16 | 6 6 | 9 | 24 |
| 5| 12 10 | 7 1 | 10 | 25 |
| 6| M. 10 | 7 56 | 10 | 26 |
| 7| 0 54 | 8 41 | 8 | 26 |
| 8| 1 50 | 9 26 | 12 | 28 |
| 9| 2 48 | 10 11 | 1 | 29 |
|10| 3 48 | 10 57 | 1 | 30 |
|11| 4 37 | 11 37 | 2 | 31 |
|12| Moon | 12 22 | 3 |Sept. |
|13| rises. | M. 22 | 3 | |
|14| 7 A. 7 | 0 57 | 4 | 3 |
|15| 7 39 | 1 43 | 4 | 4 |
|16| 8 14 | 2 30 | 5 | 5 |
|17| 8 57 | 3 22 | 6 | 6 |
|18| 9 43 | 4 14 | 7 | 7 |
|19| 10 37 | 5 8 | 8 | 8 |
|20| 11 39 | 6 2 | 9 | 9 |
|21| 12 41 | 6 59 | 9 | 10 |
|22| M. 41 | 7 55 | 10 | 11 |
|23| 1 44 | 8 52 | 11 | 12 |
|24| 2 53 | 9 48 | 12 | 13 |
|25| Moon | 10 43 | 1 | 14 |
|26| sets | 11 37 | 2 | 15 |
|27| A. | A. 31 | 3 | 16 |
|28| 7 0 | 1 25 | 4 | 17 |
|29| 7 39 | 2 19 | 5 | 18 |
|30| 8 23 | 3 13 | 6 | 19 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
it, or from it, the Cause of the Difference of the Seasons,
of the Length of the Days and Nights, of the Sun's shining
more directly or more obliquely upon different Parts of the
Earth, and of the Heat of Summer, and Cold of Winter, may be
made plain to any Capacity. That the Earth is of a round, or
nearly round Figure, is plain from the Shadow it casts upon
the Face of the Moon in a partial Eclipse of the Moon, which
is always round, and never of any other Figure. It is also
manifest from what it always observed at Sea, _viz._ That a
Ship, as it approaches, first shews its Masts and Sails, and
by Degrees its lower Parts, till it becomes all visible; and,
as it goes off, its Hulk is first lost, and then its Sails
and upper Parts, till it be quite hid by the Convexity or
Roundness of the Surface of the Ocean.
As the Earth is carried round the Sun once in a Year, so is
the Moon carried round the Earth once in about twenty-seven
Days, accompanying her in her whole Revolution, at the
above-mentioned Distance of two hundred and forty thousand
Miles, and keeping always the same Face towards the Earth.
That the Moon goes round the Earth, as her Centre, is evident
to the Eye. For, when she is between the Sun and the Earth,
she is invisible to us, her dark Side being turned toward us.
When she goes a little Way forward in her Revolution, so as
to come from between
[us]
*(page break)*
=OCTOBER.= _X Month._
What distant Seats soe'er I may explore,
When frail Mortality shall be no more;
If aught of meek or contrite in thy Sight
Shall fit me for the Realms of Bliss and Light,
Be this the Bliss of all my future Days,
To view thy Glories, and to sing thy Praise.
When the dread Hour, ordain'd of old, shall come,
Which brings on stubborn Guilt its righteous Doom,
[When]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|2| _Moderate_ |6 12 |5 48 |♐ 10 | _If you have_
| 2|3| _and pleasant,_ |6 13 |5 47 | 23 | ♀ rise 3 45
| 3|4|Days 11 32 long. |6 14 |5 46 |♑ 5 | ☽ with ♄ _no_
| 4|5| but_ |6 15 |5 45 | 17 | _Honey in your_
| 5|6| _soon turns_ |6 16 |5 44 | 29 | 7 *s rise 7 20
| 6|7|Days dec. 3 26 |6 18 |5 42 |♒ 11 | ✱ ☉ ♃ □ ♂ ♀
| 7|G|16 past Trin. |6 19 |5 41 | 23 | □ ♄ ☿ _Pot,_
| 8|2| _to rain,_ |6 20 |5 40 |♓ 5 | △ ♂ ☿ _have_
| 9|3| _with high_ |6 21 |5 39 | 17 | _some in your_
|10|4| _wind, and_ |6 22 |5 38 | 29 | _Mouth._
|11|5| _cool,_ |6 23 |5 37 |♈ 11 | _A Pair of_
|12|6|Days dec. 3 40 |6 25 |5 35 | 23 | ♄ sets 9 33
|13|7| _then more_ |6 26 |5 34 |♉ 6 | ✱ ♃ ☿ _good_
|14|G|17 past Trin. |6 27 |5 33 | 19 | 7 *s rise 6 46
|15|2| _settled_ |6 29 |5 31 |♊ 2 | ☽ with ♂ _Ears_
|16|3|Day 11 h. long. |6 30 |5 30 | 15 | ♃ rises 12 42
|17|4| _and fair,_ |6 31 |5 29 | 29 | Sirius ri. 12 0
|18|5|=St. LUKE.= |6 32 |5 28 |♋ 13 | ♂ rises 7 20
|19|6| _warm,_ |6 34 |5 26 | 27 | ♀ rises 3 23
|20|7|Day dec. 4 h. |6 35 |5 25 |♌ 11 | ☽ with ♃ _will_
|21|G|18 past Trin. |6 37 |5 23 | 25 | _drain dry an_
|22|2|K Geo. II. cro. |6 38 |5 22 |♍ 9 | ☌ ☉ ☿ _hundred_
|23|3| _and flying_ |6 39 |5 21 | 24 | ☉ in ♏ ☌ ☽ ♀
|24|4| _clouds,_ |6 40 |5 20 |♎ 9 | ✱ ♄ ☿
|25|5|Crispin. |6 41 |5 19 | 23 | ✱ ☉ ♄ _Tongues._
|26|6| _then_ |6 43 |5 17 |♏ 7 | ☽ with ☿
|27|7|Days 10 32 long. |6 44 |5 16 | 21 | ♄ set 8 40
|28|G|=SIMON= and =JUDE.= |6 45 |5 15 |♐ 4 | Sirius ri. 11 20
|29|2| _cold_ |6 46 |5 14 | 17 | △ ♂ ♀
|30|3| _rain, and wind._ |6 48 |5 12 |♑ 0 | ☌ ☽ ♄ □ ♄ ♀
|31|4| _rain._ |6 49 |5 11 | 13 | ♃ rise 11 55
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=OCTOBER= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
First Q. 3 11 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Full ● 12 4 mor. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^s L.
Last Q. 19 10 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
New ☽ 26 5 mor. | | ♎ | ♑ | ♌ | ♊ | ♌ | ♍ |
| 2| 9 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 28 | 24 | N. 4
{12 ♎ 28 Deg. | 7| 14 | 1 | 13 | 3 | ♍ 4 | ♎ 2 | 5
☊ {22 28 |12| 19 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 0
{31 28 |17| 24 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 16 | 20 | S. 4
|22| 29 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 22 | 29 | 4
|27| ♏ 4 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 28 | ♏ 7 | N. 2
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ sets | ☽ sou. | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
| 1| 9 18 | 4 A. 10 | 7 | 20 |
| 2| 10 9 | 5 7 | 8 | 21 |
| 3| 11 2 | 5 56 | 8 | 22 |
| 4| 11 58 | 6 44 | 9 | 23 |
| 5| 12 54 | 7 31 | 10 | 24 |
| 6| M. 54 | 8 17 | 11 | 25 |
| 7| 1 46 | 9 1 | 12 | 26 |
| 8| 2 42 | 9 45 | 12 | 27 |
| 9| 3 42 | 10 30 | 1 | 28 |
|10| 4 36 | 11 14 | 2 | 29 |
|11| Moon | 11 57 | 2 | 30 |
|12| rises | 12 41 | 3 | Oct. |
|13| 6 A. 24 | M. 41 | 3 | |
|14| 7 5 | 1 25 | 4 | 3 |
|15| 7 48 | 2 19 | 5 | 4 |
|16| 8 37 | 3 13 | 6 | 5 |
|17| 9 38 | 4 11 | 7 | 6 |
|18| 10 46 | 5 9 | 8 | 7 |
|19| 11 55 | 6 5 | 9 | 8 |
|20| Morn. | 7 0 | 10 | 9 |
|21| 1 0 | 7 50 | 10 | 10 |
|22| 2 4 | 8 40 | 11 | 11 |
|23| 3 14 | 9 36 | 12 | 12 |
|24| 4 27 | 10 31 | 1 | 13 |
|25| Moon | 11 24 | 2 | 14 |
|26| sets | A. 17 | 3 | 15 |
|27| A. | 1 10 | 4 | 16 |
|28| 7 9 | 2 3 | 5 | 17 |
|29| 8 0 | 2 56 | 5 | 18 |
|30| 8 56 | 3 48 | 6 | 19 |
|31| 9 42 | 4 39 | 7 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
us and the Sun, we see a small Part of her Body enlightned,
and so on still more and more, till she comes to be in
Opposition to the Sun, and then we see all that Side of her
which the Sun shines upon, when we say she is full; though
the Sun does not, in Reality, enlighten any more of her Body
at Full than at new Moon; only her enlightened Side is turned
towards us in the one Case, and from us in the other. This
whole Matter may be made very plain to any Capacity in the
same Manner as is above directed with regard to the Earth's
Revolution round the Sun, by carrying a smaller Apple or Ball
to represent the Moon round the first, which represents the
Earth, and observing how the Light of the Candle shining upon
the little Ball must appear to a Fly or other Insect placed
upon the large one. Whenever the Moon happens to come exactly
between the Earth and the Sun, she stops the Light of the
Sun, and then we say, the Sun is eclipsed; and according as
the Moon happens to cover a Part or the Whole of the Sun's
Face, we call the Eclipse partial or total. Sometimes a total
Eclipse of the Sun happens when the Moon is at her greatest
Distance from the Earth (for she does not go round the Earth
in an exact Circle, as neither do any of the rest of the
primary or secondary Planets round their Centers) and then,
as all Objects appear smaller according to their Distance,
she does not cover the whole Face of the Sun, but a part
[of]
*(page break)*
=NOVEMBER.= _XI Month._
When Storms of Fire on Sinners shall be pour'd,
And all th' Obdurate in thy Wrath devour'd;
May I then hope to find a lowly Place
To stand the meanest or th' etherial Race;
Swift at thy Word to wing the liquid Sky,
And on thy humblest Messages to fly.
Howe'er thy blissful Sight may raise my Soul,
While vast Eternity's long Ages roll,
[Perfection]
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|5|All Saints. |6 50 |5 10 |♑ 25 | ♂ rise 6 13
| 2|6|Days dec. 4 32 |6 51 |5 9 |♒ 7 | _Serving God is_
| 3|7| _Clouds_ |6 52 |5 8 | 19 | _Doing Good to_
| 4|G|20 past Trin. |6 53 |5 7 |♓ 1 | _Man, but Praying_
| 5|2|Powder Plot. |6 54 |5 6 | 13 | _is thought_
| 6|3|Day 10 10 long. |6 55 |5 5 | 25 | ♀ rise 4 2 _an_
| 7|4| _and threatens_|6 56 |5 4 |♈ 7 | _easier Service,_
| 8|5| _cold_ |6 58 |5 2 | 19 | □ ☉ ♃ _and_
| 9|6| _rain or snow._|6 59 |5 1 |♉ 2 | _therefore more_
|10|7|K.Geo.II. b.1683 |7 0 |5 0 | 15 | Sirius ri. 10 27
|11|G|21 past Trin. |7 1 |4 59 | 28 | ☽ with ♂ _generally_
|12|2| _then_ |7 3 |4 57 |♊ 11 | ✱ ♃ ♀
|13|3| _pleasant_ |7 4 |4 56 | 25 | ♄ sets 7 35 _chosen._
|14|4|Days dec. 5 h. |7 5 |4 55 |♋ 9 | ♃ ri. 11 4
|15|5| _and suita-_ |7 6 |4 54 | 23 | 7 *s sou. 12 4
|16|6| _to the_ |7 7 |4 53 |♌ 7 | ☍ ☉ ♂ _Nothing_
|17|7| _season,_ |7 8 |4 52 | 21 | ☽ w ♃ _humbler_
|18|G|22 past Trin. |7 9 |4 51 |♍ 5 | ♂ sou. 11 51
|19|2| _but follow'd_|7 10 |4 50 | 19 | Sirius rises 9 51
|20|3|Day 9 38 long. |7 11 |4 49 |♎ 3 | ♀ rise 4 29
|21|4| _by cold_ |7 12 |4 48 | 17 | ☉ in ♐ _than_
|22|5| _cloudy,_ |7 12 |4 48 |♏ 1 | ☌ ☽ ♀ △ ♃ ☿
|23|6|Days dec. 5 16 |7 13 |4 47 | 15 | Ambition, _when_
|24|7| _weather,_ |7 14 |4 46 | 29 | _it is about to_
|25|G|23 past Trin. |7 15 |4 45 |♐ 12 | 7 *s sou. 11 26
|26|2| _with snow_ |7 16 |4 44 | 25 | ☌ ☽ ☿ ✱ ♄ ♀
|27|3| _or rain_ |7 16 |4 44 |♑ 8 | ☽ with ♄
|28|4|Days dec. 5 24 |7 17 |4 43 | 21 | ♄ sets 6 37
|29|5| _and wind._ |7 18 |4 42 |♒ 3 | ♃ rises 9 57
|30|6| St. =ANDREW.= |7 18 |4 42 | 15 | _climb._
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=NOVEMBER= hath XXX Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places.
First Q. 2 6 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
Full ● 10 8 aft. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL
Last Q. 17 7 aft. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
New ☽ 24 8 aft. | | ♏ | ♑ | ♌ | ♉ | ♎ | ♏ |
| 1| 9 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 15 | N. 5
{ 12 ♎ 27 Deg | 6| 14 | 3 | 16 | 28 | 10 | 23 | 3
☊ { 22 27 |12| 20 | 3 | 17 | 26 | 17 | ♐ 2 | S. 3
{ 30 26 |17| 25 | 4 | 17 | 24 | 23 | 10 | 5
|22| ♐ 1 | 4 | 17 | 22 | 0 | 17 | 0
|27| 6 | 5 | 17 | 21 | ♏ 6 | 24 | N. 5
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ sets | ☽ sou. | T. | | -->
|--+----------+----------+----+------+
| 1| 10 45 | 5 29 | 8 | 21 |
| 2| 11 44 | 6 15 | 9 | 22 |
| 3| 12 40 | 7 0 | 10 | 23 |
| 4| M. 40 | 7 44 | 10 | 24 |
| 5| 1 35 | 8 27 | 11 | 25 |
| 6| 2 30 | 9 10 | 12 | 26 |
| 7| 3 21 | 9 53 | 12 | 28 |
| 9| Moon | 11 25 | 2 | 29 |
|10| rises | 12 14 | 3 | 30 |
|11| A. | M. 14 | 3 | 31 |
|12| 6 37 | 1 6 | 4 | Nov. |
|13| 7 32 | 2 4 | 5 | |
|14| 8 33 | 3 1 | 6 | 3 |
|15| 9 39 | 3 56 | 6 | 4 |
|16| 10 48 | 4 51 | 7 | 5 |
|17| 11 58 | 5 43 | 8 | 6 |
|18| Morn. | 6 35 | 9 | 7 |
|19| 1 4 | 7 26 | 10 | 8 |
|20| 2 6 | 8 16 | 11 | 9 |
|21| 3 15 | 9 8 | 12 | 10 |
|22| 4 25 | 10 0 | 1 | 11 |
|23| Moon | 10 55 | 1 | 12 |
|24| sets | 11 50 | 2 | 13 |
|25| A | A. 42 | 3 | 14 |
|26| 6 34 | 1 34 | 4 | 15 |
|27| 7 31 | 2 27 | 5 | 16 |
|28| 8 23 | 3 19 | 6 | 17 |
|29| 9 25 | 4 4 | 7 | 18 |
|30| 10 20 | 4 49 | 7 | 19 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
of his Body is seen round the Moon like a shining Ring. But,
if the Moon happens to come between the Earth and Sun, when
she is at her least Distance from the Earth, she appears then
so large as to cover the whole Face of the Sun, and makes,
for some Minutes, a Darkness equal to that of Twilight. When
the Earth comes exactly between the Sun and the Moon, she
darkens a Part of the Whole of the Moon's Face, and makes an
Eclipse of the Moon. The Earth being a Body about thirty or
forty Times larger than the Moon, casts a Shadow large enough
to eclipse the Moon, if her Diameter were three Times greater
than it is, whereas the Shadow of the Moon can never eclipse
the whole Face of the Earth together. If the Moon revolved
round the Earth in the same Plane as the Earth goes round the
Sun, there would be constantly an Eclipse of the Sun every
New, and of the Moon every full Moon. But to prevent this
Inconvenience, the Author of Nature has ordered Matters so,
that the Course of the Moon round the Earth is sometimes
above and sometimes below that of the Earth round the Sun, so
that their Shadows generally miss one another. These Motions
are so exactly regulated, that Astronomers can foretel
Eclipses to Minutes at an hundred Years Distance, than which
there is not a more remarkable Instance either of human
Sagacity, or of the Truth of that Expression of
[Scripture]
*(page break)*
=DECEMBER.= _XII Month._
Perfection on Perfection tow'ring high,
Glory on Glory rais'd, and Joy on Joy,
Each Pow'r improving in the bright'ning Mind,
To humble Virtues, lofty Knowledge join'd;
Be this my highest Aim, howe'er I soar,
Before thy Footstool prostrate to adore,
My brightest Crown before thy Feet to lay,
My Pride to serve, my Glory to obey.
=_END_=
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| | | Remark. days, &c. |☉ ris|☉ set|☽ pl.| Aspects, &c.
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
| 1|7|Day 9 24 long. |7 19 |4 41 |♒ 27 | _The discontented_
| 2|G|Advent Sunday. |7 19 |4 41 |♓ 9 | ♂ sou. 10 32
| 3|2| _Cold and_ |7 20 |4 40 | 21 | _Man finds no_
| 4|3|Days dec. 5 30. |7 20 |4 40 |♈ 3 | _easy Chair._
| 5|4| _raw, then_ |7 21 |4 39 | 15 | Sirius rise 8 41
| 6|5|Days 9 18 long. |7 22 |4 38 | 27 | ☌ ♄ ☿ □ ♃ ♀
| 7|6| _more pleasant,_ |7 22 |4 38 |♉ 10 | ♀ rises 5 0
| 8|7|Concep. V. M. |7 23 |4 37 | 23 | ☌ ☽ ♂ △ ☉ ♃
| 9|G|2d in Advent. |7 23 |4 37 |♊ 7 | 7 *s sou. 10 28
|10|2| |7 24 |4 36 | 21 | _Virtue and a_
|11|3|Days 9 12 long. |7 24 |4 36 |♋ 5 | _Trade, are_
|12|4| _frost and_ |7 24 |4 36 | 19 | ♃ rise 9 1
|13|5|St. Lucy. |7 24 |4 36 |♌ 3 | Sirius rise 8 7
|14|6|Days decr. 5 40 |7 25 |4 35 | 17 | ☽ with ♃ _a_
|15|7| _flying clouds,_|7 25 |4 35 |♍ 2 | □ ♃ ♂ _Child's_
|16|G|3d in Advent. |7 25 |4 35 | 16 | 7 *s sou. 9 56
|17|2| _then more_ |7 25 |4 35 |♎ 0 | ♂ sou. 9 14
|18|3| _moderate_ |7 25 |4 35 | 14 | ♀ rises 5 23
|19|4|Ember Week. |7 25 |4 35 | 28 | _best Portion._
|20|5| _and clear,_ |7 25 |4 35 |♏ 12 | _Gifts much_
|21|6|St. =THOMAS.= |7 25 |4 35 | 25 | ☉ in ♑ Shor. D
|22|7|Days 9 10 long. |7 25 |4 35 |♐ 8 | ☌ ☽ ♀ ☌ ♄ ☿
|23|G|4th in Advent. |7 25 |4 35 | 21 | Sirius rises 7 23
|24|2| _but windy,_ |7 25 |4 35 |♑ 4 | ☽ with ♄ & ☿
|25|3|=CHRIST= born. |7 25 |4 35 | 17 | ☌ ☉ ☿ _expected,_
|26|4|St. =STEPHEN.= |7 25 |4 35 | 29 | _are paid,_
|27|5|St. =JOHN.= |7 25 |4 35 |♒ 11 | ♃ rise 7 51
|28|6|=INNOCENTS.= |7 25 |4 35 | 23 | 7 *s sou. 9 0
|29|7|Days 9 10 long. |7 25 |4 35 |♓ 5 | ☌ ☉ ♄ _not_
|30|G| _cold and cloudy._|7 24 |4 36 | 17 | △ ♃ ♀ _given._
|31|2|Silvester. |7 24 |4 36 | 29 | Sirius rise 6 48
+--+-+-----------------------+-----+-----+-----+------------------------+
*(page break)*
=DECEMBER= hath XXXI Days.
+----------------------------------------------+
D. H. | Planets Places
First Q. 2 4 aft. +----------------+-----------+---------+-------+
Full ● 10 8 mor. |D.| ☉ | ♄ | ♃ | ♂ | ♀ | ☿ | ☽ ^sL.
Last Q. 17 5 mor. +--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
New ☽ 24 10 mor. | | ♐ | ♑ | ♌ | ♉ | ♏ | |
| 2| 11 | 5 | 17 | 20 | 12 | 1 | N. 4
{12 ♎ 25 Deg | 7| 16 | 6 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 7 | S. 1
☊ {22 24 |12| 21 | 6 | 17 | 18 | 25 | 11 | 5
{31 23 |17| 26 | 7 | 17 | 17 | ♐ 1 | 12 | 2
|22| ♑ 1 | 8 | 16 | 18 | 7 | 8 | N. 3
|27| 6 | 8 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 1 | 5
+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+
[Illustration]
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
|D.| ☽ sets | ☽ sou. | T. | | -->
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
| 1| 11 20 | 5 30 | 8 | 20 |
| 2| 12 14 | 6 10 | 9 | 21 |
| 3| M. 14 | 6 54 | 9 | 22 |
| 4| 1 7 | 7 38 | 10 | 23 |
| 5| 2 6 | 8 21 | 11 | 24 |
| 6| 3 0 | 9 4 | 12 | 25 |
| 7| 4 0 | 9 54 | 12 | 26 |
| 8| 5 0 | 10 43 | 1 | 27 |
| 9| Moon | 11 40 | 2 | 28 |
|10| rises | 12 36 | 3 | 29 |
|11| A. | M. 36 | 3 | 30 |
|12| 7 17 | 1 36 | 4 | Dec. |
|13| 8 20 | 2 30 | 5 | |
|14| 9 30 | 3 24 | 6 | 3 |
|15| 10 50 | 4 18 | 7 | 4 |
|16| 11 53 | 5 11 | 8 | 5 |
|17| 12 55 | 6 2 | 9 | 6 |
|18| M. 55 | 6 53 | 9 | 7 |
|19| 1 59 | 7 44 | 10 | 8 |
|20| 3 8 | 8 36 | 11 | 9 |
|21| 4 12 | 9 28 | 12 | 10 |
|22| 5 10 | 10 20 | 1 | 11 |
|23| Moon | 11 12 | 2 | 12 |
|24| sets | A. 4 | 3 | 13 |
|25| A. | 12 53 | 3 | 14 |
|26| 6 59 | 1 42 | 4 | 15 |
|27| 7 58 | 2 27 | 5 | 16 |
|28| 8 53 | 3 11 | 6 | 17 |
|29| 9 52 | 3 55 | 6 | 18 |
|30| 10 49 | 4 39 | 7 | 19 |
|31| 11 45 | 5 21 | 8 | 20 |
+--+----------+----------+----+------+
Scripture, "That the Works of God are all made in Number,
Weight and Measure." It is certain, by Observations made with
good Telescopes, that, though the Face of the Moon is covered
with innumerable Inequalities like the Mountains upon the
Earth, there is no great Collection of Waters upon it, like
our Oceans; nor is there any Reason, from her Appearance
through those Instruments, to suppose she has any such
Appendage belonging to her as our Atmosphere of Air. If the
Moon is inhabited (as she may for any Thing we know) those
who live on one Side or Hemisphere never can see our World,
and those who live on the other can never lose Sight of it,
except when the Earth comes between them and the Sun, as she
keeps always one Side turned towards us. Those who live about
the middle Parts of the Hemisphere that looks towards the
Earth, must see it always directly over their Heads with much
the same Appearances as the Moon makes to us, sometimes
horned, sometimes half, and sometimes wholly illuminated, but
of a vastly greater Bulk than the Moon appears to us. It
seems highly probable, that the Attraction of the Moon acting
more strongly upon the Fluid than the solid Parts of our
Terraqueous Globe is the Cause of our Tides, as they answer
so exactly to her Motions and Distances from us, and other
Circumstances. To enter upon that Theory, however, would be
beside my present Purpose.
[_Remainder in our next._]
*(page break)*
=ECLIPSES=, 1753.
This Year there will be four Eclipses, two of the _Sun_, and
two of the _Moon_.
The First Eclipse will be of the _Moon_, on _Tuesday_, the
17th Day of _April_, about Two a Clock in the Afternoon, and
therefore it cannot be seen here; but in _London_ the Moon
will rise five Digits eclipsed.
The Second will be of the _Sun_, on _Thursday_, the 3d of
_May_, about Two a Clock in the Morning, therefore invisible.
The Third Eclipse will be of the _Moon_, on _Friday_, the
12th Day of _October_, in the Morning, when, if the Air be
clear, the Moon will be seen eclipsed almost six Digits; it
begins at 26 min. after Two, and ends at 56 min. past Four,
so that the whole Duration is two Hours and thirty Minutes.
The =TYPE=.
North.
East. [Illustration] West.
South.
The Fourth is a _Solar_ Eclipse on _Friday_, the 26th of
_October_, about Five a Clock in the Morning, invisible here.
*(page break)*
On _Sunday_, the 6th Day of _May_, in the Morning, the Planet
_Mercury_ may be seen to make a black Spot in the _Sun_'s
Body, according to the following Calculation.
D. h. m.
Middle Time of the true ☌ 1753, _May_ 5 15 43 P. M
Equation of Time, add 4
Apparent Time of the true ☌ 5 15 47
Mean Anomaly of the _Sun_, 10 6 21
Mean Anomaly of _Mercury_, 10 19 47
Dist. of the ☉ from the ⊖ Log. 5,004518
☿ from the ☉ 4,656557
☿ from the ⊖ 4,745839
Geocentrick Longitude ☉ and ☿ ♉ 15° 53' 0"
Geocentrick Latitude, 3 19
Anomaly of Commutation, 6 0 0
Inclination, or Heliocentrick Lat. of ☿ S.A. 4 3
Elongation to fix Hours before the true ☌ 23 24
Difference of Latitude in fix Hours, 4 18
Angle of the visible Way, 10 25
Nearest Approach of their Centers, 3 15
Motion from the Middle to the true ☌ 35
Latitude of ☿ at the Middle, 3 4
Motion of Half the visible Way, 15 24
Motion of Half Duration, 15 9
Diff. of Lat. between the Mid. Begin. & End, 2 47
Geocentrick Latitude at the Beginning, S. A. 0 17
Geocentrick Latitude at the End, S. A. 5 51
Time from the true ☌ to the Middle, 9 4
Time of Half Duration, 3 53
The Arch of the ☉'s Perimeter at the Begin. 1 2
The Arch of the ☉'s Perimeter at the End, 21 48
Apparent Semidiameter of the _Sun_, 15 45
Apparent Semidiameter of ☿ 0 6
_Mercury_ enters the Sun's Disk, _May_ 5, 11 44 P. M.
Middle or nearest Approach of the Centers, 15 37
True Conjunction, 15 46
_Mercury_ emerges out of the Disk, 19 31
Total Duration of this Eclipse, 7 47
The astronomical Time when _Mercury_ goes off the _Sun_'s
Disk, being reduced to common Time, is _May_ the 6th, at 31
min. after Seven in the Morning. The _Sun_ rises at 1 min.
past Five, and if you get up betimes, and put on your
Spectacles, you will see _Mercury_ rise in the _Sun_, and
will appear like a small black Patch in a Lady's Face.
*(page break)*
The =TYPE= of this Eclipse at Sun-rising.
North.
East. [Illustration: SUN, West.
Ecliptick, ☿
Orb of _Mercury_.]
South.
Dr. _Halley_ puts this Conjunction an Hour forwarder than by
this Calculation.
----------------------
This is to give Notice to all Persons that shall have
Occasion of transporting themselves, Goods, Wares, or
Merchandize from Philadelphia to New-York, or from the latter
to the former, That by =JOSEPH BORDEN=, junior, there is a
Stage-boat, well fitted and kept for that Purpose, Nicholas
George, Master, and, if Wind and Weather permit, will attend
at the Crooked Billet Wharff, in Philadelphia, every Monday
and Tuesday in every Week, and proceed up to Borden-Town (not
Burlington) on Wednesday, and on Thursday Morning a
Stage-waggon, with a choice good Awning, kept by Joseph
Richards, will be ready to receive them, and proceed directly
to John Cluck's, opposite the City of Perth-Amboy, who keeps
a House of good Entertainment; and on Friday a Stage-boat,
with a large commodious Cabbin, kept by Daniel Obryant, will
be ready to receive them, and proceed directly to New-York,
and give her Attendance at the Whitehall Slip, near the Half
Moon Battery. If People be ready at the Stage Days and
Places, 'tis believed they may pass quicker by Twenty-four
Hours than any other Way as our Land Carriage is ten Miles
shorter than by Way of Burlington, and our Waggon does not
fail to go thro' in a Day. We expect to give better
Satisfaction this Year than last, by reason we are more
acquainted with the Nature of the Business, and have more
convenient Boats, Waggons and Stages, and will endeavour to
use People in the best Manner we are capable of; and hope all
good People will give it the Encouragement it deserves, and
us, as the Promoters of such a publick Good. =JOSEPH BORDEN=,
junior, =JOSEPH RICHARDS=, and =DANIEL OBRYANT=.
N. B. Joseph Borden's Shallop, Charles Vandyke, Master, will
also be at Philadelphia every Friday and Saturday in every
Week; enquire for him at the Queen's Head; he proceeds to
Borden-Town (not Burlington) on Sunday, and the Stage-waggon
also proceeds to Amboy every Monday in every Week.
*(page break)*
_Mayor's Courts for the City_
Are held quarterly at _Annapolis_, viz. The last tuesday in
_January_, _April_, _July_ and _October_.
----------------------
_How to secure Houses_, &c. _from_ =LIGHTNING=.
It has pleased God in his Goodness to Mankind, at length to
discover to them the Means of securing their Habitations and
other Buildings from Mischief by Thunder and Lightning. The
Method is this: Provide a small Iron Rod (it may be made of
the Rod-iron used by the Nailers) but of such a Length, that
one End being three or four Feet in the moist Ground, the
other may be six or eight Feet above the highest Part of the
Building. To the upper End of the Rod fasten about a Foot of
Brass Wire, the Size of a common Knitting-needle, sharpened
to a fine Point; the Rod may be secured to the House by a few
small Staples. If the House or Barn be long, there may be a
Rod and Point at each End, and a middling Wire along the
Ridge from one to the other. A House thus furnished will not
be damaged by Lightning, it being attracted by the Points,
and passing thro the Metal into the Ground without hurting
any Thing. Vessels also, having a sharp pointed Rod fix'd on
the Top of their Masts, with a Wire from the Foot of the Rod
reaching down, round one of the Shrouds, to the Water, will
not be hurt by Lightning.
----------------------
=QUAKERS= _General Meetings are kept_,
At Philadelphia, the 3d Sunday in March. At Chester-River,
the 2d Sunday in April. At Duck-Creek, the 3d Sunday in
April. At Salem, the 4th Sunday in April. At West River on
Whitsunday. At Little Egg-Harbour, the 3d Sunday in May. At
Flushing, the last Sunday in May, and last in Nov. At
Setacket, the 1st Sunday in June. At New-town, (Long-Island)
the last Sunday in June. At Newport, the 2d Friday in June.
At Westbury, the last Sunday in August, and last in February.
At Philadelphia, the 3d Sunday in September. At Nottingham,
the last Monday in September. At Cecil, the 1st Saturday in
October. At Choptank the 2d Saturday in October. At
Little-Creek, the 3d Sunday in October. At Shrewsbury the 4th
Sunday in October. At Matinicok the last Sunday in October.
----------------------
=_FAIRS= are kept_,
At Noxonton April 29, and October 21. Cohansie May 5, and
October 27. Wilmington May 9, and November 4. Salem May 12,
and October 31. Newcastle May 14, and Nov. 14. Chester May
16, and Oct. 16. Bristol May 19, and Nov. 9. Burlington May
21, and Nov. 12. Philadelphia May 27, and November 27.
Lancaster June 12, and Nov. 12. Marcus-Hook Oct. 10.
Annapolis May 12, and Oct. 10. Charlestown May 3, and Oct.
29.
*(page break)*
_Supreme_ COURTS _in_ Pennsylvania, _are held_,
At _Philadelphia_, the tenth Day of _April_, and the
twenty-fourth Day of _September_.
_Courts of Quarter Sessions, are held_,
At _Philadelphia_, the 1st Monday in _March_, _June_,
_September_ and _December_. At _Newtown_, for _Bucks_ County,
on the 11th Day following (inclusive) in every of the Months
aforesaid. At _Chester_, the last Tuesday in _May_, _August_,
_November_ and _February_. At _Lancaster_, the 1st Tuesday in
each. At York, the last Tuesday in April, July, October and
January. At Cumberland, the Tuesdays preceding York Courts.
At _Reading_, for _Berks_ County, the Tuesd. next after
_Lancaster_ Co. At _Easton_, for _Northampton_ County, the
Tuesd. next aft. _Bucks_ Co.
_Courts of Common Pleas, are held_,
At _Philadelphia_, the 1st Wednesday after the
Quarter-Sessions in _March_, _June_, _Sept._ and _Decem._ At
_Newtown_, the 9th Day following (inclusive) in every of the
Months aforesaid. At _Chester_, the last Tuesday in _May_
_August_, _Novem._ and _Febr._ At _Lancaster_, the 1st Tuesd.
in the Months aforesaid. At _Sussex_, the 1st, at _Kent_, the
2d, and at _Newcastle_, the 3d Tuesday in the same Months.
_Mayor's Courts in_ Philadelphia, _are held_,
The first Tuesday in _January_, _April_, _July_, and the last
Tuesday in _October_.
_Supreme Courts in_ New-Jersey, _are held_,
At _Amboy_, the 3d tuesday in _March_, and the 2d tuesday in
_August_. At _Burlington_, the 2d tuesday in _May_, and the
1st tuesday in _November_.
_Courts for Trial of Causes brought to issue in
the Supreme Court, are held_,
For _Salem_ and _Cape May_ Counties the 3d, for _Gloucester_
the 4th tuesday in _April_. For _Hunterdon_, the 1st tuesday
in _May_. For _Somerset_ the 2d, For _Bergen_ the 4th tuesday
in _October_. For _Essex_, the next tuesd. following. For
_Monmouth_, the next tuesday after that.
*(page break)*
_General Sessions and County Courts, are held_,
In _Bergen_ County, the 1st tuesday in _January_ and
_October_, and the 2d tuesday in _June_. In _Essex_ the 2d
tuesday in _January_ and _May_, the 3d tuesday in _June_, and
4th in _September_. In _Middlesex_ the 3d tuesdays in
_January_, _April_ and _July_, and the 2d tuesday in
_October_. In _Somerset_, the first tuesdays in _January_,
_April_ and _October_, and the 2d tuesdays in _June_. In
_Monmouth_, the 4th tuesdays in _January_, _April_ and
_July_, and 3d in _October_. In _Hunterdon_, the first
tuesdays in _February_ and _August_, the 3d in _May_, and 4th
in _October_. In _Burlington_, the 1st tuesdays in _May_ and
_November_, and the 2d in _February_ and _August_. In
_Gloucester_, the 2d tuesday in _June_, 3d in _September_,
and 4th in _December_ and _March_. In _Salem_, the 1st
tuesday in _June_, 3d in _February_ and _August_, and 4th in
_November_. In _Cape-May_, the 1st tuesday in _February_ and
_August_, the 3d in _May_, and the 4th tuesday in _October_.
For the Borough-town of _Trenton_, the 1st tuesday in
_March_, 1st in _June_, 1st in _September_, and the 1st in
_December_.
_Supreme Courts in_ New-York, _are held_,
At _New-York_, the 3d tuesday in _April_, last in _July_, and
3d in _October_ and _January_. At _Richmond_, the 2d tuesday
in _April_. At _Orange_, 1st tuesday in _June_. At
_Dutchess_, the 2d tuesday in _June_. At _Ulster_, the
thursday following. At _Albany_, the 4th tuesday in _June_.
At _Queen's_ County the 1st, at _Suffolk_ the 2d, at _King's_
County the 3d, and at _West Chester_ the 4th tuesday in
_September_.
_Courts of Sessions and Common Pleas_,
At _New-York_, the 1st tuesday in _May_, _August_, _November_
and _February_. At _Albany_ the 1st tuesday in _June_ and
_October_, and 3d tuesday in _January_. At _West Chester_,
the 4th tuesday in _May_ and _October_. In _Ulster_, the 1st
tuesdays in _May_, and 3d in _Sept._ In _Richmond_, the 3d
tuesday in _March_, and 4th in _September_. In _King's_, the
3d tuesday in _April_ and _October_. In _Queen's_, the 3d
tuesday in _May_ and _September_. In _Suffolk_, the last
tuesday in _March_, and first in _October_. In _Orange_, the
last tuesday in _April_ and _October_. In _Dutchess_ County,
the 3d tuesday in _May_ and _October_.
_Provincial Courts in_ Maryland,
Two in a Year held at _Annapolis_, viz. The 2d tuesday in
_April_ and _September_.
County Courts. At _Talbot_, _Baltimore_, _Worcester_, and
_St. Mary's_, the 1st tuesday in _March_, _June_, _August_
and _November_. At _Dorchester_, _Cæcil_, _Ann-Arundel_, and
_Charles_ Counties, the 2d tuesday in the same Months; at
_Kent_, _Calvert_, _Frederick_, and _Somerset_, the 3d
tuesday in the same Months; at _Queen Anne_'s and _Prince
George_'s the 4th tuesday in the same Months.
*(page break)*
=ROADS= Northeastward.
From _Philadelphia_ to _Bristol_ 20, to _Trenton_ 10, to
_Prince-Town_ 12, to _Kingston_ 3, to _Brunswick_ 12, to
_Amboy_ 12, to the _Narrows_ 18, to _Flat-Bush_ 5, to
_New-York_ 5, to _Kingsbridge_ 18, to _East-Chester_ 6, to
_Newrochell_ 4, to _Rye_ 4, to _Horseneck_ 7, to _Stanford_
7, to _Norwalk_ 10, to _Fairfield_ 12, to _Stratford_ 8, to
_Milford_ 4, to _Newhaven_ 10, to _Branford_ 10, to _Gilford_
12, to _Killingsworth_ 10, to _Seabrook_ 10, to _New-London_
18, to _Stonington_ 15, to _Pemberton_ 10, to _Darby_ 3, to
_Frenchtown_ 24, to _Providence_ 20, to _Woodcock's_ 15, to
_Billend's_ 10, to _White's_ 7, to _Dedham_ 6, to _Boston_
10, to _Lyn_ 9, to _Salem_ 8, to _Ipswich_ 14, to _Newberry_
11, to _Hampton_ 9, to _Portsmouth_ 13, to _York_ 9, to
_Wells_ 14, to _Kennebunk_ 6, to _Biddeford_ 14, to
_Scarborough_ 7, to _Falmouth_ 13, to _Yarmouth_ 10, to
_Brunswick_ 15, to _Richmond_ 16, to _Taconick_ _Falls_ 33,
to _Norridgewock_ 31. In all 600 Miles.
=ROADS= Southwestward.
From _Philadelphia_ to _Darby_ 7, to _Chester_ 9, to
_Brandewyne_ 14, to _Newcastle_ 6, to _Elk River_ 17, to _N.
East_ 7, to _Sasquehanna_ 9, to _Gunpowder Ferry_ 25, to
_Petapsco Ferry_ 20, to _Annapolis_ 30, to _Queen Ann's
Ferry_ 13, to _Upper Marlborough_ 9, to _Port Tobacco_ 30, to
_Hoe's Ferry_ 10, to _Southern's Ferry_ 30, to _Arnold's
Ferry_ 36, to _Clayborn's Ferry_ 22, to _Freneaux_ 12, to
_Williamsburg_ 16, to _Hog-Island_ 7, to _Isle of Wight
Court-House_ 18, to _Nansemond Court-House_ 20, to _Bennet's
Creek-Bridge_ 30, to _Edenton_ 30, over the _Sound to Bell's
Ferry_ 8, to _Bath-Town_, on _Pamlico-River_ 45, to _Grave's
Ferry_, on _Neu's River_ 32, to _Whitlock River_ 20, to
_New-River Ferry_ 30, to _Newtown_, on _Cape-Fear River_, 45,
to _Lockwood's Folly_ 15, to _Shallot River_ 8, to the
Eastern End of _Long-Bay_ 22, to the Western End of
_Long-Bay_ 25, to _George-Town_, _Wynyaw_, 30, to _Santee
Ferry_ 12, to _Jonah Collins's_ 18, to _Hobcaw Ferry_,
against _Charles Town_, 30. In all 767 Miles.
----------------------
Bibles, Common-Prayers, Testaments, Spelling-books, Psalters,
Primmers, Copy-books for Children, and all Sorts of
Stationary, to be sold by =DAVID HALL=, at the
_New-Printing-Office_, in _Market-street, Philadelphia_.
*(page break)*
TO JOSEPH HUEY
Philadelphia, June 6, 1753.
SIR,
I received your kind Letter of the 2d inst., and am glad to hear that
you increase in Strength; I hope you will continue mending, 'till you
recover your former Health and firmness. Let me know whether you still
use the Cold Bath, and what Effect it has.
As to the Kindness you mention, I wish it could have been of more
Service to you. But if it had, the only Thanks I should desire is, that
you would always be equally ready to serve any other Person that may
need your Assistance, and so let good Offices go round, for Mankind are
all of a Family.
For my own Part, when I am employed in serving others, I do not look
upon myself as conferring Favours, but as paying Debts. In my Travels,
and since my Settlement, I have received much Kindness from Men, to whom
I shall never have any Opportunity of making the least direct Return.
And numberless Mercies from God, who is infinitely above being benefited
by our Services. Those Kindnesses from Men, I can therefore only Return
on their Fellow Men; and I can only shew my Gratitude for these mercies
from God, by a readiness to help his other Children and my Brethren. For
I do not think that Thanks and Compliments, tho' repeated weekly, can
discharge our real Obligations to each other, and much less those to our
Creator. You will see in this my Notion of good Works, that I am far
from expecting [(as you suppose) that I shall ever][44] to merit Heaven
by them. By Heaven we understand a State of Happiness, infinite in
Degree, and eternal in Duration: I can do nothing to deserve such
rewards: He that for giving a Draught of Water to a thirsty Person,
should expect to be paid with a good Plantation, would be modest in his
Demands, compar'd with those who think they deserve Heaven for the
little good they do on Earth. Even the mix'd imperfect Pleasures we
enjoy in this World, are rather from God's Goodness than our Merit; how
much more such Happiness of Heaven. For my own part I have not the
Vanity to think I deserve it, the Folly to expect it, nor the Ambition
to desire it; but content myself in submitting to the Will and Disposal
of that God who made me, who has hitherto preserv'd and bless'd me, and
in whose Fatherly Goodness I may well confide, that he will never make
me miserable, and that even the Afflictions I may at any time suffer
shall tend to my Benefit.
The Faith you mention has doubtless its use in the World. I do not
desire to see it diminished, nor would I endeavour to lessen it in any
Man. But I wish it were more productive of good Works, than I have
generally seen it: I mean real good Works, Works of Kindness, Charity,
Mercy, and Publick Spirit; not Holiday-keeping, Sermon-Reading or
Hearing; performing Church Ceremonies, or making long Prayers, filled
with Flatteries and Compliments, despis'd even by wise Men, and much
less capable of pleasing the Deity. The worship of God is a Duty; the
hearing and reading of Sermons may be useful; but, if Men rest in
Hearing and Praying, as too many do, it is as if a Tree should Value
itself on being water'd and putting forth Leaves, tho' it never produc'd
any Fruit.
Your great Master tho't much less of these outward Appearances and
Professions than many of his modern Disciples. He prefer'd the _Doers_
of the Word, to the meer _Hearers_; the Son that seemingly refus'd to
obey his Father, and yet perform'd his Commands; to him that profess'd
his Readiness, but neglected the Work; the heretical but charitable
Samaritan, to the uncharitable tho' orthodox Priest and sanctified
Levite; & those who gave Food to the hungry, Drink to the Thirsty,
Raiment to the Naked, Entertainment to the Stranger, and Relief to the
Sick, tho' they never heard of his Name, he declares shall in the last
Day be accepted, when those who cry Lord! Lord! who value themselves on
their Faith, tho' great enough to perform Miracles, but have neglected
good Works, shall be rejected. He profess'd, that he came not to call
the Righteous but Sinners to repentance; which imply'd his modest
Opinion, that there were some in his Time so good, that they need not
hear even him for Improvement; but now-a-days we have scarce a little
Parson, that does not think it the Duty of every Man within his Reach to
sit under his petty Ministrations; and that whoever omits them [offends
God. I wish to such more humility, and to you health and happiness,
being your friend and servant,]
B. FRANKLIN.
THREE LETTERS TO GOVERNOR SHIRLEY[45]
LETTER I
Concerning the Voice of the People in Choosing the Rulers by Whom Taxes
are Imposed
Tuesday Morning [December 17, 1754].
SIR,
I return you the loose sheets of the plan, with thanks to your
Excellency for communicating them.
I apprehend, that excluding the _people_ of the colonies from all share
in the choice of the grand council will give extreme dissatisfaction, as
well as the taxing them by act of Parliament, where they have no
representative. It is very possible, that this general government might
be as well and faithfully administered without the people, as with them;
but where heavy burthens have been laid on them, it has been found
useful to make it, as much as possible, their own act; for they bear
better when they have, or think they have some share in the direction;
and when any public measures are generally grievous, or even distasteful
to the people, the wheels of government move more heavily.
LETTER II
On the Imposition of Direct Taxes upon the Colonies without Their
Consent
Wednesday Morning [December 18, 1754].
SIR,
I mentioned it yesterday to your Excellency as my opinion, that
excluding the _people_ of the colonies from all share in the choice of
the grand council, would probably give extreme dissatisfaction, as well
as the taxing them by act of Parliament, where they have no
representative. In matters of general concern to the people, and
especially where burthens are to be laid upon them, it is of use to
consider, as well what they will be apt to think and say, as what they
ought to think; I shall therefore, as your Excellency requires it of me,
briefly mention what of either kind occurs to me on this occasion.
First they will say, and perhaps with justice, that the body of the
people in the colonies are as loyal, and as firmly attached to the
present constitution, and reigning family, as any subjects in the king's
dominions.
That there is no reason to doubt the readiness and willingness of the
representatives they may choose, to grant from time to time such
supplies for the defence of the country, as shall be judged necessary,
so far as their abilities will allow.
That the people in the colonies, who are to feel the immediate mischiefs
of invasion and conquest by an enemy in the loss of their estates, lives
and liberties, are likely to be better judges of the quantity of forces
necessary to be raised and maintained, forts to be built and supported,
and of their own abilities to bear the expence, than the parliament of
England at so great a distance.
That governors often come to the colonies merely to make fortunes, with
which they intend to return to Britain; are not always men of the best
abilities or integrity; have many of them no estates here, nor any
natural connexions with us, that should make them heartily concerned for
our welfare; and might possibly be fond of raising and keeping up more
forces than necessary, from the profits accruing to themselves, and to
make provision for their friends and dependants.
That the counsellors in most of the colonies being appointed by the
crown, on the recommendation of governors, are often of small estates,
frequently dependant on the governors for offices, and therefore too
much under influence.
That there is therefore great reason to be jealous of a power in such
governors and councils, to raise such sums as they shall judge
necessary, by draft on the lords of the treasury, to be afterwards laid
on the colonies by act of parliament, and paid by the people here; since
they might abuse it by projecting useless expeditions, harassing the
people, and taking them from their labour to execute such projects,
merely to create offices and employments, and gratify their dependants,
and divide profits.
That the parliament of England is at a great distance, subject to be
misinformed and misled by such Governors and Councils, whose united
interests might probably secure them against the effect of any complaint
from hence.
That it is supposed an undoubted right of Englishmen, not to be taxed
but by their own consent given through their representatives.
That the colonies have no representatives in parliament.
That to propose taxing them by parliament, and refuse them the liberty
of choosing a representative council, to meet in the colonies, and
consider and judge of the necessity of any general tax, and the quantum,
shews suspicion of their loyalty to the crown, or of their regard for
their country, or of their common sense and understanding, which they
have not deserved.
That compelling the colonies to pay money without their consent, would
be rather like raising contributions in an enemy's country, than taxing
of Englishmen for their own public benefit.
That it would be treating them as a conquered people, and not as true
British subjects.
That a tax laid by the representatives of the colonies might easily be
lessened as the occasions should lessen, but being once laid by
parliament under the influence of the representations made by Governors,
would probably be kept up and continued for the benefit of Governors, to
the grievous burthen and discouragement of the colonies, and prevention
of their growth and increase.
That a power in Governors to march the inhabitants from one end of the
British and French colonies to the other, being a country of at least
1500 square miles, without the approbation or the consent of their
representatives first obtained, such expeditions might be grievous and
ruinous to the people, and would put them on footing with the subjects
of France in Canada, that now groan under such oppression from their
Governor, who for two years past has harassed them with long and
destructive marches to Ohio.
That if the colonies in a body may be well governed by governors and
councils appointed by the crown, without representatives, particular
colonies may as well or better be so governed; a tax may be laid upon
them all by act of parliament for support of government, and their
assemblies may be dismissed as an useless part of the constitution.
That the powers proposed by the Albany Plan of Union, to be vested in a
grand council representative of the people, even with regard to military
matters, are not so great as those the colonies of Rhode Island and
Connecticut are entrusted with by their charters, and have never abused;
for by this plan, the president-general is appointed by the crown, and
controls all by his negative; but in those governments, the people
choose the Governor, and yet allow him no negative.
That the British colonies bordering on the French are properly frontiers
of the British empire; and the frontiers of an empire are properly
defended at the joint expence of the body of the people in such empire:
It would now be thought hard by act of parliament to oblige the Cinque
Ports or seacoasts of Britain to maintain the whole navy, because they
are more immediately defended by it, not allowing them at the same time
a vote in choosing members of the parliament; and if the frontiers in
America bear the expence of their own defence, it seems hard to allow
them no share in voting the money, judging of the necessity and sum, or
advising the measures.
That besides the taxes necessary for the defence of the frontiers, the
colonies pay yearly great sums to the mother-country unnoticed: For
taxes paid in Britain by the land-holder or artificer, must enter into
and increase the price of the produce of land and of manufactures made
of it; and great part of this is paid by consumers in the colonies, who
thereby pay a considerable part of the British taxes.
We are restrained in our trade with foreign nations, and where we could
be supplied with any manufacture cheaper from them, but must buy the
same 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;
and where the duties laid upon it lessen its price to the planter, or it
sells for less than it would in foreign markets; the difference is a tax
paid to Britain.
Some manufactures we could make, but are forbidden, and must take them
of British merchants; the whole price is a tax paid to Britain.
By our greatly increasing the demand and consumption of British
manufactures, their price is considerably raised of late years; the
advantage is clear profit to Britain, and enables its people better to
pay great taxes; and much of it being paid by us, is clear tax to
Britain.
In short, as we are not suffered to regulate our trade, and restrain the
importation and consumption of British superfluities (as Britain can the
consumption of foreign superfluities) our whole wealth centers finally
amongst the merchants and inhabitants of Britain, and if we make them
richer, and enable them better to pay their taxes, it is nearly the same
as being taxed ourselves, and equally beneficial to the crown.
These kind of secondary taxes, however, we do not complain of, though we
have no share in the laying, or disposing of them; but to pay immediate
heavy taxes, in the laying, appropriation, and disposition of which we
have no part, and which perhaps we may know to be as unnecessary, as
grievous, must seem hard measure to Englishmen, who cannot conceive,
that by hazarding their lives and fortunes, in subduing and settling new
countries, extending the dominion, and increasing the commerce of the
mother nation, they have forfeited the native rights of Britons, which
they think ought rather to be given to them, as due to such merit, if
they had been before in a state of slavery.
These, and such kind of things as these, I apprehend, will be thought
and said by the people, if the proposed alteration of the Albany plan
should take place. Then the administration of the board of governors and
councils so appointed, not having any representative body of the people
to approve and unite in its measures, and conciliate the minds of the
people to them, will probably become suspected and odious; dangerous
animosities and feuds will arise between the governors and governed; and
every thing go into confusion.
Perhaps I am too apprehensive in this matter; but having freely given my
opinion and reasons, your Excellency can judge better than I whether
there be any weight in them, and the shortness of the time allowed me,
will, I hope, in some degree excuse the imperfections of this scrawl.
With the greatest respect, and fidelity, I have the honour to be,
Your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
LETTER III
On the Subject of Uniting the Colonies More Intimately with Great
Britain, by Allowing Them Representatives in Parliament
Boston, Dec. 22, 1754.
SIR,
Since the conversation your Excellency was pleased to honour me with, on
the subject of _uniting the colonies_ more intimately with Great
Britain, by allowing them _representatives in parliament_, I have
something further considered that matter, and am of opinion, that such a
union would be very acceptable to the colonies, provided they had a
reasonable number of representatives allowed them; and that all the old
acts of Parliament restraining the trade or cramping the manufactures of
the colonies be at the same time repealed, and the British subjects _on
this side the water_ put, in those respects, on the same footing with
those in Great Britain, till the new Parliament, representing the whole,
shall think it for the interest of the whole to reënact some or all of
them. It is not that I imagine so many representatives will be allowed
the colonies, as to have any great weight by their numbers; but I think
there might be sufficient to occasion those laws to be better and more
impartially considered, and perhaps to overcome the interest of a petty
corporation, or of any particular set of artificers or traders in
England, who heretofore seem, in some instances, to have been more
regarded than all the colonies, or than was consistent with the general
interest, or best national good. I think too, that the government of the
colonies by a parliament, in which they are fairly represented, would be
vastly more agreeable to the people, than the method lately attempted to
be introduced by royal instructions, as well as more agreeable to the
nature of an English constitution, and to English liberty; and that such
laws as now seem to bear hard on the colonies, would (when judged by
such a Parliament for the best interest of the whole) be more cheerfully
submitted to, and more easily executed.
I should hope too, that by such a union, the people of Great Britain,
and the people of the colonies, would learn to consider themselves, as
not belonging to a different community with different interests, but to
one community with one interest; which I imagine would contribute to
strengthen the whole, and greatly lessen the danger of future
separations.
It is, I suppose, agreed to be the general interest of any state, that
its people be numerous and rich; men enough to fight in its defence, and
enough to pay sufficient taxes to defray the charge; for these
circumstances tend to the security of the state, and its protection from
foreign power: But it seems not of so much importance, whether the
fighting be done by John or Thomas, or the tax paid by William or
Charles. The iron manufacture employs and enriches British subjects, but
is it of any importance to the state, whether the manufacturers live at
Birmingham, or Sheffield, or both, since they are still within its
bounds, and their wealth and persons still at its command? Could the
Goodwin Sands be laid dry by banks, and land equal to a large country
thereby gained to England, and presently filled with English
inhabitants, would it be right to deprive such inhabitants of the common
privileges enjoyed by other Englishmen, the right of vending their
produce in the same ports, or of making their own shoes, because a
merchant or a shoemaker, living on the old land, might fancy it more for
his advantage to trade or make shoes for them? Would this be right, even
if the land were gained at the expence of the state? And would it not
seem less right, if the charge and labour of gaining the additional
territory to Britain had been borne by the settlers themselves? And
would not the hardship appear yet greater, if the people of the new
country should be allowed no representatives in the parliament enacting
such impositions?
Now I look on the colonies as so many counties gained to Great Britain,
and more advantageous to it than if they had been gained out of the seas
around its coasts, and joined to its land: For being in different
climates, they afford greater variety of produce, and being separated by
the ocean, they increase much more its shipping and seamen; and since
they are all included in the British empire, which has only extended
itself by their means; and the strength and wealth of the parts are the
strength and wealth of the whole; what imports it to the general state,
whether a merchant, a smith, or a hatter, grow rich in Old or New
England? And if, through increase of people, two smiths are wanted for
one employed before, why may not the _new_ smith be allowed to live and
thrive in the _new_ country, as well as the _old_ one in the _old_? In
fine, why should the countenance of a state be _partially_ afforded to
its people, unless it be most in favour of those who have most merit?
And if there be any difference, those who have most contributed to
enlarge Britain's empire and commerce, increase her strength, her
wealth, and the numbers of her people, at the risk of their own lives
and private fortunes in new and strange countries, methinks ought rather
to expect some preference. With the greatest respect and esteem, I have
the honour to be
Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MISS CATHERINE RAY[46] [AT BLOCK ISLAND]
Philadelphia, March 4, 1755.
DEAR KATY:--
Your kind letter of January 20th is but just come to hand, and I take
this first opportunity of acknowledging the favour. It gives me great
pleasure to hear, that you got home safe and well that day. I thought
too much was hazarded, when I saw you put off to sea in that very little
skiff, tossed by every wave. But the call was strong and just, a sick
parent. I stood on the shore, and looked after you, till I could no
longer distinguish you, even with my glass; then returned to your
sister's, praying for your safe passage. Towards evening all agreed that
you must certainly be arrived before that time, the weather having been
so favourable; which made me more easy and cheerful, for I had been
truly concerned for you.
I left New England slowly, and with great reluctance.[47] Short day's
journeys, and loitering visits on the road, for three or four weeks,
manifested my unwillingness to quit a country, in which I drew my first
breath, spent my earliest and most pleasant days, and had now received
so many fresh marks of the people's goodness and benevolence, in the
kind and affectionate treatment I had everywhere met with. I almost
forgot I had a _home_, till I was more than halfway towards it; till I
had, one by one, parted with all my New England friends, and was got
into the western borders of Connecticut, among mere strangers. Then,
like an old man, who, having buried all he loved in this world, begins
to think of heaven, I began to think of and wish for home; and, as I
drew nearer, I found the attraction stronger and stronger. My diligence
and speed increased with my impatience. I drove on violently, and made
such long stretches, that a very few days brought me to my own house,
and to the arms of my good old wife and children, where I remain, thanks
to God, at present well and happy.
Persons subject to the _hyp_ complain of the northeast wind, as
increasing their malady. But since you promised to send me kisses in
that wind, and I find you as good as your word, it is to me the gayest
wind that blows, and gives me the best spirits. I write this during a
northeast storm of snow, the greatest we have had this winter. Your
favours come mixed with the snowy fleeces, which are pure as your virgin
innocence, white as your lovely bosom, and--as cold. But let it warm
towards some worthy young man, and may Heaven bless you both with every
kind of happiness.
I desired Miss Anna Ward[48] to send you over a little book I left with
her, for your amusement in that lonely island. My respects to your good
father, and mother, and sister. Let me often hear of your welfare, since
it is not likely I shall ever again have the pleasure of seeing you.
Accept mine, and my wife's sincere thanks for the many civilities I
receive from you and your relations; and do me the justice to believe
me, dear girl, your affectionate, faithful friend, and humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. My respectful compliments to your good brother Ward, and sister;
and to the agreeable family of the Wards at Newport, when you see them.
Adieu.
TO PETER COLLINSON
Philadelphia, Aug. 25, 1755.
DEAR SIR,--
As you have my former papers on Whirlwinds, &c., I now send you an
account of one which I had lately an opportunity of seeing and examining
myself.
Being in _Maryland_, riding with Colonel _Tasker_, and some other
gentlemen to his country-seat, where I and my son were entertained by
that amiable and worthy man with great hospitality and kindness, we saw
in the vale below us, a small whirlwind beginning in the road, and
shewing itself by the dust it raised and contained. It appeared in the
form of a sugar-loaf, spinning on its point, moving up the hill towards
us, and enlarging as it came forward. When it passed by us, its smaller
part near the ground, appeared no bigger than a common barrel, but
widening upwards, it seemed, at 40 or 50 feet high, to be 20 or 30 feet
in diameter. The rest of the company stood looking after it, but my
curiosity being stronger, I followed it, riding close by its side, and
observed its licking up, in its progress, all the dust that was under
its smaller part. As it is a common opinion that a shot, fired through a
water-spout, will break it, I tried to break this little whirlwind, by
striking my whip frequently through it, but without any effect. Soon
after, it quitted the road and took into the woods, growing every
moment larger and stronger, raising, instead of dust, the old dry leaves
with which the ground was thick covered, and making a great noise with
them and the branches of the trees, bending some tall trees round in a
circle swiftly and very surprizingly, though the progressive motion of
the whirl was not so swift but that a man on foot might have kept pace
with it; but the circular motion was amazingly rapid. By the leaves it
was now filled with, I could plainly perceive that the current of air
they were driven by, moved upwards in a spiral line; and when I saw the
trunks and bodies of large trees invelop'd in the passing whirl, which
continued intire after it had left them I no longer wondered that my
whip had no effect on it in its smaller state. I accompanied it about
three quarters of a mile, till some limbs of dead trees, broken off by
the whirl, flying about and falling near me, made me more apprehensive
of danger; and then I stopped, looking at the top of it as it went on,
which was visible, by means of the leaves contained in it, for a very
great height above the trees. Many of the leaves, as they got loose from
the upper and widest part, were scattered in the wind; but so great was
their height in the air, that they appeared no bigger than flies. My
son, who was by this time come up with me, followed the whirlwind till
it left the woods, and crossed an old tobacco-field, where, finding
neither dust nor leaves to take up, it gradually became invisible below
as it went away over that field. The course of the general wind then
blowing was along with us as we travelled, and the progressive motion of
the whirlwind was in a direction nearly opposite, though it did not keep
a strait line, nor was its progressive motion uniform, it making little
sallies on either hand as it went, proceeding sometimes faster and
sometimes slower, and seeming sometimes for a few seconds almost
stationary, then starting forward pretty fast again. When we rejoined
the company, they were admiring the vast height of the leaves now
brought by the common wind, over our heads. These leaves accompanied us
as we travelled, some falling now and then round about us, and some not
reaching the ground till we had gone near three miles from the place
where we first saw the whirlwind begin. Upon my asking Colonel _Tasker_
if such whirlwinds were common in _Maryland_, he answered pleasantly,
"No, not at all common; but we got this on purpose to treat Mr.
Franklin." And a very high treat it was, to
Dear Sir,
Your affectionate friend and humble servant,
B. F[RANKLIN].
TO MISS CATHERINE RAY
Philadelphia, Sept. 11, 1755.
Begone, business, for an hour, at least, and let me chat a little with
my Katy.
I have now before me, my dear girl, three of your favours, viz. of March
the 3d, March the 30th, and May the 1st. The first I received just
before I set out on a long journey, and the others while I was on that
journey, which held me near six weeks. Since my return, I have been in
such a perpetual hurry of public affairs of various kinds, as renders it
impracticable for me to keep up my private correspondences, even those
that afforded me the greatest pleasure.
You ask in your last, how I do, and what I am doing, and whether
everybody loves me yet, and why I make them do so.
In regard to the first, I can say, thanks to God, that I do not remember
I was ever better. I still relish all the pleasures of life, that a
temperate man can in reason desire, and through favour I have them all
in my power. This happy situation shall continue as long as God pleases,
who knows what is best for his creatures, and I hope will enable me to
bear with patience and dutiful submission any change he may think fit to
make that is less agreeable. As to the second question, I must confess
(but don't you be jealous), that many more people love me now, than ever
did before; for since I saw you I have been enabled to do some general
services to the country, and to the army, for which both have thanked
and praised me, and say they love me. They say so, as you used to do;
and if I were to ask any favours of them, they would, perhaps, as
readily refuse me; so that I find little real advantage in being
beloved, but it pleases my humour.
Now it is near four months since I have been favoured with a single line
from you; but I will not be angry with you, because it is my fault. I
ran in debt to you three or four letters; and as I did not pay, you
would not trust me any more, and you had some reason. But, believe me, I
am honest; and, tho' I should never make equal returns, you shall see I
will keep fair accounts. Equal returns I can never make, tho' I should
write to you by every post; for the pleasure I receive from one of yours
is more than you can have from two of mine. The small news, the domestic
occurrences among our friends, the natural pictures you draw of persons,
the sensible observations and reflections you make, and the easy, chatty
manner in which you express every thing, all contribute to heighten the
pleasure; and the more as they remind me of those hours and miles, that
we talked away so agreeably, even in a winter journey, a wrong road, and
a soaking shower.
I long to hear whether you have continued ever since in that monastery
[Block Island]; or have broke into the world again, doing pretty
mischief; how the lady Wards do, and how many of them are married, or
about it; what is become of Mr. B-- and Mr. L--, and what the state of
your heart is at this instant? But that, perhaps, I ought not to know;
and, therefore, I will not conjure, as you sometimes say I do. If I
could conjure, it should be to know what was that _oddest question about
me that ever was thought of_, which you tell me a lady had just sent to
ask you.
I commend your prudent resolutions, in the article of granting favours
to lovers. But, if I were courting you, I could not hardly approve such
conduct. I should even be malicious enough to say you were too
_knowing_, and tell you the old story of the Girl and the Miller. I
enclose you the songs you write for, and with them your Spanish letter
with a translation. I honour that honest Spaniard for loving you. It
showed the goodness of his taste and judgement. But you must forget him,
and bless some worthy young Englishman.
You have spun a long thread, five thousand and twenty-two yards. It
will reach almost from Rhode Island hither. I wish I had hold of one end
of it, to pull you to me. But you would break it rather than come. The
cords of love and friendship are longer and stronger, and in times past
have drawn me farther; even back from England to Philadelphia. I guess
that some of the same kind will one day draw you out of that Island.
I was extremely pleased with the turf you sent me. The Irish people, who
have seen it, say it is the right sort; but I cannot learn that we have
any thing like it here. The cheeses, particularly one of them, were
excellent. All our friends have tasted it, and all agree that it exceeds
any English cheese they ever tasted. Mrs. Franklin was very proud, that
a young lady should have so much regard for her old husband, as to send
him such a present. We talk of you every time it comes to table. She is
sure you are a sensible girl, and a notable housewife, and talks of
bequeathing me to you as a legacy; but I ought to wish you a better, and
hope she will live these hundred years; for we are grown old together,
and if she has any faults, I am so used to 'em that I don't perceive
'em; as the song says,
"Some faults we have all, and so has my Joan,
But then they're exceedingly small;
And, now I am used, they are like my own,
I scarcely can see 'em at all,
My dear friends,
I scarcely can see 'em at all."
Indeed, I begin to think she has none, as I think of you. And since she
is willing I should love you, as much as you are willing to be loved by
me, let us join in wishing the old lady a long life and a happy.
With her respectful compliments to you, to your good mother and sisters,
present mine, though unknown; and believe me to be, dear girl, your
affectionate friend and humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. Sally[49] says, "Papa, my love to Miss Katy."--If it was not quite
unreasonable, I should desire you to write to me every post, whether you
hear from me or not. As to your spelling, don't let those laughing
girls put you out of conceit with it. It is the best in the world, for
every letter of it stands for something.
TO MISS CATHERINE RAY
Philadelphia, Oct. 16, 1755.
DEAR KATY
Your Favour of the 28th of June came to hand but the 28th of September,
just 3 Months after it was written. I had, two Weeks before, wrote you a
long Chat, and sent it to the Care of your Brother Ward. I hear you are
now in Boston, gay and lovely as usual. Let me give you some fatherly
Advice. Kill no more Pigeons than you can eat--Be a good Girl and dont
forget your Catechism.--Go constantly to Meeting--or church--till you
get a good Husband,--then stay at home, & nurse the Children, and live
like a Christian--Spend your spare Hours, in sober Whisk, Prayers, or
learning to cypher--You must practise _addition_ to your Husband's
Estate, by Industry and Frugality; _subtraction_ of all unnecessary
Expenses; _Multiplication_ (I would gladly have taught you that myself,
but you thought it was time enough, & wou'dn't learn) he will soon make
you a Mistress of it. As to _Division_, I say with Brother Paul, _Let
there be no Division among ye_. But as your good Sister Hubbard (my love
to her) is well acquainted with _The Rule of Two_, I hope you will
become an expert in the _Rule of Three_; that when I have again the
pleasure of seeing you, I may find you like my Grape Vine, surrounded
with Clusters, plump, juicy, blushing, pretty little rogues, like their
Mama. Adieu. The Bell rings, and I must go among the Grave ones, and
talk Politicks.
Your affectionate Friend
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. The Plums came safe, and were so sweet from the Cause you
mentioned, that I could scarce taste the Sugar.
TO MRS. JANE MECOM
Philadelphia, February 12, 1756.
DEAR SISTER,
I condole with you on the loss of our dear brother.[50] As our number
grows less, let us love one another proportionably more.
I am just returned from my military expedition, and now my time is taken
up in the Assembly. Providence seems to require various duties of me. I
know not what will be next; but I find, the more I seek for leisure and
retirement from business, the more I am engaged in it. Benny, I
understand, inclines to leave Antigua. He may be in the right. I have no
objections. My love to brother and to your children. I am, dearest
sister, your affectionate brother,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MISS E. HUBBARD[51]
Philadelphia, February 23, 1756.
--I condole with you. We have lost a most dear and valuable relation.
But it is the will of God and nature, that these mortal bodies be laid
aside, when the soul is to enter into real life. This is rather an
embryo state, a preparation for living. A man is not completely born
until he be dead. Why then should we grieve, that a new child is born
among the immortals, a new member added to their happy society?
We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us, while they can afford us
pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or in doing good to our
fellow creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become
unfit for these purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure,
instead of an aid become an incumbrance, and answer none of the
intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent,
that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them. Death is that
way. We ourselves, in some cases, prudently choose a partial death. A
mangled painful limb, which cannot be restored, we willingly cut off.
He who plucks out a tooth, parts with it freely, since the pain goes
with it; and he, who quits the whole body, parts at once with all pains
and possibilities of pains and diseases which it was liable to, or
capable of making him suffer.
Our friend and we were invited abroad on a party of pleasure, which is
to last for ever. His chair was ready first, and he is gone before us.
We could not all conveniently start together; and why should you and I
be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow, and know where to find
him?
Adieu. B. FRANKLIN.
TO REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD
New York, July 2, 1756.
DEAR SIR:
I received your Favour of the 24th of February with great Pleasure, as
it inform'd me of your Welfare, and express'd your continu'd Regard for
me. I thank you for the Pamphlet you enclos'd to me. As we had just
observ'd a Provincial Fast on the same Occasion, I thought it very
seasonable to be publish'd in Pennsylvania, and accordingly reprinted it
immediately.
You mention your frequent wish that you were a Chaplain to an American
Army. I sometimes wish that you and I were jointly employ'd by the
Crown, to settle a Colony on the Ohio. I imagine we could do it
effectually, and without putting the Nation to much expence. But I fear
we shall never be called upon for such a Service. What a glorious Thing
it would be, to settle in that fine Country a large strong Body of
Religious and Industrious People! What a Security to the other Colonies;
and Advantage to Britain, by Increasing her People, Territory, Strength
and Commerce. Might it not greatly facilitate the Introduction of pure
Religion among the Heathen, if we could, by such a Colony, show them a
better Sample of Christians than they commonly see in our Indian
Traders, the most vicious and abandoned Wretches of our Nation?... Life,
like a dramatic Piece, should not only be conducted with Regularity, but
methinks it should finish handsomely. Being now in the last Act, I
begin to cast about for something fit to end with. Or if mine be more
properly compar'd to an Epigram, as some of its few Lines are but barely
tolerable, I am very desirous of concluding with a bright Point. In such
an Enterprise I could spend the Remainder of Life with Pleasure; and I
firmly believe God would bless us with Success, if we undertook it with
a sincere Regard to his Honour, the Service of our gracious King, and
(which is the same thing) the Publick Good.
I thank you cordially for your generous Benefaction to the German
School. They go on pretty well, and will do better, when Mr. Smith,[52]
who has at present the principal Care of them, shall learn to mind
Party-writing and Party Politicks less, and his proper Business more;
which I hope time will bring about.
I thank you for your good Wishes and Prayers, and am, with the greatest
Esteem and Affection, Dear Sir
Your most obedient humble Servant
My best Respects to } B. FRANKLIN.
Mrs. Whitefield }
THE WAY TO WEALTH
Preface to _Poor Richard Improved_: 1758.[53]
COURTEOUS READER,
I have heard that nothing gives an Author so great Pleasure, as to find
his Works respectfully quoted by other learned Authors. This Pleasure I
have seldom enjoyed; for tho' I have been, if I may say it without
Vanity, an _eminent Author_ of Almanacks annually now a full Quarter of
a Century, my Brother Authors in the same Way, for what Reason I know
not, have ever been very sparing in their Applauses; and no other Author
has taken the least Notice of me, so that did not my Writings produce me
some solid _Pudding_, the great Deficiency of _Praise_ would have quite
discouraged me.
I concluded at length, that the People were the best Judges of my Merit;
for they buy my Works; and besides, in my Rambles, where I am not
personally known, I have frequently heard one or other of my Adages
repeated, with, _as Poor Richard says_, at the End on't; this gave me
some Satisfaction, as it showed not only that my Instructions were
regarded, but discovered likewise some Respect for my Authority; and I
own, that to encourage the Practice of remembering and repeating those
wise Sentences, I have sometimes _quoted myself_ with great Gravity.
Judge then how much I must have been gratified by an Incident I am going
to relate to you. I stopt my Horse lately where a great Number of People
were collected at a Vendue of Merchant Goods. The Hour of Sale not being
come, they were conversing on the Badness of the Times, and one of the
Company call'd to a plain clean old Man, with white Locks, _Pray,
Father_ Abraham, _what think you of the Times? Won't these heavy Taxes
quite ruin the Country? How shall we ever be able to pay them? What
would you advise us to?_----Father _Abraham_ stood up, and reply'd, If
you'd have my Advice, I'll give it you in short, for a _Word to the Wise
is enough_, and _many Words won't fill a Bushel_, as _Poor Richard
says_. They join'd in desiring him to speak his Mind, and gathering
round him, he proceeded as follows;
"Friends, says he, and Neighbours, the Taxes are indeed very
heavy, and if those laid on by the Government were the only
Ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but
we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We
are taxed twice as much by our _Idleness_, three times as
much by our _Pride_, and four times as much by our _Folly_,
and from these Taxes the Commissioners cannot ease or deliver
us by allowing an Abatement. However let us hearken to good
Advice, and something may be done for us; _God helps them
that help themselves_, as _Poor Richard_ says, in his
Almanack of 1733.
It would be thought a hard Government that should tax its
People one tenth Part of their _Time_, to be employed in its
Service. But _Idleness_ taxes many of us much more, if we
reckon all that is spent in absolute _Sloth_, or doing of
nothing, with that which is spent in idle Employments or
Amusements, that amount to nothing. _Sloth_, by bringing on
Diseases, absolutely shortens Life. _Sloth, like Rust,
consumes faster than Labour wears, while the used Key is
always bright_, as _Poor Richard_ says. But _dost thou love
Life, then do not squander Time, for that's the Stuff Life is
made of_, as _Poor Richard_ says.--How much more than is
necessary do we spend in Sleep! forgetting that _The sleeping
Fox catches no Poultry_, and that _there will be sleeping
enough in the Grave_, as _Poor Richard_ says. If Time be of
all Things the most precious, _wasting Time_ must be, as
_Poor Richard_ says, _the greatest Prodigality_, since, as he
elsewhere tells us, _Lost Time is never found again_; and
what we call _Time-enough, always proves little enough_: Let
us then up and be doing, and doing to the Purpose; so by
Diligence shall we do more with less Perplexity. _Sloth makes
all Things difficult, but Industry all easy_, as _Poor
Richard_ says; and _He that riseth late, must trot all Day,
and shall scarce overtake his Business at Night_. While
_Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes
him_, as we read in _Poor Richard_, who adds, _Drive thy
Business, let not that drive thee_; and _Early to Bed, and
early to rise, makes a Man healthy, wealthy and wise_.
So what signifies _wishing_ and _hoping_ for better Times. We
may make these Times better if we bestir ourselves. _Industry
need not wish_, as _Poor Richard_ says, and _He that lives
upon Hope will die fasting_. _There are no Gains, without
Pains_; then _Help Hands, for I have no Lands_, or if I have,
they are smartly taxed. And, as _Poor Richard_ likewise
observes, _He that hath a Trade hath an Estate_, and _He that
hath a Calling, hath an Office of Profit and Honour_; but
then the _Trade_ must be worked at, and the _Calling_ well
followed, or neither the _Estate_, nor the _Office_, will
enable us to pay our Taxes.--If we are industrious we shall
never starve; for, as _Poor Richard_ says, _At the working
Man's House_ Hunger _looks in, but dares not enter_. Nor will
the Bailiff or the Constable enter, for _Industry pays Debts,
while Despair encreaseth them_, says _Poor Richard_.--What
though you have found no Treasure, nor has any rich Relation
left you a Legacy, _Diligence is the Mother of Good luck_, as
_Poor Richard_ says, _and God gives all Things to Industry_.
Then _plough deep, while Sluggards sleep, and you shall have
Corn to sell and to keep_, says _Poor Dick_. Work while it is
called To-day, for you know not how much you may be hindered
To-morrow, which makes _Poor Richard_ say, _One To-day is
worth two To-morrows_; and farther, _Have you somewhat to do
To-morrow, do it To-day_. If you were a Servant, would you
not be ashamed that a good Master should catch you idle? Are
you then your own Master, _be ashamed to catch yourself
idle_, as _Poor Dick_ says. When there is so much to be done
for yourself, your Family, your Country, and your gracious
King, be up by Peep of Day; _Let not the Sun look down and
say, Inglorious here he lies_. Handle your Tools without
Mittens; remember that _the Cat in Gloves catches no Mice_,
as _Poor Richard_ says. 'Tis true there is much to be done,
and perhaps you are weak handed, but stick to it steadily,
and you will see great Effects, for _constant Dropping wears
away Stones_, and by _Diligence and Patience the Mouse ate in
two the Cable_; and _little Strokes fell great Oaks_, as
_Poor Richard_ says in his Almanack, the Year I cannot just
now remember.
Methinks I hear some of you say, _Must a Man afford himself
no Leisure?_--I will tell thee, my Friend, what _Poor
Richard_ says, _Employ thy Time well if thou meanest to gain
Leisure_; and _since thou art not sure of a Minute, throw not
away an Hour_. Leisure, is Time for doing something useful;
this Leisure the diligent Man will obtain, but the lazy Man
never; so that, as _Poor Richard_ says, a _Life of Leisure
and a Life of Laziness are two Things_. Do you imagine that
Sloth will afford you more Comfort than Labour? No, for as
_Poor Richard_ says, _Trouble springs from Idleness, and
grievous Toil from needless Ease_. _Many without Labour, would
live by their_ WITS _only, but they break for want of Stock._
Whereas Industry gives Comfort, and Plenty, and Respect: _Fly
Pleasures, and they'll follow you_. _The diligent Spinner has
a large Shift_; and _now I have a Sheep and a Cow, every Body
bids me Good morrow_; all which is well said by _Poor
Richard_.
But with our Industry, we must likewise be _steady_,
_settled_ and _careful_, and oversee our own Affairs _with
our own Eyes_, and not trust too much to others; for, as
_Poor Richard_ says,
_I never saw an oft removed Tree,
Nor yet an oft removed Family,
That throve so well as those that settled be._
And again, _Three Removes is as bad as a Fire_; and again,
_Keep thy Shop, and thy Shop will keep thee_; and again, _If
you would have your Business done, go; If not, send_. And
again,
_He that by the Plough would thrive,
Himself must either hold or drive._
And again, _The Eye of a Master will do more Work than both
his Hands_; and again, _Want of Care does us more Damage than
Want of Knowledge_; and again, _Not to oversee Workmen, is to
leave them your Purse open_. Trusting too much to others Care
is the Ruin of many; for, as the _Almanack_ says, _In the
Affairs of this World, Men are saved, not by Faith, but by
the Want of it_; but a Man's own Care is profitable; for,
saith _Poor Dick_, _Learning is to the Studious_, and _Riches
to the Careful_, as well as _Power to the Bold_, and _Heaven
to the Virtuous_. And farther, _If you would have a faithful
Servant, and one that you like, serve yourself_. And again,
he adviseth to Circumspection and Care, even in the smallest
Matters, because sometimes _a little Neglect may breed great
Mischief_; adding, _For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for
want of a Shoe the Horse was lost; and for want of a Horse
the Rider was lost_, being overtaken and slain by the Enemy,
all for want of Care about a Horse shoe Nail.
So much for Industry, my Friends, and Attention to one's own
Business; but to these we must add _Frugality_, if we would
make our _Industry_ more certainly successful. A Man may, if
he knows not how to save as he gets, _keep his Nose all his
Life to the Grindstone_, and die not worth a _Groat_ at last.
_A fat Kitchen makes a lean Will_, as _Poor Richard_ says;
and,
_Many Estates are spent in the Getting,
Since Women for Tea forsook Spinning and Knitting,
And Men for Punch forsook Hewing and Splitting._
_If you would be wealthy_, says he, in another Almanack,
_think of Saving as well as of Getting_: _The_ Indies _have
not made_ pain _rich, because her_ Outgoes _are greater than
her_ Incomes. Away then with your expensive Follies, and you
will not have so much Cause to complain of hard Times, heavy
Taxes, and chargeable Families; for, as _Poor Dick_ says,
_Women and Wine, Game and Deceit,
Make the Wealth small, and the Wants great._
And farther, _What maintains one Vice, would bring up two
Children_. You may think perhaps, That a _little_ Tea, or a
_little_ Punch now and then, Diet a _little_ more costly,
Clothes a _little_ finer, and a _little_ Entertainment now
and then, can be no _great_ Matter; but remember what _Poor
Richard_ says, _Many_ a Little _makes a Mickle_; and farther,
_Beware of_ little _Expences_; _a small Leak will sink a great
Ship_; and again, _Who Dainties love, shall Beggars prove_;
and moreover, _Fools make Feasts, and wise Men eat them_.
Here you are all got together at this Vendue of _Fineries_
and _Knicknacks_. You call them _Goods_, but if you do not
take Care, they will prove _Evils_ to some of you. You expect
they will be sold _cheap_, and perhaps they may for less than
they cost; but if you have no Occasion for them, they must be
_dear_ to you. Remember what _Poor Richard_ says, _Buy what
thou hast no Need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy
Necessaries_. And again, _At a great Pennyworth pause a
while_: He means, that perhaps the Cheapness is _apparent_
only, and not _real_; or the Bargain, by straitning thee in
thy Business, may do thee more Harm than Good. For in another
Place he says, _Many have been ruined by buying good
Pennyworths_. Again, _Poor Richard_ says, _'Tis foolish to
lay out Money in a Purchase of Repentance_; and yet this
Folly is practised every Day at Vendues, for want of minding
the Almanack. _Wise Men_, as _Poor Dick_ says, _learn by
others Harms, Fools scarcely by their own_; but _Felix quem
faciunt aliena Pericula cautum_. Many a one, for the Sake of
Finery on the Back, have gone with a hungry Belly, and half
starved their Families; _Silks and Sattins, Scarlet and
Velvets_, as _Poor Richard_ says, _put out the Kitchen Fire_.
These are not the _Necessaries_ of Life; they can scarcely be
called the _Conveniencies_, and yet only because they look
pretty, how many _want_ to _have_ them. The _artificial_
Wants of Mankind thus become more numerous than the
_natural_; and, as _Poor Dick_ says, _For one_ poor _Person,
there are an hundred_ indigent. By these, and other
Extravagancies, the Genteel are reduced to Poverty, and
forced to borrow of those whom they formerly despised, but
who through _Industry_ and _Frugality_ have maintained their
Standing; in which Case it appears plainly, that a _Ploughman
on his Legs is higher than a Gentleman on his Knees_, as
_Poor Richard_ says. Perhaps they have had a small Estate
left them which they knew not the Getting of; they think
_'tis Day, and will never be Night_; that a little to be
spent out of _so much_, is not worth minding; (_a Child and a
Fool_, as _Poor Richard_ says, _imagine_ Twenty Shillings _and
Twenty Years can never be spent_) but, _always taking out of,
the Meal-tub, and never putting in, soon comes to the
Bottom_; then, as _Poor Dick_ says, _When the Well's dry,
they know the Worth of Water_. But this they might have known
before, if they had taken his Advice; _If you would know the
Value of Money, go and try to borrow some_; for, _he that
goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing_; and indeed so does he
that lends to such People, when he goes _to get it in
again_.--_Poor Dick_ farther advises, and says,
_Fond_ Pride of Dress _is sure a very Curse;
E'er_ Fancy _you consult, consult your Purse._
And again, _Pride is as loud a Beggar as Want, and a great
deal more saucy_. When you have bought one fine Thing you
must buy ten more, that your Appearance may be all of a
Piece; but _Poor Dick_ says, _'Tis easier to_ suppress _the
first Desire, than to_ satisfy _all that follow it_. And 'tis
as truly Folly for the Poor to ape the Rich, as for the Frog
to swell, in order to equal the Ox.
_Great Estates may venture more,
But little Boats should keep near Shore._
'Tis however a Folly soon punished; for _Pride that dines on
Vanity sups on Contempt_, as _Poor Richard_ says. And in
another Place, _Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with
Poverty, and supped with Infamy_. And after all, of what Use
is this _Pride of Appearance_, for which so much is risked,
so much is suffered? It cannot promote Health, or ease Pain;
it makes no Increase of Merit in the Person, it creates Envy,
it hastens Misfortune.
_What is a Butterfly? At best
He's but a Caterpillar drest.
The gaudy Fop's his Picture just,_
as _Poor Richard_ says.
But what Madness must it be to _run in Debt_ for these
Superfluities! We are offered, by the Terms of this Vendue,
_Six Months Credit_; and that perhaps has induced some of us
to attend it, because we cannot spare the ready Money, and
hope now to be fine without it. But, ah, think what you do
when you run in Debt; _You give to another, Power over your
Liberty_. If you cannot pay at the Time, you will be ashamed
to see your Creditor; you will be in Fear when you speak to
him; you will make poor pitiful sneaking Excuses, and by
Degrees come to lose your Veracity, and sink into base
downright lying; for, as _Poor Richard_ says, _The second
Vice is Lying, the first is running in Debt_. And again, to
the same Purpose, _Lying rides upon Debt's Back_. Whereas a
freeborn _Englishman_ ought not to be ashamed or afraid to
see or speak to any Man living. But Poverty often deprives a
Man of all Spirit and Virtue: _'Tis hard for an empty Bag to
stand upright_, as _Poor Richard_ truly says. What would you
think of that Prince, or that Government, who should issue an
Edict forbidding you to dress like a Gentleman or a
Gentlewoman, on Pain of Imprisonment or Servitude? Would you
not say, that you are free, have a Right to dress as you
please, and that such an Edict would be a Breach of your
Privileges, and such a Government tyrannical? And yet you are
about to put yourself under that Tyranny when you run in Debt
for such Dress! Your Creditor has Authority at his Pleasure
to deprive you of your Liberty, by confining you in Goal
[_sic_] for Life, or to sell you for a Servant, if you should
not be able to pay him! When you have got your Bargain, you
may, perhaps, think little of Payment; but _Creditors_, _Poor
Richard_ tells us, _have better Memories than Debtors_; and
in another Place says, _Creditors are a superstitious Sect,
great Observers of set Days and Times_. The Day comes round
before you are aware, and the Demand is made before you are
prepared to satisfy it. Or if you bear your Debt in Mind, the
Term which at first seemed so long, will, as it lessens,
appear extreamly short. _Time_ will seem to have added Wings
to his Heels as well as Shoulders. _Those have a short Lent_,
saith _Poor Richard_, _who owe Money to be paid at Easter_.
Then since, as he says, _The Borrower is a Slave to the
Lender, and the Debtor to the Creditor_, disdain the Chain,
preserve your Freedom; and maintain your Independency: Be
_industrious_ and _free_; be _frugal_ and _free_. At present,
perhaps, you may think yourself in thriving Circumstances,
and that you can bear a little Extravangance [_sic_] without
Injury; but,
_For Age and Want, save while you may;
No Morning Sun lasts a whole Day,_
as _Poor Richard_ says--Gain may be temporary and uncertain,
but ever while you live, Expence is constant and certain; and
_'tis easier to build two Chimnies than to keep one in Fuel_,
as _Poor Richard_ says. So _rather go to Bed supperless than
rise in Debt_.
_Get what you can, and what you get hold;
'Tis the Stone that will turn all your Lead into Gold,_
as _Poor Richard_ says. And when you have got the
Philosopher's Stone, sure you will no longer complain of bad
Times, or the Difficulty of paying Taxes.
This Doctrine, my Friends, is _Reason_ and _Wisdom_; but
after all, do not depend too much upon your own _Industry_,
and _Frugality_, and _Prudence_, though excellent Things, for
they may all be blasted without the Blessing of Heaven; and
therefore ask that Blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable
to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and
help them. Remember _Job_ suffered, and was afterwards
prosperous.
And now to conclude, _Experience keeps a dear School, but
Fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that_; for it is
true, _we may give Advice, but we cannot give Conduct_, as
_Poor Richard_ says: However, remember this, _They that won't
be counselled, can't be helped_, as _Poor Richard_ says: And
farther, That _if you will not hear Reason, she'll surely rap
your Knuckles_."
Thus the old Gentleman ended his Harangue. The People heard it, and
approved the Doctrine and immediately practised the contrary, just as if
it had been a common Sermon; for the Vendue opened, and they began to
buy extravagantly, notwithstanding all his Cautions, and their own Fear
of Taxes.--I found the good Man had thoroughly studied my Almanacks,
and digested all I had dropt on those Topicks during the Course of
Five-and-twenty Years. The frequent Mention he made of me must have
tired any one else, but my Vanity was wonderfully delighted with it,
though I was conscious that not a tenth Part of the Wisdom was my own
which he ascribed to me, but rather the _Gleanings_ I had made of the
Sense of all Ages and Nations. However, I resolved to be the better for
the Echo of it; and though I had at first determined to buy Stuff for a
new Coat, I went away resolved to wear my old One a little longer.
_Reader_, if thou wilt do the same, thy Profit will be as great as mine.
_I am, as ever,
Thine to serve thee,_
_July 7, 1757._ RICHARD SAUNDERS.
TO HUGH ROBERTS
London, September 16, 1758.
DEAR FRIEND,
Your kind letter of June 1st gave me great pleasure. I thank you for the
concern you express about my health, which at present seems tolerably
confirmed by my late journey into different parts of the kingdom, that
have been highly entertaining as well as useful to me. Your visits to my
little family in my absence are very obliging, and I hope you will be so
good as to continue them. Your remark on the thistle and the Scotch
motto made us very merry, as well as your string of puns. You will allow
me to claim a little merit or demerit in the last, as having had some
hand in making you a punster; but the wit of the first is keen, and all
your own.
Two of the former members of the Junto you tell me are departed this
life, Potts and Parsons.[54] Odd characters both of them. Parsons a wise
man, that often acted foolishly; Potts a wit, that seldom acted wisely.
If _enough_ were the means to make a man happy, one had always the
_means_ of happiness, without ever enjoying the _thing_; the other had
always the _thing_, without ever possessing the _means_. Parsons, even
in his prosperity, always fretting; Potts, in the midst of his poverty,
ever laughing. It seems, then, that happiness in this life rather
depends on internals than externals; and that, besides the natural
effects of wisdom and virtue, vice and folly, there is such a thing as a
happy or an unhappy constitution. They were both our friends, and loved
us. So, peace to their shades. They had their virtues as well as their
foibles; they were both honest men, and that alone, as the world goes,
is one of the greatest of characters. They were old acquaintances, in
whose company I formerly enjoyed a great deal of pleasure, and I cannot
think of losing them, without concern and regret.
I shall, as you suppose, look on every opportunity you give me of doing
you service, as a favour, because it will afford me pleasure. I know how
to make you ample returns for such favours, by giving you the pleasure
of building me a house. You may do it without losing any of your own
time; it will only take some part of that you now spend in other folks'
business. It is only jumping out of their waters into mine.
I am grieved for our friend Syng's loss. You and I, who esteem him, and
have valuable sons ourselves, can sympathize with him sincerely. I hope
yours is perfectly recovered, for your sake as well as for his own. I
wish he may be, in every respect, as good and as useful as his father. I
need not wish him more; and can only add, that I am, with great esteem,
dear friend, yours affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. I rejoice to hear of the prosperity of the Hospital, and send the
wafers. I do not quite like your absenting yourself from that good old
club, the Junto. Your more frequent presence might be a means of keeping
them from being all engaged in measures not the best for public welfare.
I exhort you, therefore, to return to your duty; and, as the Indians
say, to confirm my words, I send you a Birmingham tile. I thought the
neatness of the figures would please you.
TO MRS. JANE MECOM
London, September 16, 1758.
DEAR SISTER,
I received your favour of June 17. I wonder you have had no letter from
me since my being in England. I have wrote you at least two, and I think
a third before this, and what was next to waiting on you in person, sent
you my picture. In June last I sent Benny a trunk of books, and wrote to
him; I hope they are come to hand, and that he meets with encouragement
in his business. I congratulate you on the conquest of Cape Breton, and
hope as your people took it by praying, the first time, you will now
pray that it may never be given up again, which you then forgot. Billy
is well, but in the country. I left him at Tunbridge Wells, where we
spent a fortnight, and he is now gone with some company to see
Portsmouth. We have been together over a great part of England this
summer, and among other places, visited the town our father was born in,
and found some relations in that part of the country still living.
Our cousin Jane Franklin, daughter of our uncle John, died about a year
ago. We saw her husband, Robert Page, who gave us some old letters to
his wife, from uncle Benjamin. In one of them, dated Boston, July 4,
1723, he writes that your uncle Josiah has a daughter Jane, about twelve
years old, a good-humoured child. So keep up to your character, and
don't be angry when you have no letters. In a little book he sent her,
called "None but Christ," he wrote an acrostick on her name, which for
namesake's sake, as well as the good advice it contains, I transcribe
and send you, viz.
"Illuminated from on high,
And shining brightly in your sphere,
Ne'er faint, but keep a steady eye,
Expecting endless pleasures there.
"Flee vice as you'd a serpent flee;
Raise _faith_ and _hope_ three stories higher,
And let Christ's endless love to thee
Ne'er cease to make thy love aspire.
Kindness of heart by words express,
Let your obedience be sincere,
In prayer and praise your God address,
Nor cease, till he can cease to hear."
After professing truly that I had a great esteem and veneration for the
pious author, permit me a little to play the commentator and critic on
these lines. The meaning of _three stories higher_ seems somewhat
obscure. You are to understand, then, that _faith_, _hope_, and
_charity_ have been called the three steps of Jacob's ladder, reaching
from earth to heaven; our author calls them _stories_, likening religion
to a building, and these are the three stories of the Christian edifice.
Thus improvement in religion is called _building up_ and _edification_.
_Faith_ is then the ground floor, _hope_ is up one pair of stairs. My
dear beloved Jenny, don't delight so much to dwell in those lower rooms,
but get as fast as you can into the garret, for in truth the best room
in the house is _charity_. For my part, I wish the house was turned
upside down; 'tis so difficult (when one is fat) to go up stairs; and
not only so, but I imagine _hope_ and _faith_ may be more firmly built
upon _charity_, than _charity_ upon _faith_ and _hope_. However that may
be, I think it the better reading to say--
"Raise faith and hope one story higher."
Correct it boldly, and I'll support the alteration; for, when you are up
two stories already, if you raise your building three stories higher you
will make five in all, which is two more than there should be, you
expose your upper rooms more to the winds and storms; and, besides, I am
afraid the foundation will hardly bear them, unless indeed you build
with such light stuff as straw and stubble, and that, you know, won't
stand fire. Again, where the author says,
"Kindness of heart by words express,"
strike out _words_, and put in _deeds_. The world is too full of
compliments already. They are the rank growth of every soil, and choak
the good plants of benevolence, and beneficence; nor do I pretend to be
the first in this comparison of words and actions to plants; you may
remember an ancient poet, whose works we have all studied and copied at
school long ago.
"A man of words and not of deeds
Is like a garden full of weeds."
'Tis a pity that good works, among some sorts of people, are so little
valued, and good words admired in their stead: I mean seemingly pious
discourses, instead of humane benevolent actions. Those they almost put
out of countenance, by calling morality _rotten morality_, righteousness
_ragged righteousness_, and even filthy rags--and when you mention
virtue, pucker up their noses as if they smelt a stink; at the same time
that they eagerly snuff up an empty canting harangue, as if it was a
posey of the choicest flowers: So they have inverted the good old verse,
and say now
"A man of deeds and not of words
Is like a garden full of ----"
I have forgot the rhyme, but remember 'tis something the very reverse of
perfume. So much by way of commentary.
My wife will let you see my letter, containing an account of our
travels, which I would have you read to sister Dowse, and give my love
to her. I have no thoughts of returning till next year, and then may
possibly have the pleasure of seeing you and yours; taking Boston in my
way home. My love to brother and all your children, concludes at this
time from, dear Jenny, your affectionate brother,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO LORD KAMES[55]
London, May 3, 1760.
MY DEAR LORD,
I have endeavoured to comply with your request in writing something on
the present situation of our affairs in America, in order to give more
correct notions of the British interest with regard to the colonies,
than those I found many sensible men possessed of. Inclosed you have
the production, such as it is. I wish it may in any degree be of service
to the public. I shall at least hope this from it, for my own part, that
you will consider it as a letter from me to you, and take its length as
some excuse for being so long a-coming.[56]
I am now reading with great pleasure and improvement your excellent
work, _The Principles of Equity_. It will be of the greatest advantage
to the Judges in our colonies, not only in those which have Courts of
Chancery, but also in those which, having no such courts, are obliged to
mix equity with the common law. It will be of more service to the colony
Judges, as few of them have been bred to the law. I have sent a book to
a particular friend, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court in
Pennsylvania.
I will shortly send you a copy of the Chapter you are pleased to mention
in so obliging a manner; and shall be extremely obliged in receiving a
copy of the collection of _Maxims for the Conduct of Life_, which you
are preparing for the use of your children. I purpose likewise a little
work for the benefit of youth, to be called _The Art of Virtue_.[57]
From the title I think you will hardly conjecture what the nature of
such a book may be. I must therefore explain it a little. Many people
lead bad lives that would gladly lead good ones, but know not _how_ to
make the change. They have frequently _resolved_ and _endeavoured_ it;
but in vain, because their endeavours have not been properly conducted.
To expect people to be good, to be just, to be temperate, &c., without
_shewing_ them _how_ they should _become_ so, seems like the ineffectual
charity mentioned by the Apostle, which consisted in saying to the
hungry, the cold, and the naked, "Be ye fed, be ye warmed, be ye
clothed," without shewing them how they should get food, fire, or
clothing.
Most people have naturally _some_ virtues, but none have naturally _all_
the virtues. To _acquire_ those that are wanting, and secure what we
acquire, as well as those we have naturally, is the subject of _an art_.
It is as properly an art as painting, navigation, or architecture. If a
man would become a painter, navigator, or architect, it is not enough
that he is _advised_ to be one, that he is _convinced_ by the arguments
of his adviser, that it would be for his advantage to be one, and that
he resolves to be one, but he must also be taught the principles of the
art, be shewn all the methods of working, and how to acquire the habits
of using properly all the instruments; and thus regularly and gradually
he arrives, by practice, at some perfection in the art. If he does not
proceed thus, he is apt to meet with difficulties that discourage him,
and make him drop the pursuit.
My _Art of Virtue_ has also its instruments, and teaches the manner of
using them. Christians are directed to have faith in Christ, as the
effectual means of obtaining the change they desire. It may, when
sufficiently strong, be effectual with many: for a full opinion, that a
Teacher is infinitely wise, good, and powerful, and that he will
certainly reward and punish the obedient and disobedient, must give
great weight to his precepts, and make them much more attended to by his
disciples. But many have this faith in so weak a degree, that it does
not produce the effect. Our _Art of Virtue_ may, therefore, be of great
service to those whose faith is unhappily not so strong, and may come in
aid of its weakness. Such as are naturally well disposed, and have been
so carefully educated, as that good habits have been early established,
and bad ones prevented, have less need of this art; but all may be more
or less benefited by it. It is, in short, to be adapted for universal
use. I imagine what I have now been writing will seem to savour of great
presumption: I must therefore speedily finish my little piece, and
communicate the manuscript to you, that you may judge whether it is
possible to make good such pretensions. I shall at the same time hope
for the benefit of your corrections. I am, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MISS MARY STEVENSON[58]
Craven Street, June 11, 1760.
DEAR POLLY:
'Tis a very sensible Question you ask, how the Air can affect the
Barometer, when its Opening appears covered with Wood? If indeed it was
so closely covered as to admit of no Communication of the outward Air to
the Surface of the Mercury, the Change of Weight in the Air could not
possibly affect it. But the least Crevice is sufficient for the Purpose;
a Pinhole will do the Business. And if you could look behind the Frame
to which your Barometer is fixed, you would certainly find some small
Opening.
There are indeed some Barometers in which the Body of Mercury at the
lower End is contain'd in a close Leather Bag, and so the Air cannot
come into immediate Contact with the Mercury; yet the same Effect is
produc'd. For, the Leather being flexible, when the Bag is press'd by
any additional Weight of Air, it contracts, and the Mercury is forced up
into the Tube; when the Air becomes lighter, and its Pressure less, the
Weight of the Mercury prevails, and it descends again into the Bag.
Your Observation on what you have lately read concerning Insects is very
just and solid. Superficial Minds are apt to despise those who make that
Part of the Creation their Study, as mere Triflers; but certainly the
World has been much oblig'd to them. Under the Care and Management of
Man, the Labours of the little Silkworm afford Employment and
Subsistence to Thousands of Families, and become an immense Article of
Commerce. The Bee, too, yields us its delicious Honey, and its Wax
useful to a Multitude of Purposes. Another Insect, it is said, produces
the Cochineal, from whence we have our rich Scarlet Dye. The Usefulness
of the Cantharides, or Spanish Flies, in Medicine, is known to all, and
Thousands owe their Lives to that Knowledge. By human Industry and
Observation, other Properties of other Insects may possibly be hereafter
discovered, and of equal Utility. A thorough Acquaintance with the
Nature of these little Creatures may also enable Mankind to prevent the
Increase of such as are noxious, or secure us against the Mischiefs they
occasion. These Things doubtless your Books make mention of: I can only
add a particular late Instance which I had from a Swedish Gentleman of
good Credit. In the green Timber, intended for Ship-building at the
King's Yards in that Country, a kind of Worms were found, which every
year became more numerous and more pernicious, so that the Ships were
greatly damag'd before they came into Use. The King sent Linnæus, the
great Naturalist, from Stockholm, to enquire into the Affair, and see if
the Mischief was capable of any Remedy. He found, on Examination, that
the Worm was produced from a small Egg, deposited in the little
Roughnesses on the Surface of the Wood, by a particular kind of Fly or
Beetle; from whence the Worm, as soon as it was hatched, began to eat
into the Substance of the Wood, and after some time came out again a Fly
of the Parent kind, and so the Species increased. The season in which
this Fly laid its Eggs, Linnæus knew to be about a Fortnight (I think)
in the Month of May, and at no other time of the Year. He therefore
advis'd, that, some Days before that Season, all the green Timber should
be thrown into the Water, and kept under Water till the Season was over.
Which being done by the King's Order, the Flies missing their usual
Nest, could not increase; and the Species was either destroy'd or went
elsewhere; and the Wood was effectually preserved; for, after the first
Year, it became too dry and hard for their purpose.
There is, however, a prudent Moderation to be used in Studies of this
kind. The Knowledge of Nature may be ornamental, and it may be useful;
but if, to attain an Eminence in that, we neglect the Knowledge and
Practice of essential Duties, we deserve Reprehension. For there is no
Rank in Natural Knowledge of equal Dignity and Importance with that of
being a good Parent, a good Child, a good Husband or Wife, a good
Neighbour or Friend, a good Subject or Citizen, that is, in short, a
good Christian. Nicholas Gimcrack, therefore, who neglected the Care of
his Family, to pursue Butterflies, was a just Object of Ridicule, and we
must give him up as fair Game to the satyrist.
Adieu, my dear Friend, and believe me ever
Yours affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MRS. DEBORAH FRANKLIN
London, June 27, 1760.
MY DEAR CHILD,
I wrote a Line to you by the Pacquet, to let you know we were well, and
I promis'd to write you fully by Capt. Budden, and answer all your
Letters, which I accordingly now sit down to do. I am concern'd that so
much Trouble should be given you by idle Reports concerning me. Be
satisfied, my dear, that while I have my Senses, and God vouchsafes me
his Protection, I shall do nothing unworthy the Character of an honest
Man, and one that loves his Family.
I have not yet seen Mr. Beatty, nor do I know where to write to him. He
forwarded your Letter to me from Ireland. The Paragraph of your Letter
inserted in the Papers, related to the Negro School. I gave it to the
Gentlemen concern'd, as it was a Testimony in favour of their pious
Design. But I did not expect they would have printed it with your Name.
They have since chosen [me] one of the Society, and I am at present
Chairman for the current year. I enclose you an Account of their
Proceedings.[59]
I did not receive the _Prospect of Quebec_, which you mention that you
sent me. Peter continues with me, and behaves as well as I can expect,
in a Country where there are many Occasions of spoiling Servants, if
they are ever so good. He has as few Faults as most of them, and I see
with only one Eye, and hear only with one Ear; so we rub on pretty
comfortably. King, that you enquire after, is not with us. He ran away
from our House, near two Years ago, while we were absent in the Country;
But was soon found in Suffolk, where he had been taken in the Service of
a Lady, that was very fond of the Merit of making him a Christian, and
contributing to his Education and Improvement. As he was of little Use,
and often in Mischief, Billy consented to her keeping him while we stay
in England. So the Lady sent him to School, has him taught to read and
write, to play on the Violin and French Horn, with some other
Accomplishments more useful in a Servant. Whether she will finally be
willing to part with him, or persuade Billy to sell him to her, I know
not. In the mean time he is no Expence to us. The dried Venison was very
acceptable, and I thank you for it. We have had it constantly shav'd to
eat with our Bread and Butter for Breakfast, and this Week saw the last
of it. The Bacon still holds out, for we are choice of it. Some Rashers
of it, yesterday relish'd a Dish of Green Pease. Mrs. Stevenson thinks
there was never any in England so good. The smok'd Beef was also
excellent.
The Accounts you give me of the Marriages of our friends are very
agreeable. I love to hear of every thing that tends to increase the
Number of good People. You cannot conceive how shamefully the Mode here
is a single Life. One can scarce be in the Company of a Dozen Men of
Circumstance and Fortune, but what it is odds that you find on enquiry
eleven of them are single. The great Complaint is the excessive
Expensiveness of English Wives.
I am extreamly concern'd with you at the Misfortune of our Friend Mr.
Griffith. How could it possibly happen? 'Twas a terrible Fire that of
Boston. I shall contribute here towards the Relief of the Sufferers. Our
Relations have escap'd I believe generally; but some of my particular
Friends must have suffer'd greatly.
I think you will not complain this Year, as you did the last, of being
so long without a Letter. I have wrote to you very frequently; and shall
not be so much out of the Way of writing this Summer as I was the last.
I hope our friend Bartram is safely return'd to his Family. Remember me
to him in the kindest Manner.
Poor David Edwards died this Day Week, of a Consumption. I had a Letter
from a Friend of his, acquainting me that he had been long ill, and
incapable of doing his Business, and was at Board in the Country. I
fear'd he might be in Straits, as he never was prudent enough to lay up
any thing. So I wrote to him immediately, that, if he had occasion, he
might draw on me for Five Guineas. But he died before my Letter got to
hand. I hear the Woman, at whose House he long lodg'd and boarded, has
buried him and taken all he left, which could not be much, and there are
some small Debts unpaid. He maintained a good Character at Bury, where
he lived some years, and was well respected, to my Knowledge, by some
Persons of Note there. I wrote to you before, that we saw him at Bury,
when we went thro' Suffolk into Norfolk, the Year before last. I hope
his good Father, my old Friend, continues well.
Give my Duty to Mother, and Love to my dear Sally. Remember me
affectionately to all Enquiring Friends, and believe me ever, my dearest
Debby, your loving Husband,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JARED INGERSOLL[60]
Philadelphia, December 11, 1762.
DEAR SIR:--
I thank you for your kind congratulations. It gives me pleasure to hear
from an old friend; it will give me much more pleasure to see him. I
hope, therefore, nothing will prevent the journey you propose for next
summer and the favour you intend me of a visit. I believe I must make a
journey early in the spring to Virginia, but purpose being back again
before the hot weather. You will be kind enough to let me know
beforehand what time you expect to be here, that I may not be out of the
way, for that would mortify me exceedingly.
I should be glad to know what it is that distinguishes Connecticut
religion from common religion. Communicate, if you please, some of these
particulars that you think will amuse me as a virtuoso. When I travelled
in Flanders, I thought of your excessively strict observation of Sunday;
and that a man could hardly travel on that day among you upon his lawful
occasions without hazard of punishment; while, where I was, every one
travelled, if he pleased, or diverted himself in any other way; and in
the afternoon both high and low went to the play or the opera, where
there was plenty of singing, fiddling and dancing. I looked around for
God's judgments, but saw no signs of them. The cities were well built
and full of inhabitants, the markets filled with plenty, the people
well favoured and well clothed, the fields well tilled, the cattle fat
and strong, the fences, houses, and windows all in repair, and no Old
Tenor anywhere in the country; which would almost make one suspect that
the Deity is not so angry at that offence as a New England Justice.
I left our friend Mr. Jackson[61] well, and I had the great pleasure of
finding my little family well when I came home, and my friends as
cordial and more numerous than ever. May every prosperity attend you and
yours. I am, dear friend, yours affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MISS MARY STEVENSON
Philad^a, March 25, 1763.
MY DEAR POLLEY,
Your pleasing Favour of Nov. 11 is now before me. It found me as you
suppos'd it would, happy with my American Friends and Family about me;
and it made me more happy in showing me that I am not yet forgotten by
the dear Friends I left in England. And indeed, why should I fear they
will ever forget me, when I feel so strongly that I shall ever remember
them!
I sympathise with you sincerely in your Grief at the Separation from
your old Friend, Miss Pitt. The Reflection that she is going to be more
happy, when she leaves you, might comfort you, if the Case was likely to
be so circumstanc'd; but when the Country and Company she has been
educated in, and those she is removing to, are compared, one cannot
possibly expect it. I sympathize no less with you in your Joys. But it
is not merely on your Account, that I rejoice at the Recovery of your
dear Dolly's Health. I love that dear good Girl myself, and I love her
other Friends. I am, therefore, made happy by what must contribute so
much to the Happiness of them all. Remember me to her, and to every one
of that worthy and amiable Family, most affectionately.
Remember me in the same manner to your and my good Doctor and Mrs.
Hawkesworth.[62] You have lately, you tell me, had the Pleasure of
spending three Days with them at Mr. Stanley's. It was a sweet Society!
I too, once partook of that same Pleasure, and can therefore feel what
you must have felt. Remember me also to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley,[63] and to
Miss Arlond.
Of all the enviable Things England has, I envy it most its People. Why
should that petty Island, which compar'd to America, is but like a
stepping-Stone in a Brook, scarce enough of it above Water to keep one's
Shoes dry; why, I say, should that little Island enjoy in almost every
Neighbourhood, more sensible, virtuous, and elegant Minds, than we can
collect in ranging 100 Leagues of our vast forests? But 'tis said the
Arts delight to travel Westward. You have effectually defended us in
this glorious War, and in time you will improve us. After the first
Cares for the Necessaries of Life are over, we shall come to think of
the Embellishments. Already some of our young Geniuses begin to lisp
Attempts at Painting, Poetry, and Musick. We have a young Painter now
studying at Rome.[64] Some specimens of our Poetry I send you, which if
Dr. Hawkesworth's fine Taste cannot approve, his good Heart will at
least excuse. The Manuscript Piece is by a young Friend of mine, and was
occasion'd by the Loss of one of his Friends, who lately made a Voyage
to Antigua to settle some Affairs, previous to an intended Marriage with
an amiable young Lady here, but unfortunately died there. I send it to
you, because the Author is a great Admirer of Mr. Stanley's musical
Compositions, and has adapted this Piece to an Air in the 6th _Concerto_
of that Gentleman, the sweetly solemn Movement of which he is quite in
Raptures with. He has attempted to compose a _Recitativo_ for it, but
not being able to satisfy himself in the Bass, wishes I could get it
supply'd. If Mr. Stanley would condescend to do that for him, thro' your
Intercession, he would esteem it as one of the highest Honours, and it
would make him excessively happy. You will say that a _Recitativo_ can
be but a poor Specimen of our Music. 'Tis the best and all I have at
present, but you may see better hereafter.
I hope Mr. Ralph's[65] Affairs are mended since you wrote. I know he had
some Expectations, when I came away, from a Hand that would help him.
He has Merit, and one would think ought not to be so unfortunate.
I do not wonder at the behaviour you mention of Dr. Smith towards me,
for I have long since known him thoroughly. I made that Man my Enemy by
doing him too much Kindness. 'Tis the honestest Way of acquiring an
Enemy. And, since 'tis convenient to have at least one Enemy, who by his
Readiness to revile one on all Occasions, may make one careful of one's
Conduct, I shall keep him an Enemy for that purpose; and shall observe
your good Mother's Advice, never again to receive him as a Friend. She
once admir'd the benevolent Spirit breath'd in his Sermons. She will now
see the Justness of the Lines your Laureat Whitehead addresses to his
Poets, and which I now address to her.
"Full many a peevish, envious, slanderous Elf
Is, in his Works, Benevolence itself.
For all Mankind, unknown, his Bosom heaves;
He only injures those, with whom he lives.
Read then the Man;--does _Truth_ his Actions guide,
Exempt from _Petulance_, exempt from _Pride_?
To social Duties does his Heart attend,
As Son, as Father, Husband, Brother, _Friend_?
_Do those, who know him, love him?_ If they do,
You've _my_ Permission: you may love him too."
Nothing can please me more than to see your philosophical Improvements
when you have Leisure to communicate them to me. I still owe you a long
Letter on that Subject, which I shall pay. I am vex'd with Mr. James,
that he has been so dilatory in Mr. Maddison's _Armonica_. I was unlucky
in both the Workmen, that I permitted to undertake making those
Instruments. The first was fanciful, and never could work to the
purpose, because he was ever conceiving some new Improvement, that
answer'd no End. The other I doubt is absolutely idle. I have
recommended a Number to him from hence, but must stop my hand.
Adieu, my dear Polly, and believe me as ever, with the sincerest Esteem
and Regard, your truly affectionate Friend and humble Servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. My love to Mrs. Tickell and Mrs. Rooke, and to Pitty, when you
write to her. Mrs. Franklin and Sally desire to be affectionately
remember'd to you. I find the printed Poetry I intended to enclose will
be too bulky to send per the Packet. I shall send it by a Ship, that
goes shortly from hence.
TO JOHN FOTHERGILL, M.D.[66]
March 14, 1764.
DEAR DOCTOR,--
I received your favour of the 10th of December. It was a great deal for
one to write whose time was so little his own. By the way, when do you
intend to live?--_i.e._, to enjoy life. When will you retire to your
villa, give yourself repose, delight in viewing the operations of nature
in the vegetable creation, assist her in her works, get your ingenious
friends at times about you, make them happy with your conversation, and
enjoy theirs: or, if alone, amuse yourself with your books and elegant
collections?
To be hurried about perpetually from one sick chamber to another is not
living. Do you please yourself with the fancy that you are doing good?
You are mistaken. Half the lives you save are not worth saving, as being
useless, and almost all the other half ought not to be saved, as being
mischievous. Does your conscience never hint to you the impiety of being
in constant warfare against the plans of Providence? Disease was
intended as the punishment of intemperence, sloth, and other vices, and
the example of that punishment was intended to promote and strengthen
the opposite virtues. But here you step in officiously with your Art,
disappoint those wise intentions of nature, and make men safe in their
excesses, whereby you seem to me to be of just the same service to
society as some favourite first minister who out of the great
benevolence of his heart should procure pardons of all criminals that
applied to him; only think of the consequences.
You tell me the Quakers are charged on your side of the water with
being, by their aggressions, the cause of the war. Would you believe it
that they are charged here, not with offending the Indians and thereby
provoking the war, but with gaining their friendship by presents,
supplying them privately with arms and ammunition, and engaging them to
fall upon and murder the poor white people on the frontiers? Would you
think it possible that thousands even here should be made to believe
this, and many hundreds of them be raised in arms, not only to kill some
converted Indians, supposed to be under the Quakers' protection, but to
punish the Quakers who were supposed to give that protection? Would you
think these people audacious enough to avow such designs in a public
declaration sent to the Governor? Would you imagine that innocent
Quakers, men of fortune and character, should think it necessary to fly
for safety out of Philadelphia into the Jersies, fearing the violence of
such armed mobs, and confiding little in the power or inclination of the
government to protect them? And would you imagine that strong suspicions
now prevail that those mobs, after committing so barbarous murders
hitherto unpunished, are privately tampered with to be made instruments
of government to awe the Assembly into proprietary measures? And yet all
this has happened within a few weeks past.
More wonders. You know that I don't love the proprietary and that he
does not love me. Our totally different tempers forbid it. You might
therefore expect that the late new appointments of one of his family
would find me ready for opposition. And yet when his nephew arrived, our
Governor, I considered government as government, and paid him all
respect, gave him on all occasions my best advice, promoted in the
Assembly a ready compliance with every thing he proposed or recommended,
and when those daring rioters, encouraged by general approbation of the
populace, treated his proclamation with contempt, I drew my pen in the
cause; wrote a pamphlet (that I have sent you) to render the rioters
unpopular; promoted an association to support the authority of the
Government and defend the Governor by taking arms, signed it first
myself and was followed by several hundreds, who took arms accordingly.
The Governor offered me the command of them, but I chose to carry a
musket and strengthen his authority by setting an example of obedience
to his order. And would you think it, this proprietary Governor did me
the honour, in an alarm, to run to my house at midnight, with his
counsellors at his heels, for advice, and made it his head-quarters for
some time. And within four and twenty hours, your old friend was a
common soldier, a counsellor, a kind of dictator, an ambassador to the
country mob, and on his returning home, nobody again. All this has
happened in a few weeks.
More wonders! The Assembly received a Governor of the Proprietary family
with open arms, addressed him with sincere expressions of kindness and
respect, opened their purses to them, and presented him with six hundred
pounds; made a Riot Act and prepared a Militia Bill immediately, at his
instance, granted supplies, and did everything that he requested, and
promised themselves great happiness under his administration. But
suddenly his dropping all inquiries after the murderers, and his
answering the disputes of the rioters privately and refusing the
presence of the Assembly who were equally concerned in the matters
contained in their remonstrance, brings him under suspicion; his
insulting the Assembly without the least provocation by charging them
with disloyalty and with making an infringement on the King's
prerogatives, only because they had presumed to name in a bill offered
for his assent a trifling officer (somewhat like one of your
toll-gatherers at a turnpike) without consulting him, and his refusing
several of their bills or proposing amendments needless disgusting.
These things bring him and his government into sudden contempt. All
regard for him in the Assembly is lost. All hopes of happiness under a
Proprietary Government are at an end. It has now scarce authority enough
to keep the common peace, and was another to come, I question, though a
dozen men were sufficient, whether one could find so many in
Philadelphia willing to rescue him or his Attorney General, I won't say
from hanging, but from any common insult. All this too happened in a
few weeks.
In fine, everything seems in this country, once the land of peace and
order, to be running fast into anarchy and confusion. But we hope there
is virtue enough in your great nation to support a good Prince in the
execution of a good government and the exercise of his just prerogatives
against all the attempts of unreasonable faction. I have been already
too long. Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever, yours
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO SARAH FRANKLIN
Reedy Island, 7 at night, November 8, 1764.
MY DEAR SALLY,
We got down here at sunset, having taken in more live stock at
Newcastle, with some other things we wanted. Our good friends, Mr.
Galloway, Mr. Wharton, and Mr. James, came with me in the ship from
Chester to Newcastle and went ashore there. It was kind to favour me
with their good company as far as they could. The affectionate leave
taken of me by so many friends at Chester was very endearing. God bless
them and all Pennsylvania.
My dear child, the natural prudence and goodness of heart God has blest
you with make it less necessary for me to be particular in giving you
advice. I shall therefore only say, that the more attentively dutiful
and tender you are towards your good mamma, the more you will recommend
yourself to me. But why should I mention _me_, when you have so much
higher a promise in the commandments, that such conduct will recommend
you to the favour of God. You know I have many enemies, all indeed on
the public account, (for I cannot recollect that I have in a private
capacity given just cause of offence to any one whatever,) yet they are
enemies, and very bitter ones; and you must expect their enmity will
extend in some degree to you, so that your slightest indiscretions will
be magnified into crimes, in order the more sensibly to wound and
afflict me. It is therefore the more necessary for you to be extremely
circumspect in all your behaviour, that no advantage may be given to
their malevolence.
Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the
Common Prayer Book is your principal business there, and if properly
attended to, will do more towards amending the heart than sermons
generally can do. For they were composed by men of much greater piety
and wisdom, than our common composers of sermons can pretend to be; and
therefore I wish you would never miss the prayer days; yet I do not mean
you should despise sermons, even of the preachers you dislike, for the
discourse is often much better than the man, as sweet and clear waters
come through very dirty earth. I am the more particular on this head, as
you seemed to express a little before I came away some inclination to
leave our church, which I would not have you do.
For the rest, I would only recommend to you in my absence, to acquire
those useful accomplishments, arithmetic and bookkeeping. This you might
do with ease, if you would resolve not to see company on the hours you
set apart for those studies.
We expect to be at sea to-morrow, if this wind holds; after which I
shall have no opportunity of writing to you, till I arrive (if it please
God I do arrive) in England. I pray that his blessing may attend you,
which is worth more than a thousand of mine, though they are never
wanting. Give my love to your brother and sister,[67] as I cannot write
to them, and remember me affectionately to the young ladies your
friends, and to our good neighbours. I am, my dear child, your
affectionate father,
B. FRANKLIN.
_From_ A NARRATIVE OF THE LATE MASSACRES
IN LANCASTER COUNTY, OF A NUMBER OF INDIANS, FRIENDS OF THIS PROVINCE,
BY PERSONS UNKNOWN. WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE SAME.[68]
[1764]
... On _Wednesday_, the 14th of _December_, 1763, Fifty-seven Men, from
some of our Frontier Townships, who had projected the Destruction of
this little Commonwealth, came, all well mounted, and armed with
Firelocks, Hangers and Hatchets, having travelled through the Country in
the Night, to _Conestogoe_ Manor. There they surrounded the small
Village of _Indian_ Huts, and just at Break of Day broke into them all
at once. Only three Men, two Women, and a young Boy, were found at home,
the rest being out among the neighbouring White People, some to sell the
Baskets, Brooms and Bowls they manufactured, and others on other
Occasions. These poor defenceless Creatures were immediately fired upon,
stabbed, and hatcheted to Death! The good _Shehaes_, among the rest, cut
to Pieces in his Bed. All of them were scalped and otherwise horribly
mangled. Then their Huts were set on Fire, and most of them burnt down.
When the Troop, pleased with their own Conduct and Bravery, but enraged
that any of the poor _Indians_ had escaped the Massacre, rode off, and
in small Parties, by different Roads, went home.
The universal Concern of the neighbouring White People on hearing of
this Event, and the Lamentations of the younger _Indians_, when they
returned and saw the Desolation, and the butchered half-burnt Bodies of
their murdered Parents and other Relations, cannot well be expressed.
* * * * *
Notwithstanding this Proclamation [by the Governor], those cruel men
again assembled themselves, and hearing that the remaining fourteen
_Indians_ were in the Workhouse at _Lancaster_, they suddenly appeared
in that Town, on the 27th of _December_. Fifty of them, armed as before,
dismounting, went directly to the Workhouse, and by Violence broke open
the Door, and entered with the utmost Fury in their Countenances. When
the poor Wretches saw they had _no Protection_ nigh, nor could possibly
escape, and being without the least Weapon for Defence, they divided
into their little Families, the Children clinging to the Parents; they
fell on their Knees, protested their Innocence, declared their Love to
the _English_, and that, in their whole Lives, they had never done them
Injury; and in this Posture they all received the Hatchet! Men, Women
and little Children were every one inhumanly murdered!--in cold Blood!
The barbarous Men who committed the atrocious Fact, in defiance of
Government, of all Laws human and divine, and to the eternal Disgrace of
their Country and Colour, then mounted their Horses, huzza'd in Triumph,
as if they had gained a Victory, and rode off--_unmolested_!
The Bodies of the Murdered were then brought out and exposed in the
Street, till a Hole could be made in the Earth to receive and cover
them.
But the Wickedness cannot be covered, the Guilt will lie on the whole
Land, till Justice is done on the Murderers. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT
WILL CRY TO HEAVEN FOR VENGEANCE.
* * * * *
If an _Indian_ injures me, does it follow that I may revenge that Injury
on all _Indians_? It is well known, that _Indians_ are of different
Tribes, Nations and Languages, as well as the White People. In _Europe_
if the _French_, who are White People, should injure the _Dutch_, are
they to revenge it on the _English_, because they too are White People?
The only Crime of these poor Wretches seems to have been, that they had
a reddish-brown Skin, and black Hair; and some People of that Sort, it
seems, had murdered some of our Relations. If it be right to kill Men
for such a Reason, then, should any Man, with a freckled Face and red
Hair, kill a Wife or Child of mine, it would be right for me to revenge
it, by killing all the freckled red-haired Men, Women and Children, I
could afterwards anywhere meet with.
But it seems these People think they have a better Justification;
nothing less than the _Word of God_. With the Scriptures in their Hands
and Mouths, they can set at nought that express Command, _Thou shalt do
no Murder_; and justify their Wickedness by the Command given _Joshua_
to destroy the Heathen. Horrid Perversion of Scripture and of Religion!
To father the worst of Crimes on the God of Peace and Love! Even the
_Jews_, to whom that particular Commission was directed, spared the
_Gibeonites_, on Account of their Faith once given. The Faith of this
Government has been frequently given to those _Indians_; but that did
not avail them with People who despise Government.
We pretend to be _Christians_, and, from the superior Light we enjoy,
ought to exceed _Heathens_, _Turks_, _Saracens_, _Moors_, _Negroes_ and
_Indians_, in the Knowledge and Practice of what is right. I will
endeavour to show, by a few Examples from Books and History, the Sense
those People have had of such Actions.
Homer wrote his Poem, called the _Odyssey_, some Hundred Years before
the Birth of Christ. He frequently speaks of what he calls not only _the
Duties_, but _the Sacred Rites of Hospitality_, (exercised towards
Strangers, while in our House or Territory) as including, besides all
the common Circumstances of Entertainment, full Safety and Protection of
Person, from all Danger of Life, from all Injuries, and even Insults.
The Rites of Hospitality were called _sacred_, because the Stranger, the
Poor, and the Weak, when they applied for Protection and Relief, were,
from the Religion of those Times, supposed to be sent by the Deity to
try the Goodness of Men, and that he would avenge the Injuries they
might receive, where they ought to have been protected. These Sentiments
therefore influenced the Manners of all Ranks of People, even the
meanest; for we find that when _Ulysses_ came, as a poor Stranger, to
the Hut of Eumæus, the Swineherd, and his great Dogs ran out to tear the
ragged Man, _Eumæus_ drave them away with Stones; and
"'Unhappy Stranger!' (thus the faithful Swain
Began, with Accent gracious and humane,)
'What Sorrow had been mine, if at _my_ Gate
Thy rev'rend Age had met a shameful Fate!
But enter this my homely Roof, and see
Our Woods not void of Hospitality.'
He said, and seconding the kind Request,
With friendly Step precedes the unknown Guest,
A shaggy Goat's soft Hide beneath him spread,
And with fresh Rushes heap'd an ample Bed.
Joy touch'd the Hero's tender Soul, to find
So just Reception from a Heart so kind:
And [']Oh, ye Gods! with all your Blessings grace'
(He thus broke forth) 'this Friend of human Race![']
The Swain reply'd. [']It never was our guise
To slight the Poor, or aught humane despise.
For Jove unfolds the hospitable Door,
'Tis Jove that sends the Stranger and the Poor.[']"[69]
These Heathen People thought, that after a Breach of the Rites of
Hospitality, a Curse from Heaven would attend them in every thing they
did, and even their honest Industry in their Callings would fail of
Success. Thus when _Ulysses_ tells _Eumæus_, who doubted the Truth of
what he related, "If I deceive you in this, I should deserve Death, and
I consent that you should put me to Death," _Eumæus_ rejects the
Proposal, as what would be attended with both Infamy and Misfortune,
saying ironically,
"Doubtless, O Guest! great Laud and Praise were mine,
If, after social Rites and Gifts bestow'd,
I stain'd my Hospitable Hearth with Blood.
How would the Gods my righteous Toils succeed,
And bless the Hand that made a Stranger bleed?
No more."--
Even an open Enemy, in the Heat of Battle, throwing down his Arms,
submitting to his Foe, and asking Life and Protection, was supposed to
acquire an immediate Right to that Protection. Thus one describes his
being saved, when his Party was defeated;
"We turn'd to Flight; the gath'ring Vengeance spread
On all Parts round, and Heaps on Heaps lie dead.
The radiant Helmet from my Brows unlac'd,
And lo, on Earth my Shield and Javelin cast,
I meet the Monarch with a Suppliant's Face,
Approach his Chariot, and his Knees embrace.
He heard, he sav'd, he plac'd me at his Side;
My State he pity'd, and my Tears he dry'd;
Restrain'd the Rage the vengeful Foe express'd,
And turn'd the deadly Weapons from my Breast.
Pious to guard the Hospitable Rite,
And fearing Jove, whom Mercy's Works delight."
The Suitors of _Penelope_ are by the same ancient Poet described as a
sett of lawless Men, who were _regardless of the sacred Rites of
Hospitality_. And therefore when the Queen was informed they were slain,
and that by _Ulysses_, she, not believing that _Ulysses_ was returned,
says,
"Ah no! some God the Suitors Deaths decreed,
Some God descends, and by his Hand they bleed:
Blind, to contemn the Stranger's righteous Cause,
And violate all hospitable Laws!
... The Powers they defy'd;
But Heav'n is just, and by a God they dy'd."
* * * * *
Now I am about to mention something of _Indians_, I beg that I may not
be understood as framing Apologies for _all Indians_. I am far from
desiring to lessen the laudable Spirit of Resentment in my Countrymen
against those now at War with us, so far as it is justified by their
Perfidy and Inhumanity. I would only observe, that the _Six Nations_, as
a Body, have kept Faith with the _English_ ever since we knew them, now
near an Hundred Years; and that the governing Part of those People have
had Notions of Honour, whatever may be the Case with the Rum-debauched,
Trader-corrupted Vagabonds and Thieves on the _Sasquehannah_ and _Ohio_,
at present in Arms against us.
* * * * *
Unhappy People! to have lived in such Times, and by such Neighbours! We
have seen, that they would have been safer among the ancient _Heathens_,
with whom the Rites of Hospitality were _sacred_. They would have been
considered as _Guests_ of the Publick, and the Religion of the Country
would have operated in their Favour. But our Frontier People call
themselves _Christians_! They would have been safer, if they had
submitted to the _Turks_; for ever since _Mahomet's_ Reproof to
_Khaled_, even the cruel _Turks_ never kill Prisoners in cold Blood.
These were not even Prisoners. But what is the Example of _Turks_ to
Scripture _Christians_? They would have been safer, though they had been
taken in actual War against the _Saracens_, if they had once drank Water
with them. These were not taken in War against us, and have drank with
us, and we with them, for Fourscore Years. But shall we compare
_Saracens_ to _Christians_?
They would have been safer among the _Moors_ in _Spain_, though they had
been Murderers of Sons; if Faith had once been pledged to them, and a
Promise of Protection given. But these have had the Faith of the
_English_ given to them many Times by the Government, and, in Reliance
on that Faith, they lived among us, and gave us the Opportunity of
murdering them. However, what was honourable in _Moors_, may not be a
Rule to us; for we are _Christians_! They would have been safer it seems
among _Popish Spaniards_, even if Enemies, and delivered into their
Hands by a Tempest. These were not Enemies; they were born among us, and
yet we have killed them all. But shall we imitate _idolatrous Papists_,
we that are _enlightened Protestants_? They would have even been safer
among the _Negroes_ of _Africa_, where at least one manly Soul would
have been found, with Sense, Spirit and Humanity enough, to stand in
their Defence. But shall _Whitemen_ and _Christians_ act like a _Pagan
Negroe_? In short it appears, that they would have been safe in any Part
of the known World, except in the Neighbourhood of the CHRISTIAN WHITE
SAVAGES of _Peckstang_ and _Donesgall_!
O, ye unhappy Perpetrators of this horrid Wickedness! reflect a Moment
on the Mischief ye have done, the Disgrace ye have brought on your
Country, on your Religion, and your Bible, on your Families and
Children! Think on the Destruction of your captivated Country-folks (now
among the wild _Indians_) which probably may follow, in Resentment of
your Barbarity! Think on the Wrath of the United _Five Nations_,
hitherto our Friends, but now provoked by your murdering one of their
Tribes, in Danger of becoming our bitter Enemies. Think of the mild and
good Government you have so audaciously insulted; the Laws of your King,
your Country, and your God, that you have broken; the infamous Death
that hangs over your Heads; for Justice, though slow, will come at last.
All good People everywhere detest your Actions. You have imbrued your
Hands in innocent Blood; how will you make them clean? The dying Shrieks
and Groans of the Murdered, will often sound in your Ears: Their
Spectres will sometimes attend you, and affright even your innocent
Children! Fly where you will, your Consciences will go with you. Talking
in your Sleep shall betray you, in the Delirium of a Fever you
yourselves shall make your own Wickedness known.
* * * * *
Let us rouze ourselves, for Shame, and redeem the Honour of our Province
from the Contempt of its Neighbours; let all good Men join heartily and
unanimously in Support of the Laws, and in strengthening the Hands of
Government; that JUSTICE may be done, the Wicked punished, and the
Innocent protected; otherwise we can, as a People, expect no Blessing
from Heaven; there will be no Security for our Persons or Properties;
Anarchy and Confusion will prevail over all; and Violence without
Judgment, dispose of every Thing.
* * * * *
TO THE EDITOR OF A NEWSPAPER
Monday, May 20, [1765].
SIR,
In your Paper of Wednesday last, an ingenious Correspondent that calls
himself THE SPECTATOR, and dates from _Pimlico_, under the Guise of Good
Will to the News-writers, whom he calls an "useful Body of Men in this
great City," has, in my Opinion, artfully attempted to turn them & their
Works into Ridicule, wherein if he could succeed, great Injury might be
done to the Public as well as to those good People.
Supposing, Sir, that the "_We hears_" they give us of this & t'other
intended Voyage or Tour of this & t'other great Personage, were mere
Inventions, yet they at least offer us an innocent Amusement while we
read, and useful Matter of Conversation when we are dispos'd to
converse.
Englishmen, Sir, are too apt to be silent when they have nothing to say;
too apt to be sullen when they are silent; and, when they are sullen, to
hang themselves. But, by these _We hears_, we are supplied with abundant
funds of Discourse, we discuss the Motives for such Voyages, the
Probability of their being undertaken, and the Practicability of their
Execution. Here we display our Judgment in Politics, our Knowledge of
the Interests of Princes, and our Skill in Geography, and (if we have
it) show our Dexterity moreover in Argumentation. In the mean time, the
tedious Hour is kill'd, we go home pleas'd with the Applauses we have
receiv'd from others, or at least with those we secretly give to
ourselves: We sleep soundly, & live on, to the Comfort of our Families.
But, Sir, I beg leave to say, that all the Articles of News that seem
improbable are not mere Inventions. Some of them, I can assure you on
the Faith of a Traveller, are serious Truths. And here, quitting Mr.
Spectator of Pimlico, give me leave to instance the various numberless
Accounts the Newswriters have given us, with so much honest Zeal for the
welfare of _Poor Old England_, of the establishing Manufactures in the
Colonies to the Prejudice of those of this Kingdom. It is objected by
superficial Readers, who yet pretend to some Knowledge of those
Countries, that such Establishments are not only improbable, but
impossible, for that their Sheep have but little Wooll, not in the whole
sufficient for a Pair of Stockings a Year to each Inhabitant; and that,
from the Universal Dearness of Labour among them, the Working of Iron
and other Materials, except in some few coarse Instances, is
impracticable to any Advantage.
Dear Sir, do not let us suffer ourselves to be amus'd with such
groundless Objections. The very Tails of the American Sheep are so laden
with Wooll, that each has a little Car or Waggon on four little Wheels,
to support & keep it from trailing on the Ground.[70] Would they caulk
their Ships, would they fill their Beds, would they even litter their
Horses with Wooll, if it were not both plenty and cheap? And what
signifies Dearness of Labour, when an English Shilling passes for five
and Twenty? Their engaging 300 Silk Throwsters here in one Week, for New
York, was treated as a Fable, because, forsooth, they have "no Silk
there to throw." Those, who made this Objection, perhaps did not know,
that at the same time the Agents from the King of Spain were at Quebec
to contract for 1000 Pieces of Cannon to be made there for the
Fortification of Mexico, and at N York engaging the annual Supply of
woven Floor-Carpets for their West India Houses, other Agents from the
Emperor of China were at Boston treating about an Exchange of raw Silk
for Wooll, to be carried in Chinese Junks through the Straits of
Magellan.
And yet all this is as certainly true, as the Account said to be from
Quebec, in all the Papers of last Week, that the Inhabitants of Canada
are making Preparations for a Cod and Whale Fishery this "Summer in the
upper Lakes." Ignorant People may object that the upper Lakes are fresh,
and that Cod and Whale are Salt Water Fish: But let them know, Sir, that
Cod, like other Fish when attack'd by their Enemies, fly into any Water
where they can be safest; that Whales, when they have a mind to eat Cod,
pursue them wherever they fly; and that the grand Leap of the Whale in
that Chase up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all who have seen it,
as one of the finest Spectacles in Nature. Really, Sir, the World is
grown too incredulous. It is like the Pendulum ever swinging from one
Extream to another. Formerly every thing printed was believed, because
it was in print. Now Things seem to be disbelieved for just the very
same Reason. Wise Men wonder at the present Growth of Infidelity. They
should have consider'd, when they taught People to doubt the Authority
of Newspapers and the Truth of Predictions in Almanacks, that the next
Step might be a Disbelief in the well vouch'd Accts of Ghosts Witches,
and Doubts even of the Truths of the Creed!
Thus much I thought it necessary to say in favour of an honest Set of
Writers, whose comfortable Living depends on collecting & supplying the
Printers with News at the small Price of Sixpence an Article, and who
always show their Regard to Truth, by contradicting in a subsequent
Article such as are wrong,--for another Sixpence,--to the great
Satisfaction & Improvement of us Coffee-house Students in History &
Politics, and the infinite Advantage of all future Livies, Rapins,
Robertsons, Humes, and McAulays, who may be sincerely inclin'd to
furnish the World with that _rara Avis_, a true History.
I am, Sir, your humble Servant,
A TRAVELLER.
TO LORD KAMES
Craven Street, London, June 2, 1765.
MY DEAR LORD,
... In my passage to America I read your excellent work, the _Elements
of Criticism_, in which I found great entertainment: much to admire and
nothing to reprove. I only wished you had examined more fully the
subject of Music, and demonstrated, that the pleasure which artists feel
in hearing much of that composed in the modern taste, is not the natural
pleasure arising from melody or harmony of sounds, but of the same kind
with the pleasure we feel on seeing the surprising feats of tumblers and
rope-dancers, who execute difficult things. For my part I take this to
be really the case, and suppose it is the reason why those, who being
unpractised in music, and therefore unacquainted with those difficulties
have little or no pleasure in hearing this music. Many pieces of it are
mere compositions of tricks. I have sometimes, at a concert, attended by
a common audience, placed myself so as to see all their faces, and
observed no signs of pleasure in them during the performance of a great
part that was admired by the performers themselves; while a plain old
_Scottish tune_, which they disdained, and could scarcely be prevailed
on to play, gave manifest and general delight.
Give me leave on this occasion to extend a little the sense of your
position, that "Melody and Harmony are separately agreeable, and in
union delightful," and to give it as my opinion, that the reason why the
Scotch tunes have lived so long, and will probably live for ever (if
they escape being stifled in modern affected ornament), is merely this,
that they are really compositions of melody and harmony united, or
rather that their melody is harmony. I mean the simple tunes sung by a
single voice. As this will appear paradoxical, I must explain my
meaning. In common acceptation, indeed, only an agreeable _succession_
of sounds is called _Melody_, and only the _co-existence_ of agreeing
sounds, _Harmony_. But, since the memory is capable of retaining for
some moments a perfect idea of the pitch of a past sound, so as to
compare with it the pitch of a succeeding sound, and judge truly of
their agreement or disagreement, there may and does arise from thence a
sense of harmony between the present and past sounds, equally pleasing
with that between two present sounds.
Now the construction of the old Scotch tunes is this, that almost every
succeeding _emphatical_ note is a third, a fifth, an octave, or in short
some note that is in concord with the preceding note. Thirds are chiefly
used, which are very pleasing concords. I use the word _emphatical_ to
distinguish those notes which have a stress laid on them in singing the
tune, from the lighter connecting notes, that serve merely, like grammar
articles, to tack the others together.
That we have a most perfect idea of a sound just past, I might appeal to
all acquainted with music, who know how easy it is to repeat a sound in
the same pitch with one just heard. In tuning an instrument, a good ear
can as easily determine that two strings are in unison by sounding them
separately, as by sounding them together; their disagreement is also as
easily, I believe I may say more easily and better distinguished, when
sounded separately; for when sounded together, though you know by the
beating that one is higher than the other, you cannot tell which it is.
[I have ascribed to memory the ability of comparing the pitch of a
present tone with that of one past. But, if there should be, as possibly
there may be, something in the ear, similar to what we find in the eye,
that ability would not be entirely owing to memory. Possibly the
vibrations given to the auditory nerves by a particular sound may
actually continue some time after the cause of those vibrations is past,
and the agreement or disagreement of a subsequent sound become by
comparison with them more discernible. For the impression made on the
visual nerves by a luminous object will continue for twenty or thirty
seconds. Sitting in a room, look earnestly at the middle of a window a
little while when the day is bright, and then shut your eyes; the figure
of the window will still remain in the eye, and so distinct that you may
count the panes.
A remarkable circumstance attending this experiment, is, that the
impression of forms is better retained than that of colors; for after
the eyes are shut, when you first discern the image of the window, the
panes appear dark, and the cross bars of the sashes, with the window
frames and walls, appear white or bright; but, if you still add to the
darkness in the eyes by covering them with your hand, the reverse
instantly takes place, the panes appear luminous and the cross bars
dark. And by removing the hand they are again reversed. This I know not
how to account for. Nor for the following; that, after looking long
through green spectacles, the white paper of a book will on first taking
them off appear to have a blush of red; and, after long looking through
red glasses, a greenish cast; this seems to intimate a relation between
green and red not yet explained.]
Farther, when we consider by whom these ancient tunes were composed, and
how they were first performed, we shall see that such harmonical
succession of sounds was natural and even necessary in their
construction. They were composed by the minstrels of those days to be
played on the harp accompanied by the voice. The harp was strung with
wire, [which gives a sound of long continuance,] and had no contrivance,
like that in the modern harpsichord, by which the sound of the preceding
could be stoppt, the moment a succeeding note began. To avoid _actual_
discord, it was therefore necessary that the succeeding emphatic note
should be a chord with the preceding, as their sounds must exist at the
same time. Hence arose that beauty in those tunes that has so long
pleased, and will please for ever, though men scarce know why. That they
were originally composed for the harp, and of the most simple kind, I
mean a harp without any half notes but those in the natural scale, and
with no more than two octaves of strings, from C to C, I conjecture from
another circumstance, which is, that not one of those tunes, really
ancient, has a single artificial half note in it, and that in tunes
where it was most convenient for the voice to use the middle notes of
the harp, and place the key in F, there the B, which if used should be a
B flat, is always omitted by passing over it with a third. The
connoisseurs in modern music will say, I have no taste; but I cannot
help adding, that I believe our ancestors, in hearing a good song,
distinctly articulated, sung to one of those tunes, and accompanied by
the harp, felt more real pleasure than is communicated by the generality
of modern operas, exclusive of that arising from the scenery and
dancing. Most tunes of late composition, not having this natural harmony
united with their melody, have recourse to the artificial harmony of a
bass, and other accompanying parts. This support, in my opinion, the old
tunes do not need, and are rather confused than aided by it. Whoever has
heard James Oswald play them on his violoncello, will be less inclined
to dispute this with me. I have more than once seen tears of pleasure in
the eyes of his auditors; and yet, I think, even _his_ playing those
tunes would please more, if he gave them less modern ornament. My son,
when we parted, desired me to present his Affectionate respects to you,
Lady Kames, and your amiable children: be so good with those, to accept
mine, and believe me, with sincerest esteem, my dear Lord, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. I do promise myself the pleasure of seeing you and my other friends
in Scotland, before I return to America.
LETTER CONCERNING THE GRATITUDE OF AMERICA[71]
AND THE PROBABILITY AND EFFECTS OF A UNION WITH GREAT BRITAIN; AND
CONCERNING THE REPEAL OR SUSPENSION OF THE STAMP ACT
[London,] January 6, 1766.
SIR,
I have attentively perused the paper you sent me, and am of opinion,
that the measure it proposes, of an union with the colonies, is a wise
one; but I doubt it will hardly be thought so here, till it is too late
to attempt it. The time has been, when the colonies would have esteemed
it a great advantage, as well as honour to be permitted to send members
to Parliament; and would have asked for that privilege, if they could
have had the least hopes of obtaining it. The time is now come when
they are indifferent about it, and will probably not ask it, though they
might accept it if offered them; and the time will come, when they will
certainly refuse it. But if such an union were now established (which
methinks it highly imports this country to establish) it would probably
subsist as long as Britain shall continue a nation. This people,
however, is too proud, and too much despises the Americans, to bear the
thought of admitting them to such an equitable participation in the
government of the whole.
Then the next best thing seems to be, leaving them in the quiet
enjoyment of their respective constitutions; and when money is wanted
for any public service, in which they ought to bear a part, calling upon
them by requisitorial letters from the crown (according to the
long-established custom) to grant such aids as their loyalty shall
dictate, and their abilities permit. The very sensible and benevolent
author of that paper seems not to have known, that such a constitutional
custom subsists, and has always hitherto been practised in America; or
he would not have expressed himself in this manner; "It is evident,
beyond a doubt, to the intelligent and impartial, that after the very
extraordinary efforts, which were effectually made by Great Britain in
the late war to save the colonists from destruction, and attended of
necessity with an enormous load of debts in consequence, that the same
colonists, now firmly secured from foreign enemies, should be somehow
induced to contribute some proportion towards the exigencies of state in
future." This looks as if he conceived the war had been carried on at
the sole expense of Great Britain, and the colonies only reaped the
benefit, without hitherto sharing the burden, and were therefore now
indebted to Britain on that account. And this is the same kind of
argument that is used by those, who would fix on the colonies the heavy
charge of unreasonableness and ingratitude, which I think your friend
did not intend.
Please to acquaint him, then, that the fact is not so; that, every year
during the war, requisitions were made by the crown on the colonies for
raising money and men; that accordingly they made more extraordinary
efforts, in proportion to their abilities, than Britain did; that they
raised, paid, and clothed, for five or six years, near twenty-five
thousand men, besides providing for other services, as building forts,
equipping guardships, paying transports, &c. And that this was more than
their fair proportion is not merely an opinion of mine, but was the
judgment of government here, in full knowledge of all the facts; for the
then ministry, to make the burthen more equal, recommended the case to
Parliament, and obtained a reimbursement to the Americans of about two
hundred thousand pounds sterling every year; which amounted only to
about two fifths of their expense; and great part of the rest lies still
a load of debt upon them; heavy taxes on all their estates, real and
personal, being laid by acts of their assemblies to discharge it, and
yet will not discharge it in many years.
While, then, these burdens continue; while Britain restrains the
colonies in every branch of commerce and manufactures that she thinks
interferes with her own; while she drains the colonies, by her trade
with them, of all the cash they can procure by every art and industry in
any part of the world, and thus keeps them always in her debt; (for they
can make no law to discourage the importation of your to _them_ ruinous
superfluities, as _you_ do the superfluities of France; since such a law
would immediately be reported against by your Board of Trade, and
repealed by the crown;) I say, while these circumstances continue, and
while there subsists the established method of royal requisitions for
raising money on them by their own assemblies on every proper occasion;
can it be necessary or prudent to distress and vex them by taxes laid
here, in a Parliament wherein they have no representative, and in a
manner which they look upon to be unconstitutional and subversive of
their most valuable rights? And are they to be thought unreasonable and
ungrateful if they oppose such taxes?
Wherewith, they say, shall we show our loyalty to our gracious King, if
our money is to be given by others, without asking our consent? And, if
the Parliament has a right thus to take from us a penny in the pound,
where is the line drawn that bounds that right, and what shall hinder
their calling, whenever they please, for the other nineteen shillings
and eleven pence? Have we then any thing that we can call our own? It is
more than probable, that bringing representatives from the colonies to
sit and act here as members of Parliament, thus uniting and
consolidating your dominions, would in a little time remove these
objections and difficulties, and make the future government of the
colonies easy; but, till some such thing is done, I apprehend no taxes,
laid there by Parliament here, will ever be collected, but such as must
be stained with blood; and I am sure the profit of such taxes will never
answer the expense of collecting them, and that the respect and
affection of the Americans to this country will in the struggle be
totally lost, perhaps never to be recovered; and therewith all the
commercial and political advantages, that might have attended the
continuance of this respect and this affection.
In my own private judgment, I think an immediate repeal of the Stamp Act
would be the best measure for this country; but a suspension of it for
three years, the best for that. The repeal would fill them with joy and
gratitude, reëstablish their respect and veneration for Parliament,
restore at once their ancient and natural love for this country, and
their regard for every thing that comes from it; hence the trade would
be renewed in all its branches; they would again indulge in all the
expensive superfluities you supply them with, and their own new-assumed
home industry would languish. But the suspension, though it might
continue their fears and anxieties, would at the same time keep up their
resolutions of industry and frugality; which in two or three years would
grow into habits, to their lasting advantage. However, as the repeal
will probably not be now agreed to, from what I think a mistaken
opinion, that the honour and dignity of government is better supported
by persisting in a wrong measure once entered into, than by rectifying
an error as soon as it is discovered; we must allow the next best thing
for the advantage of both countries, is the suspension; for, as to
executing the act by force, it is madness, and will be ruin to the
whole.
The rest of your friend's reasonings and propositions appear to me truly
just and judicious. I will therefore only add, that I am as desirous of
his acquaintance and intimacy, as he was of my opinion.
I am, with much esteem,
Your obliged friend,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO LORD KAMES
London, April 11, 1767.
MY DEAR LORD,--
I received your obliging favour of January the 19th. You have kindly
relieved me from the pain I had long been under. You are goodness
itself. I ought to have answered yours of December 25, 1765. I never
received a letter that contained sentiments more suitable to my own. It
found me under much agitation of mind on the very important subject it
treated. It fortified me greatly in the judgment I was inclined to form
(though contrary to the general vogue) on the then delicate and critical
situation of affairs between Great Britain and her Colonies, and on that
weighty point, their _Union_. You guessed aright in supposing that I
would not be a _mute in that play_. I was extremely busy, attending
Members of both Houses, informing, explaining, consulting, disputing, in
a continual hurry from morning to night, till the affair was happily
ended. During the course of it, being called before the House of
Commons, I spoke my mind pretty freely. Inclosed I send you the
imperfect account that was taken of that examination. You will there see
how entirely we agree, except in a point of fact, of which you could not
but be misinformed; the papers at that time being full of mistaken
assertions, that the colonies had been the cause of the war, and had
ungratefully refused to bear any part of the expence of it.
I send it you now, because I apprehend some late incidents are likely to
revive the contest between the two countries. I fear it will be a
mischievous one. It becomes a matter of great importance that clear
ideas should be formed on solid principles, both in Britain and America,
of the true political relation between them, and the mutual duties
belonging to that relation. Till this is done, they will be often
jarring. I know none whose knowledge, sagacity and impartiality qualify
him so thoroughly for such a service, as yours do you. I wish therefore
you would consider it. You may thereby be the happy instrument of great
good to the nation, and of preventing much mischief and bloodshed. I am
fully persuaded with you, that a _Consolidating Union_, by a fair and
equal representation of all the parts of this empire in Parliament, is
the only firm basis on which its political grandeur and prosperity can
be founded. Ireland once wished it, but now rejects it. The time has
been, when the colonies might have been pleased with it: they are now
_indifferent_ about it; and if it is much longer delayed, they too will
_refuse_ it. But the pride of this people cannot bear the thought of it,
and therefore it will be delayed. Every man in England seems to consider
himself as a piece of a sovereign over America; seems to jostle himself
into the throne with the King, and talks of _our subjects in the
Colonies_. The Parliament cannot well and wisely make laws suited to the
Colonies, without being properly and truly informed of their
circumstances, abilities, temper, &c. This it cannot be, without
representatives from thence: and yet it is fond of this power, and
averse to the only means of acquiring the necessary knowledge for
exercising it; which is desiring to be _omnipotent_, without being
_omniscient_.
I have mentioned that the contest is likely to be revived. It is on this
occasion. In the same session with the stamp act, an act was passed to
regulate the quartering of soldiers in America; when the bill was first
brought in, it contained a clause, empowering the officers to quarter
their soldiers in private houses: this we warmly opposed, and got it
omitted. The bill passed, however, with a clause, that empty houses,
barns, &c., should be hired for them, and that the respective provinces
where they were should pay the expence and furnish firing, bedding,
drink, and some other articles to the soldiers _gratis_. There is no way
for any province to do this, but by the Assembly's making a law to
raise the money. The Pennsylvanian Assembly has made such a law: the New
York Assembly has refused to do it: and now all the talk here is of
sending a force to compel them.
The reasons given by the Assembly to the Governor, for the refusal, are,
that they understand the act to mean the furnishing such things to
soldiers, only while on their march through the country, and not to
great bodies of soldiers, to be fixt as at present, in the province; the
burthen in the latter case being greater than the inhabitants can bear:
That it would put it in the power of the Captain-General to oppress the
province at pleasure, &c. But there is supposed to be another reason at
bottom, which they intimate, though they do not plainly express it; to
wit, that it is of the nature of an _internal tax_ laid on them by
Parliament, which has no right so to do. Their refusal is here called
_Rebellion_, and punishment is thought of.
Now waving that point of right, and supposing the Legislatures in
America subordinate to the Legislature of Great Britain, one might
conceive, I think, a power in the superior Legislature to forbid the
inferior Legislatures making particular laws; but to enjoin it to make a
particular law contrary to its own judgment, seems improper; an Assembly
or Parliament not being an _executive_ officer of Government, whose duty
it is, in law-making, to obey orders, but a _deliberative_ body, who are
to consider what comes before them, its propriety, practicability, or
possibility, and to determine accordingly: The very nature of a
Parliament seems to be destroyed, by supposing it may be bound, and
compelled by a law of a superior Parliament, to make a law contrary to
its own judgment.
Indeed, the act of Parliament in question has not, as in other acts,
when a duty is enjoined, directed a penalty on neglect or refusal, and a
mode of recovering that penalty. It seems, therefore, to the people in
America as a mere requisition, which they are at liberty to comply with
or not, as it may suit or not suit the different circumstances of
different provinces. Pennsylvania has therefore voluntarily complied.
New York, as I said before, has refused. The Ministry that made the act,
and all their adherents, call for vengeance. The present Ministry are
perplext, and the measures they will finally take on the occasion, are
yet unknown. But sure I am, that, if _Force_ is used, great mischief
will ensue; the affections of the people of America to this country will
be alienated; your commerce will be diminished; and a total separation
of interests be the final consequence.
It is a common, but mistaken notion here, that the Colonies were planted
at the expence of Parliament, and that therefore the Parliament has a
right to tax them, &c. The truth is, they were planted at the expence of
private adventurers, who went over there to settle, with leave of the
King, given by charter. On receiving this leave, and those charters, the
adventurers voluntarily engaged to remain the King's subjects, though in
a foreign country; a country which had not been conquered by either King
or Parliament, but was possessed by a free people.
When our planters arrived, they purchased the lands of the natives,
without putting King or Parliament to any expence. Parliament had no
hand in their settlement, was never so much as consulted about their
constitution, and took no kind of notice of them, till many years after
they were established. I except only the two modern Colonies, or rather
attempts to make Colonies, (for they succeed but poorly, and as yet
hardly deserve the name of Colonies), I mean Georgia and Nova Scotia,
which have hitherto been little better than Parliamentary jobs. Thus all
the colonies acknowledge the King as their sovereign; his Governors
there represent his person: Laws are made by their Assemblies or little
Parliaments, with the Governor's assent, subject still to the King's
pleasure to confirm or annul them: Suits arising in the Colonies, and
differences between Colony and Colony, are determined by the King in
Council. In this view, they seem so many separate little states, subject
to the same Prince. The _sovereignty of the_ King is therefore easily
understood. But nothing is more common here than to talk of the
_sovereignty_ of PARLIAMENT, and the _sovereignty of_ THIS NATION over
the Colonies; a kind of sovereignty, the idea of which is not so clear,
nor does it clearly appear on what foundation it is established. On the
other hand, it seems necessary for the common good of the empire, that
a power be lodged somewhere, to regulate its general commerce: this can
be placed nowhere so properly as in the Parliament of Great Britain; and
therefore, though that power has in some instances been executed with
great partiality to Britain, and prejudice to the Colonies, they have
nevertheless always submitted to it. Custom-houses are established in
all of them, by virtue of laws made here, and the duties constantly
paid, except by a few smugglers, such as are here and in all countries;
but internal taxes laid on them by Parliament, are still and ever will
be objected to, for the reasons that you will see in the mentioned
Examination.
Upon the whole, I have lived so great a part of my life in Britain, and
have formed so many friendships in it, that I love it, and sincerely
wish it prosperity; and therefore wish to see that Union, on which alone
I think it can be secured and established. As to America, the advantages
of such a union to her are not so apparent. She may suffer at present
under the arbitrary power of this country; she may suffer for a while in
a separation from it; but these are temporary evils that she will
outgrow. Scotland and Ireland are differently circumstanced. Confined by
the sea, they can scarcely increase in numbers, wealth and strength, so
as to overbalance England. But America, an immense territory, favoured
by Nature with all advantages of climate, soil, great navigable rivers,
and lakes, &c. must become a great country, populous and mighty; and
will, in a less time than is generally conceived, be able to shake off
any shackles that may be imposed on her, and perhaps place them on the
imposers. In the mean time, every act of oppression will sour their
tempers, lessen greatly, if not annihilate the profits of your commerce
with them, and hasten their final revolt; for the seeds of liberty are
universally found there, and nothing can eradicate them. And yet, there
remains among that people, so much respect, veneration and affection for
Britain, that, if cultivated prudently, with kind usage, and tenderness
for their privileges, they might be easily governed still for ages,
without force, or any considerable expence. But I do not see here a
sufficient quantity of the wisdom, that is necessary to produce such a
conduct, and I lament the want of it.
I borrowed at Millar's the new edition of your _Principles of Equity_,
and have read with great pleasure the preliminary discourse on the
Principles of Morality. I have never before met with any thing so
satisfactory on the subject. While reading it, I made a few remarks as I
went along. They are not of much importance, but I send you the paper.
I know the lady you mention; having, when in England before, met her
once or twice at Lord Bath's. I remember I then entertained the same
opinion of her that you express. On the strength of your kind
recommendation, I purpose soon to wait on her.
This is unexpectedly grown a long letter. The visit to Scotland, and the
_Art of Virtue_, we will talk of hereafter. It is now time to say, that
I am, with increasing esteem and affection, my dear friend, yours
ever,[72]
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MISS MARY STEVENSON
Paris, Sept. 14, 1767.
DEAR POLLY,
I am always pleas'd with a Letter from you, and I flatter myself you may
be sometimes pleas'd in receiving one from me, tho' it should be of
little Importance, such as this, which is to consist of a few occasional
Remarks made here, and in my Journey hither.
Soon after I left you in that agreable Society at Bromley, I took the
Resolution of making a Trip with Sir John Pringle[73] into France. We
set out the 28th past. All the way to Dover we were furnished with
PostChaises, hung so as to lean forward, the Top coming down over one's
Eyes, like a Hood, as if to prevent one's seeing the Country; which
being one of my great Pleasures, I was engag'd in perpetual Disputes
with the Innkeepers, Hostlers, and Postilions, about getting the Straps
taken up a Hole or two before, and let down as much behind, they
insisting that the Chaise leaning forward was an Ease to the Horses, and
that the contrary would kill them. I suppose the chaise leaning forward
looks to them like a Willingness to go forward, and that its hanging
back shows a Reluctance. They added other Reasons, that were no Reasons
at all, and made me, as upon a 100 other Occasions, almost wish that
Mankind had never been endow'd with a reasoning Faculty, since they know
so little how to make use of it, and so often mislead themselves by it,
and that they had been furnish'd with a good sensible Instinct instead
of it.
At Dover, the next Morning, we embark'd for Calais with a Number of
Passengers, who had never been before at sea. They would previously make
a hearty Breakfast, because, if the Wind should fail, we might not get
over till Supper time. Doubtless they thought that when they had paid
for their Breakfast, they had a Right to it, and that, when they had
swallowed it they were sure of it. But they had scarce been out half an
Hour, before the Sea laid Claim to it, and they were oblig'd to deliver
it up. So it seems there are Uncertainties, even beyond those between
the Cup and the Lip. If ever you go to Sea, take my Advice, and live
sparingly a Day or two beforehand. The Sickness, if any, will be lighter
and sooner over. We got to Calais that Evening.
Various Impositions we suffer'd from Boatmen, Porters, &c. on both Sides
the Water. I know not which are most rapacious, the English or French,
but the latter have, with their Knavery, the most Politeness.
The Roads we found equally good with ours in England, in some Places
pav'd with smooth Stone, like our new Streets, for many Miles together,
and Rows of Trees on each Side, and yet there are no Turnpikes. But then
the poor Peasants complain'd to us grievously, that they were oblig'd to
work upon the Roads full two Months in the Year, without being paid for
their Labour. Whether this is Truth, or whether, like Englishmen, they
grumble Cause or no Cause, I have not yet been able fully to inform
myself.
The Women we saw at Calais, on the Road, at Bouloigne, and in the Inns
and Villages, were generally of dark Complexions; but arriving at
Abbeville we found a sudden Change, a Multitude of both Women and Men in
that Place appearing remarkably fair. Whether this is owing to a small
Colony of Spinners, Wool-combers, and Weavers, brought hither from
Holland with the Woollen Manufacture about 60 Years ago; or to their
being less expos'd to the Sun, than in other Places, their Business
keeping them much within Doors, I know not. Perhaps as in some other
Cases, different Causes may club in producing the Effect, but the Effect
itself is certain. Never was I in a Place of greater Industry, Wheels
and Looms going in every House.
As soon as we left Abbeville, the Swarthiness return'd. I speak
generally, for here are some fair Women at Paris, who I think are not
whiten'd by Art. As to Rouge, they don't pretend to imitate Nature in
laying it on. There is no gradual Diminution of the Colour, from the
full Bloom in the Middle of the Cheek to the faint Tint near the Sides,
nor does it show itself differently in different Faces. I have not had
the Honour of being at any Lady's Toylette to see how it is laid on, but
I fancy I can tell you how it is or may be done. Cut a Hole of 3 Inches
Diameter in a Piece of Paper; place it on the Side of your Face in such
a Manner as that the Top of the Hole may be just under your Eye; then
with a Brush dipt in the Colour, paint Face and Paper together; so when
the Paper is taken off there will remain a round Patch of Red exactly
the Form of the Hole. This is the Mode, from the Actresses on the Stage
upwards thro' all Ranks of Ladies to the Princesses of the Blood, but it
stops there, the Queen not using it, having in the Serenity,
Complacence, and Benignity that shine so eminently in, or rather through
her Countenance, sufficient Beauty, tho' now an old Woman, to do
extreamly well without it.
You see I speak of the Queen as if I had seen her, and so I have; for
you must know I have been at Court. We went to Versailles last Sunday,
and had the Honour of being presented to the King; he spoke to both of
us very graciously and chearfully, is a handsome Man, has a very lively
Look, and appears younger than he is. In the Evening we were at the
_Grand Couvert_, where the Family sup in Publick. The Form of their
Sitting at the Table was this: The table was as you see half a Hollow
Square, the Service Gold. When either made a Sign for Drink, the Word
was given by one of the Waiters; _A boire pour le Roy_, or, _A boire
pour la Reine_. Then two persons within the Square approach'd, one with
Wine[,] the other with Water in _Caraffes_; each drank a little Glass of
what he brought, and then put both the _Caraffes_ with a Glass on a
Salver, and presented it. Their Distance from each other was such, as
that other Chairs might have been plac'd between any two of them. An
Officer of the Court brought us up thro' the Crowd of Spectators, and
plac'd Sir John so as to stand between the King and Madame Adelaide, and
me between the Queen and Madame Victoire. The King talk'd a good deal to
Sir John, asking many Questions about our Royal Family; and did me too
the Honour of taking some Notice of me; that's saying enough, for I
would not have you think me so much pleas'd with this King and Queen, as
to have a Whit less regard than I us'd to have for ours. No Frenchman
shall go beyond me in thinking my own King and Queen the very best in
the World, and the most amiable.
[Illustration: **table seating plan**
MAD. LOUISE MAD. SOPHIE
WAITERS
MAD. VICTOIRE MAD. ADELAIDE
THE QUEEN THE KING]
Versailles has had infinite Sums laid out in building it and supplying
it with Water. Some say the Expences exceeded 80 Millions Sterling. The
Range of Building is immense; the Garden-Front most magnificent, all of
hewn Stone; the Number of Statues, Figures, Urns, &c., in Marble and
Bronze of exquisite Workmanship, is beyond Conception. But the
Waterworks are out of Repair, and so is great Part of the Front next the
Town, looking with its shabby half-Brick Walls, and broken Windows, not
much better than the Houses in Durham Yard. There is, in short, both at
Versailles and Paris, a prodigious Mixture of Magnificence and
Negligence, with every kind of Elegance except that of Cleanliness, and
what we call _Tidyness_. Tho' I must do Paris the Justice to say, that
in two Points of Cleanliness they exceed us. The Water they drink, tho'
from the River, they render as pure as that of the best Spring, by
filtring it thro' Cisterns fill'd with Sand; and the Streets by constant
Sweeping are fit to walk in, tho' there is no pav'd footPath.
Accordingly, many well-dress'd People are constantly seen walking in
them. The Crowds of Coaches and Chairs for this Reason is not so great.
Men, as well as Women, carry Umbrellas in their Hands, which they extend
in case of Rain or two [_sic_] much sun; and a Man with an Umbrella not
taking up more than 3 foot square, or 9 square feet of the Street, when,
if in a Coach, he would take up 240 square feet, you can easily conceive
that tho' the Streets here are narrower they may be much less
encumber'd. They are extreamly well pav'd, and the Stones, being
generally Cubes, when worn on one Side, may be turn'd and become new.
The Civilities we everywhere receive give us the strongest Impressions
of the French Politeness. It seems to be a Point settled here
universally, that Strangers are to be treated with Respect; and one has
just the same Deference shewn one here by being a Stranger, as in
England by being a Lady. The Customhouse Officers at Port St. Denis, as
we enter'd Paris, were about to seize 2 doz of excellent Bordeaux Wine
given us at Boulogne, and which we brought with us; but, as soon as they
found we were Strangers, it was immediately remitted on that Account. At
the Church of Notre Dame, where we went to see a magnificent
Illumination, with Figures, &c., for the deceas'd Dauphiness, we found
an immense Crowd, who were kept out by Guards; but, the Officer being
told that we were Strangers from England, he immediately admitted us,
accompanied and show'd us every thing. Why don't we practise this
Urbanity to Frenchmen? Why should they be allowed to outdo us in any
thing?
Here is an Exhibition of Paintings like ours in London, to which
Multitudes flock daily. I am not Connoisseur enough to judge which has
most Merit. Every Night, Sundays not excepted here are Plays or Operas;
and tho' the Weather has been hot, and the Houses full, one is not
incommoded by the Heat so much as with us in Winter. They must have some
Way of changing the Air, that we are not acquainted with. I shall
enquire into it.
Travelling is one Way of lengthening Life, at least in Appearance. It is
but about a Fortnight since we left London, but the Variety of Scenes we
have gone through makes it seem equal to Six Months living in one Place.
Perhaps I have suffered a greater Change, too, in my own Person, than I
could have done in Six Years at home. I had not been here Six Days,
before my Taylor and Perruquier had transform'd me into a Frenchman.
Only think what a Figure I make in a little Bag-Wig and naked Ears! They
told me I was become 20 Years younger, and look'd very galante;
So being in Paris where the Mode is to be sacredly follow'd I was once
very near making Love to my Friend's Wife.
This Letter shall cost you a Shilling, and you may consider it cheap,
when you reflect, that it has cost me at least 50 Guineas to get into
the Situation, that enables me to write it. Besides, I might, if I had
staied at home, have won perhaps two Shillings of you at Cribbidge. By
the Way, now I mention Cards, let me tell you that Quadrille is quite
out of Fashion here, and English Whisk all the Mode at Paris and the
Court.
And pray look upon it as no small Matter, that surrounded as I am by the
Glories of this World, and Amusements of all Sorts, I remember you and
Dolly and all the dear good Folks at Bromley. 'Tis true, I can't help
it, but must and ever shall remember you all with Pleasure.
Need I add, that I am particularly, my dear good Friend, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
ON THE LABOURING POOR
[From the _Gentleman's Magazine_, April, 1768.]
SIR,
I have met with much invective in the papers, for these two years past,
against the hard-heartedness of the rich, and much complaint of the
great oppressions suffered in this country by the labouring poor. Will
you admit a word or two on the other side of the question? I do not
propose to be an advocate for oppression or oppressors. But when I see
that the poor are, by such writings, exasperated against the rich, and
excited to insurrections, by which much mischief is done, and some
forfeit their lives, I could wish the true state of things were better
understood, the poor not made by these busy writers more uneasy and
unhappy than their situation subjects them to be, and the nation not
brought into disrepute among foreigners, by public groundless
accusations of ourselves, as if the rich in England had no compassion
for the poor, and Englishmen wanted common humanity.
In justice, then to this country, give me leave to remark, that the
condition of the poor here is, by far, the best in Europe, for that,
except in England and her American colonies, there is not in any country
of the known world, not even in Scotland or Ireland, a provision by law
to enforce a support of the poor. Everywhere else necessity reduces to
beggary. This law was not made by the poor. The legislators were men of
fortune. By that act they voluntarily subjected their own estates, and
the estates of all others, to the payment of a tax for the maintenance
of the poor, incumbering those estates with a kind of rent-charge for
that purpose, whereby the poor are vested with an inheritance, as it
were, in all the estates of the rich. I wish they were benefited by this
generous provision in any degree equal to the good intention, with which
it was made, and is continued: But I fear the giving mankind a
dependance on any thing for support, in age or sickness, besides
industry and frugality during youth and health, tends to flatter our
natural indolence, to encourage idleness and prodigality, and thereby to
promote and increase poverty, the very evil it was intended to cure;
thus multiplying beggars instead of diminishing them.
Besides this tax, which the rich in England have subjected themselves
to, in behalf of the poor, amounting in some places to five or six
shillings in the pound, of the annual income, they have, by donations
and subscriptions, erected numerous schools in various parts of the
kingdom, for educating gratis the children of the poor in reading and
writing, and in many of those schools the children are also fed and
cloathed. They have erected hospitals at an immense expence for the
reception and cure of the sick, the lame, the wounded, and the insane
poor, for lying-in women, and deserted children. They are also
continually contributing towards making up losses occasioned by fire, by
storms, or by floods, and to relieve the poor in severe seasons of
frost, in times of scarcity, &c., in which benevolent and charitable
contributions no nation exceeds us. Surely, there is some gratitude due
for so many instances of goodness.
Add to this all the laws made to discourage foreign manufactures, by
laying heavy duties on them, or totally prohibiting them, whereby the
rich are obliged to pay much higher prices for what they wear and
consume, than if the trade was open: These are so many laws for the
support of our labouring poor, made by the rich, and continued at their
expence; all the difference of price, between our own and foreign
commodities, being so much given by our rich to our poor; who would
indeed be enabled by it to get by degrees above poverty, if they did
not, as too generally they do, consider every encrease of wages, only as
something that enables them to drink more and work less; so that their
distress in sickness, age, or times of scarcity, continues to be the
same as if such laws had never been made in their favour.
Much malignant censure have some writers bestowed upon the rich for
their luxury and expensive living, while the poor are starving, &c.;
not considering that what the rich expend, the labouring poor receive in
payment for their labour. It may seem a paradox if I should assert, that
our labouring poor do in every year receive _the whole revenue of the
nation_; I mean not only the public revenue, but also the revenue or
clear income of all private estates, or a sum equivalent to the whole.
In support of this position I reason thus. The rich do not work for one
another. Their habitations, furniture, cloathing, carriages, food,
ornaments, and every thing in short, that they or their families use and
consume, is the work or produce of the labouring poor, who are, and must
be continually, paid for their labour in producing the same. In these
payments the revenues of private estates are expended, for most people
live up to their incomes. In cloathing or provision for troops, in arms,
ammunition, ships, tents, carriages, &c., &c., (every particular the
produce of labour,) much of the public revenue is expended. The pay of
officers, civil and military, and of the private soldiers and sailors,
requires the rest; and they spend that also in paying for what is
produced by the labouring poor.
I allow that some estates may increase by the owners spending less than
their income; but then I conceive that other estates do at the same time
diminish by the owners spending more than their income, so that when the
enriched want to buy more land, they easily find lands in the hands of
the impoverished, whose necessities oblige them to sell; and thus this
difference is equalled. I allow also, that part of the expence of the
rich is in foreign produce or manufactures, for producing which the
labouring poor of other nations must be paid; but then I say, we must
first pay our own labouring poor for an equal quantity of our
manufactures or produce, to exchange for those foreign productions, or
we must pay for them in money, which money, not being the natural
produce of our country, must first be purchased from abroad, by sending
out its value in the produce or manufactures of this country, for which
manufactures our labouring poor are to be paid. And indeed, if we did
not export more than we import, we could have no money at all. I allow
farther, that there are middle men, who make a profit, and even get
estates, by purchasing the labour of the poor, and selling it at
advanced prices to the rich; but then they cannot enjoy that profit, or
the income of estates, but by spending them in employing and paying our
labouring poor, in some shape or other, for the products of industry.
Even beggars, pensioners, hospitals, and all that are supported by
charity, spend their incomes in the same manner. So that finally, as I
said at first, _our labouring poor receive annually the whole of the
clear revenues of the nation_, and from us they can have no more.
If it be said that their wages are too low, and that they ought to be
better paid for their labour, I heartily wish any means could be fallen
upon to do it, consistent with their interest and happiness; but, as the
cheapness of other things is owing to the plenty of those things, so the
cheapness of labour is in most cases owing to the multitude of
labourers, and to their under-working one another in order to obtain
employment. How is this to be remedied? A law might be made to raise
their wages; but, if our manufactures are too dear, they will not vend
abroad, and all that part of employment will fail, unless by fighting
and conquering we compel other nations to buy our goods, whether they
will or no, which some have been mad enough at times to propose.
Among ourselves, unless we give our working people less employment, how
can we, for what they do, pay them higher than we do? Out of what fund
is the additional price of labour to be paid, when all our present
incomes are, as it were, mortgaged to them? Should they get higher
wages, would that make them less poor, if, in consequence, they worked
fewer days of the week proportionably? I have said, a law might be made
to raise their wages; but I doubt much whether it could be executed to
any purpose, unless another law, now indeed almost obsolete, could at
the same time be revived and enforced; a law, I mean, that many have
often heard and repeated, but few have ever duly considered. SIX _days
shalt thou labour_. This is as positive a part of the commandment, as
that which says, _The_ SEVENTH _day thou shalt rest_. But we remember
well to observe the indulgent part, and never think of the other.
_Saint Monday_ is generally as duly kept by our working people as
_Sunday_; the only difference is, that, instead of employing their time
cheaply at church, they are wasting it expensively at the alehouse.
I am, Sir, &c.
MEDIUS.
TO DUPONT DE NEMOURS[74]
London, July 28, 1768.
I received your obliging letter of the 10th May, with the most
acceptable present of your _Physiocratie_, which I have read with great
pleasure, and received from it a great deal of instruction. There is
such a freedom from local and national prejudices and partialities, so
much benevolence to mankind in general, so much goodness mixt with the
wisdom, in the principles of your new philosophy, that I am perfectly
charmed with them, and wish I could have stayed in France for some time,
to have studied in your school, that I might by conversing with its
founders have made myself quite a master of that philosophy.... I had,
before I went into your country, seen some letters of yours to Dr.
Templeman, that gave me a high opinion of the doctrines you are engaged
in cultivating and of your personal talents and abilities, which made me
greatly desirous of seeing you. Since I had not that good fortune, the
next best thing is the advantage you are so good to offer me of your
correspondence, which I shall ever highly value, and endeavour to
cultivate with all the diligence I am capable of.
I am sorry to find that that wisdom which sees the welfare of the parts
in the prosperity of the whole, seems yet not to be known in this
country.... We are so far from conceiving that what is best for mankind,
or even for Europe in general, may be best for us, that we are even
studying to establish and extend a separate interest of Britain, to the
prejudice of even Ireland and our colonies.... It is from your
philosophy only that the maxims of a contrary and more happy conduct are
to be drawn, which I therefore sincerely wish may grow and increase till
it becomes the governing philosophy of the human species, as it must be
that of superior beings in better worlds. I will take the liberty of
sending you a little fragment that has some tincture of it, which, on
that account, I hope may be acceptable.
Be so good as to present my sincere respect to that venerable apostle,
Dr. Quesnay, and to the illustrious Ami des Hommes (of whose civilities
to me at Paris I retain a grateful remembrance), and believe me to be,
with real and very great esteem Sir,
Your obliged and most obedient humble servant
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JOHN ALLEYNE[75]
Craven Street, [August 9, 1768].
DEAR SIR
You made an Apology to me for not acquaint^g me sooner with your
Marriage. I ought now to make an Apology to you for delaying so long the
Answer to your Letter. It was mislaid or hid among my Papers and much
Business put it out of my Mind, or prevented my looking for it and
writing when I thought of it. So this Account between us if you please
may stand balanced. I assure you it gave me great Pleasure to hear you
were married, and into a Family of Reputation. This I learnt from the
Public Papers. The Character you give me of your Bride (as it includes
every Qualification that in the married State conduces to mutual
Happiness) is an Addition to that Pleasure. Had you consulted me, as a
Friend, on the Occasion, Youth on both sides I should not have thought
any Objection. Indeed, from the matches that have fallen under my
Observation, I am rather inclin'd to think, that early ones stand the
best Chance for Happiness. The Tempers and habits of young People are
not yet become so stiff and uncomplying, as when more advanced in Life;
they form more easily to each other, and hence many Occasions of Disgust
are removed. And if Youth has less of that Prudence, that is necessary
to conduct a Family, yet the Parents and elder Friends of young married
Persons are generally at hand to afford their Advice, which amply
supplies that Defect; and, by early Marriage, Youth is sooner form'd to
regular and useful Life; and possibly some of those Accidents, Habits or
Connections, that might have injured either the Constitution, or the
Reputation, or both, are thereby happily prevented.
Particular Circumstances of particular Persons may possibly sometimes
make it prudent to delay entering into that State; but in general, when
Nature has render'd our Bodies fit for it, the Presumption is in
Nature's Favour, that she has not judg'd amiss in making us desire it.
Late Marriages are often attended, too, with this further Inconvenience,
that there is not the same Chance the parents shall live to see their
offspring educated. "_Late Children_," says the Spanish Proverb, "_are
early Orphans_." A melancholy Reflection to those, whose Case it may be!
With us in America, Marriages are generally in the Morning of Life; our
Children are therefore educated and settled in the World by Noon; and
thus, our Business being done, we have an Afternoon and Evening of
chearful Leisure to ourselves; such as your Friend at present enjoys. By
these early Marriages we are blest with more Children; and from the Mode
among us, founded in Nature, of every Mother suckling and nursing her
own Child, more of them are raised. Thence the swift Progress of
Population among us, unparallel'd in Europe.
In fine, I am glad you are married, and congratulate you most cordially
upon it. You are now more in the way of becoming a useful Citizen; and
you have escap'd the unnatural State of Celibacy for Life, the Fate of
many here, who never intended it, but who, having too long postpon'd the
Change of their Condition, find at length, that 'tis too late to think
of it, and so live all their Lives in a Situation that greatly lessens a
Man's Value. An odd Volume of a Set of Books you know is not worth its
proportion of the Set, and what think you of the Usefulness of an odd
Half of a Pair of Scissors? It cannot well cut any thing. It may
possibly serve to scrape a Trencher.
Pray make my Compliments and best Wishes acceptable to your Spouse. I am
old and heavy and grow a little indolent, or I should ere this have
presented them in Person. I shall make but small Use of the old Man's
Privilege, that of giving Advice to younger Friends. Treat your Wife
always with Respect; it will procure Respect to you, not from her only
but from all that observe it. Never use a slighting Expression to her,
even in jest, for Slights in Jest, after frequent bandyings, are apt to
end in angry earnest. Be studious in your Profession, and you will be
learned. Be industrious and frugal, and you will be rich. Be sober and
temperate, and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous, and you will
be happy. At least, you will, by such Conduct, stand the best Chance for
such Consequences. I pray God to bless you both; being ever your
affectionate Friend,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO THE PRINTER OF THE LONDON CHRONICLE[76]
August 18, 1768.
QUERIES, _recommended to the Consideration of those Gentlemen who are
for vigorous measures with the Americans._
1. Have the Colonists _refused_ to answer any reasonable requisitions
made to their _Assemblies_ by the mother country?
2. If they have _not refused_ to grant reasonable aids in the way, which
they think consistent with _liberty_, why must they be stripped of their
property without their own _consent_, and in a way, which they think
_inconsistent_ with liberty?
3. What is it for a people to be _enslaved_ and _tributary_, if this be
not, viz. to be _forced_ to give up their property at the arbitrary
pleasure of persons, to whose authority they have not _submitted_
themselves, nor _chosen_ for the purpose of imposing taxes upon them?
Wherein consisted the impropriety of King Charles's demanding ship money
by his sole authority, but in its being an exercise of power by the
King, which the people had not _given_ the King? Have the people of
America, as the people of Britain, by sending representatives,
_consented_ to a power in the British parliament to tax them?
4. Has not the British parliament, by repealing the stamp act,
acknowledged that they judged it _improper_? Is there any difference
between the stamp act, and the act obliging the Americans to pay
_whatever we please_, for articles which they _cannot do without_, as
glass and paper? Is there any difference as to justice between our
treatment of the colonists, and the tyranny of the Carthaginians over
their conquered Sardinians, when they obliged them to take all their
corn from them, and at whatever price they pleased to set upon it?
5. If that be true, what is commonly said, viz. That the mother country
gains _two millions_ a year by the colonies, would it not have been
wiser to have gone on quietly in the _happy way_ we were in, till our
gains by those rising and flourishing countries should amount to
_three_, _four_ or _five_ millions a year, than by these new fashioned
vigorous measures to kill the goose which lays the golden eggs? Would it
not have been better policy, instead of _taxing_ our colonists, to have
done whatever we could to _enrich_ them; and encourage them to take off
our articles of _luxury_, on which we may put our own price, and thus
draw them into paying us a _voluntary_ tax; than deluge them in blood,
thin their countries, impoverish and distress them, interrupt their
commerce, force them on bankruptcy, by which our merchants must be
ruined, or tempt them to emigrations, or alliances with our enemies?
6. The late war could not have been _carried on_ without America, nor
without Scotland? Have we treated America and Scotland in such a manner
as is likely in future wars to encourage their zeal for the common
cause? Or is England alone to be the Drawcansir of the world, and to
bully not only their enemies, but her _friends_?
7. Are not the subjects of Britain concerned to check a ministry, who,
by this rage of heaping taxes on taxes, are only drawing into their own
hands more and more wealth and power, while they are hurting the
_commercial_ interest of the empire in general, at the same time that,
amidst profound _peace_, the national debt and burden on the public
continue undiminished?
N. M. C. N. P. C. H.
POSITIONS TO BE EXAMINED, CONCERNING NATIONAL WEALTH
Dated April 4, 1769.
1. All food or subsistence for mankind arises from the earth or waters.
2. Necessaries of life, that are not food, and all other conveniences,
have their values estimated by the proportion of food consumed while we
are employed in procuring them.
3. A small people, with a large territory, may subsist on the
productions of nature, with no other labour than that of gathering the
vegetables and catching the animals.
4. A large people, with a small territory, finds these insufficient,
and, to subsist, must labour the earth, to make it produce greater
quantities of vegetable food, suitable for the nourishment of men, and
of the animals they intend to eat.
5. From this labour arises a _great increase_ of vegetable and animal
food, and of materials for clothing, as flax, wool, silk, &c. The
superfluity of these is wealth. With this wealth we pay for the labour
employed in building our houses, cities, &c., which are therefore only
subsistence thus metamorphosed.
6. _Manufactures_ are only _another shape_ into which so much provisions
and subsistence are turned, as were equal in value to the manufactures
produced. This appears from hence, that the manufacturer does not, in
fact, obtain from the employer, for his labour, _more_ than a mere
subsistence, including raiment, fuel, and shelter; all which derive
their value from the provisions consumed in procuring them.
7. The produce of the earth, thus converted into manufactures, may be
more easily carried to distant markets than before such conversion.
8. _Fair commerce_ is, where equal values are exchanged for equal, the
expense of transport included. Thus, if it costs A in England as much
labour and charge to raise a bushel of wheat, as it costs B in France to
produce four gallons of wine, then are four gallons of wine the fair
exchange for a bushel of wheat, A and B meeting at half distance with
their commodities to make the exchange. The advantage of this fair
commerce is, that each party increases the number of his enjoyments,
having, instead of wheat alone, or wine alone, the use of both wheat and
wine.
9. Where the labour and expense of producing both commodities are known
to both parties, bargains will generally be fair and equal. Where they
are known to one party only, bargains will often be unequal, knowledge
taking its advantage of ignorance.
10. Thus, he that carries one thousand bushels of wheat abroad to sell,
may not probably obtain so great a profit thereon, as if he had first
turned the wheat into manufactures, by subsisting therewith the workmen
while producing those manufactures; since there are many expediting and
facilitating methods of working, not generally known; and strangers to
the manufactures, though they know pretty well the expense of raising
wheat, are unacquainted with those short methods of working, and, thence
being apt to suppose more labour employed in the manufactures than there
really is, are more easily imposed on in their value, and induced to
allow more for them than they are honestly worth.
11. Thus the advantage of having manufactures in a country does not
consist, as is commonly supposed, in their highly advancing the value of
rough materials, of which they are formed; since, though six pennyworth
of flax may be worth twenty shillings, when worked into lace, yet the
very cause of its being worth twenty shillings is, that, besides the
flax, it has cost nineteen shillings and sixpence in subsistence to the
manufacturer. But the advantage of manufactures is, that under their
shape provisions may be more easily carried to a foreign market; and, by
their means, our traders may more easily cheat strangers. Few, where it
is not made, are judges of the value of lace. The importer may demand
forty, and perhaps get thirty, shillings for that which cost him but
twenty.
12. Finally, there seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire
wealth. The first is by _war_, as the Romans did, in plundering their
conquered neighbours. This is _robbery_. The second by _commerce_, which
is generally _cheating_. The third by _agriculture_, the only _honest
way_, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the
ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in
his favour, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.
TO MISS MARY STEVENSON
Saturday Evening, Sept^r 2, 1769.
Just come home from a Venison Feast, where I have drank more than a
Philosopher ought, I find my dear Polly's chearful, chatty Letter that
exhilerates me more than all the Wine.
Your good Mother says there is no Occasion for any Intercession of mine
in your behalf. She is sensible that she is more in fault than her
Daughter. She received an affectionate, tender Letter from you, and she
has not answered it, tho' she intended to do it; but her Head, not her
Heart, has been bad, and unfitted her for Writing. She owns, that she is
not so good a Subject as you are, and that she is more unwilling to pay
Tribute to Cesar, and has less Objection to Smuggling; but 'tis not, she
says, mere Selfishness or Avarice; 'tis rather an honest Resentment at
the Waste of those Taxes in Pensions, Salaries, Perquisites, Contracts,
and other Emoluments for the Benefit of People she does not love, and
who do not deserve such Advantages, because--I suppose--because they are
not of her Party.
Present my Respects to your good Landlord and his Family. I honour them
for their conscientious Aversion to illicit Trading. There are those in
the World, who would not wrong a Neighbour, but make no Scruple of
cheating the King. The Reverse, however, does not hold; for whoever
scruples cheating the King, will certainly not wrong his Neighbour.
You ought not to wish yourself an Enthusiast. They have, indeed, their
imaginary Satisfactions and Pleasures, but these are often ballanc'd by
imaginary Pains and Mortifications. You can continue to be a good Girl,
and thereby lay a solid Foundation for expected future Happiness,
without the Enthusiasm that may perhaps be necessary to some others. As
those Beings, who have a good sensible Instinct, have no need of Reason,
so those, who have Reason to regulate their Actions, have no Occasion
for Enthusiasm. However, there are certain Circumstances in Life,
sometimes, wherein 'tis perhaps best not to hearken to Reason. For
instance; possibly, if the Truth were known, I have Reason to be jealous
of this same insinuating, handsome young Physician;[77] but, as it
flatters more my Vanity, and therefore gives me more Pleasure, to
suppose you were in Spirits on acc^t of my safe Return, I shall turn a
deaf Ear to Reason in this Case, as I have done with Success in twenty
others. But I am sure you will always give me Reason enough to continue
ever your affectionate Friend,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. Our Love to Mrs. Tickell. We all long for your Return. Your Dolly
was well last Tuesday; the Girls were there on a Visit to her; I mean at
Bromley. Adieu. No time now to give you any acc^t of my French Journey.
TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
London, Sept. 19: 1772.
DEAR SIR,
In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I
cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you _what_ to determine,
but if you please I will tell you _how_. When those difficult Cases
occur, they are difficult, chiefly because while we have them under
Consideration, all the Reasons _pro_ and _con_ are not present to the
Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at
other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various
Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty
that perplexes us.
To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line
into two Columns; writing over the one _Pro_, and over the other _Con_.
Then during three or four Days Consideration, I put down under the
different Heads short Hints of the different Motives, that at different
Times occur to me, _for_ or _against_ the Measure. When I have thus got
them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective
Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I
strike them both out. If I find a Reason _pro_ equal to some two Reasons
_con_, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons _con_, equal
to some three Reasons _pro_, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding
I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of
farther Consideration, nothing new that is of Importance occurs on
either side, I come to a Determination accordingly. And, tho' the Weight
of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities,
yet, when each is thus considered, separately and comparatively, and the
whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less liable to
make a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this
kind of Equation, in what may be called _Moral_ or _Prudential Algebra_.
Wishing sincerely that you may determine for the best, I am ever, my
dear Friend, yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO MISS GEORGIANA SHIPLEY[78]
London, September 26, 1772.
DEAR MISS,
I lament with you most sincerely the unfortunate end of poor MUNGO. Few
squirrels were better accomplished; for he had had a good education, had
travelled far, and seen much of the world. As he had the honour of
being, for his virtues, your favourite, he should not go, like common
skuggs, without an elegy or an epitaph. Let us give him one in the
monumental style and measure, which, being neither prose nor verse, is
perhaps the properest for grief; since to use common language would look
as if we were not affected, and to make rhymes would seem trifling in
sorrow.
EPITAPH.
Alas! poor MUNGO!
Happy wert thou, hadst thou known
Thy own felicity.
Remote from the fierce bald eagle,
Tyrant of thy native woods,
Thou hadst nought to fear from his piercing talons,
Nor from the murdering gun
Of the thoughtless sportsman.
Safe in thy wired castle,
GRIMALKIN never could annoy thee.
Daily wert thou fed with the choicest viands,
By the fair hand of an indulgent mistress;
But, discontented,
Thou wouldst have more freedom.
Too soon, alas! didst thou obtain it;
And wandering,
Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel RANGER!
Learn hence,
Ye who blindly seek more liberty,
Whether subjects, sons, squirrels or daughters,
That apparent restraint may be real protection;
Yielding peace and plenty
With security.
You see, my dear Miss, how much more decent and proper this broken style
is, than if we were to say, by way of epitaph,
Here SKUGG
Lies snug,
As a bug
In a rug.
and yet, perhaps, there are people in the world of so little feeling as
to think that this would be a good-enough epitaph for poor Mungo.
If you wish it, I shall procure another to succeed him; but perhaps you
will now choose some other amusement.
Remember me affectionately to all the good family, and believe me ever,
Your affectionate friend,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO PETER FRANKLIN
[No date.][79]
DEAR BROTHER,
I like your ballad, and think it well adapted for your purpose of
discountenancing expensive foppery, and encouraging industry and
frugality. If you can get it generally sung in your country, it may
probably have a good deal of the effect you hope and expect from it. But
as you aimed at making it general, I wonder you chose so uncommon a
measure in poetry, that none of the tunes in common use will suit it.
Had you fitted it to an old one, well known, it must have spread much
faster than I doubt it will do from the best new tune we can get
compos'd for it. I think too, that if you had given it to some country
girl in the heart of the _Massachusetts_, who has never heard any other
than psalm tunes, or _Chevy Chace_, the _Children in the Wood_, the
_Spanish Lady_, and such old simple ditties, but has naturally a good
ear, she might more probably have made a pleasing popular tune for you,
than any of our masters here, and more proper for your purpose, which
would best be answered, if every word could as it is sung be understood
by all that hear it, and if the emphasis you intend for particular words
could be given by the singer as well as by the reader; much of the force
and impression of the song depending on those circumstances. I will
however get it as well done for you as I can.
Do not imagine that I mean to depreciate the skill of our composers of
music here; they are admirable at pleasing _practised_ ears, and know
how to delight _one another_; but, in composing for songs, the reigning
taste seems to be quite out of nature, or rather the reverse of nature,
and yet like a torrent, hurries them all away with it; one or two
perhaps only excepted.
You, in the spirit of some ancient legislators, would influence the
manners of your country by the united powers of poetry and music. By
what I can learn of _their_ songs, the music was simple, conformed
itself to the usual pronunciation of words, as to measure, cadence or
emphasis, &c., never disguised and confounded the language by making a
long syllable short, or a short one long, when sung; their singing was
only a more pleasing, because a melodious manner of speaking; it was
capable of all the graces of prose oratory, while it added the pleasure
of harmony. A modern song, on the contrary, neglects all the proprieties
and beauties of common speech, and in their place introduces its
_defects_ and _absurdities_ as so many graces. I am afraid you will
hardly take my word for this, and therefore I must endeavour to support
it by proof. Here is the first song I lay my hand on. It happens to be a
composition of one of our greatest masters, the ever-famous _Handel_. It
is not one of his juvenile performances, before his taste could be
improved and formed: It appeared when his reputation was at the highest,
is greatly admired by all his admirers, and is really excellent in its
kind. It is called, "_The additional_ Favourite _Song in_ Judas
Maccabeus." Now I reckon among the defects and improprieties of common
speech, the following, viz.
1. _Wrong placing the accent or emphasis_, by laying it on words of no
importance, or on wrong syllables.
2. _Drawling_; or extending the sound of words or syllables beyond their
natural length.
3. _Stuttering_; or making many syllables of one.
4. _Unintelligibleness_; the result of the three foregoing united.
5. _Tautology_; and
6. _Screaming_, without cause.
For the _wrong placing of the accent, or emphasis_, see it on the word
_their_ instead of being on the word _vain_.
[Illustration: with _their_ . . vain my-ste-rious art.]
And on the word _from_, and the wrong syllable _like_.
[Illustration: God-_like_ wis-dom _from_ ... a-bove.]
For the _drawling_, see the last syllable of the word _wounded_. And in
the syllable _wis_, and the word _from_, and syllable _bove_.
[Illustration: Nor can heal the wound-_ed_ heart.
[Illustration: God-like _wis_-dom _from_ a-_bove_.]
For the _stuttering_, see the words _ne'er relieve_, in
[Illustration: Ma-gic charms can _ne'er_ . . re-_lieve_ you.]
Here are four syllables made of one, and eight of three; but this is
moderate. I have seen in another song, that I cannot now find, seventeen
syllables made of three, and sixteen of one. The latter I remember was
the word _charms_; viz. _cha, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,
arms_. Stammering with a witness!
For the _unintelligibleness_; give this whole song to any taught singer,
and let her sing it to any company that have never heard it; you shall
find they will not understand three words in ten. It is therefore that
at the oratorios and operas one sees with books in their hands all those
who desire to understand what they hear sung by even our best
performers.
For the _Tautology_; you have, _with their vain mysterious art_, twice
repeated; _magic charms can ne'er relieve you_, three times. _Nor can
heal the wounded heart_, three times. _Godlike wisdom from above_,
twice; and, _this alone can ne'er deceive you_, two or three times. But
this is reasonable when compared with _the Monster Polypheme, the
Monster Polypheme_, a hundred times over and over, in his admired _Acis
and Galatea_.
As to the _screaming_, perhaps I cannot find a fair instance in this
song; but whoever has frequented our operas will remember many. And yet
here methinks the words _no_ and _e'er_, when sung to these notes, have
a little of the air of _screaming_, and would actually be screamed by
some singers.
[Illustration: _No_ ma-gic charms can _e'er_ re-lieve you.]
I send you inclosed the song with its music at length. Read the words
without the repetitions. Observe how few they are, and what a shower of
notes attend them: You will then perhaps be inclined to think with me,
that though the words might be the principal part of an ancient song,
they are of small importance in a modern one; they are in short only a
_pretence for singing_.
I am, as ever,
Your affectionate brother,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. I might have mentioned _inarticulation_ among the defects in common
speech that are assumed as beauties in modern singing. But as that seems
more the fault of the singer than of the composer, I omitted it in what
related merely to the composition. The fine singer, in the present mode,
stifles all the hard consonants, and polishes away all the rougher parts
of words that serve to distinguish them one from another; so that you
hear nothing but an admirable pipe, and understand no more of the song,
than you would from its tune played on any other instrument. If ever it
was the ambition of musicians to make instruments that should imitate
the human voice, that ambition seems now reversed, the voice aiming to
be like an instrument. Thus wigs were first made to imitate a good
natural head of hair; but when they became fashionable, though in
unnatural forms, we have seen natural hair dressed to look like wigs.
ON THE PRICE OF CORN, AND MANAGEMENT OF THE POOR[80]
TO THE PUBLIC
I am one of that class of people, that feeds you all, and at present is
abused by you all; in short I am a _farmer_.
By your newspapers we are told, that God had sent a very short harvest
to some other countries of Europe. I thought this might be in favour of
Old England; and that now we should get a good price for our grain,
which would bring millions among us, and make us flow in money; that to
be sure is scarce enough.
But the wisdom of government forbade the exportation.
"Well," says I, "then we must be content with the market price at home."
"No;" say my lords the mob, "you sha'nt have that. Bring your corn to
market if you dare; we'll sell it for you for less money, or take it for
nothing."
Being thus attacked by both ends _of the constitution_, the head and
tail _of government_, what am I to do?
Must I keep my corn in the barn, to feed and increase the breed of rats?
Be it so; they cannot be less thankful than those I have been used to
feed.
Are we farmers the only people to be grudged the profits of our honest
labour? And why? One of the late scribblers against us gives a bill of
fare of the provisions at my daughter's wedding, and proclaims to all
the world, that we had the insolence to eat beef and pudding! Has he not
read the precept in the good Book, _Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of
the ox that treadeth out the corn_; or does he think us less worthy of
good living than our oxen?
"O, but the manufacturers! the manufacturers! they are to be favoured,
and they must have bread at a cheap rate!"
Hark ye, Mr. Oaf, the farmers live spendidly, you say. And pray, would
you have them hoard the money they get? Their fine clothes and
furniture, do they make them themselves, or for one another, and so keep
the money among them? Or do they employ these your darling
manufacturers, and so scatter it again all over the nation?
The wool would produce me a better price, if it were suffered to go to
foreign markets; but that, Messieurs the Public, your laws will not
permit. It must be kept all at home, that our _dear_ manufacturers may
have it the cheaper. And then, having yourselves thus lessened our
encouragement for raising sheep, you curse us for the scarcity of
mutton!
I have heard my grandfather say, that the farmers submitted to the
prohibition on the exportation of wool, being made to expect and
believe, that, when the manufacturer bought his wool cheaper, they
should also have their cloth cheaper. But the deuce a bit. It has been
growing dearer and dearer from that day to this. How so? Why, truly, the
cloth is exported; and that keeps up the price.
Now, if it be a good principle, that the exportation of a commodity is
to be restrained, that so our people at home may have it the cheaper,
stick to that principle, and go thorough-stitch with it. Prohibit the
exportation of your cloth, your leather, and shoes, your iron ware, and
your manufactures of all sorts, to make them all cheaper at home. And
cheap enough they will be, I will warrant you; till people leave off
making them.
Some folks seem to think they ought never to be easy till England
becomes another Lubberland, where it is fancied that streets are paved
with penny-rolls, the houses tiled with pancakes, and chickens, ready
roasted, cry, "Come eat me."
I say, when you are sure you have got a good principle, stick to it, and
carry it through. I hear it is said, that though it was _necessary and
right_ for the ministry to advise a prohibition of the exportation of
corn, yet it was _contrary to law_; and also, that though it was
_contrary to law_ for the mob to obstruct wagons, yet it was _necessary
and right_. Just the same thing to a tittle. Now they tell me, an act of
indemnity ought to pass in favour of the ministry, to secure them from
the consequences of having acted illegally. If so, pass another in
favour of the mob. Others say, some of the mob ought to be hanged, by
way of example. If so,--but I say no more than I have said before, _when
you are sure that you have a good principle, go through with it_.
You say, poor labourers cannot afford to buy bread at a high price,
unless they had higher wages. Possibly. But how shall we farmers be able
to afford our labourers higher wages, if you will not allow us to get,
when we might have it, a higher price for our corn?
By all that I can learn, we should at least have had a guinea a quarter
more, if the exportation had been allowed. And this money England would
have got from foreigners.
But, it seems, we farmers must take so much less, that the poor may have
it so much cheaper.
This operates, then, as a tax for the maintenance of the poor. A very
good thing you will say. But I ask, Why a partial tax? why laid on us
farmers only? If it be a good thing, pray, Messieurs the Public, take
your share of it, by indemnifying us a little out of your public
treasury. In doing a good thing, there is both honour and pleasure; you
are welcome to your share of both.
For my own part, I am not so well satisfied of the goodness of this
thing. I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about
the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is, not
making them easy _in_ poverty, but leading or driving them _out_ of it.
In my youth, I travelled much, and I observed in different countries,
that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they
provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the
contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves,
and became richer. There is no country in the world where so many
provisions are established for them; so many hospitals to receive them
when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary
charities; so many almshouses for the aged of both sexes, together with
a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a
heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations, are
our poor modest, humble, and thankful? And do they use their best
endeavours to maintain themselves, and lighten our shoulders of this
burthen? On the contrary, I affirm, that there is no country in the
world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute, drunken, and insolent.
The day you passed that act, you took away from before their eyes the
greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety, by
giving them a dependence on somewhat else than a careful accumulation
during youth and health, for support in age or sickness.
In short, you offered a premium for the encouragement of idleness, and
you should not now wonder, that it has had its effect in the increase of
poverty. Repeal that law, and you will soon see a change in their
manners. _Saint Monday_ and _Saint Tuesday_ will soon cease to be
holidays. SIX _days shalt thou labour_, though one of the old
commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a
respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among
the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done
for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than
could be done by dividing all your estates among them.
Excuse me, Messieurs the Public, if, upon this _interesting_ subject, I
put you to the trouble of reading a little of _my_ nonsense. I am sure I
have lately read a great deal of _yours_, and therefore from you (at
least from those of you who are writers) I deserve a little indulgence.
I am yours, &c.
ARATOR.
AN EDICT BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA[81]
[From the _Gentleman's Magazine_, October, 1773.]
Dantzic, Sept. 5, [1773].
We have long wondered here at the supineness of the English nation,
under the Prussian impositions upon its trade entering our port. We did
not, till lately, know the claims, ancient and modern, that hang over
that nation; and therefore could not suspect that it might submit to
those impositions from a sense of duty or from principles of equity. The
following Edict, just made publick, may, if serious, throw some light
upon this matter.
"FREDERIC, by the grace of God, King of Prussia, &c., &c., &c., to all
present and to come, (_à tous présens et à venir_,) Health. The peace
now enjoyed throughout our dominions, having afforded us leisure to
apply ourselves to the regulation of commerce, the improvement of our
finances, and at the same time the easing our domestic subjects in their
taxes: For these causes, and other good considerations us thereunto
moving, we hereby make known, that, after having deliberated these
affairs in our council, present our dear brothers, and other great
officers of the state, members of the same, we, of our certain
knowledge, full power, and authority royal, have made and issued this
present Edict, viz.
"Whereas it is well known to all the world, that the first
German settlements made in the Island of Britain, were by
colonies of people, subject to our renowned ducal ancestors,
and drawn from their dominions, under the conduct of Hengist,
Horsa, Hella, Uff, Cerdicus, Ida, and others; and that the
said colonies have nourished under the protection of our
august house for ages past; have never been emancipated
therefrom; and yet have hitherto yielded little profit to the
same: And whereas we ourself have in the last war fought for
and defended the said colonies, against the power of France,
and thereby enabled them to make conquests from the said
power in America, for which we have not yet received adequate
compensation: And whereas it is just and expedient that a
revenue should be raised from the said colonies in Britain,
towards our indemnification; and that those who are
descendants of our ancient subjects, and thence still owe us
due obedience, should contribute to the replenishing of our
royal coffers as they must have done, had their ancestors
remained in the territories now to us appertaining: We do
therefore hereby ordain, and command, that, from and after
the date of these presents, there shall be levied and paid
to our officers of the _customs_, on all goods, wares, and
merchandizes, and on all grain and other produce of the
earth, exported from the said Island of Britain, and on all
goods of whatever kind imported into the same, a duty of four
and a half per cent _ad valorem_, for the use of us and our
successors. And that the said duty may more effectually be
collected, we do hereby ordain, that all ships or vessels
bound from Great Britain to any other part of the world, or
from any other part of the world to Great Britain, shall in
their respective voyages touch at our port of Koningsberg,
there to be unladen, searched, and charged with the said
duties.
"And whereas there hath been from time to time discovered in
the said island of Great Britain, by our colonists there,
many mines or beds of iron-stone; and sundry subjects, of our
ancient dominion, skilful in converting the said stone into
metal, have in time past transported themselves thither,
carrying with them and communicating that art; and the
inhabitants of the said island, presuming that they had a
natural right to make the best use they could of the natural
productions of their country for their own benefit, have not
only built furnaces for smelting the said stone into iron,
but have erected plating-forges, slitting-mills, and
steel-furnaces, for the more convenient manufacturing of the
same; thereby endangering a diminution of the said
manufacture in our ancient dominion;--we do therefore hereby
farther ordain, that, from and after the date hereof, no mill
or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron, or any
plating-forge to work with a tilt-hammer, or any furnace for
making steel, shall be erected or continued in the said
island of Great Britain: And the Lord Lieutenant of every
county in the said island is hereby commanded, on information
of any such erection within his county, to order and by force
to cause the same to be abated and destroyed; as he shall
answer the neglect thereof to us at his peril. But we are
nevertheless graciously pleased to permit the inhabitants of
the said island to transport their iron into Prussia, there
to be manufactured, and to them returned; they paying our
Prussian subjects for the workmanship, with all the costs of
commission, freight, and risk, coming and returning; any
thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
"We do not, however, think fit to extend this our indulgence
to the article of wool; but, meaning to encourage, not only
the manufacturing of woollen cloth, but also the raising of
wool, in our ancient dominions, and to prevent both, as much
as may be, in our said island, we do hereby absolutely forbid
the transportation of wool from thence, even to the mother
country, Prussia; and that those islanders may be farther and
more effectually restrained in making any advantage of their
own wool in the way of manufacture, we command that none
shall be carried out of one county into another; nor shall
any worsted, bay, or woollen yarn, cloth, says, bays,
kerseys, serges, frizes, druggets, cloth-serges, shalloons,
or any other drapery stuffs, or woollen manufactures
whatsoever, made up or mixed with wool in any of the said
counties, be carried into any other county, or be waterborne
even across the smallest river or creek, on penalty of
forfeiture of the same, together with the boats, carriages,
horses, &c., that shall be employed in removing them.
Nevertheless, our loving subjects there are hereby permitted
(if they think proper) to use all their wool as manure for
the improvement of their lands.
"And whereas the art and mystery of making hats hath arrived
at great perfection in Prussia, and the making of hats by our
remoter subjects ought to be as much as possible restrained:
And forasmuch as the islanders before mentioned, being in
possession of wool, beaver and other furs, have
presumptuously conceived they had a right to make some
advantage thereof, by manufacturing the same into hats, to
the prejudice of our domestic manufacture: We do therefore
hereby strictly command and ordain, that no hats or felts
whatsoever, dyed or undyed, finished or unfinished, shall be
loaded or put into or upon any vessel, cart, carriage, or
horse, to be transported or conveyed out of one county in the
said island into another county, or to any other place
whatsoever, by any person or persons whatsoever; on pain of
forfeiting the same, with a penalty of five hundred pounds
sterling for every offence. Nor shall any hat-maker, in any
of the said counties, employ more than two apprentices, on
penalty of five pounds sterling per month; we intending
hereby, that such hatmakers, being so restrained, both in the
production and sale of their commodity, may find no advantage
in continuing their business. But, lest the said islanders
should suffer inconveniency by the want of hats, we are
farther graciously pleased to permit them to send their
beaver furs to Prussia; and we also permit hats made thereof
to be exported from Prussia to Britain; the people thus
favoured to pay all costs and charges of manufacturing,
interest, commission to our merchants, insurance and freight
going and returning, as in the case of iron.
"And, lastly, being willing farther to favour our said
colonies in Britain, we do hereby also ordain and command,
that all the _thieves_, highway and street robbers,
house-breakers, forgerers, murderers, s--d--tes, and villains
of every denomination, who have forfeited their lives to the
law in Prussia; but whom we, in our great clemency, do not
think fit here to hang, shall be emptied out of our gaols
into the said island of Great Britain, for the better
peopling of that country.
"We flatter ourselves, that these our royal regulations and
commands will be thought just and reasonable by our
much-favoured colonists in England; the said regulations
being copied from their statutes of 10 and 11 William III. c.
10, 5 Geo. II, c. 22, 23, Geo. II. c. 29, 4 Geo. I. c. 11,
and from other equitable laws made by their parliaments; or
from instructions given by their Princes; or from resolutions
of both Houses, entered into for the good government of their
_own colonies in Ireland and America_.
"And all persons in the said island are hereby cautioned: not
to oppose in any wise the execution of this our Edict, or any
part thereof, such opposition being high treason; of which
all who are suspected shall be transported in fetters from
Britain to Prussia, there to be tried and executed according
to the Prussian law.
"Such is our pleasure.
"Given at Potsdam, this twenty-fifth day of the month of
August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-three, and in
the thirty-third year of our reign.
"By the King, in his Council.
"RECHTMAESSIG, _Sec._"
Some take this Edict to be merely one of the King's _Jeux d'Esprit_:
others suppose it serious, and that he means a quarrel with England; but
all here think the assertion it concludes with, "that these regulations
are copied from acts of the English parliament respecting their
colonies," a very injurious one; it being impossible to believe, that a
people distinguished for their love of liberty, a nation so wise, so
liberal in its sentiments, so just and equitable towards its neighbours,
should, from mean and injudicious views of petty immediate profit, treat
its own children in a manner so arbitrary and tyrannical!
RULES BY WHICH A GREAT EMPIRE MAY BE REDUCED TO A SMALL ONE
Presented to a late Minister, when he entered upon his Administration
[From the _Gentleman's Magazine_, Sept., 1773.]
An ancient Sage boasted, that, tho' he could not fiddle, he knew how to
make a _great city_ of _a little one_. The science that I, a modern
simpleton, am about to communicate, is the very reverse.
I address myself to all ministers who have the management of extensive
dominions, which from their very greatness are become troublesome to
govern, because the multiplicity of their affairs leaves no time for
_fiddling_.
I. In the first place, gentlemen, you are to consider, that a great
empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges. Turn
your attention, therefore, first to your _remotest_ provinces; that, as
you get rid of them, the next may follow in order.
II. That the possibility of this separation may always exist, take
special care the provinces are never incorporated with the mother
country; that they do not enjoy the same common rights, the same
privileges in commerce; and that they are governed by _severer_ laws,
all of _your enacting_, without allowing them any share in the choice of
the legislators. By carefully making and preserving such distinctions,
you will (to keep to my simile of the cake) act like a wise
ginger-bread-baker, who, to facilitate a division, cuts his dough half
through in those places where, when baked, he would have it _broken to
pieces_.
III. Those remote provinces have perhaps been acquired, purchased, or
conquered, at the _sole expence_ of the settlers, or their ancestors,
without the aid of the mother country. If this should happen to increase
her _strength_, by their growing numbers, ready to join in her wars; her
_commerce_, by their growing demand for her manufactures; or her _naval
power_, by greater employment for her ships and seamen, they may
probably suppose some merit in this, and that it entitles them to some
favour; you are therefore to _forget it all_, _or resent it_, as if they
had done you injury. If they happen to be zealous whigs, friends of
liberty, nurtured in revolution principles, _remember all that_ to their
prejudice, and resolve to punish it; for such principles, after a
revolution is thoroughly established, are of _no more use_; they are
even _odious_ and _abominable_.
IV. However peaceably your colonies have submitted to your government,
shewn their affection to your interests, and patiently borne their
grievances; you are to _suppose_ them always inclined to revolt, and
treat them accordingly. Quarter troops among them, who by their
insolence may _provoke_ the rising of mobs, and by their bullets and
bayonets _suppress_ them. By this means, like the husband who uses his
wife ill _from suspicion_, you may in time convert your _suspicions_
into _realities_.
V. Remote provinces must have _Governors_ and _Judges_, to represent the
Royal Person, and execute everywhere the delegated parts of his office
and authority. You ministers know, that much of the strength of
government depends on the _opinion_ of the people; and much of that
opinion on the _choice of rulers_ placed immediately over them. If you
send them wise and good men for governors, who study the interest of the
colonists, and advance their prosperity, they will think their King
wise and good, and that he wishes the welfare of his subjects. If you
send them learned and upright men for Judges, they will think him a
lover of justice. This may attach your provinces more to his government.
You are therefore to be careful whom you recommend for those offices. If
you can find prodigals, who have ruined their fortunes, broken gamesters
or stockjobbers, these may do well as _governors_; for they will
probably be rapacious, and provoke the people by their extortions.
Wrangling proctors and pettifogging lawyers, too, are not amiss; for
they will be for ever disputing and quarrelling with their little
parliaments. If withal they should be ignorant, wrong-headed, and
insolent, so much the better. Attornies' clerks and Newgate solicitors
will do for _Chief Justices_, especially if they hold their places
_during your pleasure_; and all will contribute to impress those ideas
of your government, that are proper for a people _you would wish to
renounce it_.
VI. To confirm these impressions, and strike them deeper, whenever the
injured come to the capital with complaints of maladministration,
oppression, or injustice, punish such suitors with long delay, enormous
expence, and a final judgment in favour of the oppressor. This will have
an admirable effect every way. The trouble of future complaints will be
prevented, and Governors and Judges will be encouraged to farther acts
of oppression and injustice; and thence the people may become more
disaffected, and at length desperate.
VII. When such Governors have crammed their coffers, and made themselves
so odious to the people that they can no longer remain among them, with
safety to their persons, _recall and reward_ them with pensions. You may
make them _baronets_ too, if that respectable order should not think fit
to resent it. All will contribute to encourage new governors in the same
practice, and make the supreme government, _detestable_.
VIII. If, when you are engaged in war, your colonies should vie in
liberal aids of men and money against the common enemy, upon your simple
requisition, and give far beyond their abilities, reflect that a penny
taken from them by your power is more honourable to you, than a pound
presented by their benevolence; despise therefore their voluntary
grants; and resolve to harass them with novel taxes. They will probably
complain to your parliaments, that they are taxed by a body in which
they have no representative, and that this is contrary to common right.
They will petition for redress. Let the Parliaments flout their claims,
reject their petitions, refuse even to suffer the reading of them, and
treat the petitioners with the utmost contempt. Nothing can have a
better effect in producing the alienation proposed; for though many can
forgive injuries, _none ever forgave contempt_.
IX. In laying these taxes, never regard the heavy burthens those remote
people already undergo, in defending their own frontiers, supporting
their own provincial governments, making new roads, building bridges,
churches, and other public edifices, which in old countries have been
done to your hands by your ancestors, but which occasion constant calls
and demands on the purses of a new people. Forget the _restraints_ you
lay on their trade for _your own_ benefit, and the advantage a
_monopoly_ of this trade gives your exacting merchants. Think nothing of
the wealth those merchants and your manufacturers acquire by the colony
commerce; their encreased ability thereby to pay taxes at home; their
accumulating, in the price of their commodities, most of those taxes,
and so levying them from their consuming customers; all this, and the
employment and support of thousands of your poor by the colonists, you
are _intirely to forget_. But remember to make your arbitrary tax more
grievous to your provinces, by public declarations importing that your
power of taxing them has _no limits_; so that when you take from them
without their consent one shilling in the pound, you have a clear right
to the other nineteen. This will probably weaken every idea of _security
in their property_, and convince them, that under such a government they
_have nothing they can call their own_; which can scarce fail of
producing the _happiest consequences_!
X. Possibly, indeed, some of them might still comfort themselves, and
say, "Though we have no property, we have yet _something_ left that is
valuable; we have constitutional _liberty_, both of person and of
conscience. This King, these Lords, and these Commons, who it seems are
too remote from us to know us, and feel for us, cannot take from us our
_Habeas Corpus_ right, or our right of trial _by a jury of our
neighbours_; they cannot deprive us of the exercise of our religion,
alter our ecclesiastical constitution, and compel us to be Papists, if
they please, or Mahometans." To annihilate this comfort, begin by laws
to perplex their commerce with infinite regulations, impossible to be
remembered and observed; ordain seizures of their property for every
failure; take away the trial of such property by Jury, and give it to
arbitrary Judges of your own appointing, and of the lowest characters in
the country, whose salaries and emoluments are to arise out of the
duties or condemnations, and whose appointments are _during pleasure_.
Then let there be a formal declaration of both Houses, that opposition
to your edicts is _treason_, and that any person suspected of treason in
the provinces may, according to some obsolete law, be seized and sent to
the metropolis of the empire for trial; and pass an act, that those
there charged with certain other offences, shall be sent away in chains
from their friends and country to be tried in the same manner for
felony. Then erect a new Court of Inquisition among them, accompanied by
an armed force, with instructions to transport all such suspected
persons; to be ruined by the expence, if they bring over evidences to
prove their innocence, or be found guilty and hanged, if they cannot
afford it. And, lest the people should think you cannot possibly go any
farther, pass another solemn declaratory act, "that King, Lords, Commons
had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make
statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the unrepresented
provinces IN ALL CASES WHATSOEVER." This will include _spiritual_ with
temporal, and, taken together, must operate wonderfully to your purpose;
by convincing them, that they are at present under a power something
like that spoken of in the scriptures, which can not only _kill their
bodies_, but _damn their souls_ to all eternity, by compelling them, if
it pleases, _to worship the Devil_.
XI. To make your taxes more odious, and more likely to procure
resistance, send from the capital a board of officers to superintend the
collection, composed of the most _indiscreet_, _ill-bred_, and
_insolent_ you can find. Let these have large salaries out of the
extorted revenue, and live in open, grating luxury upon the sweat and
blood of the industrious; whom they are to worry continually with
groundless and expensive prosecutions before the abovementioned
arbitrary revenue Judges; _all at the cost of the party prosecuted_,
tho' acquitted, because _the King is to pay no costs_. Let these men,
_by your order_, be exempted from all the common taxes and burthens of
the province, though they and their property are protected by its laws.
If any revenue officers are _suspected_ of the least tenderness for the
people, discard them. If others are justly complained of, protect and
reward them. If any of the under officers behave so as to provoke the
people to drub them, promote those to better offices: this will
encourage others to procure for themselves such profitable drubbings, by
multiplying and enlarging such provocations, and _all will work towards
the end you aim at_.
XII. Another way to make your tax odious, is to misapply the produce of
it. If it was originally appropriated for the _defence_ of the
provinces, the better support of government, and the administration of
justice, where it may be _necessary_, then apply none of it to that
_defence_, but bestow it where it is _not necessary_, in augmented
salaries or pensions to every governor, who has distinguished himself by
his enmity to the people, and by calumniating them to their sovereign.
This will make them pay it more unwillingly, and be more apt to quarrel
with those that collect it and those that imposed it, who will quarrel
again with them, and all shall contribute to your _main purpose_, of
making them _weary of your government_.
XIII. If the people of any province have been accustomed to support
their own Governors and Judges to satisfaction, you are to apprehend
that such Governors and Judges may be thereby influenced to treat the
people kindly, and to do them justice. This is another reason for
applying part of that revenue in larger salaries to such Governors and
Judges, given, as their commissions are, _during your pleasure_ only;
forbidding them to take any salaries from their provinces; that thus the
people may no longer hope any kindness from their Governors, or (in
Crown cases) any justice from their Judges. And, as the money thus
misapplied in one province is extorted from all, probably _all will
resent the misapplication_.
XIV. If the parliaments of your provinces should dare to claim rights,
or complain of your administration, order them to be harassed with
_repeated dissolutions_. If the same men are continually returned by new
elections, adjourn their meetings to some country village, where they
cannot be accommodated, and there keep them _during pleasure_; for this,
you know, is your PREROGATIVE; and an excellent one it is, as you may
manage it to promote discontents among the people, diminish their
respect, and _increase their disaffection_.
XV. Convert the brave, honest officers of your _navy_ into pimping
tide-waiters and colony officers of the _customs_. Let those, who in
time of war fought gallantly in defence of the commerce of their
countrymen, in peace be taught to prey upon it. Let them learn to be
corrupted by great and real smugglers; but (to shew their diligence)
scour with armed boats every bay, harbour, river, creek, cove, or nook
throughout the coast of your colonies; stop and detain every coaster,
every wood-boat, every fisherman, tumble their cargoes and even their
ballast inside out and upside down; and, if a penn'orth of pins is found
unentered, let the whole be seized and confiscated. Thus shall the trade
of your colonists suffer more from their friends in time of peace, than
it did from their enemies in war. Then let these boats crews land upon
every farm in their way, rob the orchards, steal the pigs and the
poultry, and insult the inhabitants. If the injured and exasperated
farmers, unable to procure other justice, should attack the aggressors,
drub them, and burn their boats; you are to call this _high treason and
rebellion_, order fleets and armies into their country, and threaten to
carry all the offenders three thousand miles to be hanged, drawn, and
quartered. _O! this will work admirably!_
XVI. If you are told of discontents in your colonies, never believe
that they are general, or that you have given occasion for them;
therefore do not think of applying any remedy, or of changing any
offensive measure. Redress no grievance, lest they should be encouraged
to demand the redress of some other grievance. Grant no request that is
just and reasonable, lest they should make another that is unreasonable.
Take all your informations of the state of the colonies from your
Governors and officers in enmity with them. Encourage and reward these
_leasing-makers_; secrete their lying accusations, lest they should be
confuted; but act upon them as the clearest evidence; and believe
nothing you hear from the friends of the people: suppose all _their_
complaints to be invented and promoted by a few factious demagogues,
whom if you could catch and hang, all would be quiet. Catch and hang a
few of them accordingly; and the _blood of the Martyrs_ shall _work
miracles_ in favour of your purpose.
XVII. If you see _rival nations_ rejoicing at the prospect of your
disunion with your provinces, and endeavouring to promote it; if they
translate, publish, and applaud all the complaints of your discontented
colonists, at the same time privately stimulating you to severer
measures, let not that _alarm_ or offend you. Why should it, since you
all mean _the same thing_?
XVIII. If any colony should at their own charge erect a fortress to
secure their port against the fleets of a foreign enemy, get your
Governor to betray that fortress into your hands. Never think of paying
what it cost the country, for that would look, at least, like some
regard for justice; but turn it into a citadel to awe the inhabitants
and curb their commerce. If they should have lodged in such fortress the
very arms they bought and used to aid you in your conquests, seize them
all; it will provoke like _ingratitude_ added to _robbery_. One
admirable effect of these operations will be, to discourage every other
colony from erecting such defences, and so your enemies may more easily
invade them; to the great disgrace of your government, and of course
_the furtherance of your project_.
XIX. Send armies into their country under pretence of protecting the
inhabitants; but, instead of garrisoning the forts on their frontiers
with those troops, to prevent incursions, demolish those forts, and
order the troops into the heart of the country, that the savages may be
encouraged to attack the frontiers, and that the troops may be protected
by the inhabitants. This will seem to proceed from your ill will or your
ignorance, and contribute farther to produce and strengthen an opinion
among them, _that you are no longer fit to govern them_.
XX. Lastly, invest the General of your army in the provinces, with great
and unconstitutional powers, and free him from the controul of even your
own Civil Governors. Let him have troops enow under his command, with
all the fortresses in his possession; and who knows but (like some
provincial Generals in the Roman empire, and encouraged by the universal
discontent you have produced) he may take it into his head to set up for
himself? If he should, and you have carefully practised these few
_excellent rules_ of mine, take my word for it, all the provinces will
immediately join him; and you will that day (if you have not done it
sooner) get rid of the trouble of governing them, and all the _plagues_
attending their _commerce_ and connection from henceforth and for ever.
Q. E. D.
TO WILLIAM FRANKLIN
London, October 6, 1773.
DEAR SON,
I wrote to you the 1st of last month, since which I have received yours
of July 29, from New York. I know not what letters of mine Governor
H[utchinson] could mean, as advising the people to insist on their
independency. But whatever they were, I suppose he has sent copies of
them hither, having heard some whisperings about them. I shall however,
be able at any time to justify every thing I have written; the purport
being uniformly this, that they should carefully avoid all tumults and
every violent measure, and content themselves with verbally keeping up
their claims, and holding forth their rights whenever occasion requires;
secure, that, from the growing importance of America, those claims will
ere long be attended to and acknowledged.
From a long and thorough consideration of the subject, I am indeed of
opinion, that the parliament has no right to make any law whatever,
binding on the colonies; that the king, and not the king, lords, and
commons collectively, is their sovereign; and that the king, with their
respective parliaments, is their only legislator. I know your sentiments
differ from mine on these subjects. You are a thorough government man,
which I do not wonder at, nor do I aim at converting you. I only wish
you to act uprightly and steadily, avoiding that duplicity, which in
Hutchinson, adds contempt to indignation. If you can promote the
prosperity of your people, and leave them happier than you found them,
whatever your political principles are, your memory will be honoured.
I have written two pieces here lately for the _Public Advertiser_, on
American affairs, designed to expose the conduct of this country towards
the colonies in a short, comprehensive, and striking view, and stated,
therefore, in out-of-the-way forms, as most likely to take the general
attention. The first was called "_Rules by which a Great Empire may be
reduced to a small one_;" the second, "_An Edict of the King of
Prussia_." I sent you one of the first, but could not get enough of the
second to spare you one, though my clerk went the next morning to the
printer's, and wherever they were sold. They were all gone but two. In
my own mind I preferred the first, as a composition for the quantity and
variety of the matter contained, and a kind of spirited ending of each
paragraph. But I find that others here generally prefer the second.
I am not suspected as the author, except by one or two friends; and have
heard the latter spoken of in the highest terms, as the keenest and
severest piece that has appeared here for a long time. Lord Mansfield, I
hear, said of it, that it _was very_ ABLE _and very_ ARTFUL _indeed_;
and would do mischief by giving here a bad impression of the measures of
government; and in the colonies, by encouraging them in their contumacy.
It is reprinted in the _Chronicle_, where you will see it, but stripped
of all the capitaling and italicing, that intimate the allusions and
mark the emphasis of written discourses, to bring them as near as
possible to those spoken: printing such a piece all in one even small
character, seems to me like repeating one of Whitefield's sermons in the
monotony of a schoolboy.
What made it the more noticed here was, that people in reading it were,
as the phrase is, _taken in_, till they had got half through it, and
imagined it a real edict, to which mistake I suppose the King of
Prussia's _character_ must have contributed. I was down at Lord Le
Despencer's when the post brought that day's papers. Mr. Whitehead was
there, too, (Paul Whitehead, the author of "Manners,") who runs early
through all the papers, and tells the company what he finds remarkable.
He had them in another room, and we were chatting in the breakfast
parlour, when he came running in to us, out of breath, with the paper in
his hand. Here! says he, here's news for ye! _Here's the King of
Prussia, claiming a right to this kingdom!_ All stared, and I as much as
anybody; and he went on to read it. When he had read two or three
paragraphs, a gentleman present said, _Damn his impudence, I dare say,
we shall hear by next post that he is upon his march with one hundred
thousand men to back this_. Whitehead, who is very shrewd, soon after
began to smoke it, and looking in my face said, _I'll be hanged if this
is not some of your American jokes upon us_. The reading went on, and
ended with abundance of laughing, and a general verdict that it was a
fair hit: and the piece was cut out of the paper and preserved in my
Lord's collection.
I do not wonder that Hutchinson should be dejected. It must be an
uncomfortable thing to live among people who he is conscious universally
detest him. Yet I fancy he will not have leave to come home, both
because they know not well what to do with him, and because they do not
very well like his conduct. I am ever your affectionate father,
B. FRANKLIN.
PREFACE TO "AN ABRIDGMENT OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER"[82]
[1773]
The editor of the following abridgment of the Liturgy of the Church of
England thinks it but decent and respectful to all, more particularly to
the reverend body of clergy, who adorn the Protestant religion by their
good works, preaching, and example, that he should humbly offer some
reason for such an undertaking. He addresses himself to the serious and
discerning. He professes himself to be a Protestant of the Church of
England, and holds in the highest veneration the doctrines of Jesus
Christ. He is a sincere lover of social worship, deeply sensible of its
usefulness to society; and he aims at doing some service to religion, by
proposing such abbreviations and omissions in the forms of our Liturgy
(retaining everything he thinks essential) as might, if adopted, procure
a more general attendance. For, besides the differing sentiments of many
pious and well-disposed persons in some speculative points, who in
general have a good opinion of our Church, it has often been observed
and complained of, that the Morning and Evening Service, as practised in
England and elsewhere, are so long, and filled with so many repetitions,
that the continued attention suitable to so serious a duty becomes
impracticable, the mind wanders, and the fervency of devotion is
slackened. Also the propriety of saying the same prayer more than once
in the same service is doubted, as the service is thereby lengthened
without apparent necessity; our Lord having given us a short prayer as
an example, and censured the heathen for thinking to be heard because of
much speaking.
Moreover, many pious and devout persons, whose age or infirmities will
not suffer them to remain for hours in a cold church, especially in the
winter season, are obliged to forego the comfort and edification they
would receive by their attendance at divine service. These, by
shortening the time, would be relieved, and the younger sort, who have
had some principles of religion instilled into them, and who have been
educated in a belief of the necessity of adoring their Maker, would
probably more frequently, as well as cheerfully, attend divine service,
if they were not detained so long at any one time. Also many well
disposed tradesmen, shopkeepers, artificers, and others, whose
habitations are not remote from churches, could, and would, more
frequently at least, find [time to attend divine service on other than
Sundays, if the prayers were reduced to a much narrower compass.
Formerly there were three services performed at different times of the
day, which three services are now usually joined in one. This may suit
the convenience of the person who officiates, but it is too often
inconvenient and tiresome to the congregation. If this abridgment,
therefore, should ever meet with acceptance, the well-disposed clergy
who are laudably desirous to encourage the _frequency_ of divine
service, may promote so great and good a purpose by repeating it three
times on a Sunday, without so much fatigue to themselves as at present.
Suppose, at nine o'clock, at eleven, and at one in the evening; and by
preaching no more sermons than usual of a moderate length; and thereby
accommodate a greater number of people with convenient hours.
These were general reasons for wishing and proposing an abridgment. In
attempting it we do not presume to dictate even to a single Christian.
We are sensible there is a proper authority in the rulers of the Church
for ordering such matters; and whenever the time shall come when it may
be thought not unreasonable to revise our Liturgy, there is no doubt but
every suitable improvement will be made, under the care and direction of
so much learning, wisdom, and piety, in one body of men collected. Such
a work as this must then be much better executed. In the meantime this
humble performance may serve to show the practicability of shortening
the service near one half, without the omission of what is essentially
necessary; and we hope, moreover, that the book may be occasionally of
some use to families, or private assemblies of Christians.
To give now some account of particulars. We have presumed upon this
plan of abridgment to omit the First Lesson, which is taken from the Old
Testament, and retain only the Second from the New Testament, which, we
apprehend, is more suitable to teach the so-much-to-be-revered doctrine
of Christ, and of more immediate importance to Christians;] although the
Old Testament is allowed by all to be an accurate and concise history,
and, as such, may more properly be read at home.
[We do not conceive it necessary for Christians to make use of more than
one creed. Therefore, in this abridgment are omitted the Nicene Creed
and that of St. Athanasius. Of the Apostle's Creed we have retained the
parts that are most intelligible and most essential. And as the
_Father_, _Son_, and _Holy Ghost_ are there confessedly and avowedly a
part of the belief, it does not appear necessary, after so solemn a
confession, to repeat again, in the Litany, the _Son_ and _Holy Ghost_,
as that part of the service is otherwise very prolix.
The Psalms being a collection of odes written by different persons, it
hath happened that many of them are on the same subjects and repeat the
same sentiments--such as those that complain of enemies and persecutors,
call upon God for protection, express a confidence therein, and thank
him for it when afforded. A very great part of the book consists of
repetitions of this kind, which may therefore well bear abridgment.
Other parts are merely historical, repeating the mention of facts more
fully narrated in the preceding books, and which, relating to the
ancestors of the Jews, were more interesting to them than to us. Other
parts are _local_, and allude to places of which we have no knowledge,
and therefore do not affect us. Others are _personal_, relating to the
particular circumstances of David or Solomon, as kings, and can
therefore seldom be rehearsed with any propriety by private Christians.
Others imprecate, in the most bitter terms, the vengeance of God on our
adversaries, contrary to the spirit of Christianity, which commands us
to love our enemies, and to pray for those that hate us and despitefully
use us. For these reasons it is to be wished that the same liberty were
by the governors of our Church allowed to the minister with regard to
the _reading Psalms_, as is taken by the clerk with regard to those
that are to be sung, in directing the parts that he may judge most
suitable to be read at the time, from the present circumstances of the
congregation, or the tenor of his sermon, by saying, "Let us _read_"
such and such parts of the Psalms named. Until this is done our
abridgment, it is hoped, will be found to contain what may be most
generally proper to be joined in by an assembly of Christian people. The
Psalms are still apportioned to the days of the month, as heretofore,
though the several parts for each day are generally a full third
shorter.
We humbly suppose the same service contained in this abridgment might
properly serve for all the saints' days, fasts, and feasts, reading only
the Epistle and Gospel appropriated to each day of the month.
The Communion is greatly abridged, on account of its great length;
nevertheless, it is hoped and believed that all those parts are retained
which are material and necessary.
Infant Baptism in Churches being performed during divine service, would
greatly add to the length of that service, if it were not abridged. We
have ventured, therefore, to leave out the less material parts.
The Catechism, as a compendium of systematic theology, which learned
divines have written folio volumes to explain, and which, therefore, it
may be presumed, they thought scarce intelligible without such
expositions, is, perhaps, taken altogether, not so well adapted to the
capacities of children as might be wished. Only those plain answers,
therefore, which express our duty towards God, and our duty towards our
neighbor, are retained here. The rest is recommended to their reading
and serious consideration, when more years shall have ripened their
understanding.]
The Confirmation is here shortened.
The Commination, and all cursing of mankind, is, we think, best omitted
in this abridgment.
The form of solemnization of Matrimony is often abbreviated by the
officiating minister at his discretion. We have selected what appears to
us the material parts, and which we humbly hope, will be deemed
sufficient.
The long prayers in the service for the Visitation of the Sick seem not
so proper, when the afflicted person is very weak and in distress.
The Order for the Burial of the Dead is very solemn and moving;
nevertheless, to preserve the health and lives of the living, it
appeared to us that this service ought particularly to be shortened. For
numbers standing in the open air with their hats off, often in
tempestuous weather, during the celebration, its great length is not
only inconvenient, but may be dangerous to the attendants. We hope,
therefore, that our abridgment of it will be approved by the rational
and prudent.
The Thanksgiving of women after childbirth being, when read, part of the
service of the day, we have also, in some measure, abridged that.
Having thus stated very briefly our motives and reasons, and our manner
of proceeding in the prosecution of this work, we hope to be believed,
when we declare the rectitude of our intentions. We mean not to lessen
or prevent the practice of religion, but to honour and promote it. We
acknowledge the excellency of our present Liturgy, and, though we have
shortened it, we have not presumed to alter a word in the remaining
text; not even to substitute _who_ for _which_ in the Lord's Prayer, and
elsewhere, although it would be more correct. We respect the characters
of bishops and other dignitaries of our Church, and, with regard to the
inferior clergy we wish that they were more equally provided for, than
by that odious and vexatious as well as unjust method of gathering
tithes in kind, which creates animosities and litigations, to the
interruption of the good harmony and respect which might otherwise
subsist between the rectors and their parishioners.
And thus, conscious of upright meaning, we submit this abridgment to the
serious consideration of the prudent and dispassionate, and not to
enthusiasts and bigots; being convinced in our own breasts, that this
shortened method, or one of the same kind better executed, would further
religion, increase unanimity, and occasion a more frequent attendance on
the worship of God.
A PARABLE AGAINST PERSECUTION[83]
1. And it came to pass after these things, that Abraham sat in the door
of his tent, about the going down of the sun.
2. And behold a man, bent with age, coming from the way of the
wilderness, leaning on a staff.
3. And Abraham arose and met him, and said unto him, Turn in, I pray
thee, and wash thy feet, and tarry all night, and thou shalt arise early
in the morning, and go on thy way.
4. But the man said, Nay, for I will abide under this tree.
5. And Abraham pressed him greatly; so he turned, and they went into the
tent; and Abraham baked unleavened bread, and they did eat.
6. And when Abraham saw that the man blessed not God, he said unto him,
Wherefore dost thou not worship the most high God, Creator of heaven and
earth?
7. And the man answered and said, I do not worship thy God, neither do I
call upon his name; for I have made to myself a god, which abideth
always in mine house, and provideth me with all things.
8. And Abraham's zeal was kindled against the man, and he arose and fell
upon him, and drove him forth with blows into the wilderness.
9. And God called unto Abraham, saying, Abraham, where is the stranger?
10. And Abraham answered and said, Lord, he would not worship thee,
neither would he call upon thy name; therefore have I driven him out
from before my face into the wilderness.
11. And God said, Have I borne with him these hundred and ninety and
eight years, and nourished him, and cloathed him, notwithstanding his
rebellion against me; and couldst not thou, who art thyself a sinner,
bear with him one night?
12. And Abraham said, Let not the anger of the Lord wax hot against his
servant; lo, I have sinned; lo, I have sinned; forgive me, I pray thee.
13. And Abraham arose, and went forth into the wilderness, and sought
diligently for the man, and found him, and returned with him to the
tent; and when he had entreated him kindly, he sent him away on the
morrow with gifts.
14. And God spake again unto Abraham, saying, For this thy sin shall thy
seed be afflicted four hundred years in a strange land;
15. But for thy repentance will I deliver them; and they shall come
forth with power, and with gladness of heart, and with much substance.
A PARABLE ON BROTHERLY LOVE[84]
1. In those days there was no worker of iron in all the land. And the
merchants of Midian passed by with their camels, bearing spices, and
myrrh, and balm, and wares of iron.
2. And Reuben bought an axe of the Ishmaelite merchants, which he prized
highly, for there was none in his father's house.
3. And Simeon said unto Reuben his brother, "Lend me, I pray thee, thine
axe." But he refused, and would not.
4. And Levi also said unto him, "My brother, lend me, I pray thee, thine
axe;" and he refused him also.
5. Then came Judah unto Reuben, and entreated him, saying, "Lo, thou
lovest me, and I have always loved thee; do not refuse me the use of
thine axe."
6. But Reuben turned from him, and refused him likewise.
7. Now it came to pass, that Reuben hewed timber on the bank of the
river, and his axe fell therein, and he could by no means find it.
8. But Simeon, Levi, and Judah had sent a messenger after the
Ishmaelites with money, and had bought for themselves each an axe.
9. Then came Reuben unto Simeon, and said, "Lo, I have lost mine axe,
and my work is unfinished; lend me thine, I pray thee."
10. And Simeon answered him, saying, "Thou wouldest not lend me thine
axe, therefore will I not lend thee mine."
11. Then went he unto Levi, and said unto him, "My brother, thou knowest
my loss and my necessity; lend me, I pray thee, thine axe."
12. And Levi reproached him, saying, "Thou wouldest not lend me thine
axe when I desired it, but I will be better than thou, and will lend
thee mine."
13. And Reuben was grieved at the rebuke of Levi and being ashamed,
turned from him, and took not the axe, but sought his brother Judah.
14. And as he drew near, Judah beheld his countenance as it were covered
with grief and shame; and he prevented him, saying, "My brother, I know
thy loss; but why should it trouble thee? Lo, have I not an axe that
will serve both thee and me? Take it, I pray thee, and use it as thine
own."
15. And Reuben fell on his neck, and kissed him, with tears, saying,
"Thy kindness is great, but thy goodness in forgiving me is greater.
Thou are indeed my brother, and whilst I live, will I surely love thee."
16. And Judah said, "Let us also love our other brethren; behold, are we
not all of one blood?"
17. And Joseph saw these things, and reported them to his father Jacob.
18. And Jacob said, "Reuben did wrong, but he repented. Simeon also did
wrong; and Levi was not altogether blameless.
19. "But the heart of Judah is princely. Judah hath the soul of a king.
His father's children shall bow down before him, and he shall rule over
his brethren."
TO WILLIAM STRAHAN[85]
Philad^a July 5, 1775.
MR. STRAHAN,
You are a Member of Parliament, and one of that Majority which has
doomed my Country to Destruction.--You have begun to burn our Towns, and
murder our People.--Look upon your Hands! They are stained with the
Blood of your Relations!--You and I were long Friends:--You are now my
Enemy,--and I am
Yours,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
Philadelphia, July 7, 1775.
DEAR FRIEND,
The Congress met at a time when all minds were so exasperated by the
perfidy of General Gage, and his attack on the country people, that
propositions of attempting an accommodation were not much relished; and
it has been with difficulty that we have carried another humble petition
to the crown, to give Britain one more chance, one opportunity more, of
recovering the friendship of the colonies; which, however, I think she
has not sense enough to embrace, and so I conclude she has lost them for
ever.
She has begun to burn our seaport towns; secure, I suppose, that we
shall never be able to return the outrage in kind. She may doubtless
destroy them all; but, if she wishes to recover our commerce, are these
the probable means? She must certainly be distracted; for no tradesman
out of Bedlam ever thought of encreasing the number of his customers, by
knocking them on the head; or of enabling them to pay their debts, by
burning their houses. If she wishes to have us subjects, and that we
should submit to her as our compound sovereign, she is now giving us
such miserable specimens of her government, that we shall ever detest
and avoid it, as a complication of robbery, murder, famine, fire, and
pestilence.
You will have heard, before this reaches you, of the treacherous conduct
[of General Gage] to the remaining people in Boston, in detaining their
_goods_, after stipulating to let them go out with their _effects_, on
pretence that merchants' goods were not effects; the defeat of a great
body of his troops by the country people at Lexington; some other small
advantages gained in skirmishes with their troops; and the action at
Bunker's Hill, in which they were twice repulsed, and the third time
gained a dear victory. Enough has happened, one would think, to convince
your ministers, that the Americans will fight, and that this is a harder
nut to crack than they imagined.
We have not yet applied to any foreign power for assistance, nor
offered our commerce for their friendship. Perhaps we never may; yet it
is natural to think of it, if we are pressed. We have now an army on our
establishment, which still holds yours besieged. My time was never more
fully employed. In the morning at six, I am at the Committee of Safety,
appointed by the Assembly to put the province in a state of defence;
which committee holds till near nine, when I am at the Congress, and
that sits till after four in the afternoon. Both these bodies proceed
with the greatest unanimity, and their meetings are well attended. It
will scarce be credited in Britain, that men can be as diligent with us
from zeal for the public good, as with you for thousands per annum. Such
is the difference between uncorrupted new states, and corrupted old
ones.
Great frugality and great industry are now become fashionable here.
Gentlemen, who used to entertain with two or three courses, pride
themselves now in treating with simple beef and pudding. By these means,
and the stoppage of our consumptive trade with Britain, we shall be
better able to pay our voluntary taxes for the support of our troops.
Our savings in the article of trade amount to near five millions
sterling per annum.
I shall communicate your letter to Mr. Winthrop; but the camp is at
Cambridge, and he has as little leisure for philosophy as myself.
Believe me ever with sincere esteem, my dear friend, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO A FRIEND IN ENGLAND[86]
Philadelphia, Oct. 3, 1775.
DEAR SIR,
I wish as ardently as you can do for peace, and should rejoice
exceedingly in coöperating with you to that end. But every ship from
Britain brings some intelligence of new measures that tend more and more
to exasperate; and it seems to me, that until you have found by dear
experience the reducing us by force impracticable, you will think of
nothing fair and reasonable.
We have as yet resolved only on defensive measures. If you would recall
your forces and stay at home, we should meditate nothing to injure you.
A little time so given for cooling on both sides would have excellent
effects. But you will goad and provoke us. You despise us too much; and
you are insensible of the Italian adage, that there is no _little
enemy_. I am persuaded that the body of the British people are our
friends; but they are changeable, and by your lying Gazettes may soon be
made our enemies. Our respect for them will proportionably diminish, and
I see clearly we are on the high road to mutual Enmity[,] hatred and
detestation. A separation of course will be inevitable. 'Tis a million
of pities so fair a plan as we have hitherto been engaged in, for
increasing strength and empire with _public felicity_, should be
destroyed by the mangling hands of a few blundering ministers. It will
not be destroyed; God will protect and prosper it, you will only exclude
yourselves from any share in it. We hear, that more ships and troops are
coming out. We know, that you may do us a great deal of mischief, and
are determined to bear it patiently as long as we can. But, if you
flatter yourselves with beating us into submission, you know neither the
people nor the country. The Congress are still sitting, and will wait
the result of their _last_ petition. Yours, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO LORD HOWE
Philadelphia, July 30th,[87] 1776.
MY LORD,
I receiv'd safe the Letters your Lordship so kindly forwarded to me, and
beg you to accept my thanks.
The official dispatches, to which you refer me, contain nothing more
than what we had seen in the Act of Parliament, viz. Offers of Pardon
upon Submission, which I was sorry to find, as it must give your
Lordship Pain to be sent upon so fruitless a Business.
Directing Pardons to be offered to the Colonies, who are the very
Parties injured, expresses indeed that Opinion of our Ignorance,
Baseness, and Insensibility, which your uninform'd and proud Nation has
long been pleased to entertain of us; but it can have no other effect
than that of increasing our Resentments. It is impossible we should
think of Submission to a Government, that has with the most wanton
Barbarity and Cruelty burnt our defenceless Towns in the midst of
Winter, excited the Savages to massacre our Peacefull Farmers, and our
Slaves to murder their Masters, and is even now bringing foreign
Mercenaries to deluge our Settlements with Blood. These atrocious
Injuries have extinguished every remaining Spark of Affection for that
Parent Country we once held so dear; but, were it possible for _us_ to
forget and forgive them, it is not possible for _you_ (I mean the
British Nation) to forgive the People you have so heavily injured. You
can never confide again in those as Fellow Subjects, and permit them to
enjoy equal Freedom, to whom you know you have given such just Cause of
lasting Enmity. And this must impel you, were we again under your
Government, to endeavour the breaking our Spirit by the severest
Tyranny, and obstructing, by every Means in your Power, our growing
Strength and Prosperity.
But your Lordship mentions "the King's paternal solicitude for promoting
the Establishment of lasting _Peace_ and Union with the Colonies." If by
Peace is here meant a Peace to be entered into between Britain and
America, as distinct States now at War, and his Majesty has given your
Lordship Powers to treat with us of such a Peace, I may venture to say,
though without Authority, that I think a Treaty for that purpose not yet
quite impracticable, before we enter into foreign Alliances. But I am
persuaded you have no such Powers. Your nation, though, by punishing
those American Governors, who have fomented the Discord, rebuilding our
burnt Towns, and repairing as far as possible the mischiefs done us,
might yet recover a great Share of our Regard, and the greatest Part of
our growing Commerce, with all the Advantage of that additional Strength
to be derived from a Friendship with us; but I know too well her
abounding Pride and deficient Wisdom, to believe she will ever take such
salutary Measures. Her Fondness for Conquest, as a warlike Nation, her
lust of Dominion, as an ambitious one, and her wish for a gainful
Monopoly, as a commercial One, (none of them legitimate Causes of War,)
will all join to hide from her Eyes every view of her true Interests,
and continually goad her on in those ruinous distant Expeditions, so
destructive both of Lives and Treasure, that must prove as pernicious to
her in the End, as the Crusades formerly were to most of the Nations in
Europe.
I have not the Vanity, my Lord, to think of intimidating by thus
predicting the Effects of this War; for I know it will in England have
the Fate of all my former Predictions, not to be believed till the Event
shall verify it.
Long did I endeavour, with unfeigned and unwearied Zeal, to preserve
from breaking that fine and noble China Vase, the British Empire; for I
knew, that, being once broken, the separate Parts could not retain even
their Shares of the Strength and Value that existed in the Whole, and
that a perfect Reunion of those Parts could scarce ever be hoped for.
Your Lordship may possibly remember the tears of Joy that wet my Cheek,
when, at your good Sister's in London, you once gave me Expectations
that a Reconciliation might soon take Place. I had the Misfortune to
find those Expectations disappointed, and to be treated as the Cause of
the Mischief I was laboring to prevent. My Consolation under that
groundless and malevolent Treatment was, that I retained the Friendship
of many wise and good Men in that country, and, among the rest, some
Share in the Regard of Lord Howe.
The well-founded Esteem, and, permit me to say, Affection, which I shall
always have for your Lordship, makes it Painful to me to see you engaged
in conducting a War, the great Ground of which, as expressed in your
Letter, is "the necessity of preventing the American trade from passing
into foreign Channels." To me it seems, that neither the Obtaining or
Retaining of any trade, how valuable soever, is an Object for which men
may justly spill each other's Blood; that the true and sure Means of
extending and securing Commerce is the goodness and Cheapness of
Commodities; and that the profit of no trade can ever be equal to the
Expence of compelling it, and of holding it, by Fleets and Armies.
I consider this War against us, therefore, as both unjust and unwise;
and I am persuaded, that cool, dispassionate Posterity will condemn to
Infamy those who advised it; and that even Success will not save from
some Degree of Dishonor those, who voluntarily engaged to Conduct it. I
know your great motive in coming hither was the hope of being
Instrumental in a Reconciliation; and I believe, when you find _that_ to
be impossible on any Terms given you to propose, you will relinquish so
odious a Command, and return to a more honourable private Station.
With the greatest and most sincere Respect, I have the Honour to be, my
Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble Servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
THE SALE OF THE HESSIANS[88]
FROM THE COUNT DE SCHAUMBERGH TO THE BARON HOHENDORF, COMMANDING THE
HESSIAN TROOPS IN AMERICA
Rome, February 18, 1777.
MONSIEUR LE BARON:--
On my return from Naples, I received at Rome your letter of the 27th
December of last year. I have learned with unspeakable pleasure the
courage our troops exhibited at Trenton, and you cannot imagine my joy
on being told that of the 1,950 Hessians engaged in the fight, but 345
escaped. There were just 1,605 men killed, and I cannot sufficiently
commend your prudence in sending an exact list of the dead to my
minister in London. This precaution was the more necessary, as the
report sent to the English ministry does not give but 1,455 dead. This
would make 483,450 florins instead of 643,500 which I am entitled to
demand under our convention. You will comprehend the prejudice which
such an error would work in my finances, and I do not doubt you will
take the necessary pains to prove that Lord North's list is false and
yours correct.
The court of London objects that there were a hundred wounded who ought
not to be included in the list, nor paid for as dead; but I trust you
will not overlook my instructions to you on quitting Cassel, and that
you will not have tried by human succor to recall the life of the
unfortunates whose days could not be lengthened but by the loss of a leg
or an arm. That would be making them a pernicious present, and I am sure
they would rather die than live in a condition no longer fit for my
service. I do not mean by this that you should assassinate them; we
should be humane, my dear Baron, but you may insinuate to the surgeons
with entire propriety that a crippled man is a reproach to their
profession, and that there is no wiser course than to let every one of
them die when he ceases to be fit to fight.
I am about to send to you some new recruits. Don't economize them.
Remember glory before all things. Glory is true wealth. There is nothing
degrades the soldier like the love of money. He must care only for
honour and reputation, but this reputation must be acquired in the midst
of dangers. A battle gained without costing the conqueror any blood is
an inglorious success, while the conquered cover themselves with glory
by perishing with their arms in their hands. Do you remember that of the
300 Lacedæmonians who defended the defile of Thermopylae, not one
returned? How happy should I be could I say the same of my brave
Hessians!
It is true that their king, Leonidas, perished with them: but things
have changed, and it is no longer the custom for princes of the empire
to go and fight in America for a cause with which they have no concern.
And besides, to whom should they pay the thirty guineas per man if I did
not stay in Europe to receive them? Then, it is necessary also that I be
ready to send recruits to replace the men you lose. For this purpose I
must return to Hesse. It is true, grown men are becoming scarce there,
but I will send you boys. Besides, the scarcer the commodity the higher
the price. I am assured that the women and little girls have begun to
till our lands, and they get on not badly. You did right to send back to
Europe that Dr. Crumerus who was so successful in curing dysentery.
Don't bother with a man who is subject to looseness of the bowels. That
disease makes bad soldiers. One coward will do more mischief in an
engagement than ten brave men will do good. Better that they burst in
their barracks than fly in a battle, and tarnish the glory of our arms.
Besides, you know that they pay me as killed for all who die from
disease, and I don't get a farthing for runaways. My trip to Italy,
which has cost me enormously, makes it desirable that there should be a
great mortality among them. You will therefore promise promotion to all
who expose themselves; you will exhort them to seek glory in the midst
of dangers; you will say to Major Maundorff that I am not at all content
with his saving the 345 men who escaped the massacre of Trenton. Through
the whole campaign he has not had ten men killed in consequence of his
orders. Finally, let it be your principal object to prolong the war and
avoid a decisive engagement on either side, for I have made arrangements
for a grand Italian opera, and I do not wish to be obliged to give it
up. Meantime I pray God, my dear Baron de Hohendorf, to have you in his
holy and gracious keeping.
MODEL OF A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION[89]
Paris, April 2, 1777.
SIR:--
The bearer of this, who is going to America, presses me to give him a
Letter of Recommendation, tho' I know nothing of him, not even his Name.
This may seem extraordinary, but I assure you it is not uncommon here.
Sometimes, indeed one unknown Person brings another equally unknown, to
recommend him; and sometimes they recommend one another! As to this
Gentleman, I must refer you to himself for his Character and Merits,
with which he is certainly better acquainted than I can possibly be. I
recommend him however to those Civilities, which every Stranger, of whom
one knows no Harm, has a Right to; and I request you will do him all the
good Offices, and show him all the Favour that, on further Acquaintance,
you shall find him to deserve. I have the Honour to be, etc.
[B. F.]
TO --------
Passy, Oct. 4, 1777.
SIR,
I am much obliged by your communication of the letter from England. I am
of your opinion, that it is not proper for publication here. Our
friend's expressions concerning Mr. Wilson, will be thought too angry to
be made use of by one philosopher when speaking of another, and on a
philosophical question. He seems as much heated about this _one point_,
as the Jansenists and Molinists were about the _five_. As to my writing
any thing on the subject, which you seem to desire, I think it not
necessary, especially as I have nothing to add to what I have already
said upon it in a paper read to the committee, who ordered the
conductors at Purfleet; which paper is printed in the last French
edition of my writings.
I have never entered into any controversy in defence of my philosophical
opinions; I leave them to take their chance in the world. If they are
_right_, truth and experience will support them; if _wrong_, they ought
to be refuted and rejected. Disputes are apt to sour one's temper, and
disturb one's quiet. I have no private interest in the reception of my
inventions by the world, having never made, nor proposed to make, the
least profit by any of them. The King's changing his _pointed_
conductors for _blunt_ ones is, therefore, a matter of small importance
to me. If I had a wish about it, it would be that he had rejected them
altogether as ineffectual. For it is only since he thought himself and
family safe from the thunder of Heaven, that he dared to use his own
thunder in destroying his innocent subjects.[90] I am, Sir, yours, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO DAVID HARTLEY[91]
Passy, Oct. 14, 1777.
_Dear Sir_,
I received duly your letter of May 2, 1777, including a copy of one you
had sent me the year before, which never came to hand, and which it
seems has been the case with some I wrote to you from America. Filled
tho' our letters have always been with sentiments of good will to both
countries, and earnest desires of preventing their ruin and promoting
their mutual felicity, I have been apprehensive, that, if it were known
that a correspondence subsisted between us, it might be attended with
inconvenience to you. I have therefore been backward in writing, not
caring to trust the post, and not well knowing whom else to trust with
my letters. But being now assured of a safe conveyance, I venture to
write to you, especially as I think the subject such an one as you may
receive a letter upon without censure.
Happy should I have been, if the honest warnings I gave, of the fatal
separation of interests, as well as of affections, that must attend the
measures commenced while I was in England, had been attended to, and the
horrid mischief of this abominable war been thereby prevented. I should
still be happy in any successful endeavours for restoring peace,
consistent with the liberties, the safety, and honour of America. As to
our submitting to the government of Great Britain, it is vain to think
of it. She has given us, by her numberless barbarities in the
prosecution of the war, and in the treatment of prisoners, by her malice
in bribing slaves to murder their masters, and savages to massacre the
families of farmers, with her baseness in rewarding the unfaithfulness
of servants, and debauching the virtue of honest seamen, intrusted with
our property, so deep an impression of her depravity, that we never
again can trust her in the management of our affairs and interests. It
is now impossible to persuade our people, as I long endeavoured, that
the war was merely ministerial, and that the nation bore still a good
will to us. The infinite number of addresses printed in your gazettes,
all approving this conduct of your government towards us, and
encouraging our destruction by every possible means, the great majority
in Parliament constantly manifesting the same sentiments, and the
popular public rejoicings on occasion of any news of the slaughter of an
innocent and virtuous people, fighting only in defence of their just
rights; these, together with the recommendations of the same measures
by even your celebrated moralists and divines, in their writings and
sermons, that are cited approved and applauded in your great national
assemblies; all join in convincing us, that you are no longer the
magnanimous and enlightened nation, we once esteemed you, and that you
are unfit and unworthy to govern us, as not being able to govern your
own passions.
But, as I have said, I should be nevertheless happy in seeing peace
restored. For tho', if my friends and the friends of liberty and virtue,
who still remain in England, could be drawn out of it, a continuance of
this war to the ruin of the rest would give me less concern, I cannot,
as that removal is impossible, but wish for peace for their sakes, as
well as for the sake of humanity, and preventing further carnage.
This wish of mine, ineffective as it may be, induces me to mention to
you, that, between nations long exasperated against each other in war,
some act of generosity and kindness towards prisoners on one side has
softened resentment, and abated animosity on the other, so as to bring
on an accommodation. You in England, if you wish for peace, have at
present the opportunity of trying this means, with regard to the
prisoners now in your goals [_sic_]. They complain of very severe
treatment. They are far from their friends and families, and winter is
coming on, in which they must suffer extremely, if continued in their
present situation; fed scantily on bad provisions, without warm lodging,
clothes, or fire, and not suffered to invite or receive visits from
their friends, or even from the humane and charitable of their enemies.
I can assure you, from my own certain knowledge, that your people,
prisoners in America, have been treated with great kindness; they have
been served with the same rations of wholesome provisions with our own
troops, comfortable lodgings have been provided for them, and they have
been allowed large bounds of villages in a healthy air, to walk and
amuse themselves with on their parole. Where you have thought fit to
employ contractors to supply your people, these contractors have been
protected and aided in their operations. Some considerable act of
kindness towards our people would take off the reproach of inhumanity in
that respect from the nation, and leave it where it ought with more
certainty to lay, on the conductors of your war in America. This I hint
to you, out of some remaining good will to a nation I once sincerely
loved. But, as things are, and in my present temper of mind, not being
over fond of receiving obligations, I shall content myself with
proposing, that your government would allow us to send or employ a
commissary to take some care of those unfortunate people. Perhaps on
your representations this might speedily be obtained in England, though
it was refused most inhumanly at New York.
If you could have leisure to visit the goals [_sic_] in which they are
confined, and should be desirous of knowing the truth relative to the
treatment they receive, I wish you would take the trouble of
distributing among the most necessitous according to their wants, two or
three hundred pounds, for which your drafts on me here shall be
punctually honour'd. You could then be able to speak with some certainty
to the point in Parliament, and this might be attended with good effect.
If you cannot obtain for us permission to send a commissary, possibly
you may find a trusty, humane, discreet person at Plymouth, and another
at Portsmouth, who would undertake to communicate what relief we may be
able to afford those unhappy, brave men, martyrs to the cause of
liberty. [Your King will not reward you for taking this trouble, but God
will.] I shall not mention the good will of America; you have what is
better, the applause of your own good conscience. Our captains have set
at liberty above 200 of your people, made prisoners by our armed vessels
and brought into France, besides a great number dismissed at sea on your
coasts, to whom vessels were given to carry them in: But you have not
returned us a man in exchange. If we had sold your people to the Moors
at Sallee, as you have many of ours to the African and East India
Companies, could you have complained?
In revising what I have written, I found too much warmth in it, and was
about to strike out some parts. Yet I let them go, as they will afford
you this one reflection; "If a man naturally cool, and render'd still
cooler by old age, is so warmed by our treatment of his country, how
much must those people in general be exasperated against us? And why are
we making inveterate enemies by our barbarity, not only of the present
inhabitants of a great country, but of their infinitely more numerous
posterity; who will in future ages detest the name of _Englishman_, as
much as the children in Holland now do those of _Alva_ and _Spaniard_."
This will certainly happen, unless your conduct is speedily changed, and
the national resentment falls where it ought to [fall] heavily, on your
ministry, [or perhaps rather on the King, whose will they only execute].
With the greatest esteem and affection, and best wishes for your
prosperity, I have the honour to be, dear Sir, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN BRITAIN, FRANCE, SPAIN, HOLLAND, SAXONY AND AMERICA
[92]
_Britain._ Sister of Spain, I have a Favour to ask of you. My Subjects
in America are disobedient, and I am about to chastize them; I beg you
will not furnish them with any Arms or Ammunition.
_Spain._ Have you forgotten, then, that when my Subjects in the Low
Countries rebelled against me, you not only furnish'd them with military
Stores, but join'd them with an Army and a Fleet? I wonder how you can
have the Impudence to ask such a Favour of me, or the Folly to expect
it!
_Britain._ You, my dear Sister of France, will surely not refuse me this
Favour.
_France._ Did you not assist my Rebel Hugenots with a Fleet and an Army
at Rochelle? And have you not lately aided privately and sneakingly my
Rebel Subjects in Corsica? And do you not at this Instant keep their
Chief, pension'd, and ready to head a fresh Revolt there, whenever you
can find or make an Opportunity? Dear Sister, you must be a little
silly!
_Britain._ Honest Holland! You see it is remembered that I was once your
Friend; you will therefore be mine on this Occasion. I know, indeed,
you are accustom'd to smuggle with these Rebels of mine. I will wink at
that; sell 'em as much Tea as you please, to enervate the Rascals, since
they will not take it of me; but for God's sake don't supply them with
any Arms!
_Holland._ 'Tis true you assisted me against Philip, my Tyrant of Spain,
but have I not assisted you against one of your Tyrants;[H] and enabled
you to expell him? Surely that Accompt, as we Merchants say, is
_ballanced_, and I am nothing in your Debt. I have indeed some
Complaints against _you_, for endeavouring to starve me by your
_Navigation Acts_; but, being peaceably dispos'd, I do not quarrel with
you for that. I shall only go on quietly with my own Business. Trade is
my Profession: 't is all I have to subsist on. And, let me tell you, I
shall make no scruple (on the prospect of a good Market for that
Commodity) even to send my ships to Hell and supply the Devil with
Brimstone. For you must know, I can insure in London against the Burning
of my Sails.
[H] James 2d. [_Franklin's note._]
_America to Britain._ Why, you old bloodthirsty Bully! You who have been
everywhere vaunting your own Prowess, and defaming the Americans as
poltroons! You who have boasted of being able to march over all their
Bellies with a single Regiment! You who by Fraud have possessed yourself
of their strongest Fortress, and all the arms they had stored up in it!
You who have a disciplin'd Army in their Country, intrench'd to the
Teeth, and provided with every thing! Do _you_ run about begging all
Europe not to supply those poor People with a little Powder and Shot? Do
you mean, then, to fall upon them naked and unarm'd, and butcher them in
cold Blood? Is this your Courage? Is this your Magnanimity?
_Britain._ Oh! you wicked--Whig--Presbyterian--Serpent! Have you the
Impudence to appear before me after all your Disobedience? Surrender
immediately all your Liberties and Properties into my Hands, or I will
cut you to Pieces. Was it for this that I planted your country at so
great an Expence? That I protected you in your Infancy, and defended you
against all your Enemies?
_America._ I shall not surrender my Liberty and Property, but with my
Life. It is not true, that my Country was planted at your expence. Your
own Records refute that Falshood to your Face. Nor did you ever afford
me a Man or a Shilling to defend me against the Indians, the only
Enemies I had upon my own Account. But, when you have quarrell'd with
all Europe, and drawn me with you into all your Broils, then you value
yourself upon protecting me from the Enemies you have made for me. I
have no natural Cause of Difference with Spain, France, or Holland, and
yet by turns I have join'd with you in Wars against them all. You would
not suffer me to make or keep a separate Peace with any of them, tho' I
might easily have done it to great Advantage. Does your protecting me in
those Wars give you a Right to fleece me? If so, as I fought for you, as
well as you for me, it gives me a proportionable Right to fleece you.
What think you of an American Law to make a Monopoly of you and your
Commerce, as you have done by your Laws of me and mine? Content yourself
with that Monopoly if you are Wise, and learn Justice if you would be
respected!
_Britain._ You impudent b----h! Am not I your Mother Country? Is that
not a sufficient Title to your Respect and Obedience?
_Saxony._ _Mother country!_ Hah, hah, he! What Respect have _you_ the
front to claim as a Mother Country? You know that _I_ am _your_ Mother
Country, and yet you pay me none. Nay, it is but the other day, that you
hired Ruffians[I] to rob me on the Highway,[J] and burn my House![K] For
shame! Hide your Face and hold your Tongue. If you continue this
Conduct, you will make yourself the Contempt of Europe!
[I] Prussians.
[J] They enter'd and rais'd Contributions in Saxony.
[K] And they burnt the fine Suburbs of Dresden, the Capital of
Saxony. [_Franklin's notes._]
_Britain._ O Lord! Where are my friends?
_France, Spain, Holland, and Saxony, all together._ Friends! Believe us,
you have none, nor ever will have any, 'till you mend your Manners. How
can we, who are your Neighbours, have any regard for you, or expect any
Equity from you, should your Power increase, when we see how basely and
unjustly you have us'd both your _own Mother and your own Children_?
TO CHARLES DE WEISSENSTEIN[93]
Passy, July 1, 1778.
SIR,
I received your letter, dated at Brussels the 16th past. My vanity might
possibly be nattered by your expressions of compliment to my
understanding, if your _proposals_ did not more clearly manifest a mean
opinion of it.
You conjure me, in the name of the omniscient and just God, before whom
I must appear, and by my hopes of future fame, to consider if some
expedient cannot be found to put a stop to the desolation of America,
and prevent the miseries of a general war. As I am conscious of having
taken every step in my power to prevent the breach, and no one to widen
it, I can appear cheerfully before that God, fearing nothing from his
justice in this particular, though I have much occasion for his mercy in
many others. As to my future fame, I am content to rest it on my past
and present conduct, without seeking an addition to it in the crooked,
dark paths, you propose to me, where I should most certainly lose it.
This your solemn address would therefore have been more properly made to
your sovereign and his venal Parliament. He and they, who wickedly
began, and madly continue, a war for the desolation of America, are
alone accountable for the consequences.
You endeavour to impress me with a bad opinion of French faith; but the
instances of their friendly endeavours to serve a race of weak princes,
who, by their own imprudence, defeated every attempt to promote their
interest, weigh but little with me, when I consider the steady
friendship of France to the Thirteen United States of Switzerland, which
has now continued inviolate two hundred years. You tell me, that she
will certainly cheat us, and that she despises us already. I do not
believe that she will cheat us, and I am not certain that she despises
us; but I see clearly that you are endeavouring to cheat us by your
conciliatory bills; that you actually despised our understandings, when
you flattered yourselves those artifices would succeed; and that not
only France, but all Europe, yourselves included, most certainly and for
ever would despise us, if we were weak enough to accept your insidious
propositions.
Our expectations of the future grandeur of America are not so
magnificent, and therefore not so vain or visionary, as you represent
them to be. The body of our people are not merchants, but humble
husbandmen, who delight in the cultivation of their lands, which, from
their fertility and the variety of our climates, are capable of
furnishing all the necessaries and conveniences of life without external
commerce; and we have too much land to have the least temptation to
extend our territory by conquest from peaceable neighbours, as well as
too much justice to think of it. Our militia, you find by experience,
are sufficient to defend our lands from invasion; and the commerce with
us will be defended by all the nations who find an advantage in it. We,
therefore, have not the occasion you imagine, of fleets or standing
armies, but may leave those expensive machines to be maintained for the
pomp of princes, and the wealth of ancient states. We propose, if
possible, to live in peace with all mankind; and after you have been
convinced, to your cost, that there is nothing to be got by attacking
us, we have reason to hope, that no other power will judge it prudent to
quarrel with us, lest they divert us from our own quiet industry, and
turn us into corsairs preying upon theirs. The weight therefore of an
independent empire, which you seem certain of our inability to bear,
will not be so great as you imagine. The expense of our civil government
we have always borne, and can easily bear, because it is small. A
virtuous and laborious people may be cheaply governed. Determining, as
we do, to have no offices of profit, nor any sinecures or useless
appointments, so common in ancient or corrupted states, we can govern
ourselves a year, for the sum you pay in a single department, or for
what one jobbing contractor, by the favour of a minister, can cheat you
out of in a single article.
You think we flatter ourselves, and are deceived into an opinion that
England _must_ acknowledge our independency. We, on the other hand,
think you flatter yourselves in imagining such an acknowledgment a vast
boon, which we strongly desire, and which you may gain some great
advantage by granting or withholding. We have never asked it of you; we
only tell you, that you can have no treaty with us but as an independent
state; and you may please yourselves and your children with the rattle
of your right to govern us, as long as you have done with that of your
King's being King of France, without giving us the least concern, if you
do not attempt to exercise it. That this pretended right is
indisputable, as you say, we utterly deny. Your Parliament never had a
right to govern us, and your King has forfeited it by his bloody
tyranny. But I thank you for letting me know a little of your mind,
that, even if the Parliament should acknowledge our independency, the
act would not be binding to posterity, and that your nation would resume
and prosecute the claim as soon as they found it convenient from the
influence of your passions, and your present malice against us. We
suspected before, that you would not be actually bound by your
conciliatory acts, longer than till they had served their purpose of
inducing us to disband our forces; but we were not certain, that you
were knaves by principle, and that we ought not to have the least
confidence in your offers, promises, or treaties, though confirmed by
Parliament.
I now indeed recollect my being informed, long since, when in England,
that a certain very great personage, then young, studied much a certain
book, called _Arcana Imperii_.[94] I had the curiosity to procure the
book and read it. There are sensible and good things in it, but some bad
ones; for, if I remember rightly, a particular king is applauded for his
politically exciting a rebellion among his subjects, at a time when they
had not strength to support it, that he might, in subduing them, take
away their privileges, which were troublesome to him; and a question is
formally stated and discussed, _Whether a prince, who, to appease a
revolt, makes promises of indemnity to the revolters, is obliged to
fulfil those promises._ Honest and good men would say, Ay; but this
politician says, as you say, No. And he gives this pretty reason, that,
though it was right to make the promises, because otherwise the revolt
would not be suppressed, yet it would be wrong to keep them, because
revolters ought to be punished to deter from future revolts.
If these are the principles of your nation, no confidence can be placed
in you; it is in vain to treat with you; and the wars can only end in
being reduced to an utter inability of continuing them.
One main drift of your letter seems to be, to impress me with an idea of
your own impartiality, by just censures of your ministers and measures,
and to draw from me propositions of peace, or approbations of those you
have enclosed to me which you intimate may by your means be conveyed to
the King directly, without the intervention of those ministers. You
would have me give them to, or drop them for, a stranger, whom I may
find next Monday in the church of Notre Dame, to be known by a rose in
his hat. You yourself, Sir, are quite unknown to me; you have not
trusted me with your true name. Our taking the least step towards a
treaty with England through you, might, if you are an enemy, be made use
of to ruin us with our new and good friends. I may be indiscreet enough
in many things; but certainly, if I were disposed to make propositions
(which I cannot do, having none committed to me to make), I should never
think of delivering them to the Lord knows who, to be carried to the
Lord knows where, to serve no one knows what purposes. Being at this
time one of the most remarkable figures in Paris, even my appearance in
the church of Notre Dame, where I cannot have any conceivable business,
and especially being seen to leave or drop any letter to any person
there, would be a matter of some speculation, and might, from the
suspicions it must naturally give, have very mischievous consequences to
our credit here.
The very proposing of a correspondence so to be managed, in a manner not
necessary where fair dealing is intended, gives just reason to suppose
you intend the contrary. Besides, as your court has sent Commissioners
to treat with the Congress, with all the powers that could be given
them by the crown under the act of Parliament, what good purpose can be
served by privately obtaining propositions from us? Before those
Commissioners went, we might have treated in virtue of our general
powers, (with the knowledge, advice, and approbation of our friends),
upon any propositions made to us. But, under the present circumstances,
for us to make propositions, while a treaty is supposed to be actually
on foot with the Congress, would be extremely improper, highly
presumptuous with regard to our constituents, and answer no good end
whatever.
I write this letter to you, notwithstanding; (which I think I can convey
in a less mysterious manner, and guess it may come to your hands;) I
write it because I would let you know our sense of your procedure, which
appears as insidious as that of your conciliatory bills. Your true way
to obtain peace, if your ministers desire it, is, to propose openly to
the Congress fair and equal terms, and you may possibly come sooner to
such a resolution, when you find, that personal flatteries, general
cajolings, and panegyrics on our _virtue_ and _wisdom_ are not likely to
have the effect you seem to expect; the persuading us to act basely and
foolishly, in betraying our country and posterity into the hands of our
most bitter enemies, giving up or selling our arms and warlike stores,
dismissing our ships of war and troops, and putting those enemies in
possession of our forts and ports.
This proposition of delivering ourselves, bound and gagged, ready for
hanging, without even a right to complain, and without a friend to be
found afterwards among all mankind, you would have us embrace upon the
faith of an act of Parliament! Good God! an act of your Parliament! This
demonstrates that you do not yet know us, and that you fancy we do not
know you; but it is not merely this flimsy faith, that we are to act
upon; you offer us _hope_, the hope of PLACES, PENSIONS, and PEERAGES.
These, judging from yourselves, you think are motives irresistible. This
offer to corrupt us, Sir, is with me your credential, and convinces me
that you are not a private volunteer in your application. It bears the
stamp of British court character. It is even the signature of your
King. But think for a moment in what light it must be viewed in America.
By PLACES, you mean places among us, for you take care by a special
article to secure your own to yourselves. We must then pay the salaries
in order to enrich ourselves with these places. But you will give us
PENSIONS, probably to be paid too out of your expected American revenue,
and which none of us can accept without deserving, and perhaps
obtaining, a SUS-_pension_. PEERAGES! alas! Sir, our long observation of
the vast servile majority of your peers, voting constantly for every
measure proposed by a minister, however weak or wicked, leaves us small
respect for that title. We consider it as a sort of _tar-and-feather_
honour, or a mixture of foulness and folly, which every man among us,
who should accept it from your King, would be obliged to renounce, or
exchange for that conferred by the mobs of their own country, or wear it
with everlasting infamy. I am, Sir, your humble Servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
THE EPHEMERA[95]
_An Emblem of Human Life_
[1778]
You may remember, my dear friend, that when we lately spent that happy
day in the delightful garden and sweet society of the Moulin Joly, I
stopt a little in one of our walks, and staid some time behind the
company. We had been shown numberless skeletons of a kind of little fly,
called an ephemera, whose successive generations, we were told, were
bred and expired within the day. I happened to see a living company of
them on a leaf, who appeared to be engaged in conversation. You know I
understand all the inferior animal tongues: my too great application to
the study of them is the best excuse I can give for the little progress
I have made in your charming language. I listened through curiosity to
the discourse of these little creatures; but as they, in their national
vivacity, spoke three or four together, I could make but little of
their conversation. I found, however, by some broken expressions that I
heard now and then, they were disputing warmly on the merit of two
foreign musicians, one a _cousin_, the other a _moscheto_; in which
dispute they spent their time, seemingly as regardless of the shortness
of life as if they had been sure of living a month. Happy people!
thought I, you live certainly under a wise, just, and mild government,
since you have no public grievances to complain of, nor any subject of
contention but the perfections and imperfections of foreign music. I
turned my head from them to an old grey-headed one, who was single on
another leaf, and talking to himself. Being amused with his soliloquy, I
put it down in writing, in hopes it will likewise amuse her to whom I am
so much indebted for the most pleasing of all amusements, her delicious
company and heavenly harmony.
"It was," said he, "the opinion of learned philosophers of our race, who
lived and flourished long before my time, that this vast world, the
Moulin Joly, could not itself subsist more than eighteen hours; and I
think there was some foundation for that opinion, since, by the apparent
motion of the great luminary that gives life to all nature, and which in
my time has evidently declined considerably towards the ocean at the end
of our earth, it must then finish its course, be extinguished in the
waters that surround us, and leave the world in cold and darkness,
necessarily producing universal death and destruction. I have lived
seven of those hours, a great age, being no less than four hundred and
twenty minutes of time. How very few of us continue so long! I have seen
generations born, flourish, and expire. My present friends are the
children and grandchildren of the friends of my youth, who are now,
alas, no more! And I must soon follow them; for, by the course of
nature, though still in health, I cannot expect to live above seven or
eight minutes longer. What now avails all my toil and labor, in amassing
honey-dew on this leaf, which I cannot live to enjoy! What the political
struggles I have been engaged in, for the good of my compatriot
inhabitants of this bush, or my philosophical studies for the benefit of
our race in general! for, in politics, what can laws do without morals?
Our present race of ephemeræ will in a course of minutes become corrupt,
like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched. And
in philosophy how small our progress! Alas! art is long, and life is
short! My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name, they say, I
shall leave behind me; and they tell me I have lived long enough to
nature and to glory. But what will fame be to an ephemera who no longer
exists? And what will become of all history in the eighteenth hour, when
the world itself, even the whole Moulin Joly, shall come to its end, and
be buried in universal ruin?"
To me, after all my eager pursuits, no solid pleasures now remain, but
the reflection of a long life spent in meaning well, the sensible
conversation of a few good lady ephemeræ, and now and then a kind smile
and a tune from the ever amiable _Brillante_.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO RICHARD BACHE
Passy, June 2, 1779.
--I am very easy about the efforts Messrs. Lee and Izard are using, as
you tell me, to injure me on that side of the water. I trust in the
justice of the Congress, that they will listen to no accusations against
me, that I have not first been acquainted with, and had an opportunity
of answering. I know those gentlemen have plenty of ill will to me,
though I have never done to either of them the smallest injury, or given
the least just cause of offence. But my too great reputation, and the
general good will this people have for me, and the respect they show me,
and even the compliments they make me, all grieve those unhappy
gentlemen; unhappy indeed in their tempers, and in the dark,
uncomfortable passions of jealousy, anger, suspicion, envy, and malice.
It is enough for good minds to be affected at other people's
misfortunes; but they, that are vexed at everybody's good luck, can
never be happy. I take no other revenge of such enemies, than to let
them remain in the miserable situation in which their malignant natures
have placed them, by endeavouring to support an estimable character; and
thus, by continuing the reputation the world has hitherto indulged me
with, I shall continue them in their present state of damnation; and I
am not disposed to reverse my conduct for the alleviation of their
torments.
I am surprised to hear, that my grandson, Temple Franklin, being with
me, should be an objection against me, and that there is a cabal for
removing him.[96] Methinks it is rather some merit, that I have rescued
a valuable young man from the danger of being a Tory, and fixed him in
honest republican Whig principles; as I think, from the integrity of his
disposition, his industry, his early sagacity, and uncommon abilities
for business, he may in time become of great service to his country. It
is enough that I have lost my _son_; would they add my _grandson_? An
old man of seventy, I undertook a winter voyage at the command of the
Congress, and for the public service, with no other attendant to take
care of me. I am continued here in a foreign country, where, if I am
sick, his filial attention comforts me, and, if I die, I have a child to
close my eyes and take care of my remains. His dutiful behaviour towards
me, and his diligence and fidelity in business, are both pleasing and
useful to me. His conduct, as my private secretary, has been
unexceptionable, and I am confident the Congress will never think of
separating us.
I have had a great deal of pleasure in Ben too.[97] He is a good, honest
lad, and will make, I think, a valuable man. He had made as much
proficiency in his learning, as the boarding school he was at could well
afford him; and, after some consideration where to find a better for
him, I at length fixed on sending him to Geneva. I had a good
opportunity by a gentleman of that city; who had a place for him in his
chaise, and has a son about the same age at the same school. He promised
to take care of him, and enclosed I send you the letters I have since
received relating to him and from him. He went very cheerfully, and I
understand is very happy. I miss his company on Sundays at dinner. But,
if I live, and I can find a little leisure, I shall make the journey
next spring to see him, and to see at the same time _the old thirteen
United States_ of Switzerland.
Thanks be to God, I continue well and hearty. Undoubtedly I grow older,
but I think the last ten years have made no great difference. I have
sometimes the gout, but they say that is not so much a disease as a
remedy. God bless you. I am your affectionate father,
B. FRANKLIN.
MORALS OF CHESS[98]
[1779]
[Playing at chess is the most ancient and most universal game known
among men; for its original is beyond the memory of history, and it has,
for numberless ages, been the amusement of all the civilised nations of
Asia, the Persians, the Indians, and the Chinese. Europe has had it
above a thousand years; the Spaniards have spread it over their part of
America; and it has lately begun to make its appearance in the United
States. It is so interesting in itself, as not to need the view of gain
to induce engaging in it; and thence it is seldom played for money.
Those therefore who have leisure for such diversions, cannot find one
that is more innocent: and the following piece, written with a view to
correct (among a few young friends) some little improprieties in the
practice of it, shows at the same time that it may, in its effects on
the mind, be not merely innocent, but advantageous, to the vanquished as
well as the victor.]
The Game of Chess is not merely an idle Amusement. Several very valuable
qualities of the Mind, useful in the course of human Life, are to be
acquir'd or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all
occasions. For Life is a kind of Chess, in which we often have Points to
gain, & Competitors or Adversaries to contend with; and in which there
is a vast variety of good and ill Events, that are in some degree the
Effects of Prudence or the want of it. By playing at Chess, then, we may
learn,
I. _Foresight_, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the
Consequences that may attend an action; for it is continually occurring
to the Player, "If I move this piece, what will be the advantages or
disadvantages of my new situation? What Use can my Adversary make of it
to annoy me? What other moves can I make to support it, and to defend
myself from his attacks?"
II. _Circumspection_, which surveys the whole Chessboard, or scene of
action; the relations of the several pieces and situations, the Dangers
they are respectively exposed to, the several possibilities of their
aiding each other, the probabilities that the Adversary may make this or
that move, and attack this or the other Piece, and what different Means
can be used to avoid his stroke, or turn its consequences against him.
III. _Caution_, not to make our moves too hastily. This habit is best
acquired, by observing strictly the laws of the Game; such as, _If you
touch a Piece, you must move it somewhere; if you set it down, you must
let it stand_. And it is therefore best that these rules should be
observed, as the Game becomes thereby more the image of human Life, and
particularly of War; in which, if you have incautiously put yourself
into a bad and dangerous position, you cannot obtain your Enemy's Leave
to withdraw your Troops, and place them more securely, but you must
abide all the consequences of your rashness.
And _lastly_, we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by
present appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for
a favourable Change, and that of persevering in the search of resources.
The Game is so full of Events, there is such a variety of turns in it,
the Fortune of it is so subject to sudden Vicissitudes, and one so
frequently, after long contemplation, discovers the means of extricating
one's self from a supposed insurmountable Difficulty, that one is
encouraged to continue the Contest to the last, in hopes of Victory from
our own skill, or at least [of getting a stale mate] from the Negligence
of our Adversary. And whoever considers, what in Chess he often sees
instances of, that [particular pieces of] success is [are] apt to
produce Presumption, & its consequent Inattention, by which more is
afterwards lost than was gain'd by the preceding Advantage, while
misfortunes produce more care and attention, by which the loss may be
recovered, will learn not to be too much discouraged by any present
success of his Adversary, nor to despair of final good fortune upon
every little Check he receives in the pursuit of it.
That we may therefore be induced more frequently to chuse this
beneficial amusement, in preference to others which are not attended
with the same advantages, every Circumstance that may increase the
pleasure of it should be regarded; and every action or word that is
unfair, disrespectful, or that in any way may give uneasiness, should be
avoided, as contrary to the immediate intention of both the Players,
which is to pass the Time agreably.
Therefore, first, if it is agreed to play according to the strict rules,
then those rules are to be exactly observed by both parties, and should
not be insisted on for one side, while deviated from by the other--for
this is not equitable.
Secondly, if it is agreed not to observe the rules exactly, but one
party demands indulgencies, he should then be as willing to allow them
to the other.
Thirdly, no false move should ever be made to extricate yourself out of
difficulty, or to gain an advantage. There can be no pleasure in playing
with a person once detected in such unfair practice.
Fourthly, if your adversary is long in playing, you ought not to hurry
him, or express any uneasiness at his delay. You should not sing, nor
whistle, nor look at your watch, nor take up a book to read, nor make a
tapping with your feet on the floor, or with your fingers on the table,
nor do any thing that may disturb his attention. For all these things
displease; and they do not show your skill in playing, but your
craftiness or your rudeness.
Fifthly, you ought not to endeavour to amuse and deceive your adversary,
by pretending to have made bad moves, and saying that you have now lost
the game, in order to make him secure and careless, and inattentive to
your schemes: for this is fraud and deceit, not skill in the game.
Sixthly, you must not, when you have gained a victory, use any
triumphing or insulting expression, nor show too much pleasure; but
endeavour to console your adversary, and make him less dissatisfied with
himself, by every kind of civil expression that may be used with truth,
such as, "you understand the game better than I, but you are a little
inattentive;" or, "you play too fast;" or, "you had the best of the
game, but something happened to divert your thoughts, and that turned it
in my favour."
Seventhly, if you are a spectator while others play, observe the most
perfect silence. For, if you give advice, you offend both parties, him
against whom you give it, because it may cause the loss of his game, him
in whose favour you give it, because, though it be good, and he follows
it, he loses the pleasure he might have had, if you had permitted him to
think until it had occurred to himself. Even after a move or moves, you
must not, by replacing the pieces, show how they might have been placed
better; for that displeases, and may occasion disputes and doubts about
their true situation. All talking to the players lessens or diverts
their attention, and is therefore unpleasing. Nor should you give the
least hint to either party, by any kind of noise or motion. If you do,
you are unworthy to be a spectator. If you have a mind to exercise or
show your judgment, do it in playing your own game, when you have an
opportunity, not in criticizing, or meddling with, or counselling the
play of others.
Lastly, if the game is not to be played rigorously, according to the
rules above mentioned, then moderate your desire of victory over your
adversary, and be pleased with one over yourself. Snatch not eagerly at
every advantage offered by his unskilfulness or inattention; but point
out to him kindly, that by such a move he places or leaves a piece in
danger and unsupported; that by another he will put his king in a
perilous situation, &c. By this generous civility (so opposite to the
unfairness above forbidden) you may, indeed, happen to lose the game to
your opponent; but you will win what is better, his esteem, his respect,
and his affection, together with the silent approbation and good-will of
impartial spectators.
TO BENJAMIN VAUGHAN
Passy, Nov. 9, 1779.
DEAR SIR,
I have received several kind Letters from you, which I have not
regularly answered. They gave me however great Pleasure, as they
acquainted me with your Welfare, and that of your Family and other
Friends; and I hope you will continue writing to me as often as you can
do it conveniently.
I thank you much for the great Care and Pains you have taken in
regulating and correcting the Edition of those Papers. Your Friendship
for me appears in almost every Page; and if the Preservation of any of
them should prove of Use to the Publick, it is to you that the Publick
will owe the Obligation. In looking them over, I have noted some Faults
of Impression that hurt the Sense, and some other little Matters, which
you will find all in a Sheet under the title of _Errata_. You can best
judge whether it may be worth while to add any of them to the Errata
already printed, or whether it may not be as well to reserve the whole
for Correction in another Edition, if such should ever be. Inclos'd I
send a more perfect copy of the _Chapter_.[99]
If I should ever recover the Pieces that were in the Hands of my Son,
and those I left among my Papers in America, I think there may be enough
to make three more such Volumes, of which a great part would be more
interesting.
As to the _Time_ of publishing, of which you ask my Opinion I am not
furnish'd with any Reasons, or Ideas of Reasons, on which to form any
Opinion. Naturally I should suppose the Bookseller to be from Experience
the best Judge, and I should be for leaving it to him.
I did not write the Pamphlet you mention. I know nothing of it. I
suppose it is the same, concerning which Dr. Priestley formerly asked me
the same Question. That for which he took it was intitled, _A
Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain_, with these
Lines in the Title Page.
"Whatever is, is right. But purblind Man
Sees but a part o' the Chain, the nearest Link;
His Eye not carrying to that equal Beam,
That poises all above."
DRYDEN.
_London, Printed M. D. C. C. X. X. V._
It was addressed to Mr. J. R., that is, James Ralph, then a youth of
about my age, and my intimate friend; afterwards a political writer and
historian. The purport of it was to prove the doctrine of fate, from the
supposed attributes of God; in some such manner as this: that in
erecting and governing the world, as he was infinitely wise, he knew
what would be best; infinitely good, he must be disposed, and infinitely
powerful, he must be able to execute it: consequently all is right.
There were only an hundred copies printed, of which I gave a few to
friends, and afterwards disliking the piece, as conceiving it might have
an ill tendency, I burnt the rest, except one copy, the margin of which
was filled with manuscript notes by Lyons, author of the Infallibility
of Human Judgment, who was at that time another of my acquaintance in
London. I was not nineteen years of age when it was written. In 1730, I
wrote a piece on the other side of the question, which began with laying
for its foundation this fact: "That almost all men in all ages and
countries, have at times made use of prayer." Thence I reasoned, that if
all things are ordained, prayer must among the rest be ordained. But as
prayer can produce no change in things that are ordained, praying must
then be useless and an absurdity. God would therefore not ordain praying
if everything else was ordained. But praying exists, therefore all
things are not ordained, etc. This pamphlet was never printed, and the
manuscript has been long lost. The great uncertainty I found in
metaphysical reasonings disgusted me, and I quitted that kind of reading
and study for others more satisfactory.
I return the Manuscripts you were so obliging as to send me; I am
concern'd at your having no other copys, I hope these will get safe to
your hands. I do not remember the Duke de Chaulnes showing me the Letter
you mention. I have received Dr. Crawford's book, but not your Abstract,
which I wait for as you desire.
I send you also M. Dupont's _Table Economique_, which I think an
excellent Thing, as it contains in a clear Method all the principles of
that new sect, called here _les Économistes_.
Poor Henley's dying in that manner is inconceivable to me. Is any Reason
given to account for it, besides insanity?
Remember me affectionately to all your good Family, and believe me, with
great Esteem, my dear Friend, yours, most sincerely,
B. FRANKLIN.
THE WHISTLE[100]
TO MADAME BRILLON
Passy, November 10, 1779.
I received my dear friend's two letters, one for Wednesday and one for
Saturday. This is again Wednesday. I do not deserve one for to-day,
because I have not answered the former. But, indolent as I am, and
averse to writing, the fear of having no more of your pleasing epistles,
if I do not contribute to the correspondence, obliges me to take up my
pen; and as Mr. B. has kindly sent me word, that he sets out to-morrow
to see you, instead of spending this Wednesday evening as I have done
its namesakes, in your delightful company, I sit down to spend it in
thinking of you, in writing to you, and in reading over and over again
your letters.
I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of
living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that, in the mean
time, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my opinion,
we might all draw more good from it than we do, and suffer less evil, if
we would take care not to give too much for _whistles_. For to me it
seems, that most of the unhappy people we meet with, are become so by
neglect of that caution.
You ask what I mean? You love stories, and will excuse my telling one of
myself.
When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled
my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys
for children; and, being charmed with the sound of a _whistle_, that I
met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and
gave all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over
the house, much pleased with my _whistle_, but disturbing all the
family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain
I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was
worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest
of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with
vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the _whistle_
gave me pleasure.
This however was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on
my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary
thing, I said to myself, _Don't give too much for the whistle_; and I
saved my money.
As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I
thought I met with many, very many, who _gave too much for the whistle_.
When I saw one too ambitious of court favour, sacrificing his time in
attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps
his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, _This man gives too
much for his whistle_.
When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in
political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that
neglect, _He pays, indeed_, said I, _too much for his whistle_.
If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the
pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens,
and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating
wealth, _Poor man_, said I, _you pay too much for your whistle_.
When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable
improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal
sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, _Mistaken man_,
said I, _you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you
give too much for your whistle_.
If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine
furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he contracts
debts, and ends his career in a prison, _Alas!_ say I, _he has paid
dear, very dear, for his whistle_.
When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured
brute of a husband, _What a pity_, say I, _that she should pay so much
for a whistle_!
In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are
brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of
things, and by their _giving too much for their whistles_.
Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I consider,
that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there are certain
things in the world so tempting, for example, the apples of King John,
which happily are not to be bought; for if they were put to sale by
auction, I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase, and
find that I had once more given too much for the _whistle_.
Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely and with
unalterable affection,
B. FRANKLIN.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
[1779?]
OLD VERSION
1. Our Father which art in Heaven,
2. Hallowed be thy Name.
3. Thy Kingdom come.
4. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
5. Give us this Day our daily Bread.
6. Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors.
And lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil.
NEW VERSION BY B. F.
1. Heavenly Father,
2. May all revere thee,
3. And become thy dutiful Children and faithful Subjects.
4. May thy Laws be obeyed on Earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven.
5. Provide for us this Day as thou hast hitherto daily done.
6. Forgive us our Trespasses and enable us likewise to forgive
those that offend us.
7. Keep us out of Temptation, and deliver us from Evil.--
_Reasons for the Change of Expression_
Old Version. _Our Father which art in Heaven._
New V.--_Heavenly Father_, is more concise, equally expressive, and
better modern English.--
Old V.--_Hallowed be thy Name._ This seems to relate to an Observance
among the Jews not to pronounce the proper or peculiar Name of God,
they deeming it a Profanation so to do. We have in our Language no
_proper Name_ for God; the Word _God_ being a common or general Name,
expressing all chief Objects of Worship, true or false. The Word
_hallowed_ is almost obsolete. People now have but an imperfect
Conception of the Meaning of the Petition. It is therefore proposed
to change the expression into
New V.--_May all revere thee._
Old V.--_Thy Kingdom come._ This Petition seems suited to the then
Condition of the Jewish Nation. Originally their State was a
Theocracy. God was their King. Dissatisfied with that kind of
Government, they desired a visible earthly King in the manner of the
Nations round them. They had such Kings accordingly; but their
Offerings were _due_ to God on many Occasions by the Jewish Law,
which when People could not pay, or had forgotten as Debtors are apt
to do, it was proper to pray that those Debts might be forgiven. Our
Liturgy uses neither the _Debtors_ of Matthew, nor the _indebted_ of
Luke, but instead of them speaks of _those that trespass against us_.
Perhaps the Considering it as a Christian Duty to forgive Debtors,
was by the Compilers thought an inconvenient Idea in a trading
Nation.--There seems however something presumptuous in this Mode of
Expression, which has the Air of proposing ourselves as an Example of
Goodness fit for God to imitate. _We hope you will at least be as
good as we are_; you see we forgive one another, and therefore we
pray that you would forgive us. Some have considered it in another
sense, _Forgive us as we forgive others_; i.e. If we do not forgive
others we pray that thou wouldst not forgive us. But this being a
kind of conditional _Imprecation_ against ourselves, seems improper
in such a Prayer; and therefore it may be better to say humbly &
modestly
New V.--_Forgive us our Trespasses, and enable us likewise to forgive
those that offend us._ This instead of assuming that we have already
in & of ourselves the Grace of Forgiveness, acknowledges our
Dependance on God, the Fountain of Mercy for any Share we may have in
it, praying that he would communicate of it to us.--
Old V.--_And lead us not into Temptation._ The Jews had a Notion, that
God sometimes tempted, or directed or permitted the Tempting of
People. Thus it was said he tempted Pharaoh; directed Satan to tempt
Job; and a false Prophet to tempt Ahab, &c. Under this Persuasion it
was natural for them to pray that he would not put them to such
severe Trials. We now suppose that Temptation, so far as it is
supernatural, comes from the Devil only, and this Petition continued
conveys a Suspicion which in our present Conception seems unworthy of
God, therefore might be altered to
New V.--_Keep us out of Temptation._ Happiness was not increas'd by the
Change, and they had reason to wish and pray for a Return of the
Theocracy, or Government of God. Christians in these Times have other
Ideas when they speak of the Kingdom of God, such as are perhaps more
adequately express'd by
New V.--_And become thy dutiful Children & faithful Subjects._
Old V.--_Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven._
New V.--_May thy Laws be obeyed on Earth as perfectly as they are in
Heaven._
Old V.--_Give us this Day our daily Bread._ Give us what is _ours_,
seems to put us in a Claim of Right, and to contain too little of the
grateful Acknowledgment and Sense of Dependance that becomes
Creatures who live on the daily Bounty of their Creator. Therefore it
is changed to
New V.--_Provide for us this Day, as thou hast hitherto daily done._
Old V.--_Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors._ Matthew.
_Forgive us our Sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted
to us._ Luke.
THE LEVÉE
[1779?]
In the first chapter of Job we have an account of a transaction said to
have arisen in the court, or at the _levée_, of the best of all possible
princes, or of governments by a single person, viz. that of God himself.
At this _levée_, in which the sons of God were assembled, Satan also
appeared.
It is probable the writer of that ancient book took his idea of this
_levée_ from those of the eastern monarchs of the age he lived in.
It is to this day usual at the _levées_ of princes, to have persons
assembled who are enemies to each other, who seek to obtain favor by
whispering calumny and detraction, and thereby ruining those that
distinguish themselves by their virtue and merit. And kings frequently
ask a familiar question or two, of every one in the circle, merely to
show their benignity. These circumstances are particularly exemplified
in this relation.
If a modern king, for instance, finds a person in the circle who has not
lately been there, he naturally asks him how he has passed his time
since he last had the pleasure of seeing him? the gentleman perhaps
replies that he has been in the country to view his estates, and visit
some friends. Thus Satan being asked whence he cometh? answers, "From
going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it." And being
further asked, whether he had considered the uprightness and fidelity of
the prince's servant Job, he immediately displays all the malignance of
the designing courtier, by answering with another question: "Doth Job
serve God for naught? Hast thou not given him immense wealth, and
protected him in the possession of it? Deprive him of that, and he will
curse thee to thy face." In modern phrase, Take away his places and his
pensions, and your Majesty will soon find him in the opposition.
This whisper against Job had its effect. He was delivered into the power
of his adversary, who deprived him of his fortune, destroyed his family,
and completely ruined him.
The book of Job is called by divines a sacred poem, and, with the rest
of the Holy Scriptures, is understood to be written for our instruction.
What then is the instruction to be gathered from this supposed
transaction?
Trust not a single person with the government of your state. For if the
Deity himself, being the monarch may for a time give way to calumny, and
suffer it to operate the destruction of the best of subjects; what
mischief may you not expect from such power in a mere man, though the
best of men, from whom the truth is often industriously hidden, and to
whom falsehood is often presented in its place, by artful, interested,
and malicious courtiers?
And be cautious in trusting him even with limited powers, lest sooner or
later he sap and destroy those limits, and render himself absolute.
For by the disposal of places, he attaches to himself all the
placeholders, with their numerous connexions, and also all the expecters
and hopers of places, which will form a strong party in promoting his
views. By various political engagements for the interest of neighbouring
states or princes, he procures their aid in establishing his own
personal power. So that, through the hopes of emolument in one part of
his subjects, and the fear of his resentment in the other, all
opposition falls before him.
PROPOSED NEW VERSION OF THE BIBLE[101]
[1779?]
TO THE PRINTER OF***
SIR,
It is now more than one hundred and seventy years since the translation
of our common English Bible. The language in that time is much changed,
and the style, being obsolete, and thence less agreeable, is perhaps one
reason why the reading of that excellent book is of late so much
neglected. I have therefore thought it would be well to procure a new
version, in which, preserving the sense, the turn of phrase and manner
of expression should be modern. I do not pretend to have the necessary
abilities for such a work myself; I throw out the hint for the
consideration of the learned; and only venture to send you a few verses
of the first chapter of Job, which may serve as a sample of the kind of
version I would recommend.
A. B.
PART OF THE FIRST CHAPTER OF JOB MODERNIZED
OLD TEXT
NEW VERSION
Verse 6. Now there was a
day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before
the Lord, and Satan came
also amongst them.
Verse 6. And it being _levée_
day in heaven, all God's nobility
came to court, to present
themselves before him;
and Satan also appeared in the
circle, as one of the ministry.
7. And the Lord said unto
Satan, Whence comest thou?
Then Satan answered the Lord,
and said, From going to and
fro in the earth, and from
walking up and down in it.
7. And God said to Satan,
You have been some time absent;
where were you? And
Satan answered[,] I have been
at my country-seat, and in
different places visiting my
friends.
8. And the Lord said unto
Satan, Hast thou considered
my servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a
perfect and an upright man,
one that feareth God, and
escheweth evil?
8. And God said, Well,
what think you of Lord Job?
You see he is my best friend,
a perfectly honest man, full
of respect for me, and avoiding
every thing that might offend
me.
9. Then Satan answered the
Lord, and said, Doth Job fear
God for naught?
9. And Satan answered,
Does your Majesty imagine
that his good conduct is the
effect of mere personal attachment
and affection?
10. Hast thou not made an
hedge about his house, and
about all that he hath on every
side? Thou hast blessed the
work of his hands, and his
substance is increased in the
land.
10. Have you not protected
him, and heaped your benefits
upon him, till he is grown
enormously rich?
11. But put forth thine
hand now, and touch all that
he hath, and he will curse thee
to thy face.
11. Try him;--only withdraw
your favor, turn him out
of his places, and withhold his
pensions, and you will soon
find him in the opposition.
TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
Passy, Feb. 8, 1780.
Dear Sir,
Your kind Letter of September 27 came to hand but very lately, the
Bearer having staied long in Holland. I always rejoice to hear of your
being still employ'd in experimental Researches into Nature, and of the
Success you meet with. The rapid Progress _true_ Science now makes,
occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon. It is
impossible to imagine the Height to which may be carried, in a thousand
years, the Power of Man over Matter. We may perhaps learn to deprive
large Masses of their Gravity, and give them absolute Levity, for the
sake of easy Transport. Agriculture may diminish its Labour and double
its Produce; all Diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured, not
excepting even that of Old Age, and our Lives lengthened at pleasure
even beyond the antediluvian Standard. O that moral Science were in as
fair a way of Improvement, that Men would cease to be Wolves to one
another, and that human Beings would at length learn what they now
improperly call Humanity![102]
I am glad my little Paper on the _Aurora Borealis_ pleased. If it should
occasion further Enquiry, and so produce a better Hypothesis, it will
not be wholly useless. I am ever, with the greatest and most sincere
Esteem, dear Sir, yours very affectionately
B. FRANKLIN.
TO GEORGE WASHINGTON
Passy, March 5, 1780.
SIR,
I have received but lately the Letter your Excellency did me the honour
of writing to me in Recommendation of the Marquis de la Fayette. His
modesty detained it long in his own Hands. We became acquainted,
however, from the time of his Arrival at Paris; and his Zeal for the
Honour of our Country, his Activity in our Affairs here, and his firm
Attachment to our Cause and to you, impress'd me with the same Regard
and Esteem for him that your Excellency's Letter would have done, had it
been immediately delivered to me.
Should peace arrive after another Campaign or two, and afford us a
little Leisure, I should be happy to see your Excellency in Europe, and
to accompany you, if my Age and Strength would permit, in visiting some
of its ancient and most famous Kingdoms. You would, on this side of the
Sea, enjoy the great Reputation you have acquir'd, pure and free from
those little Shades that the Jealousy and Envy of a Man's Countrymen and
Cotemporaries are ever endeavouring to cast over living Merit. Here you
would know, and enjoy, what Posterity will say of Washington. For 1000
Leagues have nearly the same Effect with 1000 Years. The feeble Voice of
those grovelling Passions cannot extend so far either in Time or
Distance. At present I enjoy that Pleasure for you, as I frequently hear
the old Generals of this martial Country, (who study the Maps of
America, and mark upon them all your Operations,) speak with sincere
Approbation and great Applause of your conduct; and join in giving you
the Character of one of the greatest Captains of the Age.
I must soon quit the Scene, but you may live to see our Country nourish,
as it will amazingly and rapidly after the War is over. Like a Field of
young Indian Corn, which long Fair weather and Sunshine had enfeebled
and discolored, and which in that weak State, by a Thunder Gust, of
violent Wind, Hail, and Rain, seem'd to be threaten'd with absolute
Destruction; yet the Storm being past, it recovers fresh Verdure, shoots
up with double Vigour, and delights the Eye, not of its Owner only, but
of every observing Traveller.[103]
The best Wishes that can be form'd for your Health, Honour, and
Happiness, ever attend you from your Excellency's most obedient and most
humble servant
B. F.
TO MISS GEORGIANA SHIPLEY
Passy, Oct. 8, 1780.
It is long, very long, my dear Friend, since I had the great Pleasure of
hearing from you, and receiving any of your very pleasing Letters. But
it is my fault. I have long omitted my Part of the Correspondence. Those
who love to receive Letters should write Letters. I wish I could safely
promise an Amendment of that Fault. But, besides the Indolence attending
Age, and growing upon us with it, my Time is engross'd by too much
Business; and I have too many Inducements to postpone doing, what I feel
I ought to do for my own Sake, and what I can never resolve to omit
entirely.
Your Translations from Horace, as far as I can judge of Poetry and
Translations, are very good. That of the _Quò, quò ruitis?_ is so
suitable to the Times, that the Conclusion, (in your Version,) seems to
threaten like a Prophecy; and methinks there is at least some Appearance
of Danger that it may be fulfilled. I am unhappily an Enemy, yet I think
there has been enough of Blood spilt, and I wish what is left in the
Veins of that once lov'd People, may be spared by a Peace solid and
everlasting.
It is a great while since I have heard any thing of the _good Bishop_.
Strange, that so simple a Character should sufficiently distinguish one
of that sacred Body! _Donnez-moi de ses Nouvelles._ I have been some
time flatter'd with the Expectation of seeing the Countenance of that
most honoured and ever beloved Friend, delineated by your Pencil. The
Portrait is said to have been long on the way, but is not yet arriv'd;
nor can I hear where it is.
Indolent as I have confess'd myself to be, I could not, you see, miss
this good and safe Opportunity of sending you a few Lines, with my best
Wishes for your Happiness, and that of the whole dear and amiable Family
in whose sweet Society I have spent so many happy Hours. Mr. Jones[104]
tells me, he shall have a Pleasure in being the Bearer of my Letter, of
which I make no doubt. I learn from him, that to your Drawing, and
Music, and Painting, and Poetry, and Latin, you have added a Proficiency
in Chess, so that you are, as the French say, _tout plein de talens_.
May they and you fall to the Lot of one, that shall duly value them, and
love you as much as I do. Adieu.
B. F[RANKLIN].
TO RICHARD PRICE
Passy, Oct. 9, 1780.
DEAR SIR,
Besides the Pleasure of their Company, I had the great Satisfaction of
hearing by your two valuable Friends, and learning from your Letter,
that you enjoy a good State of Health. May God continue it, as well for
the Good of Mankind as for your Comfort. I thank you much for the second
Edition of your excellent Pamphlet.[105] I forwarded that you sent to
Mr. Dana, he being in Holland. I wish also to see the Piece you have
written (as Mr. Jones tells me) on Toleration. I do not expect that your
new Parliament will be either wiser or honester than the last. All
Projects to procure an honest one, by Place Bills, &c., appear to me
vain and Impracticable. The true Cure, I imagine, is to be found only
in rendring all Places unprofitable, and the King too poor to give
Bribes and Pensions. Till this is done, which can only be by a
Revolution (and I think you have not Virtue enough left to procure one),
your Nation will always be plundered, and obliged to pay by Taxes the
Plunderers for Plundering and Ruining. Liberty and Virtue therefore join
in the call, COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE!
I am fully of your Opinion respecting religious Tests; but, tho' the
People of Massachusetts have not in their new Constitution kept quite
clear of them, yet, if we consider what that People were 100 Years ago,
we must allow they have gone great Lengths in Liberality of Sentiment on
religious Subjects; and we may hope for greater Degrees of Perfection,
when their Constitution, some years hence, shall be revised. If
Christian Preachers had continued to teach as Christ and his Apostles
did, without Salaries, and as the Quakers now do, I imagine Tests would
never have existed; for I think they were invented, not so much to
secure Religion itself, as the Emoluments of it. When a Religion is
good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot
support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its
Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, it is a
sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. But I shall be out of my
Depth, if I wade any deeper in Theology, and I will not trouble you with
Politicks, nor with News which are almost as uncertain; but conclude
with a heartfelt Wish to embrace you once more, and enjoy your sweet
Society in Peace, among our honest, worthy, ingenious Friends at the
_London_[106] Adieu,
B. FRANKLIN.
DIALOGUE BETWEEN FRANKLIN AND THE GOUT
Midnight, October 22, 1780.
FRANKLIN. Eh! Oh! Eh! What have I done to merit these cruel sufferings?
GOUT. Many things; you have ate and drank too freely, and too much
indulged those legs of yours in their indolence.
FRANKLIN. Who is it that accuses me?
GOUT. It is I, even I, the Gout.
FRANKLIN. What! my enemy in person?
GOUT. No, not your enemy.
FRANKLIN. I repeat it; my enemy; for you would not only torment my body
to death, but ruin my good name; you reproach me as a glutton and a
tippler; now all the world, that knows me, will allow that I am neither
the one nor the other.
GOUT. The world may think as it pleases; it is always very complaisant
to itself, and sometimes to its friends; but I very well know that the
quantity of meat and drink proper for a man, who takes a reasonable
degree of exercise, would be too much for another, who never takes any.
FRANKLIN. I take--Eh! Oh!--as much exercise--Eh!--as I can, Madam Gout.
You know my sedentary state, and on that account, it would seem, Madam
Gout, as if you might spare me a little, seeing it is not altogether my
own fault.
GOUT. Not a jot; your rhetoric and your politeness are thrown away; your
apology avails nothing. If your situation in life is a sedentary one,
your amusements, your recreations, at least, should be active. You ought
to walk or ride; or, if the weather prevents that play at billiards. But
let us examine your course of life. While the mornings are long, and you
have leisure to go abroad, what do you do? Why, instead of gaining an
appetite for breakfast, by salutary exercise, you amuse yourself, with
books, pamphlets, or newspapers, which commonly are not worth the
reading. Yet you eat an inordinate breakfast, four dishes of tea, with
cream, and one or two buttered toasts, with slices of hung beef, which I
fancy are not things the most easily digested. Immediately afterward you
sit down to write at your desk, or converse with persons who apply to
you on business. Thus the time passes till one, without any kind of
bodily exercise. But all this I could pardon, in regard, as you say, to
your sedentary condition. But what is your practice after dinner?
Walking in the beautiful gardens of those friends, with whom you have
dined, would be the choice of men of sense; yours is to be fixed down to
chess, where you are found engaged for two or three hours! This is your
perpetual recreation, which is the least eligible of any for a sedentary
man, because, instead of accelerating the motion of the fluids, the
rigid attention it requires helps to retard the circulation and obstruct
internal secretions. Wrapt in the speculations of this wretched game,
you destroy your constitution. What can be expected from such a course
of living, but a body replete with stagnant humours, ready to fall a
prey to all kinds of dangerous maladies, if I, the Gout, did not
occasionally bring you relief by agitating those humours, and so
purifying or dissipating them? If it was in some nook or alley in Paris,
deprived of walks, that you played awhile at chess after dinner, this
might be excusable; but the same taste prevails with you in Passy,
Auteuil, Montmartre, or Sanoy, places where there are the finest gardens
and walks, a pure air, beautiful women, and most agreeable and
instructive conversation; all which you might enjoy by frequenting the
walks. But these are rejected for this abominable game of chess. Fie,
then Mr. Franklin! But amidst my instructions, I had almost forgot to
administer my wholesome corrections; so take that twinge,--and that.
FRANKLIN. Oh! Eh! Oh! Ohhh! As much instruction as you please, Madam
Gout, and as many reproaches; but pray, Madam, a truce with your
corrections!
GOUT. No, Sir, no,--I will not abate a particle of what is so much for
your good,--therefore--
FRANKLIN. Oh! Ehhh!--It is not fair to say I take no exercise, when I do
very often, going out to dine and returning in my carriage.
GOUT. That, of all imaginable exercises, is the most slight and
insignificant, if you allude to the motion of a carriage suspended on
springs. By observing the degree of heat obtained by different kinds of
motion, we may form an estimate of the quantity of exercise given by
each. Thus, for example, if you turn out to walk in winter with cold
feet, in an hour's time you will be in a glow all over; ride on
horseback, the same effect will scarcely be perceived by four hours'
round trotting; but if you loll in a carriage, such as you have
mentioned, you may travel all day, and gladly enter the last inn to
warm your feet by a fire. Flatter yourself then no longer, that half an
hour's airing in your carriage deserves the name of exercise. Providence
has appointed few to roll in carriages, while he has given to all a pair
of legs, which are machines infinitely more commodious and serviceable.
Be grateful, then, and make a proper use of yours. Would you know how
they forward the circulation of your fluids, in the very action of
transporting you from place to place; observe when you walk, that all
your weight is alternately thrown from one leg to the other; this
occasions a great pressure on the vessels of the foot, and repels their
contents; when relieved, by the weight being thrown on the other foot,
the vessels of the first are allowed to replenish, and, by a return of
this weight, this repulsion again succeeds; thus accelerating the
circulation of the blood. The heat produced in any given time, depends
on the degree of this acceleration; the fluids are shaken, the humours
attenuated, the secretions facilitated, and all goes well; the cheeks
are ruddy, and health is established. Behold your fair friend at
Auteuil;[107] a lady who received from bounteous nature more really
useful science, than half a dozen such pretenders to philosophy as you
have been able to extract from all your books. When she honours you with
a visit, it is on foot. She walks all hours of the day, and leaves
indolence, and its concomitant maladies, to be endured by her horses. In
this see at once the preservative of her health and personal charms. But
when you go to Auteuil, you must have your carriage, though it is no
further from Passy to Auteuil than from Auteuil to Passy.
FRANKLIN. Your reasonings grow very tiresome.
GOUT. I stand corrected. I will be silent and continue my office; take
that, and that.
FRANKLIN. Oh! Ohh! Talk on, I pray you!
GOUT. No, no; I have a good number of twinges for you to-night, and you
may be sure of some more to-morrow.
FRANKLIN. What, with such a fever! I shall go distracted. Oh! Eh! Can no
one bear it for me?
GOUT. Ask that of your horses; they have served you faithfully.
FRANKLIN. How can you so cruelly sport with my torments?
GOUT. Sport! I am very serious. I have here a list of offences against
your own health distinctly written, and can justify every stroke
inflicted on you.
FRANKLIN. Read it then.
GOUT. It is too long a detail; but I will briefly mention some
particulars.
FRANKLIN. Proceed. I am all attention.
GOUT. Do you remember how often you have promised yourself, the
following morning, a walk in the grove of Boulogne, in the garden de la
Muette, or in your own garden, and have violated your promise, alleging,
at one time, it was too cold, at another too warm, too windy, too moist,
or what else you pleased; when in truth it was too nothing, but your
insuperable love of ease?
FRANKLIN. That I confess may have happened occasionally, probably ten
times in a year.
GOUT. Your confession is very far short of the truth; the gross amount
is one hundred and ninety-nine times.
FRANKLIN. Is it possible?
GOUT. So possible, that it is fact; you may rely on the accuracy of my
statement. You know M. Brillon's gardens, and what fine walks they
contain; you know the handsome flight of an hundred steps, which lead
from the terrace above to the lawn below. You have been in the practice
of visiting this amiable family twice a week, after dinner, and it is a
maxim of your own, that "a man may take as much exercise in walking a
mile, up and down stairs, as in ten on level ground." What an
opportunity was here for you to have had exercise in both these ways!
Did you embrace it, and how often?
FRANKLIN. I cannot immediately answer that question.
GOUT. I will do it for you; not once.
FRANKLIN. Not once?
GOUT. Even so. During the summer you went there at six o'clock. You
found the charming lady, with her lovely children and friends, eager to
walk with you, and entertain you with their agreeable conversation; and
what has been your choice? Why to sit on the terrace, satisfying
yourself with the fine prospect, and passing your eye over the beauties
of the garden below, without taking one step to descend and walk about
in them. On the contrary, you call for tea and the chess-board; and lo!
you are occupied in your seat till nine o'clock, and that besides two
hours' play after dinner; and then, instead of walking home, which would
have bestirred you a little, you step into your carriage. How absurd to
suppose that all this carelessness can be reconcilable with health,
without my interposition!
FRANKLIN. I am convinced now of the justness of poor Richard's remark,
that "Our debts and our sins are always greater than we think for."
GOUT. So it is. You philosophers are sages in your maxims, and fools in
your conduct.
FRANKLIN. But do you charge among my crimes, that I return in a carriage
from Mr. Brillon's?
GOUT. Certainly; for, having been seated all the while, you cannot
object the fatigue of the day, and cannot want therefore the relief of a
carriage.
FRANKLIN. What then would you have me do with my carriage?
GOUT. Burn it if you choose; you would at least get heat out of it once
in this way; or, if you dislike that proposal, here's another for you;
observe the poor peasants, who work in the vineyards and grounds about
the villages of Passy, Auteuil, Chaillot, &c.; you may find every day,
among these deserving creatures, four or five old men and women, bent
and perhaps crippled by weight of years, and too long and too great
labour. After a most fatiguing day, these people have to trudge a mile
or two to their smoky huts. Order your coachman to set them down. This
is an act that will be good for your soul; and, at the same time, after
your visit to the Brillons, if you return on foot, that will be good for
your body.
FRANKLIN. Ah! how tiresome you are!
GOUT. Well, then, to my office; it should not be forgotten that I am
your physician. There.
FRANKLIN. Ohhh! what a devil of a physician!
GOUT. How ungrateful you are to say so! Is it not I who, in the
character of your physician, have saved you from the palsy, dropsy, and
apoplexy? one or other of which would have done for you long ago, but
for me.
FRANKLIN. I submit, and thank you for the past, but entreat the
discontinuance of your visits for the future; for, in my mind, one had
better die than be cured so dolefully. Permit me just to hint, that I
have also not been unfriendly to _you_. I never feed physician or quack
of any kind, to enter the list against you; if then you do not leave me
to my repose, it may be said you are ungrateful too.
GOUT. I can scarcely acknowledge that as any objection. As to quacks, I
despise them; they may kill you indeed, but cannot injure me. And, as to
regular physicians, they are at last convinced that the gout, in such a
subject as you are, is no disease, but a remedy; and wherefore cure a
remedy?--but to our business,--there.
FRANKLIN. Oh! oh!--for Heaven's sake leave me! and I promise faithfully
never more to play at chess, but to take exercise daily, and live
temperately.
GOUT. I know you too well. You promise fair; but, after a few months of
good health, you will return to your old habits; your fine promises will
be forgotten like the forms of last year's clouds. Let us then finish
the account, and I will go. But I leave you with an assurance of
visiting you again at a proper time and place; for my object is your
good, and you are sensible now that I am your _real friend_.
THE HANDSOME AND DEFORMED LEG[108]
[1780?]
There are two Sorts of People in the World, who with equal Degrees of
Health, & Wealth, and the other Comforts of Life, become, the one happy,
and the other miserable. This arises very much from the different Views
in which they consider Things, Persons, and Events; and the Effect of
those different Views upon their own Minds.
In whatever Situation Men can be plac'd, they may find Conveniencies &
Inconveniencies: In whatever Company; they may find Persons &
Conversation more or less pleasing. At whatever Table, they may meet
with Meats & Drinks of better and worse Taste, Dishes better & worse
dress'd: In whatever Climate they will find good and bad Weather: Under
whatever Government, they may find good & bad Laws, and good & bad
Administration of those Laws. In every Poem or Work of Genius they may
see Faults and Beauties. In almost every Face & every Person, they may
discover fine Features & Defects, good & bad Qualities.
Under these Circumstances, the two Sorts of People above mention'd fix
their Attention, those who are to be happy, on the Conveniencies of
Things, the pleasant Parts of Conversation, the well-dress'd Dishes, the
Goodness of the Wines, the fine Weather; &c., and enjoy all with
Chearfulness. Those who are to be unhappy, think & speak only of the
contraries. Hence they are continually discontented themselves, and by
their Remarks sour the Pleasures of Society, offend personally many
People, and make themselves everywhere disagreable. If this Turn of Mind
was founded in Nature, such unhappy Persons would be the more to be
pitied. But as the Disposition to criticise, & be disgusted, is perhaps
taken up originally by Imitation, and is unawares grown into a Habit,
which tho' at present strong may nevertheless be cured when those who
have it are convinc'd of its bad Effects on their Felicity; I hope this
little Admonition may be of Service to them, and put them on changing a
Habit, which tho' in the Exercise it is chiefly an Act of Imagination
yet has serious Consequences in Life, as it brings on real Griefs and
Misfortunes. For as many are offended by, & nobody well loves this Sort
of People, no one shows them more than the most common [civility and
respect, and scarcely that; and this frequently puts them out of humour,
and draws them into disputes and contentions. If they aim at obtaining
some advantage in rank or fortune, nobody wishes them success, or will
stir a step, or speak a word, to favour their pretensions. If they incur
public censure or disgrace, no one will defend or excuse, and many join
to aggravate their misconduct, and render them completely odious. If
these people will not change this bad habit, and condescend to be
pleased with what is pleasing, without fretting themselves and others
about the contraries, it is good for others to avoid an acquaintance
with them; which is always disagreeable, and sometimes very
inconvenient, especially when one finds one's self entangled in their
quarrels.
An old philosophical friend of mine was grown, from experience, very
cautious in this particular, and carefully avoided any intimacy with
such people. He had, like other philosophers, a thermometer to show him
the heat of the weather, and a barometer to mark when it was likely to
prove good or bad; but, there being no instrument invented to discover,
at first sight, this unpleasing disposition in a person, he for that
purpose made use of his legs; one of which was remarkably handsome, the
other, by some accident, crooked and] deformed. If a Stranger, at the
first interview, regarded his ugly Leg more than his handsome one, he
doubted him. If he spoke of it, & took no notice of the handsome Leg,
that was sufficient to determine my Philosopher to have no further
Acquaintance with him. Every body has not this two-legged Instrument,
but every one with a little Attention, may observe Signs of that
carping, fault-finding Disposition, & take the same Resolution of
avoiding the Acquaintance of those infected with it. I therefore advise
those critical, querulous, discontented, unhappy People, that if they
wish to be respected and belov'd by others, & happy in themselves they
should _leave off looking at the ugly Leg_.
TO MISS GEORGIANA SHIPLEY[109]
... Must now be next its End, as I have compleated my 75th Year I could
wish to see my dear Friends of your Family once more before I withdraw,
but I see no Prospect of enjoying that Felicity. Let me at least have
that of hearing from you a little oftener.
I do not understand the Coldness you mention of the Nights in the
Desert. I never before heard of such an Observation. If you have learnt
what was the Degree of cold and how it was observed, and what Difference
between the Night and the Day, you will oblige me by communicating it. I
like to see that you retain a Taste for Philosophical Enquiries.
I rec^d also your very kind Letter by Mad^e ---- [_illegible in MS_],
with whom and the Princess, her Mother, I am much pleased; tho' I have
not seen them so often as I wished, living as I do out of Paris.
I am glad to hear that you all pass'd the summer so agreably in Wales,
and I felicitate you as the French say, on the Increase of your
Brother's Family.
Accept my Thanks for your Friendly Verses and good Wishes. How many
Talents you possess! Painting, Poetry, Languages, etc., etc. All
valuable, but your good Heart is worth the whole.
Your mention of the Summer House brings fresh to my mind all the
Pleasures I enjoyed in the sweet Retreat at Twyford: the Hours of
agreable and instructive Conversation with the amiable Family at Table;
with its Father alone; the delightful Walks in the Gardens and
neighbouring Grounds. Pleasures past and gone forever! Since I have had
your Father's Picture I am grown more covetous of the rest; every time I
look at your second Drawing I have regretted that you have not given to
your Juno the Face of Anna Maria, to Venus that of Emily or Betsey, and
to Cupid that of Emily's Child, as it would have cost you but little
more Trouble. I must, however, beg that you will make me up a compleat
Set of your little Profiles, which are more easily done. You formerly
obliged me with that of the Father, an excellent one. Let me also have
that of the good Mother, and of all the Children. It will help me to
fancy myself among you, and to enjoy more perfectly in Idea, the
Pleasure of your Society. My little Fellow-Traveller, the sprightly
Hetty, with whose sensible Prattle I was so much entertained, why does
she not write to me? If Paris affords any thing that any of you wish to
have, mention it. You will oblige me. It affords everything but _Peace_!
Ah! when shall we again enjoy that Blessing!
Next to seeing our Friends is the Pleasure of hearing from them, and
learning how they live. Your Accounts of your Journies and how you pass
your Summers please me much. I flatter myself you will like to know
something of the same kind relating to me. I inhabit, a clean,
well-built Village situate on a Hill, in a fine Air, with a beautiful
Prospect, about 2 Miles [_Incomplete._]
TO DAVID HARTLEY
Passy, December 15, 1781.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I received your favour of September 26th,[110] containing your very
judicious proposition of securing the spectators in the opera and play
houses from the danger of fire. I communicated it where I thought it
might be useful. You will see by the enclosed, that the subject has been
under consideration here. Your concern for the security of life, even
the lives of your enemies, does honour to your heart and your humanity.
But what are the lives of a few idle haunters of play houses, compared
with the many thousands of worthy men, and honest industrious families,
butchered and destroyed by this devilish war? Oh that we could find some
happy invention to stop the spreading of the flames, and put an end to
so horrid a conflagration! Adieu, I am ever yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE[111]
Numb. 705
Boston, March 12, 1782.
Extract of a Letter from Captain Gerrish, of the New England Militia,
dated Albany, March 7.
The Peltry taken in the Expedition [see the Account of the Expedition to
Oswegatchie, on the River St. Laurence, in our Paper of the 1st
Instant,] will, as you see, amount to a good deal of Money. The
Possession of this Booty at first gave us Pleasure; but we were struck
with Horror to find among the Packages 8 large ones, containing SCALPS
of our unhappy Country-folks, taken in the three last Years by the
Senneka Indians from the Inhabitants of the Frontiers of New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and sent by them as a Present to
Col. Haldimand, governor of Canada, in order to be by him transmitted to
England. They were accompanied by the following curious Letter to that
Gentleman.
"Teoga, Jan. 3d, 1782.
"May it please your Excellency,
"At the Request of the Senneka chiefs, I send herewith to
your Excellency, under the Care of James Boyd, eight Packs of
Scalps, cured, dried, hooped, and painted, with all the
Indian triumphal Marks, of which the following is Invoice and
Explanation.
"No. 1. Containing 43 Scalps of Congress Soldiers, killed in
different Skirmishes; these are Stretched on black Hoops, 4
Inches diameter; the Inside of the Skin painted red, with a
small black Spot to note their being killed with Bullets.
Also 62 of Farmers killed in their Houses; the Hoops red; the
Skin painted brown, and marked with a Hoe; a black Circle all
round, to denote their being surprised in the Night; and a
black Hatchet in the Middle, signifying their being killed
with that Weapon.
"No. 2. Containing 98 of Farmers killed in their Houses;
Hoops red; Figure of a Hoe, to mark their Profession; great
white Circle and Sun, to show they were surprised in the
Daytime; a little red Foot, to show they stood upon their
Defence, and died fighting for their Lives and Families.
"No. 3. Containing 97 of Farmers; Hoops green, to shew they
were killed in their Fields; a large white Circle with a
little round Mark on it for the Sun, to shew that it was in
the Daytime; black Bullet-mark on some, Hatchet on others.
"No. 4. Containing 102 of Farmers, mixed of the several Marks
above; only 18 marked with a little yellow Flame, to denote
their being of Prisoners burnt alive, after being scalped,
their Nails pulled out by the Roots, and other Torments; one
of these latter supposed to be a rebel Clergyman, his Band
being fixed to the Hoop of his Scalp. Most of the Farmers
appear by the Hair to have been young or middle-aged Men;
there being but 67 very grey Heads among them all; which
makes the Service more essential.
"No. 5. Containing 88 Scalps of Women; hair long, braided in
the Indian Fashion, to shew they were Mothers; Hoops blue;
Skin yellow Ground, with little red Tadpoles, to represent,
by way of Triumph, the Tears of Grief occasioned to their
Relations; a black scalping-Knife or Hatchet at the Bottom,
to mark their being killed with those Instruments. 17 others,
Hair very grey; black Hoops; plain brown Colour; no Mark, but
the short Club or _Casse-tête_, to shew they were knocked
down dead, or had their Brains beat out.
"No. 6. Containing 193 Boys' Scalps, of various Ages; small
green Hoops; whitish Ground on the Skin, with red Tears in
the Middle, and black Bullet-marks, Knife, Hatchet, or Club,
as their Deaths happened.
"No. 7. 211 Girls' Scalps, big and little; small yellow
Hoops; white Ground, Tears; Hatchet, Club, scalping-Knife,
&c.
"No. 8. This Package is a Mixture of all the Varieties
abovementioned; to the number of 122; with a Box of Birch
Bark, containing 29 little Infants' Scalps of various Sizes;
small white Hoops; white Ground; no Tears; and only a little
black Knife in the Middle, to shew they were ript out of
their Mothers' Bellies.
"With these Packs, the Chiefs send to your Excellency the
following Speech, delivered by Conejogatchie in Council,
interpreted by the elder Moore, the Trader, and taken down by
me in Writing.
Father,
We send you herewith many Scalps, that you may see we are
not idle Friends.
_A blue Belt._
Father,
We wish you to send these Scalps over the Water to the
great King, that he may regard them and be refreshed;
and that he may see our faithfulness in destroying his
Enemies, and be convinced that his Presents have not been
made to ungrateful people.
_A blue and white Belt with red Tassels._
Father,
Attend to what I am now going to say; it is a Matter of
much Weight. The great King's Enemies are many, and they
grow fast in Number. They were formerly like young
Panthers; they could neither bite nor scratch; we could
play with them safely; we feared nothing they could do to
us. But now their Bodies are become big as the Elk, and
strong as the Buffalo; they have also got great and sharp
Claws. They have driven us out of our Country for taking
part in your Quarrel. We expect the great King will give
us another Country, that our Children may live after us,
and be his Friends and Children, as we are. Say this for
us to the great King. To enforce it, we give this Belt.
_A great white Belt with blue Tassels._
Father,
We have only to say farther, that your Traders exact more
than ever for their Goods; and our hunting is lessened by
the War, so that we have fewer Skins to give for them.
This ruins us. Think of some Remedy. We are poor; and you
have Plenty of every Thing. We know you will send us
Powder and Guns, and Knives and Hatchets; but we also
want Shirts and Blankets.
_A little white Belt._
"I do not doubt but that your Excellency will think it proper
to give some farther Encouragement to those honest People.
The high Prices they complain of are the necessary Effect of
the War. Whatever Presents may be sent for them, through my
Hands, shall be distributed with Prudence and Fidelity. I
have the Honour of being your Excellency's most obedient
"And most humble Servant,
JAMES CRAUFURD."
It was at first proposed to bury these Scalps; but Lieutenant
Fitzgerald, who, you know, has got Leave of Absence to go to Ireland on
his private Affairs, said he thought it better they should proceed to
their Destination; and if they were given to him, he would undertake to
carry them to England, and hang them all up in some dark Night on the
Trees in St. James's Park, where they could be seen from the King and
Queen's Palaces in the Morning; for that the Sight of them might perhaps
strike Muley Ishmael (as he called him) with some Compunction of
Conscience. They were accordingly delivered to Fitz, and he has brought
them safe hither. To-morrow they go with his Baggage in a Waggon for
Boston, and will probably be there in a few Days after this Letter.
I am, &c.
SAMUEL GERRISH.
Boston, March 20.
Monday last arrived here Lieutenant Fitzgerald above mentioned, and
Yesterday the Waggon with the Scalps. Thousands of People are flocking
to see them this Morning, and all Mouths are full of Execrations. Fixing
them to the Trees is not approved. It is now proposed to make them up in
decent little Packets, seal and direct them; one to the King, containing
a Sample of every Sort for his Museum; one to the Queen, with some of
Women and little Children; the Rest to be distributed among both Houses
of Parliament; a double Quantity to the Bishops.
[The following part appeared in a second edition from which certain
advertisements which had been published in the first edition were
omitted.]
MR. WILLIS,
Please to insert in your useful Paper the following Copy of a Letter
from Commodore Jones, directed
TO SIR JOSEPH YORK, AMBASSADOR FROM THE KING OF ENGLAND TO
THE STATES-GENERAL OF THE UNITED PROVINCES
"Ipswich, New England, March 7, 1781.
"SIR,
"I have lately seen a memorial, said to have been presented
by your Excellency to their High Mightinesses the
States-general, in which you are pleased to qualify me with
the title of _pirate_.
"A pirate is defined to be _hostis humani generis_ [an enemy
to all mankind]. It happens, Sir, that I am an enemy to no
part of mankind, except your nation, the English; which
nation at the same time comes much more within the
definition, being actually an enemy to, and at war with, one
whole quarter of the world, America, considerable part of
Asia and Africa, a great part of Europe, and in a fair way of
being at war with the rest.
"A pirate makes war for the sake of _rapine_. This is not the
kind of war I am engaged in against England. Ours is a war in
defence of _liberty_ ... the most just of all wars; and of
our _properties_, which your nation would have taken from us,
without our consent, in violation of our rights, and by an
armed force. Yours, therefore is a war of _rapine_; of
course, a piratical war; and those who approve of it, and are
engaged in it, more justly deserve the name of _pirates_,
which you bestow on me. It is, indeed, a war that coincides
with the general spirit of your nation. Your common people in
their ale-houses sing the twenty-four songs of Robin Hood,
and applaud his deer-stealing and his robberies on the
highway: those, who have just learning enough to read, are
delighted with your histories of the pirates and of the
buccaniers; and even your scholars in the universities study
Quintus Curtius, and are taught to admire Alexander for what
they call 'his conquests in the Indies.' Severe laws and the
hangmen keep down the effects of this spirit somewhat among
yourselves (though in your little Island you have
nevertheless more highway robberies than there are in all the
rest of Europe put together); but a foreign war gives it full
scope. It is then that, with infinite pleasure, it lets
itself loose to strip of their property honest merchants,
employed in the innocent and useful occupation of supplying
the mutual wants of mankind. Hence, having lately no war with
your ancient enemies, rather than be without a war, you chose
to make one upon your friends. In this your piratical war
with America, the mariners of your fleets and the owners of
your privateers were animated against us by the act of your
Parliament, which repealed the law of God, 'Thou shalt not
steal,' by declaring it lawful for them to rob us of all our
property that they could meet with on the ocean. This act,
too, had a retrospect, and, going beyond bulls of pardon,
declared that all the robberies you _had committed_ previous
to the act should be _deemed just and lawful_. Your soldiers,
too, were promised the plunder of our cities; and your
officers were flattered with the division of our lands. You
had even the baseness to corrupt our servants, the sailors
employed by us, and encourage them to rob their masters and
bring to you the ships and goods they were entrusted with. Is
there any society of pirates on the sea or land, who, in
declaring wrong to be right, and right wrong, have less
authority than your parliament? Do any of them more justly
than your parliament deserve the _title_ you bestow on me?
"You will tell me that we forfeited all our estates by our
refusal to pay the taxes your nation would have imposed on us
without the consent of our colony parliaments. Have you then
forgotten the incontestable principle, which was the
foundation of Hambden's glorious lawsuit with Charles the
first, that 'what an English king has no right to demand, an
English subject has a right to refuse'? But you cannot so
soon have forgotten the instructions of your late honorable
father, who, being himself a sound Whig, taught you certainly
the principles of the Revolution, and that, 'if subjects
might in some cases forfeit their property, kings also might
forfeit their title, and all claim to the allegiance of their
subjects.' I must then suppose you well acquainted with those
Whig principles; on which permit me, Sir, to ask a few
questions.
"Is not protection as justly due from a king to his people,
as obedience from the people to their king?
"If then a king declares his people to be out of his
protection:
"If he violates and deprives them of their constitutional
rights:
"If he wages war against them:
"If he plunders their merchants, ravages their coasts, burns
their towns, and destroys their lives:
"If he hires foreign mercenaries to help him in their
destruction:
"If he engages savages to murder their defenceless farmers,
women, and children:
"If he cruelly forces such of his subjects as fall into his
hands, to bear arms against their country, and become
executioners of their friends and brethren:
"If he sells others of them into bondage, in Africa and the
East Indies:
"If he excites domestic insurrections among their servants,
and encourages servants to murder their masters:--
"Does not so atrocious a conduct towards his subjects
dissolve their allegiance?
"If not, please to say how or by what means it can possibly
be dissolved?
"All this horrible wickedness and barbarity has been and
daily is practised by the King, _your master_, (as you call
him in your memorial,) upon the Americans, whom he is still
pleased to claim as his subjects.
"During these six years past, he has destroyed not less than
forty thousand of those subjects, by battles on land or sea,
or by starving them, or poisoning them to death, in the
unwholesome air, with the unwholesome food of his prisons.
And he has wasted the lives of at least an equal number of
his own soldiers and sailors: many of whom have been _forced_
into this odious service, and _dragged_ from their families
and friends, by the outrageous violence of his illegal
press-gangs. You are a gentleman of letters, and have read
history: do you recollect any instance of any tyrant, since
the beginning of the world, who, in the course of so few
years, had done so much mischief, by murdering so many of his
own people? Let us view one of the worst and blackest of
them, Nero. He put to death a few of his courtiers, placemen,
and pensioners, and among the rest his _tutor_. Had George
the Third done the same, and no more, his crime, though
detestable, as an act of lawless power, might have been as
useful to his nation, as that of Nero was hurtful to Rome;
considering the different characters and merits of the
sufferers. Nero indeed wished that the people of Rome had but
one neck, that he might behead them all by one stroke; but
this was a simple wish. George is carrying the wish as fast
as he can into execution; and, by continuing in his present
course a few years longer, will have destroyed more of the
British people than Nero could have found inhabitants in
Rome. Hence the expression of Milton, in speaking of Charles
the First, that he was '_Nerone Neronior_,' is still more
applicable to George the third. Like Nero, and all other
tyrants, while they lived, he indeed has his flatterers, his
addressers, his applauders. Pensions, places, and hopes of
preferment can bribe even bishops to approve his conduct: but
when those fulsome, purchased addresses and panegyrics are
sunk and lost in oblivion or contempt, impartial history will
step forth, speak honest truth, and rank him among public
calamities. The only difference will be, that plagues,
pestilences, and famines are of this world, and arise from
the nature of things; but voluntary malice, mischief, and
murder, are from hell; and this King will, therefore, stand
foremost in the list of diabolical, bloody, and execrable
tyrants. His base-bought parliaments too, who sell him their
souls, and extort from the people the money with which they
aid his destructive purposes, as they share his guilt, will
share his infamy,--parliaments, who, to please him, have
repeatedly, by different votes year after year, dipped their
hands in human blood, insomuch that methinks I see it dried
and caked so thick upon them, that, if they could wash it off
in the Thames, which flows under their windows, the whole
river would run red to the ocean.
"One is provoked by enormous wickedness: but one is ashamed
and humiliated at the view of human baseness. It afflicts me,
therefore, to see a gentleman of Sir Joseph York's education
and talents, for the sake of a red riband and a paltry
stipend, mean enough to style such a monster _his master_,
wear his livery, and hold himself ready at his command even
to cut the throats of fellow subjects. This makes it
impossible for me to end my letter with the civility of a
compliment, and obliges me to subscribe myself simply,
"JOHN PAUL JONES,
"Whom you are pleased to style a _pirate_."
TO JOHN THORNTON
Passy, May 8, 1782.
SIR,
I received the letter you did me the honour of writing to me, and am
much obliged by your kind present of a book. The relish for reading of
poetry had long since left me, but there is something so new in the
manner, so easy, and yet so correct in the language, so clear in the
expression, yet concise, and so just in the sentiments, that I have read
the whole with great pleasure, and some of the pieces more than once. I
beg you to accept my thankful acknowledgments, and to present my
respects to the author.[112]
I shall take care to forward the letters to America, and shall be glad
of any other opportunity of doing what may be agreeable to you, being
with great respect for your character,--Your most obedient humble
servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
Passy near Paris, June 7, 1782.
DEAR SIR,
I received your kind Letter of the 7th of April, also one of the 3d of
May. I have always great Pleasure in hearing from you, in learning that
you are well, and that you continue your Experiments. I should rejoice
much, if I could once more recover the Leisure to search with you into
the Works of Nature; I mean the _inanimate_, not the _animate_ or moral
part of them, the more I discover'd of the former, the more I admir'd
them; the more I know of the latter, the more I am disgusted with them.
Men I find to be a Sort of Beings very badly constructed, as they are
generally more easily provok'd than reconcil'd, more disposed to do
Mischief to each other than to make Reparation, much more easily
deceiv'd than undeceiv'd, and having more Pride and even Pleasure in
killing than in begetting one another; for without a Blush they assemble
in great armies at NoonDay to destroy, and when they have kill'd as many
as they can, they exaggerate the Number to augment the fancied Glory;
but they creep into Corners, or cover themselves with the Darkness of
night, when they mean to beget, as being asham'd of a virtuous Action. A
virtuous Action it would be, and a vicious one the killing of them, if
the Species were really worth producing or preserving; but of this I
begin to doubt.
I know you have no such Doubts, because, in your zeal for their welfare,
you are taking a great deal of pains to save their Souls. Perhaps as you
grow older, you may look upon this as a hopeless Project, or an idle
Amusement, repent of having murdered in mephitic air so many honest,
harmless mice, and wish that to prevent mischief, you had used Boys and
Girls instead of them. In what Light we are viewed by superior Beings,
may be gathered from a Piece of late West India News, which possibly has
not yet reached you. A young Angel of Distinction being sent down to
this world on some Business, for the first time, had an old
courier-spirit assigned him as a Guide. They arriv'd over the Seas of
Martinico, in the middle of the long Day of obstinate Fight between the
Fleets of Rodney and De Grasse. When, thro' the Clouds of smoke, he saw
the Fire of the Guns, the Decks covered with mangled Limbs, and Bodies
dead or dying; the ships sinking, burning, or blown into the Air; and
the Quantity of Pain, Misery, and Destruction, the Crews yet alive were
thus with so much Eagerness dealing round to one another; he turn'd
angrily to his Guide, and said, "You blundering Blockhead, you are
ignorant of your Business; you undertook to conduct me to the Earth,
and you have brought me into Hell!" "No, Sir," says the Guide, "I have
made no mistake; this is really the Earth, and these are men. Devils
never treat one another in this cruel manner; they have more Sense, and
more of what Men (vainly) call _Humanity_."
But to be serious, my dear old Friend, I love you as much as ever, and I
love all the honest Souls that meet at the London Coffee House. I only
wonder how it happen'd, that they and my other Friends in England came
to be such good Creatures in the midst of so perverse a Generation. I
long to see them and you once more, and I labour for Peace with more
Earnestness, that I may again be happy in your sweet society.
I show'd your letter to the Duke de Larochefoucault, who thinks with me,
the new Experiments you have made are extremely curious; and he has
given me thereupon a Note, which I inclose, and I request you would
furnish me with the answer desired.
Yesterday the Count du Nord was at the Academy of Sciences, when sundry
Experiments were exhibited for his Entertainment; among them, one by M.
Lavoisier, to show that the strongest Fire we yet know, is made in a
Charcoal blown upon with dephlogisticated air. In a Heat so produced, he
melted Platina presently, the Fire being much more powerful than that of
the strongest burning mirror. Adieu, and believe me ever, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JONATHAN SHIPLEY
Passy, June 10, 1782.
I received and read the Letter from my dear and much respected Friend
with infinite Pleasure. After so long a Silence, and the long
Continuance of its unfortunate Causes, a Line from you was a Prognostic
of happier Times approaching, when we may converse and communicate
freely, without Danger from the malevolence of Men enrag'd by the ill
success of their distracted Projects.
I long with you for the Return of Peace, on the general Principles of
Humanity. The Hope of being able to pass a few more of my last Days
happily in the sweet Conversations and Company I once enjoy'd at
Twyford, is a particular Motive that adds Strength to the general Wish,
and quickens my Industry to procure that best of Blessings. After much
Occasion to consider the Folly and Mischiefs of a State of Warfare, and
the little or no Advantage obtain'd even by those Nations, who have
conducted it with the most Success, I have been apt to think, that there
has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a _good_ War, or a
_bad_ Peace.
You ask if I still relish my old Studies. I relish them, but I cannot
pursue them. My Time is engross'd unhappily with other Concerns. I
requested of the Congress last Year my Discharge from this publick
Station, that I might enjoy a little Leisure in the Evening of a long
Life of Business; but it was refus'd me, and I have been obliged to
drudge on a little longer.
You are happy as your Years come on, in having that dear and most
amiable Family about you. Four Daughters! how rich! I have but one, and
she, necessarily detain'd from me at 1000 leagues distance. I feel the
Want of that tender Care of me, which might be expected from a Daughter,
and would give the World for one. Your Shades are all plac'd in a Row
over my Fireplace, so that I not only have you always in my Mind, but
constantly before my Eyes.
The Cause of Liberty and America has been greatly oblig'd to you. I hope
you will live long to see that Country flourish under its new
Constitution, which I am sure will give you great Pleasure. Will you
permit me to express another Hope, that, now your Friends are in Power,
they will take the first Opportunity of showing the sense they ought to
have of your Virtues and your Merit?
Please to make my best Respects acceptable to Mrs. Shipley, and embrace
for me tenderly all our dear Children. With the utmost Esteem, Respect,
and Veneration, I am ever, my dear Friend, yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JAMES HUTTON
Passy, July 7, 1782.
MY OLD AND DEAR FRIEND,
A Letter written by you to M. Berlin,[113] _Ministre d'Etat_, containing
an Account of the abominable Murders committed by some of the frontier
People on the poor Moravian Indians, has given me infinite Pain and
Vexation. The Dispensations of Providence in this World puzzle my weak
Reason. I cannot comprehend why cruel Men should have been permitted
thus to destroy their Fellow Creatures. Some of the Indians may be
suppos'd to have committed Sins, but one cannot think the little
Children had committed any worthy of Death. Why has a single Man in
England, who happens to love Blood and to hate Americans, been permitted
to gratify that bad Temper by hiring German Murderers, and joining them
with his own, to destroy in a continued Course of bloody Years near
100,000 human Creatures, many of them possessed of useful Talents,
Virtues and Abilities to which he has no Pretension! It is he who has
furnished the Savages with Hatchets and Scalping Knives, and engages
them to fall upon our defenceless Farmers, and murder them with their
Wives and Children, paying for their Scalps, of which the account kept
in America already amounts, as I have heard, to near _two Thousand_!
Perhaps the people of the frontiers, exasperated by the Cruelties of the
Indians, have been induced to kill all Indians that fall into their
Hands without Distinction; so that even these horrid Murders of our poor
Moravians may be laid to his Charge. And yet this Man lives, enjoys all
the good Things this World can afford, and is surrounded by Flatterers,
who keep even his Conscience quiet by telling him he is the best of
Princes! I wonder at this, but I cannot therefore part with the
comfortable Belief of a Divine Providence; and the more I see the
Impossibility, from the number & extent of his Crimes, of giving
equivalent Punishment to a wicked Man in this Life, the more I am
convinc'd of a future State, in which all that here appears to be wrong
shall be set right, all that is crooked made straight. In this Faith
let you & I, my dear Friend, comfort ourselves; it is the only Comfort,
in the present dark Scene of Things, that is allow'd us.
I shall not fail to write to the Government of America, urging that
effectual Care may be taken to protect & save the Remainder of those
unhappy People.
Since writing the above, I have received a Philadelphia Paper,
containing some Account of the same horrid Transaction, a little
different, and some Circumstances alledged as Excuses or Palliations,
but extreamly weak & insufficient. I send it to you inclos'd. With great
and sincere Esteem, I am ever, my dear Friend, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS[114]
Passy, Sept. 9, 1782.
DEAR SIR,
I have just received the very kind friendly Letter you were so good as
to write to me by Dr. Broussonnet.[115] Be assured, that I long
earnestly for a Return of those peaceful Times, when I could sit down in
sweet Society with my English philosophic Friends, communicating to each
other new Discoveries, and proposing Improvements of old ones; all
tending to extend the Power of Man over Matter, avert or diminish the
Evils he is subject to, or augment the Number of his Enjoyments. Much
more happy should I be thus employ'd in your most desirable Company,
than in that of all the Grandees of the Earth projecting Plans of
Mischief, however necessary they may be supposed for obtaining greater
Good.
I am glad to learn by the D^r that your great Work goes on. I admire
your Magnanimity in the Undertaking, and the Perseverance with which you
have prosecuted it.
I join with you most perfectly in the charming Wish you so well express,
"that such Measures may be taken by both Parties as may tend to the
Elevation of both, rather than the Destruction of either." If any thing
has happened endangering one of them, my Comfort is, that I endeavour'd
earnestly to prevent it, and gave honest, faithful Advice, which, if it
had been regarded, would have been effectual. And still, if proper Means
are us'd to produce, not only a Peace, but what is much more
interesting, a thorough Reconciliation, a few Years may heal the Wounds
that have been made in our Happiness, and produce a Degree of Prosperity
of which at present we can hardly form a Conception. With great and
sincere Esteem and Respect, I am, dear Sir, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
INFORMATION TO THOSE WHO WOULD REMOVE TO AMERICA[116]
[1782?]
Many Persons in Europe, having directly or by Letters, express'd to the
Writer of this, who is well acquainted with North America, their Desire
of transporting and establishing themselves in that Country; but who
appear to have formed, thro' Ignorance, mistaken Ideas and Expectations
of what is to be obtained there; he thinks it may be useful, and prevent
inconvenient, expensive, and fruitless Removals and Voyages of improper
Persons, if he gives some clearer and truer Notions of that part of the
World, than appear to have hitherto prevailed.
He finds it is imagined by Numbers, that the Inhabitants of North
America are rich, capable of rewarding, and dispos'd to reward, all
sorts of Ingenuity; that they are at the same time ignorant of all the
Sciences, and, consequently, that Strangers, possessing Talents in the
Belles-Lettres, fine Arts, &c., must be highly esteemed, and so well
paid, as to become easily rich themselves; that there are also abundance
of profitable Offices to be disposed of, which the Natives are not
qualified to fill; and that, having few Persons of Family among them,
Strangers of Birth must be greatly respected, and of course easily
obtain the best of those Offices, which will make all their Fortunes;
that the Governments too, to encourage Emigrations from Europe, not
only pay the Expence of personal Transportation, but give Lands gratis
to Strangers, with Negroes to work for them, Utensils of Husbandry, and
Stocks of Cattle. These are all wild Imaginations; and those who go to
America with Expectations founded upon them will surely find themselves
disappointed.
The Truth is, that though there are in that Country few People so
miserable as the Poor of Europe, there are also very few that in Europe
would be called rich; it is rather a general happy Mediocrity that
prevails. There are few great Proprietors of the Soil, and few Tenants;
most People cultivate their own Lands, or follow some Handicraft or
Merchandise; very few rich enough to live idly upon their Rents or
Incomes, or to pay the high Prices given in Europe for Paintings,
Statues, Architecture, and the other Works of Art, that are more curious
than useful. Hence the natural Geniuses, that have arisen in America
with such Talents, have uniformly quitted that Country for Europe, where
they can be more suitably rewarded. It is true, that Letters and
Mathematical Knowledge are in Esteem there, but they are at the same
time more common than is apprehended; there being already existing nine
Colleges or Universities, viz. four in New England, and one in each of
the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, Pensilvania, Maryland, and
Virginia, all furnish'd with learned Professors; besides a number of
smaller Academies; these educate many of their Youth in the Languages,
and those Sciences that qualify men for the Professions of Divinity,
Law, or Physick. Strangers indeed are by no means excluded from
exercising those Professions; and the quick Increase of Inhabitants
everywhere gives them a Chance of Employ, which they have in common with
the Natives. Of civil Offices, or Employments, there are few; no
superfluous Ones, as in Europe; and it is a Rule establish'd in some of
the States, that no Office should be so profitable as to make it
desirable. The 36th Article of the Constitution of Pennsilvania, runs
expressly in these Words; "As every Freeman, to preserve his
Independence, (if he has not a sufficient Estate) ought to have some
Profession, Calling, Trade, or Farm, whereby he may honestly subsist,
there can be no Necessity for, nor Use in, establishing Offices of
Profit, the usual Effects of which are Dependance and Servility,
unbecoming Freemen, in the Possessors and Expectants; Faction,
Contention, Corruption, and Disorder among the People. Wherefore,
whenever an Office, thro' Increase of Fees or otherwise, becomes so
profitable, as to occasion many to apply for it, the Profits ought to be
lessened by the Legislature."
These Ideas prevailing more or less in all the United States, it cannot
be worth any Man's while, who has a means of Living at home, to
expatriate himself, in hopes of obtaining a profitable civil Office in
America; and, as to military Offices, they are at an End with the War,
the Armies being disbanded. Much less is it adviseable for a Person to
go thither, who has no other Quality to recommend him but his Birth. In
Europe it has indeed its Value; but it is a Commodity that cannot be
carried to a worse Market than that of America, where people do not
inquire concerning a Stranger, _What is he?_ but, _What can he do?_ If
he has any useful Art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it, and
behaves well, he will be respected by all that know him; but a mere Man
of Quality, who, on that Account, wants to live upon the Public, by some
Office or Salary, will be despis'd and disregarded. The Husbandman is in
honor there, and even the Mechanic, because their Employments are
useful. The People have a saying, that God Almighty is himself a
Mechanic, the greatest in the Universe; and he is respected and admired
more for the Variety, Ingenuity, and Utility of his Handyworks, than for
the Antiquity of his Family. They are pleas'd with the Observation of a
Negro, and frequently mention it, that _Boccarorra_ (meaning the White
men) _make de black man workee, make de Horse workee, make de Ox workee,
make ebery ting workee; only de Hog. He, de hog, no workee; he eat, he
drink, he walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he libb like a
Gentleman_. According to these Opinions of the Americans, one of them
would think himself more oblig'd to a Genealogist, who could prove for
him that his Ancestors and Relations for ten Generations had been
Ploughmen, Smiths, Carpenters, Turners, Weavers, Tanners, or even
Shoemakers, and consequently that they were useful Members of Society;
than if he could only prove that they were Gentlemen, doing nothing of
Value, but living idly on the Labour of others, mere _fruges consumere
nati_,[L] and otherwise _good for nothing_, till by their Death their
Estates, like the Carcass of the Negro's Gentleman-Hog, come to be _cut
up_.
[L] "... born merely to eat up the corn."--WATTS. [_Franklin's note._]
With regard to Encouragements for Strangers from Government, they are
really only what are derived from good Laws and Liberty. Strangers are
welcome, because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the
old Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them
sufficiently, so that they have no need of the Patronage of Great Men;
and every one will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry. But, if
he does not bring a Fortune with him, he must work and be industrious to
live. One or two Years' residence gives him all the Rights of a Citizen;
but the government does not at present, whatever it may have done in
former times, hire People to become Settlers, by Paying their Passages,
giving Land, Negroes, Utensils, Stock, or any other kind of Emolument
whatsoever. In short, America is the Land of Labour, and by no means
what the English call _Lubberland_, and the French _Pays de Cocagne_,
where the streets are said to be pav'd with half-peck Loaves, the Houses
til'd with Pancakes, and where the Fowls fly about ready roasted,
crying, _Come eat me!_
Who then are the kind of Persons to whom an Emigration to America may be
advantageous? And what are the Advantages they may reasonably expect?
Land being cheap in that Country, from the vast Forests still void of
Inhabitants, and not likely to be occupied in an Age to come, insomuch
that the Propriety of an hundred Acres of fertile Soil full of Wood may
be obtained near the Frontiers, in many Places, for Eight or Ten
Guineas, hearty young Labouring Men, who understand the Husbandry of
Corn and Cattle, which is nearly the same in that Country as in Europe,
may easily establish themselves there. A little Money sav'd of the good
Wages they receive there, while they work for others, enables them to
buy the Land and begin their Plantation, in which they are assisted by
the Good-Will of their Neighbours, and some Credit. Multitudes of poor
People from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany, have by this means
in a few years become wealthy Farmers, who, in their own Countries,
where all the Lands are fully occupied, and the Wages of Labour low,
could never have emerged from the poor Condition wherein they were born.
From the salubrity of the Air, the healthiness of the Climate, the
plenty of good Provisions, and the Encouragement to early Marriages by
the certainty of Subsistence in cultivating the Earth, the Increase of
Inhabitants by natural Generation is very rapid in America, and becomes
still more so by the Accession of Strangers; hence there is a continual
Demand for more Artisans of all the necessary and useful kinds, to
supply those Cultivators of the Earth with Houses, and with Furniture
and Utensils of the grosser sorts, which cannot so well be brought from
Europe. Tolerably good Workmen in any of those mechanic Arts are sure to
find Employ, and to be well paid for their Work, there being no
Restraints preventing Strangers from exercising any Art they understand,
nor any Permission necessary. If they are poor, they begin first as
Servants or Journeymen; and if they are sober, industrious, and frugal,
they soon become Masters, establish themselves in Business, marry, raise
Families, and become respectable Citizens.
Also, Persons of moderate Fortunes and Capitals, who, having a Number of
Children to provide for, are desirous of bringing them up to Industry,
and to secure Estates for their Posterity, have Opportunities of doing
it in America, which Europe does not afford. There they may be taught
and practise profitable mechanic Arts, without incurring Disgrace on
that Account, but on the contrary acquiring Respect by such Abilities.
There small Capitals laid out in Lands, which daily become more valuable
by the Increase of People, afford a solid Prospect of ample Fortunes
thereafter for those Children. The writer of this has known several
Instances of large Tracts of Land, bought, on what was then the
Frontier of Pensilvania, for Ten Pounds per hundred Acres, which after
20 years, when the Settlements had been extended far beyond them, sold
readily, without any Improvement made upon them, for three Pounds per
Acre. The Acre in America is the same with the English Acre, or the Acre
of Normandy.
Those, who desire to understand the State of Government in America,
would do well to read the Constitutions of the several States, and the
Articles of Confederation that bind the whole together for general
Purposes, under the Direction of one Assembly, called the Congress.
These Constitutions have been printed, by order of Congress, in America;
two Editions of them have also been printed in London; and a good
Translation of them into French has lately been published at Paris.
Several of the Princes of Europe having of late years, from an Opinion
of Advantage to arise by producing all Commodities and Manufactures
within their own Dominions, so as to diminish or render useless their
Importations, have endeavoured to entice Workmen from other Countries by
high Salaries, Privileges, &c. Many Persons, pretending to be skilled in
various great Manufactures, imagining that America must be in Want of
them, and that the Congress would probably be dispos'd to imitate the
Princes above mentioned, have proposed to go over, on Condition of
having their Passages paid, Lands given, Salaries appointed, exclusive
Privileges for Terms of years, &c. Such Persons, on reading the Articles
of Confederation, will find, that the Congress have no Power committed
to them, or Money put into their Hands, for such purposes; and that if
any such Encouragement is given, it must be by the Government of some
separate State. This, however, has rarely been done in America; and,
when it has been done, it has rarely succeeded, so as to establish a
Manufacture, which the Country was not yet so ripe for as to encourage
private Persons to set it up; Labour being generally too dear there, and
Hands difficult to be kept together, every one desiring to be a Master,
and the Cheapness of Lands inclining many to leave Trades for
Agriculture. Some indeed have met with Success, and are carried on to
Advantage; but they are generally such as require only a few Hands, or
wherein great Part of the Work is performed by Machines. Things that are
bulky, and of so small Value as not well to bear the Expence of Freight,
may often be made cheaper in the Country than they can be imported; and
the Manufacture of such Things will be profitable wherever there is a
sufficient Demand. The Farmers in America produce indeed a good deal of
Wool and Flax; and none is exported, it is all work'd up; but it is in
the Way of domestic Manufacture, for the Use of the Family. The buying
up Quantities of Wool and Flax, with the Design to employ Spinners,
Weavers, &c., and form great Establishments, producing Quantities of
Linen and Woollen Goods for Sale, has been several times attempted in
different Provinces; but those Projects have generally failed, goods of
equal Value being imported cheaper. And when the Governments have been
solicited to support such Schemes by Encouragements, in Money, or by
imposing Duties on Importation of such Goods, it has been generally
refused, on this Principle, that, if the Country is ripe for the
Manufacture, it may be carried on by private Persons to Advantage; and
if not, it is a Folly to think of forcing Nature. Great Establishments
of Manufacture require great Numbers of Poor to do the Work for small
Wages; these Poor are to be found in Europe, but will not be found in
America, till the Lands are all taken up and cultivated, and the Excess
of People, who cannot get Land, want Employment. The Manufacture of
Silk, they say, is natural in France, as that of Cloth in England,
because each Country produces in Plenty the first Material; but if
England will have a Manufacture of Silk as well as that of Cloth, and
France one of Cloth as well as that of Silk, these unnatural Operations
must be supported by mutual Prohibitions, or high Duties on the
Importation of each other's Goods; by which means the Workmen are
enabled to tax the home Consumer by greater Prices, while the higher
Wages they receive makes them neither happier nor richer, since they
only drink more and work less. Therefore the Governments in America do
nothing to encourage such Projects. The People, by this Means, are not
impos'd on, either by the Merchant or Mechanic. If the Merchant demands
too much Profit on imported Shoes, they buy of the Shoemaker; and if he
asks too high a Price, they take them of the Merchant; thus the two
Professions are checks on each other. The Shoemaker, however, has, on
the whole, a considerable Profit upon his Labour in America, beyond what
he had in Europe, as he can add to his Price a Sum nearly equal to all
the Expences of Freight and Commission, Risque or Insurance, &c.,
necessarily charged by the Merchant. And the Case is the same with the
Workmen in every other Mechanic Art. Hence it is, that Artisans
generally live better and more easily in America than in Europe; and
such as are good Œconomists make a comfortable Provision for Age, and
for their Children. Such may, therefore, remove with Advantage to
America.
In the long-settled Countries of Europe, all Arts, Trades, Professions,
Farms, &c., are so full, that it is difficult for a poor Man, who has
Children, to place them where they may gain, or learn to gain, a decent
Livelihood. The Artisans, who fear creating future Rivals in Business,
refuse to take Apprentices, but upon Conditions of Money, Maintenance,
or the like, which the Parents are unable to comply with. Hence the
Youth are dragg'd up in Ignorance of every gainful Art, and oblig'd to
become Soldiers, or Servants, or Thieves, for a Subsistence. In America,
the rapid Increase of Inhabitants takes away that Fear of Rivalship, and
Artisans willingly receive Apprentices from the hope of Profit by their
Labour, during the Remainder of the Time stipulated, after they shall be
instructed. Hence it is easy for poor Families to get their Children
instructed; for the Artisans are so desirous of Apprentices, that many
of them will even give Money to the Parents, to have Boys from Ten to
Fifteen Years of Age bound Apprentices to them till the Age of
Twenty-one; and many poor Parents have, by that means, on their Arrival
in the Country, raised Money enough to buy Land sufficient to establish
themselves, and to subsist the rest of their Family by Agriculture.
These Contracts for Apprentices are made before a Magistrate, who
regulates the Agreement according to Reason and Justice, and, having in
view the Formation of a future useful Citizen, obliges the Master to
engage by a written Indenture, not only that, during the time of Service
stipulated, the Apprentice shall be duly provided with Meat, Drink,
Apparel, washing, and Lodging, and, at its Expiration, with a compleat
new Suit of Cloaths, but also that he shall be taught to read, write,
and cast Accompts; and that he shall be well instructed in the Art or
Profession of his Master, or some other, by which he may afterwards gain
a Livelihood, and be able in his turn to raise a Family. A Copy of this
Indenture is given to the Apprentice or his Friends, and the Magistrate
keeps a Record of it, to which recourse may be had, in case of Failure
by the Master in any Point of Performance. This desire among the
Masters, to have more Hands employ'd in working for them, induces them
to pay the Passages of young Persons, of both Sexes, who, on their
Arrival, agree to serve them one, two, three, or four Years; those, who
have already learnt a Trade, agreeing for a shorter Term, in proportion
to their Skill, and the consequent immediate Value of their Service; and
those, who have none, agreeing for a longer Term, in consideration of
being taught an Art their Poverty would not permit them to acquire in
their own Country.
The almost general Mediocrity of Fortune that prevails in America
obliging its People to follow some Business for subsistence, those
Vices, that arise usually from Idleness, are in a great measure
prevented. Industry and constant Employment are great preservatives of
the Morals and Virtue of a Nation. Hence bad Examples to Youth are more
rare in America, which must be a comfortable Consideration to Parents.
To this may be truly added, that serious Religion, under its various
Denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practised.
Atheism is unknown there; Infidelity rare and secret; so that persons
may live to a great Age in that Country, without having their Piety
shocked by meeting with either an Atheist or an Infidel. And the Divine
Being seems to have manifested his Approbation of the mutual Forbearance
and Kindness with which the different Sects treat each other, by the
remarkable Prosperity with which He has been pleased to favour the whole
Country.
APOLOGUE[117]
[1783?]
Lion, king of a certain forest, had among his subjects a body of
faithful dogs, in principle and affection strongly attached to his
person and government, but through whose assistance he had extended his
dominions, and had become the terror of his enemies.
Lion, however, influenced by evil counsellors, took an aversion to the
dogs, condemned them unheard, and ordered his tigers, leopards, and
panthers to attack and destroy them.
The dogs petitioned humbly, but their petitions were rejected haughtily;
and they were forced to defend themselves, which they did with bravery.
A few among them, of a mongrel race, derived from a mixture with wolves
and foxes, corrupted by royal promises of great rewards, deserted the
honest dogs and joined their enemies.
The dogs were finally victorious: a treaty of peace was made, in which
Lion acknowledged them to be free, and disclaimed all future authority
over them.
The mongrels not being permitted to return among them, claimed of the
royalists the reward that had been promised.
A council of the beasts was held to consider their demand.
The wolves and the foxes agreed unanimously that the demand was just,
that royal promises ought to be kept, and that every loyal subject
should contribute freely to enable his majesty to fulfil them.
The horse alone, with a boldness and freedom that became the nobleness
of his nature, delivered a contrary opinion.
"The King," said he, "has been misled, by bad ministers, to
war unjustly upon his faithful subjects. Royal promises, when
made to encourage us to act for the public good, should
indeed be honourably acquitted; but if to encourage us to
betray and destroy each other, they are wicked and void from
the beginning. The advisers of such promises, and those who
murdered in consequence of them, instead of being
recompensed, should be severely punished. Consider how
greatly our common strength is already diminished by our loss
of the dogs. If you enable the King to reward those
fratricides, you will establish a precedent that may justify
a future tyrant to make like promises; and every example of
such an unnatural brute rewarded will give them additional
weight. Horses and bulls, as well as dogs, may thus be
divided against their own kind, and civil wars produced at
pleasure, till we are so weakened that neither liberty nor
safety is any longer to be found in the forest, and nothing
remains but abject submission to the will of a despot, who
may devour us as he pleases."
The council had sense enough to resolve--that the demand be rejected.
TO SIR JOSEPH BANKS
Passy, July 27, 1783.
DEAR SIR,
I received your very kind letter by Dr. Blagden,[118] and esteem myself
much honoured by your friendly Remembrance. I have been too much and too
closely engaged in public Affairs, since his being here, to enjoy all
the Benefit of his Conversation you were so good as to intend me. I hope
soon to have more Leisure, and to spend a part of it in those Studies,
that are much more agreable to me than political Operations.
I join with you most cordially in rejoicing at the return of Peace. I
hope it will be lasting, and that Mankind will at length, as they call
themselves reasonable Creatures, have Reason and Sense enough to settle
their Differences without cutting Throats; for, in my opinion, _there
never was a good War, or a bad Peace_. What vast additions to the
Conveniences and Comforts of Living might Mankind have acquired, if the
Money spent in Wars had been employed in Works of public utility! What
an extension of Agriculture, even to the Tops of our Mountains: what
Rivers rendered navigable, or joined by Canals: what Bridges, Aqueducts,
new Roads, and other public Works, Edifices, and Improvements, rendering
England a compleat Paradise, might have been obtained by spending those
Millions in doing good, which in the last War have been spent in doing
Mischief; in bringing Misery into thousands of Families, and destroying
the Lives of so many thousands of working people, who might have
performed the useful labour!
I am pleased with the late astronomical Discoveries made by our Society
[the Royal--Eds.]. Furnished as all Europe now is with Academies of
Science, with nice Instruments and the Spirit of Experiment, the
progress of human knowledge will be rapid, and discoveries made, of
which we have at present no Conception. I begin to be almost sorry I was
born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be
known 100 years hence.
I wish continued success to the Labours of the Royal Society, and that
you may long adorn their Chair; being, with the highest esteem, dear
Sir, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. Dr. Blagden will acquaint you with the experiment of a vast Globe
sent up into the Air, much talked of here, and which, if prosecuted, may
furnish means of new knowledge.
TO MRS. SARAH BACHE[119]
Passy, Jan. 26, 1784.
MY DEAR CHILD,
Your Care in sending me the Newspapers is very agreable to me. I
received by Capt. Barney those relating to the _Cincinnati_. My Opinion
of the Institution cannot be of much Importance; I only wonder that,
when the united Wisdom of our Nation had, in the Articles of
Confederation, manifested their Dislike of establishing Ranks of
Nobility, by Authority either of the Congress or of any particular
State, a Number of private Persons should think proper to distinguish
themselves and their Posterity, from their fellow Citizens, and form an
Order of _hereditary Knights_, in direct Opposition to the solemnly
declared Sense of their Country! I imagine it must be likewise contrary
to the Good Sense of most of those drawn into it by the Persuasion of
its Projectors, who have been too much struck with the Ribbands and
Crosses they have seen among them hanging to the Buttonholes of Foreign
Officers. And I suppose those, who disapprove of it, have not hitherto
given it much Opposition, from a Principle somewhat like that of your
good Mother, relating to punctilious Persons, who are always exacting
little Observances of Respect; that, "_if People can be pleased with
small Matters, it is a pity but they should have them_."
In this View, perhaps, I should not myself, if my Advice had been ask'd,
have objected to their wearing their Ribband and Badge according to
their Fancy, tho' I certainly should to the entailing it as an Honour on
their Posterity. For Honour, worthily obtain'd (as for Example that of
our Officers), is in its Nature a _personal_ Thing, and incommunicable
to any but those who had some Share in obtaining it. Thus among the
Chinese, the most ancient, and from long Experience the wisest of
Nations, honour does not _descend_, but _ascends_. If a man from his
Learning, his Wisdom, or his Valour, is promoted by the Emperor to the
Rank of Mandarin, his Parents are immediately entitled to all the same
Ceremonies of Respect from the People, that are establish'd as due to
the Mandarin himself; on the supposition that it must have been owing to
the Education, Instruction, and good Example afforded him by his
Parents, that he was rendered capable of serving the Publick.
This _ascending_ Honour is therefore useful to the State, as it
encourages Parents to give their Children a good and virtuous Education.
But the _descending Honour_, to Posterity who could have no Share in
obtaining it, is not only groundless and absurd, but often hurtful to
that Posterity, since it is apt to make them proud, disdaining to be
employ'd in useful Arts, and thence falling into Poverty, and all the
Meannesses, Servility, and Wretchedness attending it; which is the
present case with much of what is called the _Noblesse_ in Europe. Or
if, to keep up the Dignity of the Family, Estates are entailed entire on
the Eldest male heir, another Pest to Industry and Improvement of the
Country is introduc'd, which will be followed by all the odious mixture
of pride and Beggary, and idleness, that have half depopulated [and
_decultivated_] Spain; occasioning continual Extinction of Families by
the Discouragements of Marriage [and neglect in the improvement of
estates].
I wish, therefore, that the Cincinnati, if they must go on with their
Project, would direct the Badges of their Order to be worn by their
Parents, instead of handing them down to their Children. It would be a
good Precedent, and might have good Effects. It would also be a kind of
Obedience to the Fourth Commandment, in which God enjoins us to _honour_
our Father and Mother, but has nowhere directed us to honour our
Children. And certainly no mode of honouring those immediate Authors of
our Being can be more effectual, than that of doing praiseworthy
Actions, which reflect Honour on those who gave us our Education; or
more becoming, than that of manifesting, by some public Expression or
Token, that it is to their Instruction and Example we ascribe the Merit
of those Actions.
But the Absurdity of _descending Honours_ is not a mere Matter of
philosophical Opinion; it is capable of mathematical Demonstration. A
Man's Son, for instance, is but half of his Family, the other half
belonging to the Family of his Wife. His Son, too, marrying into another
Family, his Share in the Grandson is but a fourth; in the Great
Grandson, by the same Process, it is but an Eighth; in the next
Generation a Sixteenth; the next a Thirty-second; the next a
Sixty-fourth; the next an Hundred and twenty-eighth; the next a Two
hundred and Fifty-sixth; and the next a Five hundred and twelfth; thus
in nine Generations, which will not require more than 300 years (no very
great Antiquity for a Family), our present Chevalier of the Order of
Cincinnatus's Share in the then existing Knight, will be but a 512th
part; which, allowing the present certain Fidelity of American Wives to
be insur'd down through all those Nine Generations, is so small a
Consideration, that methinks no reasonable Man would hazard for the sake
of it the disagreable Consequences of the Jealousy, Envy, and Ill will
of his Countrymen.
Let us go back with our Calculation from this young Noble, the 512th
part of the present Knight, thro' his nine Generations, till we return
to the year of the Institution. He must have had a Father and Mother,
they are two. Each of them had a father and Mother, they are four. Those
of the next preceding Generation will be eight, the next Sixteen, the
next thirty-two, the next sixty-four, the next One hundred and
Twenty-eight, the next Two hundred and fifty-six, and the ninth in this
Retrocession Five hundred and twelve, who must be now existing, and all
contribute their Proportion of this future _Chevalier de Cincinnatus_.
These, with the rest, make together as follows:
2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
____
Total 1022
One Thousand and Twenty-two Men and Women, contributors to the formation
of one Knight. And, if we are to have a Thousand of these future
knights, there must be now and hereafter existing One million and
Twenty-two Thousand Fathers and Mothers, who are to contribute to their
Production, unless a Part of the Number are employ'd in making more
Knights than One. Let us strike off then the 22,000, on the Supposition
of this double Employ, and then consider whether, after a reasonable
Estimation of the Number of Rogues, and Fools, and Royalists and
Scoundrels and Prostitutes, that are mix'd with, and help to make up
necessarily their Million of Predecessors, Posterity will have much
reason to boast of the noble Blood of the then existing Set of
Chevaliers de Cincinnatus. [The future genealogists, too, of these
Chevaliers, in proving the lineal descent of their honour through so
many generations (even supposing honour capable in its nature of
descending), will only prove the small share of this honour, which can
be justly claimed by any one of them; since the above simple process in
arithmetic makes it quite plain and clear that, in proportion as the
antiquity of the family shall augment, the right to the honour of the
ancestor will diminish; and a few generations more would reduce it to
something so small as to be very near an absolute nullity.] I hope,
therefore, that the Order will drop this part of their project, and
content themselves, as the Knights of the Garter, Bath, Thistle, St.
Louis, and other Orders of Europe do, with a Life Enjoyment of their
little Badge and Ribband, and let the Distinction die with those who
have merited it. This I imagine will give no offence. For my own part, I
shall think it a Convenience, when I go into a Company where there may
be Faces unknown to me, if I discover, by this Badge, the Persons who
merit some particular Expression of my Respect; and it will save modest
Virtue the Trouble of calling for our Regard, by awkward roundabout
Intimations of having been heretofore employ'd in the Continental
Service.
The Gentleman, who made the Voyage to France to provide the Ribands and
Medals, has executed his Commission. To me they seem tolerably done; but
all such Things are criticis'd. Some find Fault with the Latin, as
wanting classic Elegance and Correctness; and, since our Nine
Universities were not able to furnish better Latin, it was pity, they
say, that the Mottos had not been in English. Others object to the
Title, as not properly assumable by any but Gen. Washington, [and a few
others] who serv'd without Pay. Others object to the _Bald Eagle_ as
looking too much like a _Dindon_, or Turkey. For my own part, I wish the
Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the Representative of our Country; he
is a Bird of bad moral Character; he does not get his living honestly;
you may have seen him perch'd on some dead Tree, near the River where,
too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing-Hawk;
and, when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing
it to his Nest for the support of his Mate and young ones, the Bald
Eagle pursues him, and takes it from him. With all this Injustice he is
never in good Case; but, like those among Men who live by Sharping and
Robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a
rank Coward; the little _King Bird_, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks
him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no
means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America,
who have driven all the _Kingbirds_ from our Country; though exactly fit
for that Order of Knights, which the French call _Chevaliers
d'Industrie_.
I am, on this account, not displeas'd that the Figure is not known as a
Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turk'y. For in Truth, the Turk'y is in
comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original
Native of America. Eagles have been found in all Countries, but the
Turk'y was peculiar to ours; the first of the Species seen in Europe
being brought to France by the Jesuits from Canada, and serv'd up at the
Wedding Table of Charles the Ninth. He is, [though a little vain and
silly, it is true, but not the worse emblem for that,] a Bird of
Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British
Guards, who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a _red_ Coat on.
I shall not enter into the Criticisms made upon their Latin. The gallant
officers of America may [not have the merit of being] be no great
scholars, but they undoubtedly merit much, [as brave soldiers,] from
their Country, which should therefore not leave them merely to _Fame_
for their "_Virtutis Premium_," which is one of their Latin Mottos.
Their "_Esto perpetua_," another, is an excellent Wish, if they meant it
for their Country; bad, if intended for their Order. The States should
not only restore to them the _Omnia_ of their first Motto, which many of
them have left and lost, but pay them justly, and reward them
generously. They should not be suffered to remain, with [all] their
new-created Chivalry, _entirely_ in the Situation of the Gentleman in
the Story, which their _omnia reliquit_ reminds me of. You know every
thing makes me recollect some Story. He had built a very fine House, and
thereby much impair'd his Fortune. He had a Pride, however, in showing
it to his Acquaintance. One of them, after viewing it all, remark'd a
Motto over the Door, "ŌIA VANITAS." "What," says he, "is the Meaning
of this ŌIA? it is a word I don't understand." "I will tell you,"
said the Gentleman; "I had a mind to have the Motto cut on a Piece of
smooth Marble, but there was not room for it between the Ornaments, to
be put in Characters large enough to be read. I therefore made use of a
Contraction antiently very common in Latin Manuscripts, by which the
_m_'s and _n_'s in Words are omitted, and the Omission noted by a little
Dash above, which you may see there; so that the Word is _omnia_, OMNIA
VANITAS." "O," says his Friend, "I now comprehend the Meaning of your
motto, it relates to your Edifice; and signifies, that, if you have
abridged your _Omnia_, you have, nevertheless, left your VANITAS legible
at full length." I am, as ever, your affectionate father,
B. FRANKLIN.
AN ECONOMICAL PROJECT
TO THE AUTHORS OF THE JOURNAL OF PARIS
[March 20, 1784?[120]]
MESSIEURS,
You often entertain us with accounts of new discoveries. Permit me to
communicate to the public, through your paper, one that has lately been
made by myself, and which I conceive may be of great utility.
I was the other evening in a grand company, where the new lamp of
Messrs. Quinquet and Lange was introduced, and much admired for its
splendour; but a general inquiry was made, whether the oil it consumed
was not in proportion to the light it afforded, in which case there
would be no saving in the use of it. No one present could satisfy us in
that point, which all agreed ought to be known, it being a very
desirable thing to lessen, if possible, the expense of lighting our
apartments, when every other article of family expense was so much
augmented.
I was pleased to see this general concern for economy, for I love
economy exceedingly.
I went home, and to bed, three or four hours after midnight, with my
head full of the subject. An accidental sudden noise waked me about six
in the morning, when I was surprised to find my room filled with light;
and I imagined at first, that a number of those lamps had been brought
into it; but, rubbing my eyes, I perceived the light came in at the
windows. I got up and looked out to see what might be the occasion of
it, when I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from whence he
poured his rays plentifully into my chamber, my domestic having
negligently omitted, the preceding evening, to close the shutters.
I looked at my watch, which goes very well, and found that it was but
six o'clock; and still thinking it something extraordinary that the sun
should rise so early, I looked into the almanac, where I found it to be
the hour given for his rising on that day. I looked forward, too, and
found he was to rise still earlier every day till towards the end of
June; and that at no time in the year he retarded his rising so long as
till eight o'clock. Your readers, who with me have never seen any signs
of sunshine before noon, and seldom regard the astronomical part of the
almanac, will be as much astonished as I was, when they hear of his
rising so early; and especially when I assure them, _that he gives light
as soon as he rises_. I am convinced of this. I am certain of my fact.
One cannot be more certain of any fact. I saw it with my own eyes. And,
having repeated this observation the three following mornings, I found
always precisely the same result.
Yet it so happens, that when I speak of this discovery to others, I can
easily perceive by their countenances, though they forbear expressing it
in words, that they do not quite believe me. One, indeed, who is a
learned natural philosopher, has assured me that I must certainly be
mistaken as to the circumstance of the light coming into my room; for it
being well known, as he says, that there could be no light abroad at
that hour, it follows that none could enter from without; and that of
consequence, my windows being accidentally left open, instead of letting
in the light, had only served to let out the darkness; and he used many
ingenious arguments to show me how I might, by that means, have been
deceived. I owned that he puzzled me a little, but he did not satisfy
me; and the subsequent observations I made, as above mentioned,
confirmed me in my first opinion.
This event has given rise in my mind to several serious and important
reflections. I considered that, if I had not been awakened so early in
the morning, I should have slept six hours longer by the light of the
sun, and in exchange have lived six hours the following night by
candle-light; and, the latter being a much more expensive light than the
former, my love of economy induced me to muster up what little
arithmetic I was master of, and to make some calculations, which I shall
give you, after observing that utility is, in my opinion the test of
value in matters of invention, and that a discovery which can be applied
to no use, or is not good for something, is good for nothing.
I took for the basis of my calculation the supposition that there are
one hundred thousand families in Paris, and that these families consume
in the night half a pound of bougies, or candles, per hour. I think this
is a moderate allowance, taking one family with another; for though I
believe some consume less, I know that many consume a great deal more.
Then estimating seven hours per day as a medium quantity between the
time of the sun's rising and ours, he rising during the six following
months from six to eight hours before noon, and there being seven hours
of course per night in which we burn candles, the account will stand
thus;--
In the six months between the 20th of March and the 20th of September,
there are
Nights 183
Hours of each night in which we burn candles. 7
_____
Multiplication gives for the total number of
hours 1,281
These 1,281 hours multiplied by 100,000, the
number of inhabitants, give 128,100,000
One hundred twenty-eight millions and one
hundred thousand hours, spent at Paris by
candle-light, which, at half a pound of wax
and tallow per hour, gives the weight of 64,050,000
Sixty-four millions and fifty thousand of pounds,
which, estimating the whole at the medium
price of thirty sols the pound, makes the sum
of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand
livres tournois 96,075,000
An immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the
economy of using sunshine instead of candles.
If it should be said, that people are apt to be obstinately attached to
old customs, and that it will be difficult to induce them to rise before
noon, consequently my discovery can be of little use; I answer, _Nil
desperandum_. I believe all who have common sense, as soon as they have
learnt from this paper that it is daylight when the sun rises, will
contrive to rise with him; and, to compel the rest, I would propose the
following regulations;
First. Let a tax be laid of a louis per window, on every window that is
provided with shutters to keep out the light of the sun.
Second. Let the same salutary operation of police be made use of, to
prevent our burning candles, that inclined us last winter to be more
economical in burning wood; that is, let guards be placed in the shops
of the wax and tallow chandlers, and no family be permitted to be
supplied with more than one pound of candles per week.
Third. Let guards also be posted to stop all the coaches, &c. that would
pass the streets after sun-set, except those of physicians, surgeons,
and midwives.
Fourth. Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in
every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient, let cannon
be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make
them open their eyes to see their true interest.
All the difficulty will be in the first two or three days; after which
the reformation will be as natural and easy as the present irregularity;
for, _ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte_. Oblige a man to rise at
four in the morning, and it is more than probable he will go willingly
to bed at eight in the evening; and, having had eight hours sleep, he
will rise more willingly at four in the morning following. But this sum
of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand livres is not the whole
of what may be saved by my economical project. You may observe, that I
have calculated upon only one half of the year, and much may be saved in
the other, though the days are shorter. Besides, the immense stock of
wax and tallow left unconsumed during the summer, will probably make
candles much cheaper for the ensuing winter, and continue them cheaper
as long as the proposed reformation shall be supported.
For the great benefit of this discovery, thus freely communicated and
bestowed by me on the public, I demand neither place, pension, exclusive
privilege, nor any other reward whatever. I expect only to have the
honour of it. And yet I know there are little, envious minds, who will,
as usual, deny me this, and say, that my invention was known to the
ancients, and perhaps they may bring passages out of the old books in
proof of it. I will not dispute with these people, that the ancients
knew not the sun would rise at certain hours; they possibly had, as we
have, almanacs that predicted it; but it does not follow thence, that
they knew _he gave light as soon as he rose_. This is what I claim as my
discovery. If the ancients knew it, it might have been long since
forgotten; for it certainly was unknown to the moderns, at least to the
Parisians, which to prove, I need use but one plain simple argument.
They are as well instructed, judicious, and prudent a people as exist
anywhere in the world, all professing, like myself, to be lovers of
economy; and, from the many heavy taxes required from them by the
necessities of the state, have surely an abundant reason to be
economical. I say it is impossible that so sensible a people, under such
circumstances, should have lived so long by the smoky, unwholesome, and
enormously expensive light of candles, if they had really known, that
they might have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing. I am, &c.
A SUBSCRIBER.
TO SAMUEL MATHER[121]
Passy, May 12, 1784.
REV^D SIR,
I received your kind letter, with your excellent advice to the people of
the United States, which I read with great pleasure, and hope it will be
duly regarded. Such writings, though they may be lightly passed over by
many readers, yet, if they make a deep impression on one active mind in
a hundred, the effects may be considerable. Permit me to mention one
little instance, which, though it relates to myself, will not be quite
uninteresting to you. When I was a boy, I met with a book, entitled
"_Essays to do Good_," which I think was written by your father. It had
been so little regarded by a former possessor, that several leaves of it
were torn out; but the remainder gave me such a turn of thinking, as to
have an influence on my conduct through life; for I have always set a
greater value on the character of a _doer of good_, than on any other
kind of reputation; and if I have been, as you seem to think, a useful
citizen, the public owes the advantage of it to that book.
You mention your being in your 78^th year; I am in my 79^th; we are
grown old together. It is now more than 60 years since I left Boston,
but I remember well both your father and grandfather, having heard them
both in the pulpit, and seen them in their houses. The last time I saw
your father was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my
first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and on my
taking leave showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow
passage, which was crossed by a beam over head. We were still talking as
I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him,
when he said hastily, "_Stoop, stoop!_" I did not understand him, till I
felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed any
occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, "_You are
young, and have the world before you_; STOOP _as you go through it, and
you will miss many hard thumps_." This advice, thus beat into my head,
has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it, when I see
pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their carrying
their heads too high.
I long much to see again my native place, and to lay my bones there. I
left it in 1723; I visited it in 1733, 1743, 1753, and 1763. In 1773 I
was in England; in 1775 I had a sight of it, but could not enter, it
being in possession of the enemy. I did hope to have been there in 1783,
but could not obtain my dismission from this employment here; and now I
fear I shall never have that happiness. My best wishes however attend my
dear country. _Esto perpetua._ It is now blest with an excellent
constitution; may it last for ever!
This powerful monarchy continues its friendship for the United States.
It is a friendship of the utmost importance to our security, and should
be carefully cultivated. Britain has not yet well digested the loss of
its dominion over us, and has still at times some flattering hopes of
recovering it. Accidents may increase those hopes, and encourage
dangerous attempts. A breach between us and France would infallibly
bring the English again upon our backs; and yet we have some wild heads
among our countrymen, who are endeavouring to weaken that connexion! Let
us preserve our reputation by performing our engagements; our credit by
fulfilling our contracts; and friends by gratitude and kindness; for we
know not how soon we may again have occasion for all of them. With great
and sincere esteem, I have the honour to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
TO BENJAMIN VAUGHAN[122]
Passy, July 26th, 1784.
DEAR FRIEND,
I have received several Letters from you lately, dated June 16, June 30,
and July 13. I thank you for the Information respecting the Proceedings
of your West India Merchants, or rather Planters. The Restraints what
ever they may be upon our Commerce with your Islands, will prejudice
their Inhabitants, I apprehend, more than us.
It is wonderful how preposterously the affairs of this world are
managed. Naturally one would imagine, that the interest of a few
individuals should give way to general interest; but individuals manage
their affairs with so much more application, industry, and address, than
the public do theirs, that general interest most commonly gives way to
particular. We assemble parliaments and councils, to have the benefit of
their collected wisdom; but we necessarily have, at the same time, the
inconvenience of their collected passions, prejudices, and private
interest. By the help of these, artful men overpower their wisdom, and
dupe its possessors; and if we may judge by the acts, _arrêts_, and
edicts, all the world over, for regulating commerce, an assembly of
great men is the greatest fool upon earth.
I have received Cook's _Voyages_, which you put Mr. Oswald in the way of
sending to me. By some Mistake the first Volume was omitted, and instead
of it a Duplicate sent of the third. If there is a good Print of Cook, I
should be glad to have it, being personally acquainted with him. I thank
you for the Pamphlets by Mr. Estlin. Every thing you send me gives me
Pleasure; to receive your Account would give me more than all.
I am told, that the little Pamphlet of _Advice to such as would remove
to America_, is reprinted in London, with my Name to it, which I would
rather had been omitted; but wish to see a Copy, when you have an
Opportunity of sending it.
Mr. H. has long continued here in Expectation of Instructions for making
a Treaty of Commerce, but they do not come, and I begin to suspect none
are intended; tho' perhaps the Delay is only occasioned by the over
great Burthen of Business at present on the Shoulders of your Ministers.
We do not press the Matter, but are content to wait till they can see
their Interest respecting America more clearly, being certain that we
can shift as well as you without a Treaty.
The Conjectures I sent you concerning the cold of last Winter still
appear to me probable. The moderate Season in Russia and Canada, do not
weaken them. I think our Frost here began about the 24th of December; in
America, the 12 of January. I thank you for recommending to me Mr.
Arbuthnot; I have had Pleasure in his Conversation. I wish much to see
the new Pieces you had in hand. I congratulate you on the Return of your
Wedding-day, and wish for your Sake and Mrs. Vaughan's, that you may see
a great many of them, all as happy as the first.
I like the young stranger very much. He seems sensible, ingenious, and
modest, has a good deal of Instruction, and makes judicious
Observations. He will probably distinguish himself advantageously. I
have not yet heard from Mr. Nairne.
Dr. Price's Pamphlet of Advice to America is a good one, and will do
Good. You ask, "what Remedy I have for the growing Luxury of my Country,
which gives so much _Offence_ to all _English travellers_ without
exception." I answer, that I think it exaggerated, and that Travellers
are no good Judges whether our Luxury is growing or diminishing. Our
People are hospitable, and have indeed too much Pride in displaying upon
their Tables before Strangers the Plenty and Variety that our Country
affords. They have the Vanity, too, of sometimes borrowing one another's
Plate to entertain more splendidly. Strangers being invited from House
to House, and meeting every Day with a Feast, imagine what they see is
the ordinary Way of living of all the Families where they dine; when
perhaps each Family lives a Week after upon the Remains of the Dinner
given. It is, I own, a Folly in our People to give _such Offence_ to
_English Travellers_. The first part of the Proverb is thereby verified,
that _Fools make Feasts_. I wish in this Case the other were as true,
_and wise Men eat them_. These Travellers might, one would think, find
some Fault they could more decently reproach us with, than that of our
excessive Civility to them as Strangers.
I have not, indeed yet thought of a Remedy for Luxury. I am not sure,
that in a great State it is capable of a Remedy. Nor that the Evil is
in itself always so great as it is represented. Suppose we include in
the Definition of Luxury all unnecessary Expence, and then let us
consider whether Laws to prevent such Expence are possible to be
executed in a great Country, and whether, if they could be executed, our
People generally would be happier, or even richer. Is not the Hope of
one day being able to purchase and enjoy Luxuries a great Spur to Labour
and Industry? May not Luxury, therefore, produce more than it consumes,
if without such a Spur People would be, as they are naturally enough
inclined to be, lazy and indolent? To this purpose I remember a
Circumstance. The Skipper of a Shallop, employed between Cape May and
Philadelphia, had done us some small Service, for which he refused Pay.
My Wife, understanding that he had a Daughter, sent her as a Present a
new-fashioned Cap. Three Years After, this Skipper being at my House
with an old Farmer of Cape May, his Passenger, he mentioned the Cap, and
how much his Daughter had been pleased with it. "But," says he, "it
proved a dear Cap to our Congregation." "How so?" "When my Daughter
appeared in it at Meeting, it was so much admired, that all the Girls
resolved to get such Caps from Philadelphia; and my Wife and I computed,
that the whole could not have cost less than a hundred Pound." "True,"
says the Farmer, "but you do not tell all the Story. I think the Cap was
nevertheless an Advantage to us, for it was the first thing that put our
Girls upon Knitting worsted Mittens for Sale at Philadelphia, that they
might have wherewithal to buy Caps and Ribbands there; and you know that
that Industry has continued, and is likely to continue and increase to a
much greater Value, and answer better Purposes." Upon the whole, I was
more reconciled to this little Piece of Luxury, since not only the Girls
were made happier by having fine Caps, but the Philadelphians by the
Supply of warm Mittens.
In our Commercial Towns upon the Seacoast, Fortunes will occasionally be
made. Some of those who grow rich will be prudent, live within Bounds,
and preserve what they have gained for their Posterity; others, fond of
showing their Wealth, will be extravagant and ruin themselves. Laws
cannot prevent this; and perhaps it is not always an evil to the
Publick. A Shilling spent idly by a Fool, may be picked up by a Wiser
Person, who knows better what to do with it. It is therefore not lost. A
vain, silly Fellow builds a fine House, furnishes it richly, lives in it
expensively, and in few years ruins himself; but the Masons, Carpenters,
Smiths, and other honest Tradesmen have been by his Employ assisted in
maintaining and raising their Families; the Farmer has been paid for his
labour, and encouraged, and the Estate is now in better Hands. In some
Cases, indeed, certain Modes of Luxury may be a publick Evil, in the
same Manner as it is a Private one. If there be a Nation, for Instance,
that exports its Beef and Linnen, to pay for its Importation of Claret
and Porter, while a great Part of its People live upon Potatoes, and
wear no Shirts, wherein does it differ from the Sot, who lets his Family
starve, and sells his Clothes to buy Drink? Our American Commerce is, I
confess, a little in this way. We sell our Victuals to your Islands for
Rum and Sugar; the substantial Necessaries of Life for Superfluities.
But we have Plenty, and live well nevertheless, tho' by being soberer,
we might be richer.
By the by, here is just issued an _arrêt_ of Council taking off all the
Duties upon the exportation of Brandies, which, it is said, will render
them cheaper in America than your Rum; in which case there is no doubt
but they will be preferr'd, and we shall be better able to bear your
Restrictions on our Commerce. There are Views here, by augmenting their
Settlements, of being able to supply the growing People of America with
the Sugar that may be wanted there. On the whole, I guess England will
get as little by the Commercial War she has begun with us, as she did by
the Military. But to return to Luxury.
The vast Quantity of Forest Lands we have yet to clear, and put in order
for Cultivation, will for a long time keep the Body of our Nation
laborious and frugal. Forming an Opinion of our People and their Manners
by what is seen among the Inhabitants of the Seaports, is judging from
an improper Sample. The People of the Trading Towns may be rich and
luxurious, while the Country possesses all the Virtues, that tend to
private Happiness and publick Prosperity. Those Towns are not much
regarded by the Country; they are hardly considered as an essential Part
of the States; and the Experience of the last War has shown, that their
being in the Possession of the Enemy did not necessarily draw on the
Subjection of the Country, which bravely continued to maintain its
Freedom and Independence notwithstanding.
It has been computed by some Political Arithmetician, that, if every Man
and Woman would work for four Hours each Day on something useful, that
Labour would produce sufficient to procure all the Necessaries and
Comforts of Life, Want and Misery would be banished out of the World,
and the rest of the 24 hours might be Leisure and Pleasure.
What occasions then so much Want and Misery? It is the Employment of Men
and Women in Works, that produce neither the Necessaries nor
Conveniences of Life, who, with those who do nothing, consume the
Necessaries raised by the Laborious. To explain this.
The first Elements of Wealth are obtained by Labour, from the Earth and
Waters. I have Land, and raise Corn. With this, if I feed a Family that
does nothing, my Corn will be consum'd, and at the end of the Year I
shall be no richer than I was at the beginning. But if, while I feed
them, I employ them, some in Spinning, others in hewing Timber and
sawing Boards, others in making Bricks, &c. for Building, the Value of
my Corn will be arrested and remain with me, and at the end of the Year
we may all be better clothed and better lodged. And if, instead of
employing a Man I feed in making Bricks, I employ him in fiddling for
me, the Corn he eats is gone, and no Part of his Manufacture remains to
augment the Wealth and Convenience of the family; I shall therefore be
the poorer for this fiddling Man, unless the rest of my Family work
more, or eat less, to make up the Deficiency he occasions.
Look round the World and see the Millions employ'd in doing nothing, or
in something that amounts to nothing, when the Necessaries and
Conveniences of Life are in question. What is the Bulk of Commerce, for
which we fight and destroy each other, but the Toil of Millions for
Superfluities, to the great Hazard and Loss of many Lives by the
constant Dangers of the Sea? How much labour is spent in Building and
fitting great Ships, to go to China and Arabia for Tea and Coffee, to
the West Indies for Sugar, to America for Tobacco! These things cannot
be called the Necessaries of Life, for our Ancestors lived very
comfortably without them.
A Question may be asked; Could all these People, now employed in
raising, making, or carrying Superfluities, be subsisted by raising
Necessaries? I think they might. The World is large, and a great Part of
it still uncultivated. Many hundred Millions of Acres in Asia, Africa,
and America are still Forest, and a great Deal even in Europe. On 100
Acres of this Forest a Man might become a substantial Farmer, and
100,000 Men, employed in clearing each his 100 Acres, would hardly
brighten a Spot big enough to be Visible from the Moon, unless with
Herschell's Telescope; so vast are the Regions still in Wood unimproved.
'Tis however, some Comfort to reflect, that, upon the whole, the
Quantity of Industry and Prudence among Mankind exceeds the Quantity of
Idleness and Folly. Hence the Increase of good Buildings, Farms
cultivated, and populous Cities filled with Wealth, all over Europe,
which a few Ages since were only to be found on the Coasts of the
Mediterranean; and this, notwithstanding the mad Wars continually
raging, by which are often destroyed in one year the Works of many
Years' Peace. So that we may hope the Luxury of a few Merchants on the
Seacoast will not be the Ruin of America.
One reflection more, and I well end this long, rambling Letter. Almost
all the Parts of our Bodies require some Expence. The Feet demand Shoes;
the Legs, Stockings; the rest of the Body, Clothing; and the Belly, a
good deal of Victuals. _Our_ Eyes, tho' exceedingly useful, ask, when
reasonable, only the cheap Assistance of Spectacles, which could not
much impair our Finances. But _the Eyes of other People_ are the Eyes
that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither fine
Clothes, fine Houses, nor fine Furniture. Adieu, my dear Friend, I am
Yours ever
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. This will be delivered to you by my Grandson. I am persuaded you
will afford him your Civilities and Counsels. Please to accept a little
Present of Books, I send by him, curious for the Beauty of the
Impression.
TO GEORGE WHATELY[123]
Passy, May 23, 1785.
DEAR OLD FRIEND,
... I must agree with you, that the Gout is bad, and that the Stone is
worse. I am happy in not having them both together, and I join in your
Prayer, that you may live till you die without either. But I doubt the
Author of the Epitaph you send me was a little mistaken, when he,
speaking of the World, says, that
"he ne'er car'd a pin
What they said or may say of the Mortal within."
It is so natural to wish to be well spoken of, whether alive or dead,
that I imagine he could not be quite exempt from that Desire; and that
at least he wish'd to be thought a Wit, or he would not have given
himself the Trouble of writing so good an Epitaph to leave behind him.
Was it not as worthy of his Care, that the World should say he was an
honest and a good Man? I like better the concluding Sentiment in the old
Song, call'd _The Old Man's Wish_, wherein, after wishing for a warm
House in a country Town, an easy Horse, some good old authors, ingenious
and cheerful Companions, a Pudding on Sundays, with stout Ale, and a
bottle of Burgundy, &c., &c., in separate Stanzas, each ending with this
burthen,
"May I govern my Passions with an absolute sway,
Grow wiser and better as my Strength wears away,
Without Gout or Stone, by a gentle Decay;"
he adds,
"With a Courage undaunted may I face my last day,
And, when I am gone, may the better Sort say,
'In the Morning when sober, in the Evening when mellow,
He's gone, and has not left behind him his Fellow;
For he governed his Passions, &c."'
But what signifies our Wishing? Things happen, after all, as they will
happen. I have sung that _wishing Song_ a thousand times, when I was
young, and now find, at Fourscore, that the three Contraries have
befallen me, being subject to the Gout and the Stone, and not being yet
Master of all my Passions. Like the proud Girl in my Country, who wished
and resolv'd not to marry a Parson, nor a Presbyterian, nor an Irishman;
and at length found herself married to an Irish Presbyterian Parson.
You see I have some reason to wish, that, in a future State, I may not
only be _as well as I was_, but a little better. And I hope it; for I,
too, with your Poet, _trust in God_. And when I observe, that there is
great Frugality, as well as Wisdom, in his Works, since he has been
evidently sparing both of Labour and Materials; for by the various
wonderful Inventions of Propagation, he has provided for the continual
peopling his World with Plants and Animals, without being at the Trouble
of repeated new Creations; and by the natural Reduction of compound
Substances to their original Elements, capable of being employ'd in new
Compositions, he has prevented the Necessity of creating new Matter; so
that the Earth, Water, Air, and perhaps Fire, which being compounded
form Wood, do, when the Wood is dissolved, return, and again become Air,
Earth, Fire, and Water; I say, that, when I see nothing annihilated, and
not even a Drop of Water wasted, I cannot suspect the Annihilation of
Souls, or believe, that he will suffer the daily Waste of Millions of
Minds ready made that now exist, and put himself to the continual
Trouble of making new ones. Thus finding myself to exist in the World, I
believe I shall, in some Shape or other, always exist; and, with all the
inconveniencies human Life is liable to, I shall not object to a new
Edition of mine; hoping, however, that the _Errata_ of the last may be
corrected.
... Adieu, my dear Friend, and believe me ever yours very
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JOHN BARD AND MRS. BARD
Philadelphia, November 14, 1785.
DEAR FRIENDS,
I received your kind letter, which gave me great pleasure, as it
informed me of your welfare. Your friendly congratulations are very
obliging. I had on my return some right, as you observe, to expect
repose; and it was my intention to avoid all public business. But I had
not firmness enough to resist the unanimous desire of my country folks;
and I find myself harnessed again in their service for another year.
They engrossed the prime of my life. They have eaten my flesh, and seem
resolved now to pick my bones. You are right in supposing, that I
interest myself in every thing that affects you and yours, sympathizing
in your afflictions, and rejoicing in your felicities; for our
friendship is ancient, and was never obscured by the least cloud.
I thank you for your civilities to my grandson, and am ever, with
sincere and great esteem and regard, my dear friends, yours most
affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
TO JONATHAN SHIPLEY
Philadelphia, Feb. 24^th, 1786.
DEAR FRIEND,
I received lately your kind letter of Nov. 27th. My Reception here was,
as you have heard, very honourable indeed; but I was betray'd by it, and
by some Remains of Ambition, from which I had imagined myself free, to
accept of the Chair of Government for the State of Pennsylvania, when
the proper thing for me was Repose and a private Life. I hope, however,
to be able to bear the Fatigue for one Year, and then to retire.
I have much regretted our having so little Opportunity for Conversation
when we last met. You could have given me Informations and Counsels that
I wanted, but we were scarce a Minute together without being broke in
upon. I am to thank you, however, for the Pleasure I had after our
Parting, in reading the new Book[124] you gave me, which I think
generally well written and likely to do good; tho' the Reading Time of
most People is of late so taken up with News Papers and little
periodical Pamphlets, that few now-a-days venture to attempt reading a
Quarto Volume. I have admir'd to see, that, in the last Century, a
Folio, _Burton on Melancholly_, went through Six Editions in about
Twenty Years. We have, I believe, more Readers now, but not of such
large Books.
You seem desirous of knowing what Progress we make here in improving our
Governments. We are, I think, in the right Road of Improvement, for we
are making Experiments. I do not oppose all that seem wrong, for the
Multitude are more effectually set right by Experience, than kept from
going wrong by Reasoning with them. And I think we are daily more and
more enlightened; so that I have no doubt of our obtaining in a few
Years as much public Felicity, as good Government is capable of
affording.
Your NewsPapers are fill'd with fictitious Accounts of Anarchy,
Confusion, Distresses, and Miseries, we are suppos'd to be involv'd in,
as Consequences of the Revolution; and the few remaining Friends of the
old Government among us take pains to magnify every little Inconvenience
a Change in the Course of Commerce may have occasion'd. To obviate the
Complaints they endeavour to excite, was written the enclos'd little
Piece,[125] from which you may form a truer Idea of our Situation, than
your own public Prints would give you. And I can assure you, that the
great Body of our Nation find themselves happy in the Change, and have
not the smallest Inclination to return to the Domination of Britain.
There could not be a stronger Proof of the general Approbation of the
Measures, that promoted the Change, and of the Change itself, than has
been given by the Assembly and Council of this State, in the nearly
unanimous Choice for their Governor, of one who had been so much
concern'd in those Measures, the Assembly being themselves the unbrib'd
Choice of the People, and therefore may be truly suppos'd of the same
Sentiments. I say nearly unanimous, because, of between 70 and 80 Votes,
there were only my own and one other in the negative.
As to my Domestic Circumstances, of which you kindly desire to hear
something, they are at present as happy as I could wish them. I am
surrounded by my Offspring, a Dutiful and Affectionate Daughter in my
House, with Six Grandchildren, the eldest of which you have seen, who is
now at a College in the next Street, finishing the learned Part of his
Education; the others promising, both for Parts and good Dispositions.
What their Conduct may be, when they grow up and enter the important
Scenes of Life, I shall not live to _see_, and I cannot _foresee_. I
therefore enjoy among them the present Hour, and leave the future to
Providence.
He that raises a large Family does, indeed, while he lives to observe
them, _stand_, as Watts says, _a broader Mark for Sorrow_; but then he
stands a broader Mark for Pleasure too. When we launch our little Fleet
of Barques into the Ocean, bound to different Ports, we hope for each a
prosperous Voyage; but contrary Winds, hidden Shoals, Storms, and
Enemies come in for a Share in the Disposition of Events; and though
these occasion a Mixture of Disappointment, yet, considering the Risque
where we can make no Insurance, we should think ourselves happy if some
return with Success. My Son's Son, Temple Franklin, whom you have also
seen, having had a fine Farm of 600 Acres[126] convey'd to him by his
Father when we were at Southampton, has drop'd for the present his Views
of acting in the political Line, and applies himself ardently to the
Study and Practice of Agriculture. This is much more agreable to me, who
esteem it the most useful, the most independent, and therefore the
noblest of Employments. His Lands are on navigable water, communicating
with the Delaware, and but about 16 Miles from this City. He has
associated to himself a very skillful English Farmer lately arrived
here, who is to instruct him in the Business, and partakes for a Term
of the Profits; so that there is a great apparent Probability of their
Success.
You will kindly expect a Word or two concerning myself. My Health and
Spirits continue, Thanks to God, as when you saw me. The only complaint
I then had, does not grow worse, and is tolerable. I still have
Enjoyment in the Company of my Friends; and, being easy in my
Circumstances, have many Reasons to like Living. But the Course of
Nature must soon put a period to my present Mode of Existence. This I
shall submit to with less Regret, as, having seen during a long Life a
good deal of this World, I feel a growing Curiosity to be acquainted
with some other; and can chearfully, with filial Confidence, resign my
Spirit to the conduct of that great and good Parent of Mankind, who
created it, and who has so graciously protected and prospered me from my
Birth to the present Hour. Wherever I am, I hope always to retain the
pleasing remembrance of your Friendship, being with sincere and great
Esteem, my dear Friend, yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. We all join in Respects to Mrs. Shipley, and best wishes for the
whole amiable Family.
TO -------- [127]
Phila. July 3, 1786 [?].
DEAR SIR,
I have read your Manuscript with some Attention. By the Argument it
contains against the Doctrines of a particular Providence, tho' you
allow a general Providence, you strike at the Foundation of all
Religion. For without the Belief of a Providence, that takes Cognizance
of, guards, and guides, and may favour particular Persons, there is no
Motive to Worship a Deity, to fear its Displeasure, or to pray for its
Protection. I will not enter into any Discussion of your Principles,
tho' you seem to desire it. At present I shall only give you my
Opinion, that, though your Reasonings are subtile, and may prevail with
some Readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general
Sentiments of Mankind on that Subject, and the Consequence of printing
this Piece will be, a great deal of Odium drawn upon yourself, Mischief
to you, and no Benefit to others. He that spits against the Wind, spits
in his own Face.[128]
But, were you to succeed, do you imagine any Good would be done by it?
You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous Life, without the
Assistance afforded by Religion; you having a clear Perception of the
Advantages of Virtue, and the Disadvantages of Vice, and possessing a
Strength of Resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common
Temptations. But think how great a Proportion of Mankind consists of
weak and ignorant Men and Women, and of inexperienc'd, and inconsiderate
Youth of both Sexes, who have need of the Motives of Religion to
restrain them from Vice, to support their Virtue, and retain them in the
Practice of it till it becomes _habitual_, which is the great Point for
its Security. And perhaps you are indebted to her originally, that is,
to your Religious Education, for the Habits of Virtue upon which you now
justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent Talents
of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a Rank
with our most distinguish'd Authors. For among us it is not necessary,
as among the Hottentots, that a Youth, to be receiv'd into the Company
of men, should prove his Manhood by beating his Mother.
I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the Tyger, but
to burn this Piece before it is seen by any other Person; whereby you
will save yourself a great deal of Mortification from the Enemies it may
raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of Regret and Repentance. If
men are so wicked as we now see them _with religion_, what would they be
_if without it_. I intend this Letter itself as a _Proof_ of my
Friendship, and therefore add no _Professions_ to it; but subscribe
simply yours,
B. F.
SPEECH IN THE CONVENTION; ON THE SUBJECT OF SALARIES[129]
[Delivered June 2, 1787]
SIR,
It is with Reluctance that I rise to express a Disapprobation of any one
Article of the Plan, for which we are so much obliged to the honourable
Gentleman who laid it before us. From its first Reading, I have borne a
good Will to it, and, in general, wish'd it Success. In this Particular
of Salaries to the Executive Branch, I happen to differ; and, as my
Opinion may appear new and chimerical, it is only from a Persuasion that
it is right, and from a Sense of Duty, that I hazard it. The Committee
will judge of my Reasons when they have heard them, and their judgment
may possibly change mine. I think I see Inconveniences in the
Appointment of Salaries; I see none in refusing them, but on the
contrary great Advantages.
Sir, there are two Passions which have a powerful Influence in the
Affairs of Men. These are _Ambition_ and _Avarice_, the Love of Power
and the Love of Money. Separately, each of these has great Force in
prompting Men to Action; but when united in View of the same Object,
they have in many Minds the most violent Effects. Place before the Eyes
of such Men a Post of _Honour_, that shall at the same time be a Place
of _Profit_, and they will move Heaven and Earth to obtain it. The vast
Number of such Places it is that renders the British Government so
tempestuous. The Struggles for them are the true Source of all those
Factions which are perpetually dividing the Nation, distracting its
Councils, hurrying it sometimes into fruitless and mischievous Wars, and
often compelling a Submission to dishonourable Terms of Peace.
And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable
Preëminence, thro' all the Bustle of Cabal, the Heat of Contention, the
infinite mutual Abuse of Parties, tearing to Pieces the best of
Characters? It will not be the wise and moderate, the Lovers of Peace
and good Order, the men fittest for the Trust. It will be the Bold and
the Violent, the men of strong Passions and indefatigable Activity in
their selfish Pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your
Government, and be your Rulers. And these, too, will be mistaken in the
expected Happiness of their Situation; for their vanquish'd competitors,
of the same Spirit, and from the same Motives, will perpetually be
endeavouring to distress their Administration, thwart their Measures,
and render them odious to the People.
Besides these Evils, Sir, tho' we may set out in the Beginning with
moderate Salaries, we shall find, that such will not be of long
Continuance. Reasons will never be wanting for propos'd Augmentations,
and there will always be a Party for giving more to the Rulers, that the
Rulers may be able in Return to give more to them. Hence, as all History
informs us, there has been in every State and Kingdom a constant kind of
Warfare between the Governing and the Governed; the one striving to
obtain more for its Support, and the other to pay less. And this has
alone occasion'd great Convulsions, actual Civil Wars, ending either in
dethroning of the Princes or enslaving of the People. Generally, indeed,
the Ruling Power carries its Point, and we see the Revenues of Princes
constantly increasing, and we see that they are never satisfied, but
always in want of more. The more the People are discontented with the
Oppression of Taxes, the greater Need the Prince has of Money to
distribute among his Partisans, and pay the Troops that are to suppress
all Resistance, and enable him to plunder at Pleasure. There is scarce a
King in a hundred, who would not, if he could, follow the Example of
Pharaoh,--get first all the People's Money, then all their Lands, and
then make them and their Children Servants for ever. It will be said,
that we do not propose to establish Kings. I know it. But there is a
natural Inclination in Mankind to kingly Government. It sometimes
relieves them from Aristocratic Domination. They had rather have one
Tyrant than 500. It gives more of the Appearance of Equality among
Citizens; and that they like. I am apprehensive, therefore,--perhaps too
apprehensive,--that the Government of these States may in future times
end in a Monarchy. But this Catastrophe, I think, may be long delay'd,
if in our propos'd System we do not sow the Seeds of Contention,
Faction, and Tumult, by making our Posts of Honour Places of Profit. If
we do, I fear, that, tho' we employ at first a Number and not a single
Person, the Number will in time be set aside; it will only nourish the
Fœtus of a King (as the honourable Gentleman from Virg^a very aptly
express'd it), and a King will the sooner be set over us.
It may be imagined by some, that this is an Utopian Idea, and that we
can never find Men to serve us in the Executive Department, without
paying them well for their Services. I conceive this to be a Mistake.
Some existing Facts present themselves to me, which incline me to a
contrary Opinion. The High Sheriff of a County in England is an
honourable Office, but it is not a profitable one. It is rather
expensive, and therefore not sought for. But yet it is executed, and
well executed, and usually by some of the principal Gentlemen of the
County. In France, the Office of Counsellor, or Member of their
judiciary Parliaments, is more honourable. It is therefore purchas'd at
a High Price; there are indeed Fees on the Law Proceedings, which are
divided among them, but these Fees do not amount to more than three per
cent on the Sum paid for the Place. Therefore, as legal Interest is
there at five per cent, they in fact pay two per cent for being allow'd
to do the Judiciary Business of the Nation, which is at the same time
entirely exempt from the Burthen of paying them any Salaries for their
Services. I do not, however, mean to recommend this as an eligible Mode
for our judiciary Department. I only bring the Instance to show, that
the Pleasure of doing Good and serving their Country, and the Respect
such Conduct entitles them to, are sufficient Motives with some Minds,
to give up a great Portion of their Time to the Public, without the mean
Inducement of pecuniary Satisfaction.
Another Instance is that of a respectable Society, who have made the
Experiment, and practis'd it with Success, now more than a hundred
years. I mean the Quakers. It is an establish'd Rule with them that they
are not to go to law, but in their Controversies they must apply to
their Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings. Committees of these sit
with Patience to hear the Parties, and spend much time in composing
their Differences. In doing this, they are supported by a Sense of Duty,
and the Respect paid to Usefulness. It is honourable to be so employ'd,
but it was never made profitable by Salaries, Fees, or Perquisites. And
indeed, in all Cases of public Service, the less the Profit the greater
the Honour.
To bring the Matter nearer home, have we not seen the greatest and most
important of our Offices, that of General of our Armies, executed for
Eight Years together, without the smallest Salary, by a patriot whom I
will not now offend by any other Praise; and this, thro' Fatigues and
Distresses, in common with the other brave Men, his military Friends and
Companions, and the constant Anxieties peculiar to his Station? And
shall we doubt finding three or four Men in all the United States, with
public Spirit enough to bear sitting in peaceful Council, for perhaps an
equal Term, merely to preside over our civil Concerns, and see that our
Laws are duly executed? Sir, I have a better opinion of our Country. I
think we shall never be without a sufficient Number of wise and good Men
to undertake, and execute well and faithfully, the Office in question.
Sir, the Saving of the Salaries, that may at first be propos'd, is not
an object with me. The subsequent Mischiefs of proposing them are what I
apprehend. And therefore it is that I move the Amendment. If it is not
seconded or accepted, I must be contented with the Satisfaction of
having delivered my Opinion frankly, and done my Duty.
MOTION FOR PRAYERS IN THE CONVENTION
[Motion made June 28, 1787]
MR. PRESIDENT,
The small Progress we have made, after 4 or 5 Weeks' close Attendance
and continual Reasonings with each other, our different Sentiments on
almost every Question, several of the last producing as many _Noes_ as
_Ayes_, is, methinks, a melancholy Proof of the Imperfection of the
Human Understanding. We indeed seem to _feel_ our own want of political
Wisdom, since we have been running all about in Search of it. We have
gone back to ancient History for Models of Government, and examin'd the
different Forms of those Republics, which, having been orig[i]nally
form'd with the Seeds of their own Dissolution, now no longer exist; and
we have view'd modern States all round Europe, but find none of their
Constitutions suitable to our Circumstances.
In this Situation of this Assembly, groping, as it were, in the dark to
find Political Truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented
to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought
of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our
Understandings? In the Beginning of the Contest with Britain, when we
were sensible of Danger, we had daily Prayers in this Room for the
Divine Protection. Our Prayers, Sir, were heard;--and they were
graciously answered. All of us, who were engag'd in the Struggle, must
have observed frequent Instances of a superintending Providence in our
Favour. To that kind Providence we owe this happy Opportunity of
Consulting in Peace on the Means of establishing our future national
Felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we
imagine we no longer need its assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long
time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this
Truth, _that_ GOD _governs in the Affairs of Men_. And if a Sparrow
cannot fall to the Ground without His Notice, is it probable that an
Empire can rise without His Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the
Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labour in
vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that,
without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building
no better than the Builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little,
partial, local Interests, our Projects will be confounded, and we
ourselves shall become a Reproach and a Bye-word down to future Ages.
And, what is worse, Mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate
Instance, despair of establishing Government by human Wisdom, and leave
it to Chance, War, and Conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move,
That henceforth Prayers, imploring the Assistance of Heaven and its
Blessing on our Deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning
before we proceed to Business; and that one or more of the Clergy of
this city be requested to officiate in that Service.[M]
[M] "The convention, except three or four persons, thought
prayers unnecessary!" [_Franklin's note._]
SPEECH IN THE CONVENTION
At the Conclusion of its Deliberations[130]
[September 17, 1787]
MR. PRESIDENT,
I confess, that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at
present; but, Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it; for, having
lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by
better information or fuller consideration, to change my opinions even
on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be
otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to
doubt my own judgment of others. Most men, indeed, as well as most sects
in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that
wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. Steele, a
Protestant, in a dedication, tells the Pope, that the only difference
between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their
doctrine, is, the Romish Church is _infallible_, and the Church of
England is _never in the wrong_. But, though many private Persons think
almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their Sect,
few express it so naturally as a certain French Lady, who, in a little
dispute with her sister, said, "But I meet with nobody but myself that
is _always_ in the right." "_Je ne trouve que moi qui aie toujours
raison._"
In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its
faults,--if they are such; because I think a general Government
necessary for us, and there is no _form_ of government but what may be a
blessing to the people, if well administered; and I believe, farther,
that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and
can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the
people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being
incapable of any other. I doubt, too, whether any other Convention we
can obtain, may be able to make a better constitution; for, when you
assemble a number of men, to have the advantage of their joint wisdom,
you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their
passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their
selfish views. From such an assembly can a _perfect_ production be
expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system
approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will
astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear, that our
councils are confounded like those of the builders of Babel, and that
our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for
the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to
this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure
that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its _errors_ I
sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them
abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If
every one of us, in returning to our Constituents, were to report the
objections he has had to it, and endeavour to gain Partisans in support
of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose
all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our
favour among foreign nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real
or apparent unanimity. Much of the strength and efficiency of any
government, in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends
on _opinion_, on the general opinion of the goodness of that government,
as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope,
therefore, for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake
of our posterity, that we shall act heartily and unanimously in
recommending this Constitution, wherever our Influence may extend, and
turn our future thoughts and endeavours to the means of having it _well
administered_.
On the whole, Sir, I cannot help expressing a wish, that every member of
the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me on
this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and, to make
_manifest_ our _unanimity_, put his name to this Instrument.
[Then the motion was made for adding the last formula, viz. "Done in
convention by the Unanimous Consent," &c.; which was agreed to and added
accordingly.]
TO THE EDITORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE
_On the Abuse of the Press_
[1788]
MESSRS. HALL AND SELLERS,
I lately heard a remark, that on examination of _The Pennsylvania
Gazette_ for fifty years, from its commencement, it appeared, that,
during that long period, scarce one libellous piece had ever appeared in
it. This generally chaste conduct of your paper is much to its
reputation; for it has long been the opinion of sober, judicious people,
that nothing is more likely to endanger the liberty of the press, than
the abuse of that liberty, by employing it in personal accusation,
detraction, and calumny. The excesses some of our papers have been
guilty of in this particular, have set this State in a bad light abroad,
as appears by the following letter, which I wish you to publish, not
merely to show your own disapprobation of the practice, but as a caution
to others of the profession throughout the United States. For I have
seen a European newspaper, in which the editor, who had been charged
with frequently calumniating the Americans, justifies himself by saying,
"that he had published nothing disgraceful to us, which he had not taken
from our own printed papers." I am, &c.
A. B.
"New York, March 30, 1788.
"DEAR FRIEND,
"My Gout has at length left me, after five Months' painful
Confinement. It afforded me, however, the Leisure to read, or
hear read, all the Packets of your various Newspapers, which
you so kindly sent for my Amusement.
"Mrs. W. has partaken of it; she likes to read the
Advertisements; but she remarks some kind of Inconsistency in
the announcing so many Diversions for almost every Evening of
the Week, and such Quantities to be sold of expensive
Superfluities, Fineries, and Luxuries _just imported_, in a
Country, that at the same time fills its Papers with
Complaints of _Hard Times_, and Want of Money. I tell her,
that such Complaints are common to all Times and all
Countries, and were made even in Solomon's Time; when, as we
are told, Silver was as plenty in Jerusalem as the Stones in
the Street; and yet, even then, there were People who
grumbled, so as to incur this Censure from that knowing
Prince. '_Say not thou that the former Times were better than
these; for thou dost not enquire rightly concerning that
matter._'
"But the Inconsistence that strikes me the most is, that
between the Name of your City, Philadelphia, (_Brotherly
Love_,) and the Spirit of Rancour, Malice, and _Hatred_ that
breathes in its Newspapers. For I learn from those Papers,
that your State is divided into Parties, that each Party
ascribes all the public Operations of the other to vicious
Motives; that they do not even suspect one another of the
smallest Degree of Honesty; that the anti-federalists are
such, merely from the Fear of losing Power, Places, or
Emoluments, which they have in Possession or in Expectation;
that the Federalists are a set of _Conspirators_, who aim at
establishing a Tyranny over the Persons and Property of their
Countrymen, and to live in Splendor on the Plunder of the
People. I learn, too, that your Justices of the Peace, tho'
chosen by their Neighbours, make a villainous Trade of their
Office, and promote Discord to augment Fees, and fleece their
Electors; and that this would not be mended by placing the
Choice in the Executive Council, who, with interested or
party Views, are continually making as improper Appointments;
witness a '_petty Fidler, Sycophant, and Scoundrel_,'
appointed Judge of the Admiralty; '_an old Woman and
Fomenter of Sedition_' to be another of the Judges, and '_a
Jeffries_' Chief Justice, &c., &c.; with '_two Harpies_' the
Comptroller and Naval Officers, to prey upon the Merchants
and deprive them of their Property by Force of Arms, &c.
"I am inform'd also by these Papers, that your General
Assembly, tho' the annual choice of the People, shows no
Regard to their Rights, but from sinister Views or Ignorance
makes Laws in direct Violation of the Constitution, to divest
the Inhabitants of their Property and give it to Strangers
and Intruders; and that the Council, either fearing the
Resentment of their Constituents, or plotting to enslave
them, had projected to disarm them, and given Orders for that
purpose; and finally, that your President, the unanimous
joint choice of the Council and Assembly, is '_an old
Rogue_,' who gave his Assent to the federal Constitution
merely to avoid refunding Money he had purloin'd from the
United States.
"There is, indeed, a good deal of manifest _Inconsistency_ in
all this, and yet a Stranger, seeing it in your own Prints,
tho' he does not believe it all, may probably believe enough
of it to conclude, that Pennsylvania is peopled by a Set of
the most unprincipled, wicked, rascally, and quarrelsome
Scoundrels upon the Face of the Globe. I have sometimes,
indeed, suspected, that those Papers are the Manufacture of
foreign Enemies among you, who write with a view of
disgracing your Country, and making you appear contemptible
and detestable all the World over; but then I wonder at the
Indiscretion of your Printers in publishing such Writings!
There is, however, one of your _Inconsistencies_ that
consoles me a little, which is, that tho' _living_, you give
one another the characters of Devils; _dead_, you are all
Angels! It is delightful, when any of you die, to read what
good Husbands, good Fathers, good Friends, good Citizens, and
good Christians you were, concluding with a Scrap of Poetry
that places you, with certainty, every one in Heaven. So that
I think Pennsylvania a good country _to dye in_, though a
very bad one to _live in_."
TO REV. JOHN LATHROP[131]
Philad^a, May 31, 1788.
REVEREND SIR,
... I have been long impressed with the same sentiments you so well
express, of the growing felicity of mankind, from the improvements in
philosophy, morals, politics, and even the conveniences of common
living, by the invention and acquisition of new and useful utensils and
instruments, that I have sometimes almost wished it had been my destiny
to be born two or three centuries hence. For invention and improvement
are prolific, and beget more of their kind. The present progress is
rapid. Many of great importance, now unthought of, will before that
period be produced; and then I might not only enjoy their advantages,
but have my curiosity gratified in knowing what they are to be. I see a
little absurdity in what I have just written, but it is to a friend, who
will wink and let it pass, while I mention one reason more for such a
wish, which is, that, if the art of physic shall be improved in
proportion with other arts, we may then be able to avoid diseases, and
live as long as the patriarchs in Genesis; to which I suppose we should
make little objection....
B. FRANKLIN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FEDERAL GAZETTE
A COMPARISON OF THE CONDUCT OF THE ANCIENT JEWS AND OF THE
ANTI-FEDERALISTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
[1788?]
A zealous Advocate for the propos'd Federal Constitution, in a certain
public Assembly, said, that "the Repugnance of a great part of Mankind
to good Government was such, that he believed, that, if an angel from
Heaven was to bring down a Constitution form'd there for our Use, it
would nevertheless meet with violent Opposition." He was reprov'd for
the suppos'd Extravagance of the Sentiment; and he did not justify it.
Probably it might not have immediately occur'd to him, that the
Experiment had been try'd, and that the Event was recorded in the most
faithful of all Histories, the Holy Bible; otherwise he might, as it
seems to me, have supported his Opinion by that unexceptionable
Authority.
The Supreme Being had been pleased to nourish up a single Family, by
continued Acts of his attentive Providence, till it became a great
People; and, having rescued them from Bondage by many Miracles,
performed by his Servant Moses, he personally deliver'd to that chosen
Servant, in the presence of the whole Nation, a Constitution and Code of
Laws for their Observance; accompanied and sanction'd with Promises of
great Rewards, and Threats of severe Punishments, as the Consequence of
their Obedience or Disobedience.
This Constitution, tho' the Deity himself was to be at its Head (and it
is therefore call'd by Political Writers a _Theocracy_), could not be
carried into Execution but by the Means of his Ministers; Aaron and his
Sons were therefore commission'd to be, with Moses, the first
establish'd Ministry of the new Government.
One would have thought, that this Appointment of Men, who had
distinguish'd themselves in procuring the Liberty of their Nation, and
had hazarded their Lives in openly opposing the Will of a powerful
Monarch, who would have retain'd that Nation in Slavery, might have been
an Appointment acceptable to a grateful People; and that a Constitution
fram'd for them by the Deity himself might, on that Account, have been
secure of a universal welcome Reception. Yet there were in every one of
the _thirteen Tribes_ some discontented, restless Spirits, who were
continually exciting them to reject the propos'd new Government, and
this from various Motives.
Many still retained an Affection for Egypt, the Land of their Nativity;
and these, whenever they felt any Inconvenience or Hardship, tho' the
natural and unavoidable Effect of their Change of Situation, exclaim'd
against their Leaders as the Authors of their Trouble; and were not only
for returning into Egypt, but for stoning their deliverers.[N] Those
inclin'd to idolatry were displeas'd that their _Golden Calf_ was
destroy'd. Many of the Chiefs thought the new Constitution might be
injurious to their particular Interests, that the _profitable Places_
would be _engrossed by the Families and Friends of Moses and Aaron_, and
others equally well-born excluded.[O] In Josephus and the Talmud, we
learn some Particulars, not so fully narrated in the Scripture. We are
there told, "That Corah was ambitious of the Priesthood, and offended
that it was conferred on Aaron; and this, as he said, by the Authority
of Moses only, _without the Consent of the People_. He accus'd Moses of
having, by various Artifices, fraudulently obtain'd the Government, and
depriv'd the People of their Liberties; and of _conspiring_ with Aaron
to perpetuate the Tyranny in their Family. Thus, tho' Corah's real
Motive was the Supplanting of Aaron, he persuaded the People that he
meant only the _Public Good_, and they, moved by his Insinuations, began
to cry out, 'Let us maintain the Common Liberty of our _respective
Tribes_; we have freed ourselves from the Slavery impos'd on us by the
Egyptians, and shall we now suffer ourselves to be made Slaves by Moses?
If we must have a Master, it were better to return to Pharaoh, who at
least fed us with Bread and Onions, than to serve this new Tyrant, who
by his Operations has brought us into Danger of Famine.' Then they
called in question the _Reality of his Conference_ with God; and
objected the _Privacy of the Meetings_, and the _preventing any of the
People from being present_ at the Colloquies, or even approaching the
Place, as Grounds of great Suspicion. They accused Moses also of
_Peculation_; as embezzling part of the Golden Spoons and the Silver
Chargers, that the Princes had offer'd at the Dedication of the
Altar,[P] and the Offerings of Gold by the common People,[Q] as well as
most of the Poll-Tax;[R] and Aaron they accus'd of pocketing much of the
Gold of which he pretended to have made a molten Calf. Besides
_Peculation_, they charg'd Moses with _Ambition_; to gratify which
Passion he had, they said, deceiv'd the People, by promising to bring
them _to_ a land flowing with Milk and Honey; instead of doing which, he
had brought them _from_ such a Land; and that he thought light of all
this mischief, provided he could make himself an _absolute Prince_.[S]
That, to support the new Dignity with Splendor in his Family, the
partial Poll-Tax already levied and given to Aaron[T] was to be follow'd
by a general one,[U] which would probably be augmented from time to
time, if he were suffered to go on promulgating new Laws, on pretence of
new occasional Revelations of the divine Will, till their whole Fortunes
were devour'd by that Aristocracy."
[N] Numbers, ch. xiv. [_Franklin's note._]
[O] Numbers, ch. xiv, verse 3. "And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, 'Ye
take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
_every one of them_; wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves
above the congregation?'"
[P] Numbers, ch. vii.
[Q] Exodus, ch. xxxv, verse 22.
[R] Numbers, ch. iii, and Exodus, ch. xxx. [_Franklin's notes._]
[S] Numbers, ch. xvi, verse 13. "Is it a small thing that thou
hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and
honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself
altogether a prince over us?"
[T] Numbers, ch. iii.
[U] Exodus, ch. xxx.
Moses deny'd the Charge of Peculation; and his Accusers were destitute
of Proofs to support it; tho' _Facts_, if real, are in their Nature
capable of Proof. "I have not," said he (with holy Confidence in the
Presence of his God), "I have not taken from this People the value of an
Ass, nor done them any other Injury." But his Enemies had made the
Charge, and with some Success among the Populace; for no kind of
Accusation is so readily made, or easily believ'd, by Knaves as the
Accusation of Knavery.
In fine, no less than two hundred and fifty of the principal Men,
"famous in the Congregation, Men of Renown,"[V] heading and exciting the
Mob, worked them up to such a pitch of Frenzy, that they called out,
"Stone 'em, stone 'em, and thereby _secure our Liberties_; and let us
chuse other Captains, that may lead us back into Egypt, in case we do
not succeed in reducing the Canaanites!"
[V] Numbers, ch. xvi. [_Franklin's notes._]
On the whole, it appears, that the Israelites were a People jealous of
their newly-acquired Liberty, which Jealousy was in itself no Fault;
but, when they suffer'd it to be work'd upon by artful Men, pretending
Public Good, with nothing really in view but private Interest, they were
led to oppose the Establishment of the _New Constitution_, whereby they
brought upon themselves much Inconvenience and Misfortune. It appears
further, from the same inestimable History, that, when after many Ages
that Constitution was become old and much abus'd, and an Amendment of it
was propos'd, the populace, as they had accus'd Moses of the Ambition of
making himself a _Prince_, and cried out, "Stone him, stone him;" so,
excited by their High Priests and SCRIBES, they exclaim'd against the
Messiah, that he aim'd at becoming King of the Jews, and cry'd out,
"_Crucify him, _Crucify him_." From all which we may gather, that
popular Opposition to a public Measure is no Proof of its Impropriety,
even tho' the Opposition be excited and headed by Men of Distinction.
To conclude, I beg I may not be understood to infer, that our General
Convention was divinely inspired, when it form'd the new federal
Constitution, merely because that Constitution has been unreasonably and
vehemently opposed; yet I must own I have so much Faith in the general
Government of the world by _Providence_, that I can hardly conceive a
Transaction of such momentous Importance to the Welfare of Millions now
existing, and to exist in the Posterity of a great Nation, should be
suffered to pass without being in some degree influenc'd, guided, and
governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler, in whom
all inferior Spirits live, and move, and have their Being.
B. F.
TO CHARLES CARROLL[132]
Philadelphia, May 25, 1789.
DEAR FRIEND,
I am glad to see by the papers, that our grand machine has at length
begun to work. I pray God to bless and guide its operations. If any form
of government is capable of making a nation happy, ours I think bids
fair now for producing that effect. But, after all, much depends upon
the people who are to be governed. We have been guarding against an evil
that old States are most liable to, _excess of power_ in the rulers; but
our present danger seems to be _defect of obedience_ in the
subjects.[133] There is hope, however, from the enlightened state of
this age and country, we may guard effectually against that evil as well
as the rest.
My grandson, William Temple Franklin, will have the honour of presenting
this line. He accompanied me to France, and remained with me during my
mission. I beg leave to recommend him to your notice, and that you would
believe me, my dear friend, yours most affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE SUPREMEST COURT OF JUDICATURE IN PENNSYLVANIA, VIZ.
THE COURT OF THE PRESS
[From the _Federal Gazette_, September 12, 1789.]
_Power of this Court._
It may receive and promulgate accusations of all kinds, against all
persons and characters among the citizens of the State, and even against
all inferior courts; and may judge, sentence, and condemn to infamy, not
only private individuals, but public bodies, &c., with or without
inquiry or hearing, _at the court's discretion_.
_In whose Favour and for whose Emolument this Court is established._
In favour of about one citizen in five hundred, who, by education or
practice in scribbling, has acquired a tolerable style as to grammar and
construction, so as to bear printing; or who is possessed of a press and
a few types. This five hundredth part of the citizens have the privilege
of accusing and abusing the other four hundred and ninety-nine parts at
their pleasure; or they may hire out their pens and press to others for
that purpose.
_Practice of the Court._
It is not governed by any of the rules of common courts of law. The
accused is allowed no grand jury to judge of the truth of the accusation
before it is publicly made, nor is the Name of the Accuser made known to
him, nor has he an Opportunity of confronting the Witnesses against him;
for they are kept in the dark, as in the Spanish Court of Inquisition.
Nor is there any petty Jury of his Peers, sworn to try the Truth of the
Charges. The Proceedings are also sometimes so rapid, that an honest,
good Citizen may find himself suddenly and unexpectedly accus'd, and in
the same Morning judg'd and condemn'd, and sentence pronounc'd against
him, that he is a _Rogue_ and a _Villain_. Yet, if an officer of this
court receives the slightest check for misconduct in this his office, he
claims immediately the rights of a free citizen by the constitution, and
demands to know his accuser, to confront the witnesses, and to have a
fair trial by a jury of his peers.
_The Foundation of its Authority._
It is said to be founded on an Article of the Constitution of the State,
which establishes _the Liberty of the Press_; a Liberty which every
Pennsylvanian would fight and die for; tho' few of us, I believe, have
distinct Ideas of its Nature and Extent. It seems indeed somewhat like
the _Liberty of the Press_ that Felons have, by the Common Law of
England, before Conviction, that is, to be _press'd_ to death or hanged.
If by the _Liberty of the Press_ were understood merely the Liberty of
discussing the Propriety of Public Measures and political opinions, let
us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the Liberty of
affronting, calumniating, and defaming one another, I, for my part, own
myself willing to part With my Share of it when our Legislators shall
please so to alter the Law, and shall cheerfully consent to exchange my
_Liberty_ of Abusing others for the _Privilege_ of not being abus'd
myself.
_By whom this Court is commissioned or constituted._
It is not by any Commission from the Supreme Executive Council, who
might previously judge of the Abilities, Integrity, Knowledge, &c. of
the Persons to be appointed to this great Trust, of deciding upon the
Characters and good Fame of the Citizens; for this Court is above that
Council, and may _accuse_, _judge_, and _condemn_ it, at pleasure. Nor
is it hereditary, as in the Court of _dernier Resort_, in the Peerage of
England. But any Man who can procure Pen, Ink, and Paper, with a Press,
and a huge pair of BLACKING Balls, may commissionate himself; and his
court is immediately established in the plenary Possession and exercise
of its rights. For, if you make the least complaint of the _judge's_
conduct, he daubs his blacking balls in your face wherever he meets you;
and, besides tearing your private character to flitters, marks you out
for the odium of the public, as an _enemy to the liberty of the press_.
_Of the natural Support of these Courts._
Their support is founded in the depravity of such minds, as have not
been mended by religion, nor improved by good education;
"There is a Lust in Man no Charm can tame,
Of loudly publishing his Neighbour's Shame."
Hence;
"On Eagle's Wings immortal Scandals fly,
While virtuous Actions are but born and die."
DRYDEN.
Whoever feels pain in hearing a good character of his neighbour, will
feel a pleasure in the reverse. And of those who, despairing to rise
into distinction by their virtues, are happy if others can be depressed
to a level with themselves, there are a number sufficient in every great
town to maintain one of these courts by their subscriptions. A shrewd
observer once said, that, in walking the streets in a slippery morning,
one might see where the good-natured people lived by the ashes thrown
on the ice before their doors; probably he would have formed a
different conjecture of the temper of those whom he might find engaged
in such a subscription.
_Of the Checks proper to be established against the Abuse of Power in
these Courts._
Hitherto there are none. But since so much has been written and
published on the federal Constitution, and the necessity of checks in
all other parts of good government has been so clearly and learnedly
explained, I find myself so far enlightened as to suspect some check may
be proper in this part also; but I have been at a loss to imagine any
that may not be construed an infringement of the sacred _liberty of the
press_. At length, however, I think I have found one that, instead of
diminishing general liberty, shall augment it; which is, by restoring to
the people a species of liberty, of which they have been deprived by our
laws, I mean the _liberty of the cudgel_. In the rude state of society
prior to the existence of laws, if one man gave another ill language,
the affronted person would return it by a box on the ear, and, if
repeated, by a good drubbing; and this without offending against any
law. But now the right of making such returns is denied, and they are
punished as breaches of the peace; while the right of abusing seems to
remain in full force, the laws made against it being rendered
ineffectual by the _liberty of the press_.
My proposal then is, to leave the liberty of the press untouched, to be
exercised in its full extent, force, and vigor; but to permit the
_liberty of the cudgel_ to go with it _pari passu_. Thus, my
fellow-citizens, if an impudent writer attacks your reputation, dearer
to you perhaps than your life, and puts his name to the charge, you may
go to him as openly and break his head. If he conceals himself behind
the printer, and you can nevertheless discover who he is, you may in
like manner way-lay him in the night, attack him behind, and give him a
good drubbing. Thus far goes my project as to _private_ resentment and
retribution. But if the public should ever happen to be affronted, _as
it ought to be_, with the conduct of such writers, I would not advise
proceeding immediately to these extremities; but that we should in
moderation content ourselves with tarring and feathering, and tossing
them in a blanket.
If, however, it should be thought that this proposal of mine may disturb
the public peace, I would then humbly recommend to our legislators to
take up the consideration of both liberties, that of the _press_, and
that of the _cudgel_, and by an explicit law mark their extent and
limits; and, at the same time that they secure the person of a citizen
from _assaults_, they would likewise provide for the security of his
_reputation_.
AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC
From the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery,
and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.[134]
It is with peculiar satisfaction we assure the friends of humanity,
that, in prosecuting the design of our association, our endeavours have
proved successful, far beyond our most sanguine expectations.
Encouraged by this success, and by the daily progress of that luminous
and benign spirit of liberty, which is diffusing itself throughout the
world, and humbly hoping for the continuance of the divine blessing on
our labours, we have ventured to make an important addition to our
original plan, and do therefore earnestly solicit the support and
assistance of all who can feel the tender emotions of sympathy and
compassion, or relish the exalted pleasure of beneficence.
Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very
extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a
source of serious evils.
The unhappy man, who has long been treated as a brute animal, too
frequently sinks beneath the common standard of the human species. The
galling chains, that bind his body, do also fetter his intellectual
faculties, and impair the social affections of his heart. Accustomed to
move like a mere machine, by the will of a master, reflection is
suspended; he has not the power of choice; and reason and conscience
have but little influence over his conduct, because he is chiefly
governed by the passion of fear. He is poor and friendless; perhaps worn
out by extreme labour, age, and disease.
Under such circumstances, freedom may often prove a misfortune to
himself, and prejudicial to society.
Attention to emancipated black people, it is therefore to be hoped, will
become a branch of our national policy; but, as far as we contribute to
promote this emancipation, so far that attention is evidently a serious
duty incumbent on us, and which we mean to discharge to the best of our
judgment and abilities.
To instruct, to advise, to qualify those, who have been restored to
freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty, to promote in
them habits of industry, to furnish them with employments suited to
their age, sex, talents, and other circumstances, and to procure their
children an education calculated for their future situation in life;
these are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted,
and which we conceive will essentially promote the public good, and the
happiness of these our hitherto too much neglected fellow-creatures.
A plan so extensive cannot be carried into execution without
considerable pecuniary resources, beyond the present ordinary funds of
the Society. We hope much from the generosity of enlightened and
benevolent freemen, and will gratefully receive any donations or
subscriptions for this purpose, which may be made to our treasurer,
James Starr, or to James Pemberton, chairman of our committee of
correspondence.
Signed, by order of the Society,
B. FRANKLIN, _President_.
Philadelphia, 9th of
November, 1789.
TO DAVID HARTLEY
Philad^a, Dec^r 4, 1789.
MY VERY DEAR FRIEND,
I received your Favor of August last. Your kind Condolences on the
painful State of my Health are very obliging. I am thankful to God,
however, that, among the numerous Ills human Life is subject to, one
only of any Importance is fallen to my Lot; and that so late as almost
to insure that it can be but of short Duration.
The Convulsions in France are attended with some disagreable
Circumstances; but if by the Struggle she obtains and secures for the
Nation its future Liberty, and a good Constitution, a few Years'
Enjoyment of those Blessings will amply repair all the Damages their
Acquisition may have occasioned.[135] God grant, that not only the Love
of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade
all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his Foot
anywhere on its Surface, and say, "This is my Country."
Your Wishes for a cordial and perpetual Friendship between Britain and
her ancient Colonies are manifested continually in every one of your
Letters to me; something of my Disposition on the same Subject may
appear to you in casting your Eye over the enclosed Paper. I do not by
this Opportunity send you any of our Gazettes, because the Postage from
Liverpool would be more than they are worth. I can now only add my best
Wishes of every kind of Felicity for the three amiable Hartleys, to whom
I have the honor of being an affectionate friend and most obedient
humble servant,
[B. FRANKLIN.]
TO EZRA STILES[136]
Philad^a, March 9, 1790.
REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,
I received your kind Letter of Jan'y 28, and am glad you have at length
received the portrait of Gov'r Yale from his Family, and deposited it in
the College Library. He was a great and good Man, and had the Merit of
doing infinite Service to your Country by his Munificence to that
Institution. The Honour you propose doing me by placing mine in the same
Room with his, is much too great for my Deserts; but you always had a
Partiality for me, and to that it must be ascribed. I am however too
much obliged to Yale College, the first learned Society that took Notice
of me and adorned me with its Honours, to refuse a Request that comes
from it thro' so esteemed a Friend. But I do not think any one of the
Portraits you mention, as in my Possession, worthy of the Place and
Company you propose to place it in. You have an excellent Artist lately
arrived. If he will undertake to make one for you, I shall cheerfully
pay the Expence; but he must not delay setting about it, or I may slip
thro' his fingers, for I am now in my eighty-fifth year, and very
infirm.
I send with this a very learned Work, as it seems to me, on the antient
Samaritan Coins, lately printed in Spain, and at least curious for the
Beauty of the Impression. Please to accept it for your College Library.
I have subscribed for the Encyclopædia now printing here, with the
Intention of presenting it to the College. I shall probably depart
before the Work is finished, but shall leave Directions for its
Continuance to the End. With this you will receive some of the first
numbers.
You desire to know something of my Religion. It is the first time I have
been questioned upon it. But I cannot take your Curiosity amiss, and
shall endeavour in a few Words to gratify it. Here is my Creed. I
believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by his
Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable
Service we render to him is doing good to his other Children. That the
soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another
Life respecting its Conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental
Principles of all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in
whatever Sect I meet with them.
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I
think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the
best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has
received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the
present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his Divinity; tho' it
is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and
think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an
Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm,
however, in its being believed, if that Belief has the good Consequence,
as probably it has, of making his Doctrines more respected and better
observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it
amiss, by distinguishing the Unbelievers in his Government of the World
with any peculiar Marks of his Displeasure.
I shall only add, respecting myself, that, having experienced the
Goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously thro' a long life,
I have no doubt of its Continuance in the next, though without the
smallest Conceit of meriting such Goodness. My Sentiments on this Head
you will see in the Copy of an old Letter enclosed, which I wrote in
answer to one from a zealous Religionist, whom I had relieved in a
paralytic case by electricity, and who, being afraid I should grow proud
upon it, sent me his serious though rather impertinent Caution. I send
you also the Copy of another Letter, which will shew something of my
Disposition relating to Religion. With great and sincere Esteem and
Affection, I am, Your obliged old Friend and most obedient humble
Servant
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. Had not your College some Present of Books from the King of France?
Please to let me know, if you had an Expectation given you of more, and
the Nature of that Expectation? I have a Reason for the Enquiry.
I confide, that you will not expose me to Criticism and censure by
publishing any part of this Communication to you. I have ever let others
enjoy their religious Sentiments, without reflecting on them for those
that appeared to me unsupportable and even absurd. All Sects here, and
we have a great Variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them
with Subscriptions for building their new Places of Worship; and, as I
have never opposed any of their Doctrines, I hope to go out of the World
in Peace with them all.
ON THE SLAVE-TRADE
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FEDERAL GAZETTE[137]
March 23d, 1790.
SIR,
Reading last night in your excellent Paper the speech of Mr. Jackson in
Congress against their meddling with the Affair of Slavery, or
attempting to mend the Condition of the Slaves, it put me in mind of a
similar One made about 100 Years since by Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim, a member
of the Divan of Algiers, which may be seen in Martin's Account of his
Consulship, anno 1687. It was against granting the Petition of the Sect
called _Erika_, or Purists, who pray'd for the Abolition of Piracy and
Slavery as being unjust. Mr. Jackson does not quote it; perhaps he has
not seen it. If, therefore, some of its Reasonings are to be found in
his eloquent Speech, it may only show that men's Interests and
Intellects operate and are operated on with surprising similarity in all
Countries and Climates, when under similar Circumstances. The African's
Speech, as translated, is as follows:
_"Allah Bismillah, &c. God is great, and Mahomet is his
Prophet._
"Have these _Erika_ considered the Consequences of granting
their Petition? If we cease our Cruises against the
Christians, how shall we be furnished with the Commodities
their Countries produce, and which are so necessary for us?
If we forbear to make Slaves of their People, who in this hot
Climate are to cultivate our Lands? Who are to perform the
common Labours of our City, and in our Families? Must we not
then be our own Slaves? And is there not more Compassion and
more Favour due to us as Mussulmen, than to these Christian
Dogs? We have now above 50,000 Slaves in and near Algiers.
This Number, if not kept up by fresh Supplies, will soon
diminish, and be gradually annihilated. If we then cease
taking and plundering the Infidel Ships, and making Slaves of
the Seamen and Passengers, our Lands will become of no Value
for want of Cultivation; the Rents of Houses in the City will
sink one half; and the Revenues of Government arising from
its Share of Prizes be totally destroy'd! And for what? To
gratify the whims of a whimsical Sect, who would have us, not
only forbear making more Slaves, but even to manumit those we
have.
"But who is to indemnify their Masters for the Loss? Will the
State do it? Is our Treasury sufficient? Will the _Erika_ do
it? Can they do it? Or would they, to do what they think
Justice to the Slaves, do a greater Injustice to the Owners?
And if we set our Slaves free, what is to be done with them?
Few of them will return to their Countries; they know too
well the greater Hardships they must there be subject to;
they will not embrace our holy Religion; they will not adopt
our Manners; our People will not pollute themselves by
intermarrying with them. Must we maintain them as Beggars in
our Streets, or suffer our Properties to be the Prey of their
Pillage? For Men long accustom'd to Slavery will not work for
a Livelihood when not compell'd. And what is there so
pitiable in their present Condition? Were they not Slaves in
their own Countries?
"Are not Spain, Portugal, France, and the Italian states
govern'd by Despots, who hold all their Subjects in Slavery,
without Exception? Even England treats its Sailors as Slaves;
for they are, whenever the Government pleases, seiz'd, and
confin'd in Ships of War, condemn'd not only to work, but to
fight, for small Wages, or a mere Subsistence, not better
than our Slaves are allow'd by us. Is their Condition then
made worse by their falling into our Hands? No; they have
only exchanged one Slavery for another, and I may say a
better; for here they are brought into a Land where the Sun
of Islamism gives forth its Light, and shines in full
Splendor, and they have an Opportunity of making themselves
acquainted with the true Doctrine, and thereby saving their
immortal Souls. Those who remain at home have not that
Happiness. Sending the Slaves home then would be sending them
out of Light into Darkness.
"I repeat the Question, What is to be done with them? I have
heard it suggested, that they may be planted in the
Wilderness, where there is plenty of Land for them to subsist
on, and where they may flourish as a free State; but they
are, I doubt, too little dispos'd to labour without
Compulsion, as well as too ignorant to establish a good
government, and the wild Arabs would soon molest and destroy
or again enslave them. While serving us, we take care to
provide them with every thing, and they are treated with
Humanity. The Labourers in their own Country are, as I am
well informed, worse fed, lodged, and cloathed. The Condition
of most of them is therefore already mended, and requires no
further Improvement. Here their Lives are in Safety. They are
not liable to be impress'd for Soldiers, and forc'd to cut
one another's Christian Throats, as in the Wars of their own
Countries. If some of the religious mad Bigots, who now teaze
us with their silly Petitions, have in a Fit of blind Zeal
freed their Slaves, it was not Generosity, it was not
Humanity, that mov'd them to the Action; it was from the
conscious Burthen of a Load of Sins, and Hope, from the
supposed Merits of so good a Work, to be excus'd Damnation.
"How grossly are they mistaken in imagining Slavery to be
disallow'd by the Alcoran! Are not the two Precepts, to quote
no more, '_Masters, treat your Slaves with kindness; Slaves,
serve your Masters with Cheerfulness and Fidelity_,' clear
Proofs to the contrary? Nor can the Plundering of Infidels be
in that sacred Book forbidden, since it is well known from
it, that God has given the World, and all that it contains,
to his faithful Mussulmen, who are to enjoy it of Right as
fast as they conquer it. Let us then hear no more of this
detestable Proposition, the Manumission of Christian Slaves,
the Adoption of which would, by depreciating our Lands and
Houses, and thereby depriving so many good Citizens of their
Properties, create universal Discontent, and provoke
Insurrections, to the endangering of Government and producing
general Confusion. I have therefore no doubt, but this wise
Council will prefer the Comfort and Happiness of a whole
Nation of true Believers to the Whim of a few _Erika_, and
dismiss their Petition."
The Result was, as Martin tells us, that the Divan came to this
Resolution; "The Doctrine, that Plundering and Enslaving the Christians
is unjust, is at best _problematical_, but that it is the Interest of
this State to continue the Practice, is clear; therefore let the
Petition be rejected."
And it was rejected accordingly.
And since like Motives are apt to produce in the Minds of Men like
Opinions and Resolutions, may we not, Mr. Brown, venture to predict,
from this Account, that the Petitions to the Parliament of England for
abolishing the Slave-Trade, to say nothing of other Legislatures, and
the Debates upon them, will have a similar Conclusion? I am, Sir, your
constant Reader and humble Servant,
HISTORICUS.
REMARKS CONCERNING THE SAVAGES OF NORTH AMERICA[138]
Savages we call them, because their Manners differ from ours, which we
think the Perfection of Civility; they think the same of theirs.
Perhaps, if we could examine the Manners of different Nations with
Impartiality, we should find no People so rude, as to be without any
Rules of Politeness; nor any so polite, as not to have some Remains of
Rudeness.
The Indian Men, when young, are Hunters and Warriors; when old,
Counsellors; for all their Government is by Counsel of the Sages; there
is no Force, there are no Prisons, no Officers to compel Obedience, or
inflict Punishment. Hence they generally study Oratory, the best Speaker
having the most Influence. The Indian Women till the Ground, dress the
Food, nurse and bring up the Children, and preserve and hand down to
Posterity the Memory of public Transactions. These Employments of Men
and Women are accounted natural and honourable. Having few artificial
Wants, they have abundance of Leisure for Improvement by Conversation.
Our laborious Manner of Life, compared with theirs, they esteem slavish
and base; and the Learning, on which we value ourselves, they regard as
frivolous and useless. An Instance of this occurred at the Treaty of
Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, _anno_ 1744, between the Government of
Virginia and the Six Nations. After the principal Business was settled,
the Commissioners from Virginia acquainted the Indians by a Speech, that
there was at Williamsburg a College, with a Fund for Educating Indian
youth; and that, if the Six Nations would send down half a dozen of
their young Lads to that College, the Government would take care that
they should be well provided for, and instructed in all the Learning of
the White People. It is one of the Indian Rules of Politeness not to
answer a public Proposition the same day that it is made; they think it
would be treating it as a light matter, and that they show it Respect by
taking time to consider it, as of a Matter important. They therefore
deferr'd their Answer till the Day following; when their Speaker began,
by expressing their deep Sense of the kindness of the Virginia
Government, in making them that Offer; "for we know," says he, "that you
highly esteem the kind of Learning taught in those Colleges, and that
the Maintenance of our young Men, while with you, would be very
expensive to you. We are convinc'd, therefore, that you mean to do us
Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you, who are wise,
must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things;
and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this kind of
Education happen not to be the same with yours. We have had some
Experience of it; Several of our young People were formerly brought up
at the Colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all
your Sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were bad Runners,
ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either
Cold or Hunger, knew neither how to build a Cabin, take a Deer, or kill
an Enemy, spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for
Hunters, Warriors, nor Counsellors; they were totally good for nothing.
We are however not the less oblig'd by your kind Offer, tho' we decline
accepting it; and, to show our grateful Sense of it, if the Gentlemen of
Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take great Care of
their Education, instruct them in all we know, and make _Men_ of them."
Having frequent Occasions to hold public Councils, they have acquired
great Order and Decency in conducting them. The old Men sit in the
foremost Ranks, the Warriors in the next, and the Women and Children in
the hindmost. The Business of the Women is to take exact Notice of what
passes, imprint it in their Memories (for they have no Writing), and
communicate it to their Children. They are the Records of the Council,
and they preserve Traditions of the Stipulations in Treaties 100 Years
back; which, when we compare with our Writings, we always find exact. He
that would speak, rises. The rest observe a profound Silence. When he
has finish'd and sits down, they leave him 5 or 6 Minutes to recollect,
that, if he has omitted any thing he intended to say, or has any thing
to add, he may rise again and deliver it. To interrupt another, even in
common Conversation, is reckon'd highly indecent. How different this is
from the conduct of a polite British House of Commons, where scarce a
day passes without some Confusion, that makes the Speaker hoarse in
calling to _Order_; and how different from the Mode of Conversation in
many polite Companies of Europe, where, if you do not deliver your
Sentence with great Rapidity, you are cut off in the middle of it by the
Impatient Loquacity of those you converse with, and never suffer'd to
finish it!
The Politeness of these Savages in Conversation is indeed carried to
Excess, since it does not permit them to contradict or deny the Truth of
what is asserted in their Presence. By this means they indeed avoid
Disputes; but then it becomes difficult to know their Minds, or what
Impression you make upon them. The Missionaries who have attempted to
convert them to Christianity, all complain of this as one of the great
Difficulties of their Mission. The Indians hear with Patience the Truths
of the Gospel explain'd to them, and give their usual Tokens of Assent
and Approbation; you would think they were convinc'd. No such matter. It
is mere Civility.
A Swedish Minister, having assembled the chiefs of the Susquehanah
Indians, made a Sermon to them, acquainting them with the principal
historical Facts on which our Religion is founded; such as the Fall of
our first Parents by eating an Apple, the coming of Christ to repair the
Mischief, his Miracles and Suffering, &c. When he had finished, an
Indian Orator stood up to thank him. "What you have told us," says he,
"is all very good. It is indeed bad to eat Apples. It is better to make
them all into Cyder. We are much oblig'd by your kindness in coming so
far, to tell us these Things which you have heard from your Mothers. In
return, I will tell you some of those we have heard from ours. In the
Beginning, our Fathers had only the Flesh of Animals to subsist on; and
if their Hunting was unsuccessful, they were starving. Two of our young
Hunters, having kill'd a Deer, made a Fire in the Woods to broil some
Part of it. When they were about to satisfy their Hunger, they beheld a
beautiful young Woman descend from the Clouds, and seat herself on that
Hill, which you see yonder among the Blue Mountains. They said to each
other, it is a Spirit that has smelt our broiling Venison, and wishes to
eat of it; let us offer some to her. They presented her with the Tongue;
she was pleas'd with the Taste of it, and said, 'Your kindness shall be
rewarded; come to this Place after thirteen Moons, and you shall find
something that will be of great Benefit in nourishing you and your
Children to the latest Generation.' They did so, and, to their Surprise,
found Plants they had never seen before; but which, from that ancient
time, have been constantly cultivated among us, to our great Advantage.
Where her right Hand had touched the Ground, they found Maize; where her
left hand had touch'd it, they found Kidney-Beans; and where her
Backside had sat on it, they found Tobacco." The good Missionary,
disgusted with this idle Tale, said, "What I delivered to you were
sacred Truths; but what you tell me is mere Fable, Fiction, and
Falshood." The Indian, offended, reply'd, "My brother, it seems your
Friends have not done you Justice in your Education; they have not well
instructed you in the Rules of Common Civility. You saw that we, who
understand and practise those Rules, believ'd all your stories; why do
you refuse to believe ours?"
When any of them come into our Towns, our People are apt to crowd round
them, gaze upon them, and incommode them, where they desire to be
private; this they esteem great Rudeness, and the Effect of the Want of
Instruction in the Rules of Civility and good Manners. "We have," say
they, "as much Curiosity as you, and when you come into our Towns, we
wish for Opportunities of looking at you; but for this purpose we hide
ourselves behind Bushes, where you are to pass, and never intrude
ourselves into your Company."
Their Manner of entring one another's village has likewise its Rules. It
is reckon'd uncivil in travelling Strangers to enter a Village abruptly,
without giving Notice of their Approach. Therefore, as soon as they
arrive within hearing, they stop and hollow, remaining there till
invited to enter. Two old Men usually come out to them, and lead them
in. There is in every Village a vacant Dwelling, called _the Strangers'
House_. Here they are plac'd, while the old Men go round from Hut to
Hut, acquainting the Inhabitants, that Strangers are arriv'd, who are
probably hungry and weary; and every one sends them what he can spare of
Victuals, and Skins to repose on. When the Strangers are refresh'd,
Pipes and Tobacco are brought; and then, but not before. Conversation
begins, with Enquiries who they are, whither bound, what News, &c.; and
it usually ends with offers of Service, if the Strangers have occasion
of Guides, or any Necessaries for continuing their Journey; and nothing
is exacted for the Entertainment.
The same Hospitality, esteem'd among them as a principal Virtue, is
practis'd by private Persons; of which Conrad Weiser, our Interpreter,
gave me the following Instance. He had been naturaliz'd among the Six
Nations, and spoke well the Mohock Language. In going thro' the Indian
Country, to carry a Message from our Governor to the Council at
Onondaga, he call'd at the Habitation of Canassatego, an old
Acquaintance, who embrac'd him, spread Furs for him to sit on, plac'd
before him some boil'd Beans and Venison, and mix'd some Rum and Water
for his Drink. When he was well refresh'd, and had lit his Pipe,
Canassatego began to converse with him; ask'd how he had far'd the many
Years since they had seen each other; whence he then came; what
occasion'd the Journey, &c. Conrad answered all his Questions; and when
the Discourse began to flag, the Indian, to continue it, said, "Conrad,
you have lived long among the white People, and know something of their
Customs; I have been sometimes at Albany, and have observed, that once
in Seven Days they shut up their Shops, and assemble all in the great
House; tell me what it is for? What do they do there?" "They meet
there," says Conrad, "to hear and learn _good Things_." "I do not
doubt," says the Indian, "that they tell you so; they have told me the
same; but I doubt the Truth of what they say, and I will tell you my
Reasons. I went lately to Albany to sell my Skins and buy Blankets,
Knives, Powder, Rum, &c. You know I us'd generally to deal with Hans
Hanson; but I was a little inclin'd this time to try some other
Merchant. However, I call'd first upon Hans, and asked him what he would
give for Beaver. He said he could not give any more than four Shillings
a Pound; 'but,' says he, 'I cannot talk on Business now; this is the Day
when we meet together to learn _Good Things_, and I am going to the
Meeting.' So I thought to myself, 'Since we cannot do any Business
to-day, I may as well go to the meeting too,' and I went with him. There
stood up a Man in Black, and began to talk to the People very angrily. I
did not understand what he said; but, perceiving that he look'd much at
me and at Hanson, I imagin'd he was angry at seeing me there; so I went
out, sat down near the House, struck Fire, and lit my Pipe, waiting till
the Meeting should break up. I thought too, that the Man had mention'd
something of Beaver, and I suspected it might be the Subject of their
Meeting. So, when they came out, I accosted my Merchant. 'Well, Hans,'
says I, 'I hope you have agreed to give more than four Shillings a
Pound.' 'No,' says he, 'I cannot give so much; I cannot give more than
three shillings and sixpence.' I then spoke to several other Dealers,
but they all sung the same song,--Three and sixpence,--Three and
sixpence. This made it clear to me, that my Suspicion was right; and,
that whatever they pretended of meeting to learn _good Things_, the real
purpose was to consult how to cheat Indians in the Price of Beaver.
Consider but a little, Conrad, and you must be of my Opinion. If they
met so often to learn _good Things_, they would certainly have learnt
some before this time. But they are still ignorant. You know our
Practice. If a white Man, in travelling thro' our Country, enters one of
our Cabins, we all treat him as I treat you; we dry him if he is wet, we
warm him if he is cold, we give him Meat and Drink, that he may allay
his Thirst and Hunger; and we spread soft Furs for him to rest and sleep
on; we demand nothing in return. But, if I go into a white Man's House
at Albany, and ask for Victuals and Drink, they say, 'Where is your
Money?' and if I have none, they say, 'Get out, you Indian Dog.' You see
they have not yet learned those little _Good Things_, that we need no
Meetings to be instructed in, because our Mothers taught them to us when
we were Children; and therefore it is impossible their Meetings should
be, as they say, for any such purpose, or have any such Effect; they are
only to contrive _the Cheating of Indians in the Price of Beaver_."
NOTE.--It is remarkable that in all Ages and Countries
Hospitality has been allow'd as the Virtue of those whom the
civiliz'd were pleas'd to call Barbarians. The Greeks
celebrated the Scythians for it. The Saracens possess'd it
eminently, and it is to this day the reigning Virtue of the
wild Arabs. St. Paul, too, in the Relation of his Voyage and
Shipwreck on the Island of Melita says the Barbarous People
shewed us no little kindness; for they kindled a fire, and
received us every one, because of the present Rain, and
because of the Cold. [_Franklin's note._]
AN ARABIAN TALE[139]
Albumazar, the good magician, retired in his old age to the top of the
lofty mountain Calabut; avoided the society of men, but was visited
nightly by genii and spirits of the first rank, who loved him, and
amused him with their instructive conversation.
Belubel, the strong, came one evening to see Albumazar; his height was
seven leagues, and his wings when spread might overshadow a kingdom. He
laid himself gently down between the long ridges of Elluem; the tops of
the trees in the valley were his couch; his head rested on Calabut as on
a pillow, and his face shone on the tent of Albumazar.
The magician spoke to him with rapturous piety of the wisdom and
goodness of the Most High; but expressed his wonder at the existence of
evil in the world, which he said he could not account for by all the
efforts of his reason.
"Value not thyself, my friend," said Belubel, "on that quality which
thou callest reason. If thou knewest its origin and its weakness, it
would rather be matter of humiliation."
"Tell me then," said Albumazar, "what I do not know; inform my
ignorance, and enlighten my understanding." "Contemplate," said
Albumazar [_sic._ Belubel], "the scale of beings, from an elephant down
to an oyster. Thou seest a gradual diminution of faculties and powers,
so small in each step that the difference is scarce perceptible. There
is no gap, but the gradation is complete. Men in general do not know,
but thou knowest, that in ascending from an elephant to the infinitely
Great, Good, and Wise, there is also a long gradation of beings, who
possess powers and faculties of which thou canst yet have no
conception."
A PETITION OF THE LEFT HAND
TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF EDUCATION
[Date unknown]
I address myself to all the friends of youth, and conjure them to direct
their compassionate regards to my unhappy fate, in order to remove the
prejudices of which I am the victim. There are twin sisters of us; and
the two eyes of man do not more resemble, nor are capable of being upon
better terms with each other, than my sister and myself, were it not for
the partiality of our parents, who make the most injurious distinctions
between us. From my infancy, I have been led to consider my sister as a
being of a more elevated rank. I was suffered to grow up without the
least instruction, while nothing was spared in her education. She had
masters to teach her writing, drawing, music, and other accomplishments;
but if by chance I touched a pencil, a pen, or a needle, I was bitterly
rebuked; and more than once I have been beaten for being awkward, and
wanting a graceful manner. It is true, my sister associated me with her
upon some occasions; but she always made a point of taking the lead,
calling upon me only from necessity, or to figure by her side.
But conceive not, Sirs, that my complaints are instigated merely by
vanity. No; my uneasiness is occasioned by an object much more serious.
It is the practice in our family, that the whole business of providing
for its subsistence falls upon my sister and myself. If any
indisposition should attack my sister,--and I mention it in confidence
upon this occasion, that she is subject to the gout, the rheumatism, and
cramp, without making mention of other accidents,--what would be the
fate of our poor family? Must not the regret of our parents be
excessive, at having placed so great a difference between sisters who
are so perfectly equal? Alas! we must perish from distress; for it would
not be in my power even to scrawl a suppliant petition for relief,
having been obliged to employ the hand of another in transcribing the
request which I have now the honour to prefer to you.
Condescend, Sirs, to make my parents sensible of the injustice of an
exclusive tenderness, and of the necessity of distributing their care
and affection among all their children equally. I am, with a profound
respect, Sirs, your obedient servant,
THE LEFT HAND.
SOME GOOD WHIG PRINCIPLES
[Date unknown]
DECLARATION of those RIGHTS of the Commonalty of Great Britain, _without
which they cannot be_ FREE.
It is declared,
First, That the government of this realm, and the making of laws for the
same, ought to be lodged in the hands of King, Lords of Parliament, and
Representatives of _the whole body_ of the freemen of this realm.
Secondly, That _every man_ of the commonalty (excepting infants, insane
persons, and criminals) is, of common right, and by the laws of God, a
_freeman_, and entitled to the free enjoyment of _liberty_.
Thirdly, That liberty, or freedom, consists in having _an actual share_
in the appointment of those who frame the laws, and who are to be the
guardians of every man's life, property, and peace; for the _all_ of one
man is as dear to him as the _all_ of another; and the poor man has an
_equal_ right, but _more_ need, to have representatives in the
legislature than the rich one.
Fourthly, That they who have _no_ voice nor vote in the electing of
representatives, _do not enjoy_ liberty; but are absolutely _enslaved_
to those who _have_ votes, and to their representatives; for to be
enslaved is to have governors whom _other men have set over us_, and be
subject to laws _made by the representatives of others_, without having
had representatives of our own to give consent in _our_ behalf.
Fifthly, That a _very great majority_ of the commonalty of this realm
are denied the privilege of voting for representatives in Parliament;
and, consequently, they are enslaved to a _small number_, who do now
enjoy the privilege exclusively to themselves; but who, it may be
presumed, are far from wishing to continue in the exclusive possession
of a privilege, by which their fellow-subjects are deprived of _common
right_, of _justice_, of _liberty_; and which, if not communicated to
all, must speedily cause _the certain overthrow of our happy
constitution_, and enslave us _all_.
And, sixthly and lastly, We also say and do assert, that it is _the
right_ of the commonalty of this realm to elect a _new_ House of Commons
once in _every year_, according to the ancient and sacred laws of the
land; because, whenever a Parliament continues in being for _a longer
term_, very great numbers of the commonalty, who have arrived at years
of manhood since the last election, and _therefore_ have a right to be
actually represented in the House of Commons, are then _unjustly
deprived_ of that right.
THE ART OF PROCURING PLEASANT DREAMS
INSCRIBED TO MISS [SHIPLEY], BEING WRITTEN AT HER REQUEST[140]
As a great part of our life is spent in sleep during which we have
sometimes pleasant and sometimes painful dreams, it becomes of some
consequence to obtain the one kind and avoid the other; for whether real
or imaginary, pain is pain and pleasure is pleasure. If we can sleep
without dreaming, it is well that painful dreams are avoided. If while
we sleep we can have any pleasing dream, it is, as the French say,
_autant de gagné_, so much added to the pleasure of life.
To this end it is, in the first place, necessary to be careful in
preserving health, by due exercise and great temperance; for, in
sickness, the imagination is disturbed, and disagreeable, sometimes
terrible, ideas are apt to present themselves. Exercise should precede
meals, not immediately follow them; the first promotes, the latter,
unless moderate, obstructs digestion. If, after exercise, we feed
sparingly, the digestion will be easy and good, the body lightsome, the
temper cheerful, and all the animal functions performed agreeably.
Sleep, when it follows, will be natural and undisturbed; while
indolence, with full feeding, occasions nightmares and horrors
inexpressible; we fall from precipices, are assaulted by wild beasts,
murderers, and demons, and experience every variety of distress.
Observe, however, that the quantities of food and exercise are relative
things; those who move much may, and indeed ought to eat more; those who
use little exercise should eat little. In general, mankind, since the
improvement of cookery, eat about twice as much as nature requires.
Suppers are not bad, if we have not dined; but restless nights naturally
follow hearty suppers after full dinners. Indeed, as there is a
difference in constitutions, some rest well after these meals; it costs
them only a frightful dream and an apoplexy, after which they sleep till
doomsday. Nothing is more common in the newspapers, than instances of
people who, after eating a hearty supper, are found dead abed in the
morning.
Another means of preserving health, to be attended to, is the having a
constant supply of fresh air in your bed-chamber. It has been a great
mistake, the sleeping in rooms exactly closed, and in beds surrounded by
curtains. No outward air that may come in to you is so unwholesome as
the unchanged air, often breathed, of a close chamber. As boiling water
does not grow hotter by longer boiling, if the particles that receive
greater heat can escape; so living bodies do not putrefy, if the
particles, so fast as they become putrid, can be thrown off. Nature
expels them by the pores of the skin and the lungs, and in a free, open
air they are carried off; but in a close room we receive them again and
again, though they become more and more corrupt. A number of persons
crowded into a small room thus spoil the air in a few minutes, and even
render it mortal, as in the Black Hole at Calcutta. A single person is
said to spoil only a gallon of air per minute, and therefore requires a
longer time to spoil a chamber-full; but it is done, however, in
proportion, and many putrid disorders hence have their origin. It is
recorded of Methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may be supposed to
have best preserved his health, that he slept always in the open air;
for, when he had lived five hundred years, an angel said to him; "Arise,
Methusalem, and build thee an house, for thou shalt live yet five
hundred years longer." But Methusalem answered, and said, "If I am to
live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to build me an
house; I will sleep in the air, as I have been used to do." Physicians,
after having for ages contended that the sick should not be indulged
with fresh air, have at length discovered that it may do them good. It
is therefore to be hoped, that they may in time discover likewise, that
it is not hurtful to those who are in health, and that we may be then
cured of the _aërophobia_, that at present distresses weak minds, and
makes them choose to be stifled and poisoned, rather than leave open the
window of a bed-chamber, or put down the glass of a coach.
Confined air, when saturated with perspirable matter, will not receive
more; and that matter must remain in our bodies, and occasion diseases;
but it gives some previous notice of its being about to be hurtful, by
producing certain uneasiness, slight indeed at first, which as with
regard to the lungs is a trifling sensation, and to the pores of the
skin a kind of restlessness, which is difficult to describe, and few
that feel it know the cause of it. But we may recollect, that sometimes
on waking in the night, we have, if warmly covered, found it difficult
to get asleep again. We turn often without finding repose in any
position. This fidgettiness (to use a vulgar expression for want of a
better) is occasioned wholly by an uneasiness in the skin, owing to the
retention of the perspirable matter--the bed-clothes having received
their quantity, and, being saturated, refusing to take any more. To
become sensible of this by an experiment, let a person keep his position
in the bed, but throw off the bed-clothes, and suffer fresh air to
approach the part uncovered of his body; he will then feel that part
suddenly refreshed; for the air will immediately relieve the skin, by
receiving, licking up, and carrying off, the load of perspirable matter
that incommoded it. For every portion of cool air that approaches the
warm skin, in receiving its part of that vapour, receives therewith a
degree of heat that rarefies and renders it lighter, when it will be
pushed away with its burthen, by cooler and therefore heavier fresh air,
which for a moment supplies its place, and then, being likewise changed
and warmed, gives way to a succeeding quantity. This is the order of
nature, to prevent animals being infected by their own perspiration. He
will now be sensible of the difference between the part exposed to the
air and that which, remaining sunk in the bed, denies the air access:
for this part now manifests its uneasiness more distinctly by the
comparison, and the seat of the uneasiness is more plainly perceived
than when the whole surface of the body was affected by it.
Here, then, is one great and general cause of unpleasing dreams. For
when the body is uneasy, the mind will be disturbed by it, and
disagreeable ideas of various kinds will in sleep be the natural
consequences. The remedies, preventive and curative, follow:
1. By eating moderately (as before advised for health's sake) less
perspirable matter is produced in a given time; hence the bed-clothes
receive it longer before they are saturated, and we may therefore sleep
longer before we are made uneasy by their refusing to receive any more.
2. By using thinner and more porous bed-clothes, which will suffer the
perspirable matter more easily to pass through them, we are less
incommoded, such being longer tolerable.
3. When you are awakened by this uneasiness, and find you cannot easily
sleep again, get out of bed, beat up and turn your pillow, shake the
bed-clothes well, with at least twenty shakes, then throw the bed open
and leave it to cool; in the meanwhile, continuing undrest, walk about
your chamber till your skin has had time to discharge its load, which it
will do sooner as the air may be dried and colder. When you begin to
feel the cold air unpleasant, then return to your bed, and you will soon
fall asleep, and your sleep will be sweet and pleasant. All the scenes
presented to your fancy will be too of the pleasing kind. I am often as
agreeably entertained with them, as by the scenery of an opera. If you
happen to be too indolent to get out of bed, you may, instead of it,
lift up your bed-clothes with one arm and leg, so as to draw in a good
deal of fresh air, and by letting them fall force it out again. This,
repeated twenty times, will so clear them of the perspirable matter they
have imbibed, as to permit your sleeping well for some time afterwards.
But this latter method is not equal to the former.
Those who do not love trouble, and can afford to have two beds, will
find great luxury in rising, when they wake in a hot bed, and going into
the cool one. Such shifting of beds would also be of great service to
persons ill of a fever, as it refreshes and frequently procures sleep. A
very large bed, that will admit a removal so distant from the first
situation as to be cool and sweet, may in a degree answer the same end.
One or two observations more will conclude this little piece. Care must
be taken, when you lie down, to dispose your pillow so as to suit your
manner of placing your head, and to be perfectly easy; then place your
limbs so as not to bear inconveniently hard upon one another, as, for
instance, the joints of your ankles; for, though a bad position may at
first give but little pain and be hardly noticed, yet a continuance will
render it less tolerable, and the uneasiness may come on while you are
asleep, and disturb your imagination. These are the rules of the art.
But, though they will generally prove effectual in producing the end
intended, there is a case in which the most punctual observance of them
will be totally fruitless. I need not mention the case to you, my dear
friend, but my account of the art would be imperfect without it. The
case is, when the person who desires to have pleasant dreams has not
taken care to preserve, what is necessary above all things,
A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
_NOTES_
References are to Franklin's _Writings_, edited by A. H. Smyth, 10
vols., 1905-1907.
[Footnote 1: In addition to John Bigelow's "Historical Sketch of the
Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Autograph Manuscript of Franklin's
Memoirs of His Own Life," see Franklin's references to the
_Autobiography_, in _Writings_, IX, 550-51, 559, 665, 675, 688; X, 50.]
[Footnote 2: The _New England Courant_, begun Aug. 21, 1721 (fourth
American newspaper), was preceded by _Boston News-Letter_, April 24,
1704, _Boston Gazette_, Dec. 21, 1719, _American Weekly Mercury_, Dec.
22, 1719 (Philadelphia).]
[Footnote 3: Sir Wm. Keith (1680-1749), governor of Pennsylvania
1717-1726. He was dismissed by the Proprietaries in 1726; after casting
his lot with the provincial assembly, he became "a tribune of the
people" (_Dictionary of American Biography_, X, 292-3). It is not
improbable that Franklin's antipathy for the Proprietaries was quickened
by his contacts with Keith (even though he was the victim of the
governor's gulling). See note 65 for "James Ralph."]
[Footnote 4: Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), botanist and physician, friend
of Sydenham, Newton, Ray, and Boyle, made President of the Royal Society
in 1727 (until 1741). See _Dictionary of National Biography_, LII,
379-80, and Franklin's letter to Sir Hans Sloane (London, June 2, 1725)
in _Writings_, II, 52-3.]
[Footnote 5: Sir Hans Sloane contributed curiosities to Don Saltero's
place, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Steele dedicated a _Tatler_ to this
collector of gimcracks who wrote of his oddities:
"Monsters of all sorts here are seen
Strange things in nature as they grew so;
Some relicks of the Sheba queen,
And fragments of the fam'd Bob Crusoe."
]
[Footnote 6: See note 22.]
[Footnote 7: For an account of this sturdy colonial who learned Latin in
order to read Newton's _Principia_, see E. P. Oberholtzer's _A Literary
History of Philadelphia_, 57 ff.]
[Footnote 8: James Parton's _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_, I,
154-67 (chap. XIII) contains a good account of this junto of friends.]
[Footnote 9: See C. E. Jorgenson's "A Brand Flung at Colonial Orthodoxy"
(in Bibliography, p. clxv above), for the deistic patterns of thought
found in Keimer's newspaper.]
[Footnote 10: Consult C. H. Hart, "Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son?
An Inquiry Demonstrating that She Was Deborah Read, Wife of Benjamin
Franklin." (See Bibliography, p. clxiv above.) Also see _Who Was the
Mother of Franklin's Son? An Historical Conundrum, hitherto given up,
now partly answered by Paul Leicester Ford_. With an afterword by John
Clyde Oswald (New Rochelle, N. Y.: 1932).]
[Footnote 11: End of reprint of the original MS in the Henry E.
Huntington Library. The selections that follow are from _Writings_, in
which A. H. Smyth reprints the Bigelow transcript with indifferent
accuracy. "Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near
Paris, 1784." Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan urge Franklin to continue
his life beyond 1730 (see _Writings_, I, 313-20). Vaughan promises that
when finished "it will be worth all Plutarch's Lives put together" (p.
318).]
[Footnote 12: Dated July 1, 1733.]
[Footnote 13: "Thus far written at Passy, 1784." He continues his
_Autobiography_ in Philadelphia in August, 1788.]
[Footnote 14: Consult C. E. Jorgenson's "The New Science in the Almanacs
of Ames and Franklin" (see Bibliography, p. clxv, above).]
[Footnote 15: "Self-Denial Not the Essence of Virtue," _Pennsylvania
Gazette_, No. 324, Feb. 18, 1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition,
III, 233-5. "On True Happiness," _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No. 363, Nov.
20, 1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition, III, 238-9.]
[Footnote 16: Chosen Clerk of Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1736.]
[Footnote 17: See their correspondence in L. Tyerman's _Life of the Rev.
George Whitefield_ (2 vols., London, 1876).]
[Footnote 18: J. Parton observes that this list may have been suggested
by the word-catalogs in the _Gargantua_ (_Life and Times of Benjamin
Franklin_, I, 221). This mildly Rabelaisian series is later elaborated
into "The Drinker's Dictionary" found in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No.
494, May 25, 1738; and reprinted by Parton, I, 222-5.]
[Footnote 19: When James Franklin was accused of mocking the clergy and
unsettling the peace, he was refused license to print the _New England
Courant_. So Benjamin, his apprenticeship indentures cancelled (though
new ones were privately signed), became nominal editor. Consult C. A.
Duniway, _The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_,
97-103; W. G. Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of American
Journalism_, chaps. I-II.]
[Footnote 20: Rules for his famous Junto, begun in 1727.]
[Footnote 21: No Part II has ever been found. A. H. Smyth suggests that
this creed and liturgy was "Franklin's daily companion to the end of his
life" (_Writings_, II, 92 note).]
[Footnote 22: When Samuel Keimer discovered that Franklin and Meredith
were about to launch a newspaper, he began his _Universal Instructor in
all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ (first issue, Dec. 28,
1728). Franklin and Joseph Breintnall wrote the _Busy-Body_ series for
Bradford's _American Weekly Mercury_. Nos. I-V and VIII are by Franklin.
See S. Bloore's "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library
Company" (in Bibliography). That Keimer became infuriated, one can see
in issues X, XII, and XVI of the _Universal Instructor ..._, in which
_Busy-Body_ is scourged with both prose and poetry.]
[Footnote 23: Franklin purchases Keimer's _Universal Instructor ..._,
deleting the first half of the title, which had appeared in small italic
type.]
[Footnote 24: See _Autobiography_, _Writings_, I, 343.]
[Footnote 25: The use of scales suggests that Franklin probably knew
Aristophanes' _The Frogs_. It is more likely, however that he was
acquainted with the use of scales in contemporary witch trials. In the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ for Jan., 1731, there is an account of a witch
trial at "Burlington, in Pensilvania," in the course of which scales and
the Bible were used. (See Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ [H. Ellis, ed.,
London, 1888], III, 35.) In the same magazine for Feb., 1759, is an
account of a similar trial which took place in England (_ibid._, III,
22).]
[Footnote 26: In his 1734 issue of the _American Almanack_ Leeds
observed that the account of his death was grossly exaggerated.
Doubtless Franklin had read (Swift's) Bickerstaff's predictions of the
death of Partridge.]
[Footnote 27: Compare Swift's _A Meditation upon a Broomstick_. Mug and
broomstick are alike obliged to undergo the indignities of a "dirty
wench." But more conclusively, the rhetoric and the ethical application
to human affairs suggest Franklin's indebtedness to Swift.]
[Footnote 28: His parents' response is learned from a letter (not in
Smyth) to his father: "Hon. Father, I received your kind letter of the
4th of May in answer to mine of April 13th. I wrote that of mine with
design to remove or lessen the uneasiness you and my Mother appear'd to
be under on account of my Principles, and it gave me great Pleasure when
she declar'd in her next to me that she approved of my Letter and was
satisfy'd with me." (Cited in J. F. Sachse, _Benjamin Franklin as a Free
Mason_, 75.)]
[Footnote 29: Rev. George Whitefield, whom Franklin met in 1739.]
[Footnote 30: _M. T. Cicero's Cato Major or his Discourse of Old-Age:
With Explanatory Notes._ Philadelphia. Printed and Sold by B. Franklin,
1744.]
[Footnote 31: "This letter is undated, but from Franklin's
ecclesiastical mathematics it would appear to have been written on the
tenth of March" (A. H. Smyth, _Writings_, II, 283 note).]
[Footnote 32: Excellent note in _Writings_, II, 463-4. Abbé Raynal
published _Polly Baker_ in his _Histoire ..._ as an authentic document.
Also Peter Annet printed this _jeu d'esprit_ in his _Social Bliss_
(1749). See N. L. Torrey, _Voltaire and the English Deists_, 187. A. H.
Smyth confesses: "The mystery surrounding the authorship and first
publication of the 'Speech' remains an impenetrable mystery. The style
is altogether Franklinian, and the story seems unquestionably to have
been written by him, but I have searched _The Pennsylvania Gazette_ in
vain for it. It is not there."]
[Footnote 33: See "Introduction" in Wm. Pepper's Facsimile Reprint of
the _Proposals_ (Philadelphia, 1931), vii-xvii. Although A. H. Smyth
prints "Authors quoted in this Paper," he does not print the copious
documentation Franklin included. The "Authors" listed are: Milton,
Locke, Hutcheson, Obadiah Walker, M. Rollin, George Turnbull, "with some
others."]
[Footnote 34: Printed as Appendix to Rev. R. Peters's _A Sermon on
Education ..._, Philadelphia, Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D.
Hall, 1751.]
[Footnote 35: Samuel Croxall's (d. 1752) _Fables of Æsop and Others_,
1722. "The remarkable popularity of these fables, of which editions are
still published, is to be accounted for by their admirable style. They
are excellent examples of naïve, clear, and forcible English"
(_Dictionary of National Biography_, XIII, 246-8).]
[Footnote 36: A part of Johnson's _Elementa Philosophica_, printed by
Franklin in 1752. See H. and C. Schneider, eds., _Samuel Johnson,
President of King's College. His Career and Writings_. 4 vols., New
York, 1929.]
[Footnote 37: Fénelon's Telemachus. Chevalier de Ramsay's _Travels of
Cyrus_. 2 vols. London, 1727 (2d ed.).]
[Footnote 38: For Franklin's awareness of Rabelais, see C. E.
Jorgenson's "Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais," _Classical Journal_, XXIX,
538-40 (April, 1934).]
[Footnote 39: First published in [Clarke, Wm.] _Observations on the Late
and present Conduct of the French, with Regard to their Encroachments
upon the British Colonies in North America.... To which is added, wrote
by another Hand; Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind,
Peopling of Countries, Etc.,_ Boston, 1755. See L. J. Carey's
_Franklin's Economic Views_, 46-60, for able survey of Franklin's theory
of population and its relation to Malthus and Adam Smith. Also see L. C.
Wroth, _An American Bookshelf_, 1755 (Philadelphia, 1934), 25-7.]
[Footnote 40: Hume having objected to the use of "pejorate" and
"colonize," Franklin yields to him. "Since they are not in common use
here [England], I give up as bad; for certainly in writings intended for
persuasion and for general information, one cannot be too clear; and
every expression in the least obscure is a fault" (_Writings_, IV, 82-4;
Sept. 27, 1760).]
[Footnote 41: On complaint of John Bartram and Cadwallader Colden,
Franklin deleted the concluding paragraphs in subsequent editions.]
[Footnote 42: Read before the Royal Society on Dec. 21, 1752. It was
printed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, December, 1752. Essentially
because of his identification of electricity with lightning. Franklin in
1753 received the Copley medal and was in 1756 elected F. R. S.]
[Footnote 43: Mr. George S. Eddy has compiled a "Catalogue of Pamphlets,
Once a Part of the Library of Benjamin Franklin, and now owned by the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania," which one of the editors was
permitted to use in MS form in the W. S. Mason Collection. One of the
pamphlets is: _An Hymn to the Creator of the World, The Thoughts taken
chiefly from Psal. CIV. To which is added in Prose An Idea of the
Creator From His Works ..._ London, MDCCL. James Burgh. If most of the
material in this issue (it is equally true of many of the other issues)
is "borrowed," it none the less shows toward what ideas Franklin was
sympathetic. Almanac makers on the whole were not characterized by a
vast display of originality.]
[Footnote 44: Brackets in this letter are the result of A. H. Smyth's
collation of two MSS.]
[Footnote 45: "These letters first appeared in _The London Chronicle_,
February 6 and 8, 1766. They were published again in _The London
Magazine_, February, 1766, and in _The Pennsylvania Chronicle_, January
16, 1769. They were republished in Almon's 'Remembrancer' in 1766." (A.
H. Smyth, Writings, III, 231 note.)
After the failure of his _Albany Plan_ (for text see Writings, III,
197-226), Franklin, visiting Governor Shirley in Boston, was shown an
English plan: it "was, that the governors of all the colonies, each
attended by one or two members of his council, should assemble at some
central town, and there concert measures of defense, raise troops, order
the construction of forts, and draw on the British treasury for the
whole expense; the treasury to be afterwards reimbursed _by a tax laid
on the colonies by an act of Parliament_" (Parton, I, 340). The letters
are a protest against this plan, a protest marking the first stages of
the revolution.]
[Footnote 46: The second cousin and in 1758 the wife of William Greene,
the second governor of the state of Rhode Island. See _Dictionary of
American Biography_, VII, 576-7.]
[Footnote 47: Had made a tour inspecting post offices.]
[Footnote 48: Daughter of Samuel Ward, governor of Rhode Island.]
[Footnote 49: Franklin's daughter, born 1744.]
[Footnote 50: John Franklin died in Boston, January, 1756, age
sixty-five.]
[Footnote 51: Daughter of John Franklin's second wife by a former
marriage.]
[Footnote 52: See discussion (including bibliographical note) of Rev.
Wm. Smith in Introduction, section on "Franklin's Theories of
Education."]
[Footnote 53: From an exact reprint made by W. S. Mason from a copy of
_Poor Richard_ (1758) in his collection. Lindsay Swift, in _Benjamin
Franklin_, notes: "It may safely be said that it is the American classic
_par excellence_, and shares with Mrs. Stowe's _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ the
honour of having passed by translation into more other tongues than
anything else thus far bearing the stamp of our national spirit" (pp.
33-4). A glance at Ford's _Franklin Bibliography_, 53-111, will suggest
the vogue of this classic. See L. L. L.'s "The Way to Wealth: History
and Editions," _Nation_, XCVI, 494-6 (May 15, 1913).
William Temple Franklin observes that _The Way to Wealth_ "is supposed
to have greatly contributed to the formation of that _national
character_ they [people of America] have since exhibited" (1818 ed. of
Franklin's _Works_, III, 248).]
[Footnote 54: Stephen Potts and William Parsons were among the original
members of the Junto (Writings, I, 299-300). See note on Parsons in
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXXIII, 340 (1909).]
[Footnote 55: Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782). See _Dictionary of
National Biography_, XXVII, 232-4; A. F. Tytler's _Memoirs_ of Lord
Kames, 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1814 (2d ed.). Franklin writes an interesting
letter to Kames (London, Jan. 3, 1760) affirming that he rejoices "on
the reduction of Canada; and this is not merely as I am a colonist, but
as I am a Briton. I have long been of opinion, that the _foundations of
the future grandeur and stability of the British empire lie in America_;
and though, like other foundations, they are low and little seen, they
are, nevertheless, broad and strong enough to support the greatest
political structure human wisdom ever yet erected." Concerning his
recent visit to Kames in Scotland he writes, "On the whole, I must say,
I think the time we spent there, was six weeks of the _densest_ happiness
I have met with in any part of my life ..." (_Writings_, IV, 3-7). In a
letter (London, Nov., 1761) he praises Kames's _Introduction to the Art
of Thinking_ and inquires "after your _Elements of Criticism_." He also
tells Kames about his plans to write an _Art of Virtue_ (_ibid._, IV,
120-3). From Portsmouth, Aug. 17, 1762, he sends his farewell: "I am
going from the old world to the new; and I fancy I feel like those, who
are leaving this world for the next: grief at the parting; fear of the
passage; hope of the future" (_ibid._, IV, 174).]
[Footnote 56: _The Interest of Great Britain Considered?_]
[Footnote 57: If ever written, not extant.]
[Footnote 58: Daughter of Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, Franklin's landlady
at Number Seven, Craven Street, Strand, London. Miss Mary later married
Dr. Hewson (see note 77, below).]
[Footnote 59: Dr. Thomas Bray's philanthropic schemes for education of
Negroes is here referred to. See E. L. Pennington's "The Work of the
Bray Associates in Pennsylvania" for Franklin's connection with this
work. Mr. Wm. Strahan wished to prevail on Franklin to remove
permanently to England. Franklin writes to Deborah, March 5, 1760
(_Writings_, IV, 9-10), offering two reasons for his veto of Strahan's
plan: "One, my Affection to Pensilvania, and long established
Friendships and other connections there: The other, your invincible
Aversion to Crossing the Seas." The remainder of the letter indicates,
however, that he was not dead to the hope that his wife would relent.]
[Footnote 60: For Franklin's friendship with Ingersoll consult L. H.
Gipson's _Jared Ingersoll_. _A Study of American Loyalism in Relation to
British Colonial Government_ (New Haven, 1920).]
[Footnote 61: Richard ("Omniscient") Jackson (d. 1787), member of
Parliament, friend of the colonial cause. See _Dictionary of National
Biography_, XXIX, 104-5.]
[Footnote 62: John Hawkesworth (1715?-1773). From 1752 to 1754 he edited
the _Adventurer_, aided by Johnson, Bathurst, and Wharton. Edited
Swift's writings in 1755, Swift's letters in 1766, and Cook's, Byron's,
Carteret's, and Wallis's _Voyages_ in 1773. (_Dictionary of National
Biography_, XXV, 203-5.)]
[Footnote 63: John Stanley (1714-1786). Blind organist who composed the
music for Hawkesworth's oratorio, _Zimri_ (1760); and for his _The Fall
of Egypt_ (1774). (_Dictionary of National Biography_, LIV, 74-5.)]
[Footnote 64: Benjamin West (1738-1820).]
[Footnote 65: James Ralph (d. 1762); see _Dictionary of National
Biography_, XLVII, 221-4. His _Night: A Poem_ (London, 1728), dedicated
to the Earl of Chesterfield, is a jejune imitation of Thomson's
_Seasons_. He professes himself "a bigotted Admirer of the Antients, and
all their Performances" (p. 197) in _The Touch-Stone ..._ (London,
1728): "My Design was, to animadvert upon the Standard Entertainments of
the present Age, in Comparison with those of Antiquity" (p. 237). He
aided Fielding in bringing out _The Champion_ (1741 ff.). Hallam
characterized his _History of England_ (1744-1746) as one of the best
accounts of the time of Charles II. Succinct survey of Ralph in M. K.
Jackson's _Outlines of the Literary History of Colonial Pennsylvania_,
37-42.]
[Footnote 66: John Fothergill (1712-1780). See _Dictionary of National
Biography_ XX, 66-8. See J. C. Lettsom's _Memoirs of John Fothergill_
(4th ed., London, 1786) for a full treatment of his friendship with
Franklin. J. J. Abraham's _Lettsom, His Life, Times, Friends and
Descendants_ (London, 1933, chap. XVIII), contains an account of the
"conciliation negotiations" between Hyde and Dartmouth (representing
Lord North) and Barclay and Fothergill (representing Franklin and the
colonial cause). Only George III could not be persuaded. Also see R. H.
Fox, _Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends ..._ (London, 1919).
For Franklin's quarrel with the Proprietors see _Cool Thoughts on the
Present Situation of Our Public Affairs_ (April 12, 1764, _Writings_,
IV, 226-41). A month later he writes to Wm. Strahan: "Our petty publick
affairs here are in the greatest confusion, and will never, in my
opinion, be composed, while the Proprietary Government subsists"
(_ibid._, IV, 246).]
[Footnote 67: His son William Franklin (1731-1813), governor of New
Jersey, and wife. See _Dictionary of American Biography_, VI, 600-1.]
[Footnote 68: The barbarities of the "Paxton boys" virtually "threatened
a civil war, which Franklin and others averted. This episode marks the
beginnings of the predominance of the Ulster Scotch and other Calvinists
in Pennsylvania affairs, replacing the old Quaker supremacy." (A.
Nevins, _The American States During and After the Revolution_,
1775-1789, New York, 1924, 12.) This uprising, suggests Mr. Nevins, may
be viewed as a fragment of that "struggle between East and West,
Tidewater and Uplands" which "cut in the later Colonial period across
the alignment between people and Crown" (_ibid._, 11).]
[Footnote 69: Pope's translation. Franklin omits lines not essential to
the thought in a particular sequence.]
[Footnote 70: From Herodotus refracted through Rabelais? See C. E.
Jorgenson's "Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais."]
[Footnote 71: For Franklin's activities in behalf of the repeal of the
Stamp Act see especially _The Examination of Dr. B. F. Etc. in the
British House of Commons, Relative to the Repeal of the American Stamp
Act, in 1766_ (_Writings_, IV, 412-48).]
[Footnote 72: A. F. Tytler, in _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the
Honourable Henry Home of Kames ..._ (2d ed., Edinburgh, 1814, II, 99,
112), suggests that this letter never reached its destination, but "was
in all probability intercepted." Brackets in excerpt from letter to Lord
Kames, June 2, 1765, pp. 318-21 above, are the result of Smyth's
collation of Tytler's and Sparks's versions.]
[Footnote 73: Sir John Pringle (1707-1782). Physician (student of
Albinus and Boerhaave) whose "great work in life was the reform of
military medicine and sanitation" (_Dictionary of National Biography_,
XLVI, 386-8). From 1772 to 1778 he was President of the Royal Society.
In 1778 he was made one of the eight foreign members of the Academy of
Sciences at Paris. Since Pringle was physician to the queen, Parton
thinks it probable that he was used by Franklin "to forward to the king
such papers and documents as tended to show how loyal to his person and
his throne were the vast majority of the American colonists" (_op.
cit._, I, 506). George III, having sided with Dr. Wilson who championed
_blunt_ lightning rods, asked Pringle to use his influence to have the
Royal Society rescind its opinion in favor of _pointed_ ones. Pringle's
answer "was to the effect that duty as well as inclination would always
induce him to execute his majesty's wishes to the utmost of his power:
but 'Sire,' said he, 'I cannot reverse the laws and operations of
nature'" (_ibid._, II, 217 note).]
[Footnote 74: The full title of Dupont de Nemours's work is
_Physiocratie, ou constitution naturelle du gouvernement le plus
avantageux au genre humain_. 2 vols. Leyden and Paris, 1767, 1768. Peter
Templeman (1711-1769) was Secretary of the London Society of Arts,
Manufactures, and Commerce and in 1762 corresponding member of the Royal
Academy of Sciences at Paris (_Dictionary of National Biography_, LVI,
53-4). "Ami des hommes" is the Marquis de Mirabeau (1715-1789) who wrote
_L'Ami des hommes, ou traité de la population_. [1756] 5th ed., Hamburg,
1760, 4 vols. The "crowning work" of the Physiocrats is François
Quesnay's _Tableau économique_. Published by the British Economic
Association, London, 1894.
Dupont's letter of May 10, 1768, to which Franklin's is an answer, is
printed in _Writings_, V, 153-4. From London (Oct. 2, 1770) Franklin
writes to Dupont: "Would to God I could take with me [to America]
Messrs. du Pont, du Bourg, and some other French Friends with their good
Ladies! I might then, by mixing them with my Friends in Philadelphia,
form a little happy Society that would prevent my ever wishing again to
visit Europe" (_Writings_, V, 282). Elision marks in letter of July 28
are Franklin's own.]
[Footnote 75: John Alleyne. See his The _Legal Degrees of Marriage
Stated and Considered ..._, London, 1774. The second edition (London,
1775) includes Franklin's letter to Alleyne, Appendix, pp. 1-2.]
[Footnote 76: Compare _To the Printer of the London Public Advertiser_
(August 25, 1768; _Writings_, V, 162-5): "And what are we to gain by
this war, by which our trade and manufactures are to be ruined, our
strength divided and diminished, our debt increased, and our reputation,
as a generous nation, and lovers of liberty, given up and lost? Why, we
are to convert millions of the King's loyal subjects into rebels, for
the sake of establishing a new claimed power in P---- to tax a distant
people, whose abilities and circumstances they cannot be acquainted
with, who have a constitutional power of taxing themselves; who have
never refused to give us voluntarily more than we can ever expect to
wrest from them by force; and by our trade with whom we gain millions a
year!" (_Ibid._, 164-5.)]
[Footnote 77: William Hewson (1739-1774). He was married to Miss
Stevenson in 1770. Hewson received the Copley medal in 1769 and was made
a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1770. (_Dictionary of National
Biography_, XXVI, 312-3.)]
[Footnote 78: Daughter of Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, who
wrote _A Speech Intended to have been Spoken on the Bill for Altering
the Charters of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay_. New York. Ed.
1774. (Cf. _Writings_, I, 164-6.) Urging that "the true art of government
consists in NOT GOVERNING TOO MUCH" (cited in Parton, _op. cit._, I,
549), Shipley lent sanction to colonial resistance. Franklin writes to
Thomas Cushing (London, Oct. 6, 1774): "The Bishop of St. Asaph's
intended speech, several Copies of which I send you, and of which many
Thousands have been printed and distributed here has had an
extraordinary Effect, in changing the Sentiments of Multitudes with
regard to America" (_Writings_, VI, 250).
Mungo was a "fine large grey Squirrel" which Deborah sent to her husband
(_ibid._, VI, 16).]
[Footnote 79: Printed in _Experiments and Observations on Electricity_.
London, 1769.]
[Footnote 80: Printed in _Éphémérides du Citoyen_ (edited by Dupont
after 1767), periodical of the French Physiocrats; and in the _London
Chronicle_ in 1766.]
[Footnote 81: J. Parton observes that this brilliant illustration of
Franklin's use of Swiftian hoax and irony "was the nine-days' talk of
the kingdom" (_op. cit._, I, 518).]
[Footnote 82: See R. M. Bache, in Bibliography. In addition, article in
New York _Times_, Dec. 3, 1896, and notes in E. P. Buckley's "The
Library of a Philadelphia Antiquarian," _Magazine of American History_,
XXIV, 388-98 (1890). Mr. Buckley reviews the making of the prayer book;
"Column after column of the calendar disappeared with a single stroke of
the pen--nearly the whole of the Exhortation, a portion of the
Confession, all the Absolution, nearly all the Venite, exultemus Domino.
Likewise, the Te Deum, and all the Canticle. Of the Creed all he
retained was the following: 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker
of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord. I believe in
the Holy Ghost, the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting,
Amen'" (_ibid._, 393). Franklin collaborated with Lord Le Despencer in
this work. For Franklin's own comments see _Writings_, IX, 358-9, 556.
Smyth brackets parts of the _Preface_ found in an incomplete MS draft.]
[Footnote 83: Date unknown. For history of this hoax see _Writings_, I,
179-81, and L. S. Livingston, _Benjamin Franklin's Parable against
Persecution_. _With an Account of the Early Editions_ (Cambridge, Mass.,
1916).]
[Footnote 84: Date unknown.]
[Footnote 85: This letter was never sent.]
[Footnote 86: A. H. Smyth thinks that the friend might have been David
Hartley.]
[Footnote 87: A photostat in the W. S. Mason Collection from the
Huntington Library gives the date as July 20, 1776.]
[Footnote 88: Time and place of first publication unknown. For an
interesting discussion of this piece, see M. C. Tyler's _Literary
History of the American Revolution_, II, 367-80. "A British magazine of
1786, says that there was then a transfer made at the Bank of England of
£471,000 to Mr. Van Otten on account of the Landgrave of Hesse, for so
much due for Hessian soldiers lost in the American war, at £30 a head,
thus making the total number lost to be 15,700 men." (Cited in J. F.
Watson, _Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1857,
II, 294.)]
[Footnote 89: He writes to M. Lith (April 6, 1777); "If I were to
practise giving Letters of Recommendation to Persons of whose Character
I knew no more than I do of yours, my Recommendations would soon be of
no Authority at all" (_Writings_, VII, 39); and to George Washington
(June 13, 1777), apropos of foreign applicants for American posts: "I
promise nothing" (VII, 59). In another letter (Oct. 7, 1777) he admitted
that "the Numbers we refuse" are "incredible" (VII, 66). Elsewhere he
confesses that "These Applications are my perpetual Torment" (VII, 81).
Consult E. Repplier, "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor" (in
Bibliography).]
[Footnote 90: This controversy evoked the following verse:
"While you, great George, for safety hunt,
And sharp conductors change for blunt,
The Empire's out of joint.
Franklin a wiser course pursues,
And all your thunder fearless views,
By keeping to the _point_."
(Cited in Parton, _op. cit._, II, 217.)]
[Footnote 91: Son of the philosopher, David Hartley. Hartley the younger
(1732-1813) met Franklin about 1759. A Lord Rockingham man, he opposed
the war with the colonies. He and Franklin drew up the Peace Treaty of
1783. See _Dictionary of National Biography_, XXV, 68-9.]
[Footnote 92: A. H. Smyth thinks that this dialogue was "written soon
after Franklin's arrival in France" (_Writings_, VII, 82 note).]
[Footnote 93: A Charles de Weissenstein included in his letter from
Brussels, June 16, 1778, a "Plan of Reconciliation," plans for a future
American government: he wished to have a secret conference with
Franklin (_Writings_, VII, 166; Smyth note).]
[Footnote 94: _Arcana imperii detecta: or, divers select cases in
Government_, London, 1701. [A trans. of _Disquisitiones politicae_ by
Mark Zuirius Boxhorn.] (A. H. Smyth note, _Writings_, VII, 169.)]
[Footnote 95: Franklin writes to William Carmichael (Passy, June 17,
1780): "The Moulin Joli is a little island in the Seine about two
leagues hence, part of the country-seat of another friend [Claude-Henri
Watelet], where we visit every summer, and spend a day in the pleasing
society of the ingenious, learned, and very polite persons who inhabit
it. At the time when the letter was written, all conversations at Paris
were filled with disputes about the music of Gluck and Picini, a German
and Italian musician, who divided the town into violent parties. A
friend of this lady [Madame Brillon] having obtained a copy of it, under
a promise not to give another, did not observe that promise; so that
many have been taken, and it is become as public as such a thing can
well be, that is not printed; but I could not dream of its being heard
of at Madrid! The thought was partly taken from a little piece of some
unknown writer, which I met with fifty years since in a newspaper, and
which the sight of the Ephemera brought to my recollection" (_Writings_,
VIII, 100). A. H. Smyth observes that it is generally thought that the
Ephemera is a reworking of an essay on "Human Vanity" which appeared in
the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Dec. 4, 1735. Also see M. K. Jackson, _op.
cit_; 75; and L. S. Livingston, _Franklin and His Press at Passy_ (New
York, 1914), 30. Compare Wm. Bartram's similar description of Ephemera
in his _Travels_ ed. by M. Van Doren (An American Bookshelf), New York,
1928, 88-9. See H. H. Clark's Introduction to _Poems of Freneau_ (New
York, 1929), xlvii-lviii, for provocative discussion of the degree to
which naturalism may motivate an obsession with transience, mutability,
and death.]
[Footnote 96: On Oct. 22, 1779, Bache wrote to Franklin explaining that
Lee and Izard objected to his employing William Temple Franklin, his
grandson.]
[Footnote 97: Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769-1798), son of Richard Bache,
Franklin's son-in-law. See B. Faÿ, _The Two Franklins: Fathers of
American Democracy_ (Boston, 1933). See _The Diary of B. F. B. Aug. 1,
1782, to Sept. 14, 1785. Trans. from the French by William Duane_, 1865
(in W. S. Mason Collection). A charming self-portrait of a precocious
lad who is grief-stricken when rain prevents him from going to the
mountains to witness M. du Villard's experiments, who follows avidly the
ascensions of "aërostatic globes," who takes M. Charles's course in
natural philosophy. Franklin had Didot, the master type founder, come to
Passy to teach Ben how "to cast printing types." On July 12, 1785, he
records the patriarch's exodus from Passy: "A mournful silence reigned
around him and was only interrupted by sobs."]
[Footnote 98: Barbeu Dubourg (June 28, Paris) wrote to Franklin,
"sending Franklin's manuscript on 'The Morals of Chess,' of which he has
retained a copy; expects to have it printed shortly in _le Journal de
Paris_; hopes to follow it with a few reflections of his own on the
subject." (_Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library
of the American Philosophical Society_, III, 102.) [XIV, 218.] Brackets
in selection indicate Smyth's collation of incomplete MS copy and
printed version.]
[Footnote 99: _The Parable against Persecution._]
[Footnote 100: Consult _Benjamin Franklin's Story of the Whistle, with
an Introductory Note_ by L. S. Livingston, and _A Bibliography to 1820_
(Cambridge, Mass., 1922).]
[Footnote 101: Matthew Arnold in _Sweetness and Light_ appraises
Franklin as "a man the most considerable, ... whom America has yet
produced." Missing the irony of Franklin's burlesque, however, Arnold
exclaimed after reading the _Proposed Version_: "After all, there is a
stretch of humanity beyond Franklin's victorious good sense!"]
[Footnote 102: Two days before, he wrote to Richard Price: "We make
daily great Improvements in _Natural_, there is one I wish to see in
_Moral_ Philosophy; the Discovery of a Plan, that would induce and
oblige Nations to settle their Disputes without first Cutting one
another's Throats" (_Writings_, VIII, 9). One remembers Franklin's
classic utterance (in a letter to David Hartley, Passy, Feb. 2, 1780):
"There hardly ever existed such a thing as a bad Peace, or, a good War"
(_ibid._, VIII, 5; also see VIII, 506). An interesting comment on
Franklin's devotion to peace may be found in _A Project of Universal and
Perpetual Peace_. Written by Pierre-André Gargaz, a former Galley-Slave,
and printed by Benjamin Franklin at Passy in the Year 1782. Here
reprinted, together with an English Version, Introduction, and
Typographical Note by George Simpson Eddy, New York, 1922.]
[Footnote 103: Sainte-Beuve asks, "Is not that a comparison which, by
the sweetness of its inspiration and the breadth of its imagery, recalls
the Homeric comparisons of the Odyssey?" (_Portraits of the Eighteenth
Century, Historic and Literary_, 366.)]
[Footnote 104: The famous Orientalist, later Sir William Jones. Married
Georgiana Shipley. In 1779 Jones attempted unofficially to bring about a
reconciliation between the colonies and England. See Parton, _op. cit._,
II, 333-4.]
[Footnote 105: _Essay on the Population of England_, 2d ed., 1780.]
[Footnote 106: London Coffee House.]
[Footnote 107: Madame Helvétius. Consult A. Guillois, _Le salon de
Madame Helvétius_ (Paris, 1894).]
[Footnote 108: Georgiana Shipley (in a letter, May 6, 1781) acknowledges
his _Dialogue with the Gout_ and this piece. See _Calendar of the Papers
of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical
Society_, III, 371 (XXII, 8). This delightful letter is printed in
Sparks, IX, 25; Bigelow, VII, 230; and Stifler, "_My Dear Girl_" ...
(New York, 1927). Smyth brackets a passage, not in the MS draft, which
is printed in the W. T. Franklin edition.]
[Footnote 109: Date uncertain. A. H. Smyth notes that since Miss Shipley
replied May 6, 1781 (cf. note 108), it was probably written between
January and May, 1781. MS incomplete at both beginning and end.]
[Footnote 110: For Hartley's letter see _Calendar of the Papers of
Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society_,
III, 398 (XXII, 162), Sept. 26, 1781. From Passy (Jan. 15, 1782)
Franklin writes to Hartley: "Whatever may be the Fate of our poor
Countries, let you and I die as we have lived, in Peace with each other"
(_Writings_, VIII, 361).]
[Footnote 111: Excellent summary of the effect of this hoax may be found
in L. S. Livingston, _Franklin and His Press at Passy_, 59-67. Walpole
wrote to the Countess of Ossory, Oct. 1, 1782; "Have you seen in the
papers an excellent letter of Paul Jones to Sir Joseph York? _Elle nous
dit bien des verités!_ I doubt poor Sir Joseph cannot answer them! Dr.
Franklin himself, I should think, was the author. It is certainly
written by a first-rate pen, and not by a common man-of-war" (_ibid._,
62). A. H. Smyth quotes Wm. Temple Franklin's note: "The deception
intended by this supposed 'Supplement,' (which was very accurately
imitated with respect to printing, paper, the insertion of
advertisements, etc.,) was, that, by transmitting it to England, it
might actually be taken for what it purported to be" (_Writings_, VIII,
437). To Charles W. F. Dumas, Franklin writes (Passy, May 3, 1782):
"Enclosed I send you a few copies of a paper that places in a striking
light, the English barbarities in America, particularly those committed
by the savages at their instigation. The _Form_ may perhaps not be
genuine, but the _substance_ is truth; the number of our people of all
kinds and ages, murdered and scalped by them being known to exceed that
of the invoice. Make any use of them you may think proper to shame your
Anglomanes, but do not let it be known through what hands they come"
(_ibid._, 448). Brackets are Franklin's.]
[Footnote 112: William Cowper. See _Correspondence of William Cowper_,
ed. by Thomas Wright, I, 479, for his note that Thornton, a merchant,
had sent Franklin his poems.]
[Footnote 113: Henri-Léonard-Jean-Baptiste Bertin (1719-1792).]
[Footnote 114: President of the Royal Society (1743-1820). See
_Dictionary of National Biography_, III, 129-33.]
[Footnote 115: Dr. Pierre-Marie-Auguste Broussonet (1761-1807) met Sir
Joseph Banks in 1782.]
[Footnote 116: A. H. Smyth believes that this was "written in September,
1782" (_Writings_, VIII, 603 note). It was often translated and may well
have drawn many immigrants to the colonies.]
[Footnote 117: Probably written after signing of the peace treaty.
Compare his letter to Richard Oswald, Passy, Nov. 26, 1782 (_Writings_,
VIII, 621-7); and his _The Retort Courteous_ (_ibid._, X, 105-16).]
[Footnote 118: Sir Charles Blagden (1748-1820), physician and physicist,
friend to Sir Joseph Banks, F. R. S., in 1772. (_Dictionary of National
Biography_, V, 155-6.)]
[Footnote 119: B. Faÿ in "Franklin et Mirabeau collaborateurs" (see
Bibliography) shows that Franklin furnished information for
_Considerations on the Order of Cincinnatus ..._ (London ed., 1785).
Mirabeau thunders, "Must we then own, with the enemies of freedom, that
the noble ideas of Sidney, Locke, Rousseau, and others, who have
indulged dreams of political happiness, may be the object of a sublime
theory, but cannot possibly be reduced into practice?" (Mirabeau, _op.
cit._, 73.) The members of the order will in time become "Gothic
tyrants" (_ibid._, 14). He warns America against paralleling the
decadence of Rome (_ibid._, 25), suggesting a Rousseauistic
equalitarianism. Other references to Franklin's antipathy for the Order
are _Writings_, IX, 222, 269-70. Smyth observes that "passages in
brackets are not found in the draft in Library of Congress."]
[Footnote 120: The Quinquet lamp was invented in 1784. A. H. Smyth
suggests that March 20, 1784, is the exact date of composition, from
Franklin's sentence, "In the six months between the 20th of March and
the 20th of September...."]
[Footnote 121: Son of Cotton Mather. Died June 27, 1785.]
[Footnote 122: Benjamin Vaughan (1751-1835), unitarian, pro-colonial,
and a Lord Shelburne man. He edited the first collective edition of
Franklin's works in London (1779). See _Dictionary of National
Biography_, LVIII, 158-9.]
[Footnote 123: See _Writings_, IX, 264. Sparks (II, 383-426) reprints
George Whately's _Principles of Trade_. Elision marks indicate that
parts of this letter are omitted.]
[Footnote 124: A. H. Smyth quotes W. T. Franklin, who observes that the
book was Paley's _Moral Philosophy_ (_Writings_, IX, 488 note).]
[Footnote 125: A. H. Smyth thinks _The Retort Courteous_ (_ibid._, IX,
489 note).]
[Footnote 126: At Rancocas, New Jersey.]
[Footnote 127: Sparks (X, 281-2) prints this letter as to Thomas Paine.
Smyth, suggesting that Paine's "deistical writings" were not done before
1786, denies that Paine is the correspondent. H. H. Clark has argued
shrewdly (and with evidence) that since part of _The Age of Reason_ was
written before 1781 (this M. C. Conway in his _Life of Paine_ admits),
it is not implausible that Franklin's letter was directed to Paine. ("An
Historical Interpretation of Thomas Paine's Religion," _University of
California Chronicle_, XXXV, 84, 1933.)]
[Footnote 128: Since Franklin was acquainted with John Ray's _Wisdom of
God ..._, it is not improbable that he was acquainted with his aphorisms
published in 1670 (Cambridge), in which this wit occurs. It is also
found in Wollaston's _Religion of Nature Delineated_, but as in Ray, in
crude form: "It is as when a man spits at heaven, and the spittle falls
back upon his own face" (1725 ed., 132). Remembering that Franklin
helped set up this piece while working for Samuel Palmer in 1725, his
use of it may not be wholly fortuitous.]
[Footnote 129: His speech (delivered June 11, 1787) _On the Proportion
of Representation and Votes_ (_Writings_, IX, 595-9) shows how with
gift for compromise he helped to bring together the large and small
states through his dual scheme of equal and proportional representation
in the Senate and House.]
[Footnote 130: Compare _Writings_, IX, 659. He observes to Dupont de
Nemours (June 9, 1788), "The wisest must agree to some unreasonable
things, that reasonable ones of more consequence may be obtained."
Brackets are Franklin's.]
[Footnote 131: Clergyman of Boston and friend of Mrs. Mecom, Franklin's
sister. Elision marks indicate that parts of this letter are omitted.]
[Footnote 132: Charles Carroll (1737-1832). He had accompanied Franklin
on his Canada commission. See _Dictionary of American Biography_, III,
522-3.]
[Footnote 133: Compare _Writings_, IX, 636-9.]
[Footnote 134: Compare _Writings_, X, 60-3, 127-9.]
[Footnote 135: He writes (Nov. 2, 1789) to Benjamin Vaughan: "The
revolution in France is truly surprising. I sincerely wish it may end in
establishing a good constitution for that country. The mischiefs and
troubles it suffers in the operation, however, give me great concern"
(_Writings_, X, 50). He confesses (Nov. 13, 1789) to Jean Baptiste Le
Roy: "The voice of _Philosophy_ I apprehend can hardly be heard among
those tumults" (_ibid._, 69).]
[Footnote 136: Rev. Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), member of the American
Philosophical Society (1768), theologian and Newtonian scientist,
President of Yale (1778-1795). For the activities of this versatile
clergyman, see his _Literary Diary_, ed. by F. B. Dexter (3 vols., New
York, 1901), and I. M. Calder (ed.), _Letters and Papers of Ezra Stiles_
(New Haven, 1933). Also see Abiel Holmes's _Life of Ezra Stiles_
(Boston, 1798).]
[Footnote 137: Dr. Stuber's note, cited in _Writings_, X, 86-7: "Dr.
Franklin's name, as President of the Abolition Society, was signed to
the memorial presented to the House of Representatives of the United
States, on the 12th of February, 1789, praying them to exert the full
extent of power vested in them by the Constitution, in discouraging the
traffic of the human species. This was his last public act. In the
debates to which this memorial gave rise, several attempts were made to
justify the trade. In the _Federal Gazette_ of March 25th, 1790, there
appeared an essay, signed _Historicus_, written by Dr. Franklin, in
which he communicated a Speech, said to have been delivered in the Divan
of Algiers, in 1687, in opposition to the prayer of the petition of a
sect called _Erika_, or Purists, for the abolition of piracy and
slavery. This pretended African speech was an excellent parody of one
delivered by Mr. Jackson, of Georgia. All the arguments, urged in favour
of negro slavery, are applied with equal force to justify the plundering
and enslaving of Europeans. It affords, at the same time, a
demonstration of the futility of the arguments in defence of the
slave-trade, and of the strength of mind and ingenuity of the author, at
his advanced period of life. It furnishes, too, a no less convincing
proof of his power of imitating the style of other times and nations,
than his _Parable against Persecution_. And as the latter led many
persons to search the Scriptures with a view to find it, so the former
caused many persons to search the bookstores and libraries for the work
from which it was said to be extracted." According to the _Pennsylvania
Magazine of History and Biography_, XX, 50, the memorial was presented
in 1790.]
[Footnote 138: Date of composition uncertain. Printed as pamphlet in
1784.]
[Footnote 139: Date unknown.]
[Footnote 140: A. H. Smyth dates this piece as during the summer of 1786
(_Writings_, X, 131-2 note). Sparks and Bigelow had conjecturedly dated
it 1772.]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
5. Minor punctuation corrections have been made without comment and
include missing or misplaced periods, opening or closing quotation
marks and parentheses, apostrophes, hypens, etc., however no
punctuation has been added, a specific example being on:
p. 281, In the speech of "Father Abraham", p. 281-288, added closing
quote at end of speech to match opening quote at beginning, however
intervening paragraphs are without quote punctuation in the original
and have been retained so in this e-text.
6. Minor spacing corrections have been made as follows:
p. v, Contents, page numbers have been right justified in a column.
p. 13, "some how" to "somehow" (was once somehow or other)
p. 21 "De foe" to "Defoe" (Defoe in his Cruso)
p. 206, replaced blank space with double emdash, (are under ----
Years of Age)
p. 410, "TitlePage" to "Title Page" (Lines in the Title Page)
7. p. 3, In "Selections from BENJAMIN FRANKLIN", moved note about the
"Notes" section from the bottom to the top of selection, above the
header, as it pertains to ALL remaining pages.
8. SPELLING CORRECTIONS: (not otherwise marked by editor)
p. xxxix, "strengthned" to "strengthened" (14) (strengthened by long
prescription)
p. ci, "transfererd" to "transferred" (1) (transferred from the Penn
Charter) (in Footnote i-327)
*p. 9, "Wharf" to "Wharff" (My proposal was to build a Wharff)
p. 16, "Shaftsbury" to "Shaftesbury" (33) (reading Shaftesbury and
Collins)
p. 67, "preceeding" to "preceding" (16) (a preceding Wife)
p. 184, "hear" to "here" (I have here described)
*p. 266, "harrassed" to "harassed" (past has harassed them)
*p. 369, "harrassed" to "harassed" (order them to be harassed)
p. 347, "exhilirates" to "exhilerates" (exhilerates me more)
p. 451, "Univers" to "Universe" (greatest in the Universe;)
*Correction made because word occurs correctly or alternately spelled
elsewhere in the SAME document.
9. WORD VARIATIONS: (found to be valid spellings in W. E. D.)
"abovementioned" (1) and "above-mentioned" (1)
"abridgment" (15) and "abridgement" (2)
"agreable" (11) and "agreeable" (26)
"ale-house" (1) and "alehouse" (1)
"Algernon Sidney" (1) and "Algernoon Sidney" (1)
"allege" (7) and "alledge" (2)
"Almanac" (10) and "Almanack" (38)
"antient" (15) and "ancient" (50)
"apetite" (1) and "appetite" (7)
"arithmetic" (9) and "arithmetick" (5)
"balance" (13) and "ballance" (5)
"beforementioned" (1) and "before-mentioned" (1)
"bias" (4) and "biass" (2)
"Boulogne" (2) and "Bouloigne" (1)
"boundlessly" (1) and "boundlesly" (1)
"Brientnal" (3) (in Autobiography), "Breintnal" (1) (in Introduction)
and "Breintnall" (3) (in footnotes)
"Broussonet" (1) and "Broussonnet" (1)
"burden" (7) and "burthen" (12)
"Cabin" (5) and "Cabbin" (2)
"Caesar" (1) and "Cesar" (1)
"characteris'd" (1) and "characterized" (1)
"chearfulness" (1) and "cheerfulness" (1)
"Chelsea" (2) and "Chelsey" (1)
"Chesnut Street" (1) and "Chestnut Street" (1)
"chuse" (8) and "choose" (7)
"Classics" (2) and "Classicks" (1)
"Clothes" (4) and "Cloaths" (4)
"Coffee House" (2) and "Coffee-house" (2)
"compleat" (10) and "complete" (11)
"control" (3) and "controul" (4)
"courthouse" (1) and "court-house" (1)
"croud" (3) and "crowd" (12)
"Curiositee" (1) and "Curiosity" (8)
"Customhouse" (1) and "Custom-house" (1)
"d'Alibard" (2) and "Dalibared" (2)
"dependence" (5) and "dependance" (6)
"disagreable" (3) and "disagreeable" (5)
"drove" (3) and "drave" (1)
"Edinborough" (1) and "Edinburgh" (9)
"Eliptic" (1) and "Eliptick" (1)
"Encyclopædia" (4) and "Encyclopedia" (2)
"Encyclopædists" (2) and "Encyclopedists" (1)
"enlightened" (2) and "enlightned" (2)
"enter" (7) and "entre" (5)
"entitled" (8) and "entituled" (Old Fr. Sp.) (2)
"expel" (1) and "expell" (1)
"Expence" (22) and "Expense" (3)
"extreme" (21) and "extream" (26)
"Falsehood" (2) and "Falshood" (4)
"Favor" (1) and "Favour" (26)
"fixt" (3) and "fixed" (14)
"Folger" (1) and "Folgier" (1) (Peter ----)
"foretell" (1) and "fortel" (1)
"Free-will" (1) and "Free-Will" (1)
"froze" (2) and "Frose" (1)
"Good-Will" (1), "Good-will" (3), and "Goodwill" (1)
"Governor" (47) and "Governour" (1)
"Grub-Street" (1) and "Grub-street" (1)
"Hawksworth" (1) and "Hawkesworth" (4)
"hainous" (1) and "heinous" (1)
"height" (6), "heigth" (1), and "heighth" (1)
"hindered" (2) and "hindred" (1)
"home-spun" (1) and "homespun" (1)
"Humor" (1) and "Humour" (5)
"Ill-will" (2) and "Ill-Will" (1)
"Increase" (114) and "Encrease" (8)
"indiscrete" (1) and "indiscreet" (3)
"intolerable" (2) and "intollerable" (1)
"Jealousy" (3) and "Jealousie" (1)
"Job" (12) and "Jobb" (4) (as in work)
"Joli" (1) and "Joly" (3) (Moulin ----)
"Journey-man" (1),"Journeyman('s)" (3) and JourneyMen (1)
"Knicknacks" (1) and "Nicknack" (1)
"Labors" (1) and "Labours" (5)
"land-holder" (1) and "Land-holder" (1)
"Latinè" (1) and "Latine" (1)
"laught" (3) and "laughed" (3)
"Linnaeus" (1) and "Linnæus" (2) (a Naturalist)
"Livlihood" (4) and "Livelyhood" (1)
"Mama" (1) and "Mamma" (1)
"mankind" (35) and "man-kind" (1) (in quoted material)
"Mathmatics" (4) and "Mathmaticks" (1)
"Mechanic" (7) and "Mechanick" (4)
"melancholy" (4) and "melancholly" (2)
"Merchandise" (1) and "Merchandize" (2)
"middle-ag'd" (1) and "middle-aged" (1)
"music" (7) and "musick" (4)
*"natural" (193) and "naturall" (1) (in Bacon Quote)
"Negro" (3) and "Negroe" (11)
"Neighbor" (1) and "Neighbour" (11)
"News-Paper" (2) and "NewsPapers" (1)
"News-writers" (1) and "Newswriters" (1)
"nonsense" (5) and "nonsence" (1)
*"obtain" (28) and "obteyn" (1) (in Mather quote)
"Offence" (14) and "Offense" (2)
"Optics" (1) and "Opticks" (1)
"partial" (7) and "partiall" (1)
"Penny-worth" (1) and "Pennyworth(s)" (1)
"Pennsylvania" (159) and "Pensilvania" (15) and "Pensylvania" (1)
"persuaded" (16) and "perswaded" (2)
"Physic" (1) and "Physick" (2)
"Polly" (9) and "Polley" (1) (---- Stevenson)
"Portrait" (9) and "Pourtrait" (1)
"possest" (1) and "possessed" (10)
"printing-house" (2), "Printing-house" (2), "Printing-House" (7) and
"Printinghouse" (2)
"Priviledge" (1) and "Privilege" (3)
"Public" (22) and "Publick" (43)
*"Puffendorf" (3) and "Puffendorff" (1)
"rejoicing" (5) and "rejoycing" (1)
"rendered" (7) and "rendred" (1)
"rendering" (3) and "rendring" (1)
"Rhetoric" (6) and "Rhetorick" (1)
"rhime" (3) and "rhyme" (3)
"Rhode Island" (4) and "Rhodeisland" (3)
"Ribands" (1) and "Ribbands" (4)
"Rochefoucauld" (2), "Rochefoucault" (1) and "Larochefoucault" (1)
"role" (5) and rôle (2)
"rouse" (1) and "rouze" (1)
"satirize" (1) and "satyrize" (1)
"Scolar" (7) and "Scollar" (1)
"seacoasts" (1) and "sea-coasts" (1)
"Silinc" (1) and "Silence" (4) (---- Dogood)
"smoke" (3) and "smoak" (2)
"soured" (1) and "sowred" (1)
"staied" (2) and "stayed" (2)
"straight" (4) and "strait" (8)
"subtle" (1) and "subtile" (1)
"sunset" (1) and "sun-set" (1)
"surprise" (11) and "surprize" (16)
"Surveyor-General" (1) and "Surveyor General" (2)
"Susquehannah" (1), "Susquehanah" (1) and "Sasquehannah" (1)
"threatened" (5) and "threatned" (1)
"tiger" (1) and "tyger" (1)
"to-day" (6) (in text) and "today" (5)
"topic" (2) and "topick" (1)
"Une loge" (1) and "Un loge" (1)
"virtuous" (19) and "vertuous" (1)
"Watergruel" (1) and "Water-gruel" (1)
"wellmeaning (1) and "well-meaning" (1)
"wondered" (4) and "wondred" (1)
"Wool" (3) and "Wooll" (4)
(* found within directly quoted material)
10. Several instances of mixed case words appear in the text as follows:
footPath, JourneyMen, mySelf, thySelf, etc., and have been retained.
