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 ^^^ Autobiography 
 
 OF 
 
 Benjamin 
 Franklin 
 
 
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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 Benjamin Franklin 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 HENRY ALTEMUS 
 
 1895 
 
W5 
 
 Copyrighted 1895, by Henry Altemus. 
 
 HENRY ALTEMUS, MANUFACTURBB, 
 FHII.AUEi.fUIA. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction, . . . . . . . .9 
 
 Franklin and Genealogy of his Family — His Birth — His 
 Mother — Employments in his Boyhood — Anecdote 
 — Character of his Father— Epitaph of his Father 
 and Mother — Fond of Reading — Apprenticed to his 
 Brother to learn the Printer's Trade — Writes Bal- 
 lads — Intimacy with Collins — Practises Composi- 
 tion — Adopts a Vegetable Diet — Studies the So- 
 cratic Metliod of Disputation — Concerned in pub- 
 lishing a Newspaper — Disagrees with his Brother — 
 Leaves Boston and takes Passage in a Sloop for New 
 York, 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Journey to Philadelphia — Adventure in a Boat— Dr. 
 Brown— Burlington — His first Appearance in Phil- 
 adelphia — Quaker Meeting — Seeks for Employment 
 as a Printer — Commences Work in Keimer's Office 
 — Forms Acquaintances — Patronised by Sir Wil- 
 liam Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania — First Inter- 
 view with him — Keith proposes to set him up in 
 Business — Returns to Boston— His Father disap- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 proves Keith's Plan — Voyage to New York — Inci- 
 dent on the Passage from Newport — Meets his Friend 
 Collins in New York — They go together to Phila- 
 delphia — Collins's ill Conduct causes a Separation — 
 Keith insists on executing his original Plan, and 
 proposes sending him to London to purchase Types 
 — Returns to the use of Animal Food — Anecdotes of 
 Keimer — His Associates, Osborne. Watson, Ralph 
 — Their Exercises in Composition — Resolves to 
 visit England, as advised by Governor Keith, . 52 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 Sails for London, accompanied by Ralph — On his Ar- 
 rival delivers Letters supposed to be written by the 
 Governor — Discovers that Keith had deceived him 
 — His Money exhausted — Engages to work as a 
 Printer at Palmer's in Bartholomew Close — Writes 
 and prints a metaphysical Tract — Frequents a 
 Club, consisting of Dr. Mandeville and others — 
 Disagreement with Ralph, and Separation — Re- 
 moves to Watt's Printing-house near Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields — Habits of the Workmen — His Expenses of 
 Living — Feats of Activity in Swimming — Enters 
 into Mercantile Business with Mr. Denham — Sir 
 William Wyndham 82 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Voyage from London to Philadelphia — His Mercantile 
 Plans defeated by the Death of Mr. Denham — Ac- 
 cepts an Offer from Keimer to superintend his 
 Printing Establishment — Description of the Work- 
 men in the Printing-house — Resolves to separate 
 
CONTEH^TS. 5 
 
 PAGE 
 
 from Keimer and commence Business on his own 
 Account — Engraves the Plates for Paper Money in 
 New Jersey and prints the Bills — His Views of Re- 
 ligion — Account of his London Pamphlet — A New 
 "Version of the Lord 's Prayer, with Explanatory Re- 
 marks — Forms a Partnership with Hugh Meredith 
 in the Printing Business, 98 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Junto—Description of its original Members — 
 Franklin writes the "Busy Body" — Establishes a 
 Newspaper — Partnership with Meredith dissolved 
 — Writes a Tract on the Necessity of a Paper Cur- 
 rency — Opens a Stationer's Shop — His habits of 
 Industry and Frugality— Courtship— Marriage, . . 116 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Origin of the Philadelphia Library — Mode of obtaining 
 Subscriptions — Thrives in his Business — Anecdote 
 of the Silver Spoon and China Bowl — Religious 
 Sentiments, and Remarks on Preaching — Scheme 
 for arriving at Moral Perfection — Explanation of 
 the SchemG--Lists of Virtues enumerated, and 
 Rules for Practising them — Division of Time and 
 the Occupation of each Hoar — Amusing Anecdote 
 — The Art of Virtue — A Treatise on that Subject 
 proposed, 138 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Scheme of a Society for extending the Influence of 
 Virtue —Belief in one God, the Immortality of the 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Soul, and future Rewards and Punishments — Poor 
 Richard's Almanac — Rules for conducting a News- 
 paper — Controversy concerning Hemphill the 
 Preacher — Studies the French, Italian, and Spanish 
 Languages — Visits Boston — The Junto— Chosen 
 Clerk of the Assembly — Appointed Postmaster of 
 Philadelphia — Suggests Improvements in the City 
 Watch — Establishes a Fire Company, . . . 164 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Forms an Intimacy with Whitefield — Building erected 
 for Preachers of all Denominations — Character of 
 Whitefield, his Oratory and Writings — Partner- 
 ships in the Printing Business — Proposes a Philo- 
 osphical Society — Takes an active Part in provid- 
 ing Means of Defence in the Spanish War — Forms 
 an Association for that Purpose — Sentiments of 
 the Quakers — James Logan — Anecdote of William 
 Penn — The Sect called Dunkers — Religious Creeds 
 — New-invented Fireplace, 185 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Proposals relating to the Education of Youth — Sub- 
 scriptions for that Object — An Academy established 
 — Appointed one of the Trustees for managing it — 
 Partnership with David Hall — Electrical Experi- 
 ments — Chosen a Member of the Assembly— A 
 Commissioner for making a Treaty with the In- 
 dians — Pennsylvania Hospital — Writes in favour 
 of it, and procures Subscriptions — Advice to Gil- 
 bert Tennent— Suggests Plans for cleaning, paving, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 and lighting the Streets of Philadelphia — Project 
 for cleaning the Streets of London — Appointed 
 Postmaster-general for America — Receives the De- 
 gree of Master of Arts from Harvard and Yale Col- 
 leges, 20& 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Attends a General Convention at Albany, as a Delegate 
 from Pennsylvania — Proposes a Plan of Union for 
 the Colonies, which is adopted by the convention 
 — Interview with Governor Shirley at Boston — Con- 
 versations with Governor Morris on Pennsylvania 
 Affairs — Assists Mr. Quincy in procuring Aids for 
 New England — Visits General Braddock's Army 
 in Maryland — Procures Horses and Waggons to 
 facilitate the March of the Army — Obtains Supplies 
 for the Officers — Character of Braddock — Account 
 of his Defeat in the Battle of the Monongahela — 
 Braddock commends his Services in Letters to the 
 Government — These Services poorly rewarded — So- 
 ciety for the Relief and Instruction of Germans 
 in Pennsylvania, 230 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Appointed one of the Commissioners for appropriating 
 the Public Money for Military Defence — Proposes 
 • a Militia Bill, which passes the Assembly' — Com- 
 missioned to take Charge of the Frontier and build 
 a Line of Forts — Marches at the Head of a Body 
 of Troops — Account of the March — Operations 
 at Gnadenhut — Indian Massacres — Moravians at 
 Bethlehem — Returns to Philadelphia — Chosen Colo- 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 nel of a Regiment — Journey to Virginia— Declines 
 accepting the Governor's Proposal to lead an Ex- 
 pedition against Fort Duquesne — Account of his 
 Electrical Discoveries — Chosen a Member of the 
 Royal Society — Receives the Copley Medal, . . 253 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Conversations with Governor Denny — Disputes be- 
 tween the Governor and Assembly — Deputed by the 
 Assembly to present a Petition to the King and to 
 act in England as an Agent for Pennsylvania — 
 Meets Lord Loudoun in New York — Anecdotes 
 illustrating his Character — Sails from New York — 
 Incidents of the Voyage — Arrives in England, . . 273 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The ensuing Autobiography finishes in the year 
 1757, with the arrival of Franklin in England, 
 whither he was sent by the Assembly of Pennsylvania 
 to insist upon the rights of the province to tax the 
 proprietors of the land still held under the Penn 
 charter for their share of the cost of defending it 
 from hostile Indians and others. In this mission he 
 was completely successful. Indeed, his services were 
 found to be so valuable that he was appointed agent 
 also for the provinces of Massachusetts, Maryland, 
 and Georgia. While in England he was honoured with 
 the degree of Doctor of Laws by the universities of 
 Oxford, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews. He was also 
 made an iVssociate of the Academy of Paris. 
 
 These honours were granted chiefly on account of 
 his contributions to the advancement of electrical 
 science, as described, though briefly, in the following 
 pages. These important researches in electricity 
 were commenced in 1746, and in the course of a few 
 years gave him rank amongst the most illustrious 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 natural philosophers. He exhibited in a more dis- 
 tinct manner than had hitherto been done the theory 
 of positive and negative electricity by means of his 
 "well-known experiment with a kite. He demon- 
 strated also that lightning and electricity are identi- 
 cal ; and it was he who first suggested the lightning- 
 rod as a means of protecting buildings. 
 
 In 1762 Franklin returned to America; but two 
 years afterwards he was again sent to England — this 
 time to contest the pretensions of Parliament to tax 
 the American colonies without representation. The 
 obnoxious Stamp Act was threatened, and he was ex- 
 amined before the House of Commons in regard 
 thereto. The act was passed— to be repealed, however, 
 in the following year. Meanwhile the differences 
 between the British government and the colonies in 
 regard to the prerogatives of the Crown and the 
 powers of Parliament became more and more grave 
 in consequence of the home government still claiming 
 the right to tax. The dispute quickly grew from 
 bad to worse, and in 1773 officers sent to New Eng- 
 land were resisted in the performance of their duty. 
 To such a pass did matters now speedily come that 
 in 1775 Franklin decided, as well from patriotic mo- 
 tives as from a regard to his personal safety, to re- 
 turn to America. He was immediately elected a 
 delegate to the congress convened by the thirteen 
 provinces or states to concert measures for their com- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 mon defence, and which at once declared in favour 
 of dissolving the political connection with Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Franklin soon became one of the most active men 
 in the contest between England and the Colonies, 
 which resulted in the declaration of independence, 
 July 4, 1776, and in the establishment of what has 
 since been known as the Kepublic of the United 
 States. Towards the end of 1776 he was sent as spe- 
 cial envoy to France to negotiate a treaty of alliance. 
 His fame as a philosopher and statesman had already 
 preceded him, and he was received with every mark 
 of consideration and respect. His mission to France 
 was successful, and in February, 1778, he signed a 
 treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between 
 France and the United States. This produced war 
 between England and France, which lasted for sev- 
 eral years. However, in September, 1783, the British 
 government recognized the independence of the 
 United States, and Franklin signed the treaty of 
 peace between the mother country and her revolted 
 colonies. 
 
 He continued to discharge the duties of minister 
 plenipotentiary to France until 1785, when, in con- 
 sequence of his advancing age and infirmities, he was 
 relieved of the post at his own request. Reaching 
 Philadelphia in September of that year, he -was 
 elected almost immediately president of the State of 
 
13 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Pennsylvania. To this office he was twice unani- 
 mously re-elected. During the period of his service 
 as president he was sent as a delegate from his state 
 to the convention which framed the constitution of 
 the United States. In 1788, that is, at the end of 
 his third term as president of the Supreme Council, 
 Franklin retired into private life, after having spent 
 upwards of forty years in the public service of his 
 country. He died at Philadelphia, full of years and 
 honours, at the age of eighty-four, on the 17th of 
 April, 1790. 
 
 After his death a general mourning of two months 
 was ordered by Congress as a tribute to the memory 
 of one who had done so much by his wisdom and his 
 activity in establishing the Eepublic. 
 
 In addition to his political, miscellaneous, and 
 philosophical compositions, Franklin wrote several 
 papers in the American Transactions., and two vol- 
 umes of Essays, all of which have been carefully col- 
 lected and edited. In all his writings is evidenced 
 his wonderful gift of shrewd common-sense and prac- 
 tical wisdom. These are seen from end to end of his 
 Autobiogra,phy. His " weather eye" is always open — 
 upon himself as well as upon others; and while he 
 neither deceives himself nor allows others to deceive 
 him, so he takes care not to deceive his readers. He 
 tells us that he sets some things down out of vanity, 
 and that though his pride may be scotched, it cannot 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 be killed. He holds, indeed, that these qualities 
 are right in their place; but he tries to keep them in 
 their true place and subjection. His revelation of 
 himself is a very frank one — almost the frankest that 
 has ever been written ; and it is full of wise hints 
 for those who know how to take them. Goethe wrote 
 Ms life, but he called it "Truth and Poetry" (Wahr- 
 heit unci Dichtung)^ and Renan tells us that when men 
 write their lives it is mostly poetry they set down. 
 Franklin seems to have written only the truth, leav- 
 ing out the poetry; and yet there is not wanting a 
 line and even a grand thread of poetry running 
 through that active and ever-striving life, that began 
 as a printer's boy and ended as one of the foremost 
 makers of a nation, who, despite his political occu- 
 pations, ranked also among the* leading philosophical 
 and scientific men of his time. 
 
 Not the least remarkable point in Franklin's 
 career is the fact that, notwithstanding the scientific 
 eminence he attained, he was able to devote but seven 
 or eight years in all to his scientific researches before 
 his talents were required in the more active sphere 
 of politics. Yet in that time he not only made his 
 famous electrical discoveries, but instituted those 
 researches into the course of storms across the Amer- 
 ican continent which mark an epoch in the science 
 of meteorology, and have greatly aided in the devel- 
 opment of land and ocean telegraphy. His name is 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 also connected with our knowledge of the course of 
 the most important characteristics of the Gulf 
 Stream. He likewise gave much time to the inquiry 
 as to the diverse powers of different colours to absorb 
 solar heat, and arrived at many important results. 
 
 Not the least of his many services to mankind was 
 the practical wisdom which, during the time that 
 he was a printer and the publisher of a newspaper, 
 he was forever throwing broadcast amongst the poor 
 colonists, pointing out the way to wealth and inde- 
 pendence, and thus doing much towards making 
 them what they soon became, a patient, persevering, 
 and self-reliant people. His essays in the Pennsyl- 
 vania Gazette are mines of wealth in this respect. 
 The following, taken from an article entitled "Nec- 
 essary hints to those who would be rich," will serve 
 as a specimen of his prudential counsels: 
 
 " The use of money is all the advantage there is in 
 having money. 
 
 "For six pounds a year you may have the use of 
 one hundred pounds, provided you are a man of 
 known prudence and honesty. 
 
 " He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly 
 about six pounds a year, which is the price for the 
 use of one hundred pounds. 
 
 " He that wastes idly a groat's worth of his time 
 per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege 
 of using one hundred pounds each day. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 "He that idly loses five shillings' worth of time 
 loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five 
 shillings into the sea. 
 
 "He that loses five shillings, not only loses that 
 sum, but all the advantages that might be made by 
 turning it in dealing, which, by the time that a 
 young man becomes old, will amount to a considera- 
 ble sum of money." 
 
 This may be, and has been characterized by some 
 as, very worldly wisdom ; but as Franklin himself has 
 pointed out, it is a wisdom that lies necessarily at the 
 root of much that is better and higher. It exhibits, 
 moreover, only one phase of that general and practi- 
 cal wisdom with which he viewed every department 
 of life, from the lowest to the highest. 
 
 Reference is made in the Autobiography to one 
 or two of Franklin's inventions, but nothing is said 
 of the debt we owe to him in respect to the har- 
 monica or musical glasses. He possessed considera- 
 ble skill in music; and if he did not actually invent, 
 he so far improved the harmonica as to develop it 
 from a toy into an available instrument of music. 
 
 Franklin began to write the following account of 
 his life in the form of a letter to his son, the Gov- 
 ernor of New Jersey, in 1771, when on a visit to his 
 friend, Dr. Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph. 
 At this time he brought the Autobiography down to 
 the period of his marriage. Nothing more was added 
 
16 / INTRODUCTION. 
 
 until 1784, when he wrote another chapter while 
 living at Passy. The remainder was written some 
 four years later, at which time he had returned to 
 Philadelphia, and was eighty-two years old. 
 
 While Franklin was in France as United States 
 minister, he showed a copy of his Autobiography to 
 some of his friends there, one of whom, M. Le 
 Veillard, translated it into French. Shortly after 
 Franklin's death this translation was published in 
 France. It was then retranslated into English' and 
 appeared in London, and was for a long time accepted 
 both in England and the United States as though it 
 were the author's original work. Finally, however, 
 the Autobiography was published by Franklin's 
 grandson, William Temple Franklin, from the orig- 
 inal manuscript, and it is from this copy, edited by 
 Jared Sparks, that the present edition has been pre- 
 pared. 
 
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 OHAPTEE I. 
 
 FIRST START IX LIFE. 
 
 I HAVE ever had a pleasure in obtaining any little 
 anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the 
 inquiries I made among the remains of my relations 
 when you were with me in England, and the journey 
 I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be 
 equally agreeable to you to learn the circumstances 
 of my life, many of which you are acquainted with, 
 and expecting the enjoyment of a few weeks' unin- 
 terrupted leisure, I sit down to write them. Besides, 
 there are some other inducements that excite me to 
 this undertaking. From the poverty and obscurity in 
 which I was born, and in which I passed my earliest 
 years, I have raised myself to a state of affluence and 
 some degree of celebrity in the world. As constant 
 2 
 
18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 good fortune has accompanied me even to an ad- 
 vanced period of life, my posterity will perhaps be 
 desirous of learning the means which I employed, and 
 which, thanks to Providence, so well succeeded with 
 me. They may also deem them fit to be imitated, 
 should any of them find themselves in similar cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 This good fortune, when I reflect on it (which is 
 frequently the case), has induced me sometimes to 
 say that, if it were left to my choice, I should have 
 no objection to go over the same life from its begin- 
 ning to the end, requesting only the advantage au- 
 thors have of correcting in a second edition the faults 
 of the first. So would I also wish to change some 
 incidents of it for others more favorable. ' Notwith- 
 standing, if this condition was denied, I should still 
 accept the offer of recommencing the same life. But 
 as this repetition is not to be expected, that which 
 resembles most living one's life over again seems to 
 be to recall all the circumstances of it, and, to render 
 this remembrance more durable, to record them in 
 writing. 
 
 In thus employing myself, I shall yield to the in- 
 clination so natural to old men, of talking of them- 
 selves and their own actions; and I shall indulge it 
 without being tiresome to those who, from respect to 
 my age, might conceive themselves obliged to listen 
 to me, since they will be always free to read me or 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 19 
 
 not. And, lastly (I may as well confess it, as the 
 denial of it would be believed by nobody), I shall, 
 perhaps, not a little gratify my own vanity. Indeed, 
 I never heard or saw the introductory words, " With- 
 out vanity I may say," etc., but some vain thing im- 
 mediately followed. Most people dislike vanity in 
 others, whatever share they have of it themselves; 
 but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, 
 being persuaded that it is often productive of good to 
 the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere 
 of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not 
 be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for 
 his vanity among the other comforts of life. 
 
 And now I speak of thanking God, I desire, with 
 all humility, to acknowledge that I attribute the 
 mentioned happiness of my past life to His divine 
 providence, which led me to the means I used, and 
 gave the success. My belief of this induces me to 
 hope, though I must not inesume, that the same 
 goodness will still be exercised towards me in contin- 
 uing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal 
 reverse, which I may experience as others have done; 
 the complexion of my future fortune being known 
 to Him only in whose power it is to bless us, even 
 in our afflictions. 
 
 Some notes, which one of my uncles, who had the 
 same curiosity in collecting family anecdotes, once 
 put into my hands, furnished me with several partic- 
 
30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ulars relative to our ancestors. From these notes I 
 learned that they lived in the same village, Ecton, 
 in Northamptonshire, on a freehold of about thirty 
 acres, for at least three hundred years, and how much 
 longer could not be ascertained.* 
 
 This small estate would not have sufficed for their 
 maintenance without tlie business of a smith, which 
 had continued in the family down to my uncle's 
 time, the eldest son being always brought up to that 
 employment; a custom which he and my father fol- 
 lowed with regard to their eldest sons. When I 
 searched the registers at Ecton, I found an account 
 of their marriages and burials from the year 1555 
 only, as the registers kept did not commence previ- 
 ous thereto. I, however, learned from it that I was 
 the youngest son of the youngest son for five genera- 
 
 * Perhaps from the time, when the name of Franklin, 
 which before was the name of an order of people, was as- 
 sumed by them for a surname, when others took surnames 
 all over the kingdom. 
 
 As a proof that Franklin was anciently the common 
 name of an order or rank in England, see Judge Fortescue, 
 De laudibiis Legum Anglia, written about the year 1412. in 
 which is the following passage, to show that good juries 
 might easily be formed in any part of England — 
 
 " Moreover, the same country is so filled and replenished 
 with landed menne, that therein so small a Thorpe cannot 
 be found wherein dwelleth not a knight, an esquire, or such 
 a liouseholder, as is there commonly called a Franklin, 
 enriched with great possessions; and also other freehold- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 21 
 
 tions back. My grandfather, Thomas, who was born 
 in 1598, lived at Ecton till he was too old to con- 
 tinue his business, when he retired to Banbury, in 
 Oxfordshire, to the house of his son John, with 
 whom my father served an apprenticeship. There 
 I my uncle died, and lies buried. We saw his grave- 
 stone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the 
 house at Ecton, and left it, with the land, to his only 
 daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of 
 Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of 
 the manor there. My grandfather had four sons, 
 who grew up; viz., Thomas, John, Benjamin, and 
 Josiah. Being at a distance from my papers, I will 
 give you what account I can of them from memory; 
 
 ers, and many yeomen able for their livelihoods to make 
 a jury in form aforementioned." — Old Translation. 
 
 Chaucer, too, calls his Country Gentleman a Franklin, 
 and, after describing his good housekeeping, thus charac- 
 terizes him — 
 
 "This worthy Franklin bore a purse of silk, 
 Fixed to his girdle, white as morning milk. 
 Knight of the Shire, first Justice at th' Assize, 
 To help the poor, the doubtful to advise. 
 In all employments, generous, just, he proved ; 
 Renowned for courtesy, by all beloved. " 
 Again — 
 
 " A spacious court they see. 
 
 But plain and pleasant to be walked in 
 Where them does meet a Franklin fair and free." 
 Spenser's Faery Queen. 
 
22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and if my papers are not lost in my absence, you will 
 find among them many more particulars. 
 
 Thomas, my eldest uncle, was bred a smith under 
 his father, but, being ingenious, and encouraged in 
 learning, as all his brothers were, by an Esquire 
 Palmer, then the principal inhabitant of that parish, 
 he qualified himself for the bar, and became a con- 
 siderable man in the county; was chief mover of all 
 public-spirited enterprises for the county or town of 
 Northampton, as well as of his own village, of which 
 many instances were related of him; and he was 
 much taken notice of and patronized by Lord Hali- 
 fax. He died in 1702, the 6th of January, four 
 years, to a day, before I was born. The recital which 
 some elderly persons made to us of his character, I 
 remember struck you as something extraordinary, 
 from its similarity with what you knew of me. 
 "Had he died," said you, "four years later, on the 
 same day, one might have supposed a transmigration." 
 
 John, my next uncle, was bred a dyer, I believe of 
 wool. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an 
 apprenticeship in London. He Avas an ingenious 
 man. I remember, when I was a boy, he came to 
 my father's in Boston, and resided^jn the house with 
 us for several years. There was always a particular 
 affection between my father and him, and I was liis 
 godson. He lived to a great age. He left behind 
 him two quarto volumes of manuscript, of his own 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 23 
 
 poetry, consisting of fugitive pieces addressed to his 
 friends. He had invented a shorthand of his own, 
 which he taught me; but, not having practised it, I 
 have now forgotten it. He was very pious, and an 
 assiduous attendant at the sermons of the best 
 preachers, which he reduced to writing according 
 to his method, and had thus collected several vol- 
 umes of them. 
 
 He was also a good deal of a politician ; too much 
 so, perhaps, for his station. There fell lately into 
 my hands, in London, a collection he had made of 
 all the principal political pamphlets relating to pub- 
 lic affairs, from the year 1641 to 1717. Many of the 
 volumes are wanting, as apjpears by their numbering; 
 but there still remain eight volumes in folio, and 
 twenty in quarto and in octavo. A dealer in old 
 books had met with them, and, knowing me byname, 
 I having bought books of him, he brought them to 
 me. It would appear that my uncle must have left 
 them here, when he went to America, which was 
 about fifty years ago. I found several of his notes in 
 the margins. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, is 
 still living in Boston.* 
 
 *This grandson of Ben jamin Franklin followed the trade 
 of his father, which was that of a cutler. On the father's 
 sign, suspended over the shop door, was painted a crown, 
 with his name, "Samuel Franklin, from London." It had 
 also some of the implements of his trade. This sign was 
 
24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Our humble family early embraced the reformed 
 religion. Our forefathers continued Protestants 
 through the reign of Mary, when they were some- 
 times in danger of persecution, on account of their 
 zeal against popery. They had an English Bible, 
 and to conceal it and place it in safety, it was fast- 
 ened open with tapes, under and within the cover of 
 a joint stool. When my great-grandfather wished to 
 read it to his family, he placed the joint stool on his 
 knees, and then turned over the leaves under the 
 tapes. One of the children stood at the door to 
 give notice if he saw the apparitor coming, who was 
 an officer of the spiritual court. In that case the 
 stool was turned down again upon its feet, when the 
 Bible remained concealed under it as before. This 
 anecdote I had from uncle Benjamin. The family 
 continued all of the church of England till about the 
 end of Charles the Second's reign, when some of 
 the ministers that had been outed for their non- 
 retained by Samuel FrankliD the younger. At the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution, the "Sons of Liberty" took offence 
 at this crown, and demanded the removal of the sign ; but 
 they finally contented themselves with daubing a coat of 
 paint over the crown, leaving "Samuel Franklin, from 
 London," and the implements of cutlery. Time gradually 
 wore off the paint from the crown, so as to make it faintly 
 visible ; and Mather Byles, who was noted for his loyalty 
 as for his puns, used to lament to Mrs. Franklin, that she 
 should live at the sign of the half-crown. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 25 
 
 conformity, holding conventicles in Northampton- 
 shire, my uncle Benjamin, and my father, Josiah, 
 adhered to them, and so continued all their lives. 
 The rest of the family remained with the Episcoi3al 
 church. 
 
 My father married_.yjiu^g, and carried his wife, 
 with tliree children, to New England, about 1685. 
 The conventicles being at that time forbidden by 
 law, and frequently disturbed in the meetings, some 
 considerable men of his acquaintances determined to 
 go to that country, and he was prevailed with to ac- 
 company them thither, where they expected to enjoy 
 the exercise of their religion with freedom. By the 
 same wife my father had four children more born 
 there, and by a second, ten others — in all seventeen; 
 of whom I remember to have' seen thirteen sitting to- 
 gether at his table; who all grew up to years of ma- 
 turity, and were married. I was the youngest son, 
 and the youngest of all the children except two 
 daughters. I was born in Boston, in New England. "* 
 
 *He was born January 6th, 1706, Old Style, being Sun- 
 day, and the same as January 17th, New Style, which 
 his biographers have usually mentioned as the day of his 
 birth. By the records of tlie Old South Church in Boston, 
 to which his father and mother belonged, it appears that 
 he was baptized the same day. In the old public Register 
 of Births, still preserved in the Mayor's office in Boston, 
 his birth is recorded under the date of January 6th, 1706. 
 At this time liis fatlier occupied a house in Milk Street, 
 
26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 My mother, the second wife of my father, was Abiab 
 Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first 
 settlers of New England; of whom honourable men- 
 tion is made by Cotton Mather, in his ecclesiastical 
 history of that country, entitled Magnalia Cliristi 
 Americana, Si% "a godly and learned Englishman," 
 if I remember the words rightly. I was informed he 
 wrote several small occasional works, but only one of 
 them was printed, which I remember to have seen 
 several years since. It w^as written in 1675. It was 
 in familiar verse, according to the taste of the times 
 and people; and addressed to the government there. 
 -lilt asserts the liberty of conscience in behalf of the 
 Anabaptists, the Quakers, and other sectaries, that, 
 had been persecuted. He attributes to this persecu- 
 tion the Indian wars, and other calamities that had 
 befallen the country; regarding them as so many 
 judgments of God to punish so heinous an offence, 
 and exhorting the repeal of those laws, so contrary 
 to charity. This piece appeared to me as written 
 with manly freedom, and a pleasing simplicity. The 
 six last lines I remember, but have forgotten the 
 preceding ones of the stanza; the purport of 
 them was, that his censures proceeded from good- 
 
 opposite to the Old South Church, but lie removed shortly 
 afterwards to a house at the corner of Hanover and Union 
 Streets, where it is believed he resided the remainder of 
 his life, and where the son passed his early years. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 27 
 
 will, and therefore he would he known to be the 
 author : 
 
 " Because to be a libeller 
 
 I hate it with my heart. 
 From Sherbon Town* where now I dwell, 
 
 My name I do jDut here ; 
 Without offence your real friend, 
 
 It is Peter Folger."f 
 
 My elder brothers were all put apprentices to dif- 
 ferent 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 
 
 * In the island of Nantucket. 
 
 t The poem, if such it may be called, of which these 
 are the closing lines, extends through fourteen pages of 
 a duodecimo pamphlet, entitled, ""A Looking-Glass for 
 the Times ; or the former Spirit of Neiv England revived 
 in this generation ; by Peter Folger. " It is dated at the 
 end, "April 23rd, 1676." The lines which immediately 
 precede those quoted by Dr. Franklin, and which are nec- 
 essary to complete the sentiment intended to be conveyed 
 by the author, are the following : — 
 
 " I am for peace and not for war. 
 And that's the reason why 
 I write more plain than some men do. 
 
 That use to daub and lie. 
 But I shall cease, and set my name 
 
 To what I here insert. 
 Because to be a libeller," &c. 
 
28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 have been very early, as I do not remember when I 
 could not read, and the opinion of all his friends that 
 1 should certainly make a good scholar, encouraged 
 him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, 
 approved of it, and proposed to give me his short- 
 hand volumes of sermons, to set up with, if I would 
 learn his shorthand. I continued, however, at the 
 grammar-school rather less than a year, though in that 
 time I had risen gradually from the middle of the 
 class of that year to be at the head of the same class, 
 and was removed into the next class, whence I was to 
 be placed in the third at the end of the year. 
 
 But my father, burdened with a numerous family, 
 was unable, without inconvenience, to support the 
 expense of a college education. Considering, m.ore- 
 over, as he said to one of his friends, in my presence, 
 the little encouragement that line of life afforded to 
 those educated for it, he gave up his first intentions, 
 took me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a 
 school for writing and arithmetic, kejot by a then 
 famous man, Mr. George Brownwell. He was a skil- 
 ful master, and successful in his profession, employ- 
 ing the niildest and most encouraging methods. 
 Under him I learned to write a good hand pretty 
 soon; but I failed entirely in arithmetic. At ten 
 years old I was taken to help my father in his busi- 
 ness, which was that of a tallow-chandler and soap- 
 boiler; a business to which he was not bred, but had 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 29 
 
 assumed on his arrival in New England, because he 
 found that his dyeing trade, being in little request, 
 would not maintain his family. Accordingly, I was 
 employed in cutting wicks for the candles, filling the 
 moulds for cast candles, attending the shop, going 
 of errands, etc. 
 
 I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination 
 to go to sea; but my father declared against it. But, 
 residing near the water, 1 was much in it and on it. 
 I learned to swim well and to manage boats; and, 
 when embarked with other boys, I was commonly al- 
 lowed to govern, especially in any case of difficulty; 
 and upon other occasions I was generally the leader 
 among the boys, and sometimes led them into scrapes, 
 of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an 
 early projecting public spirit, though not then justly 
 conducted. There was a salt marsh, which bounded 
 part of the mill-pond, on the edge of which, at high 
 water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By 
 much trampling we had made it a mere quagmire. 
 My proposal was to build a wharf there for ns to stand 
 npon, and I showed my comrades a large heap of 
 stones, which were intended for a new house near the 
 marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. 
 Accordingly in the evening, when the workmen were 
 gone home, I assembled a number of my play-fel- 
 lows, and we worked diligently like so many emmets, 
 sometimes two or three to a stone, till we brought 
 
30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 them all to make our little wharf. The next morn- 
 ing the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, 
 which had formed our wharf. Inquiry was made 
 after the authors of this transfer; we were discovered, 
 complained of and corrected by our fathers; and, 
 though I demonstrated the utility of our work, mine 
 convinced me, that that which was not honest, could 
 not be truly useful. 
 
 /J suppose you may like to know what kind of a 
 man my father was. He had an excellent constitu- 
 tion, was of a middle stature, well set, and very 
 strong. He could draw prettily, and was skilled a 
 little in music. His voice was sonorous and agreea- 
 ble, so that when he played on his violin, and sung 
 withal, as he was accustomed to do after the business 
 of the day was over, it was extremely agreeable to 
 hear. He had some knowledge of mechanics, and on 
 occasion was very handy with other tradesmen's tools. 
 But his great excellence was his sound understanding, 
 and his solid judgment in prudential matters, both 
 in private and public affairs. It is true he was never 
 employed in the latter, the numerous family he had 
 to educate, and tlie straitness of his circumstances, 
 keeping him close to his trade; but I remember well 
 his being frequently visited by leading men, who 
 consulted him for his opinion in public affairs, and 
 those of the church he belonged to ; and who showed 
 a great respect for his judgment and advice. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 31 
 
 He was also much consulted by private persons 
 about their affairs, when finy difficulty occurred, and 
 frequently chosen an arbitrator between contending 
 parties. At his table he liked to have, as often as he 
 could, some sensible friend or neighbour to converse 
 with, and always took care to start some ingenious or 
 useful topic for discourse, which might tend to im- 
 prove the minds of his children. By this means he 
 turned our attention to what was good, just, and pru- 
 dent, in the conduct of life; and little or no notice 
 was ever taken of what related to the victuals on the 
 table; whether it was well or ill-dressed, in or out of 
 season, of good or bad flavour, preferable or inferior 
 to this or that other thing of the kind ; so that I was 
 brought up in such a perfect inattention to those 
 matters as to be quite indifferent what kind of food 
 was set before me. Indeed, I am so unobservant of 
 it, that to this day I can scarce tell a few hours after 
 dinner of what dishes it consisted. This has been a 
 great convenience to me in travelling, where my com- 
 panions have been sometimes very unhappy for want 
 of a suitable gratification of their more delicate, be- 
 ' cause better instructed, tastes and appetites. 
 
 My mother had likewise an excellent constitution; 
 she suckled all her ten children. I never knew either 
 my father or mother to have any sickness, but that 
 of which they died; he at eighty-nine, and she at 
 eighty-five years of age. They lie buried together at 
 
32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Boston, where I some years since placed a marble 
 over their grave, with this inscription: 
 
 JOSIAH FRA.NKLIN 
 
 and 
 
 ABIAH his wife, 
 
 Lie here interred. 
 
 They lived lovinglj^ together in wedlock, 
 
 Fifty -five years ; 
 
 And without an estate or anj^ gainful employment, 
 
 But constant labour, and iionest industrN^ 
 
 (With God's blessing,) 
 
 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. ^t. 89. 
 
 A. F. born 1667 ; died 1752. .^t. 85.* 
 
 * The marble stone on which this inscription was en- 
 graved, having become decayed, and the inscription itself 
 defaced by time, a more durable monument has been erected 
 over the graves of the father and mother of Franklin. The 
 suggestion was first made at a meeting of the building 
 committee of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, in 
 the autumn of 1826, and it met with universal approbation. 
 A committee of management was organized, and an amount 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 33 
 
 By my rambling digressions, I perceive myself to 
 be grown old. I used to write more methodically. 
 
 of money adequate to the object was soon contributed by 
 the voluntary subscriptions of a large number of the citi- 
 zens of Boston. The corner-stone was laid on the 15th of 
 June, 1827, and an address appropriate to the occasion was 
 pronounced by General Henry A. S. Dearborn. 
 
 The monument is an obelisk of granite, twenty-one feet 
 high, which rests on a square base, measuring seven feet 
 on each side, and two feet in height. The obelisk is com- 
 posed of five massive blocks of granite placed one above 
 another. On one side is the name of Franklin in large 
 bronze letters, and a little below is a tablet of bronze, thirty- 
 two inches long and sixteen wide, sunk into the stone. On 
 this tablet is engraved Dr. Franklin's original inscription, 
 as quoted in the text, and beneath it are the following 
 lines : — 
 
 The marble tablet, 
 
 Bearing the above inscription. 
 
 Having been dilapidated by the ravages of time, 
 
 A number of citizens. 
 
 Entertaining the most profound veneration 
 
 For the memory of the illustrious 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, 
 
 And desirous of reminding succeeding generations, 
 
 That he was born in Boston, A. D. MDCCVI, 
 
 Erected this 
 
 Obelisk 
 
 Over the graves of his parents. 
 
 MDCCCXXVII. 
 
 A silverplate was deposited under the corner-stone, with 
 an inscription commemorative of the occasion ; a part of 
 3 
 
34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 But one does not dress for private company, as for a 
 public ball. Perhaps it is only negligence. 
 
 To return: I continued thus employed in my 
 father's business for two years, that is, till I was 
 twelve years old ; and, my brother John, who was 
 bred to that business, having left my father, married, 
 and set up for himself at Ehode Island, there was 
 every appearance that I was destined to supply his 
 place, and become a tallow-chandler. But my dislike 
 to the trade continuing, my father had apprehen- 
 sions that, if he did not put me to one more agree- 
 able, I should break loose and go to sea, as my 
 brother Josiah had done, to his great vexation. In 
 consequence, he took me to walk with him and see 
 joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc., at their 
 work, that he might observe my inclination, and en- 
 deavour to fix it on some trade or profession that 
 would keep me on land. It has ever since been a 
 pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their 
 tools. And it has been often useful to me, to have 
 learned so much by it, as to be able to do some tri- 
 fling jobs in the house, when a workman was not at 
 
 which is as follows : " This Monument was erected over the 
 Remains of the Parents of Benjamin Franklin by the Citi- 
 zens of Boston, from Respect to the Private Character and 
 Public Services of this Illustrious Patriot and Philosopher, 
 and for the many Tokens of his affectionate Attachment 
 to his native Town. " 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 35 
 
 hand, and to construct little machines for my experi- 
 ments, at the moment when the intention of making 
 these was warm in my mind. My father determined 
 at last for the cutler's trade, and placed me for some 
 days on trial with Samuel, son to my uncle Benjamin, 
 who was bred to that trade in London, and had just 
 established himself in Boston. But the sum he ex- 
 acted as a fee for my apprenticeship displeased my 
 father, and I was taken home again. 
 
 From my infancy I was passionately fond of read- 
 ing, and all the money that came into my hands was 
 laid out in the purchasing of books. I was very fond 
 of voyages. My first acquisition was Bunyan's works 
 in separate little volumes; I afterwards sold them to 
 enable me to buy Burton's Historical Collections. 
 They were small chapmen's books,* and cheap; forty 
 volumes in all. My father's little library consisted 
 chiefly of books in polemic divinity, most of which I 
 read. I have 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 resolved I 
 should not be bred to divinity. There was among 
 
 * Commonly called "chap-books, " a term applied to pop- 
 ular story-books, which in former days nsed to be hawked 
 about by chapmen, such as Tom Hickathrift, Jack the Giant 
 Killer, &c. Burton's Histories were of rather a better 
 class, and comprised Tlie English Hero: or, Sir Francis 
 Drake Revived ; Admirable Curiosities, &c. , &c. 
 
36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 them Plutarch's Lives^ which I read abundantly, and 
 I still think that time spent to great advantage. 
 There was also a book of Defoe's, called A71 Essay on 
 Projects^ and another of Dr. JMath-r's, called An 
 Essay to do Good^ which perhaps gave me a turn of 
 thinking, that had an influence on some of the prin- 
 cipal future events of my life. 
 
 This bookish inclination at length determined my 
 father to make me a printer, though he had already 
 one son, James, of that profession. In 1717 my 
 brother James returned from England with a press 
 and letters to set up his business in Boston. I liked 
 it much better than that of my father, but still had a 
 hankering for the sea. To prevent the apprehended 
 effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient 
 to have me bound to my brother. I stood out some 
 time, but at last was persuaded, and signed the in- 
 denture, when I was yet but twelve years old. I was 
 to serve an apprenticeship till I was twenty-one years 
 of age, only I was to be allowed journeyman's wages 
 during the last year. In a little time I made a great 
 progress 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 en- 
 abled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I 
 was careful to return soon, and clean. Often I sat up 
 in my chamber reading the greatest part of the night, 
 when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 37 
 
 returned in the morning, lest it should be found 
 missing. 
 
 After some time a merchant — an ingenious, sensi- 
 ble man, Mr. Matthew Adams, who had a pretty col- 
 lection of books — frequented our printing-office, took 
 notice of me, and invited me to see his library, and 
 very kindly proposed to lend me such books as I chose 
 to read. I now took a strong inclination for poetry, 
 and wrote some little pieces. My brother, supposing 
 it might turn to account, encouraged me, and in- 
 duced me to compose two occasional ballads. One 
 was called The Light-House Tragedy., and contained 
 an account of the shipwreck of Captain Worthilake 
 with his two daughters; the other was a sailors' song, 
 on the taking of the famous Teach., or Blackheard.^ 
 the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in street- 
 ballad style; and Avhen they were printed, my brother 
 sent me about the town to sell them. The first sold 
 prodigiously, the event being recent, and having 
 made a great noise. This success flattered my vanity; 
 but my father discouraged me by criticizing my per- 
 formances, and telling me verse-makers were generally 
 beggars. Thus I escaped being a poet, and probably 
 a very bad one; but, as prose writing has been of 
 great use to me in the course. of my life, and was a 
 principal means of my advancement, I shall tell you 
 how in such a situation I acquired what little ability 
 1 may be supposed to have in that way. 
 
38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 There was another bookish lad in the town, John 
 Collins by name, with whom I was intimately ac- 
 quainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond 
 we were of argument, and very desirous of confuting 
 one another — which disputatious turn, by the way, 
 is apt to become a very bad habit, making people 
 often extremely disagreeable in company, by the con- 
 tradiction that is necessary to bring it into practice; 
 and thence, besides souring and spoiling the conver- 
 sation, it is productive of disgusts, and perhaps en- 
 mities, with those who may have occasion for friend- 
 ship. I had caught this by reading my father's 
 books of dispute on religion. Persons of good sense, 
 I have since observed, seldom fall into it, except law- 
 yers, university men, and generally men of all sorts, 
 who have been bred at Edinburgh. 
 
 A question was once, somehow or other, started 
 between Collins and me on 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, having a greater plenty 
 of words, and sometimes, as I thought, I was van- 
 quished 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 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 39 
 
 copied fair and sent to him. He answered and I re- 
 plied. Three or four letters on a side had passed, 
 when my father happened to find my papers, and read 
 them. Without entering into the subject in dispute, 
 he took occasion to talk to me about my manner of 
 writing; observed that though I had the advantage 
 of my antagonist in correct spelling and pointing 
 (which he attributed to the printing-house), I fell far 
 short in elegance of expression, in method, and in 
 perspicuity, of which he convinced me by several in- 
 stances. I saw the justice of his remarks, and thence 
 grew more attentive to my manner of writing, and 
 determined to endeavour to improve my style. 
 
 About this time I met with an odd volume of the 
 Spectator. I had never before seen any of them. I 
 bought it, read it over and over, and was much de- 
 lighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and 
 wished if possible to imitate it. With that view I 
 took some of the papers, and, making short hints of 
 the sentiments in each sentence, laid them by a few 
 days, and then, without looking at the book, tried to 
 complete the papers again, by expressing each hinted 
 sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been ex- 
 pressed before, in any suitable words that should 
 occur to me. Then I compared my Spectator with 
 the original, discovered some of my faults, and cor- 
 rected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, 
 or a readiness in collecting and using them, which I 
 
40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 thought I should have acquired before that time, if 
 I had gone on making verses; since the continual 
 search for words of the same import, hut of different 
 length to suit the measure, or of different sound for 
 the rhyme, would have laid me nnder 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 1 took some of the tales in 
 the Spectator^ and turned them into verse; and, after 
 a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, 
 turned them back again. 
 
 I also sometimes jumbled my collection of hints 
 into confusion, and after some weeks endeavoured to 
 reduce them into the best order before I began to 
 form the full sentences and complete the subject. 
 This was to teach me method in the arrangement of 
 the thoughts. By comparing my work with the orig- 
 inal, I discovered many faults, and corrected them; 
 but I sometimes had the pleasure to fancy that, in 
 certain particulars of small consequence, I had been 
 fortunate enough to improve the method or the lan- 
 guage, and this encouraged me to think that I might 
 in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of 
 which I was extremely ambitious. The time I al- 
 lotted for writing exercises, and for reading, was at 
 night, or before work began in the morning, or on 
 Sundays, Avhen I contrived to be in the printing- 
 house, avoiding as much as I could the constant at- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 41 
 
 tendance at public worship, which my father used to 
 exact of me when I was under his care, and which I 
 still continued to consider a duty, though I could 
 not alford time to practise it. 
 
 When about sixteen years of age, I happened to 
 meet with a book, written by one Tryon, recom- 
 mending 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 refusal to eat flesh occasioned 
 an inconvenience, and I was frequently chid for my 
 singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon 's 
 manner of preparing some of his dishes, such as 
 boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding and a 
 few others, and then proposed to my brother that, if 
 he would give me weekly half the money he paid for 
 my board, I would board myself. He instantly 
 agreed to it, and I presently found that I could save 
 half what he paid me. This was an additional fund 
 for buying of books ; but I had another advantage in 
 it. My brother and the rest going from the printing- 
 house to their meals, I remained there alone, and 
 despatching presently my light repast (which was 
 often no more than a biscuit, 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 
 
42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 quicker apprehension which generally attend temper- 
 ance in eating and drinking. Now it was that (being 
 on some occasion made ashamed of my ignorance in 
 figures, which I had twice failed learning when at 
 school), I took Cocker's book on Arithmetic, and 
 went through the whole by myself with the greatest 
 ease. I also read Seller's and Shermy's books on 
 JVavigatiofi, which made me acquainted with the 
 little geometry they contain ; but I never proceeded 
 far in that science. I read about this time Locke 
 O71 Human Under standi7ig, and The Art of Thinking 
 by Messrs. de Port-Eoyal. 
 
 While I was intent on improving my language, I 
 met with an English grammar (I think it was Green- 
 wood's), having at the end of it two little sketches 
 on the Arts of Ehetoric and Logic, the latter finish- 
 ing with a dispute in the Socratic method ; and soon 
 after I procured Xenophon's Memorable Things of 
 Socrates, wherein there are many examples of the 
 same method. I was charmed with it, adopted it, 
 dropped my abrupt contradictions and positive argu- 
 mentation, and put on the humble inquirer. And 
 being then from reading Shaftesbury and Collins 
 made a doubter, as I already was in many points of 
 our religious doctrines, I found this method the 
 safest for myself and very embarrassing to those 
 against whom I used it; therefore I took delight in 
 it, practised it continually, and grew very artful and 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 43 
 
 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 continued this method some few years, but grad- 
 ually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing 
 myself in terms of modest diffidence, never using, 
 when I advance anything that may possibly be dis- 
 puted, the words certainly., undoubtedly^ or any others 
 that give the air of positiveness to an opinion ; but 
 rather say, / conceive^ or ajp^reliend^ a thing to be so 
 and so ; It cqjpears to me., or I should not tliinlc it, so or 
 so., for such and such reasons ; or, / imagine it to he 
 so j^ or It is so, if I am 7iot mistaken. This habit, 
 I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I 
 have had occasion to inculcate my opinions and per- 
 suade men into measures that I have been from time 
 to time engaged in promoting. And as the chief 
 ends of conversation are to inform or to he informed^ 
 to please or to persuade, I wish well-meaning and 
 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 de- 
 feat most of those purposes for which speech was 
 given to us. In fact, if you wish to instruct others, 
 a positive dogmatical manner in advancing your sen- 
 
44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 timents may occasion opposition, and prevent a can- 
 did attention. If yon desire instruction and improve- 
 ment from others, you should not at the same time 
 express yourself, fixed in your present opinions. 
 Modest and sensible men, who do not love disj^uta- 
 tion, will leave you undisturbed in the possession of 
 yonr errors. In adopting such a manner, you can 
 seldom expect to please your hearers, or obtain the 
 concurrence you desire. Pope judiciously observes, — 
 
 " Men must be taught, as if you taught them not, 
 And things unknown proposed as things forgot." 
 
 He also recommends it to us, 
 
 "To speak, though sure, with seeming diflSdence." 
 
 And he might have joined with this line, that whigh 
 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 the ivant of sense, where a man is so un- 
 fortunate as to want it, some apology for his want 
 of modesty f And would not the lines stand more 
 justly thus? 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 45 
 
 "Immodest words admit hut this defence, 
 That want of modesty is want of sense". 
 
 This, however, I should submit to better judgments. 
 
 My brother had, in 1720 or 1721, begun to print 
 a newspaper. It was the second that appeared in 
 America, and was called the Neiu England Courant. 
 The only one before it was the Boston News- Letter. 
 I remember his being dissuaded by some of his 
 friends from the undertaking, as not likely to suc- 
 ceed, one newspaper being in their judgment enough 
 for America.* At this time, 1771, there are not 
 less than iive-and-twenty. He went on, however, 
 with the undertaking. I was employed to carry the 
 papers to the customers, after having worked in com- 
 posing the types and printing off the sheets. 
 
 * This was written from recollection, and it is not sur- 
 prising, that, after the lapse of fifty years, the author's 
 memory should have failed him in regard to a fact of 
 small importance. The New England Courant was the 
 fourth newspaper that appeared in America. The first 
 number of the Boston News-Letter was published April 
 24th, 1704. This was the first newspaper in America. 
 The Boston Gazette commenced December 21st, 1719; the 
 American Weekly Mercury, at Philadelphia, December 
 22nd, 1719; i\\Q Neio England Courant, August 21st, 1721. 
 Dr. Franklin's error of memory probably originated in the 
 circumstance of his brother having been the printer of the 
 Boston Gazette when it was first established. This was 
 the second newspaper published in America. 
 
46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 He had some ingenious men among his friends, 
 who amused themselves by writing little pieces for 
 this paper, which gained it credit, and made it more 
 in demand, and these gentlemen often visited us. 
 Hearing their conversations, and their accounts of 
 the approbation their papers were received with, I 
 was excited to try my hand among them. But, being 
 still a boy, and suspecting that my brother would ob- 
 ject to printing anything of mine in his paper, if he 
 knew it to be mine, I contrived to disguise my hand, 
 and, writing an anonymous paper, I put it at night 
 under the door of the printing-house. It was found 
 in the morning, and communicated to his writing 
 friends when they called in as usual. They read it, 
 commented on it in my hearing, and I had the ex- 
 quisite pleasure of finding it met with their ajiproba- 
 tion, and that, in their different guesses of the 
 autlior, none were named but men of some character 
 among us for learning and ingenuity. I suppose, 
 that I was rather lucky in my judges, and that they 
 were not really so very good as I then believed them 
 to be. Encouraged, however, by this attempt, I 
 wrote and sent in the same way to the press several 
 other pieces, that were equally approved; and I kept 
 my secret till all my fund of sense for such perform- 
 ances was exhausted, and then discovered it, when I 
 began to be considered a little more by my brother's 
 acquaintance. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 47 
 
 However, that did not quite please him, as he 
 thought it tended to make me too vain. This might 
 be one occasion of the differences we began to have 
 about this time. Though a brother, he considered 
 himself as my master, and me as his apprentice, and 
 accordingly expected the same services from me as he 
 would from another, while I thought he degraded me 
 too much in some he required 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 extremely amiss; and, 
 thinking my apprenticeship very tedious, I was con- 
 tinually wishing for some opportunity of shortening 
 it, which at length offered in a manner unexpected. 
 Perhaps this harsh and tyrannical treament of me 
 might be a means of impressing me with the aversion 
 to arbitrary power, that has stuck to me through my 
 whole life. 
 
 One of the pieces in our newspaper on some politi- 
 cal point, which I have now forgotten, gave offence 
 to the Assembly. He was taken up, censured, and 
 imprisoned for a month by the Speaker's warrant, I 
 suppose because he would not discover the author. I 
 too was taken up and examined before the Council; 
 but, though I did not give them any satisfaction, 
 
48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 they contented themselves with admonishing me, and 
 dismissed me, considering me perhaps as an appren- 
 tice, 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 onr rulers some rnbs in it, which my brother 
 took very kindly, while others began to consider nie 
 in an unfavourable light, as a youth that had a turn 
 for libelling and satire. 
 
 My brother's discharge was accompanied with an 
 order, and a very odd one, " James Frmiklin should 
 no longer print the newspaper called The New Eng- 
 land Courant.'' On a consultation held in our print- 
 ing-office amongst his friends, what he should do in 
 this conjuncture, it was proposed to elude the order 
 by changing the name of the paper. But my 
 brother, seeing inconveniences in this, came to a con- 
 clusion, as a better way, to let the paper in future 
 be printed in the name of Benjamin Franhlin ; and 
 in order to avoid the censure of the Assembly, that 
 might fall on him, as still printing it by his appren- 
 tice, he contrived and consented that my old inden- 
 ture should be returned to me with a discharge on 
 the back of it, to show in casa of necessity; and, in 
 order to secure to him the benefit of my service, I 
 should sign new indentures for the remainder of my 
 time, which were to be kept private. A very flimsy 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 49 
 
 scheme it was; however, it was immediately executed, 
 and the paper was printed 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 free- 
 
 *The earlier numbers of the New England Coiirant were 
 principally filled with original articles, in tlie form of 
 essays, letters, and short paragraphs, written with consider- 
 able ability" and wit, and touching with great freedom the 
 vices and follies of the time. The weapon of satire was used 
 with an unsparing hand. Neither the government nor the 
 clergy escaped. Much caution was practised, however, 
 in regard to individuals, and names were seldom intro- 
 duced. There are some severe and humorous criticisms 
 on the poets of the day, which may be classed with the 
 best specimens of this kind of composition in the modern 
 reviews. The humour sometimes degenerates into coarse- 
 ness, and the phraseology is often harsh ; but, bating these 
 faults, the paper contains nothing which in later times 
 would have been deemed reprehensible. James Franklin, 
 the editor and printer, was imprisoned on the general 
 charge of having published passages "boldly reflecting 
 on his Majesty's government and on the administration 
 in this province, the ministry, churches, and college ; 
 and that tend to fill the readers' minds with vanity, to the 
 dishonour of God and the disservice of good men. '' He was 
 sentenced by a vote of the Assembly, without any speci- 
 fication of these offensive passages, or any trial before a 
 court of justice. 
 
 This was probably the first transaction, in the American 
 Colonies, relating to the freedom of the press ; and it is not 
 less remarkable for the assumption of power on the part of 
 4 
 
50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 dom ; presuming that he would not venture to pro- 
 duce the new indentures. It was not fair in me to 
 take this advantage, and this I therefore reckon one 
 
 the legislature, than for their disregard of the first prin- 
 ciples and established forms of law. 
 
 No change took place in the character of the paper, and 
 six months afterwards, January, 1723, he was again ar- 
 raigned upon a similar charge. The resentment of the 
 ruling powers, stimulated by the clergy, had been gaining 
 heat during the whole time, and now pushed them to more 
 arbitrary measures. They condescended, however, to 
 specify a particular article, as affording the grouud of their 
 proceedings. This was an essay on Hypocrisy, in which 
 hypocrites of various descriptions were roughly handled, 
 but no individual or class of men was mentioned. The 
 most objectionable paragraphs in this essay are the follow- 
 ing :— 
 
 " Religion is indeed the principal thing, but too much of 
 it is worse than none at all. The world abounds with 
 knaves and villains ; but, of all knaves, the religious knave 
 is the worst, and villanies acted under the cloak of religion 
 the most execrable. Moral honesty, though it will not it- 
 self carry a man to heaven, yet I am sure there is no going 
 thither without it. " 
 
 "But are there such men as these in thee, O New Eng- 
 land? Heaven forbid there should be any ; but, alas ! it la 
 to be feared the number is not small. ' Give me an honest 
 Tnan, ' say some, 'for all a religious man;' a distinction 
 which, I confess, I never heard of before. The whole coun- 
 try suffers for the villanies of a few such wolves in sheep's 
 clothing, and we are all represented as a pack of knaves 
 and hypocrites for their sakes." 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 51 
 
 of the first errata of my life ; but the unfairness of it 
 weighed little with me when under the impressions 
 of resentment for the blows his passion too often 
 urged him to bestow upon me. Though he was 
 otherwise not an ill-natured 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 refused to give me 
 work. I then thought of going to New York, as the 
 nearest place where there was a printer. And I was 
 rather inclined to leave Boston, when 1 reflected that 
 I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the 
 governing party, and, from the arbitrary proceedings 
 of the x\ssembly in my brother's case, it was likely I 
 might, if I stayed, soon bring myself into scrapes; and 
 further, that my indiscreet disputations about relig- 
 ion began to make me pointed at with horror by good 
 people, as an infidel and atheist. I concluded, there- 
 fore, to remove to New York; but my father now 
 siding with my brother, I was sensible that, if I at- 
 tempted to go openly, means would be used to pre- 
 vent me. My friend Collins, therefore, undertook 
 to manage my flight. He agreed with the captain of 
 a New York sloop to take me, under a false pretence. 
 I sold my books to raise a little money, was taken on 
 board the sloop privately, had a fair wind, and in 
 
52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 three days found myself at New York, near three 
 hundred miles from my home, at the age of seventeen 
 (October, 1723), without the least recommendation, 
 or knowledge of any person in the place, and very 
 little money in my pocket. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 AT WORK IJ^ PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 The inclination I had had for the sea was by this 
 time done away, or I might now have gratified it. 
 But having another profession, and conceiving my- 
 self a pretty good workman, I offered my services to 
 a printer of the place, old Mr. William Bradford, 
 who had been the first printer in Pennsylvania, but 
 had removed thence, in conseqnence of a quarrel with 
 the governor, George Keith. He could give me no 
 employment, having little to do, and hands enough 
 already; but he said, " My son at Philadelphia has 
 lately lost his principal hand, Aquila Eose, by death; 
 if yon go thither, I believe he may employ you." 
 Philadelphia was one hundred miles further; I set 
 out, however, in a boat for Amboy, leaving my chest 
 and things to follow me round by sea. 
 
 In crossing the bay, we met with a squall that tore 
 our rotten sails to pieces, prevented our getting into 
 the Kill, and drove us upon Long Island. In our 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 53 
 
 way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a passenger too, 
 fell overboard; when he was sinking, 1 reached 
 through the water to his shock pate, and drew him 
 up, so that we got him in again. His ducking so- 
 bered him a little, and he went to sleep, taking first 
 out of his pocket a book, which he desired I would 
 dry for him. It proved to be my old favourite au- 
 thor, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress^ in Dutch, finely 
 printed on good paper, copper cuts, a dress better 
 than I had ever seen it wear in its own language. I 
 have since found that it had been translated into most 
 of the languages of Europe, and I suppose it has been 
 more generally read than any other book, except per- 
 haps the Bible. Honest John was the first that I 
 know of who mixed narration and dialogue; a method 
 of writing very engaging to the reader, who in the 
 most interesting part finds himself, as it were, ad- 
 mitted into the company and present at the conversa- 
 tion. Defoe has imitated him successfully in his 
 Robinson Crusoe, in his Moll Flanders, and other 
 pieces; and Richardson has done the same in his 
 Pamela, &c. 
 
 On approaching the island, we found it was in a 
 place where there could be no landing, there being a 
 great surge on the stony beach. So we dropped an- 
 chor, and swung out our cable toward the shore. 
 Some people came down to the shore and hallooed to 
 us, as we did to them; but the wind was so high, and 
 
54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the surge so loud, that we could not understand each 
 other. There were some small boats near the shore, 
 and we made signs, and called to tliem to fetch us; 
 but they either did not comprehend us, or it was im- 
 practicable, so they went off. Night approaching, 
 we had no remedy but to have patience till the wind 
 abated; and in the meantime the boatmen and my- 
 self concluded to sleep, if we could ; and so we 
 crowded into the hatches, where we joined the Dutch- 
 man, who was still wet, and the spray, breaking over 
 the head of our boat, leaked through to us, so that 
 we were soon almost as wet as he. In this manner 
 we lay all night, with very little rest; but, the wind 
 abating the next day, we made a shift to reach Amboy 
 before night; having been thirty hours on the water, 
 without victuals, or any drink but a bottle of filthy 
 rum ; the water we sailed on being salt. 
 
 In the evening I found myself very feverish, and 
 went to bed ; but, having read somewhere that cold 
 water drank plentifully was good for a fever, I fol- 
 lowed the prescription, and sweat plentifully most of 
 the night. My fever left me, and in the morning, 
 crossing the ferry, I proceeded on my journey on 
 foot, having fifty miles to go to Burlington, where I 
 was told I should find boats that would carry me the 
 rest of the way to Philadelphia. 
 
 It rained very hard all the day ; I was thoroughly 
 soaked, and by noon a good deal tired; so I stopped 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 55 
 
 at a poor inn, wliere I stayed all night; beginning 
 now to wish I had never left home. I made so mis- 
 erable a figure, too, that I found, by the' questions 
 asked me, I was suspected to be some runaway inden- 
 tured servant, and in danger of being taken up on 
 that suspicion. However, I proceeded next day, and 
 got in the evening to an inn, within eight or ten 
 miles of Burlington, kept by one Dr. Brown. He 
 entered into conversation with me while I took some 
 refreshment, and, finding I had read a little, became 
 very obliging and friendly. Our acquaintance con- 
 tinued all the rest of his life. He had been, I imag- 
 ine, an ambulatory quack doctor, for there was no 
 town in England, nor any country in Europe, of 
 which he could not give a very particular account. 
 He had some letters, and was ingenious, but he was 
 an infidel, and wickedly undertook, some years after, 
 to turn the Bible into doggerel verse, as Cotton had 
 formerly done with Virgil. By this means he set 
 many facts in a ridiculous light, and might have done 
 mischief with weak minds, if his work had been pub- 
 lished; but it never was. 
 
 At his house I lay that night, and arrived the next 
 morning at Burlington ; but had the mortification to 
 find that the regular boats were gone a little before, 
 and no other expected to go before Tuesday, this be- 
 ing Saturday. Wherefore I returned to an old wo- 
 man in the town, of whom I had bought some gin- 
 
56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gerbread to eat on the water, and asked her advice. 
 She proposed to lodge me, till a passage by some 
 other boat occurred. I accepted her oiTer, being 
 much fatigued by travelling on foot. Understand- 
 ing I was a printer, she would have had me remain 
 in that town and follow my business; being ignorant 
 what stock was necessary to begin with. She was. 
 hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great 
 good-will; and I thought myself fixed till Tuesday 
 should come. However, walking in the evening by 
 the side of the river, a boat came by, which I found 
 was going toward Philadelphia with several people in 
 her. They took me in, and as there was no wind, we 
 rowed all the way; and about midnight, not having 
 yet seen the city, some of the compauy were confi- 
 dent we must have passed it, and would row no fur- 
 ther; the others knew not where we were, so we put 
 toward the shore, got into a creek, landed near an 
 old fence, with the rails of which we made a fire, 
 the night being cold, in October, and there we re- 
 mained 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 arrived there about eight or nine 
 o'clock on the Sunday morning, and landed at Mar- 
 ket-street wharf. 
 
 1 have been the more particnlar in this description 
 of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 57 
 
 that city, that you may in your mind compare such 
 unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made 
 there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes 
 coming round by sea. I was dirty from my being so 
 long in the boat. My pockets were stuffed out with 
 sliirts and stockings, and I knew no one, nor where 
 to look for lodging. Fatigued with walking, row- 
 ing, and the want of sleep, I was very hungry; and 
 my whole stock of cash consisted in a single dollar, 
 and about a shilling in copper coin, which I gave to 
 the boatmen for my passage. At first they refused 
 it, on account of my having rowed; but I insisted on 
 their taking it. Man is sometimes more generous 
 when he has little money than when he has plenty; 
 perhaps to prevent his being thought to have but little. 
 I walked toward the top of the street, gazing about 
 till near Market Street, where I met a boy with 
 bread. I had often made a meal of dry bread, and, 
 inquiring where he had bought it, I went immedi- 
 ately to the baker's he directed me to. I asked for 
 biscuits, meaning such as we had at Boston; that 
 sort, it seems, was not made in Philadelphia. I then 
 asked for a threepenny loaf, and was told they had 
 none. Not knowing the different prices, nor the 
 names of the different sorts of bread, I told him to 
 give me threepenny worth of any sort. He gave me 
 accordingly three great puffy rolls. I was surprised 
 at the quantity, but took it, and, having no room in 
 
58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 my pockets, walked 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. 
 Eead, my future wife's father; when she, standing at 
 the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly 
 did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance. Then 
 I turned, and went down Chestnut Street and part of 
 Walnut Street, eating my roll all the way; and, com- 
 ing round, found myself again at Market-street 
 wharf, near the boat I came in, to which I went for 
 a draught of the river water; and, being filled with 
 one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and 
 her child that came down the river in the boat with 
 us, and were waiting to go farther. 
 
 Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street, 
 which, by this time, had many clean-dressed people 
 in it, who were all walking the same way. I joined 
 them, and thereby was led into the great meeting- 
 house of the Quakers, near the market. I sat down 
 among them, and, after looking round a while, and 
 hearing nothing said, being very drowsy through 
 labour and want of rest the preceding night, I fell 
 fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke 
 up, when some one was kind enough to rouse me. 
 This, therefore, was the first house I was in, or slept 
 in, in Philadelphia. 
 
 I then walked down toward the river, and, looking 
 in the faces of every one, I met a young Quaker man, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 59 
 
 whose countenance pleased me; and, accosting him, 
 requested he would tell me where a stranger could 
 get a lodging. We were then near the sign of the 
 Three Mariners. " Here," said he, " is a house where 
 they receive strangers; but it is not a reputable one; 
 if thee wilt walk with me, I'll show thee a better 
 one;" and he conducted me to the Crooked Billet, in 
 Water Street. There I got a dinner; and while I 
 was eating, several questions were asked me as, from 
 my youth and appearance, I was suspected of being a 
 runaway. 
 
 After dinner, my host having shown me to a bed, 
 I laid myself on it without undressing, and, slept till 
 six in the evening, when I was called to supper. I 
 went to bed again very early, and slept very soundly 
 till next morning. Then I dressed myself as neat 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 horse- 
 back, had got to Philadelphia before me. He intro- 
 duced me to his- son, who received me civilly, gave 
 me a breakfast, but told me he did not at present 
 want a hand, being lately supplied 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. 
 
60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The old gentleman said he would go with me to the 
 new printer; and when we found him, "Neighbour," 
 said Bradford, " I have brought to see you a young 
 man of your business; perhaps you may want such a 
 one." He asked me a few questions, put a compos- 
 ing stick in my hand to see how I worked, and then 
 said he would employ me soon, though he had just 
 then nothing for me to do. And taking old Brad- 
 ford, whom he had never seen before, to be one of the 
 town's-people that had a good-will for him, entered 
 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 ques- 
 tions, and starting little doubts, to explain all his 
 views, what influence he relied on, and in what man- 
 ner he intended to proceed. I, who stood by and 
 heard all, saw immediately that one was a crafty old 
 sophister, and the other a true novice. Bradford 
 left me with Keimer, who was greatly surprised when 
 I told him who the old man was. 
 
 The printing-house, I found, consisted of an old, 
 damaged press, and a small, worn-out fount of Eng- 
 lish types, which he was using himself, composing an 
 Elegy on Aquila Rose, before mentioned; an ingeni- 
 ous young man, of excellent character, much respected 
 in the town, secretary to the Assembly, and a pretty 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 61 
 
 poet. Keimer made verses too, but very indiffer- 
 ently. He could not be said to write them, for his 
 method was to compose them in the types directly 
 out of his head. There being no copy, but one pair 
 of cases, and the Elegy probably requiring all the let- 
 ters, no one could help him. I endeavoured to put 
 his press (which he had not yet used, and of which 
 he understood nothing) into order to be worked with; 
 and, promising to come and print off his Elegy, as 
 soon as he should have got it ready, I returned 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 oif 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, though some- 
 thing 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 par- 
 ticular religion, but something of all on occasion; 
 was very ignorant of the world, and had, as I after- 
 wards found, a good deal of the knave in his compo- 
 sition. He did not like my lodging at Bradford's 
 while I worked with him. He had a house, indeed, 
 but without furniture, so he could not lodge me; but 
 
62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 he got me a lodging at Mr. Read's before mentioned, 
 who was the owner of his house; and, my chest of 
 clothes being come by this time, 1 made rather a 
 more respectable appearance in the eyes of Miss Eead 
 than I had done when she first happened 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 
 gained money by my industry and frugality. I lived 
 very contented, and forgot Boston as much as I could, 
 and did not wish any should know where I resided 
 except my friend Collins, who was in the secret, and 
 kept it faithfully. At length, however, an incident 
 happened that occasioned my return home much 
 sooner than I had intended. I had a brother-in-law, 
 Eobert Holmes, master of a. sloop that traded between 
 Boston and Delaware. He being at Newcastle, forty 
 miles below Philadelphia, and hearing of me, wrote 
 me a letter mentioning the grief of my relations and 
 friends in Boston at my abrupt departure, assuring 
 me of their good-will to me, and that everything 
 would be accommodated to my mind if I would re- 
 turn ; to which he entreated me earnestly. I wrote 
 an answer to his letter, thanked him for his advice, 
 but stated my reasons for quitting Boston so fully and 
 in such a light as to convince him that I was not so 
 much in the wrong as he had apprehended. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 63 
 
 Sir William Keith, Governor ol" the province, was 
 then at Newcastle, and Captain Holmes, happening 
 to be in company with him when my letter came to 
 hand, spoke to him of me, and showed him the let- 
 ter. The Governor read it, and seemed surprised 
 when he was told my age. He said I appeared a 
 young man of promising parts, and therefore should 
 be encouraged; the printers at Philadelphia were 
 wretched ones; and, if I would set up there, he made 
 no doubt I should succeed; for his part he would 
 procure me the public business, and do me every 
 other service in his power. This my brother-in-law 
 Holmes afterwards told me in Boston; but I knew as 
 yet nothing of it; when one day Keimer and T, being 
 at work together near the window, we saw the Gover- 
 nor and another gentleman (who proved to be Col- 
 onel French, of Newcastle, in the province of Dela- 
 ware), finely dressed, 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 inquired for me, came up, 
 and with a condescension and politeness I had been 
 quite unused to, made me many compliments, desired 
 to be acquainted w-ith me, blamed me kindly for not 
 having made myself known to him when I first came 
 to the place, and would have me away with him to 
 the tavern, where he was going with Colonel French 
 to taste, as he said, some excellent Madeira. I was 
 
64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 not a little surprised, and Keimer stared with aston- 
 ishment. I went, however, with the Governor and 
 Colonel French to a tavern, at the corner of Third 
 Street, and he proposed my setting up my business. 
 He stated the probabilities of my success, and both he 
 and Colonel French assured me I should have their 
 interest and influence to obtain for me the public 
 business of both governments. And as I expressed 
 doubts that my father would assist me in it. Sir AVil- 
 liam said he would give me a letter to him, in which 
 he would set forth the advantages, and he did not 
 doubt he should determine him to comply. So it was 
 concluded I should return to Boston by the first ves- 
 sel, with the Governor's letter to my father. In the 
 meantime it was to be kept a secret, and I went on 
 working with Keimer as usual. The Governor sent 
 for me now and then to dine with him, which 1 con- 
 sidered a great honour; more particularly as he con- 
 versed with me in a most affable, familiar, and 
 friendly manner. 
 
 About the 6nd of April, 1724, a little vessel offered 
 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 would make my for- 
 tune. We struck on a shoal in going down the bay, 
 and sprung a leak ; we had a blustering time at sea, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 65 
 
 and were obliged to pump almost continually, at 
 which I took my turn. We arrived safe, however, at 
 Boston in about a fortnight. I had been absent 
 seven months, and my friends had heard nothing of 
 me; for my brother Holmes was not j^et returned, 
 and had not written about me. My unexpected ap- 
 pearance surprised 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. 1 was better dressed than ever while in his 
 service, having a genteel new suit from head to foot, 
 a watch, and my pockets lined with near five pounds 
 sterling in silver. He received me not very frankly, 
 looked me all over, and tarned to his work again. 
 
 The journeymen were inquisitive where I had been, 
 what sort of a country it was, and how I liked it. I 
 praised it much, and the happy life I led in it, ex- 
 pressing strongly my intention of returning to it; 
 and, one of them asking what kind of money we had 
 there, I produced a handful of silver and spread it 
 before them, which was a kind of raree-shotv they had 
 not been used 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) 
 gave them a dollar, and took my leave. This visit 
 of mine offended him extremely. For, when my 
 mother some time after spoke to him of a reconcilia- 
 tion, and of her wish to see us on good terms together, 
 5 
 
66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 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 
 surprise, but said little of it to me for some time. 
 Captain Holmes returning, he showed it to him, and 
 asked him if he knew Sir William Keith, and what 
 kind of a man he was; adding that he must be of 
 small discretion to think of setting a youth up in 
 business who wanted three years to arrive at man's 
 estate. Holmes said what he could in favour of the 
 project, but my father was decidedly against it, and 
 at last gave a flat denial. He wrote a civil letter to 
 Sir William, thanking him for the patronage he had 
 so kindly offered me, and declined to assist me as yet 
 in setting up, I being in his opinion too young to be 
 trusted with the management of an undertaking so 
 important, and for which the preparation required a 
 considerable expenditure. 
 
 My old companion Collins, who was a clerk in the 
 post-office, pleased with the account I gave him of 
 my new country, determined to go thither also; and, 
 while I waited for my father's determ.ination, he set 
 out before me by land to Ehode Island, leading his 
 books, which were a pretty collection in mathematics 
 and natural philosophy, to come with mine and me 
 to New York, where he proposed to wait for me. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 67 
 
 My father, though he did not approve Sir Wil- 
 liam's proposition, was yet pleased 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 my- 
 self so handsomely in so short a time; therefore, see- 
 ing no prospect of an accommodation between my 
 brother and me, he gave his consent to my returning 
 again to Philadelphia, advised me to behave respect- 
 fully 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 prudent par- 
 simony, 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 embarked 
 again for New York ; now with their approbation and 
 their blessing. 
 
 The sloop putting in at Newport, Rhode Island, 
 I visited my brother John, who had been married and 
 settled there some years. He received me very affec- 
 tionately, for he always loved me. A friend of his, 
 one Vernon, having some money due to him in Penn- 
 sylvania, about thirty-five pounds currenc}', desired I 
 would recover it for him, and keep it till I had his 
 directions what to employ it in. Accordingly he 
 
68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 gave me an order to receive it. This business after- 
 wards occasioned me a good deal of uneasiness. 
 
 At Newport we took in a number of passengers, 
 amongst whom were two young women travelling 
 together, and a sensible, matron-like Quaker lady, 
 with her servants. I had shown an obliging disposi- 
 tion to render her some little services, which probably 
 impressed her with sentiments of good-will toward 
 me; for, when she witnessed the daily growiug famil- 
 iarity between the young women and myself, which 
 they appeared to encourage, she took me aside and 
 said, " Young man, I am concerned for thee, as thou 
 hast no friend with thee, and seem'st not to know 
 much of the world, or of the snares youth is exposed 
 to. Depend upon it, these are very bad women ; I 
 can see it by all their actions; and if thou art not 
 upon thy guard, they will draw thee into some dan- 
 ger. They are strangers to thee, and I advise thee, 
 in a friendly concern for thy welfare, to have no ac- 
 quaintance with them." As I seemed at first not to 
 think so ill of them as she did, she mentioned some 
 things she had observed and heard, that had escaped 
 my notice, but now convinced me she was right. I 
 thanked her for her kind advice, and promised to 
 follow it. When we arrived at New York they told 
 me where they lived, and invited me to come and see 
 them, but I avoided it, and it was well I did ; for the 
 next day the captain missed a silver spoon and some 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 69 
 
 other things, that had been taken out of his cabin, 
 and, knowing what they were, he got a warrant to 
 search their lodgings, found the stolen goods and had 
 the thieves punished. So though we had escaped a 
 sunken rock, which we scraped upon in the passage, 
 I thought this escape of rather more importance to 
 me. 
 
 At New York I found my friend Collins, who had 
 arrived there some time before me. We had been in- 
 timate 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 
 mathem-atical learning, in which he far outstripped 
 me. While I lived in Boston, most of my hours of 
 leisure for conversation were spent with him, and he 
 continued a sober as well as industrious lad; was 
 much respected for his learning by several of the 
 clergy and other gentlemen, and seemed to promise 
 making a good figure in life. But, during my ab- 
 sence he had acquired a habit of drinking brandy, 
 and I found by his own account, as well as that of 
 others, that he had been drunk every day since his 
 arrival at New York, and behaved himself in a very 
 extravagant manner. He had gamed too and lost his 
 money, so that I was obliged to discharge his lodg- 
 ings, and defray his expenses on the road and at 
 Philadelphia, which proved a great burden to me. 
 
 The then Governor of New York, Burnet (son of 
 
70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Bishop Burnet), hearing from the captain that one 
 of the passengers had a great many books on board, 
 desired him to bring me to see him. I waited on 
 him, and should have taken Collins with me had he 
 been sober. The Governor received me with great 
 civility, showed me his library, which was a consid- 
 erable one, and we had a good deal of conversation 
 relative to books and authors. This was the second 
 Governor who had done me the honour to take notice 
 of me, and, for a poor boy like me, it was very 
 pleasing. 
 
 We proceeded to Philadelphia. I received in the 
 way Vernon's money, without which we could hardly 
 have finished our journey. Collins wished to be em- 
 ployed in some counting-house; but, whether they 
 discovered his dram-drinking by his breath or by his 
 behaviour, though he had some recommendations, he 
 met with no success in any application, and contin- 
 ued 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 busi- 
 ness. At length he had got so much of it, that I 
 was distressed to think what I should do in case of 
 being called on to remit it. 
 
 His drinking continued, about which we sometimes 
 quarrelled, for when a little intoxicated he was very 
 irritable. Once in a boat on the Delaware with some 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 71 
 
 other young men, he refused to row in his turn. " I 
 will be rowed home," said he. "We will not row 
 yon," said I. "You must," said he, "or stay all 
 night on the water, just as you please." The others 
 said, " Let us row, what signifies it!" But, my mind 
 being soured with his other conduct, I continued to 
 refuse. So he said 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 clapped my hand under his thigh, and, rising, 
 pitched him head-foremost into the river. I knew 
 he was a good swimmer, and so was under little con- 
 cern about him; but before he could get round to lay 
 hold of the boat, we had with a few strokes pulled 
 her out of his reach; and whenever he drew near the 
 boat, we asked him if he would row, striking a few 
 strokes to slide her away from him. He was ready to 
 stifle with vexation, and obstinately would not prom- 
 ise to row. Finding him at last beginning to tire we 
 drew him into the boat, and brought him home drip- 
 ping wet. We hardly exchanged a civil word after 
 this adventure. At length a West India captain, 
 who had a commission to procure a preceptor for the 
 sons of a gentleman at Barbadoes, met with him, and 
 proposed to carry him thither to fill that situation. 
 He accepted, and promised to remit me what he owed 
 me out of the first money he should receive, but I 
 never heard of him after. 
 
72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The violation of my trust respecting Vernon's 
 money was one of the first great errata of my life; 
 and this showed that my father was not much out in 
 his judgment, when he considered me as too young 
 to manage business. But Sir William, on reading 
 his letter, said he was too prudent, that there was a 
 great difference in persons; and discretion did not 
 always accompany years, nor was youth always with- 
 out it. " But since he will not set you up, I will do 
 it myself. Give me an inventory of the things neces- 
 sary to be had from Eugland, and I will send for 
 them. You shall repay me when you are able; I am 
 resolved 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 advised me 
 not to rely on him, as I afterwards heard it was 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? 
 1 believed him one of the best men in the world. 
 
 I presented him an inventory of a little printing- 
 house, amounting, by my computation, to about one 
 hundred pounds sterling. He liked it, but asked 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 73 
 
 me, if my being on the spot in England to choose 
 the types, and see that everything was good of the 
 kind, might not be of some advantage. " Then," said 
 he, '• when there, you may make acquaintance, and 
 establish correspondences in the bookselling and 
 stationery line." I agreed that this might be ad- 
 vantageous. "Then," said ho, "get yourself ready 
 to go with Afinis," which was the annual ship, and 
 the only one, at that time, usually passing between 
 London and Philadelphia. But as it would be som.e 
 months before Annis sailed, I continued working 
 with Keimer, fretting extremely about the money 
 Collins had got from me, and in great apprehensions 
 of being called upon for it by Vernon; this, however, 
 did not happen for some years after. 
 
 I believe I have omitted mentioning, that in my 
 first voyage from Boston to Philadelphia, being be- 
 calmed off Block Island, our crew employed ■ 
 selves in catching cod, and hauled up a great numbei. 
 Till then, I had stuck to my resolution to eat nothing 
 that had had life; and on this occasion I considered, 
 according to my master Tryon, the taking every fish 
 as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them 
 had, or could do us any injury, that might justify 
 this massacre. All this seemed very reasonable. But 
 I had been formerly a great lover of fish, and when it 
 came out of the frying-pan it smelt admirably well. 
 I balanced some time between principle anJ jnclina- J 
 
74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 tion, till, recollecting 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 may not eat you;" so I dined upon cod very 
 heartily, and have since continued to eat as 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 everything one has a mind to do. 
 
 Keimer and I lived on a pretty good familiar foot- 
 ing, and agreed tolerably well, for he suspected noth- 
 ing of my setting up. He retained a great deal of 
 his old enthusiasm, and loved argumentation; we 
 t-herefore had many disputations. I used to work 
 him so with my Socratic method, and had trepanned 
 him so often by questions apparently so distant from 
 any point we had in hand, yet by degrees leading to 
 the point, and bringing him into difficulties and con- 
 tradictions, that as last he grew ridiculously cautious, 
 and would hardly answer me the most common ques- 
 tion, without asking first, " What do you intend to 
 infer i'rom that?" However, it gave him so high an 
 opinioa of my abilities in the confuting way, that he 
 seriously proposed my being his colleague in a project 
 he had of setting up a new sect. He was to preach 
 the doctrines, and I was to confound all opponents. 
 "When he came to explain with me upon the doctrines, 
 I found several conundrums, which I objected to, un- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 75 
 
 less 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 shall 
 not mar the corners of thy bearcV He likewise kept 
 the seventh day, Sabbath ; and these two points were 
 essential with him. I disliked both, but agreed to 
 them on condition of his adopting the doctrine of not 
 using animal food. "I doubt," said he, "my con- 
 stitution will not bear it." I assured him it would, 
 and that he would be the better for it. He was 
 usually a great eater, and I wished to give myself 
 some diversion in half -starving him. He consented 
 to try the practice, if I would keep him company. 
 I did so, and we held it for three months. Our pro- 
 visions were purchased, cooked, and brought to us 
 regularly by a woman in the neighbourhood, who had 
 from me a list of forty dishes, which she prepared for 
 us at different times, in which there entered neitlier 
 fish, flesh, nor fowl. This whim suited me ■ bo better 
 at this time from the cheapness of it, not 3c-,t iii^ us 
 above eighteen pence sterling each per week. I have 
 since kept several lents more strictly, leaving the 
 common diet for that, and that for the common, 
 abruptly, without the least inconvenience; so that I 
 think there is little in the advice of making those 
 changes by easy gradations. I went on pleasantly, 
 but poor Keimer suffered grievously, grew tired of 
 
76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the project, loDged for the fleshpots of Egypt, and 
 ordered roast pig. He invited me and two women 
 friends to dine with him ; but it being brought too 
 soon upon table, he could not resist the temptation, 
 and ate the whole before we came. 
 
 I had made some courtship during this time to 
 Miss Eead. I had a great respect and affection for 
 her, and had some reasons to believe she had the same 
 for me; but, as I was about to take a long voyage, 
 and we were both very young, only a little above 
 eighteen, it was thought most prudent by her mother 
 to prevent our going too far at present ; as a marriage, 
 if it was to take place, would be more convenient 
 alter my return, when I should be, as I hoped, set up 
 in my business. Perhaps, too, she thought my ex- 
 pectations not so well founded as I imagined them to 
 be. 
 
 My chief acquaintances at this time were Charles 
 Osborne, Joseph AVatson, and James Ealph ; all lovers 
 of reading. The two first were clerks to an eminent 
 scrivenor or conveyancer in the town, Charles Brock- 
 den, the other was a clerk to a merchant. Watson 
 was a pious, sensible young man, of great integrity; 
 the others rather more lax in their principles of re- 
 ligion, particularly Ralph, who, as well as Collins, 
 had been unsettled by me; for which they both made 
 me suffer- Osborne was sensible, candid, frank; sin- 
 ere and affectionate to his friends; but, in literary 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 77 
 
 matters, too fond of criticism. Ralph was ingenious, 
 genteel in his manners, and extremely eloquent; I 
 think I never knew a prettier talker. Both were 
 great admirers of poetry, and began to try their hands 
 in little pieces. Many pleasant walks we have had 
 together on Sundays in the woods, on the banks of 
 the Schuylkill, where we read to one another, and 
 conferred on what we had read. 
 
 Ralph was inclined to give himself up entirely to 
 poetry, not doubting that he might make great pro- 
 ficiency in it, and even make his fortune by it. He 
 pretended that the greatest poets must, when the} 
 first began to write, have committed as many faiilts i^s 
 he did. Osborne endeavoured to dissuade hiu, 
 assured him he had no genius for poetry, and advised 
 him to think of nothing beyond the business he 'vas 
 bred to; that in the mercantile way, though he had 
 no stock, he might by his diligence and punctuality 
 recommend himself to employment as a factor, ,iid in 
 time acquire wherewith to trade on his own fKVount. 
 I approve for my part the amusing one's ,-,e" with 
 poetry now and then, so far as to improve one's 
 language, but no farther. 
 
 On this it was proposed that we should each of us, 
 at our next meeting, produce a piece of our own com- 
 posing, in order to improve by our mutual observa- 
 tions, criticisms, and corrections. As lanauage and 
 expression were what we had in view, we excluded a} 
 
78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 considerations of invention, by agreeing that the task 
 should be a version of the eighteenth Psalm, which 
 describes the descent of a Deity. When the time of 
 our meeting drew nigh, Kalph called on me first, and 
 let me know his piece was ready. I told him I had 
 been busy, and having little inclination, had done 
 nothing. He then showed me his piece for my 
 opinion, and I much approved it, as it appeared to 
 me to have great merit. " Now," said he, " Osborne 
 never will allow the least merit in anything of mine, 
 but makes a thousand criticisms out of mere envy. 
 Be is not so Jealous of you; I wish, therefore, you 
 yould take this piece and produce it as yours. I will 
 pVetend not to have had time, and so produce noth- 
 ing. We shall then hear what he will say to it." It 
 ■was agreed, and I immediately transcribed it, that it 
 nii^^ht appear in my own hand. 
 
 We met. Watson's performance was read; there 
 were . ome beauties in it, but many defects. Osborne's 
 was read ; it was much better. Ralph did it justice ; 
 remarl.^d some faults, but applauded the beauties. 
 He himself had nothing to produce. I was back- 
 ward, seemed desirous of being excused, had not had 
 sufficient time to correct, &c. But no excuse could 
 be admitted; produce I must. It was read and re- 
 peated. Watson and Osborne gave up the contest, 
 'and joined in applauding it. Ralph only made some 
 t^riticismfej and proposed some amendments; but I 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 79 
 
 defended my text. Osborne was severe against Ralph, 
 and told me he was no better able to criticise than 
 compose verses. As these two were returning home, 
 Osborne expressed himself still more strongly in favour 
 of what he thought my production; having before re- 
 frained, as he said, lest I should think he meant to 
 flatter me. "But who would have imagined," said 
 he, ''that Franklin was capable of such a perform- 
 ance; such painting, such force, such fire! He has 
 even improved on the original. In common con- 
 versation he seems to have no choice of words; he 
 hesitates and blunders, and yet, how he writer ' 
 When we next met, Ralph discovered the trick wf^ 
 had played, and Osborne was laughed at. 
 
 This transaction fixed Ralph in his resolution of 
 becoming a poet. I did all I could to dissuade Ivim 
 from it, but he continued scribbling verses till Pope 
 cured him. He became, however, a pretty gooci |;rose 
 writer. More of him hereafter.* But, as I mv ^ not 
 
 * Ralph obtained much celebrity as a political a^ d his- 
 torical writer. He also wrote poetry and plays, but with 
 less success. He published " Night, " a poem ; and ^Another 
 poem, called "Sawney." In this latter he abused Swift, 
 Pope, and Gay. In revenge, Pope introduced his name 
 into the "Dunciad." 
 
 "Silence, ye wolves, while Ralph to Cynthia bowls, 
 And makes Night hideous ; answer him. ye owls." 
 
 He wrote a much approved work, entitled 'Use and 
 Abuse of Parliaments"; and also a "History of England 
 
80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 have occasion 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 happened 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 
 fulfilled his promise. 
 
 The Governor, seeming to like my company, had 
 me frequently at his house; and his setting me up 
 "•was always mentioned as a fixed thing. I was to take 
 wdth me letters recommendatory to a number of his 
 fr-iends, besides the letter of credit to" furnish me with 
 th*9 necessary money for purchasing the press, types, 
 paper, &c. For these letters I was appointed to call 
 at different times, when they were to be ready; but 
 a fut ire time was still named. Thus we went on till 
 the fchip — whose departure, too, had been several 
 times postponed — was on the point of sailing. Then, 
 
 during the reign of William the Third," in two folio 
 volumes. Alluding to this work, Fox pronounces the 
 author a historian of great acuteness, as well as diligence, 
 but who falls sometimes into the common error of judging 
 by the event." Ealph produced also many political pam- 
 phlets, and was employed by the ministry at different times 
 to promote their aims with his pen. For these services he 
 \was pensioned. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 81 
 
 when I called to take my leave and receive the letters, 
 his secretary, Dr. Baird, came out to me and said the 
 Governor was extremely busy in writing, but would 
 be down at Newcastle before the ship, and then the 
 letters would be delivered to me. 
 
 Ealph, though married, and having one child, had 
 determined to accompany me in this voyage. It was 
 thought he intended to establish a correspondence, 
 and obtain goods to sell on commission; but I foun i 
 after, that having some cause of discontent with hiti 
 wife's relations, he proposed to leave her on their 
 hands, and never to return to America. Having 
 taken leave of my friends, and exchanged promises 
 with Miss Read, I quitted Philadelphia in the jhip, 
 wdiich anchored at Newcastle. The Governor was 
 there; but when I went to his lodging, his secretary 
 came to me from him with expressions of the g:"eatest 
 regret that he could not then see me, being rn gaged 
 in business of the utmost importance; but that he 
 would send the letters to me on board, wishing me 
 heartily a good voyage and a speedy return, &c. 
 I returned on board a little puzzled, but still not 
 doubting. 
 6 
 
82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EIGHTEEi^ MONTHS IN LONDON. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a celebrated lawyer of 
 Philadelphia, had taken his passage in the same ship 
 for himself and son, with Mr. Denham, a Quaker 
 merchant, and Messrs. Oniam and Russel, masters of 
 an iron -work in Mar^dand, who had engaged the 
 great cabin ; so that Ealph and I were forced to take 
 up with a berth in the steerage, and none on board 
 knowing us, were considered as ordinary persons. 
 But Mr. Hamilton and his son (it was James, since 
 Governor), returned from Newcastle to Philadelphia; 
 the .Ttther being recalled by a great fee to plead for 
 a sei'^ed ship. And, just before we sailed. Colonel 
 French ivoming on board, and showing me great re- 
 spect, 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 removed thither. 
 > Understanding that Colonel French had brought 
 a on board the Governor's despatches, I asked the cap- 
 ^V.ain for tlioso letters that were to be under my care. 
 ^1e said aJl were put into the bag together; and he 
 ^Q-inld not 'hcsi come at them; but, before we landed 
 '■was Euglandj, I should have an opportunity of picking 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 83 
 
 them out; so I was satisfied for the present, and we 
 proceeded on our voyage. We had a sociable com- 
 pany in the cabin, and lived uncommonly well, hav- 
 ing 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 dur- 
 ing 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 some upon which my name was put as under 
 my care. I picked out six or seven, that, by the 
 handwriting, I thought might be the promised letters, 
 especially as one of them was addressed to Basket, the 
 King's printer, and another to some stationer. We 
 arrived in London the 24th December, 1724. I 
 waited upon the stationer, who came first in my way, 
 delivering the letter as from Governor Keith. " I 
 don't know such a person," said he; but, opening 
 the letter, "oh! this is from Eiddlesden. I have 
 lately found him to be a complete rascal, and I will 
 have nothing to do with him, nor receive any letters 
 from him." So putting the letter into my hand, he 
 turned on his heel and left me to serve some cus- 
 tomer, I was surprised to find these were not the 
 Governor's letters; and, after recollecting and com- 
 paring circumstances, I began to doubt his sincerity. 
 
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I found my friend Denliam, 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 laughed at the idea of the Governor's giving me a 
 letter of credit, having, as he said, no credit to give. 
 On my expressing some concern about what I should 
 do, he advised me to endeavour getting some em- 
 ployment in the way of my business. "Among the 
 printers here," said he, "you will improve yourself, 
 and when you return to America, you vvill set up to 
 greater advantage." 
 
 We both of us happened to know, as well as the 
 stationer, that Eiddlesden, the attorney, was a very 
 knave. He had half ruined Miss Read's father by 
 persuading him to be bound for him. By his letter 
 it appeared there was a secret scheme on foot to the 
 prejudice of Mr. Hamilton (supposed to be then 
 coming over with us) ; that Keith was concerned in 
 it with Eiddlesden. Denham, who was a friend of 
 Hamilton's, thought he ought to be acquainted with 
 it; so, when he arrived in England, which was soon 
 after, partly from resentment and ill-will to Keith 
 and Eiddlesden, and partly from good-will to him, 
 I waited on him, and gave him the letter. He 
 thanked me cordially, the information being of im- 
 portance to him ; and from that time he became my 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 85 
 
 friend, greatly to my advantage afterwards on many 
 occasions. 
 
 But what shall we think of a Governor playing 
 such pitiful tricks and imposing so grossly on a poor 
 ignorant boy! It was a habit he had acquired. He 
 wished to please everybody; and, having little to 
 give, he gave expectations. He was otherwise an 
 ingenious, sensible man, a pretty good writer, and a 
 good Governor for the people, though not for his 
 constituents, the Proprietaries, whose instructions he 
 sometimes disregarded. Several of our best laws were 
 of his planning, and passed during his administration. 
 
 Kalph and I were inseparable companions. We 
 took lodgings together in Little Britain at three 
 shillings and sixpence a week, as much as we could 
 then afford. He found some relations, but they 
 were poor, and unable to assist him. He now let me 
 know his intentions of remaining in London, and 
 that he never meant to return to Philadelphia. He 
 had brought no money with him, the whole he could 
 muster having been expended in paying his j^assage. 
 I had fifteen pistoles; so he borrowed occasionally 
 of me to subsist while he was looking out for busi- 
 ness. He first endeavoured to get into the play- 
 house, believing himself qualified for an actor; but 
 Wilkes, to whom he applied, advised him candidly not 
 to think of that employment, as it was impossible he 
 should succeed in it. Then he proposed to Eoberts, 
 
86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 a publisher in Paternoster Eow, to write for him a 
 weekly paper like the Spectator, on certain condi- 
 tions, which Eoberts did not approve. Then he en- 
 deavoured to get employment as a hackney writer, 
 to copy for the stationers and lawyers about the 
 Temple, but could not find a vacancy. 
 
 For myself, I immediately got into work at Palm- 
 er's, a famous printing-house in Bartholomew Close, 
 where I continued near a year. I was pretty dili- 
 gent, but I spent with Ealph a good deal of my 
 earnings at plays and public amusements. We had 
 nearly consumed all my pistoles, and now just rubbed 
 on from hand to mouth. He seemed quite to 
 have forgotten his wife and child, and I by degrees 
 my engagements with Miss Read, to whom I never 
 wrote more than one letter, and that was to let her 
 know I was not likely soon to return. This was 
 another of the great errata of my life, which I could 
 wish to correct if I were to live it over again. In 
 fact, by our expenses, I was constantly kept unable 
 to pay my passage. 
 
 At Palmer's I was employed in composing for the 
 second edition of Wollaston's Religion of Nature. 
 Some of his reasonings not appearing to me well 
 founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece, in 
 which I made remarks on them. It was entitled, A 
 Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and 
 Pain. I inscribed it to my friend Ralph ; I printed a 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 87 
 
 small number. It occasioued my being more consid- 
 ered by Mr. Palmer as a young man of some ingen- 
 uity, though he seriously expostulated with me 
 upon the principles of my pamphlet, which to him 
 appeared abominable. My printing this pamphlet 
 was another erratum.. While I lodged in Little 
 Britain I made an acquaintance with one Wilcox, a 
 bookseller, whose shop was next door. He had an 
 immense collection of second-hand books. Circulat- 
 ing 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 esteemed a great advantage, and I 
 made as much use of it as I could. 
 
 My pamphlet by some means falling into the hands 
 of one Lyons, a surgeon, author of a book entitled 
 Tlie InfalUMUty of Human Judgment^ it occasioned an 
 acquaintance between us. He took great notice of me, 
 called on me often to converse on those subjects, car- 
 ried me to the Horns, a pale-ale house in Lane, 
 
 Cheapside, and introduced me to Dr. Mandeville, 
 author of the Fahle 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 
 promised to give me an opportunity, some time or 
 other, of seeing Sir Isaac Newton, of which I was 
 extremely desirous; but this never happened. 
 
88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 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, showed me all his curiosities, and persuaded 
 me to add that to the number; for which he paid 
 me handsomely. 
 
 In our house lodged a young woman, a milliner, 
 who, I think, had a shop in the Cloisters. She had 
 been genteelly bred, was sensible, lively, and of a most 
 pleasing conversation. Ealph read plays to her in 
 the evenings. Afterwards he took a resolution of 
 going from Loudon, to try for a country school, 
 which he thought himself well qualified to undertake, 
 as he wrote an excellent hand, and was master of 
 arithmetic and accounts. This, however, he deemed 
 a business below him, and, confident of future better 
 fortune, when he should be unwilling to have it known 
 that he once was so meanly employed, he changed his 
 name, and did me the honour to assume mine; for I 
 soon after had a letter from him, acquainting me 
 that he was settled in a small village (in Berkshire, 
 I think it was, where he taught reading and writing 
 to ten or a dozen boys, at sixpence each per week), 
 and desiring me to write to him, directing for Mr. 
 Franklin, schoolmaster, at such a place. 
 
 He continued to write to me frequently, sending 
 me large specimens of an epic poem, which he was 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 89 
 
 then composing, and desiring my remarks and cor- 
 rections. These I gave him from time to time, but 
 endeavoured rather to discourage his proceeding. One 
 of Young's Satires was then just published. I copied 
 and sent him a great part of it, which set in a 
 stroug light the folly of pursuing the Muses. All 
 was in vain ; sheets of the poem continued to come 
 by every post. I now began to think of getting a 
 little beforehand, and, expecting better employment, 
 I left Palmer's to work at Watts's, near Lincoln's 
 Inn Fields, a still greater printing-house. Here I 
 continued all the rest of my stay in London. 
 
 At my first admission into the printing-house I 
 took to working at press, imagining I felt a want for 
 the bodily exercise I had been used to in America, 
 where press-work * is mixed with the composing. I 
 drank only water; the other workmen, near fifty in 
 number, were great drinkers of beer. On occasion I 
 carried up and down stairs a large form of types in 
 each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. 
 They wondered to see, from this and several in- 
 stances, that the }Vater-American, as they called 
 me, was strongei' than themselves, who drank strong 
 beer! We had an ale-house 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 
 
90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about 6 o'clock, 
 and another when he had done his day's work. I 
 thought it a detestable custom; but it was neces- 
 sary, he supposed, to drink strong beer that he might 
 be strong to labour. I endeavoured to convince him, 
 that the bodily strength afforded by beer could only 
 be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley 
 dissolved in the water of which it was made; that 
 there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread ; and 
 therefore, if he could eat that with a pint of water, 
 it would give him more strength than a quart of 
 beer. He drank on, however, and had four or five 
 shillings to pay out of his wages every Saturday 
 night for that vile liquor; an expense I was free from. 
 And thus these poor fellows keep themselves always 
 under. 
 
 Watts, after some weeks, desiring to have me in 
 the composing-room, I left the pressmen; a new Men 
 vetm for drink, being five shillings, was demanded of 
 me by the compositors. I thought it an imposition, 
 as I had paid one to the pressmen; the master 
 thought so too, and forbade my paying it. I stood 
 out two or three weeks, was accordingly considered 
 as an excommunicate, and had so many little pieces 
 of private malice practised on me by mixing my sorts, 
 transposing and breaking my matter, &c. &c., if ever 
 I stepped out of the room; and all ascribed to the 
 chapel ghost, which they said ever haunted those not 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 91 
 
 regularly admitted; that, notwithstanding my mas- 
 ter's protection, I found myself obliged to comply and 
 pay the money; convinced 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 
 acquired considerable influence. I proposed some 
 reasonable alterations in their cUapeT^ laws, and carried 
 them against all opposition. From my example, a 
 great many of them left their muddling breakfast of 
 beer, bread, and cheese, finding they could with me 
 be supplied from a neighbouring house, with a large 
 porringer of hot water -gruel, sprinkled with pep- 
 per, crumbled with bread, and a bit of butter in 
 it, for the price of a pint of beer, viz., three half- 
 pence. This was a more comfortable as well as a 
 cheaper breakfast, and kept their heads clearer. 
 Those who contiuued sotting with their beer all day 
 were often, by not paying, out of credit at the ale- 
 house, and used to make interest with me to get beer ; 
 their liglit^ as they phrased it, being out. I watched 
 the pay-table on Saturday night, and collected what 
 I stood engaged for them, having to pay sometimes 
 near thirty shillings a week on their accounts. This, 
 and my being estimated a pretty good riggite^ that 
 is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence 
 in the society. My constant attendance (I never 
 making a St. Monday) recommended me to the mas- 
 
 * A printing-house is called a chapel by the workmen. 
 
92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ter; and my uncommon quickness at composing occa- 
 sioned my being put upon work of despatch, which 
 was generally better paid. So I went on now very 
 agreeably. 
 
 My lodgings in Little Britain being too remote, 1 
 found another in Duke Street, opposite to the Eomish 
 Chapel. It was up three pair of stairs backwards, at 
 an Italian warehouse. A widow lady kept the house: 
 she had a daughter, and a maid-servant, and a jour- 
 neyman who attended the warehouse, but lodged 
 abroad. After sending to inquire my character at 
 the house where I last lodged, she agreed to take me 
 in at the same rate — three shillings and sixpence a 
 week; cheaper, as she said, fj'om the protection she 
 expected in having a man to 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 hus- 
 band, whose memory she much revered; had lived 
 much among people of distinction, and knew a 
 thousand anecdotes of them as far back as the time 
 of Charles II. She was lame in her knees with 
 the gout, and therefore seldom stirred out of her 
 room, so sometimes wanted company; and hers was 
 so highly amusing to me, that I was sure to spend an 
 evening with her whenever she desired it. Our sup- 
 per was only half an anchovy each, on a very little 
 slice of bread-and-butter; but the entertainment was 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 93 
 
 in her conversation. My always keeping good hours, 
 and giving little trouble in the family, made her un- 
 willing to part with me; so that when I talked of a 
 lodging I had heard of, nearer my business, for two 
 shillings a week (which, intent as I was on saving 
 money, made some difference), she bid me not think 
 of it, for she would abate me two shillings a week for 
 the future; so I remained with her at one shilling and 
 sixpence as long as I stayed in London. 
 
 In a garret of her house there lived a maiden lady 
 of seventy, in the most retired manner, of whom my 
 landlady gave me this account: — that she was a 
 Roman Catholic; had been sent abroad when young, 
 and lodged in a nunnery with an intent of becoming 
 a nun; but, the country not agreeing with her, she 
 returned to England, where, there being no nunnery, 
 she had vowed 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 purposes, re- 
 serving only twelve pounds a year to live on; and out 
 of this sum she still gave a part in charity, living 
 herself on water-gruel only, and using no fire but to 
 boil it. She had lived many years in that garret, 
 being permitted to remain there gratis by successive 
 Catholic tenants of the house below, as they deemed 
 it a blessing to have her there. A priest visited her, 
 to confess her every day. " From this I asked her," 
 said my landlady, "how she, as she lived, could 
 
94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 possibly find so much employment for a confessor? 
 'Oh!' said she, 'it is impossible to avoid vain 
 tlioughts.^ " I was permitted once to visit her. She 
 was cheerful and polite, and conversed pleasantly. 
 The room was clean, but had no other furniture 
 than a mattress, a table with a crucifix and a 
 book, a stool which she gave me to sit on, and a 
 picture over the chimney of St. Veronica display- 
 ing her handkerchief, with the miraculous figure 
 of Christ's bleeding face on it, which she explained 
 to me with great seriousness. She looked pale, 
 but was never sick; and I give it as another in- 
 stance, on how small an income life and health may 
 be supported. 
 
 At Watts's printing-house I contracted an acquaint- 
 ance with an ingenious young man, one AVygate, 
 who, having wealthy relations, had been better edu- 
 cated than most printers; was a tolerable Latinist, 
 spoke French, and loved reading. I taught him and 
 a friend of his to swim, at twice going into the river, 
 and they soon became good swimmers. They intro- 
 duced me to some gentlemen from the country, who 
 ■went to Chelsea by water, to see the college and Don 
 Saltero's curiosities. In our return, at the request 
 of the company, whose curiosity Wygate had excited, 
 I stripped and leaped into the river, and swam from 
 near Chelsea to Blackfriars, performing in the way 
 many feats of activity, both upon and under the 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 95 
 
 water, that surprised and pleased those to whom they 
 were novelties. 
 
 I had from a child been delighted with this exer- 
 cise, had studied and practised Thevenot's motions 
 and positions, and 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 com- 
 pany, and was much flattered by their admiration: 
 and Wygate, who was desirous of becoming a master, 
 grew more and more attached to me on that account, 
 as well as from the similarity of our studies. He at 
 length proposed to me travelling all over Europe to- 
 gether, supporting ourselves everywhere by working 
 at our business. I was once inclined to it; but men- 
 tioning it to my good friend Mr. Denham, with whom 
 I often spent an hour when I had leisure, he dis- 
 suaded me from it; advising me to think only of re- 
 turning to Pennsylvania, which he was now about to 
 do. 
 
 I must record one trait of this good man's character. 
 Pie had formerly been in business at Bristol, but 
 failed in debt to a number of people, com.pounded, 
 and went to America. There, by a close application 
 to business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful for- 
 tune in a few years. Returning to England in the 
 ship with me, he invited his old creditors to an enter- 
 
 * He wrote two interesting papers on the art of swim- 
 ming. 
 
96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 tainment, at which he thanked them for the easy com- 
 position they had favoured him with ; and, when they 
 expected nothing but the treat, every man, at the 
 first remove, found under his plate an order on a 
 banker for the full amount of the unpaid remainder, 
 with interest. 
 
 He now told me he was about to return to Phila- 
 delphia, and should carry over a great quantity of 
 goods, in order to open a store there. He proposed 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 to the West Indies, and procure me commis- 
 sions from others which would be profitable; and, if 
 I managed well, would establish me handsomely. 
 The thing pleased me; for I was grown tired of Lon- 
 don, remembered with pleasure the happy months I 
 had spent in Pennsylvania, and wished again to see 
 it. Therefore I immediately agreed, on the terms 
 of fifty pounds a year, Pennsylvania money; less, in- 
 deed, 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 employed in my new business, going 
 about w4th Mr. Denham among the tradesmen to 
 purchase various articles, and see them packed up, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
 delivering messages, calling upon workmen to de- 
 spatch, 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, Sir William Wyndham, and I waited upon 
 I him. He had heard by some means or other of my 
 I swimming from Chelsea to Blackfriars, and of my 
 teaching Wygate and another young man to swim, in 
 a few hours. He had two sons, about to set out on 
 "their travels; he wished to have them first taught 
 swimming, and proposed to gratify me handsomely if 
 I would teach them. They were not yet come to 
 town, and my stay was uncertain; so I could not un- 
 dertake it. But from the 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 made me sooner, probably I should not so soon 
 have returned to America. Many years after, you 
 and I had something of more importance to do with 
 one of these sons of Sir William Wyndham, become^ 
 Earl of Egremont, which I shall mention in its place. 
 Thus I passed about eighteen months in London; 
 most part of the time I worked hard at my business, 
 and spent but little upon myself except in seeing 
 plays, and in books. My friend Ralph had kept me 
 poor; he owed me about twenty-seven pounds, which 
 I was now never likely to receive; a great sum out of 
 7 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Aj small earnings! I loved him, notwithstanding, 
 for he had many amiable qualities. I had improved 
 m}^ knowledge, however, though I had by no means 
 improved my fortune ; but I had made some very in- 
 genious acquaintances, whose conversation was of 
 great advantage to me ; and I had read considerably. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SETTING UP BUSINESS AS A PRINTER. 
 
 We sailed from Gravesend on the 23rd of July, 1726. 
 For the incidents of the voyage, I refer you to my 
 journal, where you will find them all minutely re- 
 lated. Perhaps the most important part of that 
 journal is the plan* to be found in it which I formed 
 at sea, for regulating the future conduct of my life. 
 It is the more remarkable, as being formed when I 
 was so young, and yet being pretty faithfully adhered 
 to quite through to old age. 
 
 We landed at Philadelphia the 11th of October, 
 where I found sundry alterations. Keith was no 
 longer governor, being superseded by Major Gordon; 
 I met him walking the streets as a common citizen. 
 
 *Thi3 plan does not exist in the manuscript Journal 
 found among Dr. Franklin's papers; which appears, by a 
 note thereon, to be a " copy made at Heading, in Pennsyl- 
 vania, October 2nd, 1787."— S^. T. F. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 99 
 
 He seemed a little ashamed at seeing me, and passed 
 without saying anything. I should have been as 
 much ashamed at seeing Miss Bead, had not her 
 friends, despairing with reason of my return, after 
 the receipt of my letter, i^ersuaded her to marry an- 
 other, one Rogers, a potter, which was done in my 
 absence. With him, however, she was never happy, 
 and soon parted from him, refusing to live with him 
 or bear his name, it being now said he had another 
 wife. He was a worthless fellow, though an excellent 
 workman, which was the temptation to her friends. 
 He got into debt, ran away in 1727 or 1728, went to 
 the West Indies, and died there. Keimer had got a 
 better house, a shop well supplied with stationery, 
 plenty of new types, and a number of hands, though 
 none good, and seemed to have a great deal of business. 
 Mr. Denham took a store in W^ater Street, where 
 we opened our goods; I attended the business dili- 
 gently, studied accounts, and grew in a little time 
 expert at selling. AVe lodged and boarded together ; 
 he counselled me as a father, having a sincere regard 
 for me. I respected and loved him, and we might 
 have gone on together very happily; but, in the be- 
 ginning of February, 1727, when I had just passed 
 my twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My dis- 
 temper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me 
 off. I suffered a good deal, gave up the point in my 
 own mind, and was at the time rather disappointed 
 
100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 when I found myself recovering ; regretting, in some 
 degree, that I must now, some time or other, have all 
 that disagreeable work to go over again. I forget 
 what Mr. Denham's distemper was; it held him along 
 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 iuto tlie care of 
 his executors, and my employment under him ended. 
 My brother-in-law. Holmes, being now at Phila- 
 delphia, 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 to his 
 stationer's shop. I had heard a bad character of 
 him in London from his wife and her friends, and 
 was not for having any more to do with him. I 
 wished for employment as a merchant's clerk ; but, 
 not meeting with any, I closed again with Keimer. 
 I found in his house these hands: Hugh Meredith, 
 Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of age, bred to 
 country work; he was honest, sensible, a man of ex- 
 perience, and fond of readiug, but addicted to drink- 
 ing. Stephen Potts, a young countryman of full age, 
 bred to the same, of uncommon natural parts, and 
 great wit and humour; but a little idle. These I 
 agreed with at extreme low wages per week, to be 
 raised a shilling every three months, as they would 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 101 
 
 deserve by improving in their business; and the ex- 
 pectation 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, though he knew 
 nether one nor the other. John , a wild Irish- 
 man, brought up to no business, whose service, for 
 four years, Keimer had purchased from the captain 
 of a ship; he too was to be made a pressman. George 
 Webb, an Oxford scholar, whose time for four years 
 he had likewise bought, intending him for a com- 
 positor, of whom more presently; and David Harry, 
 a country boy, whom he had taken apprentice. 
 
 I soon perceived that the intention of engaging me 
 at wages so much higher than he had been used to 
 give was to have these raw cheap hands formed 
 through me; and as soon as I had instructed them, 
 they being all articled to him, he should be able to 
 do without me. I went, however, very cheerfully, put 
 his printing-house in order, which had been in great 
 confusion, and brought his hands by degrees to mind 
 their business and to do it better. 
 
 It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in 
 the situation of a bought servant. He was not more 
 than eighteen years of age, and he gave me this ac- 
 count of himself: that he was born in Gloucester, 
 educated at a grammar school, and had been distin- 
 guished among the scholars for some apparent su- 
 
103 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 periority in performing his part when they exhibited 
 plays; belonged to the Wits' Club there, and had 
 written some pieces in prose and verse, which were 
 printed in the Gloucester newspapers. Thence was 
 sent to Oxford; there he continued about a year, but 
 not well satisfied ; wishing of all things to see Lon- 
 don, and become a player. At length, receiving his 
 quarterly allowance of fifteen guineas, instead of dis- 
 charging his debts, he went out of town, hid his 
 gown in a furze bush, and walked to London; v/here, 
 having no friend to advise him, he fell into bad com- 
 pany, soon spent his guineas, found no means of 
 being introduced among the players, grew necessitous, 
 pawned his clothes, and wanted bread. Walking the 
 street very hungry, not knowing what to do with him- 
 self, a crimp bill was put into his hand, offering im,- 
 mediate entertainment and encouragement to such 
 as would bind themselves to serve in America. He 
 went directly, signed the indentures, was put into 
 the ship, and came over; never writing a line to his 
 friends to acquaint them what was become of him. 
 He was lively, witty, good-natured, 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 agreeably, for they all respected 
 me the more, as they found Keimer incapable of in- 
 structing them, and that from me they learned some- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 103 
 
 thing daily. My acquaintance with ingenious people 
 in the town increased. We never worked on Satur- 
 day, that being Keimer's Sabbath, so that I had two 
 days for reading. 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 
 economist. He, however, kindly made no demand 
 of it. 
 
 Our printing-office often wanted sorts, and there 
 was no letter-foundry in America. I had seen types 
 cast at James's in London, but without much atten- 
 tion to the manner. However, I contrived a mould, 
 and made use of the letters we had as puncheons, 
 struck the matrixes in lead, and thus supplied in a 
 pretty tolerable way all deficiencies. I also engraved 
 several things on occasion; made the ink; I was 
 warehouse-man, and 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 improved in their business; and, 
 when Keimer paid me a second quarter's wages, he 
 let me know that he felt them too heavy and thought 
 that I should make an abatement. He grew by de- 
 grees less civil, put on more the airs of master, fre- 
 quently found fault, was captious, and seemed ready 
 for an outbreaking. I went on nevertheless with a 
 good deal of patience, thinking that his incumbered. 
 
104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 circumstances were partly the cause. At length a 
 trifle snapped our connection — for, a great n'oise 
 happening near the court-house, I put my head out 
 of the window to see what was the matter. Keimer, 
 being in the street, looked up and saw me, called out 
 to me in a loud voice and angry tone to mind my busi- 
 ness, adding some reproachful words that nettled me 
 the more for their publicity, all the neighbours who 
 were looking out on the same occasion being wit- 
 nesses how I was treated. He came up immediately 
 into the printing-house and continued the quarrel; 
 high words passed on both sides; he gave me the 
 quarter's warning we had stipulated, expressing a 
 wish that he had not been obliged to so long a warn- 
 ing. I told him his wish was unnecessary, for 1 
 would leave him that instant; and so, taking my hat, 
 walked out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I saw 
 below, to take care of some things I left and bring 
 them to my lodgings. 
 
 Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we 
 talked my affair over. He had conceived a great re- 
 gard for me, and was very unwilling that I should 
 leave the house while he remained in it. He dis- 
 suaded me from returning to my native country, 
 which I began to think of. He reminded me that 
 Keimer was in debt for all he possessed ; that his 
 creditors began to be uneasy ; that he kept his shop 
 miserably, sold often without a profit for ready 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 105 
 
 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 passed between them, he was sure would advance 
 money to set me up, if I would enter into partner- 
 ship with him. "My time," said he, "will be out 
 with Keimer in the spring; by that time we may 
 have our press and types in from London. I am 
 sensible I am no workman. If you like it, your 
 skill in the business shall be set against the stock I 
 furnish, and we will share the profits equally." 
 
 The proposal was agreeable to me, and I con- 
 sented. His father was in town, and approved of it; 
 the more as he said I had great influence with his 
 son; had prevailed on him to abstain long from 
 dram-drinking, and he hoped might break him off 
 that wretched habit entirely, when we came to be 
 so closely connected. I gave an inventory to the 
 father, who carried it to a merchant; the things 
 were sent for, the secret was to be kept till they 
 should arrive, and in the meantime I was to get work, 
 if I could, at the other printing-house. But I found 
 no vacancy there, and so remained idle a few days, 
 when Keimer, on a prospect of being employed to 
 print some paper money in New Jersey, which would 
 require cuts and various types that I only could sup- 
 
106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ply, and apprehending Bradford might engage me 
 and get the job from him, sent me a very civil mes- 
 sage, that old friends should not part for a few words, 
 the effects of sudden passion, and wishing me to re- 
 turn. Meredith persuaded me to comply, as it would 
 give more opportunity for his improvement under 
 my daily instructions; so I returned, and we went on 
 more smoothly than for some time before. The New 
 Jersey job was obtained. I contrived a copper-plate 
 press for it, the first that had been seen in the coun- 
 try. I cut several ornaments and checks for the 
 bills. We went together to Burlington, where I exe- 
 cuted the whole to satisfaction ; and he received so 
 large a sum for the work as to be enabled thereby to 
 keep himself longer from- ruin. 
 
 At Burlington I made 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 com- 
 pany. My mind having been much more improved 
 by reading than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that 
 reason my conversation seemed to be more valued. 
 They had me to their houses, introduced me to their 
 friends, and showed mo much civility; while he, 
 though the master, was a little neglected. In truth, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 107 
 
 he was an odd creature ; ignorant of common life, 
 fond of rudely opposing received opinions, slovenly 
 to extreme dirtiness, enthusiastic in some points of 
 religion, and a little knavish withal. 
 
 We continued there near three months, and by 
 that time I could reckon among my acquired friends 
 Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary of the 
 province; Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several 
 of the Smiths, members of Assembly; and Isaac 
 Decow, the surveyor-general. The latter was a 
 shrewd, sagacious old man, who told me that he 
 began for himself, when young, by wheeling clay for 
 the brickmakers ; learned to write after he was of 
 age; carried the chain for surveyors, who taught him 
 surveying; and he had now, by his industry, acquired 
 a good estate; and, said he, "I foresee that you will 
 soon work this man out of his business, and make a. 
 fortune in it at Philadelphia." He had then not the 
 least intimation of my intention to set up there or 
 anywhere. These friends were afterwards of great 
 use to me, as I occasionally was to some of them. 
 They all continued their regard for me as long as 
 they lived. 
 
 Before I enter upon my public appearance in 
 business it may be well to let you know the then state 
 of my mind with regard to my principles and 
 morals, that you may see how far those influenced 
 the future events of my life. My parents had early 
 
108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 given me religious impressions, and brought me 
 through my childhood piously in the Dissenting way. 
 But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by 
 turns several points as I found them disputed in the 
 different books I read, I began to doubt of the Rev- 
 elation itself. Some books against Deism fell into 
 my hands; they were said to be the substance of the 
 sermons which had been preached at Boyle's Lec- 
 tures. 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 be much stronger than the 
 refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough 
 Deist. My arguments perverted some others, par- 
 ticularly Collins and Ealph; but each of these hav- 
 ing wronged me greatly without the least compunc- 
 tion, and recollecting Keith's conduct towards me 
 (who was another freethinker), and my own towards 
 Vernon and Miss Bead, which at times gave me 
 great trouble, I began to suspect that this doctrine, 
 though it might be true, was not very useful. My 
 London pamphlet, printed in 1725,* which had for 
 its motto these lines of Dryden : 
 
 "Whatever is, is right. But purblind man 
 Sees but a part o' the cliain, the nearest links ; 
 His eyes not carrying to that equal beam, 
 That poises all above" ; 
 
 ■^Dr. Franklin, in a letter to Benjamin Vaughan, dated 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 109 
 
 and which from the attributes of God, his infinite 
 wisdom, goodness, and power, concluded that noth« 
 ing could possibly be wrong in the world and that 
 
 November 9th, 1779, gives a further account of this pam- 
 phlet in these words : — 
 
 "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 a 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 Judgme7it, who was at that time another of my 
 acquaintance in London. I was not nineteen years of age 
 when it was wrtten. 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 procure 
 no change in things that are ordained, praying must then 
 be useless, and an absurdity. God Avould therefore not 
 ordain praying, if everything else was ordained. But 
 praying exists, therefore all other things are not ordained, 
 &c. This pamphlet was never printed, and the manu- 
 
110 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such 
 things existing, appeared now not so clever a per- 
 formance as I once thought it; and I doubted 
 whether some error had not insinuated itself unper- 
 ceived into my argument so as to infect all that fol- 
 lows, as is common in metaphysical reasonings. 
 
 I grew convinced that truth, sincerity and integ- 
 rity, in dealings between man and man, were of the 
 utmost importance to the felicity of life; and I 
 formed written resolutions, which still remain in my 
 journal book, to practise them ever while I lived.* 
 
 script 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. " 
 
 * See Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, published in 
 his works. 
 
 Among Franklin's papers I have found a curious manu- 
 script in his handwriting, which contains a new version of 
 the Lord's Praj^er. The condition and appearance of the 
 manuscript prove it to have been an early performance, 
 but its precise date is not known. The form in which it is 
 written is here preserved. 
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER. 
 
 Old Version. New Version. By B. Franklin. 
 
 1. Our Father which art in 1. Heavenly Father, 
 
 heaven, 
 
 2. Hallowed be Thy name. 3. May all revere thee, 
 
 3. Thy kingdom come, 3. And become thy dutiful 
 
 children and faithful 
 subjects. 
 
BENJA3IIN FRANKLIN. Ill 
 
 Eevelation had indeed no weight with me, as such ; 
 but I entertained an opinion, that, though certain 
 actions might not be bad, because they were forbid- 
 
 4. Thy will be done on 4. May thy laws be obeyed 
 
 earth, as it is in on earth as perfectly 
 
 heaven. as they are in heaven. 
 
 5. Give us this day our daily 5. Provide for us this day, 
 
 bread. as thou hast hitherto 
 
 daily done. 
 
 6. Forgive us our debts as we 6. Forgive us our tres- 
 
 forgive our debtors. passes, and enable us 
 
 to forgive those who 
 offend us. 
 
 7. And lead us not into 7. Keep us out of tempta- 
 
 temptation, but de- tion, and deliver us 
 
 liver us from evil. from evil. 
 
 Reasons for the change of expression. 
 
 Old version. — Our Father which art in Heaven. 
 
 New version. — Heavenly Father is more concise, equally 
 expressive, and better modern English. 
 
 Old version. — Hallowed he thy name. This seems to 
 rf^late 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 
 iiame 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 version. — May all revere thee. 
 
 Old VE.^^iOTH.— Thy kingdom come. This petition seems 
 
112 A UTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 den by it, or good, hecause it commanded them; yet 
 probably these actions might be forbidden hecause 
 they were bad for us, or commanded hecause they 
 
 suited to the then condition of the Jewish nation. Origi- 
 nally 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 around 
 them. They had such kings accordingly ; but their happi- 
 ness was not increased bj^ the change, and they had reason 
 to wish and pray for a return of the theocracy, or govern- 
 ment of God. Christians in these times have other ideas, 
 when they speak of the kingdom of God, such as are per- 
 haps more adequately expressed by the 
 
 New version. —£eco??ie thy dutiful children and faithful 
 subjects. 
 
 Old version. — Thy will he done on earth as it is in 
 heaven; more explicitly, 
 
 New version. — 31ay thy laws be obeyed on earth as per- 
 fectly as they are in heaven. 
 
 Old version.— Give us this day our daily bread. Give 
 us what is ours seems to put in a claim of right, and to 
 contain too little of the grateful acknowledgment and sense 
 of dependenc ethat become creatures who live on the daily 
 bounty of their Creator. Therefore it is changed to 
 
 New version. — Provide for us this day, as thou hast 
 hitherto daily done. 
 
 Old version. — Forgive us our debts, as ice forgive our 
 debtors (Matthew) . Forgive our sins, for we also forgive 
 every one that is indebted to us (Luke), 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 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 115 
 
 were beneficial to iis, in their own natures, all the 
 circumstances of things considered. And this per- 
 suasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some 
 
 forgiveD. 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 ive 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 
 ive forgive others. That is, if we do not forgive others, we 
 pray that thou wouldst not forgive us. But this, being a 
 kind of conditional imprecatioyi against ourselves, seems 
 improper in such a prayer ; and therefore it may be better 
 to say humbly and modestly, 
 
 New version. — Forgive us our trespasses, and enable us 
 likewise to forgive those ivho offend us. This, instead of 
 assuming that we have already in and of ourselves the 
 grace of forgiveness, acknowledges our dependence on God, 
 the Fountain of Mercy, for any share we may have of it, 
 praying that he would communicate it to us. 
 
 Old version. — 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 Pharoah, directed Satan to tempt 
 Job, and a false Prophet to tempt Ahab. Under this per- 
 suasion, it was natural for them to pray, that he would not 
 put them to such severe trials. We now suppose that 
 8 
 
114 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 guardian angel, or accidental favourable circum- 
 stances and situations, or all together, preserved me 
 through this dangerous time of youth, and the haz- 
 ardous situations I was sometimes in among stran- 
 gers, remote from the eye and advice of my father, 
 free from any wilful immorality or injustice, that 
 might have been expected from my want of religion. 
 I say tvilful, 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 determined to pre- 
 serve it. 
 
 We had not been loug returned to Philadelphia, 
 before the new types arrived from London. We 
 settled with Keimer, and left him by his consent be- 
 fore he heard of it. 
 
 We found a house to let near the Market, and took 
 it. To lessen the rent, which was then but twenty- 
 four pounds a year, though I have since known it let 
 for seventy, we took in Thomas Godfrey, a glazier, 
 and his family, who were to pay a considerable part 
 of it to us, and we to board with them. We had 
 
 temptation, so far as it is supernatural, conies from the 
 Evil One only ; and this petition continued conveys a sus- 
 picion, which, in our present conceptions, seems unworthy 
 of God, therefore it might be altered to 
 New version. — Keep us out of temptation. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 115 
 
 scarce opened onr letters, and put our press in order, 
 before George House, an acquaintance of mine, 
 brought a countryman to us, whom he had met in 
 the street, inquiring for a printer. All our cash was 
 now expended in the variety of particulars we had 
 been obliged to procure, and this countryman's five 
 shillings, being our first-fruits, and coming so sea- 
 sonably, gave me more pleasure than any crown I 
 have since earned ; and the gratitude I felt towards 
 House has made me often more ready, than perhaps 
 I otherwise should have been, to assist young begin- 
 ners. 
 
 There are croakers in every country, always boding 
 its ruin. Such an one lived in Philadelphia; a person 
 of note, an elderly man, with a wise look, and a very 
 grave manner of speaking; his name was Samuel 
 Mickle. This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopped 
 me 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 un- 
 dertaking, and the expense would be lost; for Phil- 
 •adelphia was a sinking place, the people already half 
 bankrupts, or near being so; all the appearances of 
 the contrary, such as new buildings and the rise of 
 rents, being to his certain knowledge fallacious, for 
 they were in fact among the things that would ruin 
 'us. Then he gave me such a detail of misfortunes 
 
116 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 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 person continued to live in this 
 decaying place, and to declaim in the same strain, 
 refusing for many years to buy a house there, be- 
 cause 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 croaking. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STAETING A NEWSPAPER. 
 
 I SHOULD have mentioned before, that in the au- 
 tumn of the preceding year I had formed most of 
 my ingenious acquaintance into a club for mutual 
 improvement, which we called the Junto. We met 
 on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up re- 
 quired that every member, in his turn, should pro- 
 duce 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 inquiry after truth, without fondness for 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 117 
 
 dispute, or desire of victory; and to prevent warmth, 
 all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct 
 contradiction, were after some time made contra- 
 band, and prohibited under small pecuniary penal- 
 ties. 
 
 The first members were Joseph Breintnal, a copier 
 of deeds for the scriveners, a good-natured, friendly, 
 middle-aged man, a great lover of poetry, reading all 
 he could meet with, and writing some that was tol- 
 erable; very iugenious in making little nick- 
 nackeries, and of sensible conversation. 
 
 Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, 
 great in his way, and afterwards inventor of what 
 is now called Hadleifs Quadrant.^ But he knew 
 little out of his w^y, and was not a pleasing com- 
 panion; as, like most great mathematicians I have 
 met with, he expected universal precision in every- 
 thing said, or was for ever denying or distinguishing 
 upon trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. 
 He soon left us. 
 
 Nicholas Scnll, a surveyor, afterwards surveyor- 
 general, who loved books, and sometimes made a few 
 verses. 
 
 -William Parsons, bred a shoemaker, but loving 
 reading had acquired a considerable share of mathe- 
 
 * Godfrey's claims to this invention are fully explained 
 and confirmed in Miller's Retrospect of the Eighteenth 
 Century, vol. i., pp. 468-480. 
 
118 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 matics, which he first studied with a view to astrol- •< 
 ogy, and afterwards laughed at it. He also became 
 surveyor-general. 
 
 William Maugridge, joiner, but a most exquisite 
 mechanic, and a solid, sensible man. 
 
 Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb, 
 I have characterized before. 
 
 Robert Grace, a young gentleman of some fortune, 
 generous, lively, and witty; a lover of punning and 
 of his friends. 
 
 Lastly, William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk, 
 about my age, who had the coolesi;, clearest head, the 
 best heart, and the exactest morals, of almost any 
 man I ever met with. He became afterwards a mer- 
 chant of great note, and one of our provincial judges. 
 Our friendship continued without interruption to his 
 death, upwards of forty years; and the club contin- 
 ued almost as long, and was the best school of philos- 
 ophy, morality, and politics that then existed in the 
 province; for our queries, which were read the week 
 preceding their discussion, put us upon reading with 
 attention on the several subjects, that we might speak 
 more to the purpose; and here, too, we acquired bet- 
 ter habits of conversation, everything being studied 
 in our rules which might prevent our disgusting each 
 other. Hence the long continuance of the club, 
 Avhich I shall have frequent occasion to speak further 
 of hereafter. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 119 
 
 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. 
 Breintnal particularly procured us from the Quakers 
 the printing of forty sheets of their history, the rest 
 being to be done by Keimer; and upon these we 
 worked exceedingly hard, for the price was low. It 
 was a folio, pro patrid size, in pica, with long primer 
 notes. I composed a sheet a day, and Meredith 
 worked it off at press. It was often eleven at night, 
 and sometimes later, before I had finished my distri- 
 bution for the next day's work; for the little jobs 
 sent in by our other friends now and then put us 
 back. But so determined I was to continue doing a 
 sheet a day of the folio, that one night, when having 
 imposed my forms' I thought my day's work over, one 
 of them by accident was broken, and two pages re- 
 duced io pie. I immediately distributed and com- 
 posed it over again before I went to bed ; and this in- 
 dustry, 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, their being already two printers in 
 the place, Keimer and Bradford. But Dr. Baird 
 (whom you and I saw many years after at his native 
 place, St. Andrew's in Scotland) gave a contrary 
 opinion; "For the industry of that Franklin," said 
 
120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 he, " is superior to anythiDg 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 sta- 
 tionery; but as yet we did not choose to engage in 
 shop business. 
 
 I mention this industry more particularly and the 
 more freely, though it seems to be talking in my 
 own praise, that those of my posterity who shall read 
 it, may know the use of that virtue, when they see its 
 effects in my favour throughout this relation. 
 
 George Webb, who had found a female friend that 
 lent him wherewith to purchase his time of Keimer, 
 now came to offer himself as a journeyman to us. 
 We could not then employ him ; but I foolishly let 
 him know, as a secret, that I soon intended to begin 
 a newspaper, and might then have work for him. 
 My hopes of success, as I told him, were founded on 
 this: that the then only newspaper, printed by Brad- 
 ford, was a paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no way 
 entertaining, and yet was profitable to him, — I there- 
 fore freely thought a good paper would scarcely fail 
 of good encouragement. I requested Webb not to 
 mention it; but he told it to Keimer, who immedi- 
 ately, to be beforehand with me, published proposals 
 for one himself, on which Webb was to be employed. 
 I was vexed at this; and to counteract them, not be- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 131 
 
 ing able to commence our paper, I wrote several 
 amusing pieces for Bradford's paper, under the title 
 of The Busy Body, which Breintnal continued 
 some months. By this means the attention of the 
 public was fixed on that paper; and Keimer's pro- 
 posals, which we burlesqued and ridiculed, were dis- 
 regarded. He began'his paper, however; and before 
 carrying it on three-quarters of a year, with at most 
 only ninety subscribers, he offered it me for a trifle; 
 and I, having been ready some time to go on with it, 
 took it in hand directly, and it proved in a few years 
 extremely profitable to me.* 
 
 ■^ It was called the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin and 
 Meredith began the paper with No. 4.0, September 25th, 
 1729. 
 
 A characteristic anecdote has been related of Franklin, 
 ilhistrative of his independence as an editor. Soon after 
 the establishment of his newspaper, he found occasion to 
 remark with some degree of freedom on the public conduct 
 of one or two persons of high standing in Philadelphia. 
 This course was disa[)proved by some of his patrons, who 
 sought an opportunity to convey to him their views of the 
 subject, and what they represented to be the opinion of his 
 friends. He listened patiently, and replied by requesting 
 that they would favour him with their company at supper, 
 and bring with them the other gentlemen, who had ex- 
 pressed dissatisfaction. The time arrived, and the guests 
 assembled. He received them cordially, and listened 
 again to their friendly reproofs of his editorial conduct. 
 At length supper was announced ; but, when the guests 
 
132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I perceive that I am apt to speak in the singular 
 number, though our partnership still continued ; it 
 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 la- 
 mented my connection with him, but I was to make 
 the best of it. 
 
 Our first papers made quite a different appearance 
 from any before in the province; a better type and 
 better printed ; but some remarks* of my writing, on 
 
 had seated themselves around the table, they were surprised 
 to see nothing before them Vmt two puddings, made of 
 coarse meal, called saivdust puddings in the common 
 phrase, and a stone pitcher filled with water. He helped 
 them all, and then applied himself to his own plate, partak- 
 ing freely of the repast, and urging liis friends to do the 
 same. They taxed their politeness to the utmost, but all in 
 vain ; their appetites refused obedience to the will. Per- 
 ceiving their difficulty, Franklin at last arose and said, 
 " My friends, any one vjJio can subsist upon sawdust pud- 
 ding and ivater, as I can, needs no man's patronage. ^^ 
 
 * These remarks are in the Pennsylva^iia Gazette for 
 October 2nd, 1729, and are as follows : — 
 
 "His Excellency, Governor Burnet, died unexpectedly 
 about two days after the date of this reply to his last mes- 
 sage ; and it was thought that the dispute would have ended 
 with him, or at least have lain dormant till the arrival of 
 a new Governor from England, who possibly might, or 
 might not, be inclined to enter too vigorously into the 
 measures of his predecessor. But our last advices by the 
 post acquaint us, that his Honour, the Lieutenant-governor, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. \2^ 
 
 the dispute then going on between Governor Burnet 
 and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the principal 
 people, occasioned the paper and the manager of it 
 
 on whom the governnient immediately devolves upon the 
 death or absence of the Commander-in-chief, has vigorously 
 renewed the struggle on his own account, of which tiie 
 particulars will be seen in our next. 
 
 "Perhaps some of our readers may not fully understand 
 the original ground of this warm contest between the Gov- 
 ernor and Assembly. It seems that people have for these 
 hundred years past enjoyed the privilege of rewarding the 
 Governor for the time being, according to their sense of his 
 merit and services ; and few or none of their Governors 
 have complained, or had cause to complain, of a scanty 
 allowance. When the late Governor Burnet brought with 
 him instructions to demand ?i settled salary of one thousand 
 pounds sterling per annum, on him and all his successors, 
 and the Assembly were required to fix it immediately, he 
 insisted on it strenuously to the last, and they as constantly 
 refused it. It appears by their votes and proceedings, that 
 they thought it an imposition, contrary to their own 
 charter, and to Magna Charta ; and they judged that there 
 should be a mutual dependence between the Governor and 
 governed; and that to make the Governor independent 
 would be dangerous and destructive to their liberties, and 
 the ready way to establish tyranny. They thought, like- 
 wise, that the province was not the less dependent on the 
 Crown of Great Britain, by the Governor's depending im- 
 mediately on them and his own good conduct for an ample 
 support ; because all acts and laws, which he might be in- 
 duced to pass, must nevertheless be constantly sent home 
 for approbation in order to continue in force. Many other 
 
124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 to be mucli talked of, and in a few weeks brought 
 them all to be our subscribers. 
 
 Their example was followed by many, and our 
 number went on growing continually. This was one 
 
 reasons were given, and arguments used, in the course of 
 the controversy, needless to particularize here, because all 
 the material papers relating to it have been already given 
 in our public news. 
 
 "Much deserved praise has the deceased Governor re- 
 ceived for his steady integrity in adhering to his instruc- 
 tions, notwithstanding the great diflficulty and opposition 
 he met with, and the strong temptation offered from time 
 to time to induce him to give up the point. And yet, per- 
 haps, something is due to the Assembly (as the love and 
 zeal of that country for the present establishment is too 
 well known to suffer any suspicion of want of loyalty) , 
 who continue thus resolutely to abide by what they think 
 their right, and that of the people they represent ; maugre 
 all tiie arts and menaces of a Governor famed for his cun- 
 ning and politics, backed with instructions from home, 
 and powerfully aided by the great advantage such an officer 
 always has of engaging the principal men of a place in his 
 party, by conferring where he pleases so many posts of 
 profit and honour. Their happy mother country will per- 
 haps observe with pleasure, that though her gallant cocks 
 and matchless dogs abate their natural fire and intrepidity, 
 when transported to a foreign clime (as this nation is), 
 yet her sons in the remotest part of the earth, and even to 
 the third and fourth descent, still retain that ardent spirit 
 of liberty, and that undaunted courage, which have in 
 every age so gloriously distinguished Britons and English- 
 men from the rest of mankind." 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 125 
 
 of the first good effects of my having learned a little 
 to scribble; another was, that the leading men, see- 
 ing a newspaper now in the hands of those who could 
 also handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and 
 encourage me. Bradford still printed the votes, and 
 laws, and other public 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 difLerence, it strengthened the hands 
 of our friends in the House, and they voted us their 
 printers for the year ensuing. 
 
 Among my friends in the House I must not forget 
 Mr. Hamilton, before mentioned, who was then re- 
 turned from England, and had a seat in it. He in- 
 terested himself for me strongly in that instance, as 
 he did in many others afterwards, continuing his 
 patronage till his death.* 
 
 Mr. Vernon, about this time, put me in mind of 
 the debt I owed him, but did not press me. I wrote 
 to him an ingenuous letter of acknowledgment, crav- 
 ing his forbearance a little longer, which he allowed 
 me. As soon as I was able I paid the principal with 
 the interest, and many thanks; so that erratum was 
 in some degree corrected.! 
 
 *I afterwards obtained for his &on five hundred pounds. 
 f Many years afterwards he had an opportunity of dis- 
 charging more completely this debt of gratitude. While 
 
126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 But now another difficulty came upon me, which I 
 had never the least reason to expect. Mr. Mere- 
 dith'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 were due 
 to the merchant, who grew impatient, and sued us 
 all. We gave bail, but saw that if the money could 
 not be raised in time, the suit must soon come to a 
 judgment and execution, and our hopeful prospects 
 must with us be ruined, as the press and letters must 
 be sold for payment, perhaps at half-price. 
 
 In this distress two true friends, whose kindness I 
 have never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I 
 can remember anything, came to me separately, un- 
 known to each other, and, without any application 
 from me, offered 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 street, playing at low games 
 in ale-houses, much to our discredit. These two 
 friends were William Coleman and Eobert Grace. I 
 
 he was minister plenipotentiaiy from the United States at 
 the court of France, he rendered very important service to 
 a young man, a descendant of Mr. Vernon, who passed 
 some time in that country. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 127 
 
 told them I could not propose a separation, while any 
 prospect remained 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 
 failed in their performance, and our partnership 
 must be dissolved, I should then think myself at lib- 
 erty 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. If that is the case tell me, and I will 
 resign the whole to you, and go about my business." 
 "No," said he, "my father has really been disap- 
 pointed, and is really unable, and I am unwilling to 
 distress him further. I see this is a business I am not 
 fit for. I was bred a farmer, and it was folly in me 
 to come to town and put myself, at thirty years of 
 age, an apprentice to learn a new trade. Many of 
 our Welsh people are going to settle in North Caro- 
 lina, where land is cheap. I am inclined to go with 
 them, and follow my old employment; you may find 
 friends to assist you. If you will take the debts of 
 the company upon you, return to my father the hun- 
 dred pounds he has advanced, pay my little personal 
 debts, and give me thirty pounds and a new saddle, 
 I will relinquish the partnership and leave the whole 
 
128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 in your hands." I agreed to this proposal; it was 
 drawn up in writing, signed, and sealed immediately. 
 I gave him what he demanded, and he went soon 
 after to Carolina; whence he sent me next year two 
 long letters, containing the best account that had 
 been given of that country, the climate, and soil, and 
 husbandry, for in those matters he was very judicious. 
 I printed them in the papers, and they gave great 
 satisfaction to the public. 
 
 As soon as he was gone I recurred to my two 
 friends, and because I would not give an unkind pref- 
 erence to either, I took half of what each had offered 
 and I wanted of one, and half of the other; paid off 
 the company's debts, and went on with the business 
 in my own name, advertising that the partnership 
 was dissolved. I think this was in or about the year 
 1729.* 
 
 *The dissolution of the partnership was a year later, as 
 appears by the following agreement, transcribed from the 
 original in Franklin's handwriting. 
 
 "Beit remembered, that Hugh Meredith and Benjamin 
 Franklin have this day separated as partners, and will 
 henceforth act each on his own account ; and that the said 
 Hugh Meredith, for a valuable consideration by him re- 
 ceived from the said Benjamin Franklin, hath relinquished, 
 and doth hereby relinquish, to the said Franklin, all claim, 
 right, or property to or in the printing materials and stock 
 heretofore jointly possessed by them in partnership : and to 
 all debts due to them as partners, in the course of their 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 129 
 
 About this time there was a cry among the people 
 for more paper-money ; only fifteen thousand pounds 
 being extant in the province, and tliat soon to be 
 sunk. The wealthy inhabitants opposed any addi- 
 tion, being against all paper currency, from the ap- 
 prehension that it would depreciate as it had done in 
 New England, to the injury of all creditors. We 
 had discussed 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 num- 
 ber of inhabitants in the province, since I now 
 saw all the old houses inhabited, and many new 
 ones building; whereas I remembered well, when 
 I first walked about the streets of Philadelphia, 
 eating my roll, I €aw many of the houses in Walnut 
 Street, between Second and Front Streets, with bills 
 on their doors, "To he Xe/f," and many likewise in 
 Chestnut Street and other streets, which made me 
 think the inhabitants of the city were, one after 
 another, deserting it. 
 
 Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject, 
 that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it, 
 entitled, The Nature and Necessity of a Pa^er Cur- 
 
 business : which are all from henceforth the sole property 
 of the said Benjamin Franklin. In witness whereof I have 
 hereunto set my hand, this 14th day of July, 1730. 
 
 "Hugh Meredith." 
 9 
 
130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 rency.^ It was well received by the common people 
 in general ; but the rich men disliked it, for it in- 
 
 *"It is little known, or set down to- the commendatioD of 
 -Franklin, that, when he was young in business, and stood 
 in need of sundry articles in the lino of his profession as a 
 ^printer, he had the ingenuity to make them for himself. 
 In this way he founded letters of lead, engraved various 
 printing ornaments, cut woodcuts, made printer's ink, en- 
 graved copperplate vignettes, ana made his plate-press." 
 — Wsitson's Annals of Philadelphia, p. 513, 
 
 Mr. Watson relates another anecdote. He says that the 
 *' yellow willow-tree," now so common throughout the 
 country, was first introduced into America by Franklin. 
 A wicker basket made of willow, in which some foreign 
 article had been imported, he saw sprouting in a ditch, and 
 directed some of the twigs to be planted. They took root, 
 and from these shoots are supposed to have sprung all the 
 yellow willows which have grown on this side of the At- 
 lantic. 
 
 Chaptal ascribes to Franklin, also, the introduction of 
 the agricultural use of plaster of Paris into the United 
 States. " As this celebrated philosopher, " says he, " wished 
 that the effects of this manure should strike the gaze of all 
 cultivators, he wrote in great letters, formed by the use of 
 the ground plaster, in a field of clover lying upon the great 
 road, * This has been 2ilastered. ' The prodigious vegeta- 
 tion, which was developed in the plastered portion, led 
 him to adopt this method. Volumes upon the excellency 
 of plaster would not have produced so speedy a revolution. 
 Prom that- period the Americans have imported great 
 quantities of plaster of Paris. — Chaptal's, Agriculhual 
 'Chemistry, Boston edition, p. 73. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 131 
 
 creased and strengthened the clamour for more 
 money; and, they happening to have no writers 
 among them that were able to answer it, their oppo- 
 sition slackened, and the point was carried by a ma- 
 jority in the House. My friends there, who consid- 
 ered I had been of some service, thought fit to reward 
 me by employing me in printing the money; a very 
 profitable job, and a great help to me. This was 
 another advantage gained by being able to write. 
 
 The utility of this currency became by time and 
 experience so evident, that the principles upon which 
 it was founded were never afterwards much disputed ; 
 so that it grew soon to fifty-five thousand pounds; and 
 in 1739, to eighty thousand pounds; trade, building, 
 and inhabitants all the while increasing. Though I 
 now think there are limits, beyond which the quan- 
 tity may be hurtful. 
 
 I soon after obtained, through my friend Hamil- 
 ton, the printing of the Newcastle paper money, 
 another profitable job, as I then thought it; small 
 things appearing great to those in small circum- 
 stances ; and these to me were really great advantages, 
 as they were great encouragements. Mr. Hamilton 
 procured for me also the printing of the laws and 
 votes of that government; which continued in my 
 hands as long as I followed the business. 
 
 I now opened a small stationer's shop. I had in it 
 blanks of all kinds; the correctest that ever appeared 
 
132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 among ns. I was assisted in that by my friend 
 Breintnal. I had also paper, parchment, chapmen's 
 books, &c. One Whitemarsh, a compositor I had 
 known in London, an excellent workman, now came 
 to me, and worked 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 the appearances to the contrary. I dressed 
 plain, and was seen at no places of idle diversion. I 
 never vs^ent out afishing or shooting; a book indeed 
 sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was 
 seldom, was private, and gave no scandal ; and, to 
 show that I was not above my business, I sometimes 
 brought home the paper I purchased at the stores, 
 through the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being 
 esteemed an industrious, thriving young man, and 
 paying duly for what I boaght, the merchants who 
 imported stationery solicited my custom ; others pro- 
 posed supplying me with books, and I went on pros- 
 perously. In the mean time, Keimer's credit and 
 business declining daily, he was at last forced to sell 
 his printing-house, to satisfy his creditors. He went 
 to Barbadoes, and there lived some years in very poor 
 circumstances. 
 
 His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had in- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 133 
 
 structed while I worked 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 in- 
 terest. I therefore proposed a partnership to him, 
 which he, fortunately for me, rejected with scorn, 
 lie was very proud, dressed like a gentleman, lived 
 expensively, took much diversion and pleasure abroad, 
 ran in debt, and neglected his business; upon which 
 all business left him, and finding nothing to do he 
 followed Keimer to Barbadoes, taking the printing- 
 house with him. There this apprentice employed 
 his former master as a journeyman ; they quarrelled 
 often, and Harry went continually behindhand, and 
 at length was obliged to sell his types and return to 
 country work in Pennsylvania. The person who 
 bought them employed Keimer to use them, but a 
 few years after he died. 
 
 There remained now no other printer in Philadel- 
 phia, but the old Bradford; but he was rich and 
 easy, did a little in the business by straggling hands, 
 but was not anxious about it. However, as he held 
 tlie post-office, it was imagined he had better oppor- 
 tunities 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, 
 though I did indeed receive and send papers by the 
 
134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 post, yet the public 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 occasioned some resentment on my part; 
 and I thought so meanly of the practice, that, when 
 I afterwards came into his situation, I took care 
 never to imitate it. 
 
 I had hitherto continued to board with Godfrey, 
 who lived in a part of my house with his wife and 
 children, and had one side of the shop for his glazier's 
 business, though he worked little, being always ab- 
 sorbed in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected 
 a match for me, with a relation's daughter; took op- 
 portunities of bringing us often together, till a seri- 
 ous courtship on my part ensued, the girl being in 
 herself very deserving. The old folks encouraged me 
 by continual invitations to supper, and by leaving us 
 together, till at length it was time to explain. Mrs. 
 Godfrey managed our little treaty. I let her know 
 that I expected as much money with their daughter 
 as would pay off my remaining debt for the printing- 
 house; which I believe was not then above a hundred 
 pounds. She brought me word they had no such 
 sum to spare; I said they might mortgage their house 
 in the loan-office. The answer to this, after some 
 days, was, that they did not approve the match; 
 that, on inquiry of Bradford, they had been informed 
 the printing business was not a profitable one, the 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 135 
 
 types would soon be worn out and more wanted ; that 
 Keimer and David Harry had failed one after the 
 other, and I should probably soon follow them ; and 
 therefore I was forbidden the house, and the daugh- 
 ter was shut up. 
 
 Whether this was a real change of sentiment or 
 only artifice, on a supposition of our being too fur 
 engaged in affection to retract, and therefore that we 
 should steal a marriage, which would leave them at 
 liberty to give or withhold what they pleased, I know 
 not. But I suspected the motive, 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 God- 
 freys; we differed, and they removed, leaving me the 
 whole house, and I resolved to take no more inmates. 
 
 But this affair having turned my thoughts to mar- 
 riage, I looked round me and made overtures of ac- 
 quaintance in other places; but soon found, that, the 
 business of a printer being generally thought a poor 
 one, I was not to expect money with a wife, unless 
 with such a one as I should not otherwise think 
 agreeable. 
 
 A friendly correspondence as neighbours had con- 
 tinued between me and Miss Bead's family, who all 
 had a regard for me from the time of my first lodging 
 
136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 in their house. I was often invited there and con- 
 sulted in their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of 
 service. I pitied poor Miss Head's unfortunate situ- 
 ation, who was generally dejected, seldom cheerful, 
 and avoided company. I considered my giddiness 
 and inconstancy when in London, as in a great degree 
 the cause of her unhappiness; though 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 looked upon as invalid, a preced- 
 ing wife being said to be living in England ; but this 
 could not easily be proved, because of the distance, 
 &c. ; and, though there was a report of his death, it 
 was not certain. Then, though it should be true, 
 he had left many debts, which his successor might 
 be called upon to pay. We ventured, however, over 
 all these difficulties, and I took her to wife, Septem- 
 ber 1st, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened 
 that we had apprehended ; she proved a good and 
 faithful helpmate, assisted me much by attending to 
 the shop; we throve together, and ever mutually en- 
 deavoured to make each other happy. Thus I cor- 
 rected that great erratum as well as I could. 
 
 About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, 
 but in a little room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 137 
 
 purpose, a proposition was made by me, that, since 
 our books were often referred to in our disquisitions 
 upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to 
 have them all together where we met that upon occa- 
 sion they might be consulted ; and by thus clubbing 
 our books in a common library, we should, while we 
 liked to keep them together, have each of us the ad- 
 vantage of using the books of all the other members, 
 which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owii.ed 
 the whole. It was liked and agreed to, and we filled 
 one end of the room with such books as we could best 
 spare. The number was not so great as we expected; 
 and, though they had been of great use, yet some in- 
 conveniences occurring for want of due care of them, 
 the collection after about a year was separated ; and 
 each took his books home again. 
 
 And now I set on foot my first project of a public 
 nature — that for a subscription library. I drew up 
 the proposals, got them put into form by our great 
 scrivener, Brockden, and by the help of my friends 
 in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shil- 
 lings each to begin with, and ten shillings a j'ear for 
 fifty years, the term ohr company was to continue. 
 We afterwards obtained a charter, the company being 
 increased to one hundred. This was the mother of 
 all the North American subscription libraries, now so 
 numerous; it is become a great thing itself, and con- 
 tinually goes on increasing. These libraries have im- 
 
138 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 proved the general conversation of the Americans, 
 made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelli- 
 gent 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. 
 
 CHAPTER VL* 
 
 THE ART OF VIRTUE. 
 
 At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania, 
 there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the 
 colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York 
 and Philadelphia, the printers were indeed station- 
 
 * Down to this period the Memoir was written in the year 
 1771, and the task was then laid aside for several years. 
 In the meantime, the manuscript was shown to several of 
 the author's friends, who pressed him to complete what he 
 had begun. He accordingly yielded to their solicitations, 
 and, to the part Avith which this chapter commences, he 
 prefixed the following introductory remarks, and also the 
 two letters to which he alludes : — 
 
 " Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at 
 Passy, near Paris, 1874. 
 
 "It is some time since I received the above letters, but I 
 have been too busy till now to think of complying with tlie 
 request they contain. It might, too, be much better done 
 if I were at home among my papers, vrhich would aid my 
 memory, and help to ascertain dates ; but my return beiug 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 139 
 
 ers; but they sold only paper, almanacs, ballads, and 
 a few common school-books. Those who loved read- 
 ing were obliged to send for their books from Eng- 
 land ; the members of the Junto had each a few. We 
 had left the ale-house, where we first met, and hired 
 a room to hold our club in. I proposed that we 
 should all of us bring our books to that room, where 
 they would not only be ready to consult in our con- 
 ferences, but become a common benefit, each of us 
 being at liberty to borroAV such as he wished to read 
 at home. This was accordingly done, and for some 
 time contented us. 
 
 Finding the advantage of this little collection, 
 I proposed to render the benefit from the books 
 more common, by commencing a public subscription 
 
 uncertain, and having just now a little leisure, I will en- 
 deavour to recollect and write what I can ; if I live to get 
 home, it may there be corrected and improved. 
 
 " Not having any copy here of what is already written, I 
 know not whether any account is given of the means I used 
 to establish the Philadelphia public library ; which from a 
 small beginning is now become so considerable. Though 
 I remember to have come down to near the time of that 
 transaction (1730). I will therefore begin here with an 
 account of it, which may be struck out if found to have 
 been already given." 
 
 The letters referred to were from his friends, Benjamin 
 Vaughan and Abel James. They may be found in the 
 Correspondence, vol. ix. , p. 478, under the date of January 
 31st, 1783. 
 
140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that 
 would be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, 
 Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of 
 articles of agreement to be subscribed; by which each 
 subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the 
 first purchase of the books, and an annual contribu- 
 tion for increasing them. So few were the readers at 
 that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so 
 poor, that I was not able with great industry to find 
 more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, 
 willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings 
 each, and ten shillings per annum. With this little 
 fund we began. The books were imported. The 
 library was opened one day in the week for lending 
 them to subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay 
 double the value if not duly returned. The institu- 
 tion soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other 
 towns, and in other provinces. The libraries were 
 augmented by donations, reading became fashionable; 
 and our people having no public amusements to di- 
 vert their attention from study, became better ac- 
 quainted with books, and in a few years were observed 
 by strangers to be better instructed and more intelli- 
 gent than people of the same rank generally are in 
 other countries. 
 
 When we were about to sign the above-mentioned 
 articles, which were to be binding on us, our heirs, 
 &c., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden. the scrivener, said 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 141 
 
 to us, " You are young men, but it is scarcely probable 
 that any of you will live to see the expiration of the 
 term fixed in the instrument." A number of us, how- 
 ever, are yet living; but the instrument was after a 
 few years rendered null, by a charter that incorporated 
 and gave perpetuity to the company.* 
 
 The objections and reluctances I met with in solic- 
 iting the subscriptions made me soon feel the impro- 
 priety of presenting one's self as the proposer of any 
 useful project that might be supposed to raise one's 
 reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's 
 neighbours, when one has need of their assistance to 
 accomplish that project. I therefore put myself as 
 much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme 
 of a numher of friends^ who had requested me to go 
 about and propose it to such as they thought lovers 
 of reading. lu this way my affair went on more 
 
 *It appears by a statement in Mr. Smith's "Notes for a 
 History of the Library Company of Philadelphia," that the 
 above " iustnunent" was dated July 1st, 1731. The charter 
 of incorporation was obtained from the Proprietaries of 
 Pennsylvania in 1742. Franklin's name stands at the head 
 of the list of the persons who applied for the charter, and to 
 whom it was granted. The library has grown to be one of 
 the largest in America. The spacious and handsome 
 edifice, in which it is contained, was erected but a short 
 time before Dr. Franklin's death. It is stated in the minutes 
 of the Library Company, as quoted by Mr. Smith, "that, 
 upon the suggestion of Dr. Franklin, a large stone was pre- 
 pared, and laid at the south-east corner of the building. 
 
142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 smoothly, and I ever afterwards practised it on such 
 occasions; and, from my frequent successes, can heart- 
 ily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of your 
 yanity will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains 
 a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some 
 one more vain than yourself may be encouraged to 
 claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do 
 you justice, by plucking those assumed feathers, and 
 restoring them to their right owner. 
 
 with the following inscription, composed by tlie Doctor, 
 except so far as relates to himself, which the Committee 
 have taken the liberty of adding to it. 
 
 "'Be it remembered, 
 
 In honour of the Philadelphia Youth, 
 
 (Then chiefly artificers, ) 
 
 That in MDCCXXXI, 
 
 They cheerfully 
 
 At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin, 
 
 One of their Number, 
 
 Instituted the Philadelphia Library, 
 
 Which, though small at first. 
 
 Is become highly valuable, and extensively useful, 
 
 And which the Walls of this Edifice 
 
 Are now destined to contain and preserve ; 
 
 The first Stone of whose Foundation 
 
 Was here placed 
 
 The 31st of August, MDCCLXXXIX. '" 
 
 The marble statue of Dr. Franklin, which occupies a 
 niche in front of the building, was executed in Italy, and 
 presented to the Library Company by Mr. William Bingham. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 143 
 
 This library afforded me the means of improvement 
 by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or 
 two each day, and thus repaired in some degree the 
 loss of the learned education my father once intended 
 for me. Reading was the only amusement I allowed 
 myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolics 
 of any kind ; and my industry in my business contin- 
 ued as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was in- 
 debted for my printing-house ; I had a young family 
 coming on to be educated, and I had two competitors 
 to contend with for business 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 instruc- 
 tions to me when a boy, frequently repeated a proverb 
 of Solomon, " Seest tliou a man diligent in Ids caUing^ 
 he shall stand before hings^ he shall not stand before 
 mean men.," I thence considered industry as a means 
 of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encour- 
 aged me, — though I did not think that I should ever 
 literally stand before kings., which however has since 
 happened; for I have stood before ^2'e, and even had 
 the honour of sitting down with one, the King of 
 Denmark, to dinner. 
 
 We have an English proverb that says, "i7e tliat 
 would thrive must ash his wife." It was lucky for 
 me that I had one as much disposed to industry and 
 frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in 
 
144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tend- 
 ing shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper- 
 makers, &c. We kept no idle servants, our table was 
 plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For 
 instance, my breakfast was for a long time bread - 
 and-milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a two-penny 
 earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark 
 how luxury will enter families, and make a progress, 
 in spite of principle; being called 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 enor- 
 mous sum of three-and-twenty shillings; for which 
 she had no other excuse or apology to make, but that 
 she thought her husband deserved a silver spoon and 
 china bowl as well as any of his neighbours. This 
 was the first appearance of plate and china in our 
 house; which afterwards, in a course of years, as our 
 wealth increased, augmented gradually to several 
 hundred pounds in value. 
 
 I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; 
 but, though some of the dogmas of that persuasion, 
 such as the eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation., 
 <&e., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, 
 and I early absented myself from the public assem- 
 blies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I 
 never was without some religious principles. I never 
 doubted, for instance, the existence of a Deity — that 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 145 
 
 he made the world and governed it by his providence — 
 that the most acceptable service of God was the do- 
 ing good to man — that our souls are immortal — and 
 that all crimes will be punished, and virtue rewarded, 
 either here or hereafter. These I esteemed the es- 
 sentials of every religion; and, being to be found in 
 all the religions we had in our country, I respected 
 them all, though with different degrees of respect, 
 as I found them more or less mixed with other arti- 
 cles, which, without any tendency to inspire, pro- 
 mote, or confirm morality, served 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, induced me to avoid all discourse 
 that might tend to lessen the good opinion another 
 might have of his own religion ; and as our province 
 increased in people, and new places of worship were 
 continually wanted, and generally erected by volun- 
 tary contribution, my mite for such purpose, what- 
 ever might be the sect, was never refused. 
 
 Though I seldom attended any j)ublic worship, I 
 had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its util- 
 ity, when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my 
 annual subscription for the support of the only Pres- 
 byterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. 
 He used to visit me sometimes as a friend, and ad- 
 monish me to attend his administrations; and I was 
 now and then prevailed on to do so; once for five 
 10 
 
146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion a 
 good preacher, perhaps I might have continued, not- 
 withstanding 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 enforced; 
 their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presly- 
 terians than good citizens. 
 
 At length he took for his text that verse of the 
 fourth chapter to the Philippians, "Finally, dreth- 
 ren^ ivhatsoever tlmigs are true., honest, just, pure, 
 lovely, or of good rejjort, if tliere he any virtue, or any 
 praise, think on these tilings.'' And I imagined, in a 
 sermon on such a text, we could not miss of having 
 some morality. But he confined himself to five 
 points only, as meant by the apostle: 1. Keeping 
 holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading 
 the holy Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the public 
 worship. 4. Partaking of the Sacrament. 5. Pay- 
 ing 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 de- 
 spaired of ever meeting with them from any other, 
 was disgusted, and attended his preaching no more. 
 I had some years before composed a little liturgy, or 
 form of prayer, for my own private use (in 1728), 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 147 
 
 entitled Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. I 
 returned to tlie use of this, and went no more to the 
 public assemblies. My conduct might be blamable, 
 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 conceived the bold and 
 arduous project of arriving at 7noral perfection. I 
 
 *In Mr. Walsh's "Life of Franklin," published in Dela- 
 plaine's Repository, there is an extract, copied from an 
 original paper in Franklin's handwriting, which claims 
 insertion in this place, as connected with the subject upon 
 which the author is now about to speak — 
 
 "Those who write of the art of poetry," says Franklin, 
 " teach us tliat, if we would write what may be worth 
 reading, we ought always, before w^e begin, to form a 
 regular plan and design of our piece ; otherwise we shall be 
 in danger of incongruity. I am apt to think it is the same 
 as to life. I have never fixed a regular design in life, by 
 which means it has been a confused variety of different 
 scenes, I am now entering upon a new one ; let me, there- 
 fore, make some resolutions, and form some scheme of 
 action, that henceforth I may live in all respects like a 
 rational creature. 
 
 "1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some 
 time, till I have paid what I owe. 
 
 " 3. To endeavour to speak truth in every instance, to 
 give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, 
 but aim at sincerity in everj^ word and action ; the most 
 amiable excellence in a rational being. 
 
 " 3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I 
 
143 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 wished to live without committing any fault at any 
 time, and to conquer all that either natural inclina- 
 tion, 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 attention was taken up, and care em- 
 ployed, guarding against one fault, I was often sur- 
 prised by another; habit took the advantage of in- 
 attention; inclination was sometimes too strong for 
 reason. I concluded at length, that ^he mere specu- 
 lative conviction, that it was our inl rest to be com- 
 pletely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our 
 slipping; and that the contrary habits must be 
 broken, and good ones acquired and established, be- 
 fore we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform 
 rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore 
 tried the following method. 
 
 In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I 
 had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue 
 
 take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business 
 by any foolish project of growing suddenly rich; for in- 
 dustry and patience are the surest means of plenty. 
 
 "4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in 
 a matter of truth ; but rather by some means excuse the 
 faults I hear charged upon others, and, upon proper oc- 
 casions, speak all the good I know of everybody. " 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 149 
 
 more or less numerous, as different writers included 
 more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temper- 
 ance^ for example, was by some confined to eating and 
 drinking; while by others it was extended to mean 
 the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, incli- 
 nation, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our ava- 
 rice and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake 
 of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer 
 ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more 
 ideas; and I included under thirteen names of vir- 
 tues, all that at that time occurred to me as necessary 
 or desirable ; and annexed to each a short precept, 
 which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning. 
 These names of virtues, with their precepts, were: 
 
 1. Temperance. — Eat not to duluess; 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; that is, waste nothing. 
 
 6. Industry. — Lose no time; be always employed 
 in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 
 
 7. Sincerity. — Use no hurtful deceit; think inno- 
 cently and justly ; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 
 
150 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 8. Justice. — Wrong none by doing injuries, or 
 omitting the benefits that are your duty. 
 
 9. Moderation. — Avoid extremes; forbear resent- 
 ing injuries so much as you think they deserve. 
 
 10. Cleanliness. — Tolerate no uncleanliness in 
 body, clothes, or habitation. 
 
 11. Tranquillity. — Be not disturbed at trifles, or 
 at accidents common or unavoidable. 
 
 12. Chastity 
 
 13. Humility. — Imitate Jesus and Socrates. 
 
 My intention being to acquire the habitude of all 
 these virtues, I judged it would be well not to dis- 
 tract 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 through the thir- 
 teen. And, as the previous acquisition of some 
 might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I 
 arranged 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 a guard 
 maintained against the unremitting attraction of an- 
 cient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. 
 This being acquired and established. Silence would ])e 
 more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge, 
 at the same time that I improved in virtue, and con- 
 sidering that in conversation it was obtained rather 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 151 
 
 by the use of the ear than of the tongue, and there- 
 fore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of 
 prattling, punning, and jesting, which only made me 
 acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the 
 second place. This and the next, Crdei\ 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 In- 
 dustry relieving me from my remaining debt, and 
 producing affluence and independence, would make 
 more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, &c., 
 &c. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice 
 of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses^ daily examina- 
 tion would be necessary, I contrived the following 
 method for conducting that examination. 
 
 I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for 
 each of the virtues. I ruled 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 crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, 
 marking the beginning of each line with the first let- 
 ter 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.* 
 
 *This little book is dated Sunday, 1st July, 1733. 
 
 In a letter written by the author to Lord Karnes, in No- 
 
152 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 FORM OF THE PAGES. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 Eat not to dulness ; drink not to elevation. 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 Th. 
 
 F. 
 
 s. 
 
 Tern. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sil. 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 Ord. 
 
 * 
 
 jf- 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 3f 
 
 Res. 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 
 Frii. 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 Ind. 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sine. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jus. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mod. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Clea. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Trans. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chas. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hum. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vember, 1761, he thus alludes to the scheme here men- 
 tioned, and to the design he then had of expanding it into 
 a treatise on the Art of Virtue. In that letter he says : " To 
 produce the number of valuable men necessary in a nation 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 153 
 
 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 
 cUence against Temjjerance^ 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 
 supposed the habit of that virtue so much strength- 
 ened, and its opposite weakened, that I might ven- 
 ture extending my attention to include the next, and 
 for the following week keep both lines clear of spots. 
 Proceeding thus to the last, 1 could get through a 
 
 for its prosperity, there is much more hope from schemes 
 of early institution than from reformation. And, as the 
 power of a single man to do national service in particular 
 situations of influence is often immensely great, a M^riter 
 can hardh'^ conceive the good he may be doing when en- 
 gaged in works of this kind. I cannot, therefore, but wish 
 you would publish it ["Elements of Criticism"] as soon as 
 your other important employments will permit you to give 
 it the finishing hand. With these sentiments you will not 
 doubt my being serious in the intention of finishing my 
 Art of Virtue. It is not a mere ideal work. I planned it 
 first in 1733. I have from time to time made, and caused 
 to be made, experiments of the method with success. The 
 materials have been growing ever since. The form only is 
 now to be given, in which I purpose employing my first 
 leisure after my return to my o^/ie?' country. " This pro- 
 ject, as will be seen hereafter, was never carried into 
 effect. 
 
154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 course complete in thirteen weeks, and four courseB 
 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 accomplished the first, proceeds to a 
 second ; so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging 
 pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress 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 
 Through all her v^'orks) , He must delight in virtue ; 
 And that which He delights in must be happy." 
 
 Another from Cicero: 
 
 "Ovitse Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix ex- 
 pultrixque vitiorum ! Unus dies, bene et ex prseceptis 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 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 155 
 
 hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasant- 
 ness, and all her paths are peace. " 
 
 And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, 
 1 thought it right and necessary to solicit His assist- 
 ance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the fol- 
 lowing little prayer, which was prefixed 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 resolution 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 feed 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 slioulcl have its allotted time, one page in 
 my little book contained the following scheme of 
 employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural 
 day. 
 
156 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 SCHEME. 
 
 Morning. 
 
 The Question. What 
 good shall I do this day ? 
 
 Noon. 
 
 Afternoon. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Eise, wash, and address 
 Powerful Goodness ! Con- 
 trive day's business, and 
 I take the resolution of the 
 1 day ; prosecute the present 
 j study, and breakfast. 
 
 Work. 
 
 j 12 ) Read, or look over my 
 
 accounts, and dine. 
 
 Work. 
 
 The Question. What 
 good have I done to-day? 
 
 Night. 
 
 their 
 Music 
 
 g ^ Put things in 
 
 r. I places. Supper. 
 
 g J- or diversion, or conversa- 
 
 Q I tion. Examination of the 
 
 ^ J day. 
 
 flOl 
 11 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4j 
 
 Sleep. 
 
 I entered upon the execution of this plan for self- 
 examination, and continued it with occasional inter- 
 missions for some time. I was surprised to find my- 
 self so much fuller of faults than I had imagined ; but 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 157 
 
 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 transferred 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 
 marked my faults with a black-lead pencil, which 
 marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. 
 After awhile I went through one course only in a 
 year, and afterwards only one in several years, till at 
 length I omitted them entirely, being employed in 
 voyages and business abroad with a maltiplicity of 
 affairs, that interfered ; but I always carried my little 
 book with me. 
 
 My scheme of Orde7' gave me the most trouble: 
 and I found that, though 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, &c., I 
 found extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been 
 early accustomed to method^ and, having an exceed- 
 ingly good memory, I was not so sensible of the 
 inconvenience attending want of method. This arti- 
 
158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 cle, therefore, cost me much painful attention, and 
 my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made little 
 progress in amendment, and had such frequent re- 
 lapses, that I was almost ready to give vip the attempt, 
 and content myself with a faulty character in that 
 respect. Like the man who, in buying an axe of a 
 smith, my neighbour, desired to have the whole of 
 its surface as bright as the edge. The smith con- 
 sented to grind it bright for him, if he would turn 
 the wheel; he turned, while the smith pressed the 
 broad face of the axe 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 
 axe as it was, without further grinding. " No," said 
 the smith, " turn on, turn on, we shall have it bright 
 by and by; as yet it is only speckled." "Yes," 
 said the man, " but / thmk I like a speckled axe iest." 
 And I believe this may have been the case with many, 
 who, having for want of some such means as I em- 
 ployed found the difficulty of obtaining good and 
 breaking bad habits in other points of vicQ and virtue, 
 have given up the struggle, and concluded that "« 
 speckled axe is best." For something, that pretended 
 to be reason, was every now and then suggesting to 
 me, that such extreme 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 per- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 159 
 
 feet character might be attended with the incon- 
 venience 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, though 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, though they never 
 reach the wished-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 owed the constant felicity of his life, 
 down to his seventy-ninth year, in which this is writ- 
 ten. What reverses may attend the remainder is in 
 the hand of Providence; but, if they arrive, the re- 
 flection on past happiness enjoyed 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 the knowledge 
 
160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 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 coun- 
 try, and the honourable 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 
 young acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some of 
 my descendants may follow the example and reap the 
 benefit. 
 
 It will be remarked that, though 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 re- 
 ligions, and intending some time or other to publish 
 it, I would not have anything in it that should preju- 
 dice any one, of any sect, against it. I proposed 
 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 ; I should 
 have called my book The Art of Virtue, because it 
 would have shown the means and manner of obtain- 
 ing virtue, which would have distinguished it from 
 the mere exhortation to be good, that does not in- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 161 
 
 struct and indicate the means; but is like the Apos- 
 tle's man of verbal charity, who, without showing to 
 the naked and hungry, how or where they might get 
 clothes or victuals, only exhorted them to be fed and 
 clothed. James ii. 15, 16. 
 
 But it so happened, that my intention of writing 
 and publishing this comment was never fulfilled. I 
 had, indeed, from time to time, put down short hints 
 of the sentiments and reasonings 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 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 at- 
 tending to, it has hitherto remained unfinished. 
 
 In this piece it was my design to explain and en- 
 force this doctrine, that vicious actions are not hurtful 
 because they are forbidden^ hut foriidden hecause they 
 are hurtful, the nature of man alone considered ; that 
 it was, therefore, every one's interest to be virtuous, 
 who wished 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 instru- 
 ments for the management of their affairs, and such- 
 being so rare) have endeavoured to convince young 
 11 
 
163 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 persons, that no qualities are so likely to make a poor 
 man's fortune, as those oi prohity and integrity. 
 
 My list of virtues contained at first but twelve; but 
 a Quaker friend having kindly informed me, that I 
 was generally thought proud; that my pride showed 
 itself frequently in conversation; that I was not con- 
 tent with being in the right when discussing any 
 point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent,..of 
 which he convinced me by mentioning several in- 
 stances; I determined to endeavour to cure myself, 
 if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest; and I 
 added Humility to my list, giving an extensive mean- 
 ing to the word. 
 
 I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the 
 reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with re- 
 gard 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 fixed opinion; such as certainly., un- 
 doubtedly., &c., and I adopted instead of them, 1 
 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 denied 
 myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, 
 and of showing immediately some absurdity in his 
 proposition ; and in answering I began by observing, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 163 
 
 that, in certain cases or circumstances, his opinion 
 would be right, but in the present case there appeared 
 or seemed to me some difference, &c. I soon found 
 the advantage of this change in my manners; the 
 conversations I engaged in went on more pleasantly. 
 The modest way in which I proposed my opinions 
 procured them a readier reception and less contradic- 
 tion ; I had less mortification when 1 was found to be 
 in the wrong ; and I more easily prevailed 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 
 easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for the last 
 fifty years no one has ever heard a dogmatical expres- 
 sion escape me. And to this habit (after my char- 
 acter 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 point. 
 
 In reality there is, perhaps, no one of our natural 
 passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, 
 struggle with i-t, stifle it, mortify it as much as one 
 pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then 
 
164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, 
 often in this history. For, even if I could conceive 
 that I had completely overcome it, I should probably 
 be proud of my ImmiUty. 
 
 CHAPTER VII.* 
 
 BEGINNING OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 Having mentioned a great and extensive jJt'oject, 
 which I had conceived, it seems proper that some ac- 
 count should be here given of that project and its 
 object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the fol- 
 lowing little paper, accidentally preserved, viz. : — 
 
 " Observations on my reading history in the Library, May 
 9th, 1731. 
 
 " That the great affairs of the world, the wars and revolu 
 tions, are carried on and effected by parties. 
 
 " That the view of tliese parties is their present general 
 interest, or what they take to be such. 
 
 "That the different views of these different parties oc- 
 casion all confusion. 
 
 *The preceding chapter was written at Passy. In a 
 memorandum which he made, when he again resumed the 
 narrative four years afterwards, he says, "I am now about 
 to write at home (Philadelphia) , August, 1788, but cannot 
 have the help expected from my papers, may of them be- 
 ing lost in the war. I have, however, found the follow- 
 ing." He then proceeds as in the text. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 165 
 
 "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 gained its general point, 
 each member becomes intent upon his particular interest ; 
 which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, 
 and occasions more confusion. 
 
 I "'That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the 
 good of their country, whatever they may pretend ; and, 
 though their actings bring real good to their country, yet 
 men primarily considered that their own and their country 's 
 interest were united, and so did not act from a principle of 
 benevolence. 
 
 " That fewer still in public affairs act witli 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 gov- 
 erned by suitable good and wise rules, which good and 
 wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedi- 
 ence to than common people are to common laws. 
 
 "I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, 
 and is well qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God and of 
 meeting with success." 
 
 EevolviDg this project iu my mind, as to be iinder- 
 taken hereafter, when my circumstances should afford 
 me the necessary leisure, I put down from time to 
 time on pieces of paper such thoughts as occurred to 
 me respecting it. Most of these are lost; but I find 
 one purporting to be the substance of an intended 
 creed, containing, as I thought, the essentials of 
 every known religion, and being free of everything 
 
166 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that might shock the professors of auy religion. It 
 is expressed 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 worshipped by adoration, prayer, 
 and thanksgiving. 
 
 "But that the most acceptable service .to 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 he 
 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 ex- 
 ercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination 
 and practice of the virtues, as in the before-mentioned 
 model; that the existence of such a society should be 
 kept a secret, till it was become considerable, to pre- 
 vent solicitations for the admission of improper per- 
 sons; but that the members should, each of them, 
 search among his acquaintance for ingenious, well- 
 disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, the 
 scheme should be gradually communicated. That the 
 members should engage to afford their advice, assist- 
 ance, and support to each other in promoting one 
 another's interest, business, and advancement in life. 
 That for distinction, we should be called the society 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 167 
 
 OF THE FREE a:nd EASY. Free, as being, by the 
 general practice and habits of the virtues, free from 
 the dominion of vice; and particularly, by the practice 
 of industry and frugality, free from debt, which ex- 
 poses a man to constraint, 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, occa- 
 sioned my postponing the further prosecution of it at 
 that time; and my multifarious occupations, public 
 and private, induced me to continue postponing, so 
 that it has been omitted, till I have no longer strength 
 or activity left sufficient for such an enterprise. 
 Though I am still of opinion it was a practicable 
 scheme, and might have been very useful, by forming 
 a great number of good citziens; and I was not dis- 
 couraged by the seeming magnitude of the undertak- 
 ing, as I have always thought, that one man of toler- 
 able abilities. may work great changes, and accomplishi 
 great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good 
 plan; and, cutting off all amusements or other em- 
 ployments, that would divert his attention, makes the> 
 execution of that same plan his sole study and busi- 
 ness. 
 
 In 1732, I first published my Almanac, under the 
 
168 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 name of Richard Saunders; it was continued bj me 
 about twenty-five years, and commonly called Poor 
 Richard'' s Ahnanac.'^ I endeavoured to make it both 
 
 * Considering the remarkable success of this Almanac, 
 and the^ great celebritj' it has attained, particularly the 
 summary of maxims selected from it and published sepa- 
 rately under the title of The Way to Wealth, the reader 
 may be curious to see the advertisement of the first num- 
 ber, including the table of contents. It was printed in the 
 Pennsylvania Gazette on the 19th of December, 1732, as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Just published, for 1733, An Almanac, containing the 
 Lunations, Eclipses, Planets' Motions and Aspects, Weather, 
 Sun, and Moon's Rising and Setting, High Water, &c. ; be- 
 sides many pleasant and witty Verses, Jests, and Sayings ; 
 Author's Motive of Writing ; Prediction of the Death of 
 his Friend, Mr. Titan Leeds ; Bachelor's Folly ; Parson's 
 Wine and Baker's Pudding ; Short Visits ; Kings and 
 Bears; New Fashions; Game for Kisses; Katherine's 
 Love ; Different Sentiments ; Signs of a Tempest ; Death 
 of a Fisherman ; Conjugal Debate ; Men and Melons ; The 
 Prodigal ; Breakfast in Bed ; Oyster Lawsuit, &c. By 
 Eichard Saunders, Philomat. Printed and Sold by B. 
 Franklin." 
 
 Such was the eagerness with which this Almanac was 
 sought that three editions were printed before the end of 
 January, and, although he enlarged his first editions for 
 the subsequent years, yet two editions were frequently re- 
 quired to supply the demand. In the Almanac for 1739 he 
 makes the following apology for its miscellaneous char- 
 acter :— 
 
 "JBesides the usual things expected in an Almanac, I 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 169 
 
 entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to 
 be in such demand, that I reaped considerable profit 
 from it; vending annually near ten thousand. And 
 observing that it was generally read, scarce any neigh- 
 borhood in the province being without it, I considered 
 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 
 occurred between the remarkable days in the Calendar, 
 with proverbial sentences, t^hiefly such as inculcated 
 industry and fruaglity, as the means of procuring 
 wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more 
 
 hope the professed 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 sen- 
 tences in my book, thou findest me trifling now and then 
 and talking idly. In all the dishes I have hitherto cooked 
 for thee there is solid meat enough for thy money. There 
 are scraps from the table of vt'isdom that will, if well 
 digested, yield strong nourishment for the mind. But 
 squeamish stomachs cannot eat w^ithout pickles, which, it 
 is true, are good for nothing else, but they provoke an ap- 
 petite. The vain youth that reads my Almanac for the 
 sake of an idle joke will perhaps meet with a serious re- 
 flection that he may ever after be the better for." 
 
 It is believed that a complete series of Poor Richard's 
 Almanac is not now in existence. After much research I 
 have not been able to find more than one-third of the num- 
 bers that were published. 
 
170 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 difficult for a man in want to act always honestly, as,, 
 to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for mi 
 empty sack to stand upright. 
 
 These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of 
 many ages and nations, I assembled and formed into 
 a connected discourse prefixed to the Almanac of 1757, 
 as the harangue of a wise old man to the people at- 
 tending an auction. The bringing all these scattered 
 counsels thus into a focus enabled them to make 
 greater impression. The piece, being universally ap- 
 proved, was copied in all the newspapers of the 
 American continent, reprinted in Britain on a large 
 sheet of paper, to be stuck up in houses; two trans- 
 lations were made of it in France, and great numbers 
 bought by the clergy and gentry, to distribute gratis 
 among their poor parishioners and tenants. In Penn- 
 sylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign 
 superfluities, some thought it had its share of influ- 
 ence in producing that growing plenty of money, 
 which was observable for several years after its i3ubli- 
 cation. 
 
 1 considered my newspaper, also, as another means, 
 of communicating instruction, and in that view fre- 
 quently reprinted in it extracts from the Spectator^ and 
 other moral writers; and sometimes published little 
 pieces of my own, which had been first composed 
 for reading in our Junto. Of these are a Socratic 
 dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever might be 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 171 
 
 his parts and abilities, a vicious mau could not prop- 
 erly be called a man of sense; and a discourse on 
 self-denial, showing that virtue was not secure, till 
 its practice became a licibitude^ and was free from the 
 opposition of contrary inclinations. These may be 
 found in the papers about the beginning of 1735. 
 
 In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully ex- 
 cluded all libelling and personal abuse, which is of 
 late years become so disgraceful to our country. 
 Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that 
 kind, and the writers pleaded, as they generally did, 
 the liberty of the press; and that a newspaj^er 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 grat- 
 ifying 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 reflec- 
 tions on the government of neighboring states, and 
 
172 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 even on the conduct of our best national allies, which 
 may be attended with the most pernicious conse- 
 quences. These things I mention as a caution to 
 young printers, and that they may be encouraged not 
 to pollute their presses, and disgrace their profession 
 by such infamous practices, but refuse steadily; as 
 they may see by my example, that such a course of 
 conduct will not on the whole be injurious to their 
 interests.* 
 
 In 1733, I sent one of my journeymen to Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina, where a printer was wanting. 
 I furnished him with a press and letters, on an agree- 
 ment of partnership, by which I was to receive one- 
 third of the profits of the business, paying one-third 
 of the expense. He was a man of learning, but 
 ignorant on matters of account; and, though he 
 sometimes made me remittances, I could get no ac- 
 count from him, nor any satisfactory state of our 
 partnership while he lived. On his decease, the busi- 
 ness was continued by his widow, who, being born 
 and bred in Holland, where, as I have been informed, 
 the knowledge of accounts makes a part of female 
 education, she not only sent me as clear a statement 
 as she could find of the transactions past, but contin- 
 ued to account with the greatest regularity and exact- 
 
 * In 1737 he published a piece in his paper on the Free- 
 dom of Speech and of the Press. Again, late in life, he 
 wrote a pointed satirical piece on this subject. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 173 
 
 ness every quarter afterwards; and managed the busi- 
 ness with such success, that she not only reputably 
 brought up a family of children, but, at the expira- 
 tion of the term, was able to purchase of me the 
 printing-house, and establish her son in it. 
 
 I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recom- 
 mending that branch of education for our young 
 women, as likely to be of more use to them and their 
 children, in case of widowhood, than either music or 
 dancing ; by preserving them from losses by imposition 
 of crafty men, and enabling them to continue, per- 
 haps, a profitable mercantile house, with established 
 correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to undertake 
 and go on with it ; to the lasting advantage and enrich- 
 ing of the family. 
 
 About the year 1734, there arrived among us a 
 young Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who 
 delivered with a good voice, and apparently extem- 
 pore, most excellent discourses; which drew together 
 considerable numbers of different persuasions, who 
 joined in admiring them. Among the rest, I became 
 one of his constant hearers, his sermons pleasing me, 
 as they had little of the dogmatical kind, but incul- 
 cated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in the 
 religious style are called good woi'hs. Those, however, 
 of our congregation, who considered themselves as 
 orthodox Presbyterians, disapproved his doctrine, and 
 were joined by most of the old ministers, who ar- 
 
174 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 raigned him of heterodoxy before the synod, in order 
 to have him silenced. I became his zealous partisan, 
 and contributed all I could to raise a party in his 
 favour, and combated for him awhile with some hopes 
 of success. There was much scribbling ^^ro and con 
 upon the occasion ; and finding that, though an ele- 
 gant preacher, he was but a poor writer, I wrote for 
 him two or three pamphlets, and a piece in the Gazette 
 of April, 1735. Those pamphlets, as is generally the 
 case with controversial writings, though eagerly read 
 at the time, were soon out of vogue, and I question 
 whether a single copy of them now exists.* 
 
 During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his 
 cause exceedingly. One of our adversaries having 
 heard him preach a sermon, that was much admired, 
 thought he had somewhere read the sermon before, 
 or at least a i^art of it. On searching, he found that 
 part quoted at length, in one of the British Bevieivs, 
 from a discourse of Dr. Foster's. This detection 
 gave many of our party disgust, who accordingly 
 abandoned his cause and occasioned our more speedy 
 discomfiture in the synod. I stuck by him, however; 
 
 *None of these pamphlets have been found. Several 
 anonymous tracts on this subject are advertised in the 
 Pennsylvania Gazette, in the months of July, September, 
 and October, 1735, some of which are probably the same 
 that are here mentioned as having been written by 
 Franklin. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 175 
 
 I rather approved his giving us good sermons com- 
 posed by others, than bad ones of his own manufac- 
 ture; though the latter was the practice of our com- 
 mon teachers. He afterwards acknowledged to me, 
 that none of those he preached were his own; adding, 
 that his memory was such as enabled him to retain 
 and repeat any sermon after once reading only. On 
 our defeat, he left us in search elsewhere of better 
 fortune, and I quitted the congregation, never attend- 
 ing it after; though I continued many years my sub- 
 scription for the support of its ministers. 
 
 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 in that language with ease. 
 I then undertook the Italian. An acquaintance who 
 was also learning it, used often to tempt me to play 
 chess with him. Finding this took np too much of 
 the time I had to spare for study, I at length refused 
 to play any more, unless on this condition, that the 
 victor in every game should have a right to impose 
 a task, either of parts of the grammar to be got by 
 heart, or in translations, which tasks the vanquished 
 was to perform upon honour before our next meeting. 
 As we played pretty equally, we thus beat one another 
 into that language. I afterwards, with a little pains- 
 taking, acquired as much of the Spanish as to read 
 their books also. 
 
 I have already mentioned that I had only one year's 
 
176 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 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 surprised to find, 
 on looking over a Latin Testament, that I under- 
 stood 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 smoothed my way. 
 
 From these circumstances I have thought 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 acquired that, it will 
 be more easy to attain those modern languages which 
 are derived from it; and yet we do not begin with 
 the Greek, in order more easily to acquire the Latin. 
 It is true that if we can clamber and get to the top 
 of a staircase without using the steps, we shall more 
 easily gain them in descending; but certainly if we 
 begin with the lowest, we shall with more ease ascend 
 to the top; and I would therefore offer it to the con- 
 sideration 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 learned becomes almost useless, so 
 that their time has been lost, it would not have been 
 better to have begun with the French, proceeding to 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 177 
 
 the Italian and Latin? For though 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. 
 
 After ten years' absence from Boston, and having 
 become easy in my circumstances, I made a journey 
 thither to visit my relations; which I could not sooner 
 afford. In returning 1 called at Newport to see my 
 brother James, then settled there with his printing- 
 house. Our former differences were forgotten, and 
 our meeting was very cordial and affectionate. He 
 was fast declining in health, and requested me that, 
 in case of his death, which he apprehended was not 
 far distant, I would take home his son, then but ten 
 years of age, and bring him up to the printing busi- 
 ness. This I accordingly performed; sending him 
 a few years to school before I took him into the office. 
 His mother carried on the business till he was grown 
 up, when I assisted him with an assortment of new 
 types, those of his father being in a manner worn out. 
 Thus it was that I made my brother ample amends 
 for the service I had deprived him of by leaving him 
 so early. 
 
 In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four 
 years old, by the smallpox, taken in the common 
 way. I long regretted him bitterly, and sfcill regret 
 12 
 
178 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This 
 I mention for the sake of parents who omit that oper- 
 ation on the supposition that they should never for- 
 give themselves if a child died under it; my example 
 showing that the regret may be the same either way, 
 and therefore that the safer should be chosen. 
 
 Our club, the Junto, was found so useful, and 
 afforded such satisfaction to the members, that some 
 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 observed; 
 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 sub- 
 ordinate 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 occa- 
 sion, as the Junto member might propose what 
 queries we should desire, and was to report to the 
 Junto what passed at his separate club; the promo- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 179 
 
 tion of our particular interests in business by more 
 extensive recommendation, and the increase of our in- 
 fluence in public affairs, and our power of doing good 
 by spreading through the several clubs the sentiments 
 of the Junto. 
 
 The project was approved, and every member 
 undertook to form his club; but they did not all 
 succeed. Five or six only were completed, which 
 were called by different names, as the Vine, the 
 Unio7i^ the Band. They were useful to themselves, 
 and afforded us a good deal of amusement, informa- 
 tion, and instruction; besides answering, in some 
 considerable degree, our views of influencing the 
 public on particular occasions; of which I shall give 
 some instances in course of time as they happened. 
 
 My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, 
 clerk of the General Assembly. The choice was made 
 that year without opposition ; but the year following, 
 when I was again proposed, the choice like that of 
 the members being annual, a new member made a 
 long speech against me, in order to favour some other 
 candidate. I was however chosen, which was the more 
 agreeable to me, as besides the pay for the immediate 
 service of clerk, the place gave me a better opportun- 
 ity of keeping up an interest among the members, 
 which secured to me the business of printing the votes, 
 laws, paper-money, and other occasional jobs for the 
 public, that on the whole were very profitable. 
 
18C AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I therefore did not like the opposition of this new 
 member, who was a gentleman of fortune and educa- 
 tion, with talents that were likely to give him in 
 time great influence in the House, which indeed after- 
 wards happened. I did not, however, aim at gaining 
 his favour by paying any servile respect to him, but, 
 after some time, took this other method. Having, 
 heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce' 
 and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing 
 my desire of perusing that book, and requesting 
 that he would do me the favour of lending it to me 
 for a few days. He sent it immediately; and I re- 
 turned it in about a week with another note, express- 
 ing strongly the sense of the favour. When ive next 
 met in the House he spoke to me, which he had 
 never done before, and with great civility; and he 
 ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all 
 occasions, so that we became great friends, and our 
 friendship continued to his death. This is another 
 instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, 
 which says: ''He that has once done you a kindness 
 will he more ready to do you another^ than he whom 
 you yourself have obliged.'' And it shows how much 
 more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to re- 
 sent, return, and continue, inimical proceedings. 
 
 In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Vir- 
 ginia, and then postmaster-general, being dissatisfied 
 with the conduct of his deputy at Philadelphia, re- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 181 
 
 specting some negligence in rendering, and want of 
 exactness in framing, his accounts, took from him 
 the commission and offered it to me. I accepted it 
 readily, and found it of great advantage ; for, though 
 the salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence 
 that improved my newspaper, increased the number 
 demanded, as well as the advertisements to be inserted, 
 so that it came to afford me a considerable income. 
 My old competitor's newspaper declined proportion- 
 ably, and I was satisfied without retaliating his re- 
 fusal, while postmaster, to permit my papers being 
 carried by the riders. Thus he suffered greatly from 
 his neglect in due accounting: and I mention it as a 
 lesson to those young men, who may be employed in 
 managing affairs for others, that they should always 
 render accounts, and make remittances, with great 
 clearness and punctuality. The character of observ- 
 ing such a conduct is the most powerful of all recom- 
 mendations to new employments and increase of busi- 
 ness.* 
 
 * Before this appointment, he had been favoured in re- 
 gard to the circulation of his newspaper. On the 28th of 
 January, 1735, he says : "By the indulgence of the Honour- 
 able Colonel Spotswood, postmaster-general, the printer 
 hereof is allowed to send the Gazettes by the post, postage 
 free, to all parts of the post-road, from Virginia to New ^ 
 England." 
 
 The following advertisement indicates nearly the time 
 at which he assumed the duties of postmaster, and also the 
 
183 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I began now to turn my thoughts to public affairs, 
 beginning, however, with small matters. The city 
 watch was one of the first things that I conceived to 
 
 degree of speed with which the mail was then con- 
 veyed : — 
 
 October 27th, i7<?7.— "Notice is hereby given, that the 
 post-office of Philadelphia is now kept at B. Franklin's, in 
 Market Street ; and that Henry Pratt is appointed Riding 
 Postmaster for all the stages between Philadelphia and 
 Newport in Virginia, who sets out about the beginning of 
 each month, and returns in twenty-four days ; by whom 
 gentlemen, merchants, and others may have their letters 
 carefully conveyed, and business faithfully transacted, he 
 having given good security for the same to the Honourable 
 Colonel Spotswood, postmaster- general of all his Majesty's 
 dominions in America." 
 
 Six years afterwards some improvement had taken place 
 in the transmission of the mail. In an advertisement dated 
 April 14th, 1743, he says : "After this week the northern 
 post will set out for New York on Thursdays at three o'clock 
 in the forenoon till Christmas. The southern post sets out 
 next Monday at eight o'clock for Annapolis, and continues 
 going every fortnight during the summer season." In 
 winter the post between Philadelphia and New York went 
 once a fortnight. 
 
 The following characteristic advertisement is contained 
 in. i\iQ Pennsylvania Gazette for June 23d, 17B7 : — "Taken 
 out of a pew in the Church, some months since, a Common 
 Prayer Book, bound in red, gilt, and lettered D. F. [Deb- 
 orah Franklin] on each cover. The person who took it is 
 desired to open it and read the eighth commandment, and 
 afterwards return it into the same pew again ; upon which 
 no further notice will be taken. " 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 183 
 
 want regulation. It was managed by the constables 
 of the respective wards in turn; the constable sum- 
 moned a number of housekeepers to attend him for 
 the night. Those who chose never to attend paid 
 him six shillings a year to be excused, which was 
 supposed to go to hiring substitutes, but was in real- 
 ity 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 raga- 
 muffins about him as a watch, that respectable house- 
 keepers 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 the Junto, rej)resenting these irregular- 
 ities, but insisting more particularly on the inequality 
 of the six shilling tax of the constable, 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 the 
 business; and as a more equitable way of supporting 
 the charge, the levying a tax that should be propor- 
 tioned to the property. This idea, being approved 
 by the Junto, was communicated to the other clubs. 
 
184 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 but as originating in each of them; and though the 
 plan was not immediately carried into execution, yet, 
 by preparing the minds of the 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 
 the Junto, but it was afterwards published) 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 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 
 obliged every member to keep always in good order, 
 and fit for use, a certain number of leathern buckets, 
 with strong bags and baskets (for packing and trans- 
 porting of goods), which were to be brought to every 
 fire; and we agreed about once a month to spend a 
 social evening together, in discoursing and communi- 
 cating 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 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 185 
 
 convenient for one company, they were advised to 
 form another, which was accordingly done; and thus 
 went on one new company after another, till they be- 
 come so numerous as to include most of the inhabi- 
 tants who were men of property ; and now, at the time 
 of my writing this, though upwards of fifty years 
 since its establishment, that which I first formed, 
 called the Unmi Fire Company^ still subsists; though 
 the first members are all deceased but one, who is older 
 by a year than I am. The fines that have been paid 
 by members for absence at the monthly meetings have 
 been applied to the purchase of fire-engines, ladders, 
 fire-hooks, and other useful implements for each com- 
 pany; so that I question whether there is a city in 
 the world better provided with the means of putting 
 a stop to beginning confiagrations; 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. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PROSPERITY 11^ BUSII^ESS. 
 
 In 1739, arrived among us from Ireland the Rever- 
 end Mr. Whitefield, who had made himself remarkable 
 there as an itinerant preacher. He was at first per- 
 
186 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 mitted to preach iu some of our churches; but the ^ 
 clergy, taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their •! 
 pulpits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields. 
 The multitudes of all sects and denominations that \ 
 attended his sermons were enormous, and it was a \ 
 matter of speculation to me, who was one of the j 
 number, to observe the extraordinary influence of his i 
 oratory on his hearers, and how much they admired , 
 and respected him, notwithstanding his common I 
 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 inhabi- 
 tants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about ^ 
 religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing 
 religious, so that one could not walk through the ,| 
 town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in i 
 different families of every street. ! 
 And it being found inconvenient to assemble in ' 
 the open air, subject to its inclemencies, the building \ 
 of a house to meet iu was no sooner proposed, and \ 
 persons appointed to receive contributions, than i 
 sufficient sums were soon received to procure the l 
 ground, and erect the building, which was one hun- i 
 dred feet long and seventy broad; and the work was \ 
 carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a j 
 much shorter time than could have been expected. 
 Both house and ground were vested in trustees, ex- , 
 pressly for the use of any preacher of any religious '■■ 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 187 
 
 persuasion, who might desire to say something to the 
 people at Philadelphia; the design in building being 
 not to accommodate an}" particular sect, but the in- 
 habitants in general; so that even if the Mufti of 
 Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach 
 Mahometanism to us, he would find a puipit at his 
 service. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield, on leaving us, went preaching all 
 the way through the colonies to Georgia. The settle- 
 ment of that province had been lately begun, but, 
 instead of being made with hardy, industrious hus- 
 bandmen, accustomed to labour, the only people fit for 
 such an enterprise, it was with families of broken shop- 
 keepers and other insolvent debtors; many of indo- 
 lent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, 
 being set down in the woods, unqualified for clearing 
 land, and unable to endure the hardships of a new 
 settlement, perished in numbers, leaving many help- 
 less children unprovided for. The slight of their 
 miserable situation inspired the benevolent heart of 
 Mr. Whitefield with the idea of building an Orphan 
 House there, in which they might be supported and 
 educated. Returning northward, he preached up this 
 charity, and made large collections; for his eloquence 
 had a wonderful power over the hearts and purses of 
 his hearers, of which I myself was an instance. 
 
 I did not disapprove of the design, but, as Georgia 
 was then destitute of materials and workmen, and it 
 
188 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 was proposed to send them from Philadelphia at a 
 great expense, I thought it would have been better to 
 have built the house at Philadelphia, and brought the 
 children to it. This I advised; but he was resolute 
 in his first project, rejected my counsel, and I there- 
 fore refused to contribute. I happened soon after to 
 attend one of his sermons, in the course of which I 
 perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and 
 I silently resolved he should get nothing from me. 
 I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three 
 or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As 
 he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give 
 the copper. Another stroke of his oratory made me 
 ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; 
 and he finished so admirably, that I emptied 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 in- 
 tended, had by precaution emptied his pockets before 
 he came from home. Towards the conclusion of the 
 discourse, however, he felt a strong inclination to give, 
 and applied to a neighbour, who stood near him, to 
 lend him some money for the purpose. The request 
 was fortunately 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 Hopkiuson, I would lend to thee freely; but 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 189 
 
 not now ; for thee seems to be out of thy right senses. " 
 Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to sup- 
 pose that he would apply these collections to his own 
 private emolument; but I, who was intimately ac- 
 quainted with him, being employed in printing his 
 Sermons and Journals, never had the least suspicion 
 of his integrity; but am to this day decidedly of 
 opinion, that he was in all his conduct a perfectly 
 ho}iest 77ian; and methinks my testimony in his favour 
 ought to have the more weight, as we had no religious 
 connection. He used, indeed, sometimes, to pray 
 for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of 
 believing that his prayers were heard. Ours was a 
 mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and 
 lasted to his death. 
 
 The following instance will show the terms on 
 which we stood. Upon one of his arrivals from Eng- 
 land 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 replied, that if I 
 made that kind oifer for Chrisfs sake, I should not 
 miss of a reward. And I returned, "Don't let me 
 be mistaken; it was not for Chrisfs sake, but for 
 your sake." One of our common acquaintance jo- 
 
190 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 cosely remarked, 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 contrived to fix it on 
 earth. 
 
 The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, 
 when he consulted me about his Orphan House con- 
 cern, and his purpose of appropriating it to the es- 
 tablishment of a college. 
 
 He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his 
 words so perfectly, that he might be heard and under- 
 stood at a great distance; especially as his auditors 
 observed the most perfect silence. He preached 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 filled with his hearers to a consider- 
 able 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 to- 
 wards the river; and I found his voice distinct till 
 I came near Front Street, when some noise in that 
 street obscured it. Imagining then a semicircle, of 
 which my distance should be the radius, and that it 
 was filled with auditors, to each of whom I allowed 
 two square feet, I computed that he might well be 
 heard by more than thirty thousand. This reconciled 
 me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 191 
 
 to twenty-five thousand people in the fields, and to 
 the history of generals haranguing whole armies, of 
 which I had sometimes doubted.* 
 
 By hearing him often, I came to distinguish easily 
 between sermons newly composed, and those which 
 he had often preached in the course of his travels. 
 His delivery of the latter was so improved by frequent 
 repetition, that every accent, every emphasis, every 
 modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned and 
 well placed, that, without being interested in the 
 subject, one could not help being pleased with 
 the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind 
 with that received from an excellent piece of music. 
 This is an advantage itinerant preachers have 
 over those who are stationary, as the latter cannot 
 
 * In the early part of his life, Mr. Whitefield was preach- 
 ing in an open field, when a drummer happened to be pres- 
 ent, who was determined to interrupt his pious business, 
 and rudely beat his drum in a violent manner, in order to 
 drown the preacher's voice. Mr. Whitefield spoke very 
 loud, but was not as powerful as the instrument. He 
 therefore called out to the drummer in these words: 
 *' Friend, you and I serve the two greatest masters existing, 
 but in different callings ; you beat up for volunteers for 
 King George, I for the Lord Jesus. In God's name, tlien, 
 let us not interrupt each other ; the world is wide enough 
 for both ; and we may get recruits in abundance. " This 
 speech had such an effect on the drummer that he went 
 away in great good humour, and left the preacher in full 
 possession of the field. 
 
193 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many 
 rehearsals. 
 
 His writing and printing from time to time gave 
 great advantage to his enemies; unguarded expres- 
 sions, and even erroneous opinions, delivered in 
 preaching, might have been afterwards explained or 
 qualified by supposing others that might have accom- 
 panied them; or they might have been denied; but 
 litera scripta manet. Critics attacked his writings 
 violently, and with so much appearance of reason as 
 to diminish the number of his votaries, and prevent 
 their increase. So that I am satisfied, that, if he had 
 never written anything he would have left behind him 
 a much more numerous and important sect; and his 
 reputation might in that case have been still growing 
 even after his death; as, there being nothing of his 
 writing on which to found a censure, and give him a 
 lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty 
 to attribute to him as great a variety of excellences 
 as their enthusiastic admiration might wish him to 
 have possessed.* 
 
 * The following notices, selected from Franklin's news- 
 paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, show that he was the first 
 publisher of Whitefield's writings : and they also contain 
 some curious facts respecting the success of that eloquent 
 preacher, immediately after his arrival in America : — 
 
 November 15th, 1739.— ''The Reverend Mr. Whitefield, 
 having given me copies of his Journals and Sermons, with 
 leave to print the same, I propose to publish them with all 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 193 
 
 My business was now constantly augmenting, and 
 my circumstances growing daily easier, my newspaper 
 having become very profitable, as being for a time 
 almost the only one in this and the neighbouring prov- 
 inces. I experienced, too, the truth of the observa- 
 tion, ''that after getting the first hundred jpoimds^ it 
 
 expedition, if I find sufficient encouragement. The Ser- 
 mons will make two volumes, and the Journals two more ; 
 which will be delivered to subscribers at two shillings for 
 each volume bound. Those, therefore, who are inclined to 
 encourage this work, are desired speedily to send in their 
 names to me, that I may take measures accordingly. " 
 
 November 29th. — "On Friday last, Mr. Whitefield arrived 
 here with his friends from New York, where he preached 
 eight times. He has preached twice every day to great 
 crowds, except Tuesday, when he preached at Germantown, 
 from a balcony, to about five thousand people in the street. 
 And last night the crowd was so great to hear his farewell 
 sermon, that the church could not contain one half, where- 
 upon they withdrew to Society Hill, where he preached 
 from a balcony to a multitude, computed at not less than 
 ten thousand people. He left this citj' to-day. " 
 
 December 6th. — "On Thursday last, the Reverend Mr. 
 Whitefield left this city, and was accompanied to Chester 
 by about one hundred and fifty horse, and preached there 
 to about seven thousand people. On Friday he preached 
 twice at Willing 's Town to about five thousand ; on Satur- 
 day, at Newcastle, to about two thousand five hundred ; 
 and the same evening, at Christiana Bridge, to about three 
 thousand ; on Sunday, at White Clay Creek, he preached 
 twice, resting about half an hour between the sermons, to 
 13 
 
194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 is more easy to get the second" money itself being 
 of a prolific nature. 
 
 The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I 
 was encouraged to engage in others, and to promote 
 several of my workmen who had behaved well by es- 
 tablishing them in printing-houses in different colo- 
 nies, on the same terms with that in Carolina.* Most 
 
 about eight thousand, of whom three thousand it is com- 
 puted came on horseback. It rained most of the time, and 
 yet thej' stood in the open air." 
 
 May 15tli,1740. — "This evening the Reverend Mr. White- 
 field went on board his sloop at Newcastle to sail for 
 Georgia. On Sunday he preached twice at Philadelphia. 
 The last was his farewell sermon, at which was a vast 
 audience. On Monday he preached at Derby and Chester ; 
 on Tuesday, at Wilmington and White Clay Creek ; on 
 Wednesday, at Nottingham : on Thursday, at Frog's 
 Manor. The congregations were, at everj'^ place, much 
 more numerous than when he was here last. We hear that 
 he has collected in these parts, in goods and money, be- 
 tween four and five hundred pounds sterling for his Orphan 
 House in Georgia. " 
 
 May 22d, 1740. — "Monday next will be delivered to tlie 
 subscribers two volumes of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's 
 works, viz. one of Sermons and one of Journals. The other 
 volumes being nearly finished, will be ready in a short 
 time. The whole number of names subscribed far exceeds 
 the number of books printed. Those subscribers who have 
 paid, or who bring the money in their hands, will have the 
 preference, " 
 
 * By the general terms of these partnerships, Franklin 
 supplied a printing-press and a certain quantity of types at 
 
 i 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 195 
 
 of them did well, being enabled at the end of oar 
 term, six years, to purchase the types of me and go 
 on working for themselves, by which means several 
 families were raised. Partnerships often finish in 
 quarrels, but I was happy in this, that mine were all 
 carried on and ended amicably, owing, I think, a 
 good deal to the precaution of having very explicitly 
 settled, in our articles, everything to be done by, 
 or expected from, each partner, so that there was 
 nothing to dispute, which precaution I would there- 
 fore recommend to all who enter into partnerships; 
 for, whatever esteem partners may have for, and 
 confidence in, each other at the time of the contract,, 
 little jealousies and disgusts may arise, with ideas of 
 inequality in the care and burden, business, &c., 
 which are attended often with breach of friendship 
 and of the connection; perhaps with lawsuits and 
 other disagreeable consequences. 
 
 his own charge ; and all other materials for carrying on the 
 business were provided by the partner. The amount of 
 necessary expenses for rent, paper, ink, and the like, was 
 deducted from the gross receipts, and the remainder, in- 
 cluding the debts, was divided into three parts, of which 
 two belonged to the partner and one to Franklin. All ac- 
 counts were settled quarterly. At the expiration of the 
 time agreed upon, which was commonly six years, the 
 partner was at liberty to return the press and types, or to 
 purchase them at a fair valuation. A partnership of this 
 description existed for many 3"ears between Franklin and 
 James Parker, a respectable printer in New York. 
 
196 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied 
 with my being established in Pennsylvania. Tliere 
 were, however, some things that I regretted, there 
 being no provision for defence nor for a complete edu- 
 cation of youth ; no militia, nor any college. I, there- 
 fore, in 1743, drew up a proposal for establishing an 
 academy; and at that time, thinking the Reverend 
 Richard Peters, who was out of employ, a lit person 
 to superintend such an institution, I communicated 
 the project to him ; but he, having more profitable 
 views in the service of the Proprietors, which suc- 
 ceeded, declined the undertaking; and, not knowing 
 another at the time suitable for such a trust, I let 
 the scheme lie awhile dormant. I succeeded better 
 the next year, 1744, in proposing and establishing a 
 Philosophical Society. The paper I wrote for that 
 purpose will be found among my writings, if not lost 
 with many others. 
 
 With respect to defence, Spain having been several 
 years at war against Great Britain, and being at length 
 joined by France, which brought us into great danger; 
 and the laboured and long-continued endeavour of our 
 governor, Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker Assem- 
 bly to pass a militia law, and make other provisions, 
 for the security of the province, having proved abor- 
 tive, I proposed to try what might be done by a vol- 
 untary subscription of the people. To promote this, 
 I first wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 197 
 
 Plain TriUli.) in which I stated our helpless situation 
 in strong lights, with the necessity of union and dis- 
 cipline for our defence, and promised to propose in a 
 few days an association, to be generally signed for 
 that purpose. The pamphlet had a sudden and sur- 
 prising effect. I was called upon for the instrument 
 of association. Having settled the draft of it with a 
 few friends, I appointed a meeting of the citizens in 
 the large building before mentioned. The house was 
 pretty full; I had prepared a number of printed 
 copies, and provided pens and ink dispersed all over 
 the room. I harangued them a little on the subject, 
 read the paper, explained it, and then distributed the 
 copies, which were eagerly signed, not the least ob- 
 jection being made. 
 
 When the company separated, and the papers were 
 collected, we found above twelve hundred signatures; 
 and other copies being dispersed in the country, the 
 subscribers amounted at length to upwards of ten 
 thousand. These all furnished themselves as soon as 
 they could with arms, formed themselves into com- 
 panies and regiments, chose their own officers, and 
 met every week to be instructed in the manual exer- 
 cise, and other parts of military discipline. The 
 v/omen, by subscriptions among themselves, provided 
 silk colours, which they presented to the companies, 
 painted with different devices and mottos, which I 
 supplied. 
 
198 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 The officers of the companies composing the Phila- 
 delphia regiment being met, chose me for their colo- 
 nel, but, conceiving myself unfit, I declined that 
 station, and recommended Mr. Lawrence, a fine per- 
 son and a man of influence, who was accordingly ap- 
 pointed. I then proposed a lottery to defray the ex- 
 pense of building a battery below the town, and 
 furnished with cannon. It filled expeditiously, and 
 the battery was soon erected, the merlons being 
 framed of logs, and filled with earth.* We bought 
 some old cannon from Boston ; but these not being 
 
 * It appears that the Proprietaries were not pleased with 
 his scheme of associating for the defence of the province. 
 They deemed it an illegal act, and an exercise of too much 
 power, to unite in this manner without the previous sanc- 
 tion of the government ; and they feared it would prove a 
 dangerous precedent, by encouraging the people to form 
 combinations for making new claims to civil privileges, 
 and new encroachments on the prerogatives of the Pro- 
 prietaries. 
 
 As cannon were afterwards sent from England, it is 
 probable that the Proprietaries became reconciled to the 
 Association, when they were more fully informed of its 
 objects. 
 
 " The new large cannon, that lately arrived from England, 
 purchased by the managers of the lottery, being mounted 
 on the great battery, on Monday last, the associators of this 
 city met under arms and marched thither, where they were 
 saluted with one-and-twenty guns, and named the battery 
 The Association. " — Pennsylvania Gazette, September 1st, 
 1748. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 199 
 
 sufficient we wrote to London for more, soliciting at 
 the same time our Proprietaries for some assistance, 
 though without much expectation of obtaining it. 
 
 Meanwhile Colonel Lawrence, Mr. Allen, Abraham 
 Taylor, and myself were sent to New York by the as- 
 sociators, commissioned to borrow some cannon of 
 Governor Clinton. He at first refused us peremp- 
 torily; but at a dinner with his council, where there 
 was great drinking of Madeira wine, as the custom of 
 that place then was, he softened by degrees, and said 
 he would lend us six. After a few more bumpers he 
 advanced to ten, and at length he very good-naturedly 
 conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon, eigh teen- 
 pounders, with their carriages, which were soon trans- 
 ported and mounted on our batteries, where the asso- 
 ciators kept a nightly guard, while the war lasted, 
 and among the rest I regularly took my turn of duty 
 there as a common soldier. 
 
 My activity in these operations was agreeable to 
 the Governor and Council; they took me into confi- 
 dence, and I was consulted by them in every measure 
 where their concurrence was thought useful to the 
 Association. Calling in the aid of religion, I pro- 
 posed to them the proclaiming a fast, to promote 
 reformation, and implore the blessing of heaven on 
 our undertaking. They embraced the motion ; but, 
 as it was the first fast ever thought of in the province, 
 the secretary had no precedent from which to draw 
 
200 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the proclamation. My education in New England, 
 where a fast is proclaimed every year, was here of 
 some advantage; I drew it in the accustomed style; 
 it was translated into German, printed in both lan- 
 guages, and circulated through the province. This 
 gave the clergy of the different sects an opportunity 
 of influencing their congregations to join the Associa- 
 tion, and it would probably have been general among 
 all but the Quakers, if the peace had not soon inter- 
 vened. 
 
 It was thought by some of my friends, that, by my 
 activity in these affairs, I should offend that sect, and 
 thereby lose my interest in the Assembly of the prov- 
 ince, where they form a great majority. A young 
 man, who had likewise some friends in the Assembly, 
 and wished to succeed me as their clerk, acquainted 
 me, that it was decided to displace me at the next 
 election; and he, through good-will, advised me to 
 resign, as more consistent with my honour than being 
 turned out. My answer to him was, that I had read 
 or heard of some public man, who made it a rule, 
 never to ask for an office, and never to refuse one 
 when offered to him. " I approve," said I, "of this 
 rule, and shall practise it with a small addition: I 
 shall never ash, never refuse, nor even eesign an 
 office. If they will have my office of clerk to dispose 
 of it to another, they shall take it from me. I will not, 
 by giving it up, lose my right of some time or other 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 201 
 
 making reprisal on my adversaries." I heard, how- 
 ever, no more of this; I was chosen again unanimously 
 as clerk at the next election. Possibly, as they dis- 
 liked my late intimacy with the members of Council, 
 who had joined the governors on all the disputes about 
 military preparations, with which the House had long 
 been harassed, they might have been pleased if I would 
 voluntarily have left them; but they did not care to 
 displace me on account merely of my zeal for the As- 
 sociation, and they could not well give another reason. 
 
 Indeed, I had some cause to believe that the de- 
 fence of the country was not disagreeable to any of 
 them, provided they were not required to assist in it. 
 And I found that a much greater number of them 
 than I could have imagined, though against offensive 
 war, were clearly for the defensive. Many pamphlets 
 l)ro and co7i were published on the subject, and some 
 by good Quakers, in favour of defence; which, I be- 
 lieve, convinced most of their young people. 
 
 A transaction in our fire company gave me some 
 insight into their prevailing sentiments. It had 
 been proposed that we should encourage the scheme 
 for building a battery by laying out the present stock, 
 then about sixty pounds, in tickets of the lottery. 
 By our rules no money could be disposed of till the 
 next meeting after the proposal. The company con- 
 sisted of thirty members, of whom twenty-two were 
 Quakers, and eight only of other persuasions. We 
 
202 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 eight punctually attended the meeting, but, though 
 we thought that some of the Quakers would join us, 
 we were by no means sure of a majority. Only one 
 Quaker, Mr. James Morris, appeared to oppose the 
 measure. He expressed much sorrow that it had ever 
 been proposed, as he said Friends were all against it, 
 and it would create such discord as might break up 
 the company. We told him that we saw no reason 
 for that; we were the minority, and if Friends were 
 against the measure and out-voted us we must and 
 should, agreeably to the usage of all societies, submit. 
 When the hour for business arrived, it was moved to 
 put this to the vote; he allowed we might do it by 
 the rules, but, as he could assure us that a number 
 of members intended to be present for the purpose of 
 opposing it, it would be but candid to allow a little 
 time for their appearing. 
 
 While we were disputing this a waiter came to tell 
 me that two gentlemen below desired to speak with 
 me. I went down, and found there two of our 
 Quaker members. They told me there were eight of 
 them assembled at a tavern just by; that they were 
 determined to come and vote with us if there should 
 be occasion, which they hoped would not be the case, 
 and desired we should not call for their assistance if 
 we could do without it, as their voting for such a 
 measure might embroil them with their elders and 
 friends. Being thus secure of a majority I went up, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 203 
 
 and, after a little seeming hesitation, agreed to a 
 delay of another hour. This Mr. Morris allowed to 
 be extremely fair. Not one of his opposing friends 
 appeared, at which he expressed great surprise; and, 
 at the expiration of the hour, we carried the resolu- 
 tion eight to one; and as of the twenty-two Quakers 
 eight were ready to vote with us, and thirteen by 
 their absence manifested that they were not inclined 
 to oppose the measure, I afterwards estimated the 
 proportion of Quakers sincerely against defence as one 
 to twenty-one only. For these were all regular mem- 
 bers of the society and in good reputation among 
 them., and who had notice of what was proposed at 
 that meeting. 
 
 The honourable and learned Mr. Logan, who had 
 always been of that sect, wrote an address to them, 
 declaring his approbation of defensive war, and sup- 
 ported his opinion by many strong arguments. He 
 put into my hands sixty pounds to be laid out in lot- 
 tery tickets for the battery, with directions to apply 
 what prizes might be drawn wholly to that service. 
 He told me the following anecdote of his old master, 
 William Penn, respecting defence. He came over 
 from England when a young man with that Proprie- 
 tary, and as his secretary. It was war-time, and 
 their ship was chased by an armed vessel, supposed 
 to be an enemy. Their captain prepared for defence, 
 but told William Penn and his company of Quakers 
 
204 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 that he did not expect their assistance, and they 
 might retire into the cabin, which they did, except 
 James Logan, who chose to stay upon deck, and was 
 quartered to a gun. The supposed enemy proved a 
 friend, so there was no fighting; but when the secre- 
 tary went down to communicate the intelligence, 
 William Penn rebuked him severely for staying upon 
 deck, and undertaking to assist in defending the ves- 
 sel, contrary to the principles of Friends; especially 
 as it had not been required by the captain. This ' 
 reprimand, being before all the company, piqued 
 the secretary, who answered, "I being thy servant, 
 why did thee not order me to come down? But 
 thee was willing enough that I should stay and 
 help to fight the ship when thee thought there was 
 danger." 
 
 My being many years in the Assembly, a majority 
 of which were constantly Quakers, gave me frequent 
 opportunities of seeing the embarrassment given them 
 by their principle against war whenever application 
 was made to them, by order of the crown, to grant 
 aids for military purposes. They were unwilling to 
 offend government, on the one hand, by a direct re- 
 fusal, and their friends, the body of the Quakers, on 
 the other by a compliance contrary to their principles, 
 using a variety of evasions to avoid complying, and 
 modes of disguising the compliance when it became 
 unavoidable. The common mode at last was to grant 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 205 
 
 money under the phrase of its being ''for the King'^s 
 use^'' and never to inquire how it was applied. 
 
 But if the demand was not directly from the crown, 
 that phrase was found not so proper, and some other 
 was to be invented. Thus, when powder was wanting 
 (I think it was for the garrison at Louisburg), and 
 the government of New England solicited a grant of 
 some from Pennsylvania, which was much urged on 
 the House by Governor Thomas, they would not 
 grant money to buy jyowder^ because that was an in- 
 gredient of war, but they voted an aid to New Eng- 
 land of three thousand pounds, to be put into the 
 hands of the Governor, and appropriated for the pur- 
 chase of bread, flour, wheat, or otlier grain. Some 
 of the Council, desirous of giving the House still 
 further embarrassment, advised the Governor not to 
 accept that provision, as not being the thing he had 
 demanded; but he replied, " I shall take the money, 
 for I understand very well their meaning; other 
 grain is gun-powder;" which he accordingly bought, 
 and they never objected to it. 
 
 It was in allusion to this fact, that when in our fire 
 company we feared the success of our proposal in 
 favor of the lottery, and I had said to a friend of 
 mine, one of our members, " If we fail, let us move 
 the purchase of a fire-engine with the money, the 
 Quakers can have no objection to that: and then, if 
 you nominate me and I you as a committee for that 
 
206 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 purpose, we will buy a great gun, which is certainly a 
 pre engine:'' "I see," said he, "you have improved 
 by being so long in the Assembly; your equivocal 
 project would be just a match for their wheat or other 
 grain." 
 
 Those embarrassments that the Quakers suffered, 
 from having established and published it as one of 
 their principles that no kind of war was lawful, and 
 which, being once published, they could not after- 
 wards, however tliey might change their minds, easily 
 get rid of, reminds me of what I think a more pru- 
 dent conduct in another sect among us, that of the 
 Dunkers. I was acquainted with one of its founders, 
 Michael Weffare, soon after it appeared. He com- 
 plained to me that they were grievously calumniated 
 by the zealots of other persuasions, and charged with 
 abominable principles and practices to which they 
 were utter strangers. I told him this had always 
 been the case with new sects, and that to put a stop 
 to such ahuse I imagined it might be well to publish 
 the articles of their belief and the rules of their dis- 
 cipline. He said that it had been proposed among 
 them, but not agreed to for this reason: "When we 
 were first drawn together as a society," said he, "it 
 had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to 
 see that some doctrines which were esteemed truths 
 were errors, and that others which we had esteemed 
 errors were real truths. From time to time He has 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 207 | 
 
 been pleased to afford us further light, and our prin- ; 
 
 ciples have been improving and our errors diminish- ! 
 
 ing. Now, we are not sure that we are arrived at the • 
 end of this progression and at the perfection of spirit- 
 ual or theological knowledge; and we fear that if we 
 
 should once print our confession of faith, we should \ 
 
 feel ourselves as if bound and confined by it, and per- \ 
 
 haps be unwilling to receive further improvement, j 
 
 and our successors still more so, as conceiving what ' 
 
 their elders and founders had done to be something \ 
 
 sacred — never to be departed from." ; 
 
 This modesty in a sect is perhaps a single instance '■ 
 
 in the history of mankind, every other sect supposing ; 
 
 itself in possession of all truth, and that those who \ 
 
 differ are so far in the wrong; like a man travelling i 
 
 in foggy weather, those at some distance before him ! 
 on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog as well 
 
 as those behind him, and also the people in the fields i 
 
 on each side; but near him all appears clear, though, ; 
 
 in truth, he is as much in the fog as any of them, j 
 
 To avoid this kind of embarrassment the Quakers : 
 
 have of late years been gradually declining the public , 
 
 service in the Assembly and in the magistracy, choos- ] 
 ing rather to quit their power than their principle. 
 
 In order of time I should have mentioned before i 
 
 that having, in 1742, invented an open stove for the ^ 
 
 better warming of rooms, and at the same time saving ' 
 
 fuel, as the fresh air was warmed in entering, I made i 
 
208 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 a present of the model to Mr. Eobert Grace, one of 
 my early friends, who, having an iron furnace, found 
 the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable 
 thing, as they were growing in demand. To promote 
 that demand I wrote and published a pamphlet en- 
 titled " An Account of the new-invented Pennsylva- 
 nian Fire-places, wherein their Construction and 
 Manner of Operation are particularly explained, 
 their advantages above every other Method of Warm- 
 ing Eooms demonstrated, and all Objections that 
 have been raised against the Use of them answered 
 and obviated," &c. This pamphlet had a good effect; 
 Governor Thomas was so pleased with the construction 
 of this stove, as described in it, that he offered to 
 give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a 
 term of years, but I declined it from a principle which 
 has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., 
 tJiat as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of 
 others^ ive should he glad of an opportunity to serve- 
 others hy any inve7ition of ours, and this ive should do 
 freely and generously. 
 
 An ironmonger in London, however, assuming a 
 good deal of my pamphlet, and working it up into 
 his own, and making some small changes in the 
 machine, which rather hurt its operation, got a 
 patent for it there, and made, as I was told, a little 
 fortune by it. And this is not the only instance of 
 patents taken out of my inventions by others, though 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 209 
 
 not always with the same success; which I never con- 
 tested, as having no desire of profiting by patents my- 
 self, and hating disputes. The use of these fire- 
 places in very many houses, both here in Pennsylvania 
 and the neighboring states, has been, and is, a great 
 saving of wood to the inhabitants. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SCHEMES FOR PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 Peace being concluded, and the Association busi- 
 ness therefore at an end, I turned 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 pam- 
 phlet, entitled, Projjosals i^elating to the Education of 
 Youth 171 Pennsylvania. This I distributed among 
 the principal inhabitants gratis; and as soon as I 
 could suppose their minds a little prepared by the pe- 
 rusal 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 judged 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 
 14 
 
210 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 their publication not as an act of mine, but of some 
 jpuhlic- spirited gentlemen; avoiding as much as I could, 
 according to my usual rule, the presenting of myself 
 to the public as the author of any scheme for their 
 benefit. 
 
 The subscribers, to carry the project into imme- 
 diate 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 engaged, and the 
 schools opened; I think in the same year, 1749. 
 
 The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon 
 found too small, and we were looking out for a piece 
 of ground, properly situated, with intent to build, 
 when accident threw into our way a large house ready 
 built, which with a few alterations might well serve 
 our purpose. This was the building before men- 
 tioned, erected by the hearers of Mr. Whitefield, and 
 was obtained for us in the following manner. 
 
 It is to be noted, that, the contributions to this 
 building being made by people of different sects, care 
 was taken in the nomination of trustees, in whom the 
 building and ground were to be vested, that a pre- 
 dominancy should not be given to any sect, lest in 
 time that predominancy might be a means of appro- 
 priating the whole to the use of such sect, contrary 
 to the original intention. It was for this reason, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 211 
 
 that one of each sect was appointed : viz., one Chnrch- 
 of-England man, one Presbyterian, one Baptist, one 
 Moravian, &c., who, in case of vacancy by death, 
 were to iill it by election from among the contributors. 
 The Moravian happened not to please his colleagues, 
 and on his death they resolved to have no other of 
 that sect. The difficulty then was, how to avoid 
 having two of some other sect, by means of the new 
 choice. 
 
 Several persons were named, and for that reason 
 not agreed to. At length one mentioned me, with 
 the observation that I was merely an honest man, 
 and of no sect at all, which prevailed with them to 
 choose me. The enthusiasm, which existed when 
 the house was built, had long since abated, and its 
 trustees had not been able to procure fresh contribu- 
 tions for paying the ground rent, and discharging 
 some other debts the building had occasioned, which 
 embarrassed them greatly. Being now a member of 
 both boards of trustees, that for the building, and 
 that for the academy, I had a good opportunity of 
 negotiating with both, and brought them finally to 
 an agreement, by which the trustees for the building 
 were to cede it to those of the academy; the latter 
 undertaking to discharge the debt, to keep forever 
 open in the building a large hall for occasional 
 preachers, according to the original intention, and 
 maintain a free school for the instruction of poor 
 
212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 children. Writings were accordingly drawn: and, 
 on pa37ing the debts, the trustees of the academy 
 were put in possession of the premises; and, by 
 dividing the great and lofty hall into stories, and 
 different rooms above and below for the several 
 schools, and purchasing some additional ground, the 
 whole was soon made fit for our purpose, and the 
 scholars removed into the building. The whole care 
 and trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing 
 materials, and superintending the work, fell upon 
 me ; and I went through it the n-ore cheerfully, as it 
 did not then interfere with my private business; 
 having the year before taken a very able, industrious, 
 and honest partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose 
 character I was well acquainted, as he had worked 
 for me four years. He took off my hands all the care 
 of the printing-office, paying me punctually my 
 share of the profits. This partnership continued 
 eighteen years, successfully for us both. 
 
 The trustees of the academy, after a while, were 
 incorporated by a charter from the Governor; their 
 funds were increased by contributions in Britain, and 
 grants of land from the Proprietaries, to which the 
 Assembly has since made considerable addition; and 
 thus was established the present University of Phila- 
 delphia. I have been continued one of its trustees 
 from the beginning, now near forty years, and have 
 had the very great pleasure of seeing a number of the 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 213 
 
 youth, who have received their education in it, dis- 
 tinguished by their improved abilities, serviceable in 
 public stations, and ornaments to their country.* 
 
 When I was disengaged myself, as above mentioned, 
 from private business, I flattered myself that, by the 
 sufficient though moderate fortune I had acquired, 
 I had secured leisure during the rest of my life for 
 philosophical studies and amusements. I purchased 
 all Dr. Spence's apparatus, who had come from 
 England to lecture in Philadelphia, and I proceeded 
 in my electrical experiments with great alacrity ; but 
 the public, now considering me as a man of leisure, 
 laid hold of me for their purposes; every part of our 
 
 * A free school was likewise attached to the academy, as 
 appears by the following advertisement in Franklin's 
 Gazette, of September 19th, 1751 :— 
 
 " Notice is hereby given, that on Monday, the 16th of this 
 instant September, a free fichool will be opened, under the 
 care and direction of the Trustees of the Academy, at the 
 New Building, for the instruction of poor children gratis 
 in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Those who are de- 
 sirous of having their children admitted, may apply to any 
 of the Trustees." 
 
 Again, October 26th, 1752: "The charity school, opened 
 by the Trustees in the Academy, now teaches reading, 
 writing, and arithmetic to a hundred poor children, most 
 of whom, though from eight to thirteen years of age, had 
 never been sent to any school before ; nor did it seem likely 
 many of them would ever have been sent to any school, if 
 it had not been for this institution." 
 
214 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 civil government — and almost at the same time — 
 imposing some duty upon me. The Governor put 
 me into the commission of the peace; the corporation 
 of the city chose me one of the common council, and 
 soon after alderman ; and the citizens at large elected 
 me a burgess to represent them in the Assembly. 
 This latter station was the more agreeable to me, as 
 I grew at length tired with sitting there to hear the 
 debates, in- which, as clerk, I could take no part; 
 and which were often so uninteresting, that I was 
 induced to amuse myself with making magic squares 
 or circles, or anything to avoid weariness; and I con- 
 ceived my becoming a member would enlarge my 
 power of doing good. I would not however insinuate, 
 that my ambition was not flattered by all these pro- 
 motions; it certainly was, for, considering my low 
 beginning, they were great things to me; and they 
 were still more pleasing, as being so many spontaneous 
 testimonies of the public good opinion, and by me 
 entirely unsolicited. 
 
 The office of justice of the peace I tried a little, by 
 attending a few courts, and sitting on the bench to 
 hear causes; but finding that more knowledge of the 
 common law than I possessed was necessary to act in 
 that station with credit, I gradually withdrew from 
 it; excusing myself by being obliged to attend the 
 higher duties of a legislator in the Assembly. My 
 election to this trust was repeated every year for ten 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 215 
 
 years, ■without my ever asking any elector for his 
 vote, or signifying, either directly or indirectly, any 
 desire of being chosen. On taking my seat in the 
 House, my son was appointed their clerk. 
 
 The year following, a treaty being to be held with 
 the Indians at Carlisle, the Governor sent a message 
 to the House, proposing that they should nominate 
 some of their members, to be joined with some mem- 
 bers of Council, as commissioners for that purpose. 
 The House named the Speaker (Mr. Norris) and my- 
 self; and, being commissioned, we went to Carlisle^ 
 and met the Indians accordingly. 
 
 As those people are extremely apt to get drunk, 
 and when so are very quarrelsome and disorderly, we 
 strictly forbade the selling any liquor to them ; and 
 when they complained of this restriction, we told 
 them if they would continue sober during the treaty, 
 we would give them plenty of rum when the business 
 was over. They promised this, and they kept their 
 promise, because they could get no rum; and the 
 treaty was conducted very orderly, and concluded to 
 mutual satisfaction. They then claimed and received 
 the rum; this was in the afternoon. They were near 
 one hundred men, women, and children; and were 
 lodged in temporary cabins, built in the form of a 
 square, just without the town. In the evening, 
 hearing a great noise among them, the commissioners 
 walked to see what was the matter. We found they 
 
216 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 had made a great bonfire in the middle of the square; 
 they were all drunk, men and women, quarrelling 
 and fighting. Their dark-colored bodies, seen only 
 by the gloomy light of the bonfire, running after and 
 beating one another with firebrands, accompanied by 
 their horrid yellings, formed a scene the most re- 
 sembling our ideas of an inferno that could well be 
 imagined. There was no appeasing the tumult, and 
 we retired to our lodging. At midnight a number 
 of them came thundering at our door, demanding 
 more rum, of which we took no notice. 
 
 The next day, sensible they had misbehaved in 
 giving us that disturbance, they sent three of their 
 old counsellors to make their apology. The orator 
 acknowledged the fault, but laid it upon the rum; 
 and then endeavoured to excuse the rum, by saying, 
 " The Great Spirit, who made all things, made every- 
 thing for some use; and whatever use he designed 
 anything for, that use it should always be put to. 
 Now, when he made rum, he said, 'Let this he for the 
 Indians to get drunk with^j and it must be so." 
 And, indeed, if it be the design of Providence to 
 extirpate these savages in order to make room for the 
 cultivators of the earth, it seems not impossible that 
 rum may be the appointed means. It has already 
 annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 In 1751, Dr. Thomas Bond, a particular friend of 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 217 
 
 mine, conceived the idea of establishing a hospital in 
 Philadelphia (a very beneficent design, which has 
 been ascribed to me, but was originally and trnly 
 his), for the reception and cure of poor sick persons 
 whether inhabitants of the province or strangers. 
 He was zealous and active in endeavouring to procure 
 subscriptions for it; but the proposal being a novelty 
 in America, and at first not well understood, he met 
 with but little success. 
 
 At length he came to me with the compliment, 
 that he found there was no such a thing as carrying a 
 public-spirited project through without my being 
 concerned in it. "For," said he, "I am often asked 
 by those to whom I propose subscribing. Have you 
 consulted Franklin on tJiis business 9 And ivhat does 
 he think of it ? And when I tell them that I have 
 not, supposing it rather out of your line, they do not 
 subscribe, but say, they loill consider it.'' I inquired 
 into the nature and probable utility of this scheme, 
 and receiving from him a very satisfactory explana- 
 tion, I not only subscribed to it myself, but engaged 
 heartily in the design of procuring subscriptions 
 from others. Previously, however, to the solicita- 
 tion, I endeavoured to prepare the minds of the people 
 by writing on the subject in the newspapers, which 
 was my usual custom in such cases, but which Dr. 
 Bond had omitted. 
 
 The subscriptions afterwards were more free and 
 
218 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 generous; but, beginning to flag, I saw they would 
 be insufficient without some assistance from the 
 Assembly, and therefore proposed to petition for it, 
 which was done. The country members did not at 
 first relish the project. They objected that it could 
 only be serviceable to the city, and therefore the 
 citizens alone should beat the expense of it; and 
 they doubted whether the citizens themselves gener- 
 ally approved of it. My allegation on the contrary, 
 that it met with such approbation as to leave no 
 doubt of our being able to raise two thousand pounds 
 by voluntary donations, they considered as a most 
 extravagant supposition, and utterly impossible. 
 
 On this I formed my plan; and asking leave to 
 bring in a bill for incorporating the contributors 
 according to the prayer of their petition, and grant- 
 ing them a blank sum of money, which leave was 
 obtained chiefly on the consideration that the House 
 could throw the bill out if they did not like it, I 
 drew it so as to make the important clause a condi- 
 tional one: viz., "And be it enacted, by the author- 
 ity aforesaid, that, when the said contributors shall 
 have met and chosen their managers and treasurer, 
 and shall have raised by their contributions a capital 
 stock of two thousand pounds value (the yearly inter- 
 est of which is to be applied to the accommodation of 
 the sick poor in the said hospital, and of charge for 
 diet, attendance, advice, and medicines), and shall 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 219 
 
 maJce the same appear to the satisfaction of the 
 Speaker of the Assemhly }or the time leing^ and then 
 it shall and may be lawful for the said Speaker, and 
 he is hereby required, to sign an order on the pro- 
 vincial treasurer, for the payment of two thousand 
 pounds, in two yearly payments, to the treasurer of 
 the said hospital, to be applied to the founding, 
 building, and finishing of the same." 
 
 This condition carried the bill through; for the 
 members who had opposed the grant, and now con- 
 ceived they might have the credit of being charitable 
 without the expense, agreed to its passage. And then, 
 in soliciting subscriptions among the people, we 
 urged the conditional promise of the law as an addi- 
 tional motive to give, since every man's donation 
 ■would be doubled ; thus the clause worked both ways. 
 The subscriptions accordingly soon exceeded the 
 requisite sum, and we claimed and received the public 
 gift, which enabled us to carry the design into execu- 
 tion. A convenient and handsome building was soon 
 erected ; the institution has by constant experience 
 been found useful, and flourishes to this day; and I 
 do not remember any of my political manoeuvres the 
 success of which at the time gave me more pleasure, 
 or wherein, after thinking of it, I more easily 
 excused myself for having made some use of cunning.* 
 
 *The principal facts, respecting the origin and establish- 
 ment of the Hospital, are contained in a quarto pamphlet, 
 
220 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 It was about this time that another projector, the 
 Eeverend Gilbert Tennent, came to me with a request, 
 that I would assist him in procuring a subscription 
 for erecting a new meeting-house. It was to be for 
 the use of a congregation he had gathered among the 
 Presbyterians, who were originally disciples of Mr. 
 Wbitefield. Unwilling to make myself disagreeable 
 to my fellow-citizens, by too frequently soliciting 
 their contributions, I absolutely refused. He then 
 desired I would furnish him with a list of the names 
 of persons I knew by experience to be generous and 
 public-spirited. I thought it would be unbecoming 
 in me, after their kind compliance with my solicita- 
 tions, to mark them out to be worried by other 
 beggars, and therefore refused to give such a list. 
 He then desired I would at least give him my advice. 
 "That I will readily do," said I; "and, in the first 
 
 entitled ^^ Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital from 
 its first rise to the beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 
 175 Jf, Philadelphia : printed by B. Frariklin and D. Hall. " 
 The bill, alluded to in the text, makes a part of this pam- 
 phlet ; and also two papers previously published in the 
 Pennsylvania Gazette, showing the benefits of such an in- 
 stitution, and urging contributions to the fund from 
 motives of benevolence and charity. The names of the 
 original contributors are likewise printed in this pamphlet, 
 and among them is that of Franklin. The preliminary ar- 
 rangements were completed, and the first managers were 
 elected, on the 1st of July, 1751. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 321 
 
 place, I advise you to apply to all those who you 
 know will give something; next to those of whom 
 you are uncertain whether they will give anything or 
 not, and show them the list of those who have given ; 
 and lastly, do not neglect those who you are sure will 
 give nothing; for in some of them you may be 
 mistaken." He laughed and thanked me, and said 
 he would take my advice. He did so, for he asked 
 of everybody; and he obtained a much larger sum 
 than he expected, with which he erected the capa- 
 cious and elegant meeting-house that stands in Arch 
 Street. 
 
 Our city, though laid out with beautiful regularity, 
 the streets large, straight, and crossing each other 
 at right angles, had the disgrace of sujEfering those 
 streets to remain long unpaved, and in wet weather 
 the wheels of heavy carriages ploughed them into a 
 quagmire, so that it was difficult to cross them ; and 
 in dry weather the dust was offensive. I had lived 
 near what was called the Jersey Market, and saw 
 with pain the inhabitants wading in mud, while 
 purchasing their provisions. A strip of ground down 
 the middle of that market was at length paved with 
 brick, so that, being once in the market, they had 
 firm footing ; but were often over shoes in dirt to 
 get there. By talking and writing on the subject, I 
 was at length instrumental in getting the street paved 
 with stone between the market and the brick foot 
 
222 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 pavement, that was on the side next the houses. 
 This, for some time, gave an easy access to the 
 market dry-shod ; but, the rest of the street not being 
 paved, whenever a carriage came out of the mud 
 upon this pavement, it shook oft and left its dirt 
 upon it, and it was soon covered with mire, which 
 was not removed, the city as yet having no 
 scavengers. 
 
 After some inquiry, I found a poor industrious 
 man, who was willing to undertake keeping the pave- 
 ment clean, by sweeping it twice a week, carrying off 
 the dirt from before all the neighbours' doors, for the 
 sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each 
 house. I then wrote and printed a paper setting 
 forth the advantages to the neighbourhood, that might 
 be obtained from this small expense; the greater ease 
 in keeping our houses clean, so much dirt not being 
 brought in by people's feet; the benefit to the shops 
 by more custom, as buyers could more easily get 
 at them; and by not having in windy weather the 
 dust blown in upon their goods, &c., &c. I sent one 
 of these papers to each house, and in a day or two 
 went round to see who would subscribe an agreement 
 to pay these sixpences; it was unanimously signed, 
 and for a time well executed. All the inhabitants of 
 the city were delighted with the cleanliness of the 
 pavement that surrounded the market, it being a 
 convenience to all, and this raised a general desire to 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 223 
 
 have all the streets paved ; and made the people more 
 willing to submit to a tax for that purpose. 
 
 After some time I drew a bill for paving the city, 
 and brought it into the Assembly. It was just before 
 1 went to England, in 1757, and did not pass till I 
 was gone, and then with an alteration in the mode of 
 assessment, which I thought not for the better; but 
 with an additional provision for lighting as well as 
 paving the streets, which was a great improvement. 
 It was by a private person, the late Mr. John Clifton, 
 giving a sample of the utility of lamps, by placing 
 one at his door, that the people were first impressed 
 with the idea of lighting all the city. The honour of 
 this public benefit has also been ascribed to me, but 
 it belongs truly to that gentleman. I did but follow 
 his example, and have only some merit to claim re- 
 specting the form of our lamps, as differing from the 
 globe lamps, we were at first supplied with from Lon- 
 don. They were found inconvenient in these re- 
 spects: they admitted no air below; the smoke there- 
 fore did not readily go out above, but circulated in 
 the globe, lodged on its inside, and soon obstructed 
 the light they were intended to afford; giving besides 
 the daily trouble of wiping them clean ; and an acci- 
 dental stroke on one of them would demolish it, and 
 render it totally useless. I therefore suggested the 
 composing them of four flat panes, with a long fun- 
 nel above to draw up the smoke, and crevices admit- 
 
22i AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ting the air below to facilitate the ascent of the 
 smoke; by this means they were kept clean, and did 
 not grow dark in a few hours, as the London lamps 
 do, but continued bright till morning; and an acci- 
 dental stroke would generally break but a single pane, 
 easily repaired. 
 
 I have sometimes wondered that the Londoners did 
 not, from the effect holes in the bottom of the globe 
 lamps used at Vauxhall have in keeping them clean, 
 learn to have such holes in their street lamps. But, 
 these holes being made for another purpose, viz., to 
 communicate flame more suddenly to the wick by a 
 litfcle flax hanging down through them, the other use, 
 of letting in air, seems not to have been thought of; 
 and therefore, after the lamps have been lit si few 
 hours, the streets of London are very poorly illu- 
 minated. 
 
 The mention of these improvements puts me in 
 mind of one I proposed, when in London, to Dr. 
 Fothergill, who was among the best men I have 
 known, and a great promoter of useful projects. I 
 had observed, that the streets, when dry, were never 
 swept, and the light dust carried away; but it was 
 suffered to accumulate till wet weather reduced it to 
 mud; and then, after lying some days so deep on the 
 pavement that there was no crossing but in paths 
 kept clean by poor people with brooms, it was with 
 great labour raked together and thrown up into carts, 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 235 
 
 open above, the sides of which suffered some of the 
 slush at every jolt on the pavement to shake out and 
 fall; sometimes to the annoyance of foot-passengers. 
 The reason given for not sweeping the dusty streets 
 was, that the dust would fly into the windows of 
 shops and houses. 
 
 An accidental occurrence had instructed me how 
 much sweeping might be done in a little time. I 
 found at my door in Craven street, one morning, a 
 poor woman sweeping my pavement with a birch- 
 broom; she appeared very pale and feeble, as just 
 come out of a fit of sickness. I asked who employed 
 her to sweep there; she said, "Nobody; but I am 
 poor, and in distress, and I sweeps before geutle- 
 folkeses doors,- and hopes they will give me some- 
 thing." I bid her sweep the' whole street clean, and 
 I would give her a shilling; this was at nine o'clock; 
 and at noon she came for the shilling. From the 
 slowness I saw at first in her working, I could scarce 
 believe that the work was done so soon, and sent my 
 servant to examine it, who reported that the whole 
 street was swept perfectly clean, and all the dust 
 placed in the gutter, which was in the middle; and • 
 the next rain washed it quite away, so that the pave- ' 
 ment and even the kennel were perfectly clean. 
 
 I then judged that, if that feeble woman could 
 sweep such a street in three hours, a strong active 
 man might have done it in half the time. And here 
 15 
 
226 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 let me remark, the convenience of having but one 
 gutter in such a narrow street running down its mid- 
 dle instead of two, one on each side near the footway. 
 For where all the rain that falls on a street runs from 
 the sides and meets in the middle, it forms there a 
 current strong enough to wash away all the mud it 
 meets with; but when divided into two channels, it 
 is often too weak to cleanse either, and only makes the 
 mud it finds more fluid ; so that the wheels of car- 
 riages and feet of horses throw and dash it upon the 
 foot pavement, which is thereby rendered foul and 
 slippery, and sometimes splash it upon those who are 
 walking. My proposal, communicated to the Doc- 
 tor, was as follows : — 
 
 " For the more effectually cleaning and keeping 
 clean the streets of London and Westminster, it is 
 proposed, that the several watchmen be contracted 
 with to have the dust swept up in dry seasons, and 
 the mud raked up at other times, each in the several 
 streets and lanes of his round ; that they be furnished 
 with brooms and other proper instruments for these 
 purposes, to be kept at their respective stands, ready to 
 furnish the poor people they may employ in the service. 
 
 " That in the dry summer months the dust be all 
 swept up into heaps at proper distances, before the 
 shops and windows of houses are usually opened; 
 when scavengers, with close covered carts, shall also 
 carry it all away. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 227 
 
 "That the mud, when raked up, be not left in 
 heaps to be spread abroad again by the wheels of car- 
 riages and trampling of horses; but tliat the scaven- 
 gers be provided with bodies of carts, not placed 
 high upon wheels, but low upon sliders, with lat- 
 tice bottoms, which, being covered with straw, 
 will retain the mud thrown into them, and permit 
 the water to drain from it; whereby it will become 
 much lighter, water making the greatest part of the 
 weight. These bodies of carts to be placed at con- 
 venient distances, and the mud brought to them in 
 wheelbarrows; they remaining where placed till the 
 mud is drained, and then horses brought to draw 
 them away." 
 
 I have since had doubts of the practicability of the 
 latter part of this proposal, in all places, on account 
 of the narrowness of some streets, and the difficulty 
 of placing the draining sleds so as not to encumber 
 too much the passage; but I am still of opinion that 
 the former, requiring the dust to be swept up and 
 carried away before the shops are open, is very prac- 
 ticable in the summer, when the days are long; for, 
 in walking through the Strand and Fleet Street one 
 morning at seven o'clock, I observed there was not 
 one shop open, though it had been daylight and the 
 sun up above three hours; the inhabitants of London 
 choosing voluntarily to live much by candle-light, and 
 sleep by sunshine : and yet often complain, a little 
 
228 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 absurdly, of the duty on candles, and the high price 
 of tallow. 
 
 Some may think these trifling matters not worth 
 minding or relating; but when they consider that 
 though dust blown into the eyes of a single person, 
 or into a single shop in a windy day, is but of small 
 importance, yet the great number of the instances in 
 a populous city, and its frequent repetition, gives it 
 weight and consequence, perhaps they will not cen- 
 sure very severely those who bestow some attention to 
 affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity 
 is produced not so much by great pieces of good for- 
 tune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that 
 occur every day. Thus, if you teach a poor young 
 man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, 
 you may contribute more to the happiness of his life 
 than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum 
 may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of hay- 
 ing foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he 
 escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, 
 and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, 
 and dull razors; he shaves when most convenient to 
 him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its being done 
 with a good instrument. With these sentiments I have 
 hazarded the few preceding pages, hoping they may af- 
 ford hints, which some time or other may be useful to a 
 city I love, having lived many years in it very happily, 
 and perhaps to some of our towns in America. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 229 
 
 Having been some time employed by the postmas- 
 ter-general of America, as his comptroller in regulat- 
 ing several offices, and bringing the officers to ac- 
 count, I was, upon his death, in 1753, appointed 
 jointly with Mr. William Hunter to succeed him, by a 
 commission from the postmaster-general in England. 
 The American office had hitherto never paid anything 
 to that of Britain. We were to have six hundred 
 pounds a year between us, if we could make that sum 
 out of the profits of the office. To do this, a variety of 
 improvements was necessary ; some of these were inevi- 
 tably at first expensive ; so that in the first four years 
 the office became above nine hundred pounds in debt to 
 us. But it soon after began to repay us : and before 
 I was displaced by a freak of the ministers, of which 
 I shall speak hereafter, we had brought it to yield three 
 times as much clear revenue to the Crown as the post- 
 office of Ireland. Since that imprudent transaction, 
 they have received from it — not one farthing! 
 
 The business of the post-office occasioned my tak- 
 ing a journey this year to New England, where the 
 College of Cambridge, of their own motion, pre- 
 sented me with the degree of Master of Arts. Yale 
 College in Connecticut had before made me a similar 
 compliment. Thus, without studying in any college, 
 I came to partake of their honours. They were con- 
 ferred in consideration of my improvements and dis- 
 coveries in the electric branch of natural philosophy. 
 
330 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ASSISTING GENERAL BRADDOCK. 
 
 In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, 
 a congress of commissioners from the different colo- 
 nies was by an order of the Lords of Trade to be as- 
 sembled at Albany; there to confer with the chiefs of 
 the Six Nations, concerning the means of defending 
 both their country and ours. Governor Hamilton 
 having received this order acquainted the House with 
 it, requesting they would furnish proper presents for 
 the Indians, to be given on this occasion ; and naming 
 the Speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself to join Mr. 
 John Penn and Mr. Secretary Peters as commissioners 
 to act for Pennsylvania. The House approved the 
 nomination, and provided the goods for the presents, 
 though they did not much like treating out of the 
 province; and we met the other commissioners at 
 Albany about the middle of June. 
 
 In our way thither, I projected and drew up a plan 
 for the union of all the colonies under one govern- 
 ment, so far as might be necessary for defence, and 
 other important general purposes. As we passed 
 through New York, I had there shown my project to 
 Mr. James Alexander and Mr. Kennedy, two gentle- 
 men of great knowledge in public affairs; and, being 
 fortified by their approbation, I ventured to lay it 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 231 
 
 before the Congress. It then appeared that several 
 of the commissioners had formed plans of the same 
 kind. A previous question was first taken, whether a 
 union should be established, which passed in the 
 affirmative unanimously. A committee was then ap- 
 pointed, one member from each colony, to consider 
 the several plans and report. Mine happened to be 
 preferred; and, with a few amendments, was accord- 
 ingly reported. 
 
 By this plan the general government Avas to be ad- 
 ministered by a President-general, appointed and 
 supported by the Crown ; and a grand council was to 
 be chosen by the representatives of the people of the 
 several colonies, met in their respective Assemblies. 
 The debates upon it in Congress went on daily, hand 
 in hand with the Indian business. Many objections 
 and difficulties were started; but at length they were 
 all overcome, and the plan was unanimously agreed 
 to, and copies ordered to be transmitted to the Board 
 of Trade and to the Assemblies of the several prov- 
 inces. Its fate was singular; the Assemblies did not 
 adopt it, as they all thought there was too much 
 prerogative in it; and in England it was judged to 
 have too much of the de7nocratic. The Board of 
 Trade did not approve it, nor recommend it for the 
 approbation of His Majesty; but another scheme was 
 formed, supposed to answer the same purpose better, 
 whereby the governors of the provinces, with some 
 
233 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 members of their respective councils, were to meet 
 and order the raising of troops, building of forts, &c., 
 and to draw on the treasury of Great Britain for the 
 expense, which was afterwards to be refunded by an 
 act of Parliament, laying a tax on America. My 
 plan, with my reasons in support of it, is to be found 
 among my political papers that were printed. 
 
 Being the winter following in Boston, I had much 
 conversation with Governor Shirley upon both the 
 plans. Part what passed between us on this occasion 
 may also be seen among those papers. The different 
 and contrary reasons of dislike to my plan makes me 
 suspect that it was really the true medium ; and I am 
 still of opinion it would have been happy for both sides 
 if it had been adopted. The colonies so united would 
 have been sufficiently strong to have defended them- 
 selves; there would then have been no need of troops 
 from England : of course the subsequent pretext for 
 taxing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, 
 would have been avoided. But such mistakes are 
 not new ; history is full of the errors of states and 
 princes. 
 
 ^'Look round the habitable world, how few 
 Know their own good, or, knowing it, pursue !" 
 
 Those who govern, having much business on their 
 Tiands, do not generally like to take the trouble of 
 •considering and carrying into execution new projects. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 233 
 
 The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted 
 from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasiou. 
 
 The Governor of Pennsylvania, in sending it down 
 to the Assembly, expressed his approbation of the 
 plan, " as appearing to him to be drawn up with great 
 clearness and strength of judgment, and therefore 
 recommended it as well worthy of their closest and 
 most serious attention." The House, however, by 
 the management of a certain member, took it up 
 when I happened to be absent, which I thought not 
 very fair, and reprobated it without paying any at- 
 tention to it at all, to my no small mortification. 
 
 In my journey to Boston this year, I met at New 
 York with our new Governor, Mr. Morris, just 
 arrived there from England, with whom I had been 
 before intimately acquainted. He brought a com- 
 mission to supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tired with 
 the disputes his proprietary instructions subjected him 
 to, had resigned. Mr. Morris asked me if I thought 
 he must expect as uncomfortable an administration. 
 I said, "No; you may on the contrary have a very 
 comfortable one, if you will only take care not to 
 enter into any dispute with the Assembly." ".My 
 dear friend," said he pleasantly, "how can you advise 
 my avoiding disputes? You know I love disputing, 
 it is one of my greatest pleasures; however, to show 
 the regard I have for your counsel, I promise you I 
 will, if possible, avoid them." He had some reason 
 
334 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 for loving to dispute: being eloquent, an acute 
 sophister, and therefore generally successful in argu- 
 mentative conversation. He had been brought up to 
 it from a boy, his father, as I have heard, accustom- 
 ing his children to dispute with one another for his 
 diversion, while sitting at table after dinner; but I 
 think the practice was not wise, for, in the course of 
 my observation, those disputing, contradicting, and 
 confuting people are generally unfortunate in their 
 affairs. They get victory sometimes, but they never 
 get good-will, which would be of more use to them. 
 We parted; he going to Philadelphia, and I to 
 Boston. 
 
 In returning I met at ISiew York with the votes of 
 the Assembly of Pennsylvania, by which it appeared 
 that, notwithstanding his promise to me, he and the 
 House were already in high contention; and it was a 
 continual battle between them as long as he retained 
 the government. I had my share of it, for as soon as 
 I got back to my seat in the Assembly I was put on 
 every committee for answering his speeches and mes- 
 sages, and by the committees always desired to make 
 the drafts. Our answers, as well as his messages, 
 were often tart, and sometimes indecently abusive;, 
 and, as he knew I wrote for the Assembly, one might 
 have imagined that when we met we could hardly 
 avoid cutting throats. But he was so good-natured 
 a man that no personal difference between him and 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 235 
 
 me was occasioned by the contest, and we often dined 
 together. 
 
 One afternoon, in the height of this public quarrel, 
 we met in the street. "Franklin," said he, "you 
 must go home with me and spend the evening; I am 
 to have some company that you will like;" and, tak- 
 ing me by the arm, led me to his house. In gay 
 conversation after supper he told us jokingly that he 
 much admired the idea of Sancho Panza, who, when 
 it was proposed to give him a government, requested 
 it might be a government of blacks, as then, if he 
 could not agree with his people, he might sell them. 
 One of his friends, who sat next to me, said, "Frank- 
 lin, why do you continue to side with those Quakers? 
 Had you not better sell them? The Proprietor would 
 give you a good price." "The Governor," said I, 
 " has not yet Hacked them enough." He indeed had 
 laboured hard to blacken the Assembly in all his mes- 
 sages, but they wiped off his colouring as fast as he 
 laid it on, and placed it, in return, thick upon his 
 own face; so that, finding he was likely to be negro- 
 fied himself, he, as well as Mr. Hamilton, grew tired 
 of the contest, and quitted the government. 
 
 These public quarrels were all at bottom owing to 
 the Proprietaries, our hereditary governors, who, 
 when any expense was to be incurred for the defence 
 of their province, with incredible meanness, instructed 
 their deputies to pass no act levying the necessary 
 
236 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 taxes unless their vast estates were in the same act 
 expressly exonerated ; and they had even taken the 
 bonds of these deputies to observe such instructions. 
 The Assemblies for three years held out against this 
 injustice, though constrained to bend at last. At 
 length Captain Denny, who was Governor Morris's 
 successor, ventured to disobey those instructions. 
 How that was brought about I shall show hereafter. 
 
 But I am got forward too fast with my story. 
 There are still some transactions to be mentioned 
 that happened during the administration of Governor 
 Morris. 
 
 War being in a manner commenced with France, 
 the government of Massachusetts Bay projected an 
 attack upon Crown Point, and sent Mr. Quincy to 
 Pennsylvania, and Mr. Pownall, afterwards Gover- 
 nor Pownall, to New York, to solicit assistance. As 
 I was in the Assembly, knew its temper, and was Mr. 
 Quincy's countryman, he applied to me for my in- 
 fluence and assistance. I dictated his address to 
 them, which was well received. They voted an aid 
 of ten thousand pounds, to be laid out in provisions. 
 Bnt the Governor refusing his assent to their bill 
 (which included this with other sums granted for the 
 use of the Crown), unless a clause were inserted ex- 
 empting the proprietary estate from bearing any part 
 of the tax that would be necessary, the Assembly, 
 though very desirous of making their grant to New 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 237 
 
 England effectual, were at a loss how to accomplish 
 it. Mr. Quincy laboured hard with the Governor to 
 obtain his assent, but he was obstinate. 
 
 I then suggested a method of doing the business 
 without the Governor, by orders on the trustees of 
 the Loan Office, which by law the Assembly had the 
 right of drawing. There was indeed little or no 
 money at the time in the office, and, therefore, 1 
 proposed that the orders should be payable in a year, 
 and to bear an interest of five per cent. With these 
 orders I supposed the provisions might easily be pur- 
 chased. The Assembly, with very little hesitation, 
 adopted the proposal. The orders were immediately 
 printed, and I was one of the committee directed to 
 sign and dispose of them. The fund for paying them 
 was the interest of all the paper currency then extant 
 in the province upon loan, together with the revenue 
 arising from the excise, which being known to be 
 more than sufficient, they obtained credit, and were 
 not only taken in payment for the provisions, but 
 many moneyed people who had cash lying by them 
 vested it in those orders, which they found advanta- 
 geous, as they bore interest while upon hand, and 
 might on any occasion be used as money, so that they 
 were eagerly all bought up, and in a few weeks none 
 of them was to be seen. Thus this important affair 
 was by my means completed. Mr. Quincy returned 
 thanks to the Assembly in a handsome memorial, 
 
238 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 went home highly pleased with the success of his em- 
 bassy, and ever after bore for me the most cordial 
 and affectionate friendship. 
 
 The British government, not choosing to permit 
 the union of the colonies as proposed at Albany, and 
 to trust that union with their defence, lest they 
 should thereby grow too military, and feel their own 
 strength, suspicion and jealousies at this time being 
 entertained of them, sent over General Braddock, 
 with two regiments of regular English troops for that 
 purpose. He landed at Alexandria in Virginia, and 
 then marched to Frederictown in Maryland, where 
 he halted for carriages. Our Assembly apprehend- 
 ing, from some information, that he had received 
 violent prejudices against them, as averse to the ser- 
 vice, wished me to wait upon him, not as from them, 
 but as postmaster-general, under the guise of propos- 
 ing to settle with him the mode of conducting with 
 most celerity and certainty the despatches between 
 him and the governors of the several provinces, with 
 whom he must necessarily have continual correspond- 
 ence, and of which they proposed to pay the expense. 
 My son accompanied me on this journey. 
 
 We found the General at Frederictown, waiting 
 impatiently for the return of those he had sent 
 through the back parts of Maryland and Virginia to 
 collect wagons. I stayed with him several days, dined 
 with him daily, and had full opportunities of remov- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 339 
 
 ing Lis prejudices, by the information of what the 
 Assembly had before his arrival actually done, and 
 were still willing to do to facilitate his operations. 
 When I was about to depart, the returns of wagons 
 to be obtained were brought in, by which it appeared 
 that they amounted only to twenty-five, and not all 
 of those were in serviceable condition. The General 
 and all the officers were surprised, declared the ex- 
 pedition was then at an end, being impossible, and 
 exclaimed against the ministers for ignorantly sending 
 them into a country destitute of the means of convey- 
 ing their stores, baggage, &c., not less than one hun- 
 dred and fifty wagons being necessary. 
 
 I happened to say, I thought it was a pity they had 
 not been landed in Pennsylvania, as in that country 
 almost every farmer had his wagon. The General 
 eagerly laid hold of my words, "Then yon, sir, who 
 are a man of interest there, can probably procure 
 them for us, and I beg yon will undertake it." I 
 asked what terms were to be offered the owners of the 
 wagons, and I was desired to put on paper the terms 
 that appeared to me necessary. This I did, and they 
 were agreed to, and a commission and instructions 
 accordingly prepared immediately. What those terms 
 were will appear in the advertisement I published as 
 soon as I arrived at Lancaster, which being, from the 
 great and sudden effect it produced, a piece of some 
 curiosity, I shall insert it at length as follows: — 
 
24C AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 " Advertisement. 
 
 "Lancaster, April 26th, 1755. 
 "Whereas, one hundred and fifty wagons, with four 
 horses to each wagon, and fifteen hundred saddle or pack 
 horses, are wanted for the service of his Majesty's forces, 
 now about to rendezvous at Will's Creek ; and his Excel- 
 lency General Braddock having been pleased to empower 
 me to contract for the hire of the same; I hereby givei 
 notice, that I shall attend for that purpose, at Lancaster, 
 from this day to next Wednesday evening ; and at York, 
 from next Thursday morning till Friday evening ; where I 
 shall be ready to agree for wagons and teams, or single 
 horses, on the following terms, viz. : 1. That there shall be 
 paid for each wagon, with four good horses and a driver, 
 fifteen shillings per diem; and for each able horse with a 
 pack-saddle, or other saddle and furniture, two shillings 
 per diem ; and for each able horse without a saddle, eighteen 
 pence pe?^ diem. 2. That the pay commence from the time 
 of their joining the forces, at Will's Creek, which must be 
 on or before the 20th of May ensuing, and that a reasonable 
 allowance be paid over and above, for the time necessary 
 for their travelling to Will's Creek, and home again after 
 their discharge. 3. Each wagon and team, and every 
 saddle or pack-horse is to be valued by indifferent persons 
 chosen between me and the owner ; and, in case of the loss 
 of any wagon, team, or other horse in the service, the price 
 according to such valuation is to be allowed and paid. 4. 
 Seven days' pay is to be advanced and paid in hand by me ^ 
 to the owner of each wagon and team, or horse, at the time 
 of contracting, if required ; and the remainder to be paid 
 by General Braddock, or by the paymaster of the army, at 
 the time of their discharge ; or from time to time, as it 
 shall be demanded. 5. No drivers of wagons, or persons 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 241 
 
 taking care of the hired horses, are on any account to h& 
 called upon to do the duty of soldiers, or be otherwise em- 
 ployed than in conducting or taking care of their carriages 
 or horses. 6. All oats, Indian corn, or other forage, that 
 wagons or horses bring to the camp, more than is necessary 
 for the subsistence of the horses, is to be taken for the use 
 of the army, and a reasonable price paid for the same. 
 
 ''Note. — My son, William Franklin, is empowered ta 
 enter into like contracts with any person in Cumberland 
 County. "B. Franklin." 
 
 " To the Inhabitants of the Counties of Lancaster, York, and 
 Cumberland. 
 
 "Friends and Countrymen, 
 
 " Being occasionally at the camp at Frederic a few days 
 since, I found the General and officers extremely exasper- 
 ated on account of their not being supplied with horses and 
 carriages, which had been expected from this province, as 
 most able to furnish them ; but, through the dissensions 
 between our Governor and Assembly, money had not been 
 provided, nor any steps taken for that purpose. 
 
 " It was proposed to send an armed force immediately 
 into these counties, to seize as many of the best carriages 
 and horses as should be wanted, and compel as many per- 
 sons into the service as would be necessary to drive and 
 take care of them. 
 
 " I apprehend, that the progress of British soldiers through 
 these counties on such an occasion, especially considering 
 the temper they are in, and their resentment against us, 
 would be attended with many and great inconveniences to 
 the inhabitants, and therefore more willingly took the 
 trouble of trying first what might be done by fair and 
 iqeutable means. The people of these back counties have 
 16 
 
242 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 lately complained to the Assembly, that a sufficient cur- 
 rency was wanting ; you have an opportunity of receiving 
 and dividing among you a very considerable sum ; for, if 
 the service of this expedition should continue, as it is more 
 than probable it will, for one hundred and twenty days, 
 the hire of these wagons and horses will amount to upwards 
 of thirtj^ thousand pounds ; which will be paid you in silver 
 and gold, of the King's money. 
 
 "The service will be light and easy, for the array will 
 scarce march above twelve miles per day, and the wagons 
 and baggage horses, as they carry those things that are 
 absolutely necessary to the welfare of the army, must 
 march with the army, and no faster ; and are, for the army's 
 sake, always placed where they can be most secure, whether 
 in a march or in a camp. 
 
 "If you are really, as I believe you are, good and loyal 
 subjects to his Majesty, you may now do a most acceptable 
 service, and make it easy to yourselves ; for three or four 
 of such as cannot separately spare from the business of 
 their plantations, a wagon and four horses and a driver, 
 may do it together ; one furnishing the wagon, another one 
 or two horses, and another the driver, and divide the pay 
 proportionably between you. But, if you do not this service 
 to your King and country voluntarily, when such good pay 
 and reasonable terms are offered to you, your loyalty will 
 be strongly suspected. The King's business must be done ; 
 so many brave troops, come so far for your defence, must 
 not stand idle through your backwardness to do what may 
 be reasonably expected from you ; wagons and horses must 
 be had ; violent measures will probably be used ; and you 
 will be left to seek for a recompense where you can find it, 
 and your case perhaps be little pitied or regarded. 
 
 "I have no particular interest in this affair, as, except 
 the satisfaction of endeavouring to do good, I shall have 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 243 
 
 only my labour for my pains. If this method of obtaining 
 the wagons and horses is not likely to succeed, I am obliged 
 to send word to the General in fourteen days ; and I suppose 
 Sir John St. Clair, the hussar, with a body of soldiers, will 
 immediately'' enter the province for the purpose ; which I 
 shall be sorry to hear, because I am very sincerely and 
 truly your friend and well-wisher, 
 
 "B. Franklin." 
 
 I received of the General about eight hundred 
 pounds, to be disbursed in advance money to the 
 wagon owners; but, that sum being insufficient, I 
 advanced upwards of two hundred pounds more; and 
 in two weeks the one hundred and fifty wagons, with 
 two hundred and fifty-nine carrying horses, were on 
 their march for the camp. The advertisement prom- 
 ised payment according to the valuation, in case any 
 wagons or horses should be lost. The owners, how- 
 ever, alleging they did not know General Braddock, 
 or what dependence might be had on his promise, in- 
 sisted on my bond for the performance; which I ac- 
 cordingly gave them. 
 
 While I was at the camp, supping one evening with 
 the officers of Colonel Dunbar's regiment, he repre- 
 sented to me his concern for the subalterns, who, he 
 said, were generally not in affluence, and could ill 
 afford in this dear country to lay in the stores that 
 might be necessary in so long a march through a wil- 
 derness, where nothing was to be purchased. I com- 
 miserated their case, and resolved to endeavour pro- 
 
244 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ] 
 
 curing them some relief. I said nothing, however, ' 
 to him of my intention, but wrote the next morning j 
 to the Committee. of the Assembly, who had the dis- ! 
 position of some public money, warmly recommend- j 
 ing the case of these officers to their consideration, J 
 and proposing that a present should be sent them of ■ 
 necessaries and refreshments. My son, who had some 
 experience of a camp life, and of its wants, drew up'; 
 a list for me, which I inclosed in my letter. The , 
 committee approved, and used such diligence, that, ; 
 conducted by my son, the stores arrived at the camp i 
 as soon as the wagons. They consisted of twenty | 
 parcels, each containing — \ 
 
 6 lbs. loaf sugar. 1 keg containing 20 lbs. good 
 
 6 do. Muscovado do. butter. , 
 
 1 do. green tea. 2 dozen old Madeira wine. 
 
 1 do. bohea do. 2 gallons Jamaica spirits. | 
 
 6 do. ground coffee. 1 bottle flour of mustard. i 
 
 6 do. chocolate. 2 well-cured hams. 
 
 i chest best white biscuit, i dozen dried tongues. ; 
 
 -J lb. pepper. 6 lbs. rice. 
 
 1 quart white vinegar. 6 lbs. raisins. 
 
 1 Gloucester cheese. ] 
 
 These parcels, well packed, were placed on as many ; 
 horses, each parcel, with the horse, being intended as 
 a present for one officer. They were very thankfully j 
 received, and the kindness acknowledged by letters to i 
 me, from the colonels of both regiments, in the most ' 
 
BENJABIIN FRANKLIN. 245 
 
 grateful terms. The General, too, was highly satis- 
 fied with my conduct in procuring him the wagons, 
 and readily paid my account of disbursements; thank- 
 ing me repeatedly, and requesting my further assis- 
 tance in sending provisions after him. I undertook 
 this also, and was busily employed in it till we heard 
 of his defeat; advancing for the service, of my own 
 money, upwards of one thousand pounds sterling; of 
 which I sent him an account. It came to his hands, 
 luckily for me, a few days before the battle, and he 
 returned me immediately an order on the pay-master 
 for the round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving 
 the remainder to the next account. I consider this 
 payment as good luck, having never been able to ob- 
 tain that remainder ; of which more hereafter. 
 
 This general was, I think, a brave man, and might 
 probably have made a figure as a good officer in some 
 European war. But he had too much self-confidence, 
 too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops, 
 and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. 
 George Croghan, our Indian interpreter, joined him 
 on his march with one hundred of those people, who 
 might have been of great use to his army as guides 
 and scouts, if he had treated them kindly; but he 
 slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left 
 him. 
 
 Iii conversation with him one day, he was giving 
 me some account of his intended progress. " After 
 
246 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF \ 
 
 taking Fort Duquesne," said he, " I am to proceed to ; 
 Niagara; and, having taken that, to Frontenac, if ; 
 the season will allow time, and I suppose it will, for 
 Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four ] 
 days; and then I see nothing that can obstruct my ' 
 march to Niagara." Having before revolved in my ; 
 mind the long line his army must make in their ; 
 march by a very narrow road, to be cut for them ] 
 through the woods and bushes, and also what I had | 
 read of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French who 
 invaded the Illinois country, I. had conceived some i 
 doubts and some fears for the event of the campaign, j 
 But I ventured only to say, " To be sure, sir, if you ; 
 arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, j 
 so well provided with artillery, the fort, though com- i 
 pletely fortified, and assisted with a very strong gar- \ 
 rison, can probably make but a short resistance. The i 
 only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march I 
 is from the ambuscades of the Indians, who, by con- i 
 stant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing ' 
 them; and the slender line, near four miles long, ; 
 which your army must make, may expose it to be at- : 
 tacked by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a j 
 thread into several pieces, which, from their dis- j 
 tance, cannot come up in time to support each other." ; 
 He smiled at my ignorance, and replied : " These j 
 savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to your - 
 raw American militia, but upon the King's regular 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 247 
 
 and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should 
 make any impression." I was conscious of an im- 
 propriety in my disputing with a military man in 
 matters of his profession, and said no more. The 
 enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his 
 army, which I apprehended its long line of march ex- 
 posed it to, but let it advance without interruption 
 till within nine miles of the place; and then, when 
 more in a body (for it had just passed a river, where 
 the front had halted till all were come over), and iu 
 a more open part of the woods than any it had passed, 
 attacked its advanced guard by a heavy fire from be- 
 hind trees and bushes, which was the first intelligence 
 the General had of an enemy's being near him. This 
 guard being disordered, the General hurried the troops 
 up to their assistance, which was done in great confu- 
 sion through wagons, baggage, and cattle; and pres- 
 ently the fire came upon their flank ; the officers be- 
 ing on horseback were more easily distinguished, 
 picked out as marks, and fell very fast; and the sol- 
 diers were crowded together in a huddle, having or 
 hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till 
 two-thirds of them were killed; and then, being 
 seized with a panic, the remainder fled with precip- 
 itation. 
 
 The wagoners took each a horse out of his team and 
 scampered ; their example was immediately followed 
 by others; so that all the wagons, provisions, artil- 
 
248 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 lerj, and stores were left to the enemy. The Gen- 
 eral, being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; 
 his secretary, Mr. Shirley, was killed by his side, and 
 out of eighty-six officers sixty-three were killed or 
 wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men killed 
 of eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been 
 pic]:ed men from the whole army, the rest had been 
 left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who was to follow 
 with the heavier part of the stores, provisions, and 
 baggage. The flyers, not being pursued, arrived at 
 Dunbar's camp, and the panic they brought with 
 them instantly seized him and all his people. And, 
 though he had now above one thousand men, and the 
 enemy who had beaten Braddock did not at most ex- 
 ceed four hundred Indians and French together, in- 
 stead of proceeding, and endeavouring to recover 
 some of the lost honour, he ordered all the stores, 
 ammunition, &c., to be destroyed, that he might 
 have more horses to assist his flight towards the set- 
 tlements, and less lumber to remove. He was there 
 met with requests from the governors of Virginia, 
 Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his 
 troops on the frontiers so as to afford some protection 
 to the inhabitants; but he continued his hasty march 
 through all the country, not thinking himself safe 
 till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants 
 could protect him. This whole transaction gave us 
 Americans the first suspicion, that our exalted ideas 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 349 
 
 of t]]e prowess of British regular troops had not been 
 well founded.* 
 
 In their first march, too, from their landing till 
 they got beyond the settlements, they had plundered 
 and stripped the inhabitants, totally ruining some 
 ' poor families, besides insulting, abusing, and confin- 
 ing the people, if they remonstrated. This was 
 enough to put us out of conceit of such defenders, if 
 we had really wanted any.. How different was the 
 conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during 
 a march through the most inhabited part of our coun- 
 try, from Rhode Island to Virginia, near seven hun- 
 dred miles, occasioned not the smallest complaint for 
 the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple. 
 
 Captain Orme, who was one of the General's aides- 
 de-camp, and, being grievously wounded, was brought 
 off with him, and continued with him to his death, 
 which happened in a few days, told me that he was 
 totally silent all the first day, and at night only said, 
 "Who would have thought it?" That he was silent 
 again the following day, saying only at last, "We 
 shall better know how to deal with them another 
 time;" and died in a few minutes after. 
 
 The secretary's papers,with all the General's orders, 
 instructions, and correspondence, falling into the 
 
 * There are some errors in this account of Braddock's 
 defeat. A full description of that event may be seen in 
 Washington' s Writings, vol. ii., p. 468. 
 
250 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 enemy's hands, they selected and translated into 
 French a number of the articles, which they printed, 
 to prove the hostile intentions of the British court 
 before the declaration of war. Among these I saw 
 some letters of the General to the ministry, speaking 
 highly of the great service I had rendered the army, 
 and recommending me to their notice. David Hume, 
 who was some years afterwards secretary to Lord 
 Hertford, when minister in France, and afterwards 
 to General Conway, when Secretary of State, told me 
 he had seen among the papers in that office letters 
 from Braddock, highly recommending me. But the 
 expedition having been unfortunate, my service, it 
 seems, was not thought of much value, for those 
 recommendations were never of any use to me. 
 
 As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, 
 which was, that he would give orders to his officers 
 not to enlist any more of our bought servants, and 
 that he would discharge such as had been already en- 
 listed. This he readily granted, and several were 
 accordingly returned to their masters, on my appli- 
 cation. Dunbar, when the command devolved on 
 him, was not so generous. He being at Philadel- 
 phia, on his retreat, or rather flight, I applied to him 
 for the discharge of the servants of three poor farmers 
 of Lancaster County, that he had enlisted, reminding 
 him of the late General's orders on that head. He 
 promised me that if the masters would come to him 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 251 
 
 at Trenton, where he should be in a few days on his 
 march to New York, he would there deliver their 
 men to them. They accordingly were at the expense 
 and trouble of going to Trenton, and there he refused 
 to perform his promise, to their great loss and dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was 
 generally known, all the owners came upon me for 
 the valuation which I had given bond to pay. Their 
 demands gave me a great deal of trouble. I ac- 
 quainted them that the money was ready in the pay- 
 master's hands, but the order for paying it must first 
 be obtained from General Shirley, and that I had 
 applied for it, but he being at a distance an answer 
 could not soon be received, and they must have 
 patience. All this, however, was not sufficient to 
 satisfy them, and some began to sue me. General 
 Shirley at length relieved me from this terrible situa- 
 tion, by appointing commissioners to examine the 
 claims, and ordering payment. They amounted to 
 near twenty thousand pounds, which to pay would 
 have ruined me. 
 
 Before we had the news of this defeat, the two 
 Doctors Bond came to me with a subscription paper 
 for raising money to defray the expense of a grand 
 firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a re- 
 joicing on receiving the news of our taking Fort Du- 
 quesne. I looked grave, and said it would, I thought, 
 
252 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 be time enough to prepare the rejoicing when we 
 knew we should have occasion to rejoice. They 
 seemed surprised that I did not immediately comply 
 with their proposal. " Why," said one of them, 
 "you surely don't suppose that the fort will not be 
 taken?" "I don't know that it will not be taken; 
 but I know that the events of war are subject to great 
 uncertainty." I gave them the reasons of my doubt- 
 ing; the subscription was dropped, and the project- 
 ors thereby missed the mortification they would have 
 undergone if the firework had been prepared. Dr. 
 Bond, on some other occasion afterwards, said that 
 he did not like Franklin's forebodings. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DISCOVERIES IN" ELECTRICITY. 
 
 Governor Morris, who had continually worried 
 the Assembly with message after message before the 
 defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the making of 
 acts to raise money for the defence of the province, 
 without taxing among others the proprietary estates, 
 and had rejected all their bills for not having such 
 an exemption clause, now redoubled his attacks with 
 more hope of success, the danger and necessity being 
 greater. The Assembly, however, continued firm, 
 believing they had justice on their side, and that it 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 353 
 
 would be giving up an essential right if they suffered 
 the Governor to amend their money bills. In one of 
 the last, indeed, which was for granting fifty 
 thousand pounds, his proposed amendment was only 
 of a single word. The bill expressed, " that all estates 
 real and personal were to be taxed ; those of the Pro- 
 prietaries not excepted." His amendment was, for 
 not read only. A small, but very material alteration. 
 However, when the news of the disaster reached Eng- 
 land, our friends there, whom we had taken care to 
 furnish with all the Assembly's answers to the Gov- 
 ernor's message, raised a clamour against the Pro- 
 prietaries for their meanness and injustice in giving 
 their governor such instructions; some going so far 
 as to say, that by obstructing the defence of their 
 province, they forfeited their right to it. They were 
 intimidated by this, and sent orders to their receiver- 
 general to add five thousand pounds of their money 
 to whatever sum might be given by the Assembly for 
 such purpose. 
 
 This, being testified to the House, was accepted in 
 lieu of their share of a general tax; and a new bill 
 was formed with an exempting clause, which passed 
 accordingly. By this act I was appointed one of the 
 commissioners for disposing of the money — sixty 
 thousand pounds. I had been active in modelling 
 the bill and procuring its passage, and had at the 
 same time drawn one for establishing and disciplin- 
 
254 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ing a voluntary militia; which I carried through the 
 House without much difficulty, as care was taken in 
 it to leave the Quakers at liberty. To promote the 
 association necessary to form the militia, I wrote a 
 Dialogue* stating and answering all the objections I 
 could think of to such a militia; which was printed, 
 .and had, as I thought, great effect. 
 
 While several companies in the city and country 
 were forming, and learning their exercise, the Gov- 
 ernor prevailed with me to take charge of our north- 
 western frontier, which was infested by the enemy, 
 and provide for the defence of the inhabitants by 
 raising troops and building a line of forts. I un- 
 dertook this military business, though I did not con- 
 ceive myself well qualified for it. He gave me a 
 commission with full powers, and a parcel of blank 
 commissions for officers, to be given to whom I 
 thought fit. I had but little difficulty in raising 
 men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my 
 command. My son, who had in the preceding war 
 been a,n officer in the army raised against Canada, 
 , was my aide-de-camp, and of great use to me. The 
 Indians had burned Gnadenhut, a village settled by 
 the Moravians, and massacred the inhabitants; but 
 the place was thought a good situation for one of the 
 forts. 
 
 *This Dialogue is printed in the Gentleinan' s Magazine 
 for February and March, 1756. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 255 
 
 In order to march thither, I assembled the com- 
 panies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of 
 these people. I was surprised to find it in so good a 
 posture of defence; the destruction of Gnadenhut had 
 made them apprehend danger. The principal build- 
 ings were defended by a stockade; they had pur- 
 cliased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New 
 York, and had even placed quantities of small paving- 
 stones between the windows of their high stone houses, 
 for their women to throw down upon the heads of any 
 Indians that should attempt to force into them. The 
 armed brethren, too, kept watch and relieved each 
 other on guard, as methodically as in any garrison 
 town. In conversation with the bishop, Spangen- 
 berg, I mentioned my surprise; for, knowing they 
 had obtained an act of Parliament exempting them 
 from military duties in the colonies, I had supposed 
 they were conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. 
 He answered me, that it was not one of their estab- 
 lished principles; but that, at the time of their ob- 
 taining that act, it was thought to be a principle with 
 many of their people. On this occasion, however, 
 they to their surprise found it adopted by but a few. 
 It seems they were either deceived in themselves, or 
 deceived the Parliament; but common sense, aided 
 by present danger, will sometimes be too strong for 
 whimsical opinions. 
 
 It was the beginning of January when we set out 
 
256 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 upon this business of building forts. I sent one de- 
 tachment towards the Minisink, with instructions to 
 erect one for the security of that upper part of the 
 country ; and another to the lower part, with similar 
 instructions; and I concluded to go myself with the 
 rest of my force to Gnadenhut, where a fort was 
 thought more immediately necessary. The Moravi- 
 ans procured me five wagons for our tools, stores, and 
 baggage. 
 
 Just before we had left Bethlehem, eleven farmers^ 
 who had been driven from their plantations by the 
 Indians, came to me requesting a supply of firearms, 
 that they might go back and bring off their cattle. 
 I gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition. 
 We had not marched many miles, before it began to 
 rain, and it continued raining all day ; there were no 
 habitations on the road to shelter us, till we arrived 
 near night at the house of a German, where, and in 
 his barn, we were all huddled together, as wet as 
 water could make us. It was well we were not at- 
 tacked in our march, for our arms were of the most 
 ordinary sort, and our men could not keep the locks 
 of their guns dry. The Indians are dexterous in con- 
 trivances for that purpose, which we had not. They 
 met that day the eleven poor farmers above men- 
 tioned, and killed ten of them. The one that escaped 
 informed us that his and his companions' guns would 
 not go off, the priming being wet with the rain. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 257 
 
 The next day being fair, we continued our march, 
 and arrived at the desolated Gnadenhut. There was 
 a mill near, round which were left several pine boards, 
 with which we soon hutted ourselves; an operation 
 the more necessary at that inclement season, as we 
 had no tents. Our first work was to bury more effec- 
 tually the dead we found there, who had been half- 
 interred by the country people. 
 
 The next morning our fort was planned and marked 
 out, the circumference measuring four hundred and 
 fifty-five feet, which would require as many palisades 
 to be made, one with another, of a foot diameter 
 each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were im- 
 mediately set to work to cut down trees; and, our 
 men being dexterous in the use of them, great de- 
 spatch was made. Seeing the trees fall so fast, I had 
 the curiosity to look at my watch when two men 
 began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it 
 upon the ground, and I found it of fourteen inches 
 diameter. Each pine made three palisades of eigh- 
 teen feet long, pointed at one end. While these were 
 preparing, our other men dug a trench all round, of 
 three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be 
 planted ; and, the bodies being taken off our wagons, 
 and the fore and hind wheels separated, by taking 
 out the pin which united the two parts of the perch, 
 we had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring 
 the palisades from the woods to the spot. When 
 17 
 
258 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 they were set up, our carpenters built a platform of 
 boards all round within, about six feet high, for the 
 men to stand on when to fire through the loop-holes. 
 We had one swivel-gun, which we mounted on one of 
 the angles, and fired it as soon as fixed, to let the In- 
 dians know, if any were within hearing, that we had 
 such pieces; and thus our fort, if that name may be 
 given to so miserable a stockade, was finished in a 
 week, though it rained so hard every other day, that 
 the men could not work. 
 
 This gave me occasion to observe, that, when men 
 are employed, they are best contented; for on the 
 days they worked they were good-natured and cheer- 
 ful, and, with the consciousness of having done a 
 good day's work, they spent the evening jollily; but 
 on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrel- 
 some, finding fault with the pork, the bread, &c., 
 and were continually in bad humour ; which put me 
 in mind of a sea captain, whose rule it was to keep 
 his men constantly at work ; and when his mate once 
 told him, that they had done everything, and there 
 was nothing further to employ them about, "Oh!" 
 said he, " make them scour the anchor." 
 
 This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a suffi- 
 cient defence against Indians, who have no cannon. 
 Finding ourselves now posted securely, and having a 
 place to retreat to on occasion, we ventured out in 
 parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 259 
 
 no Indians, but we found the places on the neigh- 
 bouring hills, where they had lain to watch our pro- 
 ceedings. There was an art in their contrivance of 
 those places, that seems worth mentioning. It being 
 winter, a fire was necessary for them ; but a common 
 fire on the surface of the ground would by its light 
 have discovered their position at a distance. They 
 had therefore dug holes in the ground about three 
 feet in diameter, and somewhat deeper; we found where 
 they had with their hatchets cut off the charcoal from 
 the sides of burnt logs lying in the woods. With 
 these coals they had made small fires in the bottom of 
 the holes, and we observed among the weeds and grass 
 the prints of their bodies, made by their lying all 
 round with their legs hanging down in the holes to 
 keep their feet Avarm ; which with them is an essen- 
 tial point. This kind of fire so managed could not 
 discover them either by its light, flame, sparks, or 
 even smoke; it appeared that the number was not 
 great, and it seems they saw we were too many to be 
 attacked by them with prospect of advantage. 
 
 We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian 
 minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the 
 men did not generally attend his prayers and exhorta- 
 tions. When they enlisted they were promised, be- 
 sides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which 
 was punctually served out to them, half in the morn- 
 ing and the other half in the evening, and I observed 
 
260 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 they were punctual in attending to receive it ; upon 
 which I said to Mr. Beatty, " It is perhaps below the 
 dignity of your profession to act as steward of the 
 rum, hut if you were only to distribute it out after 
 prayers you would have them all about you." He 
 liked the thought, undertook the task, and, with the 
 help of a few hands to measure out the liquor, exe- 
 cuted it to satisfaction, and never were prayers more 
 generally and more punctually attended. So that I 
 think this method preferable to the punishment in- 
 flicted by some military laws for non-attendance on 
 divine service. 
 
 I had hardly finished this business and got my 
 fort well stored with provisions when I received a 
 letter from the Governor, acquainting me that he had 
 called the Assembly, and wished my attendance there 
 if the posture of affairs on the frontiers was such that 
 my remaining there was no longer necessary. My 
 friends, too, of the Assembly pressing me by their 
 letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, and my 
 three intended forts being now completed and the 
 inhabitants contented to remain on their farms under 
 that protection, I resolved to return; the more will- 
 ingly as a New England officer. Colonel Clapham, 
 experienced in Indian war, being on a visit to our 
 establishment, consented to accept the command. I 
 gave him a commission, and, parading the garrison, 
 had it read before them, and introduced him to them 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 361 
 
 as an officer who, from his skill in military affairs, 
 was much more fit to command them than myself, 
 and giving them a little exhortation, took my leave. 
 I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, where I rested a 
 few days to recover from the fatigue I had undergone. 
 The first night, lying in a good bed, I could hardly 
 sleej), it was so diiferent from my hard lodging on 
 the floor of a hut at Gnadenhut with only a blanket 
 or two. 
 
 While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the 
 practices of the Moravians; some of them had accom- 
 panied me, and all were very kind to me. I found 
 they worked for a common stock, ate at common 
 tables, and slept in common dormitories, great num- 
 bers together. In the dormitories I observed loop- 
 holes, at certain distances all along just under the 
 ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change 
 of air. I went to their church, where I was enter- 
 tained with good music, the organ being accompanied 
 with violins, hautboys, flutes, clarinets, &c. I un- 
 derstood their sermons were not usually preached 
 to mixed congregations of men, women, and children, 
 as in our common practice; but that they assembled 
 sometimes the married men, at other times their 
 wives, then the young men, the young women, and 
 the little children; each division by itself. The ser- 
 mon I heard was to the latter, who came in, and were 
 placed in rows on benches; the boys under the con- 
 
262 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 duct of a young man, their tutor, and the girls con- 
 ducted by a young woman. The discourse seemed 
 well adapted to their capacities, and was delivered in 
 a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were, 
 to be good. They behaved very orderly, but looked 
 pale and unhealthy; which made me suspect they 
 were kept too much within doors or not allowed 
 sufficient exercise. 
 
 I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, 
 whether the report was true that they were by lot. I 
 was told that lots were used only in particular cases; 
 that generally when a young man found himself dis- 
 posed to marry, he informed the elders of his class, 
 who consulted the elder ladies that governed the 
 young women. As these elders of the diiferent sexes 
 were well acquainted with the tempers and disposi- 
 tions of their respective pupils, they could best judge 
 what matches were suitable, and their judgments were 
 generally acquiesced in. But if, for example, it 
 should happen that two or three young women were 
 found to be equally proper for the young man, the 
 lot was then recurred to. I objected, if the matches 
 are not made by the mutual choice of the parties, 
 some of them may chance to be very unhappy. " And 
 so they may," answered my informer, "if you let the 
 parties choose for themselves." Which Indeed I 
 could not deny. 
 
 Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the Asso- 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 263 
 
 elation went on with great success. The inhabitants, 
 that were not Quakers, having pretty generally come 
 into it, formed themselves into companies, and chose 
 their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns, according to 
 the new law. Dr. Bond visited me, and gave me an 
 account of the pains he had taken to spread a general 
 good liking to the law, and ascribed much to those 
 endeavours. I had the vanity to ascribe all to my 
 Dialogue; however, not knowing but that he might 
 be in the right, I let him enjoy his opinion; which 
 I take to be generally the best way in such cases. 
 The officers, meeting, chose me to be colonel of the 
 regiment, which I this time accepted. I forget how 
 many companies we had, but we paraded aboat twelve 
 hundred well-looking men, with a compauy of artil- 
 lery, who had been furnished with six brass field- 
 pieces, which they had become so expert in the use 
 of, as to fire tvv^elve times in a minute. The first time 
 I reviewed my regiment they accompanied me to my 
 house, and would sahite me with some rounds fired 
 before my door, which shook down and broke several 
 glasses of my electrical apparatus. And my new 
 honour proved not much less brittle; for all our com- 
 missions were soon after broken, by a repeal of the 
 law in England. 
 
 During this short time of my colonelship, being 
 about to set out on a journey to Virginia, the officers 
 of my regiment took it into their heads, that it would 
 
264 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 be proper for them to escort me out of town, as far as 
 the Lower Ferry. Just as I was getting on horse- 
 back they came to my door, between thirty and forty, 
 mounted, and all in their uniforms. I had not 
 been previously acquainted with their project, or I 
 should have prevented it, being naturally averse to 
 the assuming of state on any occasion ; and I was a 
 good deal chagrined at their appearance, as I could 
 not avoid their accompanying me. What made it 
 worse was, that, as soon as we began to move, they 
 drew their swords and rode with them naked all the 
 way. Somebody wrote an account of this to the Pro- 
 prietor, and it gave him great offence. No such 
 honour had been paid to him, when in the province; 
 nor to any of his governors; and he said, it Avas only 
 proper to princes of the blood royal; which may be 
 true for aught I know, who was, and still am, igno- 
 rant of the etiquette in such cases. 
 
 This silly affair, however, greatly increased his 
 rancour against me, which was before considerable on 
 account of my conduct in the Assembly respecting 
 the exemption of his estate from taxation, which I 
 had always opposed very warmly, and not without 
 severe reflections on the meanness and injustice of 
 contending for it. He accused me to the ministry, 
 as being the great obstacle to the king's service, pre- 
 venting by my influence in the House the proper 
 form of the bills for raising money; and he instanced 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 265 
 
 the parade with my officers, as a proof of my having 
 an intention to take the government of the province 
 out of his hands by force. He also applied to 
 Sir Everard Fawkener, the postmaster-general, to de- 
 prive me of my office. But it had no other effect 
 than to procure from Sir Everard a gentle admoni- 
 tioQ. 
 
 Kotwithstanding the continual wrangle between 
 the Governor and the House, in which I as a mem- 
 ber had so large a share, there still subsisted a civil 
 intercourse between that gentleman and myself, and 
 we never had any personal difference. I have some- 
 times since thought, that his little or no resentment 
 against me, for the answers it was known I drew up 
 to his messages, might be the effect of professional 
 habit, and that, being bred a lawyer, he might con- 
 sider us both as merely advocates for contending 
 clients in a suit; he for the Proprietaries, and I 
 for the Assembly. He would therefore sometimes 
 call in a friendly way to advise with me on difficult 
 points; and sometimes, though not often, take my 
 advice. 
 
 We acted in concert to supply Braddock's army 
 with provisions; and, when the shocking news ar- 
 rived of his defeat, the Governor sent in haste for 
 me, to consult with him on measures for preventing 
 the desertion of the back counties. I forget now the 
 advice 1 gave; but I think it was, that Dunbar should 
 
2e6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 be written to, and prevailed with, if possible, to post 
 his troops on the frontiers for their protection, until, 
 by reinforcements from the colonies, he might be able 
 to proceed in the expedition. And, after my return 
 from the frontier, he would have had me undertake 
 the conduct of such an expedition with provincial 
 troops, for the reduction of Fort Duquesne, Dunbar 
 and his men being otherwise employed ; and he pro- 
 posed to commission me as general. I had not so 
 good an opinion of my military abilities as he pro- 
 fessed to have, and I believe his professions must have 
 exceeded his real sentiments; but probably he might 
 think, that my popularity would facilitate the busi- 
 ness with the men, and influence in the Assembly the 
 grant of money to pay for it; and that perhaps with- 
 out taxing the Proprietary. Finding me not so 
 forward to engage as he expected, the project was 
 dropped; and he soon after left the government, 
 being superseded by Captain Denny. 
 
 Before I proceed in relating the part I had in pub- 
 lic affairs under this new Governor's administration, 
 it may not be amiss to give here some account of the 
 rise and progress of my philosophical reputation. 
 
 In 1746, being in Boston, I met there with a Dr. 
 Spence, who was lately arrived from Scotland, and 
 showed me some electric experiments. They were 
 imperfectly performed, as he was not very expert; 
 but, being on a subject quite new to me, they equally 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 267 
 
 surprised and pleased me. Soon after my return to 
 Philadelphia, our library company received from Mr. 
 Peter Collinson, Fellow of the Royal Society of Lon- 
 don, a present of a glass tube, with some account of 
 the use of it in making such experiments. I eagerly 
 seized the opportunity of repeating what I had seen 
 at Boston; and, by much practice, acquired great 
 readiness in performing those also which we had an 
 account of from England, adding a number of new 
 ones. I say much practice, for my house was con- 
 tinually full, for some time, with persons who came 
 to see these new wonders. 
 
 To divide a little this encumbrance among my 
 friends, I caused a number of similar tubes to be 
 blown in our glass-house, with which they furnished 
 themselves, so that we had at length several perform- 
 ers. Among these the principal was Mr. Kinnersley, 
 an ingenious neighbour, who being out of business, I 
 encouraged him to undertake showing the experi- 
 ments for money, and drew up for him two lectures, 
 in which the experiments were ranged in such order, 
 and accompanied with explanations in such method, 
 as that the foregoing should assist in comprehending 
 the following. He procured an elegant apparatus for 
 the purpose, in which all the little machines that I 
 had roughly made for myself were neatly formed by 
 instrument makers. His lectures were well attended, 
 and gave great satisfaction; and after some time he 
 
268 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 went through the colonies, exhibiting them in every 
 capital town, and picked 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. 
 
 Obliged as we were to Mr. Collinson for the present 
 of the tube, &c. , I thought it right he should be 
 informed of our success in using it, and wrote him 
 several letters containing accounts of our experiments. 
 He got them read in the Eoyal 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 light- 
 ning with electricity, I sent to Dr. Mitchel, an ac- 
 quaintance 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 
 advised 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. Foththergill wrote the preface. 
 Cave, it seems, judged rightly for his profession, for 
 by tlie additions that arrived afterwards they swelled 
 to a quarto volume, which has had five editions, and 
 cost him nothing for copy-money. 
 
 It was, however, some time before those papers 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 269 
 
 were much taken notice of in England. A copy of 
 them happening to fall into the hands of the Count 
 de BuSon, a philosopher, deservedly of great reputa- 
 tion in France, and indeed all over Europe, he pre- 
 vailed with M. Dalibard to translate them into 
 French; and they were printed at Paris. The pub- 
 lication offended the Abbe Nollet, preceptor in Natu- 
 ral Philosophy to the Eoyal Family, and an able 
 experimenter, who had formed and published 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 oppose his sys- 
 tem. Afterwards, having been assured that there 
 really existed such a person as Franklin at Phila- 
 delphia, which he had doubted, he wrote and pub- 
 lished a volume of Letters, chiefly addressed to me, 
 defending his theory, and denying the verity of 
 my experiments, and of the positions deduced from 
 them. 
 
 I once purposed answering the Abbe, and actually 
 began the answer; but, on consideration that my 
 writings contained a description of experiments, 
 which any one might repeat and verify, and, if not 
 to be verified, could not be defended; or of observa- 
 tions offered as conjectures, and not delivered dog- 
 matically, therefore not laying me under any 
 obligation to defend them; and reflecting, that a 
 
370 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 dispute between two persons, written in different 
 languages, might be lengthened greatly by mistrans- 
 lations, and thence misconceptions of one another's 
 meaning, much of one of the Abbe's letters being 
 founded on an error in the translation, I concluded 
 to let my papers shift for themselves; believing it 
 was better to spend what time I could spare from 
 public business in making new experiments, than in 
 disputing about those already made. I therefore 
 never answered M. Nollet; and the event gave me no 
 -cause to repent my silence; for my friend M. Le Eoy, 
 of the Koyal Academy of Sciences, took up my cause 
 and refuted him ; my book was translated into the 
 Italian, German, and Latin languages; and the doc- 
 trine it contained was by degrees generally adopted by 
 the philosophers of Europe, in preference to that of 
 the Abbe; so that he lived to see himself the last of 
 
 his sect, except Monsieur B , of Paris, his Sieve 
 
 and immediate disciple. 
 
 What gave my book the more sudden and general 
 celebrity, was the success of one of its proposed ex- 
 periments, made by Messieurs Dalibard and Delor at 
 Marley, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This 
 engaged the public attention everywhere. M. Delor, 
 who had an apparatus for experimental philosophy, 
 and lectured in that branch of science, undertook to 
 repeat what he called the Fhiladeljjhia Experiments: 
 and, after they were performed before the King and 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 271 
 
 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 re- 
 ceived 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 
 amoug the learned abroad, and of their wonder that 
 my writings had been so little noticed in Eugland. 
 The Society on this resumed the consideration of the 
 letters that had been read to them; and the cele- 
 brated 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. Can- 
 ton, having verified the experiment of procuring 
 lightning from the clouds by pointed rod, and ac- 
 quainted 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 mem- 
 ber; and voted, that I should be excused the cus- 
 tomary payments, which would have amounted to 
 twenty-five guineas; and ever since have given me 
 
273 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 their Transactions gratis.* They also presented me 
 with the gold medal of Sir Godfrey Copley, for the 
 
 * Dr. FraDklin gives a further account of his election, in 
 a letter to bis son, Governor Franklin, from which the fol- 
 lowing is an extract : — 
 
 "London, 19th December, 1767. 
 
 "We have had an ugly affair at the Royal Society lately. 
 One Dacosta, a Jew, who, as our clerk, was intrusted with 
 collecting our moneys, has been so unfaithful as to em- 
 bezzle near thirteen hundred pounds in four years. Being 
 one of the Council this year, as well as the last, I have been 
 employed all the last week in attending the inquiry into, 
 and unravelling, his accounts, in order to come at a full 
 knowledge of his frauds. His securities are bound in one 
 thousand pounds to the Society, which they will pay, but 
 we sliall probably lose the rest. He had this year received 
 twenty-six admission payments of twenty-five guineas 
 each, which he did not bring to account. 
 
 "While attending to this affair, I had an opportunity of 
 looking over the old council-books and journals of the So- 
 ciety, and, having a curiosity to see how I came in, of 
 which I had never been informed, I looked back for the 
 minutes relating to it. You must know, it is not usual to 
 admit persons that have not requested to be admitted ; and 
 a recommendatory certificate in favour of the candidate, 
 signed by at least three of the members, is by our rule to be 
 presented to the Society, expressing that he is desirous of 
 that honour, and is so and so qualified. As I never had 
 asked, or expected the honour, I was, as I said before, 
 curious to see how the business was managed. I found 
 that the certificate, worded very advantageously for me, 
 was signed by Lord Macclesfield, then President, Lord 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 373 
 
 year 1753, the delivery of which was accompanied by 
 a very handsome speech of the president, Lord Mac- 
 clesfield, wherein I was highly honoured. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SENT ON A MISSION TO ENGLAND. 
 
 Our new governor. Captain Denny, brought over 
 for me the before-mentioned medal from the Eoyal 
 Society, which he presented to me at an entertain- 
 ment given him by the city. He accompanied it 
 with very polite expressions of his esteem for me, 
 having, as he said, been long acquainted with my 
 character. After dinner he took me aside into an- 
 other room, and acquainted me, that he had been 
 advised by his friends in England to cultivate a 
 friendship with me, as one who was capable of giving 
 
 Parker, and Lord Willoughby ; that the election was by a 
 unanimous vote ; and, the honour being voluntarily con- 
 ferred by the Society, unsolicited by me, it was thought 
 wrong to demand or receive the usual fees or composition ; 
 so that my name was entered on the list with a vote of 
 Council, that I was not to pay anything. And accordingly 
 nothing has ever been demanded of me. Those who are 
 admitted in the common way, pay five guineas admission 
 fees, and two guineas and a half yearly contributions, or 
 twenty-five guineas down, in lieu of it. In my case a sub- 
 stantial favour accompanied the honour." 
 18 
 
374 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 him the best advice, and of contributing most effec- 
 tually to the making his administration easy. That 
 he therefore desii'ed of all things to have a good 
 understanding with me, and he begged me to be as- 
 sured of his readiness on all occasions to render me 
 every service that might be in his power. He said 
 much to me also of the Proprietor's good disposition 
 towards the province, and of the advantage it would 
 be to us all, and to me in particular, if the opposition 
 that had been so long continued to his measures was 
 dropped, and harmony restored between him and the 
 people; in effecting which it was thought no one 
 could be more serviceable than myself; and I might 
 depend on adequate acknowledgments and recom- 
 penses. 
 
 My answers were to this purpose: that my circum- 
 stances, thanks to God, were such as to make Pro- 
 prietary favours unnecessary to me; and that, being 
 a member of the Assembly, I could not possibly accept 
 of any; that, however, I had no personal enmity to 
 the Proprietary, and that, whenever the public meas- 
 ures he proposed should appear to be for the good of 
 the people, no one would espouse and forward them 
 more zealously than myself; my past opposition hav- 
 ing been founded on this, that the measures which 
 had been urged were evidently intended to serve the 
 Proprietary interest, with great prejudice to that of 
 the people. That I was much obliged to him (the 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 275 
 
 Governor) for his profession of regard to me, and that 
 he might rely on everything in my power to render 
 his administration as easy to him as possible, hoping, 
 at the same time, that he had not brought with him 
 the same unfortunate instructions his predecessors 
 had been hampered with. 
 
 On this he did not then explain himself; but when 
 he afterwards came to do business with the Assembly, 
 they appeared again, the disputes were renewed, and 
 I was as active as ever in the opposition, being the 
 penman, first of the request to have a communication 
 of the instructions, and then of the remarks upon 
 them, which may be found in the Votes of the time, 
 and in the Historical Beview I afterwards published. 
 But between us personally no enmity arose; we were 
 often together; he was a man of letters, had seen 
 much of the world, and was entertaining and pleasing 
 in conversation. He gave me information, that my 
 old friend Ralph was still alive; that he was esteemed 
 one of the best political writers in England ; had been 
 employed in the dispute between Prince Frederick 
 and the King, and had obtained a pension of three 
 hundred pounds a year; that his reputation was in- 
 deed small as a poet. Pope having ridiculed his poetry 
 in the Dunciad, but his prose was thought as good as 
 any man's. 
 
 The Assembly finally finding the Proprietary ob- 
 stinately persisted in shackling the deputies with 
 
276 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 instructions inconsistent not only with the privileges 
 of the 2:)eople, but with the service of the crown, re- 
 solved to petition the King against them, and 
 appointed me their agent to go over to England to 
 present and support the petition. The House had 
 sent up a bill to the Governor, granting a sum of 
 sixty thousand pounds for the King's use (ten thou- 
 sand pounds of which was subjected to the orders of 
 the then General, Lord Loudoun), which the Gov- 
 ernor, in compliance with his instructions, absolutely 
 refused to pass. 
 
 I had agreed with Captain Morris, of the packet at 
 New York, for my passage, and my stores were put 
 on board ; when Lord Loudoun arrived at Philadel- 
 phia, expressly, as he told me, to endeavour an 
 accommodation between the Governor and Assembly, 
 that His Majesty's service might not be obstructed 
 by their dissensions. Accordingly he desired the 
 Governor and myself to meet him, that he might 
 hear what was to be said on both sides. We met and 
 discussed the business. Li behalf of the Assembly, 
 I urged the various arguments, that may be found in 
 the public papers of that time, which were of my 
 writing, and are printed with the minutes of the 
 Assembly ; and the Governor pleaded his instructions, 
 the bond he had given to observe them, and his ruin 
 if he disobeyed ; yet seemed not unwilling to hazard 
 himself, if Lord Loudoun would advise it. This his 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 277 
 
 lordship did not choose to do, though I once thought 
 I had nearly prevailed with him to do it; but finally 
 he rather chose to urge the compliance of the Assem- 
 bly; aad he entreated me to use my endeavours with 
 them for that purpose, declaring that he would spare 
 none of the King's troops for the defence of our 
 frontiers, and that, if we did not continue to provide 
 for that defence ourselves, they must remain exposed 
 to the enemy. 
 
 I acquainted the House with what had passed, 
 and — presenting them with a set of resolutions I had 
 drawn up, declaring our rights, that we did not re- 
 linquish our claim to those rights, but only suspended 
 the exercise of them on this occasion through force, 
 against which we protested — they at length agreed to 
 drop that bill, and frame another conformable to the 
 Proprietary instructions. This of course the Governor 
 passed, and I was then at liberty to proceed on my 
 voyage. But in the meantime the packet had sailed 
 with my sea-stores, which was some loss to me, and 
 my only recompense was his lordship's thanks for my 
 service; all the credit of obtaining the accommoda- 
 tion falling to his share. 
 
 He set out for New York before me; and, as the 
 time for despatching the packet-boats was at his dis- 
 position, and there were two then remaining there, 
 one of which, he said, was to sail very soon, I re- 
 quested to know the precise time, that I might not 
 
278 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 miss her by any delay of mine. The answer was: 
 " I have given out that she is to sail on Saturday 
 next, but I may let you know, eiiti^e nous, that if you 
 are there by Monday morning you will be in time, 
 but do not delay longer." By some accidental hin- 
 drance at a ferry, it was Monday noon before I arrived, 
 and I was much afraid she might have sailed, as the 
 wind was fair; but I was soon made easy by the in- 
 formation that she was still in the harbour, and 
 would not move till the next day. One would im- 
 agine that I was now on the very point of departing 
 for Europe. I thought so; but I was not then so 
 well acquainted with his lordship's character, of 
 which indecision was one of the strongest features. I 
 shall give some instances. It was about the begin- 
 ning of April that I came to New York, and I think 
 it was near the end of June before we sailed. There 
 were then two of the packet-boats, which had been 
 long in readiness, but were detained for the General's 
 letters, which were always to be ready to-moiTOiu. 
 Another packet arrived; she too was detained ; and, 
 before we sailed, a fourth was jexpected. Ours was 
 the first to be despatched, as having been there long- 
 est. Passengers were engaged for all, and some ex- 
 tremely impatient to be gone, and the merchants 
 uneasy about their letters, and the orders they had 
 given for insurance (it being war time), and for au- 
 tumnal goods; but their anxiety availed nothing; his 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 379 
 
 lordship's letters were not ready; and yet who ever 
 waited on him found him always at his desk, pen in 
 hand, and concluded he must needs write abun- 
 dantly. 
 
 Going myself one morning to pay my respects, I 
 found in his antechamber one Innis, a messenger of 
 Philadelphia, who had come thence express, with a 
 packet from Governor Denny, for the General. He 
 delivered to me some letters from my friends there, 
 which occasioned my inquiring when he was to re- 
 turn, and where he lodged, that I might send some 
 letters by him. He told me he was ordered to call 
 to-morrow at nine for the General's answer to the 
 Governor, and should set off immediately. I put my 
 letters into his hands the same day. A fortnight 
 after I met him again in the same place, *' So, you 
 are soon returned, Innis?" "Returned! no, I am 
 not gone yet." " How so?" " I have called here this 
 and every morning these two weeks past for his lord- 
 ship's letters, and they are not yet ready." "Is it 
 possible, when he is so great a writer, for I see him 
 constantly at his escritoire?" "Yes," said Innis, 
 "but he is like St. George on the signs, always on 
 horseback, and never rides on." This observation of 
 the messenger was, it seems, well founded; for, when 
 in England, I understood that Mr. Pitt, afterwards 
 Lord Chatham, gave it as one reason for removing 
 this general, and sending Generals Amherst and 
 
280 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Wolfe, that tlie minister never heard from him, and 
 could not know ivhat he ivas doing. 
 
 In this daily expectation of sailing, and all the 
 three packets going down to Sandy Hook, to join the 
 fleet there, the passengers thought it best to be on 
 board, lest by a sudden order the ships should sail, 
 and they be left behind. There, if I remember, we 
 were about six weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and 
 obliged to procure more. At length the fleet sailed, 
 the General and all his army on board, bound to 
 Louisbourg, with intent to besiege and take that for- 
 tress; and all the packet-boats in company were 
 ordered to attend the General's ship, ready to re- 
 ceive his despatches when they should be ready. We 
 were out five days before we got a letter with leave to 
 part, and then our ship quitted the fleet and steered 
 for England. The other two packets he still detained, 
 carried them with him to Halifax, where he stayed 
 some time to exercise the men in sham attacks upon 
 sham forts, then altered his mind as to besieging 
 Louisbourg and returned to New York with all his 
 troops, together with the two packets above men- 
 tioned, and all their passengers! During his ab- 
 sence the French and savages had taken Fort 
 George on the frontier of that province, and the 
 Indians had massacred many of the garrison after 
 capitulation. 
 
 On- the whole, I wondered much how such a man 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 281 
 
 came to be intrusted with so important a business as 
 the conduct of a great army ; but, having since seen 
 more of the great world, and the means of obtaining, 
 and motives for giving, places and employments, my 
 wonder is diminished. General Shirley, on whom 
 the command of the army devolved upon the death 
 of Braddock, would, in my opinion, if continued in 
 place, have made a much better campaign than that 
 of Loudoun in 1756, which was frivolous, expensive, 
 and disgraceful to our nation beyond conception. 
 For though Shirley was not bred a soldier, he was 
 sensible and sagacious in himself, and attentive to 
 good advice from others capable of forming judicious 
 plans, and quick and active in carrying them into 
 execution. Loudoun, instead of defending the colo- 
 nies with his great army, left them totally exposed, 
 while he paraded idly at Halifax, by which means 
 Fort George was lost; besides, he deranged all our 
 mercantile operations, and distressed our trade, by a 
 long embargo on the exportation of provisions, on 
 pretence of keeping supplies from being obtained by 
 the enemy, but in reality for beating down their price 
 in favour of the contractors, in whose profits it was 
 said, perhaps from suspicion only, he had a share; 
 and, when at length the embargo was taken off, neg- 
 lecting to send notice of it to Charleston, where the 
 Carolina fleet was detained near three months, and 
 whereby their bottoms were so much damaged by the 
 
282 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 worm, that a great part of them foundered in their 
 passage home. 
 
 Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being re- 
 lieved from so burdensome a charge, as the conduct 
 of an army must be to a man unacquainted with mil- 
 itary business. I was at the entertainment given by 
 the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his tak- 
 ing upon him the command. Shirley, though thereby 
 susperseded, was present also. There was a great 
 company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, 
 some chairs having been borrowed in the neighbour- 
 hood, there was one among them very low, which 
 fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. I sat by him, and 
 perceiving it, I said, " They have given you a very 
 low seat." "No matter, Mr. Franklin," said he, "I 
 find a loiu seat the easiest." 
 
 While I was, as before mentioned, detained at New 
 York, I received all the accounts of the provisions, 
 &c., that I had furnished to Braddock, some of which 
 accounts could not sooner be obtained from the differ- 
 ent persons I had employed to assist in the business. 
 I presented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be 
 paid the balance. He caused them to be examined 
 by the proper officer, who, after comparing every 
 article with its voucher, certified them to be right; 
 and his lordship promised to give me an order on the 
 paymaster for the balance due to me. This was, 
 however, put off from time to time; and, though I 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 283 
 
 called often for it by appointment, I did not get it. 
 At length, just before my departure, he told me he 
 had, on better consideration, concluded not to mix 
 his accounts with those of his predecessors. " And 
 you," said he, "when in England, have only to ex- 
 hibit your accounts to the Treasury, and you will 
 be paid immediately." 
 
 I mentioned, but without effect, a great and un- 
 expected expense I had been put to by being detained 
 so long at New York, as a reason for my desiring to 
 be presently paid ; and, on my observing that it was 
 not right that I should be put to any further trouble 
 or delay in obtaining the money I had advanced, as I 
 charged no commission for my service, "Oh," said 
 he, "you must not think of persuading us that you 
 are no gainer; we understand better those matters, 
 and know, that every one concerned in supplying the 
 army finds means, in the doing it, to fill his own 
 pockets." I assured him that was not my case, and 
 that I had not pocketed a farthing; but he appeared 
 clearly not to believe me; and indeed I afterwards 
 learned, that immense fortunes are often made in 
 such employments. As to my balance, I am not 
 paid it to this day; of which more hereafter. 
 
 Our captain of the packet boasted much, before we 
 sailed, of the swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, 
 when we came to sea, she proved the dullest of ninety- 
 six sail, to his no small mortification. After many 
 
284 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 conjectures respecting the cause, when we were near 
 another ship almost as dull as ours, which, however, 
 gained upon us, the captain ordered all hands to come 
 aft and stand as near the ensign staff as possible. We 
 were, passengers included, about forty persons. While 
 we stood there, the ship mended her pace, and soon 
 left her neighbour far behind, which proved clearly 
 what our captain suspected, that she was loaded too i 
 much by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had > 
 been all placed forward; these he therefore ordered ' 
 to be moved further aft, on which the ship recovered : 
 her character, and proved the best sailer in the fleet. : 
 The foregoing fact I give for the sake of the fol- ' 
 lowing observation. It has been remarked, as an 
 imperfection in tlie art of shipbuilding, that it can i 
 never be known till she is tried, whether a new ship ! 
 will, or will not, be a good sailer; for that the model ; 
 of a good-sailing ship has been exactly followed in a i 
 new one, which has been proved on the contrary re- \ 
 markably dull. I apprehend, that this may partly \ 
 be occasioned by the different opinions of seamen re- ' 
 specting the modes of loading, rigging, and sailing of : 
 a ship; each has his method, and the same vessel, , 
 laden by the method and orders of one captain, shall \\ 
 sail worse than when by the orders of another. Be- ; 
 sides, it scarce ever happens, that a ship is formed, i 
 fitted for the sea, and sailed by the same person. 
 One man builds the hull, another rigs her, a third i 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 285 
 
 loads and sails her. No one of these has the advan- 
 tage of knowing all the ideas and experience of the 
 others, and, therefore, cannot draw just conclusions 
 from a combination of the whole. 
 
 Even in the simple operation of sailing when at 
 sea, I have often observed different judgments in the 
 officers who commanded the successive watches, the 
 wind being the same. One would have the sails 
 trimmed sharper or flatter than another, so that they 
 seemed to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I 
 think a set of experiments might be instituted, first, 
 to determine the most proper form of the hull for 
 swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and most 
 proper place for the masts; then the form and quan- 
 tity of sails, and their position, as the wind may be; 
 and lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an 
 age of experiments, and I think a set accurately 
 made and combined would be of great use. 
 
 We were several times chased in our passage, but 
 outsailed everything; and in thirty days had sound- 
 ings. We had a good observation, and the captain 
 judged himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if 
 we made a good run in the night, we might be off the 
 mouth of that harbour in the morning; and by run- 
 ning in the night might escape the notice of the 
 enemy's privateers, who often cruised near the en- 
 trance of the Channel. Accordingly all the sail was 
 set that we could possibly carry, and the wind being 
 
286 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 very fresh and fair, we stood right before it, and 
 made great way. The captain, after his observation, 
 shaped his course, as he thought, so as to pass wide 
 of the Scilly Isles; but it seems there is sometimes a 
 strong current setting up St. George's Channel, 
 which deceives seamen and caused the loss of Sir 
 Oloudesley Shovel's squadron in 1707. This was 
 probably also the cause of what happened to us. 
 
 We had a watchman placed in the bow, to whom 
 they often called, '''Look to ell oiit before there;" and 
 he answered, '' Ay^ ciy''^ but perhaps had his eyes 
 shut, and was half asleep at the time; they sometimes 
 answering, as is said, mechanically; for he did not 
 see a light just before us, which had been hid by the 
 studding-sails from the man at the helm, and from 
 the rest of the watch, but by an accidental yaw of 
 the ship was discovered, and occasioned a great 
 alarm, we being very near it: the light appearing to 
 me as large as a cartwheel. It was midnight, and 
 our captain fast asleep; but Captain Kennedy, jump- 
 ing upon deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the 
 ship to wear round, all sails standing; an operation 
 dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, and 
 we avoided shipwreck, for we were running fast on 
 the rocks, on which the light was erected. This 
 deliverance impressed me strongly with the utility of 
 lighthouses, and made me resolve to encourage the 
 huilding more of them in America if I should live to 
 return thither. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 287 
 
 In the morniug it was found by the soundings that 
 we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the land 
 from our sight. About niue o'clock the fog began to 
 rise, and seemed to be lifted up from the water like 
 the curtain of a theatre, discovering underneath the 
 town of Falmouth, the vessels in the harbour, and 
 the tields that surround it. This was a pleasing spec- 
 tacle to those who had been long without any other 
 prospect than the uniform view of a vacant ocean, 
 and it gave us the more pleasure, as v/e were now free 
 from the anxieties which had arisen,* 
 
 I set out immediately with my son for London, and 
 we only stopped a little by the way to view Stonehenge 
 on Salisbury Plain, and Lord Pembroke's house and 
 gardens, with the very curious antiquities, at Wilton. 
 We arrived in London, the 27th of July, 1757.t 
 
 *In a letter from Dr. Franklin to his wife, dated at 
 Falmouth, the 17th of July, 1757, after giving her a similar 
 account of his voyage, escape, and landing, he adds : "The 
 bell ringing for church, we went thither immediately, 
 and, witli hearts full of gratitude, returned sincere thanks 
 to God for the mercies we had received. Were I a Roman 
 Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a 
 chapel to some saint ; but as I am not, if I were to vow at 
 all, it should be to build a lighthouse.''^ 
 
 t Here close Dr. Franklin's Memoirs, as written by him- 
 self. From several passages in his letters it would seem 
 that it was his intention to continue them further, and 
 perhaps to the end of his life ; but public business for some 
 tinie, and afterwards his declining health, prevented him 
 from executing his purpose.