302 ,F8 B12 THE SO-CALLED " FRANKLIN PRAYER-BOOK." BY RICHARD MEADE BACHE. Reprinted from the '^Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'" for July, 1897. PHILADELPHIA. 1897. THE SO-CALLED "FRANKLIN PRAYER-BOOK." BY RICHARD MEADE BACHE. Beprinted from the " Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' for July, 1897. PHILADELPHIA. 1897. THE SO-CALLED " FRANKLIN PRAYER-BOOK." The New York Times published, under date of December 3, 1896, some interesting statements connected with the sale in Boston of a copy of the so-called " Franklin Prayer- Book." These the present paper supplements with au- thentic data that add to the completeness of the record by confirming the Times's view of the share that Dr. Franklin had in the preparation of the volume, and of its rarity, and additionally showing the interest which certain prominent persons long subsequently to the publication took in the work. The Times said in part, under the heading, " Eare Franklin Volume," — " Dodd, Mead & Co., of this city, purchased in Boston yesterday a rare old volume known as Franklin's Prayer-Book. The purchase was made at the auction sale of the library of the late Prof. Henry Reed, of the University of Pennsylvania. [The sale was of books of the late Judge Henry Reed, a son of Professor Henry Reed's.] The bidding for this old book was spirited, and the price paid by Dodd, Mead & Co. was $1,250. Joseph Sabin was the underbidder. The volume is bound in old red morocco, stamped with gilt, and has gilt edges." Here follows a copy of the title-page and a quotation from a letter of Franklin's, which matter will appear more appro- priately in another place in this account, the article in the Times- concluding with the following passage : "In a letter written by Jared Sparks to Prof. Reed, dated Cam- bridge, Mass., May 30th, 1837, he says : ' Among Franklin's papers I have lately found a fragment of the Preface of the said Abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer, in his handwriting, and have been puzzling myself in vain to find any clue to the book. A learned clergyman could give me no light on the subject. It is a very curious affair, as coming from Franklin. I doubt if there is another copy in America.' " A copy of the original and only edition of this work, which lies before me, is in a state of perfect preservation. It is printed on substantial paper, as was the fashion of the last century, in large type, and, of course, with the quaint 3 4 The So-called " Franklin Prayer-Book.'' old, long " s" of the period. The binding is of Turkey-red morocco, with a stamped gilt vignette around the margins of both front and back covers, with corresponding gilt orna- mentation on the back, and with gilt-edged leaves. It is evidently a copy of the edition lately represented in Boston by the exemplar there sold. The particular copy of the edition which lies before me has attached to it a special interest in the fact that at the top of the inside of the front cover appears in faint ink manuscript the words, "Once the property of the Immortal Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., etc." [Unsigned.] It came into possession of Dr. Thomas Hewson Bache, who is still its owner, by gift from Dr. John Redmond Coxe, a prominent physician of Philadelphia, who had bought it at the sale of Dr. Stuart's library in the same city, and on June 5, 1855, insisted upon Dr. Bache's accept- ing it, despite his representing to Dr. Coxe that it was on every account too valuable a present for him to receive. The title-page reads : ABRIDGEMENT OF THE BOOK OF Common ^^rajer, And Adniiuistration of the SACRAMENTS, AND OTHER Rites and Ceremonies OF THE OHUEOH, According to the use of Siljt C^urc| of dSnglanb: TOOETHER WITH THE PSALTER, or PSALMS OF DAVID, Printed as they are to be sung or said in Churches. LONDON : Printed in the year MDCCLXXIII. The So-called "■ Franklin Prayer-Book." 6 Growing out of his coming into possession of this copy of the so-called " Franklin Prajer-Book," or out of common knowledge that he was somewhat versed in antiquarian lore relating to Franklin, probably from both causes, Dr. Bache was, not long after he received the book, applied to for in- formation regarding the work by the Right Reverend Wil- liam Bacon Stevens, Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, in the following letter : " 913 Clinton St., Thursday. [Without date, but the reply indicates it.] "My dear Sir: "I have been so fortunate as to secure acopy of the Franklin Pr. Bk., which I received in my last invoice of English books. In nearly all re- spects, except the binding, it is as good as the one I saw at your house. On the title-page is written the following note: 'This abridgement, to- gether with the preface, was drawn up by Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., Baron Le Dispencer, [Despencer] and given by him to Lord Mount Stuart, in 1775. The book was printed in a private press of his own at West Wycombe, Bucks.' " I showed the book to Mr. McAllister, who has, as you know, a large collection of Prayer Books, but he had never seen or heard of it. My object in writing to you is, first, to thank you for your note, and sec- ondly, to ask that you will do me the favor to give me the true hi.story of the book so far as it may be in your power, as the facts connected with it must be particularly interesting." Under date of July 7, 1859, and in Philadelphia, Dr. Bache answered this letter of Bishop Stevens's, as follows : " I have much pleasure in giving you all the particulars I know con- cerning the ' Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer,' but, whether they form its true history, it is impossible for me to tell. " The first copy I ever saw is in the possession of Mrs. Henry Reed, and formerly in that of her grandfather, Bishop White. [Mrs. Henry Keed was the wife of Professor Eeed, mentioned in the preceding quota- tion from the New York Times, and Bishop White was the well-known Bishop William White of colonial and later times.] It is in all respects, even in binding, like my own. On the fly-leaf of it you will find the following : " ' This book was presented to me in ye year 1785, while ye Liturgy was under revision, by Mrs. Sarah Bache, by direction of her father, Dr. Benj. Franklin ; who, with Lord Le Despenser, [Despencer] she said, were the framers of it. W. W.' [William White]. (( i 6 The So-Galled " Franklin Prayer-Book." " This copy was seen by Mr. Sparks when writing ' The Works of Franklin' (ed. 1840). In Sparks, Vol. I., p. 352, you will find this notice of the Abridgment: 'During hjs [Franklin's] absence from London in the summer of 1773, he passed a few weeks at the country residence of Lord Le Despencer, and employed himself whilst there in abridging some parts of the Book of Common Prayer. A handsome edition of this abridgment was printed by Wilkie, in St. Paul's Church Yard ; but it seems never to have been adopted in any Church, nor to have gained much notice.' " Sparks then gives a quotation from the last part of the Preface of the Abridgment, which does not exactly correspond with that in the printed copy ; for the words, ' remove animosity' are used by Sparks, instead of ' increase unanimity.' I have heard that Mr, Sparks first found the MS. of the Preface in Franklin's handwriting, which led to his discovering Mrs. Reed's copy. The slight change in phraseology above mentioned may have been made in the proof by Franklin. " In Vol. X., pp. 206-7, of Sparks, you will find a letter of Franklin to Granville Sharp, dated Passy, 5th July, 1785, which contains the fol- lowing : ' The Liturgy you mention was an abridgment of that made by a noble Lord of ray acquaintance, who requested me to assist him by taking the rest of the book ; viz., the Catechism and the reading and singing Psalms. These I abridged by retaining of the Catechism only the two questions, What is your duty to God ? What is your duty to your neighbour? with answers. The Psalms were much contracted by leaving out the repetitions (of which I found more than I could have imagined) and the imprecations, which appeared not to suit well with the Christian doctrine of forgiveness of injuries and doing good to ene- mies. The book was printed for Wilkie, in St. Paul's Churchyard, but never much noticed. Some were given away, very few sold, and I sup- pose the bulk became waste-paper. In the prayers so much was re- trenched that approbation could hardly be expected ; but I think with you, a moderate abridgment might not only be useful, but generally acceptable.' " The editor then introduces, in a note, a portion of Mr. Sharp's letter which called forth Franklin's account of the book, as also the Preface of the Abridgment, in full. " There can be no doubt that Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., Lord Le Despencer, had a hand in compiling the work, and probably paid the expense of the undertaking, for it is not likely Franklin did. "I doubt whether the book was printed by a private press at West Wycombe, Bucks ; for Franklin's letter [to Granville Sharp] contradicts this statement, and if Sir Francis had a private press, we should have had other works, in all probability, emanating from it, and of such I have never heard. "In Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual, Vol. III., p. 1494, under the The So-called "Franklin Prayer- Book." 7 head of Prayer, you will find the following notice of the book: 'An abridgment of The Book of Common Prayer, West Wycombe, 1773, 8vo. The performance of Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., privately printed at the expense of Lord Le Despencer.' In the above no mention is made of a private press ; hence another reason for not believing Sir Francis had one. " Lowndes gives the impression [that] Sir Francis Dashwood and Lord Le Despencer were different individuals. This is a mistake, however, for Sir Francis Dashwood was Lord Le Despencer from 1763 to 1781 (Burke's Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, sixteenth ed., p. 597), and the Abridgment was printed in 1773. " I have heard that a copy was sold in London some years ago ; and the following manuscript note in Mrs. Henry Reed's copy I conclude refers to the sale : ' J. Miller's Catalogue II, March 16th, 1850, No. 68.' " It may be interesting to mention : The statue of William Penn, which now stands on the Pine Street front of the Pennsylvania Hospital, was originally the property of Sir Francis Dashwood, and stood in West Wycombe Park. His successor did not admire Penn, and sold the statue for its value as lead, and it was found in a London junk-shop by a descend- ant of the founder of Pennsylvania, who bought it and presented it to the Hospital." The statue of William Penn referred to in the concluding lines of the preceding letter still stands in Philadelphia on its pedestal before the Pennsylvania Hospital, on the broad lawn in front of the institution, facing Pine Street. And, by way of imparting an additional touch of local color to some of the facts mentioned here, it is added that Edward Duffield was a very intimate friend of Dr. Franklin's (a clock of his own make, a gift of his to Franklin, is now in my possession), and he was one of Franklin's executors ; and that a son of Dr. John Redmond Coxe, Dr. Edward Jenner Coxe, was, as an infant, the first person vaccinated in the United States, and with lymph which his father had received directly from Dr. Jenner. The editor of the Preface to the edition of the so-called " Franklin Prayer-Book" " professes himself," to use his own words, '• to be a Protestant of the Church of England," and begins his duties as such with a few deprecatory remarks as to laymen presuming to make suggestions of alteration in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. 8 The So-called " Franklin Prayer-Book." He presents to the consideration of " the serious and dis- cerning" amendments which the authors regard as involv- ing improvements in the accepted Liturgy of the Church. He takes the ground that both morning and evening services of the Church are so long that in them " the mind wanders, and the fervency of devotion is slackened." He cites the example of the Lord's Prayer and its accompanying admo- nition against the " heathen" practice of " much speaking" as confirmatory of the excellence of brevity in religious worship. He says that the old would, on account of their infirmities, be benefited by a shortening of divine service, and that the young would more cheerfully than now attend it. Moreover, he adds, business people could more easily than now attend it on other days than Sunday. He does not con- sider the use of more than one creed as any advantage to edification, whilst the existing repetitions involve much pro- lixity. The Psalms are held to consist in a measure of repe- titions which may well call for curtailment. Some of them, moreover, it is represented, contain bitter imprecations against enemies, and are thus inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity and the direct teachings of the Gospel. The curtailment of the Communion Service, as it appears in the volume, is believed by its authors to omit nothing that is " material and necessary." With the view of accommo- dating the introduction of the Baptismal Rite to the interests of a congregation engaged in worship, it is proposed to omit in it on such occasions " the less material parts" of the formulary. The Catechism being a compendium repre- senting weighty matter upon which theologians have written tomes in elucidation, it obviously is not, the Preface states, as well adapted to the infant mind as is desirable. It is therefore recommended that only those parts within the comprehension of the very young be retained, and that the remainder be postponed until they shall have reached a period of more ripened understanding. The ceremony of Confirmation might, it is thought, be judiciously shortened. " The Commination," the Preface goes on to say, " and all cursing of mankind is (we think) best omitted in this The So-called " Franklin Prayer-Book." 9 Abridgement." The form of the marriage ceremony, often abbreviated at the discretion of the officiating clergyman, is here, it says, retained only as to what are deemed its " ma- terial parts." The long prayers on the occasions of the visitation of the sick do not seem to the authors appro- priate in the presence of persons " very weak, and in dis- tress." The service at the burial of the dead does not, in their view, evidence sufficient regard for the health and wel- fare of the living, in that it is, under certain circumstances, highly dangerous to them, owing to the length of time to which they are often exposed with uncovered heads to cold at the side of the grave. Finally, the ceremony of the Churching of Women might, they think, be judiciously abridged. Here the recommendations of the Preface, embodied in the book, casually touching upon the desirability of substi- tuting some other source of church revenue for tithes, end with a protest against any supposition that irreverence is intended by the suggestions made towards the modification of a Liturgy which the authors admire, declaring that the object sought is merely to improve it in the interests of religion, in the belief, as they say, that "this shortened method, or one of the same kind better executed, would further religion, increase unanimity, and occasion a more frequent attendance on the worship of God." In the opinion of persons more competent than the present writer to sit in judgment on the case, the work seems to bave had some influence " in ye year 1785, while ye Liturgy was under revision" with the purpose of producing the first Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, in leading to the omission of certain passages in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England; since restored, apparently from the prompting among portions of mankind to cling to ancient things as such, regardless of their unsuitability to advanced thought on the subject, and in this case with the very features which Franklin most deprecated, as attempting to blend teachings of the Old Dispensation with those of the New 10 The So-called "Franklin Prayer-Booh." Dispensation, with which they are incompatible and by which they have been superseded. Whatever may be the state of the case now, the idea as to the existence of many redundancies in the Book of Com- mon Prayer of the Church of England must at one time have been very prevalent, as the two following citations show. Miss Jane Austen, the daughter of a clergyman, makes one of her middle-class characters in " Mansfield Park," published in 1814, say that " our Liturgy has beauties which not even a careless, slovenly style of reading can destroy ; but it has also redundancies and repetitions which require good reading not to be felt." Again, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, in a late letter of his from Hawarden to a friend, under date of September 9, 1896, afterwards published in The Academy and then in The London Times, says, among other things relating to his collection of books, — " As quantity has been my strongest point, I may without offence refer to it in comparison with quality. An able and learned person of our day bought for his own use twenty thousand volumes. They were ex- amined and valued for sale (which never came off) in London, and it was predicted that he would net from them £8000, or a little over two shillings a volume. Nearly at the same time a library of somewhat over half the quantity, but rich in rarities, brought (not at auction) about £6 a volume. "Though, as I have said, a beggarly collector, I have had a few specialities. One I will mention. I accumulated more than thirty dis- tinct rifacciamenti of the Book of Common Prayer. Many of these had prefaces which commonly ran to this effect : — ' The Prayer Book is excel- lent. But it has some blemishes. Let them be removed, and it will find universal acceptance. Accordingly I have performed this operation ; and I now give the Reformed Prayer Book to the world.' But I have never obtained, and have never seen, a second edition of any one of these productions. I greatly doubt whether they have usually paid their printer's bills." The last statement is not astonishing to any one who knows that there are still in existence Bishops of the Angli- can Church who vehemently oppose striking from the statute book the law, repugnant to common sense, interdicting marriage with a deceased wife's sister. The So-called "Franklin Prayer-Book." 11 It will be remembered tbat Dr. Bache said, in his letter to Bishop Stevens, by way of explaining how the words " re- move animosity," in the Franklin manuscript which Sparks saw, came to be changed to " increase unanimity" in the printed prayer-book, that the alteration may have been made in the proof by Franklin. The present commentator, however, has not the slightest doubt that the alteration was made by Franklin personally. It is an unmistakable touch of the hand of Franklin in a direction of part of his art of success in life, known to his various biographers ; of course, perceptible, it must be believed, even to his most casual readers, but never heretofore sufficiently emphasized, al- though it appears continuously in active operation through- out his whole varied career, and is expressly indicated in his autobiography as the wisest of policies in intercourse with men. This was, in brief, smoothing the way of reason to the mind by sweeping unessentials from the path by means of conciliatory word and deed. There is not a fragment extant of his authentic speech, writing, and action in which the exhibition of this mental attribute is not present. Although the Preface which is here noticed is, with slight exception, written in the first person plural, it is so Frank- linian that no person familiar with the turn of thought and phrase of Franklin, than which no other style was ever more informed from outmost to inmost core with personality, can doubt the authorship of it in its entirety. Comparison of it with any of his writings touching ethical matter will prove that in it the family likeness to them is unmistakable. Part of it being found in his handwriting by Mr. Sparks is, in the existing case of collaboration, only proof presumptive that he was its author, but the man revealed in the style is proof positive of the fact. The Preface can be seen, even through the medium of the paraphrased abstract here given, to be imbued with this quality omnipresent with Franklin. Nor did the character- istic exemplified by it and his other utterances originate in a cold-blooded policy, adopted for the sake of gaining his ends in the interest of increase of authority and power. 12 The So-called '' Franklin Prayer-Booh." Regard for these, it would seem, never gained access to his mind. They came unsought, as the natural adjuncts of his personality working amidst conditions fitted to its supreme development. Perhaps the particular trait which is here mentioned would be best illustrated as to its significance in his life by a legitimate comparison which involves a marked contrast. Lord Chesterfield, who was born twelve years before Franklin and died seventeen years before him, es- sentially his contemporary, also followed in life the same policy as Franklin's in his intercourse with the world, socially with great success, and politically with marked ability in the diplomatic sphere, most notably as Lord-Lieu- tenant of Ireland. Yet his whole career as observed, and as known by his own confession in the posthumous publica- tion of his letters to his son, proves that his speech and action were invariably, in every particular, prompted by the most subtle and refined egoism. The whole public and private career of Franklin, on the contrary, although super- ficially exhibiting the same aspect as Chesterfield's inter- course with the world, was inspired by the loftiest altru- ism. Both acted in consonance with the maxim, suaviter in modojfortiter in re, Chesterfield expressly recommending that course in his letters to his son. But what a difference be- tween the two men there was, in the presence in one ot worthy fundamental motive in conduct, and the absence of it in the other ! This is not the place to recite the services of Franklin to his country, but it may be said at least, even here, that his life in its service was one of continuous labor and self-denial. Even after he returned from France, old, decrepit, longing for a brief respite from work before he died, he found himself enmeshed again in the toils of duty, and yielded to the popular demand for his final devotion to the public interests. Well may Jefiferson have said, as he is reported to have replied, when the Count de Vergennes, France's Minister of Foreign AflPairs, greeted him as the ambassador come to replace Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI., " I succeed; no one can replace him." LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 769 887 7^