Chapter XLI: Preface: To "an Abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer"82 (7)

And, sixthly and lastly, We also say and do assert, that it is _the right_ of the commonalty of this realm to elect a _new_ House of Commons once in _every year_, according to the ancient and sacred laws of the land; because, whenever a Parliament continues in being for _a longer term_, very great numbers of the commonalty, who have arrived at years of manhood since the last election, and _therefore_ have a right to be actually represented in the House of Commons, are then _unjustly deprived_ of that right.

THE ART OF PROCURING PLEASANT DREAMS

INSCRIBED TO MISS [SHIPLEY], BEING WRITTEN AT HER REQUEST[140]

As a great part of our life is spent in sleep during which we have sometimes pleasant and sometimes painful dreams, it becomes of some consequence to obtain the one kind and avoid the other; for whether real or imaginary, pain is pain and pleasure is pleasure. If we can sleep without dreaming, it is well that painful dreams are avoided. If while we sleep we can have any pleasing dream, it is, as the French say, _autant de gagné_, so much added to the pleasure of life.

To this end it is, in the first place, necessary to be careful in preserving health, by due exercise and great temperance; for, in sickness, the imagination is disturbed, and disagreeable, sometimes terrible, ideas are apt to present themselves. Exercise should precede meals, not immediately follow them; the first promotes, the latter, unless moderate, obstructs digestion. If, after exercise, we feed sparingly, the digestion will be easy and good, the body lightsome, the temper cheerful, and all the animal functions performed agreeably. Sleep, when it follows, will be natural and undisturbed; while indolence, with full feeding, occasions nightmares and horrors inexpressible; we fall from precipices, are assaulted by wild beasts, murderers, and demons, and experience every variety of distress. Observe, however, that the quantities of food and exercise are relative things; those who move much may, and indeed ought to eat more; those who use little exercise should eat little. In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eat about twice as much as nature requires. Suppers are not bad, if we have not dined; but restless nights naturally follow hearty suppers after full dinners. Indeed, as there is a difference in constitutions, some rest well after these meals; it costs them only a frightful dream and an apoplexy, after which they sleep till doomsday. Nothing is more common in the newspapers, than instances of people who, after eating a hearty supper, are found dead abed in the morning.

Another means of preserving health, to be attended to, is the having a constant supply of fresh air in your bed-chamber. It has been a great mistake, the sleeping in rooms exactly closed, and in beds surrounded by curtains. No outward air that may come in to you is so unwholesome as the unchanged air, often breathed, of a close chamber. As boiling water does not grow hotter by longer boiling, if the particles that receive greater heat can escape; so living bodies do not putrefy, if the particles, so fast as they become putrid, can be thrown off. Nature expels them by the pores of the skin and the lungs, and in a free, open air they are carried off; but in a close room we receive them again and again, though they become more and more corrupt. A number of persons crowded into a small room thus spoil the air in a few minutes, and even render it mortal, as in the Black Hole at Calcutta. A single person is said to spoil only a gallon of air per minute, and therefore requires a longer time to spoil a chamber-full; but it is done, however, in proportion, and many putrid disorders hence have their origin. It is recorded of Methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may be supposed to have best preserved his health, that he slept always in the open air; for, when he had lived five hundred years, an angel said to him; "Arise, Methusalem, and build thee an house, for thou shalt live yet five hundred years longer." But Methusalem answered, and said, "If I am to live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to build me an house; I will sleep in the air, as I have been used to do." Physicians, after having for ages contended that the sick should not be indulged with fresh air, have at length discovered that it may do them good. It is therefore to be hoped, that they may in time discover likewise, that it is not hurtful to those who are in health, and that we may be then cured of the _aërophobia_, that at present distresses weak minds, and makes them choose to be stifled and poisoned, rather than leave open the window of a bed-chamber, or put down the glass of a coach.

Confined air, when saturated with perspirable matter, will not receive more; and that matter must remain in our bodies, and occasion diseases; but it gives some previous notice of its being about to be hurtful, by producing certain uneasiness, slight indeed at first, which as with regard to the lungs is a trifling sensation, and to the pores of the skin a kind of restlessness, which is difficult to describe, and few that feel it know the cause of it. But we may recollect, that sometimes on waking in the night, we have, if warmly covered, found it difficult to get asleep again. We turn often without finding repose in any position. This fidgettiness (to use a vulgar expression for want of a better) is occasioned wholly by an uneasiness in the skin, owing to the retention of the perspirable matter--the bed-clothes having received their quantity, and, being saturated, refusing to take any more. To become sensible of this by an experiment, let a person keep his position in the bed, but throw off the bed-clothes, and suffer fresh air to approach the part uncovered of his body; he will then feel that part suddenly refreshed; for the air will immediately relieve the skin, by receiving, licking up, and carrying off, the load of perspirable matter that incommoded it. For every portion of cool air that approaches the warm skin, in receiving its part of that vapour, receives therewith a degree of heat that rarefies and renders it lighter, when it will be pushed away with its burthen, by cooler and therefore heavier fresh air, which for a moment supplies its place, and then, being likewise changed and warmed, gives way to a succeeding quantity. This is the order of nature, to prevent animals being infected by their own perspiration. He will now be sensible of the difference between the part exposed to the air and that which, remaining sunk in the bed, denies the air access: for this part now manifests its uneasiness more distinctly by the comparison, and the seat of the uneasiness is more plainly perceived than when the whole surface of the body was affected by it.

Here, then, is one great and general cause of unpleasing dreams. For when the body is uneasy, the mind will be disturbed by it, and disagreeable ideas of various kinds will in sleep be the natural consequences. The remedies, preventive and curative, follow:

1. By eating moderately (as before advised for health's sake) less perspirable matter is produced in a given time; hence the bed-clothes receive it longer before they are saturated, and we may therefore sleep longer before we are made uneasy by their refusing to receive any more.

2. By using thinner and more porous bed-clothes, which will suffer the perspirable matter more easily to pass through them, we are less incommoded, such being longer tolerable.

3. When you are awakened by this uneasiness, and find you cannot easily sleep again, get out of bed, beat up and turn your pillow, shake the bed-clothes well, with at least twenty shakes, then throw the bed open and leave it to cool; in the meanwhile, continuing undrest, walk about your chamber till your skin has had time to discharge its load, which it will do sooner as the air may be dried and colder. When you begin to feel the cold air unpleasant, then return to your bed, and you will soon fall asleep, and your sleep will be sweet and pleasant. All the scenes presented to your fancy will be too of the pleasing kind. I am often as agreeably entertained with them, as by the scenery of an opera. If you happen to be too indolent to get out of bed, you may, instead of it, lift up your bed-clothes with one arm and leg, so as to draw in a good deal of fresh air, and by letting them fall force it out again. This, repeated twenty times, will so clear them of the perspirable matter they have imbibed, as to permit your sleeping well for some time afterwards. But this latter method is not equal to the former.

Those who do not love trouble, and can afford to have two beds, will find great luxury in rising, when they wake in a hot bed, and going into the cool one. Such shifting of beds would also be of great service to persons ill of a fever, as it refreshes and frequently procures sleep. A very large bed, that will admit a removal so distant from the first situation as to be cool and sweet, may in a degree answer the same end.

One or two observations more will conclude this little piece. Care must be taken, when you lie down, to dispose your pillow so as to suit your manner of placing your head, and to be perfectly easy; then place your limbs so as not to bear inconveniently hard upon one another, as, for instance, the joints of your ankles; for, though a bad position may at first give but little pain and be hardly noticed, yet a continuance will render it less tolerable, and the uneasiness may come on while you are asleep, and disturb your imagination. These are the rules of the art. But, though they will generally prove effectual in producing the end intended, there is a case in which the most punctual observance of them will be totally fruitless. I need not mention the case to you, my dear friend, but my account of the art would be imperfect without it. The case is, when the person who desires to have pleasant dreams has not taken care to preserve, what is necessary above all things,

A GOOD CONSCIENCE.

_NOTES_

References are to Franklin's _Writings_, edited by A. H. Smyth, 10 vols., 1905-1907.

[1] In addition to John Bigelow's "Historical Sketch of the Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Autograph Manuscript of Franklin's Memoirs of His Own Life," see Franklin's references to the _Autobiography_, in _Writings_, IX, 550-51, 559, 665, 675, 688; X, 50.

[2] The _New England Courant_, begun Aug. 21, 1721 (fourth American newspaper), was preceded by _Boston News-Letter_, April 24, 1704, _Boston Gazette_, Dec. 21, 1719, _American Weekly Mercury_, Dec. 22, 1719 (Philadelphia).

[3] Sir Wm. Keith (1680-1749), governor of Pennsylvania 1717-1726. He was dismissed by the Proprietaries in 1726; after casting his lot with the provincial assembly, he became "a tribune of the people" (_Dictionary of American Biography_, X, 292-3). It is not improbable that Franklin's antipathy for the Proprietaries was quickened by his contacts with Keith (even though he was the victim of the governor's gulling). See note 65 for "James Ralph."

[4] Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), botanist and physician, friend of Sydenham, Newton, Ray, and Boyle, made President of the Royal Society in 1727 (until 1741). See _Dictionary of National Biography_, LII, 379-80, and Franklin's letter to Sir Hans Sloane (London, June 2, 1725) in _Writings_, II, 52-3.

[5] Sir Hans Sloane contributed curiosities to Don Saltero's place, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Steele dedicated a _Tatler_ to this collector of gimcracks who wrote of his oddities:

"Monsters of all sorts here are seen Strange things in nature as they grew so; Some relicks of the Sheba queen, And fragments of the fam'd Bob Crusoe."

[6] See note 22.

[7] For an account of this sturdy colonial who learned Latin in order to read Newton's _Principia_, see E. P. Oberholtzer's _A Literary History of Philadelphia_, 57 ff.

[8] James Parton's _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_, I, 154-67 (chap. XIII) contains a good account of this junto of friends.

[9] See C. E. Jorgenson's "A Brand Flung at Colonial Orthodoxy" (in Bibliography, p. clxv above), for the deistic patterns of thought found in Keimer's newspaper.

[10] Consult C. H. Hart, "Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An Inquiry Demonstrating that She Was Deborah Read, Wife of Benjamin Franklin." (See Bibliography, p. clxiv above.) Also see _Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An Historical Conundrum, hitherto given up, now partly answered by Paul Leicester Ford_. With an afterword by John Clyde Oswald (New Rochelle, N. Y.: 1932).

[11] End of reprint of the original MS in the Henry E. Huntington Library. The selections that follow are from _Writings_, in which A. H. Smyth reprints the Bigelow transcript with indifferent accuracy. "Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near Paris, 1784." Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan urge Franklin to continue his life beyond 1730 (see _Writings_, I, 313-20). Vaughan promises that when finished "it will be worth all Plutarch's Lives put together" (p. 318).

[12] Dated July 1, 1733.

[13] "Thus far written at Passy, 1784." He continues his _Autobiography_ in Philadelphia in August, 1788.

[14] Consult C. E. Jorgenson's "The New Science in the Almanacs of Ames and Franklin" (see Bibliography, p. clxv, above).

[15] "Self-Denial Not the Essence of Virtue," _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No. 324, Feb. 18, 1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition, III, 233-5. "On True Happiness," _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No. 363, Nov. 20, 1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition, III, 238-9.

[16] Chosen Clerk of Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1736.

[17] See their correspondence in L. Tyerman's _Life of the Rev. George Whitefield_ (2 vols., London, 1876).

[18] J. Parton observes that this list may have been suggested by the word-catalogs in the _Gargantua_ (_Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_, I, 221). This mildly Rabelaisian series is later elaborated into "The Drinker's Dictionary" found in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No. 494, May 25, 1738; and reprinted by Parton, I, 222-5.

[19] When James Franklin was accused of mocking the clergy and unsettling the peace, he was refused license to print the _New England Courant_. So Benjamin, his apprenticeship indentures cancelled (though new ones were privately signed), became nominal editor. Consult C. A. Duniway, _The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_, 97-103; W. G. Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism_, chaps. I-II.

[20] Rules for his famous Junto, begun in 1727.

[21] No Part II has ever been found. A. H. Smyth suggests that this creed and liturgy was "Franklin's daily companion to the end of his life" (_Writings_, II, 92 note).

[22] When Samuel Keimer discovered that Franklin and Meredith were about to launch a newspaper, he began his _Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ (first issue, Dec. 28, 1728). Franklin and Joseph Breintnall wrote the _Busy-Body_ series for Bradford's _American Weekly Mercury_. Nos. I-V and VIII are by Franklin. See S. Bloore's "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library Company" (in Bibliography). That Keimer became infuriated, one can see in issues X, XII, and XVI of the _Universal Instructor ..._, in which _Busy-Body_ is scourged with both prose and poetry.

[23] Franklin purchases Keimer's _Universal Instructor ..._, deleting the first half of the title, which had appeared in small italic type.

[24] See _Autobiography_, _Writings_, I, 343.

[25] The use of scales suggests that Franklin probably knew Aristophanes' _The Frogs_. It is more likely, however that he was acquainted with the use of scales in contemporary witch trials. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for Jan., 1731, there is an account of a witch trial at "Burlington, in Pensilvania," in the course of which scales and the Bible were used. (See Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ [H. Ellis, ed., London, 1888], III, 35.) In the same magazine for Feb., 1759, is an account of a similar trial which took place in England (_ibid._, III, 22).

[26] In his 1734 issue of the _American Almanack_ Leeds observed that the account of his death was grossly exaggerated. Doubtless Franklin had read (Swift's) Bickerstaff's predictions of the death of Partridge.

[27] Compare Swift's _A Meditation upon a Broomstick_. Mug and broomstick are alike obliged to undergo the indignities of a "dirty wench." But more conclusively, the rhetoric and the ethical application to human affairs suggest Franklin's indebtedness to Swift.

[28] His parents' response is learned from a letter (not in Smyth) to his father: "Hon. Father, I received your kind letter of the 4th of May in answer to mine of April 13th. I wrote that of mine with design to remove or lessen the uneasiness you and my Mother appear'd to be under on account of my Principles, and it gave me great Pleasure when she declar'd in her next to me that she approved of my Letter and was satisfy'd with me." (Cited in J. F. Sachse, _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason_, 75.)

[29] Rev. George Whitefield, whom Franklin met in 1739.

[30] _M. T. Cicero's Cato Major or his Discourse of Old-Age: With Explanatory Notes._ Philadelphia. Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1744.

[31] "This letter is undated, but from Franklin's ecclesiastical mathematics it would appear to have been written on the tenth of March" (A. H. Smyth, _Writings_, II, 283 note).

[32] Excellent note in _Writings_, II, 463-4. Abbé Raynal published _Polly Baker_ in his _Histoire ..._ as an authentic document. Also Peter Annet printed this _jeu d'esprit_ in his _Social Bliss_ (1749). See N. L. Torrey, _Voltaire and the English Deists_, 187. A. H. Smyth confesses: "The mystery surrounding the authorship and first publication of the 'Speech' remains an impenetrable mystery. The style is altogether Franklinian, and the story seems unquestionably to have been written by him, but I have searched _The Pennsylvania Gazette_ in vain for it. It is not there."

[33] See "Introduction" in Wm. Pepper's Facsimile Reprint of the _Proposals_ (Philadelphia, 1931), vii-xvii. Although A. H. Smyth prints "Authors quoted in this Paper," he does not print the copious documentation Franklin included. The "Authors" listed are: Milton, Locke, Hutcheson, Obadiah Walker, M. Rollin, George Turnbull, "with some others."

[34] Printed as Appendix to Rev. R. Peters's _A Sermon on Education ..._, Philadelphia, Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1751.

[35] Samuel Croxall's (d. 1752) _Fables of Æsop and Others_, 1722. "The remarkable popularity of these fables, of which editions are still published, is to be accounted for by their admirable style. They are excellent examples of naïve, clear, and forcible English" (_Dictionary of National Biography_, XIII, 246-8).

[36] A part of Johnson's _Elementa Philosophica_, printed by Franklin in 1752. See H. and C. Schneider, eds., _Samuel Johnson, President of King's College. His Career and Writings_. 4 vols., New York, 1929.

[37] Fénelon's Telemachus. Chevalier de Ramsay's _Travels of Cyrus_. 2 vols. London, 1727 (2d ed.).

[38] For Franklin's awareness of Rabelais, see C. E. Jorgenson's "Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais," _Classical Journal_, XXIX, 538-40 (April, 1934).

[39] First published in [Clarke, Wm.] _Observations on the Late and present Conduct of the French, with Regard to their Encroachments upon the British Colonies in North America.... To which is added, wrote by another Hand; Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, Etc.,_ Boston, 1755. See L. J. Carey's _Franklin's Economic Views_, 46-60, for able survey of Franklin's theory of population and its relation to Malthus and Adam Smith. Also see L. C. Wroth, _An American Bookshelf_, 1755 (Philadelphia, 1934), 25-7.

[40] Hume having objected to the use of "pejorate" and "colonize," Franklin yields to him. "Since they are not in common use here [England], I give up as bad; for certainly in writings intended for persuasion and for general information, one cannot be too clear; and every expression in the least obscure is a fault" (_Writings_, IV, 82-4; Sept. 27, 1760).

[41] On complaint of John Bartram and Cadwallader Colden, Franklin deleted the concluding paragraphs in subsequent editions.

[42] Read before the Royal Society on Dec. 21, 1752. It was printed in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, December, 1752. Essentially because of his identification of electricity with lightning. Franklin in 1753 received the Copley medal and was in 1756 elected F. R. S.

[43] Mr. George S. Eddy has compiled a "Catalogue of Pamphlets, Once a Part of the Library of Benjamin Franklin, and now owned by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania," which one of the editors was permitted to use in MS form in the W. S. Mason Collection. One of the pamphlets is: _An Hymn to the Creator of the World, The Thoughts taken chiefly from Psal. CIV. To which is added in Prose An Idea of the Creator From His Works ..._ London, MDCCL. James Burgh. If most of the material in this issue (it is equally true of many of the other issues) is "borrowed," it none the less shows toward what ideas Franklin was sympathetic. Almanac makers on the whole were not characterized by a vast display of originality.

[44] Brackets in this letter are the result of A. H. Smyth's collation of two MSS.

[45] "These letters first appeared in _The London Chronicle_, February 6 and 8, 1766. They were published again in _The London Magazine_, February, 1766, and in _The Pennsylvania Chronicle_, January 16, 1769. They were republished in Almon's 'Remembrancer' in 1766." (A. H. Smyth, Writings, III, 231 note.)

After the failure of his _Albany Plan_ (for text see Writings, III, 197-226), Franklin, visiting Governor Shirley in Boston, was shown an English plan: it "was, that the governors of all the colonies, each attended by one or two members of his council, should assemble at some central town, and there concert measures of defense, raise troops, order the construction of forts, and draw on the British treasury for the whole expense; the treasury to be afterwards reimbursed _by a tax laid on the colonies by an act of Parliament_" (Parton, I, 340). The letters are a protest against this plan, a protest marking the first stages of the revolution.

[46] The second cousin and in 1758 the wife of William Greene, the second governor of the state of Rhode Island. See _Dictionary of American Biography_, VII, 576-7.

[47] Had made a tour inspecting post offices.

[48] Daughter of Samuel Ward, governor of Rhode Island.

[49] Franklin's daughter, born 1744.

[50] John Franklin died in Boston, January, 1756, age sixty-five.

[51] Daughter of John Franklin's second wife by a former marriage.

[52] See discussion (including bibliographical note) of Rev. Wm. Smith in Introduction, section on "Franklin's Theories of Education."

[53] From an exact reprint made by W. S. Mason from a copy of _Poor Richard_ (1758) in his collection. Lindsay Swift, in _Benjamin Franklin_, notes: "It may safely be said that it is the American classic _par excellence_, and shares with Mrs. Stowe's _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ the honour of having passed by translation into more other tongues than anything else thus far bearing the stamp of our national spirit" (pp. 33-4). A glance at Ford's _Franklin Bibliography_, 53-111, will suggest the vogue of this classic. See L. L. L.'s "The Way to Wealth: History and Editions," _Nation_, XCVI, 494-6 (May 15, 1913).

William Temple Franklin observes that _The Way to Wealth_ "is supposed to have greatly contributed to the formation of that _national character_ they [people of America] have since exhibited" (1818 ed. of Franklin's _Works_, III, 248).

[54] Stephen Potts and William Parsons were among the original members of the Junto (Writings, I, 299-300). See note on Parsons in _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXXIII, 340 (1909).

[55] Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782). See _Dictionary of National Biography_, XXVII, 232-4; A. F. Tytler's _Memoirs_ of Lord Kames, 3 vols., Edinburgh, 1814 (2d ed.). Franklin writes an interesting letter to Kames (London, Jan. 3, 1760) affirming that he rejoices "on the reduction of Canada; and this is not merely as I am a colonist, but as I am a Briton. I have long been of opinion, that the _foundations of the future grandeur and stability of the British empire lie in America_; and though, like other foundations, they are low and little seen, they are, nevertheless, broad and strong enough to support the greatest political structure human wisdom ever yet erected." Concerning his recent visit to Kames in Scotland he writes, "On the whole, I must say, I think the time we spent there, was six weeks of the _densest_ happiness I have met with in any part of my life ..." (_Writings_, IV, 3-7). In a letter (London, Nov., 1761) he praises Kames's _Introduction to the Art of Thinking_ and inquires "after your _Elements of Criticism_." He also tells Kames about his plans to write an _Art of Virtue_ (_ibid._, IV, 120-3). From Portsmouth, Aug. 17, 1762, he sends his farewell: "I am going from the old world to the new; and I fancy I feel like those, who are leaving this world for the next: grief at the parting; fear of the passage; hope of the future" (_ibid._, IV, 174).

[56] _The Interest of Great Britain Considered?_

[57] If ever written, not extant.

[58] Daughter of Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, Franklin's landlady at Number Seven, Craven Street, Strand, London. Miss Mary later married Dr. Hewson (see note 77, below).

[59] Dr. Thomas Bray's philanthropic schemes for education of Negroes is here referred to. See E. L. Pennington's "The Work of the Bray Associates in Pennsylvania" for Franklin's connection with this work. Mr. Wm. Strahan wished to prevail on Franklin to remove permanently to England. Franklin writes to Deborah, March 5, 1760 (_Writings_, IV, 9-10), offering two reasons for his veto of Strahan's plan: "One, my Affection to Pensilvania, and long established Friendships and other connections there: The other, your invincible Aversion to Crossing the Seas." The remainder of the letter indicates, however, that he was not dead to the hope that his wife would relent.

[60] For Franklin's friendship with Ingersoll consult L. H. Gipson's _Jared Ingersoll_. _A Study of American Loyalism in Relation to British Colonial Government_ (New Haven, 1920).

[61] Richard ("Omniscient") Jackson (d. 1787), member of Parliament, friend of the colonial cause. See _Dictionary of National Biography_, XXIX, 104-5.

[62] John Hawkesworth (1715?-1773). From 1752 to 1754 he edited the _Adventurer_, aided by Johnson, Bathurst, and Wharton. Edited Swift's writings in 1755, Swift's letters in 1766, and Cook's, Byron's, Carteret's, and Wallis's _Voyages_ in 1773. (_Dictionary of National Biography_, XXV, 203-5.)

[63] John Stanley (1714-1786). Blind organist who composed the music for Hawkesworth's oratorio, _Zimri_ (1760); and for his _The Fall of Egypt_ (1774). (_Dictionary of National Biography_, LIV, 74-5.)

[64] Benjamin West (1738-1820).

[65] James Ralph (d. 1762); see _Dictionary of National Biography_, XLVII, 221-4. His _Night: A Poem_ (London, 1728), dedicated to the Earl of Chesterfield, is a jejune imitation of Thomson's _Seasons_. He professes himself "a bigotted Admirer of the Antients, and all their Performances" (p. 197) in _The Touch-Stone ..._ (London, 1728): "My Design was, to animadvert upon the Standard Entertainments of the present Age, in Comparison with those of Antiquity" (p. 237). He aided Fielding in bringing out _The Champion_ (1741 ff.). Hallam characterized his _History of England_ (1744-1746) as one of the best accounts of the time of Charles II. Succinct survey of Ralph in M. K. Jackson's _Outlines of the Literary History of Colonial Pennsylvania_, 37-42.

[66] John Fothergill (1712-1780). See _Dictionary of National Biography_ XX, 66-8. See J. C. Lettsom's _Memoirs of John Fothergill_ (4th ed., London, 1786) for a full treatment of his friendship with Franklin. J. J. Abraham's _Lettsom, His Life, Times, Friends and Descendants_ (London, 1933, chap. XVIII), contains an account of the "conciliation negotiations" between Hyde and Dartmouth (representing Lord North) and Barclay and Fothergill (representing Franklin and the colonial cause). Only George III could not be persuaded. Also see R. H. Fox, _Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends ..._ (London, 1919).

For Franklin's quarrel with the Proprietors see _Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of Our Public Affairs_ (April 12, 1764, _Writings_, IV, 226-41). A month later he writes to Wm. Strahan: "Our petty publick affairs here are in the greatest confusion, and will never, in my opinion, be composed, while the Proprietary Government subsists" (_ibid._, IV, 246).

[67] His son William Franklin (1731-1813), governor of New Jersey, and wife. See _Dictionary of American Biography_, VI, 600-1.

[68] The barbarities of the "Paxton boys" virtually "threatened a civil war, which Franklin and others averted. This episode marks the beginnings of the predominance of the Ulster Scotch and other Calvinists in Pennsylvania affairs, replacing the old Quaker supremacy." (A. Nevins, _The American States During and After the Revolution_, 1775-1789, New York, 1924, 12.) This uprising, suggests Mr. Nevins, may be viewed as a fragment of that "struggle between East and West, Tidewater and Uplands" which "cut in the later Colonial period across the alignment between people and Crown" (_ibid._, 11).

[69] Pope's translation. Franklin omits lines not essential to the thought in a particular sequence.

[70] From Herodotus refracted through Rabelais? See C. E. Jorgenson's "Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais."

[71] For Franklin's activities in behalf of the repeal of the Stamp Act see especially _The Examination of Dr. B. F. Etc. in the British House of Commons, Relative to the Repeal of the American Stamp Act, in 1766_ (_Writings_, IV, 412-48).

[72] A. F. Tytler, in _Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Honourable Henry Home of Kames ..._ (2d ed., Edinburgh, 1814, II, 99, 112), suggests that this letter never reached its destination, but "was in all probability intercepted." Brackets in excerpt from letter to Lord Kames, June 2, 1765, pp. 318-21 above, are the result of Smyth's collation of Tytler's and Sparks's versions.

[73] Sir John Pringle (1707-1782). Physician (student of Albinus and Boerhaave) whose "great work in life was the reform of military medicine and sanitation" (_Dictionary of National Biography_, XLVI, 386-8). From 1772 to 1778 he was President of the Royal Society. In 1778 he was made one of the eight foreign members of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. Since Pringle was physician to the queen, Parton thinks it probable that he was used by Franklin "to forward to the king such papers and documents as tended to show how loyal to his person and his throne were the vast majority of the American colonists" (_op. cit._, I, 506). George III, having sided with Dr. Wilson who championed _blunt_ lightning rods, asked Pringle to use his influence to have the Royal Society rescind its opinion in favor of _pointed_ ones. Pringle's answer "was to the effect that duty as well as inclination would always induce him to execute his majesty's wishes to the utmost of his power: but 'Sire,' said he, 'I cannot reverse the laws and operations of nature'" (_ibid._, II, 217 note).

[74] The full title of Dupont de Nemours's work is _Physiocratie, ou constitution naturelle du gouvernement le plus avantageux au genre humain_. 2 vols. Leyden and Paris, 1767, 1768. Peter Templeman (1711-1769) was Secretary of the London Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce and in 1762 corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris (_Dictionary of National Biography_, LVI, 53-4). "Ami des hommes" is the Marquis de Mirabeau (1715-1789) who wrote _L'Ami des hommes, ou traité de la population_. [1756] 5th ed., Hamburg, 1760, 4 vols. The "crowning work" of the Physiocrats is François Quesnay's _Tableau économique_. Published by the British Economic Association, London, 1894.

Dupont's letter of May 10, 1768, to which Franklin's is an answer, is printed in _Writings_, V, 153-4. From London (Oct. 2, 1770) Franklin writes to Dupont: "Would to God I could take with me [to America] Messrs. du Pont, du Bourg, and some other French Friends with their good Ladies! I might then, by mixing them with my Friends in Philadelphia, form a little happy Society that would prevent my ever wishing again to visit Europe" (_Writings_, V, 282). Elision marks in letter of July 28 are Franklin's own.

[75] John Alleyne. See his The _Legal Degrees of Marriage Stated and Considered ..._, London, 1774. The second edition (London, 1775) includes Franklin's letter to Alleyne, Appendix, pp. 1-2.

[76] Compare _To the Printer of the London Public Advertiser_ (August 25, 1768; _Writings_, V, 162-5): "And what are we to gain by this war, by which our trade and manufactures are to be ruined, our strength divided and diminished, our debt increased, and our reputation, as a generous nation, and lovers of liberty, given up and lost? Why, we are to convert millions of the King's loyal subjects into rebels, for the sake of establishing a new claimed power in P---- to tax a distant people, whose abilities and circumstances they cannot be acquainted with, who have a constitutional power of taxing themselves; who have never refused to give us voluntarily more than we can ever expect to wrest from them by force; and by our trade with whom we gain millions a year!" (_Ibid._, 164-5.)

[77] William Hewson (1739-1774). He was married to Miss Stevenson in 1770. Hewson received the Copley medal in 1769 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1770. (_Dictionary of National Biography_, XXVI, 312-3.)

[78] Daughter of Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, who wrote _A Speech Intended to have been Spoken on the Bill for Altering the Charters of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay_. New York. Ed. 1774. (Cf. _Writings_, I, 164-6.) Urging that "the true art of government consists in NOT GOVERNING TOO MUCH" (cited in Parton, _op. cit._, I, 549), Shipley lent sanction to colonial resistance. Franklin writes to Thomas Cushing (London, Oct. 6, 1774): "The Bishop of St. Asaph's intended speech, several Copies of which I send you, and of which many Thousands have been printed and distributed here has had an extraordinary Effect, in changing the Sentiments of Multitudes with regard to America" (_Writings_, VI, 250).

Mungo was a "fine large grey Squirrel" which Deborah sent to her husband (_ibid._, VI, 16).

[79] Printed in _Experiments and Observations on Electricity_. London, 1769.

[80] Printed in _Éphémérides du Citoyen_ (edited by Dupont after 1767), periodical of the French Physiocrats; and in the _London Chronicle_ in 1766.

[81] J. Parton observes that this brilliant illustration of Franklin's use of Swiftian hoax and irony "was the nine-days' talk of the kingdom" (_op. cit._, I, 518).

[82] See R. M. Bache, in Bibliography. In addition, article in New York _Times_, Dec. 3, 1896, and notes in E. P. Buckley's "The Library of a Philadelphia Antiquarian," _Magazine of American History_, XXIV, 388-98 (1890). Mr. Buckley reviews the making of the prayer book; "Column after column of the calendar disappeared with a single stroke of the pen--nearly the whole of the Exhortation, a portion of the Confession, all the Absolution, nearly all the Venite, exultemus Domino. Likewise, the Te Deum, and all the Canticle. Of the Creed all he retained was the following: 'I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting, Amen'" (_ibid._, 393). Franklin collaborated with Lord Le Despencer in this work. For Franklin's own comments see _Writings_, IX, 358-9, 556. Smyth brackets parts of the _Preface_ found in an incomplete MS draft.

[83] Date unknown. For history of this hoax see _Writings_, I, 179-81, and L. S. Livingston, _Benjamin Franklin's Parable against Persecution_. _With an Account of the Early Editions_ (Cambridge, Mass., 1916).

[84] Date unknown.

[85] This letter was never sent.

[86] A. H. Smyth thinks that the friend might have been David Hartley.

[87] A photostat in the W. S. Mason Collection from the Huntington Library gives the date as July 20, 1776.

[88] Time and place of first publication unknown. For an interesting discussion of this piece, see M. C. Tyler's _Literary History of the American Revolution_, II, 367-80. "A British magazine of 1786, says that there was then a transfer made at the Bank of England of £471,000 to Mr. Van Otten on account of the Landgrave of Hesse, for so much due for Hessian soldiers lost in the American war, at £30 a head, thus making the total number lost to be 15,700 men." (Cited in J. F. Watson, _Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania_, Philadelphia, 1857, II, 294.)

[89] He writes to M. Lith (April 6, 1777); "If I were to practise giving Letters of Recommendation to Persons of whose Character I knew no more than I do of yours, my Recommendations would soon be of no Authority at all" (_Writings_, VII, 39); and to George Washington (June 13, 1777), apropos of foreign applicants for American posts: "I promise nothing" (VII, 59). In another letter (Oct. 7, 1777) he admitted that "the Numbers we refuse" are "incredible" (VII, 66). Elsewhere he confesses that "These Applications are my perpetual Torment" (VII, 81). Consult E. Repplier, "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor" (in Bibliography).

[90] This controversy evoked the following verse:

"While you, great George, for safety hunt, And sharp conductors change for blunt, The Empire's out of joint. Franklin a wiser course pursues, And all your thunder fearless views, By keeping to the _point_."

(Cited in Parton, _op. cit._, II, 217.)

[91] Son of the philosopher, David Hartley. Hartley the younger (1732-1813) met Franklin about 1759. A Lord Rockingham man, he opposed the war with the colonies. He and Franklin drew up the Peace Treaty of 1783. See _Dictionary of National Biography_, XXV, 68-9.

[92] A. H. Smyth thinks that this dialogue was "written soon after Franklin's arrival in France" (_Writings_, VII, 82 note).

[93] A Charles de Weissenstein included in his letter from Brussels, June 16, 1778, a "Plan of Reconciliation," plans for a future American government: he wished to have a secret conference with Franklin (_Writings_, VII, 166; Smyth note).

[94] _Arcana imperii detecta: or, divers select cases in Government_, London, 1701. [A trans. of _Disquisitiones politicae_ by Mark Zuirius Boxhorn.] (A. H. Smyth note, _Writings_, VII, 169.)

[95] Franklin writes to William Carmichael (Passy, June 17, 1780): "The Moulin Joli is a little island in the Seine about two leagues hence, part of the country-seat of another friend [Claude-Henri Watelet], where we visit every summer, and spend a day in the pleasing society of the ingenious, learned, and very polite persons who inhabit it. At the time when the letter was written, all conversations at Paris were filled with disputes about the music of Gluck and Picini, a German and Italian musician, who divided the town into violent parties. A friend of this lady [Madame Brillon] having obtained a copy of it, under a promise not to give another, did not observe that promise; so that many have been taken, and it is become as public as such a thing can well be, that is not printed; but I could not dream of its being heard of at Madrid! The thought was partly taken from a little piece of some unknown writer, which I met with fifty years since in a newspaper, and which the sight of the Ephemera brought to my recollection" (_Writings_, VIII, 100). A. H. Smyth observes that it is generally thought that the Ephemera is a reworking of an essay on "Human Vanity" which appeared in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Dec. 4, 1735. Also see M. K. Jackson, _op. cit_; 75; and L. S. Livingston, _Franklin and His Press at Passy_ (New York, 1914), 30. Compare Wm. Bartram's similar description of Ephemera in his _Travels_ ed. by M. Van Doren (An American Bookshelf), New York, 1928, 88-9. See H. H. Clark's Introduction to _Poems of Freneau_ (New York, 1929), xlvii-lviii, for provocative discussion of the degree to which naturalism may motivate an obsession with transience, mutability, and death.

[96] On Oct. 22, 1779, Bache wrote to Franklin explaining that Lee and Izard objected to his employing William Temple Franklin, his grandson.

[97] Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769-1798), son of Richard Bache, Franklin's son-in-law. See B. Faÿ, _The Two Franklins: Fathers of American Democracy_ (Boston, 1933). See _The Diary of B. F. B. Aug. 1, 1782, to Sept. 14, 1785. Trans. from the French by William Duane_, 1865 (in W. S. Mason Collection). A charming self-portrait of a precocious lad who is grief-stricken when rain prevents him from going to the mountains to witness M. du Villard's experiments, who follows avidly the ascensions of "aërostatic globes," who takes M. Charles's course in natural philosophy. Franklin had Didot, the master type founder, come to Passy to teach Ben how "to cast printing types." On July 12, 1785, he records the patriarch's exodus from Passy: "A mournful silence reigned around him and was only interrupted by sobs."

[98] Barbeu Dubourg (June 28, Paris) wrote to Franklin, "sending Franklin's manuscript on 'The Morals of Chess,' of which he has retained a copy; expects to have it printed shortly in _le Journal de Paris_; hopes to follow it with a few reflections of his own on the subject." (_Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society_, III, 102.) [XIV, 218.] Brackets in selection indicate Smyth's collation of incomplete MS copy and printed version.

[99] _The Parable against Persecution._

[100] Consult _Benjamin Franklin's Story of the Whistle, with an Introductory Note_ by L. S. Livingston, and _A Bibliography to 1820_ (Cambridge, Mass., 1922).

[101] Matthew Arnold in _Sweetness and Light_ appraises Franklin as "a man the most considerable, ... whom America has yet produced." Missing the irony of Franklin's burlesque, however, Arnold exclaimed after reading the _Proposed Version_: "After all, there is a stretch of humanity beyond Franklin's victorious good sense!"

[102] Two days before, he wrote to Richard Price: "We make daily great Improvements in _Natural_, there is one I wish to see in _Moral_ Philosophy; the Discovery of a Plan, that would induce and oblige Nations to settle their Disputes without first Cutting one another's Throats" (_Writings_, VIII, 9). One remembers Franklin's classic utterance (in a letter to David Hartley, Passy, Feb. 2, 1780): "There hardly ever existed such a thing as a bad Peace, or, a good War" (_ibid._, VIII, 5; also see VIII, 506). An interesting comment on Franklin's devotion to peace may be found in _A Project of Universal and Perpetual Peace_. Written by Pierre-André Gargaz, a former Galley-Slave, and printed by Benjamin Franklin at Passy in the Year 1782. Here reprinted, together with an English Version, Introduction, and Typographical Note by George Simpson Eddy, New York, 1922.

[103] Sainte-Beuve asks, "Is not that a comparison which, by the sweetness of its inspiration and the breadth of its imagery, recalls the Homeric comparisons of the Odyssey?" (_Portraits of the Eighteenth Century, Historic and Literary_, 366.)

[104] The famous Orientalist, later Sir William Jones. Married Georgiana Shipley. In 1779 Jones attempted unofficially to bring about a reconciliation between the colonies and England. See Parton, _op. cit._, II, 333-4.

[105] _Essay on the Population of England_, 2d ed., 1780.

[106] London Coffee House.

[107] Madame Helvétius. Consult A. Guillois, _Le salon de Madame Helvétius_ (Paris, 1894).

[108] Georgiana Shipley (in a letter, May 6, 1781) acknowledges his _Dialogue with the Gout_ and this piece. See _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society_, III, 371 (XXII, 8). This delightful letter is printed in Sparks, IX, 25; Bigelow, VII, 230; and Stifler, "_My Dear Girl_" ... (New York, 1927). Smyth brackets a passage, not in the MS draft, which is printed in the W. T. Franklin edition.

[109] Date uncertain. A. H. Smyth notes that since Miss Shipley replied May 6, 1781 (cf. note 108), it was probably written between January and May, 1781. MS incomplete at both beginning and end.

[110] For Hartley's letter see _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society_, III, 398 (XXII, 162), Sept. 26, 1781. From Passy (Jan. 15, 1782) Franklin writes to Hartley: "Whatever may be the Fate of our poor Countries, let you and I die as we have lived, in Peace with each other" (_Writings_, VIII, 361).

[111] Excellent summary of the effect of this hoax may be found in L. S. Livingston, _Franklin and His Press at Passy_, 59-67. Walpole wrote to the Countess of Ossory, Oct. 1, 1782; "Have you seen in the papers an excellent letter of Paul Jones to Sir Joseph York? _Elle nous dit bien des verités!_ I doubt poor Sir Joseph cannot answer them! Dr. Franklin himself, I should think, was the author. It is certainly written by a first-rate pen, and not by a common man-of-war" (_ibid._, 62). A. H. Smyth quotes Wm. Temple Franklin's note: "The deception intended by this supposed 'Supplement,' (which was very accurately imitated with respect to printing, paper, the insertion of advertisements, etc.,) was, that, by transmitting it to England, it might actually be taken for what it purported to be" (_Writings_, VIII, 437). To Charles W. F. Dumas, Franklin writes (Passy, May 3, 1782): "Enclosed I send you a few copies of a paper that places in a striking light, the English barbarities in America, particularly those committed by the savages at their instigation. The _Form_ may perhaps not be genuine, but the _substance_ is truth; the number of our people of all kinds and ages, murdered and scalped by them being known to exceed that of the invoice. Make any use of them you may think proper to shame your Anglomanes, but do not let it be known through what hands they come" (_ibid._, 448). Brackets are Franklin's.

[112] William Cowper. See _Correspondence of William Cowper_, ed. by Thomas Wright, I, 479, for his note that Thornton, a merchant, had sent Franklin his poems.

[113] Henri-Léonard-Jean-Baptiste Bertin (1719-1792).

[114] President of the Royal Society (1743-1820). See _Dictionary of National Biography_, III, 129-33.

[115] Dr. Pierre-Marie-Auguste Broussonet (1761-1807) met Sir Joseph Banks in 1782.

[116] A. H. Smyth believes that this was "written in September, 1782" (_Writings_, VIII, 603 note). It was often translated and may well have drawn many immigrants to the colonies.

[117] Probably written after signing of the peace treaty. Compare his letter to Richard Oswald, Passy, Nov. 26, 1782 (_Writings_, VIII, 621-7); and his _The Retort Courteous_ (_ibid._, X, 105-16).

[118] Sir Charles Blagden (1748-1820), physician and physicist, friend to Sir Joseph Banks, F. R. S., in 1772. (_Dictionary of National Biography_, V, 155-6.)

[119] B. Faÿ in "Franklin et Mirabeau collaborateurs" (see Bibliography) shows that Franklin furnished information for _Considerations on the Order of Cincinnatus ..._ (London ed., 1785). Mirabeau thunders, "Must we then own, with the enemies of freedom, that the noble ideas of Sidney, Locke, Rousseau, and others, who have indulged dreams of political happiness, may be the object of a sublime theory, but cannot possibly be reduced into practice?" (Mirabeau, _op. cit._, 73.) The members of the order will in time become "Gothic tyrants" (_ibid._, 14). He warns America against paralleling the decadence of Rome (_ibid._, 25), suggesting a Rousseauistic equalitarianism. Other references to Franklin's antipathy for the Order are _Writings_, IX, 222, 269-70. Smyth observes that "passages in brackets are not found in the draft in Library of Congress."

[120] The Quinquet lamp was invented in 1784. A. H. Smyth suggests that March 20, 1784, is the exact date of composition, from Franklin's sentence, "In the six months between the 20th of March and the 20th of September...."

[121] Son of Cotton Mather. Died June 27, 1785.

[122] Benjamin Vaughan (1751-1835), unitarian, pro-colonial, and a Lord Shelburne man. He edited the first collective edition of Franklin's works in London (1779). See _Dictionary of National Biography_, LVIII, 158-9.

[123] See _Writings_, IX, 264. Sparks (II, 383-426) reprints George Whately's _Principles of Trade_. Elision marks indicate that parts of this letter are omitted.

[124] A. H. Smyth quotes W. T. Franklin, who observes that the book was Paley's _Moral Philosophy_ (_Writings_, IX, 488 note).

[125] A. H. Smyth thinks _The Retort Courteous_ (_ibid._, IX, 489 note).

[126] At Rancocas, New Jersey.

[127] Sparks (X, 281-2) prints this letter as to Thomas Paine. Smyth, suggesting that Paine's "deistical writings" were not done before 1786, denies that Paine is the correspondent. H. H. Clark has argued shrewdly (and with evidence) that since part of _The Age of Reason_ was written before 1781 (this M. C. Conway in his _Life of Paine_ admits), it is not implausible that Franklin's letter was directed to Paine. ("An Historical Interpretation of Thomas Paine's Religion," _University of California Chronicle_, XXXV, 84, 1933.)

[128] Since Franklin was acquainted with John Ray's _Wisdom of God ..._, it is not improbable that he was acquainted with his aphorisms published in 1670 (Cambridge), in which this wit occurs. It is also found in Wollaston's _Religion of Nature Delineated_, but as in Ray, in crude form: "It is as when a man spits at heaven, and the spittle falls back upon his own face" (1725 ed., 132). Remembering that Franklin helped set up this piece while working for Samuel Palmer in 1725, his use of it may not be wholly fortuitous.

[129] His speech (delivered June 11, 1787) _On the Proportion of Representation and Votes_ (_Writings_, IX, 595-9) shows how with gift for compromise he helped to bring together the large and small states through his dual scheme of equal and proportional representation in the Senate and House.

[130] Compare _Writings_, IX, 659. He observes to Dupont de Nemours (June 9, 1788), "The wisest must agree to some unreasonable things, that reasonable ones of more consequence may be obtained." Brackets are Franklin's.

[131] Clergyman of Boston and friend of Mrs. Mecom, Franklin's sister. Elision marks indicate that parts of this letter are omitted.

[132] Charles Carroll (1737-1832). He had accompanied Franklin on his Canada commission. See _Dictionary of American Biography_, III, 522-3.

[133] Compare _Writings_, IX, 636-9.

[134] Compare _Writings_, X, 60-3, 127-9.

[135] He writes (Nov. 2, 1789) to Benjamin Vaughan: "The revolution in France is truly surprising. I sincerely wish it may end in establishing a good constitution for that country. The mischiefs and troubles it suffers in the operation, however, give me great concern" (_Writings_, X, 50). He confesses (Nov. 13, 1789) to Jean Baptiste Le Roy: "The voice of _Philosophy_ I apprehend can hardly be heard among those tumults" (_ibid._, 69).

[136] Rev. Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), member of the American Philosophical Society (1768), theologian and Newtonian scientist, President of Yale (1778-1795). For the activities of this versatile clergyman, see his _Literary Diary_, ed. by F. B. Dexter (3 vols., New York, 1901), and I. M. Calder (ed.), _Letters and Papers of Ezra Stiles_ (New Haven, 1933). Also see Abiel Holmes's _Life of Ezra Stiles_ (Boston, 1798).

[137] Dr. Stuber's note, cited in _Writings_, X, 86-7: "Dr. Franklin's name, as President of the Abolition Society, was signed to the memorial presented to the House of Representatives of the United States, on the 12th of February, 1789, praying them to exert the full extent of power vested in them by the Constitution, in discouraging the traffic of the human species. This was his last public act. In the debates to which this memorial gave rise, several attempts were made to justify the trade. In the _Federal Gazette_ of March 25th, 1790, there appeared an essay, signed _Historicus_, written by Dr. Franklin, in which he communicated a Speech, said to have been delivered in the Divan of Algiers, in 1687, in opposition to the prayer of the petition of a sect called _Erika_, or Purists, for the abolition of piracy and slavery. This pretended African speech was an excellent parody of one delivered by Mr. Jackson, of Georgia. All the arguments, urged in favour of negro slavery, are applied with equal force to justify the plundering and enslaving of Europeans. It affords, at the same time, a demonstration of the futility of the arguments in defence of the slave-trade, and of the strength of mind and ingenuity of the author, at his advanced period of life. It furnishes, too, a no less convincing proof of his power of imitating the style of other times and nations, than his _Parable against Persecution_. And as the latter led many persons to search the Scriptures with a view to find it, so the former caused many persons to search the bookstores and libraries for the work from which it was said to be extracted." According to the _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XX, 50, the memorial was presented in 1790.

[138] Date of composition uncertain. Printed as pamphlet in 1784.

[139] Date unknown.

[140] A. H. Smyth dates this piece as during the summer of 1786 (_Writings_, X, 131-2 note). Sparks and Bigelow had conjecturedly dated it 1772.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

5. Minor punctuation corrections have been made without comment and
include missing or misplaced periods, opening or closing quotation
marks and parentheses, apostrophes, hypens, etc., however no
punctuation has been added, a specific example being on:

p. 281, In the speech of "Father Abraham", p. 281-288, added closing
quote at end of speech to match opening quote at beginning, however
intervening paragraphs are without quote punctuation in the original
and have been retained so in this e-text.

6. Minor spacing corrections have been made as follows: