Benjamin Franklin Printer

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
PRINTER

BKNJAMIN FRANK UN,
11706 lygt)

An idealized intcrpivtuiiort of the portrait lv J. S, J)uplmis,
Reproduced from an engraving by A. Knuisc, in the possession of the author,

BENJAMIN:- FRANKLIN
PRINTER.

BY
JOBN CLYDE OSWALD.

Published by
Doubleday, Page & Company

for

The Associated Advertising Clubs

of the World.

1917.

Copyrifit, ipi;, by
THE ASSOCIATED ADVERTISING Cunss OF THE WORLD

All ri$\l\ wm,W, including Midi of

trdntltitton into jaw ii\n hinmttiiy^

imludini ihc Sfanduitwitia

Edgar Pahs Smith
Provost of the University of

Pennsylvania

Educator i Chemist ? Publicist,
Creative Leader of American Thought

this book is dedicated

in grateful appreciation of

his cordial and abundant hospitality

to the delegates to the
Twelfth Annual Convention of the
Associated Advertising Clubs
of the World.

To the Judicious and Impartial

READER.

Courteous Reader ',

<jjli8li8&NE of my day dreams contained the hope
6 O Sjl t " iat business cares might some day relax
^ISHS! sufficiently to permit devoting the time
necessary to a careful performance of what I felt
would be an agreeable task, the writing of a book
on the life of that many-sided man, Benjamin
Franklin, dealing primarily with his activities as a
printer, using the word in the sense which it pos-
sessed in his time, when it included printing, ed-
iting, publishing, and advertising.

Many years ago I began to collect on a modest
scale what is known as Frankliniana books re-
lating to Franklin's history, editions of his writings,
specimens of the product of his press, reproductions
of his portraits, etc., and as the collection grew my
wonder increased that although Benjamin Frank-
lin himself placed so much emphasis upon that
part of his activities which related to printing,
among all the published books about him and his

viii To the

accomplishments there was not one devoted to that
phase of his career.

Reference to this fact was made at the annual
banquet In honor of the anniversary of Franklin's
birth of the Poor Richard Club in Philadelphia,
January 17, 1916, in an address by Mr. Herbert
S. Houston, president of the Associated Adver-
tising Clubs of the World, Mr. 1 louston said that
the year 1916, because of the holding of the twelfth
annual convention of the Associated Advertising
Clubs in Philadelphia, with the buildings and
grounds of the University of Pennsylvania, which
Benjamin Franklin founded, as the scene of its
sessions,, would be a particularly appropriate time
for the publication of such a book, and he did me
the honor to nominate me for its authorship*

Other tasks were in hand that prevented imme-
diate adoption of the suggestion, so that; the work
could not be promptly begun, and consequently it
has therefore had to be performed somewhat hur-
riedly in order to keep the promise as to date of its
publication, a statement I make because of a regret-
ful appreciation of the fact that it could have been
much better clone.

As to the physical structure of the volume, it
has been the aim to make it conform typograph-
ically somewhat nearly to the style of the books
printed by Benjamin Franklin, lie had positive
ideas as to bookmaking, as will be seen in the quo-

To the READER. . ix

tations from his writings, and we have endeavored
to produce a book that would meet with his ap-
proval could he have opportunity to pass judgment
upon it.

Grateful acknowledgment for invaluable service
in connection with the preparation of the book is
made to Messrs. Henry L. Bullen, of Newark, N.
J. ? Walter Gilliss and Edmund G. Gress of New
York, and Dr. William J. Campbell and Harrie A,
Bell of Philadelphia.

The AUTHOR.

The

CONTENTS.

3-

4.

S-
6.

7-

8.

9-

10.

ii.

12.

*3-
14.

16.

I. The Colonies at the Beginning of
the i$th Century and the First American
Printers. Page I

Toung Franklin as a "Printer's Devil.'* 12
The First "Tourist" Printer. 29

In Samuel Keimer's Shop in Philadelphia. 33
^Journeyman Printer in London. 40

A Plan of Life. 50

In Philadelphia Again as Foreman of

Keimer's Shop. 58

The New Firm of Franklin and Meredith. 6 1
Publisher and Bookseller. 6 8

The Pennsylvania Gazette. 95

Poor Richard's Almanack. 1 10

As a Business Man. 129

Partnerships . 138

Typefounder. 15

The Private Press at Passy. 1 6 1

Advertiser and Propagandist. 1 66

xll The CONTENTS.

17. The First American Humorist. 178

1 8. Literary Style* 186

19. Literary Works* ig

20. Literary Friends* 213

2 1 . ST/itf Z/0W of Books. 219

22. Public Service* 225

23. <tf O ur ** Benjamin Franklin* 232
Index 24 1

The

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Benjamin Franklin's Portrait Frontispiece.
Title Page of the "Booke of Psalmes" Page 7
Record of Benjamin Franklin* s Birth. 13

Title Page by James Franklin. 19

"The New England C our ant" 2223

"TAe Independent Whig! 9 36

Title Page of "The Religion of Nature Delin-
eated " 44
Franklin's Diagram for Daily Conduct. 55
Title Page of "The History of the Quakers" 63
First and Fourth Page of the "Philadelphischc
ZeitungJ* 70-71

Title Page of "The Psalms of David:'
Title Page of"Cato*s Moral Distichs"
Title Page of "A Treaty of Friendship /'
First Page of "The American Magazine"
First Page of "The General Magazine"
Title Page of "A Catalogue of Books:'
Title Page of "A Letter from the Rev. Mr.
Whitefieldr

73
74

75
76

77
79

80

xlv The ILLUSTRATIONS.

Title Page of "A Collection of All the Laws" 82

"The Yearly Verses of the Printer's Lad." 83

Title Page of"M. T. Cicero's Cato Major ^ 85

Index Page from "The Cato Major.** 86

First Reading Page of "The Cato Major" 87
Pages Showing Type Arrangement of "The

Cato Major r " 88-89
"Bill to* Thomas Pennfor Printing. 9 1
Bill to the Library Company for Printing. 9 1
Parker's Inventory. 9^93
First Page of"T/ie Universal Instructor." 96
First Page of "The Pennsylvania Gazette" 99
Advertisements in "The Pennsylvania Ga-
zette" 104
Broadside Advertising the Wonderful New

Microscope. 105

"Kakndarium Penmihianicme?* 1 1 \

"Apollo Anglic anus" i 14

Title Page of ^ Poor Richard* s Almanack" \ \ 6

Inside Page of u Poor Richard's Almanack" 125

Pocket Edition of Poor Richards Almanack* " l^J
Franklin's Designs for Paper Money. i 341 35

Type Used at Passy. 1 5 3
Initials Cast from Matrices Owned hy Frank*

, tin. 156

The ILLUSTRATIONS, xv

Type Specimen S/ieets Issued by 'Benjamin

Franklin Bache. 158-159

First Page of a Pamphkt Printed at Passy. 163
Title Page of u y/ Modest Enquiry into Paper

Currency** 169
Title Ptfge of "Plain Truth:' 171
Supplement to " ,77/6' Boston Independent Chron-
icle" 173
Titk Page of "Cool Thoughts on Public Af-
fairs!" 175
T/w first American Cartoon. 177
Plug Designed by Franklin. 1 77
First Ptige of The Spectator" 1 8 9
Two Verses w Franklin's Reformed Alphabet* 194
Title Page of "Experiments and Observations

on Electricity" 206
Title Page qft'Oeuvres de M. Franklin" 2 o8
Title Pifge of First Edition of the "Autobio-
graphy?* 210
Title Page, of Volume by James Ralph. 2 1 4
27&' "Tou (ire now my enemy" Letter, 217
Titk Page of Sermon Acknowledging Frank-
lin's Gift of Books. 223

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
PRINTER.

CHAP. I.

The Colonies at the Beginning of the

Eighteenth Century and the First

American Printers.

beginning of the Eighteenth Century,
$i? A ^ ten Colonies stretched up and down the
r S"S' c 28& Atlantic Coast in North America, which,
although they had been settled by representatives
of different European nations, all acknowledged the
sovereignty of Queen Anne of England, who,
lately come to the throne, was soon to leave it to
give place to that long line of German Georges
that was to play so considerable a part in the
affairs of the New World. England claimed
greater dominion in North America than the
narrow fringe of settlements along the Coast,
but was actually in possession westward, only to a

2 The First American Printers.

line roughly marked by the Allegheny Mountains;
farther to the west was New France, and to the
south and southwest was New Spain.

Among the colonists, in addition to the English,
were Scotch, Irish, Welsh, French, Dutch, Ger-
mans, Swedes, Danes, and Spaniards. The wealth-
iest of the English settlers lived in the south,
particularly in Virginia, where had settled the
Royalists, or Cavaliers, driven from England by the
successes in the civil wars of Oliver Cromwell and
his Roundheads. Contrasted with these aristo-
crats were the Georgians, brought over a few years
after the opening of the century from English
debtor prisons by Oglethorpe, and the Puritans
of New England, with their austere religious
tenets and disregard of opportunities to lay up
stores of this world's goods* In Virginia one must
hold property in order to exercise the citizen's right
to vote; in New England he must be a member of
the Church.

Most of the denominations and creeds in relig-
ion were represented. In Virginia to be saved
from eternal damnation meant conformity to the
rules of the established church, while the Puritan
in New England, having fled from what he re-
garded as persecution by that same ecclesiastical
institution, placed his reliance principally upon the
teachings of the Bible; and the Quaker largely
disregarded both and believed that one could find

The First American Printers. 3

a solution of his spiritual problems only in the
dictates of Ms own heart.

On the bleak shores of New England the diffi-
culties arising from repellent natural conditions
inculcated in the people habits of industry and
frugality. In the south, where nature was more
generous in the distribution of her favors, large
plantations were operated by wealthy owners, and
luxury and indolence were in evidence.

The population one hundred years after the
landing of the first shipload of colonists on an
island in the James River, in 1607, is not known.
No census was ever taken, and the estimates vary
between one half million and one million souls.

There were three large towns Boston, New
York, and Philadelphia, naming them in the order
of their size. Even their population cannot defi-
nitely be given. Cotton Mather, who would
seem to be a credible witness on most subjects,
said, of the population of Boston, two years be-
fore the opening of the century, that it was "more
than eighteen thoufand." Herman Moll, pub-
lisher of an "Atlas Geographus," who ought also
to be a good witness, said in 1719: "Bofton is
reckoned the biggeft Town in America, except
fome which belong to the Spaniards. . . , Its
inhabitants are reckoned about 12,000." Cap-
tain Nathaniel Uring, in bis "Voyages and Trav-
els/' published in 1726, said: "The Town is near

4 The First American Printers,

two miles in length and In fome places three-
quarters of a mile broad, in which are reckon *d

4,000 houfes; moft of them are built with brick
and have about 18,000 inhabitants."

In 1700 New York contained less than six
thousand population, of whom nearly one half
were negroes. Some aristocratic families are said
to have owned as many as fifty slaves* New York,
although having been under English rule for nearly
half a century, was still a Dutch town and most
of the sights and sounds were Dutch: gable-end
houses, streets that were little more than narrow,
crooked lanes, cobblestone sidewalks, but withal
"clean, compact, tidy/'

Philadelphia was chartered as a city by William
Penn in 1701, at which time it had seven hundred
buildings and forty-five hundred inhabitants, hav-
ing almost doubled in population since Penn's jour-
ney across the seas to his Colony nine years be-
fore. It was first settled by the Swedes, who were
joined by the Quakers sent over by Penn and still
later by Germans at Penn's invitation, thus be-
coming the first really cosmopolitan city on the
newly settled continent. William Penn said in
regard to it : "I wanted to afford an Afylum for the
good and the beft of every Nation. I aimed to
frame a Government that might be an example* 1
defired to fhow Men as free and happy as they
could be."

The First American Printers* 5

Transportation between the Colonies was re-
stricted principally to the sea. There were trails
across country that could be followed by foot or
on horseback, but none of any length or connecting
important points. The traveler from Boston to
New York must go by sailing vessel out around
Cape Cod and southwest through Long Island
Sound, taking two to four days for the voyage,
depending upon wind and weather. It was prac-
tically as long a voyage by water from New York
down the New Jersey coast and up the Delaware
Bay to Philadelphia.

The century was well along toward middle age
before covered wagons began to run regularly
once a week between New York and Philadelphia,
traveling at the rate of about three miles an hour.
Later a coach, advertised as "The Flying Machine' 5
because it made the journey in good weather in
two days, was put on. In bad weather the jour-
ney was not only longer, but less comfortable,
for the reason that frequently passengers were
called upon to alight and help to pry the wheels
out of the mud.

THE FIRST AMERICAN PRINTERS,

Several printers had come and gone in the
American Colonies before Benjamin Franklin first
saw the light of day early in the year 1706. First
of them all was Stephen Daye. He had been en-

6 The First American Printers.

gaged by the Rev. Jesse Glover, "a worthy and
wealthy diflenting clergyman" to come to Amer-
ica with a printing equipment which the Rev.
Mr. Glover had purchased in England and which
he was bringing over to further the affairs of the
colonists from the points of view of Church and
State.

Unfortunately, Mr. Glover died during the voy-
age. His widow engaged Stephen Daye to set
up the equipment and to take charge of it, the
item in the records of Harvard College being to the
effect that "Mr. Jofs. Glover gave to the College
a font of Printing Letters, and fome gentlemen, of
Amfterdam gave towards furnifhing of a Printing
Prefs with letters forty-nine pounds and feme-
thing more."

Daye conducted the printing plant at Harvard
for about ten years, being succeeded for a short
period by his son Matthew, who spelled his sur-
name "Day." Stephen Daye remained in Cam-
bridge and some years later brought suit against
Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard
College, who had married the Widow Glover and
thereby come into control of the printing office,
for the recovery of five hundred dollars which
sum Daye said was owing to him as an unpaid
balance for his former services. Daye presented
a petition to the General Court for a grant of three
hundred acres of land as "Recompense of his Care

,*3iS3!JEJS5^eJ&

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WHOLE

BOOKE OFPSALMES

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'DG^ <JWere ^>?

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SI" 3 Whereunto 1$ prefixcc! a difcoisrfe de
Jy? daring not ooly the lawfiillncs, but a'

ill Wncreurttoisprcnxeaaaiiconrieae- -^ju
?3& daring not oaly the lawfiillncs, bptalfo^ti
Qf3 the ncccffity of the heavenly Ordinance ^|i?J
^T J of loglog scripture Pfalmes la h3L"!
*tf*' ^ Arri!;,r^^nP I^lrk

Title papje of the first book published in English America.
Printed by Stephen Daye, at Cambridge, Mass., 1640,
Original Size 3i" x $"

8 The First American Printer*

and Charge of furthering the work of Printing/ 1
which was accepted.

Matthew Day was the second colonial printer,
but he died before he was thirty years of age, and
only one known work bears his imprint.

Samuel Green was the third colonial printer
and he continued to follow the craft until 1692,
his death, at eighty-seven years, occurring ten
years later. In 1656 there were two presses in
Cambridge operated by Green, one belonging to
Harvard College, which was probably that pur-
chased in England by the Rev. Mr. Glover, and
the other the property of the corporation, the sec-
ond one having been brought over for the purpose
of promoting the education of the Indians.

Green was the first to print the Bible in the
Indian language. Isaiah Thomas, in his " His-
tory of Printing in America," says of this Bible:
"It was a work of so much consequence as to ar-
rest the attention of the nobility and gentry of
England, as well as that of King Charles, to whom
it was dedicated. The press of Harvard College,
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was, for a time, as
celebrated as the presses of the universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, in England/'

Green, too, received a grant of three hundred
acres of land. He was a man of character and his
high standing in the community is attested by the
circumstance that for thirty years he held a com-

The First American Printers. 9

mission In the Cambridge Militia Company as
captain. Robert F. Roden, in his history of "The
Cambridge Press," says of him: "Although not
the first printer at our first press, his name, and
not that of Stephen Daye, is the most glorious
name in its history."

Of quite another calibre was Marmeduke John-
son,, an English journeyman printer, who crossed
to America in 1660 to assist in printing Eliot's
Indian Bible the greatest achievement of the
Cambridge Press; Johnson thus becoming fourth
in the ranks of American printers. He seems to
have been a capable workman but was continually
in debt and occasionally in conflict with the au-
thorities. In 1663 the Commissioners wrote from
Boston to the corporation in England in regard to
Johnson, "If there bee occation further to Imploy
him It were much better to contract with him heer
to print by the flieete than by allowing his ftanding
wages," and further, "concerning Marmeduke
Johnfon the printer whofe Demeanor hath not
been fuitable to what hee promifed wee {hall leave
him to youerfelues to difmiffe him as foone as his
yeare is expired if you foe think fit."

The above were the first printers in Massachu-
setts and in the Colonies, and all of them, as
will be noted, were located in Cambridge. The
first Boston printers were John Foster, Samuel
Sewall, James Glenn, Samuel Green, Jr., Richard

io The First American Printers.

Pierce, Benjamin Harris,, and Bartholomew Green,
the first five of whom were successively connected
with one printshop and had passed away or had
retired from business before Benjamin Franklin
was bom. There may have been an exception in
the person of an educated Indian known as James
the Printer, whose name, however, does not ap-
pear in a position of responsibility until the year
1709, when a Psalter in both the Indian and Eng-
lish languages was published with the joint im-
prints of " Stephen Green and James Printer/'

Of these Boston printers, one, Benjamin Harris,
whose printing house was "over against the old
meeting house in Cornhill," deserves special men-
tion. He is sometimes spoken of as the father
of American journalism, because in 1690, four years
before he returned permanently to London, he
issued a "news-letter" entitled "Pubiick Occur-
ences Both Foreign and Domeftick/* which he
proposed to furnish once a month or oftener, if
required. It contained four pages, one of them
being blank, for correspondence. Only one copy
of it is known to be in existence, having been dis-
covered during a search in the State Paper Office
in London by the historian of Salem, Mass.

Bartholomew Green went over the river from
his father's establishment in Cambridge to Boston in
1690, and set up "the best printing apparatus then
in the country/' but a complete loss by fire put him

The First American Printers. 1 1

out of business a few months after he started.
He returned to Cambridge for two years and was
employed by his father. In 1692 we find him again
engaged in printing in Boston, where he continued
to conduct an establishment for forty years. In
it was produced the first American newspaper,
the "Boston News-Letter," a weekly; No. i being
dated April 24, 1704, and printed for John Camp-
bell, postmaster.

One other printer was to be found within the ter-
ritory of the English Colonies during the closing
days of the Seventeenth Century, and he was
destined to have a good deal to do with the affairs
of Benjamin Franklin. He was William Bradford,
a Quaker, and the son of a printer, one among the
first immigrants to the new settlement on the
Delaware River, where he arrived in 1682. He
returned to London, where he married the daugh-
ter of Andrew Sowle, a printer, and came again
to Philadelphia in 1685, bearing a letter from
George Fox, the Quaker, introducing him as a
sober young man who was on his way to Philadel-
phia to set up the trade of printing Friends' books.
His first known work is dated 1686, and because
of inadvertent and apparently harmless reference
to the government authorities he got into difficulty
with them. This difficulty continued until 1693,
when having received an invitation from the Gov-
ernor of New York to remove to that province and

12 Franklin as a Printer's Devil.

a guarantee of two hundred dollars a year and
the public printing, Bradford removed to New York
and became the first printer of that province,
continuing to be the only printer in it for thirty
years. He established the " New York Gazette " in
1725, thus becoming New York's first newspaper
publisher. He is said, although without authority,
to have been of noble birth, and he always sealed
with a crest showing his coat of amis.

CHAP, II.

Young Franklin as a Printers Devil*

JOSIAH FRANKLIN, dissenter and dyer, re-
moved from Banbury in Oxfordshire, Eng-
land, to Boston in New England, with his wife
and three children in 1685. After the birth of four
more children his wife died, and later he married
Abiah Folger and by this marriage had ten chil-
dren, a total of seventeen, of whom ten were sons
and seven were daughters. Benjamin, was the
tenth and youngest son and the fifteenth child.

Although Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the
reform of the Julian calendar in 1582, and it was
in that year adopted by all Roman Catholic coun-
tries, Great Britain and her colonies delayed until
1752 before doing likewise. Therefore, in the old
public Register of Births, still preserved in the

Franklin as a Printer's Devil. 13

Mayor's office In Boston, it is recorded that Benja-

min Franklin, son of Josiah and Abiah Franklin,

Record of the biith of Benjamin Franklin in the Register of Births in
the Mayor's office in Boston.

was born January 6, 1706. With the adoption of
the reformed calendar came an advance of eleven
days, and accordingly the day of the birth, as we
now have it, is January 17.

The location of the birthplace is usually given
as Milk Street, opposite South Meeting House,
where the records of the Town of Boston show Josiah
Franklin was granted liberty to build a house eight
feet square on land belonging to Lieut. Nathaniel
'Reynolds. Josiah Franklin later occupied a house
"at the sign of the Blue Ball," corner of Hanover
and Union streets. Jared Sparks, whose edition
of Franklin's works was published in 1840, satis-
fied himself that the removal did not occur until
after Benjamin's birth. Subsequent investiga-
tion by Samuel G. Drake, whose authoritative
"History and Antiquities of the City of Boston"
was published in 1854, seems to establish the fact
that Benjamin was born in the larger house,

The day of the birth was a Sunday, and the
pious father took the baby boy from his humble
cottage to the South Meeting House, and he was
there baptized under the name of his paternal

14 Franklin as a Printer's Devil
uncle Benjamin, at that time living In England, and
who became later the only member of the numerous
Franklin family to join Josiah In the New World,

Benjamin being the tenth son was considered to
be something in the nature of a tithe, and this fact
and his very evident fondness for reading, indicat-
ing a tendency toward a literary pursuit, caused
his father to decide that the boy should become a
minister of the church, Accordingly, in order to
give him an education, at the age of eight years he
was placed in the Boston grammar school, and in
less than a year rose to the head of his class. Prov-
ing to be deficient in mathematics, he was next sent
to a teacher noted for ability to instruct in writing
and arithmetic, but although Benjamin "remained
a year, he made but little progress, Josiah, Frank-
lin, finding that the income from his business as a
maker of candles and soap, which he had adopted
because there was small demand for his services as
a dyer, was hardly sufficient to meet the needs of his
family and keep the younger children at school,
withdrew his son from the schoolthe two years
mentioned being Benjamin's sole experience in
educational institutions.

The ministry project being abandoned, Josiah
took the boy into his own establishment, intending
to teach him the soap- and candle-making trade,
and he continued there until he was twelve years
of age. The work proved to be distasteful and

Franklin as a Printer's Devil, 15

fearing that Benjamin would follow his oldest
brother's example and run away to sea, the father
wisely decided to find a more agreeable trade for
him.

Accordingly, father and son together visited
the workshops of the town, and finally it was
decided that he should take up the trade of cutlery,
his cousin Samuel, son of the elder Benjamin,
being established in Boston in that line. Benja-
min was employed there for a short time only,
his departure resulting from the inability of his
father and his cousin to agree upon the price to be
paid for his instruction at the trade, it being the
custom of the time for a master not only to receive
the services of an apprentice free, but to be paid
for the tuition, the sum for such a trade as cutlery
being about one hundred dollars.

At about this time Ben j amin's older brother
James, a printer, had but recently returned from.
England with a printing outfit, and it was proposed
to Benjamin that he adopt the trade of printing.
The jearly Boston printers enumerated in the
previous chapter had removed or died and at the
time there were but two other printing establish-
ments in the town, one conducted by Thomas
Fleet in Pudding Lane and the other by Samuel
Kneeland in Prison Lane. James Franklin had
established himself on the corner that later became
Franklin Avenue and Court Street.

1 6 Franklin as a Printer's Devil.

Although printing dealt with books, of which the
youthful Benjamin was so much enamoured., he
was not inclined to look with favor upon the project
connecting him for life with that trade. However,,
the persuasion of his father prevailed and he was
apprenticed to his brother James for nine years.
The terms of apprenticeship at printing were easier
upon the father than those imposed by cutlers, the
sum to be paid to James Franklin being only about
fifty dollars.

A clause of the form of apprenticeship used at
the time is as follows:

"During which term the faid Apprentice his
Mafter faithfully fhali or will fcrve, his fccrcts
keep, his lawful commands everywhere gladly do.
He fhall do no damage to his faid Mafter nor fee
it to be done of others; but to his power ilia 11 let,
or forthwith give notice to his faid Mafter of fame,
The Goods of his faid Mafter he fhall not wafte,
nor the fame without licenfe of him to any give or
lend. Hurt to his faid Mafter he fhall not do,
caufe, nor procure to be done. He fhall neither
buy nor fell without his Mafter' s licenfe. Taverns,
inns, or ale-houfes he fhall not haunt. At cards,
dice, tables, or any other unlawful game he fliall
not play. Matrimony he fliall not contract; nor
from the fervice of his faicl Mafter clay or night
abfent himself; but in all things as an honeft and
faithful apprentice fhall and will demean and be-
have himielf towards his faid Mafter and all his
during faid term/"

Franklin as a Printer *s Dev iL 1 7
The obligations of the master were as follows:

"And the faid James Franklin, the Matter, for
and in consideration of the furn of ten pounds of
lawful Britifh money to him in hand paid by the
faid Joftah Franklin, the father, the receipt of
which is hereby acknowledged, the faid apprentice
in the art of a printer which he now ufeth, fhall
teach and inftrud: or caufe to be taught and in-
ftrucfted the beft way and manner that he can, find-
ing and allowing unto the faid apprentice meat,
drink, wafhing, lodging, and all other necefTaries
during the faid term."

He was also to pay journeyman's wages during
the concluding year. The apparel of apprentices to
be provided by the master is thus described by John
F, Watson in his " Annals of Philadelphia" :

"A pair of deerskin breeches, coming hardly
down to his knees, which, before they could be al-
lowed to come into the presence of ladies, at meet-
ing, on the Sabbath, were regularly blacked up on
the preceding Saturday night in order to give them
a clean and fresh appearance for the Sunday; a pair
of blue woolen yam stockings, a thick and substan-
tial pair of shoes well greased and ornamented with
a pair of small brass buckles, a present from his
master for his good behavior, a speckled shirt all
the week and a white one on Sunday, which was
always carefully taken off as soon as he returned
from meeting, folded up and laid by for the next
Sabbath. The leather breeches after several years'
wear got greasy, as they grew old, and were only

1 8 Franklin as a Printers Devil.

flexible so long as they were on and kept warm by
the superflux of youthful heat/'

The terms of the apprenticeship agreement be-
tween James Franklin and his brother were ad-
hered to with one modification. Benjamin was a
constant reader and although able to borrow many
books he possessed a desire for some of his own.
In order to secure funds with which to make pur-
chases, he proposed at the age of sixteen, having
been four years in the employ of his brother, a
change in their arrangement. The brother being
unmarried did not keep house, but boarded himself
and his apprentices in another family. Benjamin
proposed to accept in cash one half of the sum paid
by his brother for his board, and the proposition
being accepted he provided his own meals, and
out of the sum received from his brother was able
to save one half. In this way he found funds that
enabled him to accumulate a small library of his
own. Says Paul Leicester Ford, in "The Many
Sided Franklin: 5 '

"It is to be questioned, if the first: years

of the apprenticeship were of any particular

value to Benjamin save on their mechanic side,
for the product of James Franklin's press is a
dreary lot of gone-nothingness. A few of the
New England sermons of the day: StoddarcFs
* Treatise on Conversion'; Stone's * Short Cate-
chism'; 'A Prefatory Letter about Psalmody/ in

A

CATALOGUE

OF

Curious and Valuable

OOKS,

Confifting of

IMnity* Jfcetry.

ffalofcpty* flays*

Voyages and

Generally well

To be Sold by AUCTION,

At the Crown CoffeeJloufe in King-Street Boftttt,
QA* Monday the Twenty -SixtWDsr of this Inftdnc
Qffottr, ijl9' Beginning every Eveniitg'dt half
an Hour after Four a Gtack, until * all lie fold.

The Books will Be ftewa fcy Samuel Gerrijb Book-
feller, near thfe 0/4 Mmiftg-Hm/et wheie
iogtiesmay "be liad/w/r* alfoatMr*
and at the Flace of S A L &.

Printed tyj. FR&wstusr, 1719

Title page by James Franklin.

2O Franklin as a Printer's DeviL

defense of church singing, which many Puritans
still held to be unholy; an allegory styled 'The Isle
of Man/ or, 'Legal Proceedings in Manshire
Against Sin'; Care's "English Liberties'; sundry
pamphlets on the local politics of the moment,
such as 'A Letter from One in the Country to His
Friend in Boston/ 'News from the Moon/ *A
Friendly Check from a Kind Relation to the Chief
Cannoneer/ and 'A Word of Comfort to a Melan-
choly Country'; two or three tractates on inocula-
tion, and one aimed half at the Boston clergy and
half at the fair sex, entitled 'Hooped Petticoats
Arraigned by the Light of Nature and the Law of
God/ were the chief output of the new printer
during the years his brother served him."

After James Franklin had been established as a
printer for about two years, he secured an order to
produce a newspaper, the "Boston Gazette," es-
tablished by William Brooker, the successor as
postmaster of John Campbell, publisher, as has
already been noted, of the " Boston News-Letter,"
the first real American newspaper. William
Brooker was soon succeeded as postmaster by
William Musgrave, who took the printing of the
"Boston Gazette" from James Franklin and gave
it to Samuel Kneeland, whereupon James Franklin
established a new newspaper, the "New England
Courant."

It was the first newspaper not connected with a
postoffice to be published in America. Number
i of the "Courant" appeared Monday, August

Franklin as a Printer's Devil* 21

17, 1721, printed on a half sheet of crown size
printing paper, the type used being small pica
with,, occasionally, long primer. About two years
later pica was adopted and used continuously.

James Franklin established the paper against
the protests of his father and many of his friends,
who pointed out to him that there were already
three papers in the Colonies, two of them in Boston,
and that another one there could not be made to
succeed. The youthful publisher, however, turned
a deaf ear to their remonstrances. He proposed
to issue a different newspaper from any then in
existence. He formed a number of his friends;
among them several young doctors, Into a club,
the members of which were to furnish at least one
original essay each week. The paper was hostile
to the clergy, attacked some of the religious opin-
ions of the day and opposed new fads, one of them
which especially came In for severe but mistaken
censure being the newly advanced theory of in-
oculation for the smallpox. The "Courant" soon
drew the fire of the heaviest guns. Its older com-
petitor, the " News-Letter," said of it:

"On Monday laft the 7th Currant, came forth a
Third Newfpaper in this Town, Entitled, The New
England Courant, by Homo non unius Negotii;
Or, Jack of all Trades, [the motto of Franklin's
address to the public] and it would feem, Good at
none; giving fome very, very frothy fulfome Ac-

THE

80

New-England Courant

From MONDAY February <<fl to M o w D A 'y February n,

The late Pnblifiier of this Paper, finding fo many ZifJMMi-
vdiueaces wou)d nfe by his carrying the ManirluDt- ami
piiclick News to be fupervls'd by the Secretarj as u? ^in-
dex his Carrying it on unprofitable, has intuufy droaf rlu-
" The preftnt PubUftiOr having reuv*'the
" J -*-u the ReadaR to aticpt of it as a
f may hereafter meet with iiifftlu*

$ mtmtaci fMnxxi Carjiuat qyeniikit
Snt "vantaisiia Irfera cntjfla Jeta rjt^

ed in bringing forth an
I hateful, but uumcjui*
Brood of Part/ Pnmgh e
mahcioiw Scribbles,' -ind
Billmlgau RibnWry. '.'he
| Rancour and hittune.i it
has uiw-tpjjtly iiirwV'd-flto>
Me us winds, and to vrlmt
a Degree it !i lonrcd
1 and IcavenM thtf Teropirs
of Pcrloiia Jorinetly ulH*
med lomc- <of eh lw>rt

***m*t((aiBjTm!&^sisnii&suiB3CX nell knt.wn here, to ricdl
eny further Proof or Rcpreftnwtion f t he Mutter. ,

No generous and impartial PtrfoiHlua .n blame, the
prefentlJndcrtakinff, which N defiRiiul purely tor the DIVLN
Iton and Merrimtnt of the Reader Pieic* pi JPIeaftncy
rod Mirth have a (Lint Clurm m them t nllay the Haw
and Tumoun of our Spirits, ami to ir.-ike a Man forget hia
icftlcfe Reft. ntment>. They hm 'i ftnnge Power to tune the
harfe Difordert of thi Soul, and mini*, tls to ivfcrene nl
placid State of Mind,

The main Dcdgir of thi* Weekly JPajnr will be to enter-
tain the Town with thc.mqft comn.il .md diverting Incidents
of Humane Life, wl\ich in (o hr^je a Pl.we a* Bojloti, will not
fail of a univcrfal Exemplification s N<r (hall we be v, xnting;
to fill up thefe Papers wrtli n grateful Inti.rtptruoit of more
Icrious Morak, which may be drawn from the moft ludurpw
and odd Parti of Life.

As for the Author, that jtntlic next Qutttlon. But tho*
we profefs our Telvcs ready to oblige the ifigemous and cour-
irous Reader with mod Sorts of Intelligence, yet .here we hej;
a Referve. Nor will it be of any 'Manner of Achantamj
ther to them or to the Writers, that their name? ihould lie
published} and therefore m this Matter we defire the Eavon*
of yoa to fuffer s to hold our Tongues t Which tho" at
this Time of Day it may found hke a very uncommon Re-
<left s yet it proceeds from the very Heart? of your Humb|o,
Servants.

By this Time tho Reader percciVea that more than one are
engaged m the prefcnr ITndcrtaking. Y"u is tliure one Per-
ion, am Inhabitant of thjs T,own of Soflon, wliom we honour
as a JDoftor in the Chair^ or a perpc'tual Dt&ator,

The Society had defign'd 50 prcfent the PuhlirL with hi*
Effigies, but that the Limner, to whom he was pieftnted lor
a Draught of his Countenance, deicryed and this he Is rqdy
jo offer upon Oatlt) Nineteen Features in tut Face, more thaw
rver he beheld m any Humane VjCigc before! which /o
raifed the Price of UK P.ttuu, that our Kf after himftlf forbid
the Extravagance of coming up to it. And then bciiiles,
the Limner objected a Schnm in his lace, which fplits it tront
tits Forehead in a ftrait Line down to his Chin, in fnoh loir,
that Mr. Painter protefts.'iC i* a double Facr. and Vll have

four Pounds foa the Pouitniture . Jlowever, tho" this dMble

Face has fpoilt w of a pretty Pi&ure, yet we all wrjojcwt li>

lee old Janus i(i our Compcmv . '
Th* n no Man in So/ion brttvr qualifia 1 chut b)4 TWK*

for a .CottraHtfer, or Ifjou pleafr, a O^/jnrwfflf* bciikg *

Man uf iiH.li lematkablc Optitkf, an to look two uayti mC

once.

As for his Morals,, he i,i a dicarly Clullilau,, aa else Country

Phrafe exprertTci it. A' Man of good Temper, courteous
Deportment, found Judgment ? mortal Hater o v * --"-*-
jPoppery, Formality, and cndkft Ccrnu>ny.
i As tor hn Club, they aim at no wtater ]
Honour, than the 1'ubliuc bo made to Tim) w, ilwf V t<,
iitmoft of thtir Ambition to attend upofe and do nll.^nugiiw'
ble jjood OfllcxH to wod Old Jtmttt the Courwuwr, who t<,
and always will be the Header* humble Scrvluc, ...

P. S. Gentle Rodent, wo dcfiga never to Set a PAJK-J |wi
without a L.uln Motto if we can pollibly pick one u]>, whi^s
carries A Charm in it to the VnlgaV, and tlitf learned adnlw
the pleafua of Conllruinj;. We ftiouhl litvi; obliged Ac
World'with a Grvek icrapor two, but the Printer TM n*
Types, and tltcreforc we intreae the candid Reader not 4 a
'miputt the defect ti> our fjrnoranc*?| fo* our Do^or can (Uy
ill the Crffk Ixttcrn by hunrr.

uf Cw*tr?

t

if tt

is MAJESTY'S nioft GrAcious

ta both Houfes of ParHamcnt^ on Tbttt>

day O<5lobcr j i. lyai.*

'} Am forn- to find my fc-Tf obliged^ at the OtMinbif of
* thin Parliaiticrvt, to acquaint you^ Thftt M aHMiww
Coiilpiracy h.is for (OIIK* time lonnea, wnd li AIM carryiiajf *s
aplnlt my Ifn and Guvcnnncnt, In Fnvowr of,aPopl(K

Tho Diloovi-rics 1 have nude "here, the Knfdrntatio^ A
tu\e received from my M!nl(l abro^, tund thcKntdllpiMws'
I hare hntl tram tho Po\vera in Alliance with me, rmt M^A
from moft parts of Europe, have given mo moftt omple Km!
current Proof* of this wicked Do%n,

The Confpiratoiw hvc, by tUir BmimirtM^ wiule i*
tlroiigcfl In(tanci.-3 for A(itllance trom Foreign Powam, fewt

,
attempt the fubverfion of my Oovcmmcnt.

To thin end they provided ronfi-loul.lc Sum
engaged great Nura|r of Qfliwro frcm ahrwa,,
large Quantities of Amw and, Atiwiunitlon, ttnd
il.crnfclvcrt in Aicli Rcadincfi, that had not the Cm
been timely tliJVox'cm), we (hould, without doubt,

,

now have Kelt the whole Nation, and particularly tha Cicy of
London,, involved In Blood ami Confuuo:^

The Care I Imve taken tam, by the Bk^ng; of Oad, )t
*rto prevented the Execution ta *hflr trytrou* ^{t
The Tioopiihnve/ been litciunptfd all thin Summer
-

ment (tUounh Very twvlljry lor tin- Security of
dom) Jmv<i been -brought ovr Jfioni Mawti The State*
General have given 'me' nflCuraneim that fhy would XUMIIIM
contiderable Body of Fo*4i radlnfe to *mbirk H ifee
iirft Notice of tlicir Wf n tt .>vMnt,a hrj, whjdii WM M

The newspaper established in 1721 by James Franklin. Oriwnal in the

possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Size 6^ x l^l

deiired .of thcm bain* determined not to put my People to
sX*aor Exp* B es than what was abfolutdy necellwicr
their Peace and Security. Som of the Confpmtoiv We
been taken up and fecurcd i Endeavour* we wled foi apprc-
hendimr others.

the Kingdom. .1 cannot but believe, that the Hopes, and
Eujpeftatmn* of our ISncnyiek arc very ill grounded, in flatter-
ing thcmfelre* that tfte latt jDifcontcnt. H (occafioncd by pri-
vate Loffcs and mltfortum*) however indultaouuy and ma-
licioufly fomented, arc turned into n Diftffcftion ana Spirit of
Jftebelhon,

/Had I, fmce my acceffion to the Throne, cvr attempted
anylnvalion in our EftablUhtd lUligion ; had I. in any one
fntbnw, invited the Liberty and Property ot ny Subjects,
I foould led wonder M any. Endeavours to alienate the At-
feftions ot my Puople, and draw them into Meafurct that can
end in nothing but their own <3d'trueVion , But to hope to
perfwtd* a free People, in full enjoyment of all that's dmi
and , valuably to them, to exchange Freedom for Slavery, the
rroteftant Religion tor Popery, and to Sacrifice at once the
Price of fa much Blood and Tnafurc a have been fpcnC in
our prefent BlUbliOiment, fccim an Infatuation which* cannot
he accounted for. 'But however Vain and uafuccefiful theft
jlefperato Projtas may prove in the End. they have at prefect
to far clie dd'irtd Effect, a to mate Uncaftnef* and DUB*
-dcncc in the Minds ot my People) which our Enemies 1m-
Ijrove to their own Advantage, by framing Plots? 1*hey
leprtciw'e all Property !>' ia veiled in th-, Publtck Fund*,
and ! then complain <tf the low State of Credit r They mala
an F.ncrcafc o die National Expente iicc(Tary, and then
<-iMMur the Jtuittten of Taxe and endeavour to impute
*> ,r Government all the Giiivancoi, the MftTehicfi, and
Calami tic*, which they alohc create and occatlon. MB (W 'MM
I wilh for nothing more thato to lie the Publlck Expunccs
leflencd, and the fta-uc National Debt put into a Method of
>* n ff gradually reduced and dlfctargcd, with R ftriit Regard
to Pailuwacntary Faith Aud a more favourable Opportunity
coW never have been- hoped forttan the Suit* orTrafruna
Peace which we now emoy with all our'Ncighboun, But
Fubhcb Credit will alwau laaguUh under Daily Akmw and
Apprehcnfionn of Public-is Dancer t tod. as the Enemies of
ui neat e have been able to bring thin immediate MUchwf
HI>on ut, n'otlriiig can pi'cvcnt them irom continuing to fub-
jic tlic Nation to new ndr conf&itt PilUcultia And Diftrcfliiu
ljut the WiUlom, ZeaH and vigoroua Kcfolution of tlvi JJw
liament.

GtHtkmtn tftbe Hauft of Camnioitt, ,
I have oulcrcd rise Account to be made up nnd laid before
you, 0F the rtraonlli(Sry. Charge that has been incurred this
Summer, lor he Dd'uux- and bafcty of ihe Kingdom $ anil
I |me been particularly careful, not to dtrcfil any jjtcncc to
be.mudc greater or fooner than was abfol,u(ly neccuary./ I
h&ve likewilbordned Eftlnutn to boprcpa'ted and laid before
you. for the Service of the Ye.ir cnfuing i And I hope the
further provifiona which the Trvvifonable pra&jce of oui Erie-
mien huvc mndj uet'cllary for our Common Safety, may K'
Ordered with fuch Fiugalicy* an very little to exceed the Sup*
Itlie* of thf lalt year.
Mj> Ltftfi ana Gtatlatuni,

I need not tell you of whuc Infinite Concent -it in to the
peace dud Twnquility of the Kingdom, that thia Parliament
Ihouldy mon thii OtvaftJAn, exert tncmiclvu with a mqre'tlMn
ordinary Zei^l and Viyoi\r> Ancntiic Unity among 1 all that
Jiwerdy Wifl> ?1! to the f rcfcut BiLibliihmeiit ia now become
abfojutely necclfary, ' Our Jincmu's have too long taken
AdvatojRjcs iVom your' Difference.* & DilTcntions s et it be
Ilnown, that the Spirit of Popery', which betiden nothinr but
Confufion to th Civil and A%lou* Kiglitu of a iWTltanc
Church and. Kingdwmt (however abandoned (bine few way
t>e, in delpite ot 'all OutigattoM Diyinejan^ Humana V Im
noA fa famuolTeiK'd my wcoplu ax to make th<m ripe for tuch a
tab! Change. Let the World fee, -hat the general dUcli-
lion of tlic Nation I* no Invitation to a Foreign ^owcr ttf

invade i nor Encouragement to omc4tie ja,ncmicsi
kindle a Civil War in the Bowel* of th Kingdom, Your
own Inttnlt and Welfare calls wpou you to defend your*
ft-Vcst Khali wholly rely upon tlt Divine protfaioa, the
Support of my Parliament, and tho Affeftions of ray- people 8
which J 0all endeavour to preferve, by ftcadily adhering ta
tl^e Conftitution in Church and State, by contendiflff to
jnufce thc'Laua of my Realm* the ruled Meafurcs of all my
Aclioiu!' "

texdoft, Offol>, 1 8. The Humble AdiirciTcs of, both
Houfes oi ; Parliament, and th^ft of the Convocation, of Can*
rferbury, full of Loyalty and Duty, have been, prefcntcd to
hb MiJtAyi which Addreflex his Majcfty was ptafol tu
receive very gracioully. And 'tin not doubted but thtt Ikady
adherence of the Pnrliamcnt and Clerg>v tu his Maje% '
A*rfon and Government, -will put an End to the TraytcnHK
JDcfigns of thofc who arc Enemies to both.

tt o

ttndm, o

.
TUfoM thot a Scheme or

vcrtqin J>fpcDdoca to be at lund, who, undtr pretence of
giving AflU'wncc, were to have tnurder'd hfe Majeftyj and
tliatavcry guat Number ot difafTeCled perfon^ wens to be
aflTemb'lcd in JLincoln's Inn-Fields, t put tltv Towu un^f,
tlfotcly into rlw gvotcfit Confufioi>.

^/w, /i-//. it,

laft %Vc.k the Reverend Mr. Oruiri. Minifter of itu
Epifcopal Church at BriAol; came from thence with a ?ai
lionfrwuTnelve of lui Keatcr P {who are impnlbntd i\i\
Refuting to pay Rntw to the freuVyterisn MtnUUr of Brifn>;>
to the tieut. Governour, \l>o. with the Advice of the Coun-
til, pYomm'd Mr. Orum ,to ulc hk Intercft for their Keliei* iir
the next Meeting of the General Aftonhly, the Men IIKTIIU
imprifon'd by Vcrtuc of .the Law* of the Kovin.'e, &

w have Advice fron the feaihvard, that aoo Men, under
thocwnroapd.ofCapt.Hajmonjare gone tp Norigiwocft* itf
tjMeft of the Indian*^ and 17010 Pcnohfcot, utnlcr comjiaml
of CoL Wcftbrook. 'Tin iat^ anothtr |)arty'are to ttian.h t

PcKpiCOt,

V VrfMnr Mwn ^JxHWiiJwftl dock; a Ftw Isw^eout M
Mr.Bluftt^WoA-We Jt CbtatiUl. which buntji niHii
mle ptt of the Hoof before if ww c

I about rtf. ycanTat' Ai. and

aft the Bke,lkli in Vnkm Street, tod kWw

Printed ahd fold by BENJAMIN KRANKLIN In Qt*wn Street;
Advertifements aits taken fa.

This is the first number to be issued in the name of Benjamin Franklin. Although
he lett Boston a Few months after its publication, his name was used as pub-
lisher ot the paper until June 4, 1726,

24 Franklin as a Printer's Devil,

count of himfelf, but left the continuance of that
ftile fhould offend his readers; wherein with sub-
miffion, (I fpeak for the Publisher of this Intelli-
gence, whofe endeavours has always been to give
no offence, not meddling with things out of his
Province) The faid Jack promifes in pretence of
Friendfhip to the other News- Publishers, to amend
like soure Ale in Summer, Reflecting too, too much
that my performances are now and then, very
very Dull, mifreprefenting my candid endeavours
(according to the Talent of my Capacity and Edu-
cation; not foaring above my Sphere) in giving a
true and genuine account of all Matters of Fad",
both Foreign and Domeftick, as comes any way;
well Attefted, for thefe Seventeen Years & an half
paft"

Castigation was to come upon the "Courant"
from a yet more important source. The ponder-
ous Rev. Increase Mather wheeled into line and
the character of his thunderings is indicated by
this extract from a contribution published in the
"News-Letter":

"Advice to the Publick from Dr. Increafe
Mather. Whereas a wicked Libel called the New
England Courant, has reprefented me as one

among the Supporters of it; I do hereby declare,
that altho' I had paid for two or three of them, I
then, (before the laft Courant was publiilicd) sent:
him word I was extremely offended with it; In
fpecial, becaufe in one of his Vile Courants he in-
fmuates, that if the Minifters of God approve of a

Franklin as a Printer's DeviL 25

thing it is a Sign it is of the Devil; which is a horrid
thing to be related."

These thrusts could be borne; indeed, it is easy to
imagine that such fulminations may have awak-
ened feelings of unholy glee in the breasts of the
young men who were doing what they could to
provoke them, particularly as tradition still ex-
ists to the effect that the indignant Dr. Mather,
having discontinued his subscription, secretly
sent his grandson to buy copies of the "Cour-

ant."

Soon, however, the venturesome feet of James
Franklin and his associates strayed much farther
in the risky paths of criticism. It was a dangerous
thing to trifle with governmental authority and
he who attempted it was sure to come to grief.
The government had its eye upon the "Courant"
and only awaited opportunity to pounce upon
it with heavy hand. Soon the opportunity
came.

Pirates were known to infest the New England
waters and there was a feeling that the government
was not as efficient in doing away with them and
their mischief as might have been the case. This
feeling was voiced in an article supposed to come
from Newport, R, L, appearing in the "Courant,"
which concluded with the statement:

"We are advis'd from Bofton that the govern-
ment of Maffachufetts are fitting out a flup to go

26 Franklin as a Printer's Devil.

after the Pirates to be commanded by Captain
Peter Papillon and it is thought he will fail fome-
time this month, Wind and Weather permit-
ting/'

Shortly after the publication of the number
containing this extremely offensive paragraph, the
Council, with the Governor presiding, met and
resolved "that the faid Paragraph is a high affront
to this Government/'

Further, resolved, "That the Sheriff of the
County of Suffolk do forthwith commit to the
gaol in Bofton the body of James Franklyn,
Printer, for the grofs offence offered to this Gov-
ernment in the Courant of Monday Lift/*

A week's close confinement in the stone prison
brought a change of mind, temporarily, at least,
to James Franklin, as is witnessed in the following
humble petition:

"A Petition of James Franklyn Printer, Humbly
Shewing that he is Truely Senfible & ^Heartily
Sorry for the offence he has Given to this Court,
in the late Courant, relating to the fitting out a
Ship By the Government, y Truly Acknowledges
his Inadvertency tsf Folly therein in affronting the
Government, as alfo his Indifcretion 5? Indecency,
when before the Court, for all which he Entreats
the Courts forgivenefs, sf praying a dif charge from
the Stone Prifon, where he is Confined, by Order
of the Court ? and that he may have the Liberty

Franklin as a Printer's Devil. 27

of the Yard, He being much Indifpofed y Suffering
in his health, by the Said Confinement."

Released from his uncomfortable quarters in
the jail, however, Franklin's "impudence' 3 re-
turned. Soon after, a single number of the " Cour-
ant" contained three articles, all of them objec-
tionable to the government, and as a result a joint
committee of three from the Council and four
from the House was appointed to investigate his
case. Its recommendation was that the General
Court should forbid James Franklin to "print or
publifh the New England Courant or any Pamph-
let or Paper of a like nature, except it be firft fu-
pervifed by the fecretary of this Province/' and
that bonds should be exacted from him for his good
behavior.

Young Benjamin Franklin in the meantime had
been making progress in his elder brother's esteem.
Desiring to try his hand at writing but believing
that James would be prejudiced against him be-
cause of his youth, he made a practice of writing
short pieces and slipping them at night under the
printing office door where they were found by his
brother the next morning. The pieces were read
and approved and it was gratifying to their youth-
ful author to hear names of well-known persons in
the community suggested as possibly responsible
for them. Finally Benjamin, having written about
all that he felt able to write, revealed his deception

28 Franklin as a Printer's Devil.
to his brother and his friends, much to their sur-
prise.

A crisis having been reached by James in his pub-
lishing affairs, he turned now to Benjamin as afford-
ing a way out of his difficulties. He proposed
that since he was unwilling to continue to publish
the "Courant" under the supervision of the secre-
tary as ordered by the Court, the paper thereafter
be issued in Benjamin's name. The proposition
was accepted. In order not to have the master
still legally liable, the apprenticeship indentures
were publicly cancelled, but, unwilling to surrender
what he believed to be a good bargain, James
secretly executed new indentures preserving the
conditions of the old.

James Franklin was a hard task master. Also
he was ill-natured, suspicious, taciturn, and his
high-spirited young brother found it difficult to
get on with him, particularly when arguments
were supplemented with blows. Finally Benjamin
notified James that he considered their relations
at an end, knowing that James would not dare to
produce the secret apprentice agreement. James
accepted the resignation but as a means of retali-
ation for what he considered to be the injustice
done him, visited the other printing offices in
Boston and induced the owners to refuse to give
work to his brother should he apply to them for
it.

29
CHAP. III.

The First " Tourist " Printer.

J3ENJAMIN FRANKLIN was in a quandary.
He had devoted five years to an effort to
learn the printing business and had attained a
considerable proficiency in it. Aside from the
printing establishments in Boston and Cambridge
there were only four in the Colonies: one in
New London, one in New York, and two in Phil-
adelphia. Because of his brother's ill-natured
activity all of those at hand were closed to him,
save only that individual's own which he had just
quitted and to which he was resolved he would not
return.

To reach the other towns where printing offices
were located meant either long, exhausting, and
dangerous walks through trackless forests or a
journey by boat. To go by boat required the ex-
penditure of passage money, of which he had none.
His sole possessions were the books he had been
able to purchase with the scanty savings from his
brother's allowance, and from the precious books
he was most reluctant to part. Besides, there was
parental opposition to be encountered. The father
sided with the elder brother in the dispute and the
seventeen-year-old son knew that, should he ask
his father's consent to his plan to go away from
home, not only would the consent be refused but

30 The First " Tourist ' ' Printer.

steps would be taken to prevent the carrying out

of the project.

However, Benjamin resolved to go away and to
go secretly. He sold some of his books and with
the connivance of his friend Collins and the cap-
tain of a New York sloop, he went aboard a vessel
bound for Manhattan Island. Three days of good
weather and fair winds brought the vessel into New
York Bay. The landing was made probably at
the wharf at the foot of what is now known as
Maiden Lane. A small stream ran down it at the
time and entered the Bay at what was called the
"V'lei Market," v'lei being old Dutch for valley.
The one printing office of the town was conducted
by William Bradford, "at the Sign of the Bible,"
on Hanover Square, not far away, and to it the
youthful runaway apprentice immediately re-
paired.

Bradford had no employment to give to the boy
and he suggested that the journey be extended to
Philadelphia, where his son conducted one of the
two printing offices of the town and who, through
the recent death of a workman, was in need of
help. Upon this advice Benjamin immediately
proceeded to act.

There were three ways to go from New York
to Philadelphia. One was over the Hudson River
and by trail through the forest all the way across
New Jersey to Camden, usually followed by those

Th e First ' ' Tourist 9 9 Printer. 3 1

who could afford to ride horseback, and upon this
route William Bradford, on some errand of his
own and unknown to the boy who had just called
upon him, at once set out. A second route was by
boat from Manhattan Island across New York
Bay and around Staten Island to Amboy, at the
mouth of the Shrewsbury River, thence on foot
through the forest for fifty miles to Burlington,
between seventeen and eighteen miles above Phil-
adelphia on the Delaware River, which at that
point is about a mile wide, the last stage of the
journey being usually covered by boat. The third
route was by sailing vessel down the New Jersey
coast and around and up through Delaware Bay,
by which route young Benjamin sent his "chest."

He chose the second route for himself, and his
trip proved to be a most uncomfortable one. Be-
cause of bad weather, thirty hours were required
for the passage from Manhattan Island to Amboy.
A squall tore the rotten sails to pieces; a drunken
passenger fell overboard and was rescued with dif-
ficulty; and it was necessary to drop anchor near
the Long Island shore of the bay and to spend
the night in the open boat in the midst of the
pounding surf, the entire period without anything
to eat or to drink.

Franklin finally reached Amboy, however, and
after a night spent in resting from his exposure
and fatigue, he walked the fore part of the next

32 The First "Tourist" Printer.

day through the rain to a poor inn, where wet and
tired and thoroughly miserable he went to bed
wishing he had never left home. The next day's
walk brought him within ten miles of Burlington,
and after another night spent at an inn, one more
day brought him to the town.

He found to his regret that he had missed the
regular boat to Philadelphia and that there would
not be another for three or four days. He bought
some gingerbread from a kindly disposed old wo-
man, who sympathized with him in his predica-
ment, and, learning that he was a printer, advised
him to stay in Burlington and work at his trade.
She did not know that something more than a
pair of hands and a knowledge of how to use them
would be required. On his explanation of the
impracticability of her suggestion, she offered
him lodging and entertainment for the three clays
of his prospective stay in Burlington, which offer
he accepted, but later in the day while walking on
the river bank he descried a boat bound for Phila-
delphia, in which he engaged passage and, with-
out being able to return to the home of his hostess
to say good-bye to her, was soon on his way.

At midnight, not having reached Philadelphia
and fearing that they might pass it in the dark, the
party landed and spent the night on shore. The
next day they made an early start and soon were in
the Quaker city.

33

CHAP. IV.

In Samuel Keimer's Shop in Philadelphia*

T WAS on a bright Sunday morning late in
October, 1723, that Benjamin Franklin ar-
rived in Philadelphia, and he found himself in
strange contrast with his surroundings. He was
in his working clothes, probably very similar to
the dress of apprentices described in Chapter 2 of
this volume, his "best clothes" (to use his own
expression) being still in the boat which was
bringing them around by sea. Not being espe-
cially presentable when new and clean, it can be
imagined what the garb he wore looked like after
a week or so of constant use on sea and land and
miles of walks through mud and dust.

His pockets, of large capacity as was the cus-
tom, were stuffed out with shirts and stockings;
tired, dirty, hungry, and with only a Dutch dollar
left after parting from the shilling which he in-
sisted upon paying for his boatride, against the
protest of the boatmen because of his assistance
at the oars, the runaway youth from Boston
offered on his first entry into Philadelphia a figure
in marked contrast to that of many years later,
when he received a public ovation on his return
from his ambassadorship to France.

His first concern was to obtain something to eat.
Walking up the street from the wharf, he met a

34 In Philadelphia.

boy carrying bread, and ascertaining where it
could be purchased, he went to the bakery and
asked for three penny worth. In Boston it would
have been only a moderate quantity, so he was
surprised to receive three great puffy rolls. Having
no room in his pockets, he put a roll under each
arm, and, eating the third roll, walked up Market
Street as far as Fourth Street. He passed the
house in which lived Miss Deborah Read, who
was standing upon the stoop, and she, struck by
the uncouth figure which he made, tittered as he
went by. It was an ungracious thing to do, but
as Elbert Hubbard in his monograph on the Life
of Franklin says, Benjamin in later years got
good and even with her; he married her.

Benjamin found his way back to the wharf
where, his hunger having been satisfied, he gave
the two remaining rolls of bread to a woman and
her child who had been in the boat with him and
who were going farther. Later, he found his way
to an inn called "The Crooked Billet/' in Water
Street, where he got dinner, and where he slept
all afternoon and all night. Monday morning,
having tidied up a bit, he presented himself at the
shop of Andrew Bradford, printer, and, much to
his surprise, found in the shop the old man, Brad-
ford's father, whom he had seen in New York.

Andrew Bradford having no work for the young
printer, the elder Bradford offered to show him to

In Philadelphia. 35

the other Philadelphia printing shop, conducted
by Samuel Keimer. Keimer placed a composing
stick in the boy's hand to see how he would man-
age it and then said he would give him employ-
ment soon, having at the moment nothing for him
to do.

William Bradford did not disclose his identity
to Keimer., who thought the elder man to be a resi-
dent of the town. Keimer was willing to talk of
his affairs and prospects and Bradford led him aptly
on, thereby obtaining information that could not
but be of interest, if not of profit, to Keimer' s com-
petitor, Bradford's son.

The part played by William Bradford in the
little comedy caused Benjamin Franklin to refer
to him in the "Autobiography" as a "crafty old
sophister" which, however questionable his conduct
may have been on this occasion, is not in keeping with
his standing in New York. He was public printer of
that state for fifty years, and of New Jersey for
thirty years; was clerk of the New Jersey Assem-
bly, and was vestryman for many years of Trinity
Church in New York City.

Benjamin Franklin lodged with Andfew Brad-
ford, in whose shop he did small jobs. A few days
later he was sent for by Keimer and put regularly
to work. Keimer' s printing house was not much
to boast of. There was an old shattered press
which had never been used and which indeed.

THE

INDEPENDENT

W

Wee ulluw Jttis wliJum hpcriui* er&t cowcenjis
flttitu Hmimm ut, CeremeMS Deuw frotegeiiti

J* tbeLwer Hwfis ^/CONVOCATION,

YOU, Gentlemen, who arc the Rcprcfcotivcsof the Clergy; q>fiu
/W aw proper Patrons of a Work; which treats of Rcligiort and
the Clergy. It is written ro promote liberty* Vcr cue and Piety the In*
serdVof which, I hope, you will always cfpobie, and" cftccm as yor-
own ; and will cotsfequcncly approve my Defign, and gitfc ifs ( o your Thanks^
whatever may have been the Succcfs of my Efidei?Qr$

The many wild and unfcripftural Claims (hrte^ aadimpemouflymaig*
tain'd by very many of thofc you teprclcnc (and I wifli I oould liy denied,.
tfeo'bor faintly, by any confidcrable Number of othets) gave Ocafioh t
thefollowiqg' Sheets; aod, having in them, (hewn co piy Btcriwcn, tho
laity) the Abfardicy and Impiety of chofc Claims, by Arguments fctch'd
feomkeafon, chcGofpel, and the Laws of our Country; { ftj^ i a ^
Addrefs fo your felvcs, endeavour to convince you, that ic is your lotercft
to drop them ; $nd if I cia fuccccd in this Poiar ? I prtfame, all other Ac*
gumcnts may be ufelef&

Thefe Gentlemen, in the Heat of their Demands and Contention fbt
Power, have gone fo far towards Rom, and borrowciifo many of her
Ptiodples, chat I fee no other Medium left for them, blic cither to proceed
nin Acirjoarneychkhcr, (which, as they have nwnag'd Matters,

Printed by Samuel Keimer 1723-24, Benjamin Franklin probably set the type.
Original in the possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia,

klZC 5t ^ y '

In Philadelphia* 37

from what Franklin says of it, could not be used until
he put it in order. There was one pair of cases
containing a small worn-out font of English,
one reason for the delay in Benjamin's employment
being the necessity of waiting until another pair
of cases could be obtained.

Franklin worked steadily, saved a part of his
wages, and made friends quickly. Keimer did not
like the idea of his continuing to lodge with Andrew
Bradford, and being unmarried and having no
home of his own, obtained a place for him in the
house of Mr. Read, father of the Miss Deborah
previously mentioned.

Among the friends he made was Sir William
Keith, the English governor of the province, whose
first knowledge of the boy came through acquain-
tanceship with Captain Holmes, Benjamin's
brother-in-law, master of a sloop trading between
Boston and Delaware. Governor Keith met Cap-
tain Holmes at Newcastle and being attracted by
a letter from the boy which the Captain read to
him, promised to call upon Benjamin on his re-
turn to Philadelphia. This, the Governor and his
friend, Colonel French, of Newcastle, later did,
much to the boy's bewilderment and Keimer's
astonishment. The "Autobiography" says, in de-
scribing the visit: "Keimer stared like a pig
poifoned."

Sir William invited Benjamin to dine and con-

38 In

versed with him in the most friendly and familiar
manner. He assured him, what he already knew,
that the printers at Philadelphia were wretched
workmen, and promised him if he would set up
for himself that the public business would be given
to him and that as Governor he would do every other
service in his power. Keith urged Benjamin to
return to Boston and secure his father's assistance
and gave him what is described as an "ample"
letter addressed to the elder Franklin, recom-
mending the project of Benjamin's setting up at
Philadelphia as a thing that must make his for-
tune.

Accordingly Benjamin gave up his position with
Keimer and returned to Boston- His appearance
there was unexpected and created some commotion.
The family was glad to see him, excepting possibly
his brother, who, says Franklin, " received me not
very frankly, looked me all over, and turned to
his work again." Evidently James could not
forget his former grievance. It can happily be
recorded, however, that in later years a reconcilia-
tion was effected.

The workmen in the brother's printing office,
however, were much interested. They had many
questions to ask and were open-eyed with astonish-
ment when Benjamin showed them a handful of
silver money, carelessly exhibited his watch, and
as a crowning act gave them "a piece of eight"

In Philadelphia. 39

(about a dollar) with which to purchase liquid
refreshment.

Josiah Franklin was nearly seventy years of
age. Fifty years of trouble under hard conditions
had imbued him with a very positive degree of
conservatism. He received Governor Keith's let-
ter with surprise, saying that he must be of small
discretion to propose setting up an eighteen-year-
old boy in business. He flatly declined to be a
party to the enterprise and wrote a civil letter in
reply thanking the Governor for the offer, but
saying he considered his son too young to be trusted
with the management of a business so important.

He was evidently pleased with his son's progress
in Philadelphia, however, and gave a parental
consent to his return. He advised the boy to
continue to save his money, to cultivate friend-
ships, and to avoid making enemies by "lampooning
and libelling/' and promised that if by the time
Benjamin was of age he had saved enough money
to cut a respectable figure in the matter of setting
up for himself in business, he would help out with
the rest.

On his return to Philadelphia, Benjamin pre-
sented his father's letter to Governor Keith. Sir
William on reading it said the father was too
prudent. He declared he himself would furnish
the money, directed young Franklin to give him
an inventory of the equipment necessary and he

4O Journeyman Printer in London.
would then send to England for It. Benjamin
had kept his negotiations with the Governor a
secret between them; if he had spoken to others
about it, the real character of his official patron
would probably have been revealed to him.

He prepared an inventory of the necessary equip-
ment, costing about five hundred dollars. The
Governor approved the plan of the outfit, as he
probably would have approved any that would be
presented to him, and asked if it would not be of
advantage for the youthful printer himself to go
to London to select the material Benjamin said
that it would be of advantage and arrangements
were accordingly made for him to sail on a vessel
plying between Philadelphia and London.

CHAP. V.
Journeyman Printer in London*

GOVERNOR KEITH frequently invited the
young printer to his house, always referring
dtfring the visits to the proposed new business
venture as a settled thing; letters to influential
friends in England were promised, as well as letters
of credit with which to purchase the press., types,
paper, and other needed equipment. The letters,
however, were never forthcoming when called for;
finally the time arrived for leave-taking, and still

Journeyman Printer in London. 41

no letters. Instead, the Governor's secretary In-
formed the caller that the Governor was extremely
busy, but would be at Newcastle before the ship
left that point and there the letters would be de-
livered.

The Governor was at Newcastle when the ship
anchored there, but was again too busy to be seen,
and the polite secretary presented his excuses
with the statement that the letters would be sent
on board. The Colonel French previously men-
tioned brought the Governor's despatches to the
ship, all in one bag, which the captain refused to
open until later in the voyage when there would be
more time. When the moment arrived there were
no letters for Benjamin Franklin, and then came
disillusionment.

A Quaker merchant named Denham, who sub-
sequently was to play an important if limited part
in Benjamin Franklin's life and who was sharing
quarters with him during the voyage, came for
the first time into a knowledge of the affair and he
informed young Franklin of Sir William Keith's
true character. Denham scoffed at the idea of
the Governor giving a letter of credit, saying he
had no credit to give.

Benjamin had sorrowfully to accept the conclu-
sion that he had been deceived and that his dream
of soon becoming a master-printer was not to be
realized. The disappointment was keen, but he

42 Journeyman Printer in London*
seems not to have felt any great degree of animosity
toward its author. In later years he generously
summed up Keith's character by saying: "He
wished to please everybody; and, having little to
give, he gave expectations. He was otherwise an
ingenious, sensible man, and a good governor for
the people, though not for his constituents, the
proprietaries, whose instructions he sometimes
disregarded/' Keith was eventually removed from
office and died in London in old age, neglected and
destitute.

Arriving in London, Franklin and his friend,
James Ralph, who had accompanied him, found
themselves in a strange city with only fifteen
pistoles, amounting to about sixty dollars, in
Franklin's pocket and none in Ralph's. Ralph
had some ability as a writer and expected to make
his living with his pen, but was unsuccessful and
after Franklin's stock of pistoles was exhausted
went to a small village where he secured employ-
ment as a schoolmaster.

Franklin immediately secured work at Samuel
Palmer's, a famous printing house in Bartholomew
Close, which was the name of the enclosed space
adjoining the Church of St. Bartholomew, the old-
est church in London. The printing office was
located in a part of the church called the Lady
Chapel, at that time and for some time afterward
devoted to secular uses. It has since been restored

Journeyman Printer in London. 43

to its original purposes andthe attendant takes pride
in saying to visitors, particularly to those from
America, that it is the site of the printing office in
which Benjamin Franklin worked at his trade. In
the north ambulatory in the church is a tablet to
Thomas Roycroft, printer of the Polyglot Bible of
1677.

Samuel Palmer was more than an ordinary
printer. He had visited America, was letter-
founder as well as printer, and was engaged in the
writing of " A History of Printing/' only a third of
which he had completed when he died in 1732.

He proposed to issue his history in two parts:
Part I, historical, which was published in 1632, the
first history of printing in English; and Part II,
practical. An interesting fact in connection with
this proposal is that when it became known, to
quote Timperley's " Dictionary of Printing/* "it
met with such early and strenuous opposition from
the respective bodies of letter-founders, printers,
and bookbinders, and under an ill-grounded appre-
hension that the discovery of the mystery of those
arts, especially the two first, would render them
cheap and contemptible . . . that he was
forced to set it aside."

At Palmer's, Franklin was employed in setting
the type for the third (not the second, as stated in
the " Autobiography") edition of a work called
Wollaston's " Religion of Nature." Some of its rea-

THE

RELIGION

NATURE

DELI N EAT ED.

. Pint.

PUtO.

L O JV 2) O ^:

Re-printed in the Year 1724. by S A M. P A t M s R j and

SoM by BERNARD!, i NTOTT, at the Croft Key* between the JTw^
Gatts ; I O 5 B o R w, at the Oxford- Arms in Lombard- tlrttt i and
. W. aud J. I N v $> at the Wcfl-En<i of St.

Title page of the second edition of "The Religion of Nature" for which
franklin says in the ' Autobiography" he set the type. He wrote from
memory and m this statement was in error. He arrived in London in No-
vember, 1724, and it was the third edition, published in 17^, upon which he
worked. Original in possession of the author. Size 5" x 7 J".

Journeyman Printer in London* 45

soiling appealing to him as unsound, he wrote "a
little metaphysical piece/' entitled "a Diflertation
on Liberty and Neceffity, Pleafure and Pain/ 1
in refutation. It brought him to the favorable
attention of his employer, but because of its
atheistic attitude Franklin afterward regretted its
publication. He is said to have attempted to
suppress the edition, but four copies of the pamph-
let are in existence.

Franklin now decided to make two changes.
His savings had disappeared and his rate of living
made it difficult to set aside anything from his
wages. He felt the necessity of obtaining an in-
creased income and he accordingly sought and
secured a position in a larger printing office, con-
ducted by John Watts in Great Queen Street,
Lincoln's Inn Fields, in another part of the city.
Watts was one of the eminent printers of his time.
He was largely instrumental in establishing the
great type-founding house of Caslon & Company.
William Casion, its founder, was an engraver of
ornamental devices on the barrels of firearms, who
also made bookbinding stamps and dies that were
noted by Watts for their neatness and accuracy,
He introduced young Caslon to other prominent
employing printers, with the result that three of
them raised the sum of five hundred pounds with
which to set Caslon up in business, Watts contribut-
ing one fifth of the amount,

46 Journeyman Printer in London*

The second change decided upon by Franklin
was occasioned by the fact that he was beginning
to feel the want of exercise, to which he had been
accustomed in America, and he therefore applied
for a place in the pressroom instead of in the com-
posing room. The press on which he worked was
subsequently brought to America and is now pre-
served in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion at Washington. Later he returned to com-
posing-room work, but in the same establishment.
His expertness as a compositor resulted in his
being placed on the rush work, which brought a
higher rate of remuneration.

The entry of a new man into a London printing
office at the time was marked by the imposition
upon him by his fellow workmen of a tax for drink.
Franklin paid the amount, five shillings, without
demur, when he went into Watts' printing office,
but objected to paying a similar sum on his transfer
to the composing room of the same establishment.
His employer agreed with him and forbade com-
pliance with the demand. However, after two
or three weeks, during which time he found his
cases regularly mixed up, the pages of the form
upon which he might be at work transposed, and
other similar annoyances, all of which were as-
cribed to the chapel ghost, which it was explained
^ever haunted those not regularly admitted/' he
surrendered and paid the tax.

Journeyman Printer in London. 47

His abstemiousness was the subject of comment
because it was a belief among the workmen that
to do strong labor one must needs partake of strong
drink. Franklin says: "My companion at the
prefs drank every day a pint [of beer] before
breakfaft, a pint at breakfaft with his bread and
tea, a pint between breakfaft and dinner, a pint
at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about fix o'clock,
and another when he had done his day's work/'
Franklin showed them by example the fallacy of
their belief as to the source of physical strength.
"On occafion," said he, "I carried up- and down-
ftairs a large form of type in each hand, when
others carried but one in both hands. They won-
dered to fee from this and feveral inftances, that
the Water- American, as they called me, was
ftronger than themfelves, who drank ftrong beer!"

Franklin's wages were usually considerably in
excess of those of his fellows. He never made a
"St. Monday," a holiday, observed by the other
workmen while recovering from the week end's
dissipation. He received higher wages also be-
cause of his superior ability, and he did not have
four or five shillings to pay on Saturday night for
drink consumed during the week, as did most of
the others. He was soon lending money to them,
carefully collecting it on pay day, with, one may
be assured, a reasonable addition for interest.

Acquiring a standing among the men, he pro-

48 Journeyman Printer in London.

posed some alterations in their chapel laws which
were made. He offered other suggestions also,
one being the substitution for the usual pint of
beer at breakfast of a " large porringer of hot water
gruel, fprinkled with pepper, crumbed with bread
and a bit of butter in it," which he convinced them
made a cheaper breakfast and kept their heads
clearer.

He had been lodging in Little Britain at three
shillings and six pence (about eighty-four cents) a
week. He removed to Duke Street, nearer Watts'
printing office, at the same price, but deciding to
obtain a cheaper lodging so as to increase his sav-
ings, he announced the fact to his landlady and she
reduced the price to one shilling and six pence per
week. It was a bargain, but lodgings were cheap,
compared to modern standards, in that day. It
was about the time that we find Dean Swift writing
a letter to "Stella" in which he says of his quarters
in Bury Street, one block away from Duke Street:
" I have a firft floor, a dining room and bedroom, at
eight ftiillings a week, plaguey deaf!"

Not far away from Duke Street is Craven Street,
at No. 7 of which was Mrs. Margaret Stevenson's
boarding-house, where lived Benjamin Franklin
during the two periods of his representation of the
American Colonies in England. The houses iu
the street were renumbered twice after he left;
consequently when the Royal Society, of which he

Journeyman Printer in London. 49

was a member, in 1875 placed a tablet to his mem-
ory it was attached to the wrong house, and patri-
otic Americans who visited it during the succeeding
forty years worshipped at the wrong shrine. Search
of the London County Council records in recent
years established the fact that it was at the house
now numbered 36 that Franklin lived and at which
he received so many of the world's elect. It is
now a small hotel where those who make arrange-
ments sufficiently in advance may occupy the room
tenanted so long by the great American.

An interesting fact in connection with this
period of Franklin's life is that he was an expert
swimmer, and so far as is known, he was America's
first amateur athlete. With his accustomed thor-
oughness he read books that dealt with the theory
and practice of water sports; gave exhibitions that
excited comment to the point that financial aid
was forthcoming in a project to establish a nata-
torium in London for him, and it was further pro-
posed that he travel in Europe, giving exhibitions
of his dexterity as a swimmer.

He laid the matter before his Quaker merchant
friend Denham, with whom he had kept in associa-
tion, who discouraged it and advised him to return
to America. Denharn was about to go back to
Philadelphia with a quantity of goods with which to
open a store, and he proposed to Benjamin that
he go along and take a position as clerk, keep the

50 A Plan of Life.

books, copy letters, and attend the wants of cus-
tomers. Later there was to be advancement.
Denham offered the equivalent of one hundred and
sixty-seven dollars a year as remuneration, which
was less than Franklin was then receiving as a
compositor, but with the ever-present desire of the
compositor to "get away from the case' 3 the offer
proved tempting and was accepted. Accordingly
they sailed together from England, July 23, 1726.

CHAR VI.
A Plan of Life.

A VOYAGE across the Atlantic Ocean in the
early years of the Eighteenth Century was
something of an undertaking. The ships were
small and uncomfortable at best, and daring bad
weather the conditions became almost unendur-
able. The great changes for the better in ocean
travel that two hundred years have brought are
indicated in the paper which Franklin wrote en-
titled: " Precautions to Be Ufed by Thofe Who Are
About to Undertake a Sea Voyage/' He gives,
among other things, a list of the viands with which
each passenger should equip himself, for says he,
"the moft difagreeable thing at fea is the Cookery;
for there is not properly f peaking any profefFd
Cook on board. The worft failor is generally

A Plan of Life. $i

chofen for that purpofe, who for the m9ft part is
equally dirty/'

As to the passenger's equipment, he advises that
"a fmall Oven made of tin Plates is not a bad piece
of Furniture; your Servant may roaft in it a piece
of Mutton or Pork." He warns against the carry-
ing of live provisions. "With regard to Poultry-
it is almoft ufelefs to carry any with you unlefs you
refolve to undertake the Office of feeding and fat-
tening them yourfelf. With the little care which
is taken of them on board fhip they are almoft all
sickly and their flefh is as tough as Leather. "

The voyage upon which Franklin and his mer-
chant friend and employer Denham embarked
lasted eleven and one half weeks and the diary
Franklin kept shows the trip grew so irksome that
he finally began to wonder if it would ever come to
an end. "For my part/' he wrote, "I know not
what to think of it* ... Sure the American
Continent is not all funk under Water fmce we left
it. I rife in the Morning and read for an hour or
two perhaps and then Reading grows tirefome.
Want of Exercife occafions want of Appetite fo
that Eating and Drinking afford but little Pleaf-
ure. I tire myfelf with playing at Drafts, then I
go to Cards; nay, there is no Play fo trifling or
childifh but we fly to it for Entertainment."

Such a dull existence afforded plenty of oppor-
tunity for meditation. This fact and Franklin's

52 A Plan of Life.

usual habit of reflection led him to draw up for
himself a plan of life. "Thofe who write of the
Art of Poetry/' he said, "teach us, that, if we would
write what may be worth Reading, we ought al-
ways, before we begin, to form a regular Plan and
defign of our Piece; otherwife we shall be in Danger
of Incongruity. I am apt to think it is the fame
as to Life. I have never fix'd a regular Defign
in Life, by which means it has been a confuPd
Variety of different Scenes. I am now entering
upon a new one; let me, therefore, make fome
Refolutions, and form fome Scheme of Action,
that henceforth I may live in all Refpects like a
rational Creature.

" i. It is neceflary for me to be extremely fru-
gal for fome time till I have paid what I owe.

"2. To endeavor to fpeak Truth in every
inftance, to give Nobody Expectations that are not
likely to be anfwered, but aim at Sincerity in every
Word and Action; the moft amiable Excellence
in a rational Being.

"3. To apply myfelf induftriously to what-
ever Buiinefs 1 take in hand, and not divert my
mind from my Bufmefs by any foolifh Project of
growing fuddenly rich; for Induftry and Patience
are the fureft Means of Plenty.

"4. I refolve to fpeak ill of no Man whatever,
not even in a matter of Truth; but rather by fome
means excufe the Fault I hear charged upon others,
and upon proper Occafions, fpeak all the good I
know of Everybody/ 5

A Plan of Life. 53

To this plan he later made additions. One of
them consisted of a set of twelve virtues, which
he resolved to practise as follows:

1. Temperance 7. Sincerity

2. Silence 8, Justice

3. Order 9. Moderation

4. Resolution 10. Cleanliness

5. Frugality n. Tranquillity

6. Industry 12. Chastity

After practising them for some time he found
he was doing so well that he had grown proud of
the fact, which, as he reflected that pride was a
vice, caused him to add another to the table of
virtues :

13. Humility

Remembering the advice of the Greek philoso-
pher, Pythagoras, to the effect that daily examina-
tion is a necessary corollary to an attempt to
attain perfection, he prepared a chart upon which
it was his custom to check himself up at the close
of the day. Of this system of self-examination
he says :

"I made a little Book, in which I allotted a
Page for each of the Virtues. I ruled each Page
with red Ink, fo as to have feven Columns, one
for each Day of the Week, marking each Column
with a Letter for the day. I crofTed thefe Columns
with thirteen red Lines, marking the beginning
of each Line with the firft Letter of one of the Vir-

54 ^ Plan of Life.

tues, 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
refpecting that Virtue upon that Day/'

The diagram* was arranged something like that
shown on the next page.

This chart was at first drawn in a memorandum
book made of paper which, because of the frequent
markings, proved not to be sufficiently durable,
consequently it was transferred to one made of
ivory leaves and the records were thus kept for
many years.

Order was the one virtue in which throughout
his whole life Benjamin Franklin found it difficult
to attain anything approaching perfection. Of
this fault he wrote: "In Truth, I found myfelf
incorrigible with refpect to Order; and now I am
grown old, and my Memory bad, I feel very fen-
fiblytheWantofit." -

While Franklin was Minister to France, William
Alexander wrote to him, "Will you forgive me
my Dear Sir for noticing, that your Papers feem
to me to lye a little loofely about your hands you
are to confider yourfelf as furrounded by fpies and
amongft People who can make a Cable from a
Thread; would not a fpare half hour per day en-
able your Son to arrange all your Papers, ufelefs or
not, fo that you could come at them fooner, and
not One be vifible to a prying eye ?" John Adams,

TEMPERANCE

EAT NOT TO DULLNESS
DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION

S.

M.

T.

W.

T.

F.

S.

T.

*"*!!

S.

o.

R.

F.

I.

S.

J-

-

M.

C.

T.

C.

H.

Diagram Franklin used in checking up his ob-
servance of the thirteen virtues.

5 6 A Plan of Life.

who usually saw something to remedy in every
situation, when he joined the embassy in Paris,
according to Parton, at once "objected to the dis-
arrangement of the papers, and very properly
addressed himself to the task of putting the em-
bassy in order. He procured letter books and
pigeon-holes, and performed a great deal of use-
ful, and perhaps some superfluous, labor, in ar-
ranging and rectifying the affairs of the office.
In a word, he put the office into red tape/*

Fully realizing the need for all the check he could
put upon his tendency to neglect the observance
of Order in his affairs, Franklin early in life devised
a plan to cover the twenty-four hours of the day,
as follows :

THE MORNING ( 5) Rife, wafli, and addrefs

( ) Powerful Goodnefs!

Queftion. What good Contrive day's bufi-
fhall I do this day? ( 6) nefs, and take the

( ) refolution of the day;
( 7) profecute the prefent

ftudy, and breakfaft,
( 8) Work.

(9)
(10)
(ii)
(12) Read, or overlook my

accounts, and dine.
( i) Work,

A Plan of Life. 57

(2)

(3)
(4)
(5)

EVENING ( 6) Put things in their

Queftion. What good places,
have I done to-day? ( 7) Supper. Muficordiver-

( 8) fion, or converfation.
( 9) Examination of the day.
NIGHT (10) Sleep.

(n)
(12)

( i)

(2)

(3)

(4)
Always a deep thinker on all important subjects,

Franklin meditated long and earnestly upon that
of religion and as a result formulated his own creed,
which he said he felt contained the essentials of
every known religion. It was as follows :

"That there is one God who made all Things.
"That he governs the World by his Providence,
"That he ought to be wprfhipped by adoration,

prayer, and thankfgiving.
"But that the moft acceptable fervice of God is

doing good to Man.
"That the Soul is immortal.
"And that God will certainly reward Virtue and

punilh Vice, either here or hereafter/'

58 Foreman ofKeimer's Shop.

Conceiving God to be the fountain of all wisdom,

he supplemented his creed with this prayer of his

own composition:

a O powerful Goodnefs! bountiful Father! merci-
ful Guide! Increafe in me that wifdom which
dif covers my trueft intereft. Strengthen nay refo-
lutions to perform what that wifdom dictates.
Accept my kind offices to Thy other children as
the only return in my power for Thy continual
Favors to me/'

C H A P. - V 1 1.

In Philadelphia Again as Foreman of
Keimer's Shop.

M 1

'R. DENHAM set up his store in Water Street.
He and his young clerk took living quarters
together and for six months everything went along
satisfactorily to both. Then both fell ill and al-
though Franklin recovered Mr, Denham did not.
The store was taken charge of by his executors
and Franklin was under the necessity of finding a
new position.

He tried to secure employment as a merchant's
clerk, but, nothing offering, he accepted an offer
from Samuel Keimer to take charge of his shop, in
which was now employed a force of several hands.
None was efficient, however, and it was for the

Foreman of Keimer's Shop. 59

purpose of making them so that Keimer offered
Franklin what was at that time a high rate of
wages.

Franklin saw that what Keimer evidently had in
mind was to employ him until the workmen, two
of whom were bound servants, had attained some
measure of the skill at the printing trade which
Franklin had brought back from London, and
then to dispense with the instructor's services.
Notwithstanding that fact, however, the foreman-
ship was accepted. The position was made
attractive further, by the fact that Keimer closed
his shop on Saturday and Sunday, which gave ad-
ditional time for reading and study.

The new foreman proceeded to set the shop in
order and to instruct the workmen. As they
increased in usefulness Keimer began to grumble
at what he said were the high wages he was paying
to Franklin. At the end of the second quarter
he demanded a rearrangement at a lower rate of
pay. He became dictatorial in his manner, made
frequent complaints, and the break finally came
over a trivial occurrence which is described in the
"Autobiography" as follows:

"At length a Trifle fnapp'd our connections; for,
a great noife happening near the Court-Houfe, I
put my Head out of the window to fee what was
the matter. Keimer, being in the ftreet look'd
up and faw me, call'd out to me in a loud Voice

60 Foreman o/Keimer's Shop.

and angry Tone to mind my Bufmefs, adding
fome reproachful Words, that nettFd me the more
for their publicity, all the Neighbors who were
looking out on the fame occafion, being WitnefTes
how I was treat' d. He came up immediately
into the Printing-Houfe, continued the Quarrel,
high Words pafFd on both fides, he gave me the
quarter's Warning we had ftipulat'd, expreffing a
wilh that he had not been obliged to fo long a
Warning. I told him his wilh was unnecefTary,
for I would leave him that inftant; and so, taking
my Hat, walked out of doors, defiring Meredith,
whom I faw below, to take care of fome things I
left, and bring them to my lodgings/'

Hugh Meredith, referred to above, is described
as a "Welfh Pennfylvanian, thirty years of age,
bred to country work, honeft, fenfible, had a great
deal of folid Obfervation, was fomething of a
Reader, but given to drink/' He called upon
Franklin in the evening to talk matters over.
He disapproved of Franklin's determination to
return to Boston, and suggested that they set up a
partnership together, saying that his father would
furnish the necessary capital as an offset to Frank-
lin's knowledge of printing, on a basis of an equal
distribution of the profits. The father being in
town, a further consultation was held, with a
result that an inventory of a printing shop was
given to a merchant with instructions to send it to
London to be filled.

Firm of Franklin and Meredith, 61

Franklin applied to Andrew Bradford for work,
but was told there was none for him. After re-
maining idle a few days, Keimer, having in prospect
an opportunity to secure the printing of the paper
money of the Province of New Jersey, sent a civil
message to Franklin, with the result that he re-
turned to Keimer's employment. The New Jersey
order was obtained, Franklin constructed a copper-
plate press on which to print the money, cut orna-
ments for use in the design of the paper bills, and
went to Burlington, then the capital of New Jersey,,
where he remained three months.

The one-story building which he fitted up as a
printshop in Burlington has been preserved as a
museum by a patriotic society because of his early
connection with it. During his stay in Burlington
he made many influential friends among the lead-
ing men of the capital, who rendered valuable as-
sistance to him when he later went into business
for himself.

CHAP. VIII.

The New Firm of Franklin and Meredith.

'TpHE outfit ordered from London arrived at

about the time Franklin finished the work for

which he went to Burlington for Keimer, and also

at about the expiration of the period for which

62 Firm of Franklin and Meredith.

Hugh Meredith was bound to Keimer. Mere-
dith's father advanced one hundred pounds, one
half the money required, with a promise of the
remainder at an early date. They rented a house
in the lower part of Market Street at twenty-four
pounds a year and sub-let the greater part of it to
Thomas Godfrey, with whom Franklin took lodg-
ings. Godfrey used his portion of the house for
the living quarters of his family and to accommo-
date his own business, which was that of a glazier.

A countryman walking along the street and look-
ing for a printer was the first customer, having
been brought in by one of Franklin's friends.
"This man's five fhillings," says Franklin, "being
our firft fruits, and coming so feafonably, gave me
more pleafure than any crown I have fince earned/'

The second order was to print forty sheets of a
work entitled "The History of the Rise, Increase
and Progress of the Christian People Called Quak-
ers." Keimer had undertaken it, but had failed to
complete it in time. Giving an estimated price
on the work, Franklin did what printers have been
known to do before and since, quoted too low.
When that fact became apparent he resolved that
the only course to follow would be to produce one
sheet every day, and so, even when interrupted
by other work, he would finish the sheet before
going to bed, and to do this he was obliged often
to work until eleven o'clock at night. He did the

THE

HISTORY

F TH E

RISE, INCREASE, and PJEIOG&ESS,

Of the CHRISTIAN PEOPLE called

QUAKERS:

Intermixed with, Several

Remarkable Occwrences.

Written Originally in lOTV-DU'TCH, and atfb Tron-*
flared into ENGLISH,

By WILLIAM" SBWEIL.

ff2*,THJRI> EDITION, t Goreft<&

<PHIL^DL<PHI^.~
Printed aad Sold by SAMUEL KEIMEU *& $xovd Sfrtst.
U DCClCXTm:

This work was begun by Samuel Keimer in 1725 and finished
in 1728 with the assistance of the new firm of Franklin and
Meredith, being their first large order. Original in the Typogra-
phic Library and Museum of the American Type Founders
Company, Jersey City, N. J. Size $%" x ic^V 7 .

64 Firm of Franklin and Mer&dith.

type composition and Meredith the pressworL
One night just as a form of two pages had been
completed it was pied, but true to his resolution
he set to work and did not leave the printing office
until the pi had been distributed and the page set
up again and printed.

The new firm made a favorable impression,
one reason being the superior quality of its work.
Franklin knew how to set type correctly, how to
operate and keep a press in order, and how to get
good effects upon it. Neither Bradford nor Kei-
mer was noted for the excellence of his printing,
thus giving an opening to the young printers, of
which they were quick to take advantage.

A notable instance was in connection with the
public printing. Bradford was postmaster and
printer of the laws and other public documents.
On one occasion he printed an address of the House
to the Governor in a coarse, blundering manner.
Franklin and Meredith reprinted it correctly and
in good style, and sent a copy to every member of
the House. " They were f enfible of the difference,"
Franklin says; "it lengthened the hands of our
friends in the Houfe, and they voted us their
printers for the year enfuing."

A difficulty soon presented itself to Franklin
and Meredith in the shape of a demand from the
merchant who had brought their outfit from London
for the payment of the second half of the purchase

Firm of Franklin and Meredith. 65

price. After some discussion, Meredith, who had
come to the conclusion that he never would be
successful as a printer, offered to withdraw from
the firm on the following terms as stated to his
partner: "If you v^ill take the debts of the com-
pany upon you, return to my father the hundred
pounds he has advanced, pay my little perfonal
debts and give me thirty pounds and a new faddle,
I will relinquish the partnerlhip. and leave the
whole in your hands."

Two of Franklin's personal friends came for-
ward with an offer of the money required to pay
off the whole sum due, which offer was accepted
and the title of the firm was changed to read:
"B. Franklin, Printer/ 3

The interest of his powerful friend Andrew Ham-
ilton, whose acquaintance was made at the begin-
ning of the voyage to England two or three years
before, which voyage, however, Mr. Hamilton at
the last moment was prevented from making, now
obtained the printing of the Newcastle paper money
and the laws of that government, which patronage
Franklin retained as long as he continued in busi-
ness.

The affairs of B. Franklin, Printer, continued to
prosper. In 1729, Samuel Keimer went into
bankruptcy, sold his printing office, and retired
to Barbadoes. One of his apprentices, David
Harry, bought the materials and set up in his place.

66 Firm of Franklin and Meredith .

He had many friends and Franklin, fearing his
competition, proposed a partnership, which, fortu-
nately for him, Harry rejected. He neglected his
business, however, and soon followed Keimer to
Barbadoes, taking the printing outfit with him.
This left Franklin with but a single rival for the
patronage of Philadelphia, Andrew Bradford, who
gave more attention to the post office than he did
to his printing office and proved therefore not an
aggressive competitor.

Franklin now began to think of marriage. His
landlady interested herself in the matter and what
happened may perhaps be best expressed in his
own words:

" Mrs. Godfrey project d a Match for me with
a relation's Daughter, took opportunities of bring-
ing us often together, till a feripus Courtfhip
on my part enfu'd, the Girl being in herfelf
very defending. 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 manag'd our little Treaty. I let
her know that I expend as much Money with their
Daughter as would pay off my remaining Debt
for the Printing-Houfe, which 1 believe was not
then above a hundred Pounds. She brought me
word they had no fuch fum to fpare. I faid they
might mortgage their Houfe in the Loan-Office.
The anfwer to this, after fome Days, was that they
did not approve the Match; that, on inquiry of
Bradford, they had been informed the Printing

Firm of Franklin and Meredith. 67

Bufmef s was not a profitable one ; the Types would
foon be worn out, and more want'd; that S. Keimer
and D. Harry had faii'd one after the other and I
fhould probably foon follow them; and therefore I
was forbidden the Houfe, and the Daughter fliut up/'

Franklin was in doubt as to whether this action
expressed the real sentiments of the young woman's
family, or whether it was a device to prompt them
to contract a runaway marriage, which would put
the family in the position of providing a dowry or
not, as they chose. He resolved to give no further
consideration to the matter, whereupon Mrs. God-
frey renewed the overtures. He held to his decision
and as a result there was a falling out between him
and the Godfreys, who removed from the house,
which he then decided to retain wholly for his own use.

"But/' says he, "this affair having tura'd my
Thoughts to Marriage, I look'd round me and
made overtures of Acquaintance in other Places;
but foon found that, the Bufmess of a Printer
being generally thought a poor One, I was not to
expedt Money with a Wife, unlefs with fuch a One
as I fhould not otherwife think agreeable."

He renewed his acquaintance with Miss Deborah
Read and on September i, 1730, they were married.
Of this marriage Franklin said: "She proved a
good and faithful helpmate, affifted me much by at-
tending the Shop ; we ftrove together, and have ever
mutually endeavored to make each other happy."

68

CHAR IX.

Publisher and Bookseller.

TF A Philadelphia!! in 1728," says James Par-
* ton, "had been asked to name the business
by which, in Philadelphia, a stranger could make a
fortune in twenty years, the business of a printer
would have been among the very last to occur to
him. There was no good book-store south of
Boston, it is true, but also there was no general
regard for books south of Boston. Except Mr.
James Logan, who had a superb library, and per-
haps three or four persons besides, there was no
one in Philadelphia who had the true passion for
books, until our young printer infused it into them.
Franklin, like poets that Wordsworth speaks of,
had to create the taste by gratifying which he
was to thrive. Almanacs, hymn-books, low-priced
books of religious controversy, and very rudi-
mental school-books, were the staple commodities
of the Philadelphia book-store in the olden time.
It was not safe to publish any book higher than
eighteen pence, except by subscription. Of the
books published in the Colonies before the Revolu-
tion, nine tenths, at least, appear to have been
sold at less than eighteen pence. The whole busi-
ness of printing was trivial, and could be made
profitable only by prosecuting successfully a great
number of petty projects."

Publisher and Bookseller. 69

Although Franklin and Meredith began to print
in 1728, the first issue of their press listed by
Charles R. Hildeburn in his remarkably complete
work, "A Century of Printing; The Issues of the
Press in Pennsylvania/' is "A Modeft Inquiry
into the Nature and Neceffity of a Paper Currency,
Print'd and Sold at the New Printing Office near
the Market, 1729." Seven other publications
are ascribed to Franklin and Meredith for that
year, two of which do not show their imprint, but
are known to be from their press.

One pamphlet bearing their imprint was not
printed by them. It is entitled "A Touch of the
Times," and was written and printed by Keimer
as an answer to an article in the " Mercury "
which he considered to be aimed at himself, and
wrongfully ascribed on the title page to the "New
Printing Office." It brought forth the following
advertisement in the "Mercury" dated April
24, 1729:

THIS may inform thofe that have been
induced to think otherwife, That the filly
Paper, cali'd a Touch of the Times, &c. was Wrote,
Printed and Publifh'd by Mr. Keimer; and that
his putting the words New Printing Office at the
Bottom, and inftructing the Hawkers to fay it was
done there is an Abufe."

Franklin's publication of the "Pennfylvania Ga-
zette" began in 1729, and "Poor Richard's Alma-

4?, Soil kb In Mfsm

So htjfkb aosfoi Gott wir&air dw$
Mf& lefltn W-ohmng gefoa

E.OSS BRITTANIEK.

Kactidein die Frkdensmid Kriegs-sfFaircfl la
Iwaropa eipe geraumc ZCIE her aof eincn fel

WMckelbahjen 16 geftandcn, und nun eimge
lahie allexeit fa den wafSin. ftehend deaen Ftie
2fi05*haadlaagett obsjekgea, fohst dochendlich

<lgsSnigvonGtoft Batcanien, durch dcAito
Mprohncndea Eiffer das bee ferae/ Uaiertha-
aen tia bevorderen , die Ictete hand aus werck
gefchlagen, und durcln emeu Tiahat B nfekhcn
rdco. 1 6, Mestzvexwschtnen Tahitt ju Wito
tnic dm islejfer crochcr t ^enWcderfucd die
Euhc^n Eurm btfefiw^f ; ZiU diefem-Traftsai
ift S|saiiItoBzsd HollanCiush gitrefeft 1 : Praocfe-
tfttfh ftlleia ibbeuiec darfibc^ f<jnV unvcffinfigt ^w
lejh. Ud rreU dcr iCtj^lcc und Engeland iicli
darinneii verafiichret dtolafant von Spanicn D<5r,
-j ah Erb-|nnE/.T! Herttogth^mcr Ibf-

MILADEtPHIA,
Von Jkiartha*y Vineyard hist maw, dandle r<5!
dniger iicjt alida TOgekom^ene Pfalt&f, wd.^
chc au^ihres iang^en reile von Eoecerdam To {ibcl
find behanckk woidc^ mxe Capltsiti Loyd ac<c
coidiret babea lie hiehcr tu f fihren, und wodco
nuumehro T%Hc^ civranet.
v* Von England wisd bcfciHgc^ ddfs dla Pro-
prietor 'dielen FxfibiiognOich keif ai&ommtn wdr*
de, auch d6 c 1$dM>&b!CDdB dftm Vcs
gleich twit My lord Baluou9itg

Am vrwkhtien

wahfeoHem Gouesdteoft antftew ^
gcr brand in Mr Bsdc^db Su^haufe. Ein jc
Sec lief eilendd KISS dw Kircfvn, und ftud fich
cine grOjQd meaee dcto bey dcrn Eruer y doch
konre da G&ui sikbt trrcrwc* wewlra, Wena
es des nachts-au^cbfOcliei^tKki 1 das Walter nicht
eben bocb in demjirabni gewpicn vlrc folcc
an vki grSffettx icitiuie daf^G^ 4iaben ifepca
cmftehen, weiiitto Flamilic fchon vcrfchcidoao
andere HSutosr ergf iScn. Due BiaiKtipj'fecn tha-
tea.bcy dlefe Gdlcgpnheit gtofl'e dicnfte, und jo
derman tw will% an hel&n, dcrgcftak, dafa das
'

feo lalralte ebojFQhictt , ib ha? dicfem mfol-
gc <!er Ki5nfe von Epgcland cine ECguader uifr
r den Afefrs! Wage? nach Baflcel<jna gcichJ-
t&t, fi^i 4to lU der SjKiTiifchcn FJotte z.u^*
gea and die 6oca %SpaiiitiJDs each Livomo^u
irasjapatirert, wcIcJia- iotfodafiioa aacfci ,gl^cl7
&ch Toi &li neganffeo, -ynd aalafs gegcben Yti
cfeor Anrode dc? Konags am 13. Jan. an die bey-
p Hfafb-dcsPirffltoents* wdctewir wegen en-
gc dcs ntums auf <ic andcie Geiegcaheic veifpa*
navoto*

v loafa fatty Jen, Yenrscltcneii Mittwoch a-
foends am 5 tthr, gab der GraifBothmar-, crl%
r det Hs^novejifehcn siSairen, in fcinttft
In S. ^tnesPark, naeVdncr lang gcwShr-
afilicl^cBity'ict'ZcitliEchkcu MK aachf
Er hac ilbcr ao . Tahr in Engcbnd gewohncc.
fccin^eiclwara fbu^ halfiratvet, nach Hannovcj
jtebracht und bay faacn^oyeltemsur Endcnbe-
tl^rtcc wcidcn*

&v&f dea ?. Fcb; 'In dnera Schreibcn v^n
Barcelona wird gccicldet, dais vor 2 Tagdi afl
die daiigea Tntfificknter ordrc gekommcn % ciao
Arrneu vsstj jtiiMsO: Mun ftAle 2u halrcrt, unrl
h&hjg$ anlblrcn A'ackm, 5aw felbige den j$5.
Jyffcjj& ndbft airer dasu gdh^HCftn AmUerie<lcdnr
unc eingeichiflfet' wcrdcn docn weifs *noch mc-
raaa4 worauf dicfcjmochtc angdehen^leyn*

M; ettettet werden.

gcfaluen, und die Gdcgenhcit
wennniemandmdfif Gabmewar, o
wommeaund ^ndcn fpringtf daHalwacm
gebundcn, das M^adloch iMitcr d^ Braft gcftci-
let und ficb alfo fcrbdcrfchofletj, dflft db; Schufi
imten ncbcctder Schulrcr httftiu fiattg^n, und fi*>
wcnijBc ftunden he^sjacH dflrangcKorbcn.

Mfffniio^lgmis Sfajftb&tofak
Brig. Warren,. Tb> R&tnfty ? vxSn Doauti.
Snow Lovely Haanali, J Wilctttfks^on Andgw
Sloop Bovc s John Rice* qon Jiouth Carolina.
Sloop Johns, AM .HmrcS) "vosi North Carolina*
Ship Diamond, Writ Bonaldfon, von Briftol.
Snow Mary Ann, Lab Pienirce, vonS 1 , Chriftophcf4
Prefft folgmtor G&tv, Weitttn dr Bufchel a
fchill <f. pcncd. Fern Mehl, der Gentnef 8 fcL
MiiTcl Bred iz. fch. gemcngt, 10. fch.
9 fra. Hum, eio Gallon 2. ick 4. p.
id. p.

BEKENTMACHU.WG.

wwwr fay George Fkxwater,

Gcdruckt tJcy B. Rrancklto in der Marclc-iltafa,
4icft 2^itngcnza bckommcn tmd Betodtmactangaiaw b fic

Fourth page of Franklin's German newspaper.

Zeitun

S A MB STAG, dtorf Mey. 173*.

An alh tftitfehs EiBwobner der 'Prmi/tz wocpc eSngmbl? nemlidj Somtal&nds sii
tyttwfifoamtti* gegenwartigor form einer Z,eittsigj

NACHDEM ich von verfcbie- oebil deaea fcMffen fo bier abgebca
dcnca teutfcben Etnwobnem und ankommen, tmd auch da3
dicics I&ndcs bin crfachet oto fal!codes t FrelcsdpQute
wordcB s cine teutfche Zeituag was fonft xu^wiilcn dicnlkb
aosgchen m iaffen, und ihnen darbncrt y& mechen*
das vomebmftc and merckwutdigfle Advcrdffemetite oder
ncucs, fo Wcr uod in Europa vorfallca chungCjQj wcklic man an m
mochtCj zu comintiakiren j doch abcr moch^ibllen das erfte mahlvor.3
hicrzu vicle mube^ groife corf efposi- 3 mahl aber vor 5 flail;
dcntz und auchXJnlcof en erfordert wer wcrdon*
dca ; AIs babe mich cntfcbloHcn, de- Und weit ich mitzlicE erac^te di^
ocn teutfchcn zu licb gegcnwarfiiges gantxe befchmb^qg dcr aufriclltung
Specimen davon hefatas iu gefecn^ und dicfcr pro vmtz,tnk alien dcrfeibcDpriT
ihncn dabey die Conditicnes welcbe vilcgkn,,rcchtcn und gcfetxcn, bey cr?
nothwcndigzudcrcoutinuatioaderfcl- mangcluog gcnugfamcr Ncuigkdten ?
ben erfordert werdcn,bel5cnc ztimachcn, darinec bckandt zu macbcn; foltc niche

Erftlicb, muflcn aum vrct)igften s am Hndierftcb feyo, dafs cm jeder, znm&bt
dieunkoftcndiedaraufiaisffcn, gut au wer kiflder hat s dkfc Zidtungcn wobl
rnacfien, 300 flucks konnen gedruckc bewahjc, und am ende des jabrcs an
und debitiret wadeoj und miiftc inje* cinanderbeffte j aumalilda fpichedaufi
dcr TownfKip dam io mann'aijsgc- glddiiamalseiaeChmicadieBcnkon^
machet we rdcn, wckher mir wii!en 1 ief- nen , die vorigea Gcfchtclite daraas za
jc, wie viclZcitungenjedwrnahlau tfm erfeben > und die folgcndc'deilo beCcr
roiiften gefasidt wordcn 5 wd dor fie dan zu verflcben.
wcite|seinenjeg!ichen itiftellen wnddic Auch wird anbey zu bcdcncfccu ge*
bciablongdavoreinfordcmmlifte* gcl>cii> ob q$ ,mcht rajitfanv wire, 10

Vor je4 ZcituDg mufsjahrlich 10 jeder grolTenTowiiihipeinenrcitendcfl
SbilliBgc crlegct, ufld davon alleqar- Bbten zu beMten, welcher alle woclic
tal a fti. 6 d. Bczabkt werden. cinmahl nach der ftadt reitcn nnd was

Dagcgen verfprecbe kb auf mciner ^in jcdcr da xu beilellen bat, mit nch-
fcttc t dafcb gxjte Coridpondfijsfuj die men k&nnc

icb in Holland uw$ England liabe allt- So I^ld,ntm4ie obgemeldtc ai &abl
wit, das merkwurdigftc und licucftc fo der Utstcrlchreiber Yorhandcn, wckte

Buropa und auch bier palfirct, allc fo bald als pi^gHch crftsche in Fliils-

ddpli

Title page of the first number of Franklin's German newspaper."
Size sJ" x 8",

72 Publisher and Bookseller*

nack" was^established in 1732. Each will be dealt
with at length in separate chapters.

The issues of Franklin's press, exclusive of the
"Pennsylvania Gazette/' "Poor Richard's Alma-
nack/' the " Philadelphifche Zeitung," and the
"General Magazine/' between the years 1729 and
1748, in which latter year the active management of
the printing office was turned over to David Hall,
numbered more than seven hundred, in which is
included everything from a single sheet to preten-
tious volumes of several hundred pages each.

Early in 1741 Franklin began the publication
of "The General Magazine and Hiftorical Chronicle
for all the Britifh Plantations in America, to be
Continued Monthly/' A part of the announce-
ment of the new magazine in the " Pennsylvania
Gazette " was to this effect :

"We defire no fubfcriptions. We fhall publifh
the Books at our own Expenfe, and rifk the fale
of them, which Method, we fuppofe, will be moft
agreeable to our Readers, as they will then be at
Liberty to buy only what they like, and we fliall
be under the conftant Neceffity of endeavoring
to make every particular Pamphlet worth their
Money."

The "General Magazine" came out late in the
month and followed by three days the publication
by Andrew Bradford of the first number of "The
American Magazine or a Monthly View of the

jsaJEsr 5AOM =-" m*"wr* - ^p

1 A JVew Verfion |

& OF THB

S A L M Si

55

I Z> A V I D, |

1 Fitted to the T U N K S Ufed g

SW A <fw/ $GS

1 BY S

2 N". ^r^ 3 D. D- Chaplain in Ordinary, *
8 and N. <&tf<: 9 Eft; Poet I-aurcat to His X

PHILADELPHIA:

5

Printed and Sold by B. F R A N K L I KT,

tat the New Prin ting-Office, near the jj
Market. Sold aifo by d. BvaAford* at *
S the Bible in Second-Street. 1735. \ S|

The seventh edition of this work, printed m I7^9> was the first
important production of Franklin's press. In speaking of the
deplorable tendency of people to prefer light literature he
said: "An impression of the Psalms of David had been upon
my shelves for above two years/' yet he had known a large
impression of Robin Hood's Songs to go off ma twelvemonth.
Original in the possession of the Curtis Publishing Company^
Philadelphia. Size 2|" x 4!".

C A T O's

MORAL

DISTICHS

Englijbed in Couplets.

Printed and Sold by B. FRANKLI N, 735-

Franklin's first reprint of a classic. He said "The Cato Major" (1744) was
"the first translation of a classic in the Western World," forgetting this
edition^ of the "Moral Distichs" and Samuel K tamer's publication in 1729
of "Epictetus his Morals." Oiiginal in the possession of the Curtis Publish-
ing Company, Philadelphia. Size 4" x 6".

TREATY

O F

FRIENDSH1?

HELD WITH THE

CHIEFS OF THE SIX NATIONS,

PHILADELPHIA

I N

SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER, rjjfi.

P H1LJD RLV HI Jtf

Piloted and Sold by B. FRAN KLIN, at the New Printing-Office
near the Market. M,DCC,XXXVIL

First issue of the Indian Treaties.
Original in the possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia.

The. AMERICAN MAGAZWE

O R.

4 MONTHLY VIEW OP

Jbe Political

|)F THE BRITISH

For FEBRUARY*

(To Be Conitnudd Monthly)

L Continuation of thGRt*TAL.__
o| the MARX IA * D Govern-
ment*
II. PabcfiKDittcs in the Afleirt-

btyof that Province.
III..PKOCKSDINCS of the Af-
^fembly of PKVKSYIVANIA,
< ' in Relation to the inhiiing of

Servants.

rV.PRocERDrNci of the Af-
lembly of Nftw-YojiK, rc-i

s>

fpeQ:ing the King's tnftru&i-
ons to make Provifions for the
Troops, dire&cd to be raifed
there*

V AnAccotfjJT oftheSpKKCH-
as in Aflcmbly of hi* Excel-
lency the Governor of NxUr-

JfiRSHV.

VI. The PaKticNT St'Aij of
the WAR.

VII. The AFFAIRS ofEt/noPii.

PHILADELPHIA* Prinredand Sold by ANDRRW BKAD
(Price One Shilling Perwfyhama Currency, or Ei-h* Pence

Title page of the second number of "The American Magazine.'* From the
file in the possession of the New York Historical Society, the only copies
known to be in existence. The title page of the first number is missing
Size 3-H" x 61".

THE

GENERAL MAGAZINE,

A N B

Chronicle*

For all the Britijb Plantations in
[To be Continued Monthly /|

JANUARY, 1741.

VOL. I.

4w B. FR AN KLIN*

Title page of the "General Magazine," the second magazine
established in the Colonies. It bears the coronet of the
Prince of Wales, of Hanoverian ancestry, which accounts for
the German rnotto. Original in the Ridgway Branch of the
Philadelphia Public Library. Size zf " x 6"*

78 Publisher and Bookseller.

Political State of the Britifli Colonies." The
publication of the two magazines had been pre-
ceded by a wordy dispute in the newspapers be-
tween Franklin and John Webbe, the editor of
the "American Magazine." Franklin claimed
that the idea of publishing a magazine in the Amer-
ican Colonies originated with him and that he had
concluded with Webbe an agreement to edit it,
but that Webbe had broken faith, and had be-
trayed Franklin by laying the plan before Bradford
and inducing him to enter into an agreement on
better terms than those arranged for with Franklin.

On the title page of the "General Magazine"
appeared a wood cut reproduction of the Prince
of Wales' coronet with three plumes and the motto
"Ich dien." The contents consisted of theological
controversy, proceedings of Parliament, governors*
speeches, and extracts from books, very little of
the matter being original, and practically none of
it of the interesting character of that to be found
in the "Gazette" and " Poor Richard's Almanack."
The information was useful, but not calculated to
attract a wide circle of readers.

The magazine edited by Webbe and issued by
Bradford lasted three months. Of Franklin's
"General Magazine" six of the monthly numbers
were published. It contained sixty pages, 2| x
5| inches in size, and was set in type corresponding
to modern six point and ten point solid. Only

A

CATALOGUE

O F

CHOICE AND VALUABLE

BOOKS,

CONSISTING OF

Near 600 Volumes* In moft Faculties
and Sciences, vix.

DIVINITY, HISTORY, LAW, MA-
THEMATICS, PHILOSOPHY, PHY-
SIC, POETRY, Gf<\

Which will begin'

$*O BE SOLD for Ready Money only, by BEN j-
FRANKLIN,' at the Pofl -Office m Philadelphia
on Wednefday, the nth. of April 1744. at -Nine
a Clock m the Morning ; And, for Diipatch, the
loweft Price is markM in each Book*
The Sale to continue Three Weeks, and no longer
and what then remains will be fold at an advanced
-Price.

Thofe Perfons hat live remote, by fending their
Orders and Money to faid B. FRANKLIN, jnay
depend on the fame Juflice as if prefent,.

Announcing a sale of books.

Original in the possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelpni;

Size 2f" x 5".

LETTER

FROM

THE REVERE. 1ST D-

Mr. George Whttefield^

T O

THE REVEREND

Mr. Jo&tt Weflcj,

IH ANSWER TO HIS

SERMON,

ENTITLED,

FREE GRACE.

GAL. IL rr.

Peeer ibas come r^'Antiocft, / toithflood hltfr
& tbs 'Facef fasauje he was %o> be blainsd*

J.D'E L P B t
FRANKLIN, M

Title page that is interesting because showing a typographical
error, from which Benjamin Franklin's;work was usually singularly
free. Original in Ridgway Branch of the Philadelphia Public
Library. Size 3*" x 5 J".

Publisher and Bookseller. 8 1

one advertisement gladdened Its short life, appearing
in small type at the bottom of the last page in the
fifth and sixth numbers. Since it is the first Amer-
ican magazine advertisement, it is here reproduced:

is a F E R R Y kept over Poto-

A mack (by the Subfcriber) being the Poft Road
and much the nigheft way from Annapolis to Will-
iamfburg, where all Gentlemen may depend on a
ready PaJJage in a good new Boat with able Hands
Richard Brett, Deputy-Poft-M 'after at Potomack.

Another publication venture of Franklin's was
announced as the " Philadelphifche Zeitung, or
Newfpaper in High-Dutch, which will continue
to be publifhed on Saturdays once a Fortnight,
ready to be deliver ? d at Ten a Clock, to Country
Subfcribers." The editor was Louis Timothee,
" language master."

Although Franklin relates in the "Autobiog-
raphy" his early business ventures in considerable
detail, he makes no mention of either the " General
Magazine " or the " Philadelphifche Zeitung."

"Though the bulk of the issues of Franklin's
press are of little moment," says Paul Leicester
Ford, "there can be no doubt that as a whole they
contain more of genuine merit than those of any
printer of the same or previous periods in the
Colonies, the amount of doctrinal and polemical
theology being a minimum, and bearing a less
proportion to the whole mass that can be found

COLLECTION

OF ALL THE

LAWS

Of the PROVINCE of

Now IN FORCE.

fy Order of ASSEMBLT

PHILADELPHIA :

Fruited and Sold by B. FRANKLIN.

M,DCC,XLII.

Franklin excelled in title pages, of which this is a fine example.
Original in the Typographic Library and Museum of the American
Type Founders Company, Jersey City, N. J. Size 4$ " x 8f ".

THE YEARLY

VERSES

Of the Printer's lad
who caitrieth a
bout the (Pm^'
mid GJZRTTE,
to the Cuffomeri
thereof*

* I.

0Bf| V Labour's done for one unredonM
flTji fe And to account, kind S I R I now appear,
fLn^ Twouldgivc Offence, could I the News rclicaricv
ySSUm x attempt it all, ierc, in my fcanty Vcrfc J
Bot if th' important Parts are uamM again
That firlke the Paffions and inf^ire the Pen,
Thp* Grief, and Joy, and Anger, thofe may wife,
And fome defence Reproach, and others Praifc {
Soch Parts, by Cuftom due> ye will expcft $
And fuch will make the noble Mind rcflcft

9 Reading of "The Yearly Verses of the Printer's Lad."
Original in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,

84 Publisher and Bookseller.

in the books of contemporary American printers.
In the earliest years of the venture he took the
risk of printing two little volumes of American
poetry, as well as ^ reprinting other verses of Euro-
pean origin. In 1741 he published the earliest
American medical treatise, Colden's 'Essay on
the Iliac Passion/ and four years later the second
Cadwalader's 'Essay on the West India Dry
Gripes/ From his press came the first two pamph-
lets against slavery. In 1744 he reprinted Rich-
ardson's 'Pamela/ the first novel printed in Amer-
ica. Despite his personal disregard of the classics,
he printed as early as 1735, James Logan's Trans-
lation of Cato's ' Moral Distichs/ the first Latin
work to be both translated and printed in America/'

Franklin's printing and bookmaking were of a
higher grade than those of his contemporaries.
His type arrangements, particularly of title pages,
demonstrate skill, and his presswork as a rule,
although it does not measure up to modern stand-
ards, is good. The book he regarded as his me-
chanical masterpiece was the "Cato Major/'

A feature of his work which impresses one is its
freedom from typographical errors, although they
did occasionally occur. One is to be noted in the
title page shown on page 80 and the date lines of
the issues of the "Pennfylvania Gazette" occasion-
ally were not changed from the issues of the pre-
vious week* However, he was able to turn even

M.T.CICERO's

CAW MAJOR,

OR HIS

DISCOURSE

O F*

OLD-AGE:

With Explanatory NOTES.

PHILADELPHIA .-

Printed and Sold by B. FRANKLIN,
MDCCXLIV,

Title page of the book Franklin is said to have regarded as the best
specimen of his book printing. Original in the possession of the
Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia. Size 3!" x 6|".

( vtil )

ID.c.1 Mater 9 s>
liberate? 28 54

Pag*
Roman Funtraft 27

Junius Brutus 138

SAlinator 19

"I" Aertei 109
JR y" La-lius and Scipio 1O 1Z

St,m niter 8j
Sciplo. </LxIius 10 12

Lepidus -XCniiltus 120

Sapio'x z J?/ o */. JT $ 1 2 Jj

Livius Arulronicu* 103
JLivyV zd DiCbJ 26
JLucius JFJamkkui 86

Sdpio Cn. 5ff P. Com. 63 144
Scipio Nafica " 40 97
Se>i$bL.n 20

Sextus^Emiliu* 61

MAncinns Caiua 8 c
MarcellusM.CL 144 146

Simonides 45
Socrates 47 51

MafinHTa 39' 7 1

Solon 57 133

MetclTusC 64 119

Sophocles 43 55

Mjlo sfCroton 59,

Sophoniilsa 74

Mitio tfxr/*Demea 1 214

.Statins Ccecilius y ^

Jtfot&p* oftbe Gatff 95

Stcfichorua 45 46

Stout 51

N^EvJoa Cneios 41 102
Numantia 85

Sft't/rgtA of Side* 30
Suafor Itgtt 33

Suptfjp'uhn of the Rimat}} 2 S

OLJ-jfge itj Commcttecmtnt
118

Sybaris 60
Syphax 71

TJAtilus ^Emflius 3-*-
JT Plato 47 50
Plato^ Phacdon 150

'"T^Archtum, 34
Thtsmlftocle* 42

Pkutus M. Aocins 103
Pifiitratus /Afe Tyrant 133 135
Pontiff.* Maxtxutt 65
PoAtius ike Cinturiart 70

TJieophroftus 55
Trence*s AdelpEi 124
Ter^ntius C. Varro 145
Tithonus 9

Pontius tbc Samnht^ 8 2

Titus P. Atticus, t

PoflhuroTus Spurius 83
Prtftor** Ofce 23

. -CXFlanBuniiis 3 4
--.*.- Coroncaniiw 34 35

Pyrrhus 24. 33 88
Pythagoras 46

Troutta of Rome 5
Turpia AmbiviCia too

QT^y*

VAjerius Goryinus 117
Voconian Xow 31

""5 ^^golbs M.'Atjf. 13^

< ^n r -AntIiip0i 140

^\^ Romans uilso,-iofafve their

jCa> XenpphoaV)Tnpofiam 98

Country* escpofctt tbetofcfaerto

X

a ftrfain 'jfrtatfr 1 45 147

nrEto> 48 51

Index page from the "Cato Major."

T H E

CATO MAJOR

Of M. Tullius Cicero^

O R

HJS DISCOURSE OF

OLD-AGE,

ADDRESS'ED TO

(i) TITUS POMPONJUS ATTICUS*

C H A P. I.

Titus, if feme fovereign
J$alm I find
7p footb your Ca^es^ and calm

your ntjfled Mlnd^
Shant I deforce a Fee ?
^A For

N O 'T E S.

(i) 'Titus Potitponius ^tthn^ to Wliom this Difconfff.
is addrefsM, was of an ancient Family of Romt^ of rhc
Equefttlan Order, the fecond in 'Dignity arnongft the
Ramans* Of all Cicen's Friends flc appears to Ii.ivc

Fjrst reading page of "The Cato Major."

C 78 J

found fo, in his Uiiderftanding. I am
now oil the ieventh Book of my Qrigines^
(59) wherein I 'am collecting ^11 the Monu-
ments of Antiquity of every kind. I am
alfo making out thofe Orations, that I
formerly delivered in pleading the feveral
Caufes I defended, I am further treating
of !thc Civil Law, .and of that of the Au-
gurs and Pontiffs. I read much Greek-,.
and, agreeable to the Pythagorean Precept,
the bettet to exercifc my Memory, 1 re-
coiled at Night what I have heard, faicl
dr done in the Day. Thefe are the Me-
thods I purfue to keep/my Mind employed;
and while with a conflant and auiduous
Application \ ' continue thefe Exercifes, I
c5ann6t fay I am fenlible qf any Want of
Strength. I am ftill able to ferve.my
Friends ; I come duly to the Senate, ana
there propofe fuch Matters of Weight, as I

have

(59) Cale's Ortginfs was a Work tnucfi eftcemed by
the Romans, but is loft to us. C. Nepos informs us,,
^C its firit Book contained the Actions of the People ot"
ttwe+. (prol>ably to the Time of thc'firft Punic or Car-
thaMniaft k \Var) tiwc sd ind jd gavrthc Origin t>F firit
Rife of all die Cities of Italy 5 the 4th was the Hiftory
of the firil Pirnic War ; the 5th gave the iccond, which
wa* in-Ma own Tin* j la Ihe tbliowing he rclatai tluu

oclxcrr

Facing pages showing type arrangement of "The. Cato Major."

[79]

iiavc long pondered and digefted ; and I
fbpport what I-propofe with Arguments,
to which bodily Strength can contribute
tiothing. And if for want of a to^peteat
Share of that Strength, I flhoiild be-re&de-
Ted uncapable of all this; yet I could-pleafc
myfclfj even on my Couch ? with riintiing
thcpa over in my Thoughts. And xvhocvd*
will purfue die fame Methods, and pracEliic
thus, will fcarce be fenfible of the Advan-
cps of Old-Age, but gradually fliding on,
and infehfibly decaying, without any fuddca
Changes, will at laft drop like ripe Fruit,
or go off like an expiring Light.

CHAP. XII
^pHE third Charge againft Old-Age

was, That it is (they fay) infcnfiblc
toEleafure 5 and the Enjoyments arifing
from the Gratifications of the Scnfcs. And
frmoft blefied and heavenly Effed it truly
*$, ifiteafesof what in Youth was the

foreft

^ Ctfnqueft of tttftMa, nov/

'have been the Conqueft tncntion'd
rMch I*. PoJ&umivs triumphed
Difcourfe -, for I find Strgiut
Ntpos aames,
thcfc Wars,

90 Publisher and Bookseller.

errors into matters of general interest, as will be
noted by the following statement from Poor Richard :

"In my laft, a few faults efcap'd; fome belong
to the Author, but moft to the Printer: Let each
take his fhare of the Blame, confefs and amend for
the future. . . . Printers indeed fhould be
very careful how they omit a Figure or Letter;
For by fuch Means Sometimes a terrible Alteration
Is Made in the Senfe. I have heard, that once, in a
new edition of the * Common Prayer/ the following
Sentence, 'We fhall all be changed in a Moment, in
the Twinkling of an Eye/ by the Omiffion of a
fingle Letter, became, 'We lhall all be hang'd in a
Moment, jfc/ to the no fmall Surprize of the firft
Congregation it was read to."

In connection with the publishing enterprise
was conducted a stationery store, as may be noted
from the following advertisement from the "Ga-

zette":

JUST import'd from London and to be
fold by B. Franklin, at the Poft-Office, near
the Market in Philadelphia.

All forts of fin e Paper, Parchment, Ink-powder,
Sealing Wax, Wafers, fountain Pens, Ink and
Sand GlaiFes with Brafs Heads, Pounce, and
Pounce Boxes, Curious, large Ivory Books and
Common ditto, large and fmall flates, Gunters
Scales, Dividers, Protactors, Pocket Compaffes,
both large and fmall, fine Pewter Stands proper
for Offices and Counting Houfes, fine Mezzotinto
and grav'd Pictures of Mr. Whitefield.

Where may be had great Variety of Bibles,
Teftaments, Pfalters, Spelling Books, Primers,
Hornbooks, and other forts of ftationery ware.

Bill for printing rendered to Thomas Penn by Franklin, receipted by Mrs. Franklin
UtigmaL in the possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia.

Bill for printing rendered to the Library Company by
Franklin. Original in the possession of the American
Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.

Inventory by James ^ Parker of the printing outfit owned by Franklin and
Hall, made at the time of the dissolution of the partnership. Parker's
comments are interesting. Original in the Typographic Library and
Museum of the American Type Founders Company, Jersey City, N. J.

QUANTITY AND VALUATION OF THE PRINTING OFFICE, AS TAKBN
PER J. PARKER

US,

383 Old Brevier, much worn, and worth little more than old
metal, 8d per Ib L.

JAN.
12

27, r
is

766,
4,

282 Newer Brevier, 7 years worn, valued @ % per Ib. .
663 Burgois eight years worn, @ /& ......

17
41

12

8

6

g

25

R

8

318 Small Pica almoft worn out @ lod. . ...

13

5

o

421 Pica, Old, and much batter'd @ lod
334 Old Enghfh, fit for little more than old metal 8J6
502 Newer Enghfh, nearly half-worn, @ % . . . .
223 Great Primer, well worn @ 1 A
158 Double Pica pretty good @ M ....

17
II
31

13

10

10

16
7

IO

10

I

2

8

91 Double English Do (}/. ......

5

6

2

7

o

O

53 Figures, Planets, Space Rules, Black Letter, @ % .
03 Large and Title Letter, fome old, fome good, @ I .

S
3

2

19
3

3

o

3 Crooked Letters, @ I

3

o

85 Cafes fome old and shattered S ....

21

5

5

5

4

o

I c Chafe$ fome large fome fnia.ll. o ...

4

10

o

16 Letter-Boards, only 10 of "em good-for-any-thing
3 Folio Galliea, 8 Quarto, and 7 small Do
i Letter Rack and one Cafe Rack

I

I

IS

10

o

o

I Lye-Trough, I Lye Tub, and one Wetting Trough .
6 Compof ing Sticks, one of which good-for-nothing
2 Impofinff Stones with their Stands

I
I

1

10
10
IO

I Old Book-Prefs much f hatter' d . ...

I

T6

o

2 Mallets, 2 Shutmg Sticks, a Plainer, and fome old Furoi-

I

12 Cuts for Dilworth's Spelling Books . .
2 King's Arms, 3 S's for Bill of Lading, 3 or 4 Head y Tail
Pieces .....

3

2

o

The Cuts for 9 advertifements much worn . . .
Some Brafs pieces of Rules, and other Rules . . .

I

12

7

Three Printing Pref fes, one much shattered . . .

268

45

10

L
Errors excepted
Per JAMES PARKER

. 313

; 10

: o

Parker's inventory set in type.

94 Publisher and Bookseller.

The foregoing advertisement, which was pub-
lished in 1742, is notable because it contains the
earliest known reference to fountain pens. They
were not of course made as are those of the present,
the process of galvanizing rubber not having been
discovered until nearly a century later.

Contrasting strangely, according to the modern
viewpoint, with the last paragraph of the foregoing
advertisement is the following:

TWO likely young Negroes, one a lad
about 19: The other a Girl of 15, to be fold.
Inquire of the Printer,

These advertisements appeared frequently, evi-
dently according to the space at the publisher's
disposal, as did the following three, which evidence
the wide range of his operations:

VERY GOOD SACK at 6s. per Gallon.

* Inquire of the Printer hereof.

1 l/^ERY good coffee fold by the Printer

* hereof.

"D EADY Money for old Rags may be had

-*-^ of the Printer hereof; by whom is made fcf
Sold very good Lampblack.

95
CHAP. X.

The Pennsylvania Ga&eite.

1 OTHEN Franklin established himself as a
^* printer there was but one newspaper in
Philadelphia, the "American Weekly Mercury,"
founded by Andrew Bradford in 1719 and issued
continuously by him thereafter. Franklin said of
it in the "Autobiography": "The then only news-
paper . . . was a paltry thing, wretchedly
managed, no way entertaining, and yet was profit-
able. I therefore freely thought a good paper
would fcarcely fail of good encouragement."

On two occasions Franklin found himself the
victim of misplaced confidence, each time in con-
nection with a publishing venture and each time
through betrayal by a man who pronounced his
name Webb. The first instance is given in the
previous chapter. The second relates to this
second newspaper which he proposed to establish.

On a certain day in 1728 there appeared in his
office one George Webb, a journeyman printer
from England, who had been bound to Keimer
but who had purchased the remainder of his
time from his master and employer. To him
Franklin confided his plan and Webb immediately
went to Keimer with the information. Keimer
"clutched at the idea," hurriedly made arrange-
ments to forestall his rival in issuing a new news-

ft. ft.

Ans md Sci

AND

Pennfylvania Gazette.

To be continued Weekly. ^Deeemfc . 24. 1728

A -3 -be -that *And6.*o ereft a jioble -And nugnl-
k ficent Structure, is obhg'd to maTccUfe l the
Am jneaneft and molt contemptible Materials, in
jf\ Order Co begin, carry on and perfect h!s
. *JL Uodet 4*king$fo-6Petlon whatever can make
<any true Judgment whac Sore of Building it will bs
*- - - ir beholding the preparing of ths Mortar, the djg,
' '', Stones,, the fojiaring the Marble, or the nj*-

_.ay ju% be obfcrv'd of' our UftiveT/al
>r a* Great Things are compounded p
^.^k vfr neeeffary, in Order to furnifti mjr
Paper wfcb proper Material* defemng that Charaft^f,
to introduce It with at} Expofition-on the Letcer A, the
firft I rim*AFphabt r and as Letters \vere before rrlr,
and, H^^if only ferve, as fo many MeJfcngers to declare
the Nature and Property of Things, it cannot be thought
o begin at the loweft End firflr, and advance
to ,oie higheft Pitch of Knowledge we aim
j ''Hue to proceed*

t, will -needs We A to be the firft

,. That it the moil fitnple, and
r _ne"*d of ail articulate Sound*. To
\lj$tali&cr t ^fcujJoujPAuthort obferyei,

R _ Sound ,Nawet fctt> fprth at ( the csrj -

ing and trailing of Infants ; and that it needs tf o other
Iviotion to form it, but a bare opening- of the'-C-tps.-

Cevar'rtfuiat, refining on this Ssntiipent of Stalker,
wbfer^n vwy gravely, that the firft Sound "pur forth by
JBo?> Ss jft but tha.tJGir.ls firft pat forth \ each'pro-
ivottncin&,thfi initial or firft Letter of the Name o* the
PwxnsjOfeVcfpeaive Ser. Dr. ZiM/efojs, (fetting Adam
afideJdfet>-Ae*wnfe fpcaJt the final, and the other the
initial JLetfcer of tie Mother of Mankind, SvJ.
**' v l tain that Authors cpmpare- the A of the

, French, Sac*, with the Alepb pFtheflT*-
'ElffB of the Arabs \ thofe two Letters ha-'
" '- * with our Ears f tan A, exccpo in

_
that rf* ifc

Vowel,

he firft of their federal Alphabets.
;r Difference, is, that thefe Oriental
sot yojvels^ ,

_. -ike, trjft ftebnrtf *t '{pjb to be neither
r Confonanc, but what trVe GVamnftrrians call'
ir tneumntltlf Lefter, ^il- h, a JLetttr

and our Language V adding frjaif St. ?cw appears to
tore had the fame Thouabt, W&o probably learnt !c
Irocn thej&wr pf the Schqoi dP'vwfri**. JBRt tiho'Jei*
uv& the Thisg a.notber turn. Thofd
-*' -' cthe Hebrew ^T/e^, Arabicfc
ts, and that

p God", as Father of all Things. Tho* this Way of
Explication has been .much corrupted, and confequently
condemn'd by many Learned Writers.

Of all the Letters, A is oblerv'd to W that which
dumb Perfons are fooneft taughe to pronounce. 1 he
Rcafon is, thatit does not depend on the Mulcles, or
other Qrgans of the Mouth and Tongue, which sre ge-
nerally wanting, in Mutes, but on thofc ot the Throat
nd Nofe, which they commonly have.

ThwL-farft Umpleft Sound A fervesua. eo expreffctnoft
of the Movements of the Soul. Ti* lo rrw-hrhe Lan-
'guage of Nature, that upon all fuddcn and extraord'inary
Occaljons, we, are neceiranly led to it, as the Inftru,-,
tnunt ready ac hand. With this we'fpeak ouf- A,duratU
on, Joy, Anguiih, Aveifion, Apprehonfion of Danger,
CTf. Where the Paffion is very ftrong, \ve Irequontly
Heighten the A, by adding an W*/>MW, Ah.

*Jlis <jbftrr*d of the LrtgHJb Pronunciation, that we
Tjieak the A with a (tenderer and more puny Sound than
an/ of our Neighbours i Ordinarily, ^dsTcarce hrond
enough' for a Xrencb E Neuter, and conus tar fliart of
^je grofs a of the Germant^ which would raako our" <w
iSiKtHA^.o* e. tn.foro* Word*. homve M vta^, *V W
////, ff. the . it broad, and deep enough. But this/
tis obferv'd, may not be the meerund or * j but thei
Eftft of the anticnt Orthography, which, as low a* Qju
XklGbctb, Added an to the & t and wrote taulk, veaulk.
&c. '

The Romant laid a miglity Strefs on their at and di-
ftingulflx'd exaftly, boch In Writing and Speaking, when,
it was long, 'and when fiiort. To denote It Ion*., they
firft wrote ie double, Aala tor Ala\ which \being
enough, they inferred an b between 'em, . ft. Ac,
length they fell to the common long Accent- 4.0 *'*!.

A was one of the J^Jumeral Letter* Jimong thc.Antfcnts,
and flgnjfy'd 500.. Witlia Dafb. on the lop a it flood
for JJOCKV

teartttiut gives us a Set of ancient Technical Verfes,"
that is* Verfes treatfox */<<**> Technical being a Wtrd

>m tbc Greek, ft fl>%nifyinjQ wherein the Numeral Va-

e of each Letter pt the Alplutiet is e*f>fa'd. xrhctcof
this Is the firft,

ffjjidct A nuwcros gumgcntcSf ertUnt reSi t
which trarflated int(* Xfighjli Verfe, IB,

A by it felf,' [ harncd Bar csnfeffttl

*tiv e Hundred Number* (J n rghc Line) poJTqflVs,

But we ftaU here obferve, once for all, that ie'.iMft
noj ftriaiy among the Ancients, that tht Uf of Nuhw-,
ral Letter* had Place, a it confcmonly fuppoi'd. tffae

(***
Jr

lue

First page of the first issue of Samuel Keimer's weekly newspaper.
Original in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

<1 * H H nit *

The Pennsylvania Gazette. 97

paper, and soon after, on December 24, 1728, there
appeared the first number of Keimer's "The Uni-
verfal Inftructor in all Arts and Sciences, and
Pennfylvania Gazette."

The subscription price was ten shillings a year
and advertisements were inserted at three shillings
each. A feature was to be the publication of
"Chambers* Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences"
which had just appeared in London, and which,
in the absence of copyright, afforded a simple and
easy way of filling the pages of the new paper. In
the first number were two columns of the diction-
ary, an address of the Legislature of New Jersey
to the Governor, his reply, two columns of gen-
eral news paragraphs, and three advertisements,
two of which were Keimer's own.

The "Univerfal Instructor " was an improve-
ment, although not very much of an improvement,
upon Bradford's "Weekly Mercury/' Franklin,
in retaliation for what he considered the duplicity
of Webb and Keimer, immediately devoted his
talents to improving the "Mercury/' He con-
tributed a series of papers signed " Bufy-Body,"
written by himself and his friends of the Junto.
These papers created quite a stir in the Colonies
and attracted favorable notice and support to the
"Mercury/' In spite of that fact, however,
Keimer succeeded in struggling along to the
twenty-sixth number of the "Univerfal Instructor "

98 The Pennsylvania Gazette.

without interruption. Then came a delay in
publication which was explained by him as fol-
lows:

"It certainly muft be allow' d fomewhat ftrange
that a Perfon of ftricft Sincerity, refinM Juftice,
and univerfal Love to the whole Creation, fhould
for a Series of near twenty Years, be the conftant
But of Slander, as to be three Times ruin'd as a
Mailer-Printer, to be Nine Times in Prifon, one
of which was Six Years together. . . . Fame,
that common Strumpet, who long has been my
avowed Enemy, to my Lofs (as I may truly fay,
of feveral Thoufand Pounds), has fo far debauched
my Enemies, that by their late Attacks I was
awak'd when faft afleep in Bed, about Eleven at
Night, over-tirM with the Labour of the Day,
and taken away from my Dwelling, by a Writ
and Summons, it being bafely and confidently
given out, that I was that very Night about to run
away, tho' there was not the leaft Colour or
Ground for fuch a vile Report."

Keimer made an arrangement with his creditors
that enabled "The Univerfal Instructor" to reach
the thirty-ninth number, when it succumbed, and
whatever good will it possessed was sold for a trifling
sum to Franklin and Meredith.

Franklin shortened Keimer' s absurd title to the
concluding three words, "The Pennfylvania Ga-
ette" and occupied most of the front page of his
first number, dated Thursday, September 25, to

THE

Numb. XL

Pennfylvania GAZETTE.

Containing the frejheft Advices Foreign and' Dome flick.

From ThuriHay, Scptembei 25. to Thurfday, October a. I7ap,

rH B Pennfylvania Gazette TSeing i:8w to
be earyy'S on by other Hanif, the Readeri
may expert feme jfccouuf of the Method toe
defigu to proceed at.

Upon a View o/"Chambcrs*J great JDtfltoy
from whence were take!/ the Materials' of the
Univerfal Inftrudor in all Arts and Sciences,
wbicb ttftially wade the Fsrft <Pjrt of this Wafer,
we find that be fides tbar cotitatttiiig-manyTbuigs
abftrtife or so/igtjijicaxt to tts t it <&t!t probably
&t fifty Tears before the Whole can be gone thro*
in this Minntr of Publication. There are hke-
'aitfe t tbofe Rooks continual References front
Things tinder cue Letter of the jflpbabet to thofi
tinier another, which relate to the fame Stibjef},
and are: uecqflary to explain and temple** tf;
tbtfe taken in their Turn may perhaps Is Ten
Tears dtftant 5 and face it is hktly that tb,ey who

There art tnany who have lou$ defired toffs er
good Newspaper tn Pcnnfvlvania, and we hope
tbofe Gejitlemen who are able, wilt contribute to-
wards, tbe tnabng This fitcb. We ask sJJpjlatictj
becattfe we are ftiUy fenjible^ that to pubhjb a;
'good Newr-Tapcr is mtfo eafy an Uatfertaktug
us many. People tmagim it to be. The Author of
a Gsxcttc y/7/ the Opinion of tbe Learned J oirghs
to bt qualified with an extenfiue jfiqnamtance
with Languages, a great Eafiufs and Gaumantt
of Writing and Relating Things cleanly and //;-
telligibly^ andutfew Words ; be fiotild tie able
tofptak of War both ly Land and Sc&j, Is well
acquainted with Geography with tbe Htjlory of
the Time, -with tbe federal Intcrefts <f-Prtacts~ t
and States^ the Secrets ofConrts y and the Max-
aers and Qtftotffs of all Nations. 5lf<?// this at~
comphfb'd are very rare in tlits remote <Part of
tht lVorld\ and it would be well if the Hunter
of tbefe Capers could tnake>up anioir^ bis Friends
'jlbat ts wanting m himfelf.

Upon tbt IP}jbh^ tup may affitre the *Ptibhek+
that as fir as tbe Ei/couraF<yver:t a'f tneet 'J}ttb
'Will enable (is y no Care and^amsjbull bt cmit-
tedy that may make the Pennfylvama Gazette
as agreeable atid tifcfttl an Eutcrtawtuettt as the
Nature of tbeTbwg 'a.'tll allow*

wardstbe Irtvetrttou of new Ones ; we p
from Time to Time to commuuifate fucb pa
l*r 'Parts as Appear to be of the tapft ge
Cojiftqutace* J

Readers will xot think, fucb a. Method ofeommt
utsatwg Knowledge jo be a proper One.

However , tfa' vft do not intend to continue tbe
Wubfaatton of tbofe Dtfttouaries m a regular
alphabetical Met body as bus hitherto I/tea doue^
yet <k (ever a! Ihtngs exhibited from them w the
Cwrfe of tbefe Tapers > ban* been entertaining
tofttcb of the Ciirtotu, who never bjd and tan-
not have tbe Advantage of good Libraries ; and
as tbere are majryTbtugsftill behind* labtcb bf-
itig ift this M&nner*rttade ecueratfy A.JIOWU, may
perhaps become of conjTderable Ufe y by grutitr, fttcb
Hats io tbe excellent 'natural Gemus's $ our
as may contribute either to tie Tta-
of our prtfetit Manufactures^ or to-
Irtvetrttou of new Ones ; we propofe
rttcti-
eneral
*

, to the Religious Courtihlp, Part of
Wbtcb has been rctaFd to tbt <Pubttck in thefe
Capers ^ jbe Reader may he inform W, that the
whole Baok will probably in a httic Tims be
yiintdattdbomrfupbyitftlf; and tbofe vobo
4ppr*ve of it y will doubthfs be better pleas'd to
tow* tt entire* than in ths broken wttrrupu '<i
- Mawxtr* _

First page of first number of the "Gazette** published by Franklin.
Original in the Ridgway Branch of the Philadelphia Public Library.
1 Size 6f" x ioi".

The Following is the laft Meflige fent by
bia Excellency Governour Rnritsr^ to 'he
HoiUJc of Rcprcfenumc* i.i Bojlali.

Getitlemm fil>e Hwfe if t<$ftjintattw t

IT u not with fb vuc a Hope u to convince you, dur
I take the Trouf-fc to anfwcr your McfT^en, bar, if
poflible, to open the Eyes of the deluded Pcopfe vhonv.
you rcprcftnt, <1 whom you arc at Ib much Pains ro keep-
in Ignorance ff tfc tnfc St ite of their AffVtts I need noe
go fiirthcr/or an undcjuable Proof of tHts Endeavouj to
blind thorn, rhau your ordciint: tlic Larcr of Meflieui*
Wllkt-mA StJtrtr of the 7th of jw laft to your Soaker t
he Tufaltfacd Thi-. Letter "A fiirl (m Papi i of your
Vo*$) ( axhje M Gift rf it* Rffort of th> IW/ of *l# Cw-

t

tjan Mtd Ordir tfamn m Count,! , Yr t rhcfe Ocntlen>ea
had-at the fame tirnr the tmpatalleUM Pycfumpnon t
to the Speaker in this Manner ; Ttfli dfent ty tin.
yur not <tm-
UrfMr t fy

.
ltyifit> with Kit

ioo The Pennsylvania Gazette.

Thursday, October 2, 1729, with an announcement
to its subscribers, the number being ninety. Two
weeks later appeared another announcement, in
part as follows:

"The Publishers of this Paper meeting with con-
siderable Encouragement, are determined to con-
tinue it. . . . From this time forward, in-
ftead of publifhing a Whole Sheet once a week, as
the firft undertaker engaged to do in his Propofals,
we fhall publifh a Half Sheet twice a Week, which
amounts to the fame Thing."

Less than two months later, the weekly issues of
four pages were resumed, and a larger size of type,
corresponding to modern twelve point, as con-
trasted with the eight point previously used, was
adopted. Later, various sizes of types were em-
ployed and the issues were dated to cover periods of
differing length, occasionally as many as twelve
days. In the issue for December 2, 1731, one of
the four pages was blank.

Keimer during his proprietorship of the "Ga-
zette" occasionally but not often published enough
advertisements to fill a page. Franklin increased
the advertising patronage and within a year after
he took over the paper some of its issues contained
paid announcements occupying nearly two of the
four pages.

The type page of "The Univerfal Inftrudor"
measured 6 r T T x lof inches. Franklin changed the

The Pennsylvania Gazette. 101

size to 6| x lof inches for all but the fourth page,
which was slightly longer. From October 4, 1739,
to January 27, 1743, inclusive, the size was reduced,
without explanation, to 6| x 9 inches. Then it was
increased to 7! x 1 1 inches, a size larger than the
first, with three instead of two columns to the
page. There were occasional "postscripts" of a
single leaf, which after 1744 were called " supple-
ments."

Editorially the "Gazette" was of uncommon
brightness. Its pages were illuminated with the
quiet humor to be found in all of Franklin's writ-
ings, although with regret it must be noted that
occasionally the humor was characterized by a gross-
ness that can be excused only on the ground that it
was characteristic of the times. His contributions
took the form of letters addressed to himself as
"The Printer of the Gazette," usually published in
one number and answered in a later number.
When the "Gazette" paid its respects to its con-
temporary, the jibes were commonly veiled in an
indirection that made their hits all the more telling,
as witness this one, supposed to be a letter from a
reader:

"To the Printer of the 'Gazette':

"As you fometimes take upon you to correct the
Publick, you ought in your Turn patiently to re-
ceive publick Correction. My Quarrel againft you
is, your Practice of Publilhing under the Notion of

IO2 The Pennsylvania Gazette.

News, old Transactions which I hope we have for-
got."

And the writer, who signed himself " Memory/'
gave instances of "news" four years or more old
published in Nos. 669 and 670 of the paper.

Franklin replied:

"I need not fay more in Vindication of myf elf In
this Charge, than that the Letter is evidently
wrong direft'd, and fhould have "been to the pub-
lifher of the 'Mercury 3 : Inafmuch as the Number
of my Paper is not yet amounted to 669, nor are
thofe old articles anywhere to be found in the
"Gazette/ but in the 'Mercury' of the last two
weeks/ 3

Although fond of taking a thrust at the opposi-
tion and permitting itself to be the vehicle of
occasional coarsenesses, the "Gazette" was free
from scandal. Franklin justly made this claim for
It In a letter with which he preceded the reprinting
of an article on "Libel" from the London "Specta-
tor/' as follows:

"Mr. Franklin:

"Tho' your Newf-paper is fometimes as empty
as thofe of others, yet I think you have for the moft
part (tho' you were once In one particular a fad
Offender) had the modefty to keep it pretty clear of
Scandal, a fubjed: that others delight to wallow in."

Franklin had definite opinions on the printing of
scandal and libel In the "Autobiography " he says :

The Pennsylvania Gazette. 103

" In the condud of my newfpaper, I carefully ex-
clud'd all libelling and perfonal Abufe, which is of
late Years become so difgraceful to our Country.
Whenever I was folicit'd to infert any thing of that
kind, and the Writers plead'd, as they generally did,
the Liberty of the prefs, and that a Newfpaper
was like a Stagecoach, in which any one who would
pay had a right to a Place, my Anfwer was, that I
would print the piece feparately if defirM, and the
Author might have as many Copies as he pleaFd to
diftribute himfelf, but that I would not take upon
me to fpread his detraction; and that, having con-
trad:' d with my Subfcribers to furniih them with
what might be either ufeful or entertaining, I could
not fill their Papers with private Altercation, in
which they had no Concern, without doing them
manifeft Injuftice."

Near the close of his career he wrote an essay en-
titled "The Court of the Press." It " could receive
and promulgate Accufations of all kinds "; it was
"in favor of about one Citizen in five hundred"
and was not to be " governed by any of the Rules
of common Courts of Law/' One paragraph reads :

"My Propofal then is to leave the Liberty of
the Prefs untouched, to be exerciPd in its full
Extent, Force, and Vigor; but to permit the
Liberty of the Cudgel to go with it pari pa/u.
Thus, my fellow-citizens, if an impudent Writer
attacks your Reputation, dearer to you perhaps
than your life, and puts his Name to the Charge,

S)u may go to him as openly and break his
ead. If he conceals himfelf behind the Printer,

Printed by B. FRANLN, POST-MASTEA, at
T3NG-Of tics, near

Showing style and arrangement of ^the advertisements in the
"Pennsylvania Gazette," 1744. Original in the Ridgway Branch
of the Philadelphia Public Library.

Juft arrived from LONDON,

ftffrtfe ET*ftTAlKKT oFthe CPRIOUS and OTHEM,
<J Ja'ftow W be S E E N, by Six or mprt, in a large commocUws
ROOM, at the Houfej of Mr. /7<&^ in Second-Street ;

fcj 'iSfc&r or Camera Qbfcura MIC ROSCO P E>
,!HYENTEI> by the Ingenious D*. LIBERKHUN.

T H the matt Entertaining of any MiotoBCdrx whatfoever, and magnifies Objects to a molt*
(brewing Degree. The Anunafcute m fcveral Sorts of Flunk, with rrUny other living and
ataa Obje&St too tedious to menodn, 'nil be (bevfn moft incredibly magnified, at the ianie
Tune dilhnfo abb the CirculMion' of the Blood in a Hog's Foot, a Fifli's Tail, aHo m
SB Flea; nd LcWc, where you drover ffio Pulfe, pf *e Hrt, the movtng ot the Bowels, the
Viins and ArtcruM, Hhd many dull -Infccl*, lh ohe TlwuHind -of them mil not occcca the
Bumcfs of 4 Grain oFSahd t with their Young in. titan t Et.3s m Pafte, which have given agmcral
w* ? ~. \ -,, ^t -i~ r.^ ,K^ Tt... f*^K*, was n^ thewn by ^ ^ tfon ^ ^^

J&if* A<jrr& 5"^ rn/K^rj cTbsufeaid Grow,
Wti're ftt'uff Bards maytaart}, fgrtb the r Lava.

i tbat Plant* *
ffai trier Seals* te^Wc* ether Pfati tentt

P item's X*ttu tent ftfdini

~MertflaKiJ

jbt ! vil-at Mortal e,

- , , R*"f ttlh ; fer Reaftn's ftmi^' Fye

fy Ftetti to fail * <Hx>xftd Agtt Aw** &Jtem tbefe Truth tier Stn/cs can's defcrj.

Kote, Tbt MtcnoacoF* may left** xt Ctntkmeiu Kmtfes, grotng bal/ an Hour's tfoiitt, tts
* permitting e*ty firm ft* w ti* Msrxt* to four m tbt jjfreraaon, in ny R earn.

TH E unpanlfc-f'd M tl Sf C "j L S 1 O C K. made by that greacMafcr of Machmeiy
Dl'rm Ix)c<twooo t Tha great Ciirlofify performi by Sprihgs only s It is a Machine
Ifttontpanble In its Kind j it ardi jllothen in the Beauty of its Structure 5 is rooft Entertaming,
tnlti Mufick, and rityi Uw thoicdt "Aws from, the moft cclcbrated Operas, with the gnattft
Nkijy and Esaancft t _ It perfbrmi with oeaufaful Graces, mgemouny and vanoufly intcrmuc'di
i he Fwnch Horn Rccci, perform d upon the Organ, German* and Common Flute, Flageolet*
t?r. as Soruta'si Conccrto'si Marches, Minuets, Jggs, and Scot Airs, compos' d by CoreUu
ApxronitMr.Haodd) M other grow oi>d eminent Mafkri ofMufick. Pncc Eifbteat Pone.

^ T^iibc^KkiMCuriofityKkjWi^irv^t^cC before the KING, in his Royjl Palace at St.
Junca's, -where His Majcftf -s pteas'd to make an ObfervaQOh on the Excellence of its B
'

,

and dcchr'd, He fchought H the Wondbr of this Age. It a allowed by all who have feen ft, to
be more worthy Co d<Hni Kong'i Palace than of bongojxM'd fora common Sight.

& This furprifing Piece of Machinery has prcn fuch general Satofsftioh to the Lover*
W Art and Ing-nutty, that the Nobtfity are continually commanding jt to their Scats toiausfy thdr
Curiofity i andatobeSOBDby.the Owner EPMURD RHINO.

^c, aad U to be fcoi froo
EjghtinthcMonungtdlE%hcatNighfc

. , for the &oem% Drwryfo^

hpKE Clock and CanwH_Obfcura, with the Battle of Detcingen, ani fcVetal ItaEan LaiuJ-
JL flops* reprefenoRg AnrucH both Horie and Foot, going Chropgh thctr Exoralc at tlic
'Ti ofOHnroaadTjUkcwifc Tiewi of Ships fighting at Sea, with the Fife pkytng above
i, and Variety df Country Dances by Figures, foe or aght Foot high-, performM3n
il Manner b> the Onnen ObTcm. That Cunofiw eftcon'd one of the bcft Picca d

Broadside advertising the wonderful new microscope. Bound in the
volume of the "Pennsylvania Gazette" for 1744 in the Ridgway
Branch of the Philadelphia Public Library.

106 The Pennsylvania Gazette*

and you can neverthelefs dif cover who he is, you
may in like Manner way-lay him in the nighty at-
tack him behind, and give him a good drubbing.
Thus far goes my Project as to private Refent-
ment and Retribution. But if the publick fhould
ever happen to be affront'd, as it ought to be, with
the condud of such Writers, I would not advife pro-
ceeding immediately to thefe Extremities, but that
we fhould in Moderation content ourf elves with tar-
ring and feathering, and tolling them in a Blanket."

Some of the news items afford a striking con-
trast to those of the present day, as witness this one
from the issue of February 29, 1732, which, while
more than commonly startling, is not entirely un-
representative.

"From the South-Carolina Gazette":
"One Day laft week, Mr. Charles Jones, pur-
fuing a Runaway Negro who had robb'd him ;^ he
came up with the Negro, who refitted and fought him ;
and he ftruck the Lock of his Mufket into the Negro's
Scull, and kill'd him. He went 'and told a Juftice
what he had done, who order' d him to cut his Head
off, fix it on a Pole, and fet it up in a Crofs-Road;
which was done accordingly near Afhley Ferry."

The advertisements in the "Gazette" related to
runaway servants, horses strayed or stolen, real
estate, "very good live-geese feathers," sfc. for sale.
In the issue of the "Gazette" of May 30, 1734, ap-
peared the first advertising cut, not, however, the
first used in colonial newspapers, the "Mercury"
having used them for some months previously.

The Pennsylvania Gazette. 107

Many of the advertisements have a curious sound
viewed by modern standards :

C[IX or Seven Months ago, was lent by
^ David Evans, a barbicuing Iron, which he de-
fires may be returned, he having forgot to whom
he lent it.

A LL persons who are indebted to
* *- Henry Flower late Poftmaster of Pennfyl-
vania, for Poftage of Letters or otherwife, are de-
fir'd to pay the fame to him at the old Coffee-
Houfe in Philadelphia.

T> ETWEEN the fecond and third Sun-
-*-^ days in June paft, there was ftolen three Bi-
bles out of the Baptift Meeting-Houfe. . . .
Whoever gives Notice of the faid Bibles, and fe-
cures them so that they may be had again, f hall
have Fifteen Shillings Reward.

To BE SOLD

A LIKELY young breeding Negro
./JL Woman fit for Town or Country Bufinefs,
has had the Small Pox; as alfo a Mill for grinding
Malt, and a fcreen for cleaning of Malt or any
other grain; inquire of John Danby in Third
Street, and Know the Price; they will be sold very
reafonable for ready Money.

Counterfeiting seems not to have been a difficult
rt two hundred years ago if we are to judge by the
allowing advertisement of the government of the
Vovince of New Jersey:

"Burlington, June 19, 1734.
HIS is to give Publick Notice, that
fome fraudulent Jerfey Bills have been lately

[o8 The Pennsylvania Gazette*

utter' d at Burlington, and to caution all Persons
that they may not be impof d upon by them.
They may be plainly diftinguifh'd from the true
ones by thefe Marks; viz. The Coat of Arms, and
the firft Word, This, are ftamped with red Ink,
whereas in the true Bills they are done with
black Ink: The Frauds are much foil'd and pafted
on the Back and the Signers Names fuppoFd to
be artfully taken from fome fmall Bill, and paft'd
to the Fraud: and feveral other fmali Patches art-
fully paft'd, to make them look like the true ones.

The following advertisement has a flavor that is
almost modern:

. BATEMAN'S Pectoral Drops,

which are given with fuch great Succefs, in all
Fluxes, Spitting of Blood, Confumption, Small- Pox,
Meafles, Colds, Coughs, and Pains in the Limbs
or Joints; they cure Agues, and the moft vio-
lent Fever in the World, if taken in Time, and
give prefent Eafe in the moft racking Torment
of the Gout; the fame in all forts of Cholicks; they
cure the Rheumatif m, and what is wonderful in all
forts of Pains (be they ever fo violent) they give
Eafe in a few minutes after taken; they eafe After
Pains, prevent Mifcarriages, and are wonderful
in the Stone and Gravel in the Kidneys, Blad-
ders and Ureters; bringing away Slime, Gravel,
and oftentimes Stones of a great bignefs, and are
the beft of Medicines for ail Stoppages or Pains
in the Stomach, Shortnefs of Breath, and Strait-
nefs of the Breaft, re-enkindling the almoft ex-
tinguish'd natural Heat in difeaPd Bodies, by
which Means they reftore the languif hing to per-
fect Health. Their manner of working is by mod-
erate Sweat and Urine. For Children's Dif-
tempers no medicine yet difcovered can compare
with it: For it cures the Gripes in their Stomach

The Pennsylvania Gazette. 109

and Bowels. It caufes weak and forward Chil-
dren to take their natural Reft. It is taken
with great Succefs in the Rickets, and in a Word,
it hath reftored Hundreds of poor Infants to
their Strength and livelinefs that have been re-
due' d to meer fkeletons. Sold by Miles Strick-
land in Market-Street, Philadelphia, price 45. a
bottle with Directions.

At the time Franklin became a publisher it was
the custom for newspapers to be sent through the
mails post free, but the postmaster had the option
of denying the privilege to such as he chose, and
usually he denied it to all but his own. The suc-
cessful newspapers in Boston and Philadelphia were
conducted by the postmasters. This was an in-
justice to other publishers and was keenly felt by
Franklin in his efforts to extend the circulation of
the "Gazette/* His only feasible way to secure
out-of-town distribution was to bribe the postriders
to carry his newspapers in addition to the post-
master's own. When he was appointed postmaster
he opened the mails to all newspapers on terms
equal to those he prescribed for himself. When he
became Deputy Postmaster General for the Col-
onies, in 1758, he withdrew the privilege of free
distribution and established a charge of nine
pence a year for each fifty miles of carriage. He
was the first postmaster to advertise unclaimed
letters.

no

CHAP. XL

Poor Richard's Almanack.

A LTHOUGH the encyclopaedias are authority
for the statement that William Bradford in
1685 issued the first American almanac, the fact is
that Stephen Daye printed an almanac in Cam-
bridge almost fifty years before. One of the first
issues from Daye's press was an almanac printed in
1639 f r ^at year, which began with March and
not with January. Almanacs were also issued by
other Cambridge printers prior to Bradford's.

William Bradford issued the first almanac pub-
lished in Philadelphia and it was also the first prod-
uct of his press. Its title was "Kalendarium
Pennfilvanienfe, or, America's Meffinger. Being
an Almanack For the Year of Grace, 1686."

Hildeburn says: "It consists of twenty unpaged
leaves. The reverse of the title which, in the copy
at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, measures
6 by 3 1 inches, the type occupying 5 r V by 2|
inches, and half of the succeeding page is filled by
Atkins" address "To the Reader/ which is followed
by Bradford's: 'The Printer to the Readers/ The
latter was as follows:

"Hereby underftand that after great Charge and
Trouble I have brought that great Art and Myftery
of Printing into this part of America believing it
may be of great fervice to you in feveral refpects,

Kdlendmum Pennfihranienfe ,

OR ' /v

Americas Meffinger.

BEING AN

ALMANACK

For the Year cf Grace, 168<5.
Wlierem is contained both theEnglifti&Forragn

Account, the Motions of the Planets through theSigns, with
the Luminaries, Conjunctions, Afpe&s, Edipfes ; trwrifing,
ftmthing andfettingof the Moon, with the time when (he
pafieth tyy,or is with the moft eminent fixed Stars . Sun rifing
andfetting and th*f time of High-Water at the City of Phi

With Chronologies, and many other Notes, Rules,
and Tables* very fitting forevery man to know& have ; all
which is accomodated to the Longitude of the Province of
Pfiwfilwnti, and Latitude of 40 Degr. north, with a Table
of Houfesfbrthe fame, which may indifferently (erw Aferw.
Engknd, Ntw fork, Eaft& Weft $r[ty> Maryland, and moft
parts of Piigitria.

By S^AMVEL AT K I N S
Student in the Mathamaticks and Aftrology*

Aid the Stars in their Courfes fought tgainft Seftra, Jndg*5v 59,

Printed and Sold by WWitim Bradford, fold alfojby

the Author and H. Murrey in Philadelphia, and

Philip Richards mJw-Ter&; 1585.

First issue of Bradford's Almanac.

Original in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
Size zf" x S j t ".

112 Poor Richard V Almanack.

hoping to find Encouragement, not only in this
Almanack, but what elfe I lhall enter upon for the
ufe and fervice of the Inhabitants of these Parts.
Some irregularities, there be in this Diary, which I
defire you to pafs by this year; for being lately
come hither, my Materials were Mifplaced, and out
of order, whereupon I was forced to ufe Figures ff
Letters of various fizes, but underftanding the want
of fomething of this nature, and being importuned
thereto, I ventured to make publick this, defiring
you to accept thereof, and by the next, (as I find
encouragement) (hall endeavour to have things com-
pleat. And for the eafe of Clarks, Scriviners, &c.
I propofe to print Blank Bills, Bonds, Letters of
Attourney, Indentures, Warrants, s?c. and what
elfe prefents itfelf, wherein I fhall be ready to ferve
you, and remain your Friend.
Philadelphia, the 28th
roth Month, 1685 W. BRADFORD.

When Benjamin Franklin in 1732 decided to
issue an almanac for the succeeding year, the busi-
ness of almanac making was in a thriving state.
Says John Bach McMaster in " Benjamin Franklin
as a Man of Letters ":

"The almanac was the one piece of literature of
which the sale was sure. Not a household for a
hundred miles around the printer, but 'if there was
sixpence to spare, would have a copy. In remote
towns, where money was not to be had, a dozen
copies would be bought with potatoes or wheat, and
disposed of one by one at the blacksmith's for a

Poor Richard 9 s Almanack. 113

few nails; at the tavern for rum; at some neigh-
bor's in payment of a trifling debt. Chapmen
carried them in their packs to exchange with copper
kettles and china bowls, for worsted stockings and
knit gloves. They were the diaries, the journals,
the account books of the poor. Strung upon a
stick and hung beside the chimney-piace ?> they
formed an unbroken record of domestic affairs, in
many instances for thirty years. On the margins
of one since picked up at a paper mill are recorded
the interesting cases of a physician's practice, and
the names of those who suffered with the smallpox
and the flux. Another has become a complete
journal of farm life. A third is filled with verses
written in imitation of Pope and Young/'

Although late in 1732 there were in Philadelphia
alone seven established almanacs, the fact did not
deter young Franklin from entering the field. The
cost of securing the copy for almanacs from the
philomaths was between twenty to thirty pounds
each year, which, in view of the fact that the salary
of the attorney-general was only sixty pounds, was
high pay. Franklin proposed to save this expense
by furnishing his own copy. Since he was to be the
publisher he did not wish to be known also as the
author and predictor of events, and he therefore
borrowed a title which he found in a London
almanac entitled "Apollo Anglicanus" (the English
Apollo) issued by "Richard Saunders, Student in
the Phyfical and Mathematic Sciences/'

THE

ENGLISH APOLLO;

Affi&iflg
f All Perform in the Right Undcrftand*

I Irgof this Y E A R/s Revolutions, as alfo of
T'hings paft, prefent, and to come,

k Twofold Kakndar^ viz* Julian or E.^. y ,
and Gregorian or foreign Computations, more
plain and full than my other ; with the Rifing
anjl Setting of the" Sun, the Nightly Rifing and

S Setting of the Moon, and alfo her Southing,
ea&ij calculated for every Day,
I Of General USE for mo$ MEN*
|Be,ijag theSecond after Bffixlik) or LE A P-Yfi AR
I To ( which is added, the Mdon*s Application td tfae (
| Planets: with the Calculations of the Eclipfes : Alfo j
| Rules and Tables for the Manuring of Timber : With j
J many other Thing* both pletfant, ufeful, and neceffary. "j

1 Calculated according to A R T, and fitted to the I

2 Meridian of Ltwfttr* whoie JLanrade ii 52 Degrees, 41 /
J Miroitet, ou-iily lirang ail the middle Counties of England A
(. and, -without fenSbie Error, the whole Kingdom. *

[BJ RICHARD SAUKDERS*

\ &*u&nt in, t&t Phyj&cal and Mathematical Sciences. I

LONDON: Printed by A-Wi i s> E J
for the CompaBy of SrjirjoNER.5,-1746. j

The English almanac issued by the original Richard Saunders, upon an
earljr number of which Franklin modeled his "Poor Richard's Almanack."
Unginal m possession of the author. Size 3!" x 5".

Poor Richard J $ Almanack. 115

The success of "Poor Richard's Almanack" was
immense. The first edition was immediately sold
out, as was also a second, and before the end of the
year a third was printed. Of the Almanack Frank-
lin says: "I reaped confiderable profit from it,
vending annually near ten thoufand."

Poor Richard, although entirely fictitious, be-
came in the minds of the readers of the almanac a
very real person. Franklin, as he says, scoured the
literature of the ages, and the wisdom thus secured
was served up in the homely words of Poor Richard
in a way that proved to be very acceptable to the
readers. Not only did the sayings pass into the
common speech of the people, but the writings of
others of that time and the years immediately suc-
ceeding abound in quotations from Poor Richard.
Indeed, it is true of the present as of the past that
probably no other American writer is so frequently
quoted as Benjamin Franklin.

Poor Richard in the first number gives as a
reason for the publication of the Almanack: "The
plain Truth of the Matter is, I am exceffive poor,
and rny Wife, good Woman, is I tell her, exceffive
proud; fhe cannot bear to fit fpinning in her Shift of
Tow, while I do nothing but gaze at the Stars ; and
has threatened more than once to burn all my Books
and Rattling-Traps (as fhe calls my Inftruments) if
I do not make fome profitable Ufe of them for the
Good of my Family. The Printer has offer'd me

Poor Richard, 1735.

A N

Almanack'

For the Year of Chrlft

1 7 3 3>

Being the Firft after I EAP YEAR:

j#nd makes j?w ** Creation Years

By the Accourr of rhe E 4l*m Gff*&t 7241

By she L.aim Church, when Q trm IT 932

By the Computation of W W 5742.

By the Roman Chrorlology 5^82.

By the J&uy'ijb Rabbic* 54^4

Wherein ts contained

Trie Ltinations, 'Eclipfes^ Judgment of

the "Weather, Spring *Fici<:< v Planefs Motions &

mutual AlpeU, Sun and Moon*s RiHng and Set-

ting, I-engcb of Days. Time of High WUtcr.
Fairs, Omm^ and obfcrvable Day*

Fitted to the Lart rude, ol Fortv Degrees^

and 3 Meridian of Five* Hour* VVcft ^rorr fimdon*

bur mav wirhout ienflMe Error feryeAli the ad-

jaccnf Places^ even fVoro faeyvfoundfandl TO S&uth-

By RICHJRD SOUNDERS, Philom.

PHILADELPHIAr

Fsintea and fold by F F&^WKL/N. at thr New

Pnnting Office neat rhe Markcf

Title page of the first number of "Poor Richard's Almanack. 1 *

Size 3" x sJ".

Poor Richard's Almanack. 117

some confiderable share of the Profits, and I have
thus begun to comply with my Dame's De-
fire."

He gives his readers warning that they must not
expect too much of solid stuff: "And be not thou
difturb'd, O great and fober reader, if, among the
many ferious fentences in my book, thou findeft me
trifling now and then, and talking idley. In all the
Difhes I have hitherto cooked for thee, there is
folid Meat enough for thy Money. There are
fcraps from the Table of Wifdom, that will, if well
digelFd, yield ftrong Nouriftiment for the Mind.
But fqueamifh ftomachs cannot eat without Pickles;
which, it is true, are good for nothing elfe, but they
provoke an Appetite. The vain Youth, that reads
my Almanack for the fake of an idle Joke, will, per-
haps, meet with a ferious Reflection that he may
the ever after be the better for."

Poor Richard was entertainingly frank about his
personal family affairs. In the second number, in
congratulating himself upon the success of the
Almanack, he announces that his wife has been able
to buy a pot of her own, instead of being obliged to
borrow one, and that they have got something to
put into it. "She has alfo got a pair of Shoes, two
new Shifts, and a new warm Petticoat; and for my
part I have bought a fecond-hand Coat, fo good
that I am not now afhamed to go to Town or be
feen there. Thefe Things have render' d her tern-

1 1 8 Poor Richard's Almanack.

per fo much more paclfick than it ufd to be ? that I
may fay I have flept more, and more quietly,
within this last year, than in the three foregoing
years put together/'

In a stanza of doggerel in the first number he
takes this fling at Bridget:

She that will eat her Breakfaft in her Bed,
And fpend the Morn in dreffing of her Head,
And fit at Dinner like a maiden Bride,
And talk of Nothing all Day but of Pride;
God in his Mercy may do much to fave her,
But what a Cafe is he in that fhall have her.

In the next number of the almanac appears the
following stanza by "Mrs. Bridget Saunders, My
Dut chefs, in anfwer to the print' d Verfes of laft
Year":

He that for the fake of Drink neglects his Trade,
And fpends each Night in Taverns till 'tis late,
And rifes when the Sun is four Hours high,
And ne'er regards his ftarving Family,
God in his Mercy may do much to fave him,
But, Woe to the poor Wife, whofe Lot it is to
have him.

An astronomical prophecy is as follows:

"During the firft vifible Eclipfe Saturn is retro-
grade: For which reafon the Crabs will go fidelong,
and the Ropemakers backward. Mercury will
have his Share in thefe affairs, and so confound the

Poor Richard's Almanack. 1 19

Speech of the People, that when a Pennfylvanian
would fay Panther he fhall fay Painter. When a
New Yorker thinks to fay This he fhall say Difs,
and the People in New England and Cape May
will not be able to fay Cow for their Lives, but will
be forc'd to fay Keow by a certain involuntary
Twift in the Root of their Tongues. No Connecti-
cut Man nor Marylander will be able to open his
mouth this year, but Sir fhall be the firft or laft
Syllable he pronounces, and fometirnes both.
Brutes shall fpeak in many Places, and there will
be above feven and twenty Irregular Verbs made
this year; if Grammar don't interpose. Who can
help thefe miffortunes? This year the Stone-
Blind ftiall see but very little; the Deaf fhall hear
but poorly; and the Dumb fhan't fpeak very plain;
and it's much, if my Dame Bridget talks at all
this year. Whole Flocks, Herds, and Droves of
Sheep, Swine and Oxen, Cocks and Hens, Ducks
and Drakes, Geefe and Ganders fhall go to Pot;
but the Mortality will not be altogether so great
among Cats, Dogs and Horses. As to Old Age
'twill be incurable this Year becaufe of the years
paft. And towards the Fall fome People will be
seiz'd with an unaccountable Inclination to roaft
and eat their own Ears: Should this be call'd
Madnefs, Dodprs? I think not. But the worft
Difeafe of all will be a certain molt horrid, dreadful,
malignant, catching, perverfe and odious Malady,
almoft epidemical, infomuch that many fhall run
mad upon it; I quake for very fear when I think
on't; for I affure you very few will efcape this
Difeafe; which is calFd by the learned Albro-
mazar Lacko'mony."

120 Poor Richard's Almanack.
In another number he prophesies :

"Before the middle of this Year, a Wind at N.
Eaft will arife, during which the Water of the Sea
and Rivers will be in fuch a manner raif'd, that
great part of the Towns of Bofton, Newport, New
York, Philadelphia, the Lowlands of Maryland
and Virginia, and the Town of Charlefton in South
Carolina, will be under Water. Happy will it be
for the Sugar and Salt ftanding in the Cellars of
thofe Places, if there be tight roofs and ceilings
overhead; otherwife, without being a Conjuror,
a man may eafily foretel that fuch Commodities
will receive Damage/ 5

In the next number appeared the following ex-
planation:

"The Water of the Sea and Rivers is raifd in
Vapors by the Sun, and is form'd into Clouds in
the Air, and thence defcends in Rains. Now,
where there is Rain overhead (which frequently
happens when the Wind is at N. E.), the Cities and
Places on Earth below are certainly under Water/'

Fooling that was most relished by the public
related to rival almanac makers. The one among
them who was selected to receive the shafts of
Poor Richard's wit was Titan Leeds, the philo-
math responsible for Bradford's "American Alma-
nack." After the paragraph explaining Franklin's
reasons for publishing, there followed a prediction
of the forthcoming death of Mr. Leeds, a device
that was not original with Franklin, but had been

Poor Richard's Almanack. 121

used years before in England by Dean Swift, when
he prophesied the death on a certain date of one
Partridge, an almanac maker. Partridge sur-
vived the date and then exultingly proclaimed the
failure of the prophecy, but Swift replied that
Partridge was so notorious a liar that his testi-
mony could not be accepted in so important a
matter. Franklin was more gentle in his jest at
the expense of Titan Leeds. Poor Richard said:

"Indeed this Motive would have had Force
enough to have made me publifli an Almanack
many Years fince, had it not been overpowered
by my Regard for my good Friend and Fellow
Student Mr. Titan Leeds, whofe Intereft I was
extreamly unwilling to hurt: But this Obftacle
(I am far from fpeaking it with Pleafure) is foon
to be remov'd fince inexorable Death, who was never
known to refpeft Merit, has already prepared the
mortal Dart, the fatal Sifter has already extended
her deftroying Shears, and that ingenious Man muft
foon be taken from us. He dies, by my Calcula-
tion made at his Requeft, on October 17, 1733,
3h. 2901. P. M. at the very inftant of the c/ of and
3 . By his own Calculation he will furvive till
the 26th of the fame Month. This fmall Difference
between us we have difput'd whenever we have
met thefe 9 Years paft; but at length he is inclin-
able to agree with my Judgment : Which of us is
moft exa6t, a little Time will now determine.
As therefore thefe Provinces may not longer ex-

9*61 to fee any of his Performances after this
ear, I think my felf free to take up the Tafk ? and

1 22 Poor Richard 9 s Almanack.

requeft a fliare of the publick Encouragement;
which I am the more apt to hope for on this Ac-
count, that the Buyer of my Almanack may con-
fider himfelf, not only as purchafing an ufeful
Utenfil, but as performing an Act of Charity, to his
poor Friend and Servant/'

Leeds replied indignantly, as Franklin hoped he
would, which resulted in further reference to the
matter in the second number of "Poor Richard's
Almanack" as follows:

" In the Preface to my laft Almanack, I foretold
the Death of my dear old Friend and Fellow-Stu-
dent, the learn'd and ingenious Mr. Titan Leeds,
which was to be on the i/th of October, 1733, 3 h.
29111. P. M. at the very Inftantof the c/ of and Q :
By his own Calculation he was to survive till the
26th of the same Month, and expire in the Time of
the Eclipfe, near n o'clock P. M. At which of
thefe Times he died, or whether he be really dead,
I cannot at this prefent Writing pofitiyely affure
my Readers; forafmuch as a Diforder in my own
Family demand 1 d my Prefence, and would not
permit me as I had intended, to be with him in his
laft Moments, to receive his laft Embrace, to clofe
his Eyes, and do the Duty of a Friend in perform-
ing the laft Offices of the Depart'd. Therefore
it is that I cannot pofitively affirm whether he be
dead or not. . , . There is however (and I
cannot fpeak it without Sorrow) there is the
ftrongeft Probability that my dear Friend is no
more: for there appears in his Name, as I am af-
fur'd, an Almanack for the Year 1734, in which I

Poor Richard's Almanack. 123

am treat'd in a very grofs and unhandfome Man-
ner, in which I am call'd a falfe Predider, and
Ignorant, a conceited Scribler, a Fool, and a Lyar.
Mr. Leeds was too well bred to ufe any Man fo
indecently and so fcurriloufly, and moreover his
Efteem and Affection for me was extraordinary;
So that it is to be fear'd that Pamphlet may be
only a Contrivance of foniebody or other, who
hopes perhaps to fell two or three year's Almanacks
ftill, by the fole Force and Virtue of Mr. Leeds'
Name ; but certainly, to put Words into the Mouth
of a Gentleman and a Man of Letters, againft
his Friend, which the meaneft and moft fcandalous
of the People might be afliam'd to utter even in
a drunken Quarrel, is an unpardonable Injury
to his Memory, and an Impofition upon the
Publick."

Leeds replied again, and to this reply in the issue
for 1735 Poor Richard makes reference:

"But having received much Abufe from Titan
Leeds deceased (Titan Leeds when living would
not have uPd me fo !) I say, having received much
Abufe from the Ghoft of Titan Leeds, who pre-
tends to be ftill living, and to write Almanacks in
Spight of me and my Predictions, I cannot help
faying, that tho' I take it patiently, I take it very
unkindly. And whatever he may pretend 'tis
undoubtedly true that he is really defunct and
dead. Firft becaufe the Stars are feldom dif-
appointed, never but in the Cafe of wife Men,
fapiens dominabitur a/iris 9 and they foreihow'd
his Death at the Time I predicted it. Secondly,

124 P or Richard's Almanack.

Twas requifite and neceflary he fliould die pundu-

ally at that Time, for the Honour of Aftrology, the
Art profeiFd both by him and his Father before
him. Thirdly, Tis plain to every one that reads
his two laft Almanacks (for 1734 and 35) that they
are not written with that Life his Performances ufe
to be written with; the Wit is low and flat, the little
Hints dull and fpiritless, nothing fmart in them
but Hudibras's Verfes againft Aftrology at the
Heads of the Months in the laft, which no Af-
trologer but a dead one would have inferted, and
no Man living would or could write fuch Stuff as
the reft. But laftly I convict him in his own
Words, that he is dead (ex ore fuo condemnatus
eft) for in his Preface to his Almanack for 1734, he
says. Saunders adds another Grofs Falfhood_ in
his Almanack, viz. that by my own Calculation
I {hall furvive until the 26th of the faid Month
October, 1733, which is as untrue as the former.
Now if it be as Leeds fays, untrue and a grofs
Falfhood that he survived till the 26th of October,
1733, then it is certainly true that he died before
that Time; and if he died before that Time, he is
dead now, to all Intents and Purpofes^ any thing
he may fay to the contrary notwithftanding."

But the feature that gave widest popularity to
"Poor Richard's Almanack" was the short epigram-
matic sayings with which he filled the blank spaces
on the calendar pages as shown in the illustration
on page 125. They were mixed with the calendar
announcements indiscriminately and are to be
distinguished only by the difference in type face.

March

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Inside page of"Poor Richard's Almanack." Original si"*

126 Poor Richard's Almanack.

A few of these maxims,, selected at random, are as
follows :

"Keep thy (hop, and thy fhop will keep thee."

" Diligence is the Mother of Good Luck/'

" God helps Them that help Themf elves."

" Bargaining has neither Friends nor Relations."

" Early to Bed, Early to rife, makes a Man healthy,

wealthy and wife/'

"An Empty Bag cannot fland upright/*
."Ben beats his Pate and fancys wit will come;
"But he may knock, there's Nobody at home/'

Franklin summed them up in a preface to the
Almanack of 1758 (not 1757, as was stated in the
"Autobiography 53 ) which is sometimes entitled
"Father Abraham's Speech to the American People"
and sometimes "The Way to Wealth." Of it Paul
Leicester Ford says:

"It is this preface which has given the name of
Poor Richard currency in alien races, and a quot-
able quality to this day. It has been printed and
reprinted again and again. In every size, from a
( pot duodecimo' up to ' imperial folio'; in thou-
sands for the plow-boy, and in limited and privately
printed editions at the expense of noblemen ; for the
'penny-horrible' hawker, and for the bibliomaniac;
for the 'Society for Preserving Property Against
Republicans and Levelers/ and for the f Associa-
tion for Improving the Condition of the Poor'; and
under the titles of 'Father Abraham's Speech/
'The Way to Wealth/ and 'La Science du Bon-

K

A POCKET

LMANACK

For the Year 1744.

Fitted to the Ufe
ST VA n i A* and t&e ncSghbour-
ing Provinces^

With feverai ufsfnl

8 A U ND-ERS* Phil.

Printed

by B.FRAN K

<Y* Aries, Head&Fzce* Q Sol*

Pocket edition of the Almanack.

128 Poor Richard^ Almanack.

homme Richard/ it has proved itself one of the
most popular American writings. Seventy-five
editions of it have been printed in English, fifty-six
in French,, eleven in German, and nine in Italian.
It has been translated into Spanish, Danish,
Swedish, Welsh, Polish, Gaelic, Russian, Bohemian,
Dutch, Catalan, Chinese, modern Greek, and
phonetic writing. It has been printed at least four
hundred times, and is to-day as popular as ever/ 3

Testimony to the value of the wisdom of the
maxims is given by John Paul Jones, famous in
American history as a naval officer in the War of the
Revolution. The government of France had prom-
ised a new ship to Jones and he waited at Brest, on
the seacoast, month after month for it to arrive.
He wrote for a fulfilment of the promise to every-
body who might be connected with the transaction,
even to the King of France himself, but the vessel
was not forthcoming. One day he came across a
copy of "Poor Richard's Almanack" in which he
read the sentence, " If you would have your Bufi-
nefs done, go; if not, fend/' He took the hint, im-
mediately journeyed to Versailles, and soon ob-
tained an order for the purchase of the ship which,
in grateful recognition of the source from which
came the suggestion that brought an end to his
difficulties, he named Bon Homme Richard.

For twenty-five years Franklin compiled and
printed the Almanack, the one in which appears
the summing up of its philosophy being the last one

As a Business Man. 1 29

edited by him. In 1748 it was enlarged from
twenty-four to thirty-six pages and the size from 2f
x 5 1 inches to 3| x 5f inches, the name being
changed to "Poor Richard Improved/' Small
engravings first appeared in the issue for 1749.

CHAP. XI L
As a Business Man.

Bufinefs, the Plague and Pleafure of my Life,
Thou charming Miftrefs, thou vexatious Wife;
Thou Enemy, thou Friend, to Joy, to Grief,
Thou bring' ft me all, and bring 5 ft me no Relief,
Thou bitter, fweet, thou pleafing, teazing Thing,
Thou Bee, that with thy Honey wears a Sting;
Some Refpite, prithee do, yet do not give,
I cannot with thee, nor without thee live.

CO WROTE Poor Richard in his Almanack of
^ 1742, fourteen years after Benjamin Franklin
went into business for himself and six years before
the date of his retirement permanently from it.
The wisdom that experience in business had
brought to him and with which Poor Richard for so
many years pointed the way to achievement is to be
found tersely stated in the epigrams and aphorisms
which filled what would otherwise have been the
blank spaces in the Almanack. To those who
would look further into his business philosophy are
commended the short papers entitled "Advice to a

130 As a Business Man.

Young Tradefman," " Hints for Thofe That Would
Be Rich/' and particularly "The Way to Wealth,"
which has been described as "the best sermon ever
preached upon industry and frugality/' Prof.
Albert Henry Smyth found seventy-three repe-
titions in Franklin's writings of his favorite phrase
"industry and frugality/' and adds "there are
many more.' 5

The great business enterprises of the present day
had no counterpart in the America of the Eigh-
teenth Century. We were then truly a country of
shopkeepers. John F. Watson gives an interesting
picture of the business men of that time.

"The tradesmen before the Revolution (I men-
tion these facts with all good feeling)/ 1 he says,
"were an entirely different generation of men from
the present. Between them and what were deemed
the hereditary gentlemen there was a marked differ-
ence. "The gentry think scorn of leather aprons/
said Shakespeare. In truth, the aristocracy of the
gentlemen then was noticed, if not felt, and it was
to check any undue assumption of ascendency in
them that the others invented the rallying name of
* the Leather Apron Club ' a name with which they
were familiar before Franklin's ' junta" was formed,
and received that other name. In that day the
tradesmen and their families had far less pride than
now. While at their work, or in going abroad on
weekdays, all such as followed rough trades, such as
carpenters, masons, coopers, blacksmiths, 6fc., uni-
versally wore a leathern apron before them, and

As a Business Man. 131

covering all their vest. Dingy buckskin breeches,
once yellow, and check shirts and a red flannel
jacket was the common wear of most working men ;
and all men and boys from the country were seen in
the streets In leather breeches and aprons and
would have been deemed out of character without
them. In those days, tailors, shoemakers, and hat-
ters waited on customers to take their measures,
and afterward called with garments to fit them on
before finished.

"No masters were seen exempted from personal
labour in any branch of business living on the
profits derived from many hired journeymen ; and
no places were sought out at much expense, and
display of signs and decorated windows, to allure
custom. Then almost every apprentice, when of
age, ran his equal chance for his share of business in
his neighbourhood, by setting up for himself, and,
with an apprentice or two, getting into a cheap lo-
cation, and by dint of application and good work,
recommending himself to his neighbourhood.

"The overworked and painfully excited business
men of the present day have little conception of the
tranquil and composed business habits of their fore-
fathers in the same line of pursuits in Philadelphia.
The excited and anxious dealers of this day might
be glad to give up half of their present elaborate
gains, to possess but half of the peace and content-
ment felt and enjoyed by their moderate and tran-
quil progenitors/"

James Parton in his "Life of Benjamin Franklin."
adds to the picture of the colonial business man and
his activities by saying, "A store was simply a

As a Business Man.

dwelling house, with a room full of goods on the
ground floor, and a wooden bee-hive, anchor, Bible,
ship, basket, or crown, hung over the door."

Benjamin Franklin did not stop with preaching
to others in his Almanack and "Gazette** correct
principles in business. He practised them himself.
Industry, frugality, modesty of demeanor, self-
reliance these were the foundation stones upon
which he built, and that he built well is attested by
the comparatively short period in which he secured
a competence and was enabled to retire.

But there were croakers in Philadelphia at the
time when he went into business as there seem to be
in all places at all times. One such, whom he de-
scribes as "a Perfon of note, an elderly Man, with a
wife Look and a very grave Manner of fpeaking,"
one day stopped at his door, asked him if he were
the young man who had lately opened the printing
house, and, being answered in the affirmative, ex-
pressed his sympathy on the ground that the enter-
prise was sure to fail.

The elderly gentleman was not alone in his dismal
prophecy. In a discussion at what was called the
"Merchants' Every Night Club" the general
opinion was that since there were already two
printers in Philadelphia, a third could not succeed.
But a Dr. Baird gave a contrary opinion. "The In-
duftry of that Franklin/* said he, "is fuperior to
anything I ever faw of the kind; I fee him ftill at

As a Business Man. 133

work when I go home from Club and he Is at work
again before his neighbors are out of bed."

Diligence was characteristic of Franklin's long
and busy life. At the age of sixty-nine we find him
writing to his friend Priestly, " In the Morning at
fix I am at the Committee of Safety, which Com-
mittee holds till near nine, when I am at the Con-
grefs and that fits till after four in the afternoon/'

Franklin had a due regard for appearances. A
chapter in the "Autobiography' 3 is to the following
effect :

" In order to fecure my Credit and Character as a
Tradefman, I took care not only to be in reality in-
duftrious and frugal, but to avoid all Appearance to
the contrary. I dreflPd plainly; I was feen at no
Places of idle Diverfion. I never went out a fifhing
or fhooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauchM
me from my Work, but that was feldom, fnug, and
gave no Scandal; and, to ihow that I was not above
my Businefs, I fometimes brought home the Paper I
purchafed at the ftores through the ftreets on a
Wheelbarrow."

Franklin's independence is illustrated by an
anecdote related by Jared Sparks. Some of the
patrons of the "Pennsylvania Gazette" thought
that he was too free in his criticism of the public acts
of certain persons of high standing and warned him
against its continuance as prejudicial to his business
welfare. By way of answer, Franklin invited his
critics and the other gentlemen of whom they spoke,

Design for paper money made by Benjamin Franklin. Exact size of origi-
nal, in possession of the author.

^r. -. * r--^-

j *<?*i~~tf V*r* : 3F/> v' v^ >1 -T. ^rw ^^ .; ,

J ^-X3Lxr^^^.y-y^^S^^
*'

i-fcjra*&^arW S
%&?&$&& W? * ftS

The veins of a leaf were used to make counterfeiting difficult. The inscrip-
tion reads: "To Counterfeit is DEATH/'

136 As a Business Man*

to supper. They accepted, and when they had
assembled at his board they found, much to their
surprise, nothing before them but two puddings
made of coarse meal, usually called "sawdust pud-
ding," and a stone pitcher of water. Franklin ate
heartily, although his guests found it practically im-
possible to do so. When he had finished he dis-
missed them with the statement, " My friends, any
one who can subsist on sawdust pudding and water,
as I can, needs no man's patronage."

Franklin was careful of the quality of his work.
While learning his trade, and afterward when fol-
lowing it, he looked carefully into every method and
process, with a view to determining for himself the
reason for each operation, and frequently he was
able to substitute better ones. Examination of the
books and pamphlets he printed shows his work to
have been of a uniformly higher grade than that of
the other printers of his time or of the period which
preceded his. We have already seen, (p. 64) how
he obtained one of his first orders, the public print-
ing of Pennsylvania, because of the better quality
of his workmanship.

Of Franklin's position in the business world in
1744, sixteen years after he began and four years be-
fore he was to retire, Parton says:

"His 'Gazette* became the leading newspaper of
all the region between New York and Charleston.
Poor Richard continued to amuse the whole coun-

As a Business Man. 137

try, to the great profit of its printer, who was
obliged to put it to press early in October in order to
get a supply of copies to the remote colonies by
the beginning of the new year. All the best jobs
of printing given out by the provinces of New Jer-
sey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, fell
to the office of Franklin; who, by means of his
partnerships, had a share also in the good things
of Virginia, New York, the Carolinas, and Georgia.
His schoolbooks, his hand-books of farriery, agri-
culture, and medicine, his numberless small pamph-
lets, his considerable importations from England,
all contributed to swell his gains/'

Of these profits Parton adds: "Probably his
business in the most prosperous years did not yield
a profit of more than two thousand pounds sterling.
But there was not, probably, another printer in the
Colonies whose annual profits exceeded five hun-
dred pounds/'

Sydney George Fisher in "The True Benjamin
Franklin/' says: "Although extremely economical
and thrifty in practice as well as in precept, he
had very little love of money, and took no pleasure
in business for mere business' sake/' Fisher esti-
mates Franklin's fortune at the time of his
death to have been " considerably over one hun-
dred thousand dollars/' Parton gives the amount
"at a liberal estimate, one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars, of which about two-thirds was pro-
ductive/'

138

CHAR XIII.

Partnerships.

TN ALL his business arrangements Benjamin
Franklin was careful to have complete under-
standings in advance. It is the almost universal
experience that partnerships are prolific sources
of quarrels. Franklin had many business partner-
ships, but all, with possibly one exception, turned
out satisfactorily. This was owing, he said, "a
good deal to the Precaution of having very ex-
plicitly Settled, in our articles, everything to be
done by or expected from each Partner fo that
there was Nothing to difpute; which Precaution
I would therefore recommend to all who enter
into partnerfhips; for, whatever efteem Partneis
may have for, and Confidence in, each other at the
time of the Contract, little Jealoufies and Difgufts
may arife, with Ideas of Inequality in the Care and
Burden, Bufmefs, ^ffc., which are attended often
with Breach of Friendlhip and of the connexion;
perhaps with lawfuits and other difagreeable
Confequences."

It is interesting to speculate on how wide might
have become the operations of Benjamin Franklin
had he continued in business for the remainder of
his long life. Success in printing nowadays is con-
sidered to be entirely a matter of personality.
Some one man or group of men dominates every

Partnerships. 139

printing establishment, which means that it is
necessarily a local business. In all the United
States, with more than thirty-one thousand print-
ing and publishing establishments, there are com-
paratively few conducting plants in places remote
from their main offices. Benjamin Franklin oper-
ated printing houses located in widely separated
parts of the Colonies and the West Indies. He
was the first American trust magnate and the only
one so far as the printing business is concerned.

The first of his ventures of the kind after the
dissolution of the firm of Franklin and Meredith
occurred in 1731, when he had been in business
only three years. This partnership was with
Thomas Whitemarsh, who began in Charleston,
S. C,, October I, 1731, and who the next year es-
tablished a newspaper, the "Gazette," the first
paper in either of the Carolinas. He was after-
ward appointed printer to the government.

Franklin had later another partner in Charles-
ton, as successor to Whitemarsh. He was Peter
Timothy, son of the Louis Timothee, who, as pre-
viously related, was the editor of Franklin's Ger-
man newspaper, the " Philadelphifche Zeitung."
. Three partnerships concern themselves with
relatives. Having become reconciled to his brother
James, whom he visited, in Newport, R. L, to
which place James had removed his printing office
from Boston, Franklin returned to Philadelphia

140 Partnerships.

with his brother's son, who also bore the name of
James, taught him the printing trade., and a few
years later sent him back to Newport with a new
assortment of types to be added to the equipment
which his mother was using in her management
succeeding the death of the boy's father. This
was a philanthropic rather than a business enter-
prise.

Franklin had another nephew, Benjamin Me-
com, son of one of his sisters, whom he took into
his shop in Philadelphia, taught the trade, and
then established in business in Antigua, West
Indies. The boy afterward returned to Boston,
where Franklin again helped to set him up in busi-
ness. He was only moderately successful and
later made another move this time to New Haven,
where Franklin procured for him the office of post-
master.

William Dunlap was another of Franklin's part-
ners who was a relative, although by marriage, he
having married into Mrs. Franklin's family. He
began printing at Lancaster, but later removed to
Philadelphia. According to Isaiah Thomas his
"printing was correctly and handsomely executed/'
He subsequently left the business to engage in the
study of divinity, and in 1768 became the rector of
a parish in Virginia.

Samuel Holland and Benjamin Franklin signed
an agreement June 14, 1753, "under which Holland

Partnerships. 141

began to print at Lancaster, Pa. Franklin was to
let Holland have a printing press and type; Hol-
land was to keep them in good order and to pay
thirty pounds a year in four instalments. Hall
and Miller were the names of two others of Frank-
lin's partners at Lancaster. All of the Lancaster
partners, including William Dunlap, were prob-
ably connected with the same plant.

William Smith was also a partner of Franklin
in the West Indies. He established in Dominica
in 1765 "The Freeport Gazette or the Dominica
Advertifer" printed weekly on Saturday "on
foolfcap fheet and with new long primer and fmall
pica type. 3 '

Hildeburn gives three other partnerships, all in
Philadelphia, ~as follows: B. Franklin and G.
Armbruester, 1747-1750; B. Franklin and J. Boehm,
1749-1751; and B. Franklin and A. Armbruester,
1754-1758.

Articles of agreement were signed February
27, 1741, between Benjamin Franklin and James
Parker, who had served his apprenticeship with
William Bradford in New York, by the terms of
which Parker was to establish himself in that city.
When Bradford discontinued the publication of
his "New York Gazette" Parker reestablished the
paper under the title of "The New York Gazette,
Revived in the Weekly Poft-Boy," and he probably
retained Bradford's subscription list.

142- Partnerships.

The original agreement with Parker was for six
years, but it continued until Parker's death In
1770. Franklin provided the plant, which is
quoted by Livingston to have been: "A Printing
Prefs with all its neceffary Appurtenances, together
with 400 Pounds Weight of Letters; but of "all
charges for Paper, Ink, Ball, Tympans, Wool, Oyl
and other things neceffary/ two thirds was en-
tered againft Parker and one third against Frank-
lin/' The profits or losses were divided in the
same proportions.

When Franklin retired from active business he
turned over his printing and publishing business
to David Hall, his foreman, who was to carry it on
under the firm name of Franklin and Hall and to
pay Franklin one thousand pounds a year for
eighteen years, at the end of which time Hall was
to become sole proprietor. This agreement Hall
faithfully carried out.

In the final settlement James Parker acted as
Franklin's representative, the latter being then in
England. Parker made an inventory and ap-
praisal (pp. 92, 93) showing that Hall had not kept
the outfit up to a very high standard of efficiency.
The manuscript of his report to Franklin is in the
Typographic Library and Museum of the American
Type Founders Company in Jersey City, and since
it has not previously been published is here given
in full The long letter seems to justify the des-

Partnerships. 143

ignatlon sometimes made of Parker as "the weep-
ing philosopher/' It is as follows :

Philadelphia, February 3, 1766.
Hon. Sir;

This accompanies one Copy of the State of your
Accounts with Mr. Hall according to the beft of my
Skill and Judgment, and the Quantity and State
of the Printing Office: And tho' I have endeavoured
to mention every Thing as plainly as I could, yet
poffibly some Articles may need a little Explana-
tion, befides what is fo fet down: The Valuation
of the Printing Materials feems fmaller than I ini-
agin'd it would be; but as I examined all the Letter,
and faw the whole weigh' d, I could not do other-
ways : for the greateft Part of the Letter is much
worn; the Old Brevier fit for very little, and Mr.
Hall purpofes to throw it by as foon as he can, hav-
ing got a new Fount himfelf already come over, to
ufe in its Stead, and indeed the whole is worn
much, except the Double Pica, and neweft Englifh,
tho* neither of them are new, we weighed the Forms
and Pages of Almanacks 6fc. with all their Rules
in and about them, so that thofe Rules are charged
in the Letter the fame as the Letter: In weighing a
Form, we only took the Chace out of the Weight,
and in weighing the Letter in the Cafes, we weigh' d
two empty Cafes first, and took their Weight al-
ways out of it, the Furniture and Rules not actu-
ally up in Forms was but little and poor, and he
muft foon get himfelf more: One of the Preffes is
almoft done its beft, having been mended fo often,
as to be very patch' d and Mackled : On the whole,
I think I have valued it, at what I thought was the

144 Partnerships.

Value of it, fuppofing no Advantage of one want-
Ing to buy it, or of one wanting to fell it, on either
fide to be taken. yet Mr. Hall fays, if there be
any Particulars in it, that you ihall make objection
to, he is willing it fhould be rectified. With Re-
spect to the Paper furnifhed by you he fays, he
had no other Rule to afcertain it, than by the
Work-Books, which we carefully look'd over, and
fet down the Quantity ufed in every Job and
Newfpaper, As the Paper ufed for Public Work
before 1756, and fundry other Work, had been
fettled and accounted for to you already, as by the
Accounts he produced in your own Writing ap-
pears. Tho* we fettled the Pocket Almanacks
he fold at 6d which is as he fold them wholesale,
yet he charges you with those fent to Rhode
Island but at \d which were part of thofe he
charges himfelf 6d at. The Money paid by him
in England at fundry Times, as charged StirL
we reckoned Exchange @ 170, as a Medium, as
for fome of that Money he gave above L. 100 and
for fome others little more than 160, and we
have been as exacft in reckoning every thing as we
poffibly could, We had gone on very nigh finiiliing
when we recollected fome of the Money, both of
what you received, and what he had, was due to
you before the Partnerlhip began: This obliged
us to have a new refearch, and a thorough new
Examination of all the Books and Accounts, and
dif covered, that he had received the fum of . 246.
4:2! of Money due to you before the Partnerfhip
began, which Sum being included already in the
Articles of Numb. I on the Credit Side, whereby
you are credited for one half of it, we credited the

Partnerships. 145

other Half at the Bottom of the General Account,
being .123 .2 :i J Again we found of the Sums you
had received, the fum of .185.6:7 which belonged
to you before the Partnerlhip began, and as you had
been charged with the Half of that in No. 3 Debtor
,fide, fo we have credited the General Account for
that Half . 92.13 13! This we thought the moft
eligible Way, as we had already entered and caft
up the Whole before: On your Confidering the
Matter, I think you will find this to be the right,
and perhaps the beft that could be, to fet fuch
blend'd Accounts in the cleareft Light. There
are fome of the Books and Pamphlets printed in
the Partnerlhip unfold, fome of which he has taken
to himfelf, and allowed for them, but fome others
which don't appear faleable, he has left, and if
hereafter any of them fells, he will account for
them: And upon the Whole, if any Miftake or
Error fhall be hereafter difcoyered on either Side,
he is willing it fhould. be rectified, If you fhould
return home this Spring or Summer, you can ex-
amine any thing you lhall think wrong yourfelf :
As I (hall leave the final paffing of them, till I hear
from you, or fuch Return to do it yourfelf.

My laft to you was from Burlington, the End of
laft December, and beginning of January: I came
down here, tho' fcarce able to crawl, the i6th
inftant, I continued all the reft of the Month to
proceed on with the Accounts, whenever I was able
to ftir, tho' I had a Relapfe, or rather only an In-
creafe of the Pain, a few Days after I came, that
rendered me unable to walk for three Days,
and am ftill but very poorly, I hope to be able
to get back again to Burlington, as it is not com-

146 Partnerships.

fortable to be fick from home: nor there neither, if
it could be heip'd. I have now been in the Gout
three Months, and have had it fome Days in the
Heart and Stomach fo bad, I thought I could not
live: My Son been fick above three Months, and
he is but poorly yet, tho' he is mending, and likely to
get well. On the Whole, this year paft has been a
diftreffed one with me. But, God's Will be done.
Mr. Foxcroft is gone to Virginie, and I have not
heard any thing from him fince his Departure:
I wifh I may hear from you, before the End of
this Month, where I am to put the Printing-
Materials of B. Mecom's that are now at Burling-
ton: I have no body there at Work, all my Boys
being gone to New York & Woodbridge : And in-
deed, I have no work there for them to do, if they
were there: I would immediately away to New
York now, were I able to travel at any Rate, but
I even fear, I fhall hardly be able to get back to
Burlington only, as the Weather is uncomfortable:
but I will go as foon as I can. I think I wrote you
before, I had fecured the Goods you fent to Mr.
Hughes, but they are unopenM, as I would be
there myself. I wrote alfo to Balfour, which I
inclofed to you, and hope you will have received
it: I don't know any thing further material
about Affairs wherein I am concerned, And
thofe relating to the Publick you will doubtlefs
have from abler and better Hands I wrote to
B. Mecom lately, but had but a fhort Anfwer, that
he would foon fend me the Account ffc. I have
wrote again But, I fear nothing can quicken
his Sluggifhnefs. I have told Holt I intend to
come to New York, and take my Printing Office

Partnerships. 147

again: I don't know what he defigns: he keeps it
fecret from me: I heard the Gentlemen of Vir-
ginia were trying to get a new Printer, In Oppofi-
tion to Mr. Boyle, becaufe he declined going on, or
was too much under the Influence of the Governor
there: and as Green and Rind are parted. I im-
agine Rind is the Man, and that they have bought
the Office that was Stretch's, which by an Invoice
I faw of it, was very compleat and good; fo that
if it be fo, it will be bad for Billy Hunter whether
Boyle lives or dies: It was reported Boyle grew
worfe after his Return home but as we have not
heard lately from thence, I can't fay no more
about it, and Doubtlefs you will hear from thence
from Mr. Foxcroft foon, who can give you a better
Account of the Matter.

As I am neceffarily to send you two copies of the
Accounts tsfc. fo another to the same Purpofes as
this, I fhall leave in Mr. Hall's Hands to be for-
warded to you, with them, Therefore, I think I can
add no more, than all Refpedls 5"c. from

Your most obliged Servt.

JAMES PARKER.

P. S. Mr. Hall made fome Demands for hiring
a Clerk: He fays he hired a one at your Particular
Requeft @ one Time: that he had one conftantly
from 1753 : and for 18 Months two of "em : never lefs
than 20/ a Week, and great Part of the Time 25.
he alfo muft keep one Still, to draw out Accounts
and get in the Money due, and thinks part of the
Expenfe should be yours: As the Articles were
filent on that Stead, and my Power did not extend
fo far, I could only refer it to you: Two Iron

148 Partnerships.

Fire places of yours are left, and he having a year or
two ago, purchafed two Cannon Stoves, he keeps
them himf elf, as he bought them with his own Money.

Burlington, Feb. 10. I got as well home here as I
expeded: the Gout not quite left me yet. As foon
as my Strength will admit, I (hall fet forward for
New York: No Packet come in yet tho' momen-
tarily expecfted: I fhall send down B. Mecom's
Printing Office to Philadelphia, immediately, as
Mrs, Franklin fays fhe will fee Care taken of it.

Feb. n. I juft now heard Mr. Holt has had an
Execution levied on his Goods ; he does not tell me
fo himfelf, but I have heard it, and fear its too true :
I believe I fhall be a far greater lofer by him, than
you were by B. Mecom: Its an eafy Thing to be-
have with Fortitude, when all goes generally well :
But I muft expert it notwithftanding all may go
aginft me: And indeed, I know I can't command
Succefs in my Affairs, but as far as Refignation, and a
Steady Diligence could deferve it, I have endeav-
oured it: I have fupported others and almoft
Starv'd myfelf : but I am thankful its no worfe, and
will ftill fay, God's will be done.

Feb. 20. Laft night heard the Packet was come
in, but no Letter for me, fo I now attempt to Stop :
I am ftill poorly with this wretched Gout, or rather
now a real Rheumatifm, as it takes all my Bones.
Hope only remains at the Bottom of Box. I long
for my Health to go to New York, but I muft fubmit.

One thing I forgot to mention, I muft now note
One box of goods fent to Mr. Hughes came by Capt.
Tillet, this I fuppofe is the Stationary: this I

Partnerships. 149

have in my Store at New York, but I have Advice
of another come in Capt. Berton, which I fuppofe
is the Electrical Machine, but as you have never fent
a Bill of Lading for it either to Mr. Hughes or me,
Capt. Berton won't deliver it without a Bill of
Lading tho' I fent him word I would indemnify him
fo he keeps it in his PofTeffion, and I cannot de-
mand it without a Bill sfc.

All Mecom's materials are fent down to Phila-
delphia.

Adieu.

An interesting account of Franklin's last business
relationship with a printer on a considerable scale
is given by Livingston. It is that which relates to
his dealings with Francis Childs, a young printer of
New York, who had learned his trade in the shop of
William Dunlap. Franklin, then in his seventy-
sixth year, was in Paris as Minister to France
when Childs first wrote to him to enlist his interest
in the printing business which he had established on
a frail basis in New York, and the relationship,
which cannot certainly be called a partnership be-
cause no definite statement appears in the cor-
respondence of Franklin's acceptance of Childs'
proposals, continued until a few days before Frank-
lin's death in April, 1790.

Franklin's experience with those who are known
to have been his partners was almost entirely
satisfactory to him, but that with Childs could
hardly be so termed. Childs' letters are filled with

ISO Typefounder.

continual complaint of shortages in equipment of
type sent to him from the foundry which Franklin
had established for his grandson, Benjamin Frank-
lin Bache, in Philadelphia, and with excuses for his
failure to make payments as promised. A little less
than a year before his death Franklin wrote to him
as follows, giving a glimpse into his financial affairs
at that late period of his life:

"You wrote to me in December laft, that as foon
as you returned from attending the Aflembly you
would immediately fet out for Philadelphia in order
to make a final Settlement of our Accounts : This
was a Promife very agreeable to me, as my late
heavy Expenfe in building five Houfes (which coft
much more than I was made to expert) has fo ex-
haufted my Finances, that I am now in real and
great Want of Money."

Franklin was able to live comfortably upon the
annual payments by Hall and the salary received
from the various public offices he held, although
when Hall's payments ceased Franklin felt himself,
as he said and was, in reduced circumstances.

CHAP. XIV.

Typefounder.

JN FRONT of Bartholomew Close, near Palmer's
printing office in London, was located a type-
foundry conducted by Thomas James, and it was to

Typefounder. 151

be expected that a young man with an inquiring
mind such as Benjamin Franklin possessed and par-
ticularly one with his interest in printing and every-
thing connected with it, would be attracted to the
foundry. There he witnessed the processes that go
to make up the typefounder's art, the designing of
characters, the making of molds, and the casting,
trimming, and polishing of individual types.

After Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726,
and what he considered to be an ill turn of fortune
obliged him again to take up the printing trade, he
made an arrangement, as has already been stated,
to take over the mechanical management of Samuel
Keimer' s printing establishment. There he found
that his knowledge of typefounding, although
limited, served him in good stead. Keimer's type
cases were in need of sorts, and since there was no
place in America at which to purchase them and
months were required to secure supplies from
abroad, the young foreman contrived a mold,
used the letters on hand to make puncheons, and
with them cast type that served the purpose.
Thus Benjamin Franklin became America's first
typefounder.

It has already been related how he went as the
employee of Keimer to Burlington, then the capi-
tal of New Jersey, to fulfill a contract which Keimer
had secured to print the paper money of that
province. He says in the " Autobiography," " I con-

152 Typefounder.

trived a copper plate Prefs for It, the firft that
had been feen in the Country; I cut feveral Orna-
ments and Checks for the Bills." The press was
probably not imposing in appearance or remark-
able for its execution, and the design of the cur-
rency does not show a high order of artistic ability,
but both are important in establishing the fact that,
in making this copper plate press, Franklin was the
first American maker of printing presses and the
first designer and engraver for printing purposes.

Franklin's interest in the building of printing
presses was not confined to his early years at the
business. In 1753 we find him writing to his friend
William Strahan, of London, as follows :

"If you can perfuade your Prefs-Maker to go out
of his old Road a little, I would have the Ribs made
not with the Face rounding outwards, as ufual,
but a little hollow or rounding inwards from end to
end; and the cramps made of hard caft Brafs, fixed
not acrofs the Ribs, but longways, fo as to flide in
the hollow Face of the Ribs. The reafon is, that
Brafs and Iron work better together than Iron and
Iron. Such a prefs never gravels ; the hollow Face
of the Ribs keep the Oil better, and the Cramps, bear-
ing on a large Surface, do not wear, as in the com-
mon Method. Of this I have had many years'
Experience."

One of Franklin's English friends, with whom he
corresponded for many years, was William Caslon,
the famous typefounder. In a letter written to

Cara6lerc grav< a Pam pour M FRANKLIN, par S P Fou&NUR le jeufle, 1781.

don/til G4&G00&&16) fort, em* jorten, au&laut m.anl&re' ) Jf I'on, ^c&alc. a> C6

au u> a
ct/n

noble,

&rcl., dully, e

' ^

c

Type used at Passy. Livingston says it was '* probably designed by Frank-
lin himself, for use in printing important documents, which it might have
been to the advantage of some one to counterfeit." Lower panel shows
exact size. From, specimen sheet in the Typographic Library and Museum
of the American Type Founders Company, Jersey City, N. J.

154 Typefounder.

Caslon in 1788 appears this paragraph voicing a
complaint that one hears occasionally from printers
even to this day:

"I approve very much of your Refolution not to
fend your Types abroad upon Credit. Their
Excellence will fecure a fufficient Demand without
it. Some other Britifh Founders have been fo
extravagantly liberal in that Way, and thereby
created fuch a Number of Matter-Printers more
than the Bufmefs of the Country can maintain, as
may probably in the End be hurtful to both the
Debtors and Creditors."

Another typefounder friend was John Basker-
ville, the celebrated printer and letter-founder of
Birmingham. In a letter written in London to
Baskerville Franklin acknowledged the receipt of
some type specimen sheets which he promised to
distribute among the printers of America, sending
them by the first ship. He supposes that no orders
for type unaccompanied by bills for money will be
accepted, and suggests to the typefounder not to give
credit, adding, "efpecially as I do not think it will
be neceflary."

He advises Baskerville that James's Foundry, a
part of which "among them some tolerable He-
brews and Greeks and fome good Blacks" is to be
sold and offers to buy whatever may be required for
the Birmingham foundry.

At another time Franklin wrote an amusing

Typefounder* 155

letter to Baskerville, giving particulars of a hoax
he played upon a caller who had insisted that
Baskerville's types were hard to read. This
gentleman even predicted, as quoted by Franklin,
that Baskerville would be " a Means of blinding all
the Readers in the Nation; for the Strokes of your
Letters, being too thin and narrow hurt the Eye,
and he could never read a Line of them without
Pain."

Franklin put up a job on the critic. He stepped
into another room, secured a Caslon type specimen
sheet, tore off the name, and then returned and
exhibited it to the critic as a Baskerville specimen,
asking him to point out the deficiencies of the
designs mentioned. "He readily undertook it/'
says Franklin, " and went over the feveral Founts
fhowing me everywhere what he thought Inftances
of that Difproportion; and declared, that he could
not then read the Specimen, without feeling very
ftrongly the Pain he had mentioned to me/' So
thoroughly did he commit himself in uncon-
sciously disproving his own theory that Franklin
spared him the confusion of an exposure.

Although in a letter to William Strahan in 1744,
four years before he retired from active connection
with his Philadelphia business, we find him ack-
nowledging obligation "to you for your care and
pains in procuring me the founding tools/' Franklin
seems not to have done much in the way of type-

ABCDE
FGHIK
LMNOP
QRSTU
VWXYZ

Set of initials cast from matrices once owned by Franklin,
now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical
Society. Size within border 3!" x "

Typefounder. 157

founding in America until his return from his long
residence in France. There he evidently cast con-
siderable quantities of type and is said to have de-
signed at least one alphabet of his own, the beauti-
ful Script letter shown on page 153.

Livingston says of it, "This fount was probably
designed by Franklin himself, for use in printing
important documents, which it might have been
to the advantage of some one to counterfeit, such
as the Passport blank, or his commissions to com-
manders of privateers (if such a document was
printed by him)/'

Franklin engaged to a considerable extent in
typefounding after his return from France, princi-
pally with a view to setting up in business his
grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache. To one pur-
chaser, Francis Childs of New York, he wrote under
date of May 8, 1787, an interesting letter in regard
to sorts, as follows :

"You are always complaining of Imperfections
in the Founts, which I fuppofe to proceed from
your not having right Ideas of that Matter. They
were all caft after the beft Rules of the Founderies
in England, and in the fame Proportions. But as
the Stiles of Authors vary, and different Subjects
ufe the different Sorts varioufly, there never could
be a Fount fo proportioned as to run out equally
in all Cafes. And if whenever, in any Work, four
or five Sorts run fhort, you caft for the Deficiency,
Jn a fubfequent Work thofe Sorts, may be fuper-<

A SPECIMEN

i jv r i JVG r r p E s

BELONGING TO

PHILADELPHIA.

* French Canon Rom,

Tandem aliq
ABCDEFGJ

French Canon Rom.

Tandem aliqu
ABCDEFGH

Two Lines Dett&h Pica Rair..

TANDEM aliqua
i ABCDEFGHIJ

T-&0 Ltncs Great Printer Rent,

TANDEM aliquand
ABCDEFGHJKLO

TA N D E M aliquando , Qu
ABCDEFGHIJ KLM N

Tvso Lines Pica Ram.

TAKDEM aliquandoQinrites!
L.. CatilibnaTn fiirentem audacia
ABCDEFGHIJKLMKOPS

Double Pica Rom.
TANDEM aliquando, Quintes!
L. Catilmam riurentcm audacia,
fcelus anhelantem, peftempatrias
ABCDEFGHIJ KLMNOPQR

*Doulle Pica Rcm.
TANDEM aliquando, Quirites ! L.
Cacilinatn furencem audacia,, fcc-
lus anhelanccm, peftcm patrix ne
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ.RT

^^^ * French Canon Ital.

Tandem alia
"ABCDEFG

FrenfcK Canon Ital.

Tandem altquan
ABCDEFGH

Two Lines Double Pica leal.

T'andem aliquand
ABCDJEFGHI

Two -LAHKi. Oieat Frtrqrr ItaL

Tandem aliquando y

Two Linei Enghfliltal.

alt git an do ^ ^uiri
^BCDEFGHIKJMOS

Two Lines Pica ItaL
Tandem alujuando^ Qjiirites f L*
Catiltnam furentew autatia,fce-
4BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPR

Double Pica Ital.
tandem aliqaando^ Quirttes f JL
Catilinam furentem auefatia, fce-
lus anhelantent) peflem patn& tief
ABCDEFGHIJ KMNQPQg

^Double Pica leal.
Tandem ahquando, Quirites ! L.
Ca-tilina.mfurcn.tetn audacla., fcelus
anhelantem^ pejiem patrix nefaric
JBCDEFGHUKLMJVSPQRS

Type specimen sheets issued by Benjamin Franklin Bache.
Size inside the border 7f " x I4i",

B*JIJAMIX FaAXKLiH BACS**S SPECIMEN.
TKJRTSEK LIVES PICA,

York.

EL*VSK LIICES PICA.

Bofton.

NINE LINES PICA.

Baltimore

ton.

Philadelphia City

\ FOOE. LINES PICA.

Northumberland

A Quantity of 19, x 6, 13, n, 9 & 7 Lines Pica. is alwajs to be difpofed olj
at B. F. BACHE'S Prsnting-Ojpcc, Market Screec ; As alfo a number of typogra-
phical Cuts and a great Variety of Flowers.

From the Typographic Library and Museum of the American Type
Founders Company, Jersey City, N. J.

160 Typefounder.

abundant, and all the reft will appear deficient,
fo that there will be no End of proceeding in that
Manner. Therefore it is, that Printers have
itfually to every large Fount what they call a
Bomcafe, or Fount Cafe, that is, a Cafe to hold
thofe Sorts that are fuperfluous in one kind of Work
and where they may be found when wanting in
another. You remark that your now demanding
more of fundry Sorts (after being fupply'd with all
you formerly thought wanting) is owing partly
to your not taking an accurate Lift of the Imper-
fections at firft : and I am perfuad'd that the pref-
ent Lift you have fent me is far from being accurate,
fmce it is in Pounds weight, and not in the Number
of Letters. This lumping Method of calling for
Sorts to fupply fuppoPd Imperfections, 5 Ib. of
m's 3 Ib. of s's, etc. etc. can never be accurate ; and in
this Inftance of the Petit Romain, you may fee
already the Eff ecft of fuch Inaccuracy, viz. to aug-
ment inftead of diminifhing the Imperfections of a
Fount; for at firft you want'd but 4 or 5 Sorts of
the lower Cafe, and now you want 15 or 16, which
is a great Part of the Four y twenty, and proves
what I have faid above that there can be no End
of going on in this Way. However to oblige you,
tho* it is much more Trouble as the Mold muft be
adjuft'd afrefh for every little Parcel, you fhall
have the Sorts you want if you fend a Lift of them
in Numbers. My Grandfon will caft them, as
foon as he has taken his Degree and got clear of the
College; for then he purpofes to apply himfelf
clofely to the Bufmefs of Letter founding and this
is expect 'd in July next. You fhall alfo have some
W 5 s of a better form for the Pica as you defire.

Th e Private Press at Passy. 1 6 1

And I will willingly receive the Petit Canon again
which you propofe to return."

To his grandson, who was twenty-one years of
age at the time of his death, Franklin left "all
the Types and Printing Materials which I now
have in Philadelphia with the complete Letter
Foundry, which, in the whole, I suppofe to be
worth near one thoufand Pounds."

CHAR XV.

The Private Press at Passy.

DENJAMIN FRANKLIN sailed from Phila-
delphia on his mission as one of the three
commissioners to France, October 27, 1776. He
landed nearly two months later, proceeded imme-
diately to Paris, and soon had established himself
in the Hotel de Valentinois, in Passy, a village
between Paris and Versailles, at which latter place
the headquarters of the French government was
located. The growth of Paris in the direction of
Versailles in the years that have intervened has
swallowed up the village of Passy, and the Hotel
de Valentinois long since disappeared. A replica
of Boyle's statue of Franklin in front of the post-
office on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia has
been placed in that part of Paris which once was

1 62 The Private Press at Passy.

Passy on the Rue Franklin, so named because of
Franklin's residence there.

He used the residence for eight and a half years,
and it comes within the scope of the present vol-
ume because during practically all of that time he
operated in it a printing equipment for the pro-
duction of leaflets, broadsides, etc., some of them
for practical use, but mostly for the amusement
of himself and his friends.

Franklin's biographers have had little to say
about the press at Passy. William Temple Frank-
lin dismisses it with the single sentence, " Not-
withstanding Dr. Franklin's various and important
occupations, he occasionally amused himself in
composing and printing, by means of a small set
of types and a press he had in his house, several
of his light essays, bagatelles, or jeuoc d'esprit,
written chiefly for the amusement of his intimate
friends/'

Edward Everett Hale in his two volumes,
"Franklin in France/' says: "Franklin soon es-
tablished in his own house at Passy a little printing
establishment, from which occasionally a tract or
handbill was issued. From this press the pre-
tended * Independent Chronicle/ with an account
of Indian scalping, was issued, and the little books
published here are among the treasures most de-
sired by the connoisseurs."

Professor Smyth makes only one important

INFORMATION

TO THOSE

WHO WOULD 'RE'MOV.E
TO AMERICA.

JVJL ANY Perfons In Europe having dire&Iy or by-
Letters 9 exprefsM to the Writer of this 9 who Is
well acquainted with North- America, their Defire
of tranf porting and eflablishing' themfelves in that:
Country 5 but who appear to him to have formed
thro* Ignorance, miilaken Ideas 8c Expectations o
what is to be obtained there ; he thinks it may be
xifeful, and prevent inconvenient, expenfive 8c fruit-
lefs Removals and Voyages of improper Perfons, I
lie gives fome clearer Sc truer Notions of that Pare

of the World than appear to have hitherto pre-^

I j
vailed*

He finds it is imagined by Numbers that the In*-
habitants of North -America are rich, capable of
rewarding, and difpos'd to reward all forts of
Ingenuity ; that they are at the fame time ignorant
of all the Sciences ; Sc confequently that ftrangers
poflefling Talents in the Belles-Letters, fine Arts, 8tc-
muft be highly efteemed* and fo well paid as to
become eafily rich themfelves ; that there are alfo
abundance of profitable Offices to be difpofed of,

A

First page of a twelve-page pamphlet printed at Passy.

Exact size.
From * c Franklin and His Press at Passy.

164 The Private Press at Passy.

reference to the press in Passy: "Sometimes they
were printed upon his private press at Passy, in
limited editions of perhaps a dozen or fifteen
copies. Nearly all are lost. The fictitious ' Sup-
plement ' exists in the Library of Congress and the
Library of the American Philosophical Society,
and the latter collection has also the printed orig-
inal of c La Belle et la Mauvaise Jambe' (Passy,
1779). But the other fugitive leaves have dis-
appeared/'

It remained for the late Luther S. Livingston
in his beautiful volume, "Franklin and His Press
at Passy," privately published by the Grolier
Club in 1914, to present a nearly complete account
of the printing done at the Hotel de Valentinois.

Livingston describes fifteen "bagatelles," four-
teen of which, each a separately printed piece, are
bound together in a little volume in the Franklin
collection of William Smith Mason. He says,
"three of these are sixteen pages each, one is of
twelve pages, two of eight pages, one of six pages,
one of four pages, and six of two pages (or a single
leaf) each. The fifteenth is a single sheet printed
on one side only, among the Franklin papers in
the Library of the American Philosophical Society
in Philadelphia.

William Temple Franklin was too much of a
dandy to think of giving his time and attention to
such trivial matters as setting type and working

The Private Press at Passy* 165

a press. A younger grandson, Benjamin Franklin
Bache, was of a different mold. It was the grand-
father's intention to bring the younger boy up in a
way that would fit him for public business, but
evidently reflection upon his own personal experi-
ence of the limited financial return to be derived from
such a career caused him to change his mind, for we
find him writing to the boy's father that he had de-
termined to teach him a trade, that "he may have
fomething to depend on, and not be obliged to
afk Favours or Offices of anybody/' Franklin
further said, "he has already begun to learn the
bufmefs from Mafters who come to my Houfe,
and is very intelligent in working and quick in
learning."

This reference is confirmed by an entry in Ben-
jamin Franklin Bache's diary to the effect that a
"mafter founder" had come to Passy to teach him
to cast printing types and that the teacher was to
remain all winter. A later entry says that M.
Didot, whom he describes as "the beft printer of
this age and even the beft that has ever been feen,"
had consented to take him into his house for some
time in order to teach him his art. The statement
is made that in the house is combined " engraving,
the forge, the foundry, and the printing office."
A further reference in the diary, dated April 5,
1785, to M. Didot's establishment, is to the effect
that "the meals are frugal."

1 66 Advertiser and Propagandist.

It has already been noted that William Temple
Franklin referred to his grandfather's equipment as
"a small set of types/' which does not agree with a
reference Benjamin Franklin made to it in a letter
he wrote to Francis Childs after his return to
Philadelphia, in which he said: "My printing
Materials, confifting of a great variety of founts,
were fent down the Seine fome weeks before I left
Paffy/* Livingston's investigations indicate that
the equipment was a considerable one. Much
correspondence with French typefounders, among
them the famous house of Fournier, has been
brought to light, and unless the type purchased was
disposed of in ways not known and not now
ascertainable, the supply must have been a large
one. There is also some evidence to war-
rant the belief that two printing presses were
operated.

CHAP. XVI.
Advertiser and Propagandist.

"CpRANKLIN is sometimes spoken of as the first
American advertiser, but there is no special
reason for such a designation. The " Pennfylvania
Gazette" under his ownership contained more
advertising than it did under that of Samuel
Keimer and more than was common to the other

Advertiser and Propagandist, 167

colonial newspapers, but the circumstance is to be
accredited rather to the enlarged circulation of
the "Gazette/' owing to its superiority as a news-
paper, than to any particularly effective manner of
promoting the advertising department.

Franklin himself was far from being a self-
advertiser. Excepting for the statement of his
public services that he prepared for the Conti-
nental Congress, he never made any claims for him-
self. Throughout his long career he was almost
continually in the public service., but he never
sought office or made anything like a special effort
to obtain it. Although a seemingly indefatigable
writer, he never issued so much as a single vol-
ume of his literary productions and on at
least one occasion discouraged others from doing
so.

He did, however, advertise occasionally for him-
self or the members of his family. The following
examples show that to them, as to all other things
with which he had to do, he imparted a measure
of originality.

out of a Pew in the Church
fome months fince, a Common Prayer Book,
bound in red, gilt, and lettered D. F. [Deborah
Franklin] on each cover. The Perfon who took
It is deilred to open it and read the eighth Com-
mandment, and afterwards return it into the
fame Pew again, upon which no further Notice
will be taken.

1 68 Advertiser and Propagandist.

ALL Persons indebted to Benj Frank-
lin, Printer of this Paper, are defired to fend
in their refpective Payments : (Thofe Subscribers
for the News excepted, from whom a Twelve-
Month's Pay is not yet due).

Gentlemen, it is but a little to each of you, though
it will be a considerable Sum to me; and lying in
many hands wide from each other, (according to the
Nature of our Bufinefs) it is highly inconvenient
andfcarce practical for me to call upon every One;
I fhall therefore think my f elf particularly obliged,
and take it very kind of thofe, who are mindful to
fend or bring it in without further Notice.

Franklin's English is a model for advertisement
writers. Simplicity was its chief characteristic.
He had the faculty of putting the most thought
into the fewest words, extravagance in language
being the target of one of his chief animadver-
sions. Writing to John Jay from Paris in 1780 he
says:

"Mrs. Jay does me much Honor in defiring to
have one of the Prints, that have been made here of
her Countryman. I fend what is faid to be the
beft of five or fix engraved by different Hands, from
different Paintings. The Verfes at the Bottom are
truly extravagant. But you muft know, that the
Defire of pleafmg, by a perpetual Rife of Com-
pliments in this polite Nation, has fo ufed up all the
common expreffions of approbation, that they are
become flat and infipid, and to ufe them almoft
implies Cenfure. Hence mufic, that formerly
might be fufficiently praifed when it was called

A MODEST

ENQUIRY

INTO THE

JSfame and Nece/tty

OF A

PAPER-CURRENCT.

VtiU Ntmmus halet ; ^r/>, rf?^r//^j froptoqtits
-i ,

Pcrf*

9HILJDELQHIJ
Printed and Sold at the New PRINTING-
OFFICE, .near the Market.

Franklin's initial effort in propagandist literature, which resulted in the
issuance of thirty thousand pounds in paper currency by the governor and the
assembly of the'province of Pennsylvania in defiance of orders from England
to the contrary. Size 3" x 5f". "

1 70 Advertiser and Propagandist*

bonne, to go a little farther they call excellente, then
fuperbe, magnifique y exquije, celefte, all which being
in their turns worn out, there only remains divine:
and, when that is grown as infignificant as its
Predecefibrs, I think they muft return to common
fpeech and common fenfe; as, from vying with one
another in fine and coftly Paintings on their
Coaches, fince I firft knew the Country, not being
able to go farther in that Way, they have returned
lately to plain Carriages, painted without arms or
figures in one uniform color."

Franklin's studies in the art of expression both as
a youth and practically throughout his whole life
were pursued with one purpose in mind, to in-
fluence those who read what he wrote. He had the
admirable quality of vision to be able always to
see into things further than did those about him,
and seeing clearly he desired others to do likewise.
As a youth he practised the Socratic method, but
later abandoned it for plain, substantial statements
of arguments and facts. Later in life he sometimes
employed the dialogue.

Every public project, such as paving, cleaning,
and lighting the streets, establishing a fire com-
pany, hospital, public library, or university, brought
forth an article from Franklin's pen published
either in the "Gazette," or as a pamphlet, always
interestingly and, as events proved, effectively
written.

In his later years Franklin adopted another

PL^INTRUTH:

SERIOUS CONSIDERATIONS

On the PRESENT STATE of the
CITY of PHILADELPHIA,

A N D
PROVINCE of PENNSTLVAN1&

By a TRADESMAN of PUladelpbia*

Capta xrlf, mill Jit reliqu* vt3*t. Saf, per Deo* ittuosrtafes, <w*
ego e&e/h, pd femper Jomot> vilfat 9f figa, tMaf vtftras, tan**
t<f Jfiititatimi* feet/Us ; Jt ifta, atjufaanqw mcuKjSxff ftuc am"
flixamitti) refiner e, Jf vohiptatibtu we/Iris otium prabere vtttris f>
&perifcimini alifumulo, & eepejjtte rempublicam. Nanagitur
maze tie fonorsm itgttrTtf j LmEHTAS & ANIMA xoftra t ^f-
lio */. Dux bofiatm cem extrcltn l fnpra capxtyt. FOJ cun8affutt
ttj**xmrc, fSdubitatisydd factattt ? Scifatt, ret fp/a *ftf*
*ft, fed ons non timftts gam. Jmo vero maxitme j feJtcrtta&
mellit& e*imt* alii* alivm *xftf#Jtte*> aat3amni' f <oidelKtt
Dirt i*smor*al&w confjt^ $d bane rtmpMcam in moxamu peri~
c*/* /wvovfre. No*r VOTIS, KEQUK SUP.PLICIIS MtfwE r

BR1BV*, AUXILIA DlOHVM PARAHTVR : Vtgtlottdt,

text emfttltiub, frofore owa* cedtxt. UUfocordi* teff ot~
irtuwite trtuRderis 9 neqmcyotm JE>w impferef J iratt, ixfcjlir

out irtuwite 9

\wftott. M. Foiu CAT. m

Printed in the YEAR MDCCXLVIk

The pamphlet written by Franklin that caused the inhabitants of east-
ern Pennsylvania, despite the protests of the Quakers, to put them-
selves in a state of defense against France and Spain. Original in the
possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia. Size 3!" x

172 Advertiser and Propagandist.

propaganda method, that of the hoax. Balzac
termed him "the inventor of the lightning rod, the
hoax, and the republic/' A notable example was
entitled "An Edict of the King of Pruffia," in
which the claim of the King, because of early Ger-
man settlements upon the island, to a right to hold
England as a German province and to lay taxes
upon its inhabitants, was supported by the same
kind of argument by which the ministry of George
the Third attempted to justify its claim in respect
to the American Colonies.

Another hoax took the form of a letter from a
Hessian ruler to his representative in America,
where Hessian soldiers were employed by Great
Britain to fight against the colonial army, in-
structing him not to be too careful of their lives on
the ground that more money was paid by England
for dead soldiers than for those who fought and re-
turned alive.

The most notable effort of the kind, however, was
one intended to bring home to the people of Great
Britain the horrors of warfare as conducted by the
allies of the British soldiers, the Indians, in Amer-
ica. It was issued from the Private Press at
Passy, as a pretended "Supplement to the Bofton
Independent Chronicle" and purported to be "an
extract of a letter from Captain Gerrilh of the New
England militia/' It gave particulars of eight
large packages of scalps taken by the Seneca

UPPLEMENT

TO THE BOSTON

D EP E ND EN-T CHRON1C-LE.

BOSTON March ta. th"birj aer fcraicU

lest

Muy <t n&fl/c your Em//cmy. T*. Ja*. J J. rrSs. *&* . bw :

Ac ihs Itejulhlrf ih j S.-nmkat-hKfc I f.-ndlLcw .tw your He- <* *

llincy^iiidirtlw Cajeof lame* Eoyd, cipht Packs of Scalp, cuwd. i do nor doubi but rhtt >ur lsccncrc> xviJTihinl it

.. ,__ ....... ._ _ _ ......... .

/c your Em//cmy. T*. Ja*. J J. rrSs. *&* . bw : wa alfo u ant Sum w

-

tin d. hoopidandjauu d, vuthall iht lidian tura}.h4 A:*tk, vf civc f>m,. toh.-r rnc"uiapTamt f> ihrJL tmcA l\pl.. 'lik, hj;h

u.htiht!t. iollowing ti Invoiuu and inclination, - PjiccuJi.-y romrls.i!K.f, an. ihu n-ft/Taiv K.".ctuf th, Vi J.r. ^ !r_ti.\tx,

J'o. i. < ominicg 4} Scalpi of Corer.-ft Soldn.it kilkiiln. dific-ient i'j.-f-flti iray K f.nt 1* r than tVoupfa my Hawls P\s.1\ b<. (Sl'uUt.taJ

ikiHMihw, thJi are Arerehird on black Honri, ^Inch^dta- j* uhVimkuc,. and I iJJuy. 1 HvT tb. HITOUT t f bung

n.r , ih. infdc of the Skin pwntcd red. iih a fma'l b'atk \wa Jatv k ll.ne\\ raoft oK.di.TC

&poc to new th-if b ins kiUjo \v uh Bulk's. Alio'i of I jr- ArJ .TuiJi humbJt ^^txt-r,

n i kill.d in tli-ir Houfu*. , tlw Hoop* r.d ; ih. Skn t at >i,tJ J ASi t b CH AL k U Jl D."
biow n, and m.-uk.d \% uh a U<x: -, iblJc Ci-cb al) tound. to

t..mrtu I h> l ib..npfurrnn.dmtheN, R hi, arc 1 jiblzckHotikjt It *; 3t fit A propofcd 10 tury i Vfu caTrs but 1 u-ut-nanr Ht-

i . I!L Midll., ft B n.tyu.gth.iT b.rm- kilkd wh that ^ i-ap^- P-1 J- who you ki i xi h=* fnt Ltav. oi Abf Mu t.( po frr Kbndp-

Ko. J- Onujuninj; 08 of Fanncrv k.llcd n thcit Hour.is Hoew^^S hiv pivaic ffaiixfj' Iv. Uioupht n Uttpr thi-v CiouW ptoc^wd to

r.j-urc of 4 Ho.-, tn nuik th.ir Prof.fiion ; frit wh.u t it s l. ih u I>,|l.i Jtloi. ; and if thcvu.T. f ntn to him. tt. w<W undrftifes

anJ Sun. to (haw they were furffifud n tlw J^ay-t.njc ! aliijlj tp cairy thwtn o t-jiyJsnd and hanp ih+s\> a!I u^ in fun. darl. KfpKt

ivt tot. to fl>av th-'y flood upon their D<f-">cs, Asd <!i j >a th, JTiv* in 1 'aiai^k ' ar!(, uKw tk~v could Ix; f*^ finra ihc

No. }-< on.jimnRayof Fam.TS.{ Hoopitteen. to flww th.-y wcte afhtpihjpi. t)i3c. \lukv libra.) ifh. call dhirajutrhr-iit.i im-

k.ILd in th.fr F*wl<J -. a larjw Jv,t,s Cnele v uh a 1-rtL inund f +iw JL *>l \ cnlc^r.et . Th t y .TL aerindtayty d. )u ted t.. K, A

JUjrk DM it for th. Sun. to flicw > his it%*ai in ihc Day-umt ; and IK iui tro-jc'u tVm faf. hnh v T. Tivmonon th y to wi'h'iii

b! a.fc P ll.t-ttk on fome. Hcha on wh^ <f ^ ^ Baj. , ar. 1 a '^ pm f Buflon, and w ,11 probably U th^w A a. f-w

"'^onk"

in il"d

r fuppofIS to" b7oF^reW^^^waa7lis" t 'andf beu-g KTon Jy Wl awivi-d here" Lieut enmnt VrnjiTalJI alw

. .

onl> iJ .. .

inc uf l-tifonas burnt alive, iftci U<rp fealp -d, ih.s> v( mK
pulL-d out by the ROOK, and otkjrToiincni> . on> of ihjTw Iv- ROSTOV. March

. .

fiscd co thu Hoop of his Scalp. Htoftof the FJnu.-rvarr-=rby and Wi k uU>y th. % acpon u uh tK- Sctrs ouan o.

She Hair to hive been youn|r ot uddk-ar vd M..II i ihrtL b,ij j arc flocVinr 10 foi. iluia W Alonii-c, od all Mouths -T. full of J *.-

but 67 vsry giey Heads aanoag them aU t wKidi injkj* tht elation*, tixinnih.-ro tn ihcTu-.* t. not approved, ti i nt w fit fvTci

STvjcraoiecnVntial. to sJ . th IT tp rn doccm Iittk- I'aclwh. f *I r^ ffin'f them, one t

- Containing 88 Scalps ofVoraen; Hair kwig bwIA-dinthflp- iK* km;. 4n>urinf! a^an-rlcrfcurn' ^nrr f-r hu.Vturt.ini cui't*

dba t atMoo. to iKrvir they w.re Mochv*i ; Hooj v blue t .tfcla s V. 0"<-.n. w uh fomr of ^om^ and IittK; ( htldwn ih. HrA *A btt

yd'vmr Giound, v. uh Ile dTdpo!c to tq-u fcnt. t y \v ay &R t .Iwtnl amcnc both HouTct of I'ailjaaent ; doubjc Quwxuty ttn

JT*iutrfh.theTirsorGncfaeeaX:onedto'hojrK 4 ljn.)n^t iht biOuv,.
a black fcalping Knife or Hatch. tt the Hottom. inmjik ih_ir

. _ . u.i ....... ________

-. i yothvfi, Hair \nygn-vt TO Bb SOLD,

OK Lt^ A^T^^^^ SfflShS A-convemcnt Tan-Yard, lying In Medfield,

tktr Brainv beat out. Vi t- r Q fl Koad. Haifa Mile from the Mt%tir-Hwifc. \% uh a
' -

aminj? 151 Boyv' Sealpi. cf variot* A f t fir^ill UTA-* Ih\ It<np.HoiCk and ham, and about jo Acn,* f Land, co-^fliajt if

; w hitiftj Ground on the Skin, w. irh rjd T.-ai> tr tlw Me \> my I low t ip, wd PiJlurwB, and an excellent Oichajj. rot fui-

Ie, and black Bullet- (nirics, Knife, H4lcKt or Club, ja thcr I amc-Ian er;utr<- .-f ^clarn Peter s on ilxf Pmntfo.

t n;ir Derh* hippened. T"rT~ t~ Vri'Ln"

No.?, an Gills' Scalps, big and tittfc ; TaiAlI yJLw Rnopt.viKne . - _. V - I tr . i 1 '

Ground , Teatf. Hatchet, UsA. fcalpmg Kr,fe KeV 5 A lafgC Tfaft of L A N D, 1> IHg partly in

No. 8. Th I4 Packajre a Mixtuw of all tbeVwwiK* abm .-mcmofl-d, o_ ford ^, d Bm , v , a Chailioi n tht t wrn ?>f 'ed*ur hl fmi-

n the : Number ofj aa , with a Ba nf Birch r^rfc. emuinuif j 12" a^SwuiK : Rf>]d!abU Ha'l r Atik .from Ourltw Meet-

Wcwifli joutofi.mlilw.ftfSealrsovurthe'ilFaiartartliiepwt Kinp, A / ti _ Ti^r.'L. M O TT ^V r
ihar be m r.card ih-m wd b.- refrdhtd ; aidihat h*. ma/ fc- our A Imall HCV BnCiC H U U ^ i-
r r iihfu!nv.f> in AflroyinjE hu hn^nirt. and be cuov weed thai h on a Fi.-or, at th^ South Pan of theTown. t miuitc

Strayed or flolen from the

The "scalp "hoax. Written by Franklin and printed at Passy. Orig-
inal in the possession of the Curtis Publishing Company, Phila-
delphia. Size Si? /r * "H".

174 Advertiser and Propagandist.

Indians from the Inhabitants of the states of New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and
sent by them as a present to the governor of Canada
to be transmitted by him to England. Package
No. i was said to contain forty-three scalps of
soldiers, Nos. 2, 3, and 4, two hundred and ninety-
seven of farmers; No. 5, eighty-eight scalps of
women, and Nos. 6, 7, and 8, those of boys and
girls, with twenty-nine infants' scalps of various
sizes.

Some of Franklin's hoaxes were for amusement
purposes primarily, although each usually had a
moral of Its own. One such was the famous
" Parable of Persecution/' written in biblical
phraseology as the last chapter of Genesis, in which
was contrasted man's inhumanity to man because
of differences in religious belief with the patience of
the Heavenly Father in passing judgment upon his
children. Franklin memorized the chapter and it
was his habit in the presence of ecclesiastics
and others versed in the Scriptures to turn the
conversation to it, then to pick up the Bible and
to pretend to read it to them, to their wonder and
often confusion because of the lack of previous
knowledge of its existence as a chapter of the
Bible.

An article published in the "Public Advertifer"
of London, while Franklin was resident agent for
the colonies there, entitled " Rules by Which a

COOL THOUGHTS

ON THE

PRESENT SITUATION

OF OUR

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

A L.ETTZR TO A FRIEND IN THCoiI.NTRY,

PHIL ADELPHI At

PRINTED BY W. BVNtAPv M, DCC,

A political pamphlet written by Franklin advocating the chang-
ing of Pennsylvania from a proprietary province to a royal
colony. Original in the possession of the Curtis Publishing
Company, Philadelphia. Size 3$" x 6|".

176 Advertiser and Propagandist.

Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One/'
was not exactly a hoax but it carried indirectly
a message that could not have been presented so
effectively in any other way. There were twenty
of the rules and they prescribed the exact course
of conduct that Great Britain was at the time pur-
suing in connection with her colonies.

At a time such as the present when honesty in
advertising and merchandizing is so much under
discussion, and when Truth is the slogan upon
the banner behind which associations of advertis-
ing men are marching, it is interesting to find a
discussion of the subject of truth, or rather its
antithesis, " lying/' in the "Gazette" of the
later months of 1730. One of the issues con-
tains an editorial in which this statement is
made:

"There are a great many Retailers, who falfely
imagine that being Hifiorical (the modern phrafe
for Lying) is much for their Advantage ; and fome
of them have a Saying, That 'tis a Pity Lying is a
Sin> it is fo ufeful in Trade/'

The editorial discusses the matter for more
than a page and in a later issue appear two let-
ters, one of which, signed "Shopkeeper," says in
part:

"Sir, I am a Shopkeeper in this City, and I fup-
pofe am the Person at whom fome Reflections are

JOIN, or DIE.

The first American Cartoon.

Drawn by Franklin and published in the " Pennsylvania Gazette, '

May 9, 1754.

A flag designed by Franklin

for the Pennsylvania "Asspciators," 1747. From
Ford's "The Many-Sided Franklin."

178 The First American Humorist.

aimed in one of your late Papers. . . , Shop-
keepers are therein accused of Lying, as if they
were the only Perfons culpable, without the leaft
Notice being taken of the general Lying practif d
by Cuftomers. They will tell a hundred Lies to
undervalue our Goods, and make our Demands ap-
pear Extravagant."

The other letter "from a Merchant" pointed
out that not only do shopkeepers lie when they
sell but also when they themselves go out to
buy.

In 1754 Great Britain and France were at war.
A weakness of the Colonies consisted in the fact that
they were disunited and this weakness Benjamin
Franklin pointed out in the "Gazette" with a sug-
gestion as to how the difficulty might be overcome.
He illustrated his arguments with an engraving of a
drawing of a serpent cut into pieces, each piece
bearing the initials of the name of one of the Colonies,
and beneath it the warning caption "Join, or Die."
Thus he became the first American cartoonist.

CHAR XVII.

The First American Humorist.

l^NGLISH literature of the eighteenth century

abounds in humor, wit, and satire, all produced

in England itself. The writings of Addison, Swift,

The First American Humorist* 179

Steele, and Pope, to mention only four of the bril-
liant essayists and satirists of the time, furnished
abundant entertainment for their own age and the
ages which have followed it; but in America
literary production of a lighter vein in the Eigh-
teenth Century is to be found only in the works of
Benjamin Franklin. There it bubbles forth as
continuously and as refreshingly as water from a
hillside spring.

James Parton quotes David Hume as having said
that a disposition to see things in a favorable light is
a turn of mind it is more happy to possess than to be
born to an estate of ten thousand a year* Ben-
jamin Franklin had the turn of mind that not only
enabled him to see things in the most favorable
light but so to present them to others that they, too,
could have the same privilege.

His sense of humor developed early, in support
of which assertion may be quoted an incident re-
lated by William Temple Franklin. It was the
custom of Josiah Franklin to say long graces before
and after meals, a circumstance that proved irk-
some to the younger element in the family. One
autumn day after the winter's provisions had been
stored away, yojjng Benjamin suggested to his
father that if he would " say grace over the whole
cask, once for all, it would be a vast saving of

time."

The first of his literary efforts, the " Silence

i8o The First American Humorist.

Dogood" papers, produced when he was a boy in
his teens and offered anonymously as contributions
to his brother's newspaper, evidence this gift of
humor in an engaging manner. Exhumed by
Professor Smyth from the dusty pages of the "New
England Courant," they make good reading even
at this late day.

"Poor Richard's Almanack" sprang into aston-
ishing popularity because the sound sense of its
aphorisms was expressed in such quaint humor and
^entertaining wit. Some of the humor was coarse,
belonging rather to the age of Francois Rabelais
than to that of Oliver Wendell Holmes, but enough
remains that may be repeated in polite society to
make Franklin still the most quoted humorist in
American literature.

Humor began to show itself in the columns of the
" Pennfylvania Gazette" as soon as Franklin took
hold of it. A correspondent asked : " I am courting
a girl I have but little Acquaintance with. How
fhall I come to a Knowledge of her Faults and
whether fhe has the Virtues I imagine fhe has/'
Franklin replied, "Commend her among her female
Acquaintances."

His tendency always to see the humorous side of
a situation sometimes got him into difficulties.
"Andrew Miller, Peruke-maker, in Second Street,
Philadelphia, takes Opportunity to arquaint his
Cuftomers, that he intends to leave off the Shaving

The First American Humorist. 1 8 1

Bufmefs after the 22d of Auguft next/* was an
advertisement appearing in the " Pennfylvania
Gazette" that occasioned a letter from Mr. Frank-
lin addressed to himself on the subject of "Shavers
and Trimmers/ 3 in which occurred the statement:
" If we would know why the Barbers are fo eminent
for their Skill in Politicks, it will be neceffary to lay
afide the Appellation of Barber and confine our-
felves to that of Shaver and Trimmer, which will
naturally lead us to confider the near Relation
which fubfxfts between Shaving, Trimming and
Politicks, from whence we fliall difcover that
Shaving and Trimming is not the Province of the
Mechanic alone, but that there are their feveral
Shavers and Trimmers at Court, the Bar, in Church
and State/ 3 The article went on to consider the
matter of shaving and trimming, particularly trim-
ming, from every angle, evidently very much to the
dissatisfaction of Mr. Miller, for in the next number
of the " Gazette " appears an explanation from the
editor. But, although it contains the statement,
"I have no real Animofity againft the perfon whofe
Advertifement I made the motto of my paper" the
explanation could not have been satisfactory to
any one able to read between the lines.

In 1731 Franklin printed an announcement of the
sailing of a ship for Barbadoes at the bottom of
which was this postscript: "N. B. No Sea Hens
nor Black Gowns will be permitted on any Terms."

1 82 The First American Humorist.

"Black Gowns/' it seems, had reference to the
clergy, some of whom became indignant because of
being classed with "sea hens/' In the " Gazette'*
of June loth for that year appears a long "Apology
for Printers" in which the argument is made
on twelve numbered "particulars" that printers
should not be held responsible for what is said in
the things they print. One cannot help but be
somewhat skeptical as to the accuracy of the state-
ment in the "Apology" that this printer had noth-
ing to do with the matter of adding to the an-
nouncement the postscript to which the reverend
gentlemen objected.

Franklin never hesitated when opportunity
offered to relate a joke at his own expense. One of
his electrical experiments was an attempt to kill a
turkey by shock. He himself received the full
effect of the electrical discharge and was rendered
unconscious. When restored his first remark was,
"Well, I meant to kill a Turkey, and inftead I nearly
killed a goofe."

Clad in a new suit of clothes, he walked over some
barrels of tar on the wharf when the head of one of
them gave way and Franklin was partly immersed
in its contents. The incident was duly chronicled
in the "Gazette." A typographical error in one issue
of his paper was apt to be turned to good account
in the next, usually with a letter from a supposed
reader giving an entertaining account of other

The First American Humorist. 183

printers' errors. How he turned his own physical
infirmities into entertainment for his friends is
shown in the delightful "Dialogue between Frank-
lin and the Gout/'

Sometimes he joked his fellow-editors. A rhym-
ing contribution to the " Mercury " was signed B-d.
Franklin referred to it in the " Gazette " as follows:

"Mr. Franklin, I am the Author of a Copy of
Verfes in the laft Mercury. It was my real In-
tention [to] appear open, and not bafely with my
Vizard on, attack a Man who had fairly unmaiked.
Accordingly, I fubscrib'd my Name at full Length,
in my Manufcript fent to my Brother B-d ; but he
for fome incomprehenfible Reafon, infert'd the two
initial Letters only, viz. B. L. Tis true, every
Syllable of the Performance dif covers me to be the
Author, but as I meet with much Cenfure on the
Occafion, I requeft you to inform the Publick, that
I did not defire my Name iliould be conceal'd; and
that the remaining Letters are 0, C, K, H, E, A, D."

Many stories of Franklin's sallies are told. One
related by Parton is of a Quaker citizen who came
to him with this inquiry: " Canft thou tell me how I
am to preferve my fmall Beer in the back Yard?
My Neighbors, I find, are tapping it for me."
Franklin's solution was simple : " Put a barrel of old
Madeira by the fide of it."

The storm aroused in America by the passage of
the Stamp Act by the English Parliament is a
familiar incident of history. In one of the ex-

184 The First American Humorist.

aminations before the committee of the Whole
House which was held to consider the matter,
Franklin was urged by his friends to repeat a reply
he had made to a member who was a most strenuous
advocate of the Act and who had told Franklin thaS
if he would but assist the Ministry a little the Act
could be amended so as to make it acceptable to the
Colonies. Franklin gravely replied that he had
thought of one amendment, a very little one, in fact
the change of but a single word, which he felt would
make the Act acceptable in America. The Tory
member was much interested. Franklin then ex-
plained that the change he proposed was in the
phrase "on and after the firft day of November,
one thoufand feven hundred and fixty-five, there
{hall be paid, etc.," where he would substitute
"two" for "one." He declined to make the sug-
gestion during the official examination, however, on
the ground that it would be "too light and ludicrous
for the Houfe."

One day at dinner in a bottle of Madeira wine
were found three flies apparently dead. Having
heard that it was possible to revive flies supposedly
drowned by placing them in the sun, Franklin tried
the experiment, with the result that two were
brought back to life. This caused him to remark:
"I willi it were poffible from this Inftance, to invent
a Method of embalming drowned Perfons in fuch a
manner that they may be recalled to Life at any

The First American Humorist. 185

Period however Diftant; for having a very ardent
defire to fee and obferve the State of America a
hundred Years hence, I fhould prefer to any
ordinary Death the being immerfed in a calk of
Madeira Wine, with a few Friends, till that Time,
to be then recalled to Life by the folar Warmth of
my dear Country!"

Many a tense situation was relieved by a laugh
following one of Franklin's remarks. There came a
day when the Committee of Safety, composed
principally of " diffenters, " was required by the
more strenuous among the Pennsylvania patriots to
call upon the Episcopal clergy to refrain from pray-
ing for the king. The suggestion afforded an oppor-
tunity for a disagreeable and disturbing discussion,
which was averted by Franklin. "The Meafure,"
said he, "is quite unneceffary; for the Epif copal
clergy, to my certain Knowledge, have been con-
ftantly praying, thefe twenty years, that 'God
would give to the King and his Council Wifdom/
and we all know that not the leaft notice has ever
been taken of that prayer. So, it is plain, the gentle-
men have no intereft in the Court of Heaven." Good
humor was restored and the matter was dropped.

The most famous of the witty remarks credited
to Franklin is probably that which relates to the
signing of the Declaration of Independence. John
Hancock is reported to have said, "We mult be
unanimous ; there muft be no pulling different ways ;

1 86 Literary Style.

we muft all hang together." Franklin replied,
"Yes, we muft, indeed, all hang together, or, moil
afluredly, we fhall all hang feparately." The inci-
dent is entirely traditional, but it is so characteris-
tic as to be generally accepted as authentic.

The first year or two of the Revolution was dis-
couraging for the envoys in France. Their success
on the continent of- Europe depended almost en-
tirely upon the success of the revolutionary arms
in America. The outlook for the American forces
was bad, but news came that was worse, to the
effect that General Howe had captured Phila-
delphia. "Well, Doctor/ 5 said an Englishman
jubilantly to Franklin, "Howe has taken Phila-
delphia." " I beg your pardon, Sir," was Franklin's
reply; "Philadelphia has taken Howe," which
proved to be true, for while the British General and
his officers were wasting their time in the agreeable
social gaieties of the Quaker city Washington was
reorganizing his army, thereby laying the founda-
tion for the victories that came later.

CHAP. XVI 1 1.

Literary Style.

" @}UERY:~~~- Row fliall we judge of the good-
V*nefs of a writing? Or what qualities jtliould
a writing have to be good and perfed in its kind ?

, Literary Style. ' 187

"Answer. To be good, it ought to have a
Tendency to benefit the Reader, by improving
his Virtue or his Knowledge. But, not regarding
the Intention of the Author, the Method fhould
be juft, that is, it ihould proceed regularly from
Things known to Things unknown, diftindlly and
clearly without Confufion. The Words ufed Ihould
be the moft exprefftve that the Language affords,
provided that they are the moft generally under-
ftood. Nothing fhould be exprefPd in two Words
that can be as well exprefPd in one; that is, no
Synonymes fhould be ufed, or very rarely, but
the whole fhould be as fhort as poflible, confiftent
with clearnefs; the Words fhould be fo placed as to
be agreeable to the Ear in reading, fummarily
it Ihould be fmooth, clear, and short, for the con-
trary qualities are difpleafing."

So wrote Benjamin Franklin after thirty years
of constant production of what is generally ac-
cepted as the strongest, clearest, simplest English
that has come from the pen of an American writer.

Earlier in his career, after five years of editor-
ship, he had written "To the Printer of the Ga-

zette:"

"To write clearly , not only the moft expreffive,
but the plaineft Words fhould be chofen. . . .
The Fondnefs of fome Writers for fuch Words as
carry with them an Air of Learning, renders them
unintelligible to more than half their Countrymen.
If a man would that his Writings have an Effect
on the Generality of Readers, he had better imitate

1 8 8 Literary Style.

that Gentleman, who would ufe no Word in his
Works that was not well underftood by his Cook-
maid."

His first effort to acquire correct literary style
began in his early teens and was the result of a
controversy with a youthful friend, John Collins,
over "the Propriety of educating the female Sex
in Learning and their Abilities for Study/ 5 Frank-
lin preserved not only his friend's letters but copies
of his own arguments on the subject. The cor-
respondence later came to the attention of his
father, who pointed out to his son that the literary
form of his arguments was inferior to that of his
antagonist and suggested methods of improvement,
which were followed to advantage.

About this time Benjamin came across a volume
of the " Spectator/' the brilliant collection of essays
on a wide variety of subjects that was published
in London between the years 1711 and 1714, and
despite his youth he immediately discovered its
value from a literary point of view. In the " Auto-
biography 3 ' he relates how he made synopses of
some of the papers, laid them aside for a few days
and then without looking at them again rewrote
them from his notes and compared his effort with
the original. He soon saw that he was deficient
in his vocabulary and he attempted to turn the
papers into verse, which necessitated a search for
words of different sound and number of syllables.

NUMB. CCCLXXXIII

The SPECTATOR.

Crtminibus debent Hortos

Juv.

Tuefday, May 20. ff/ix.

AS I was Tiering 5n my Chamber, and fas Heart made feverd Re

thjnkmg on a Subjed for my next J/e- of a

Artwv & I heard two or three irregular bLr

Bounces at y Landlady's Door, a.Sup. ger o

oatht openmg of* a loud chcarful Vo,c'e enqjS- fhat

nn? whether the Philofopher wasatHome The Z.W*

CWd who went to the 6oor anfwcrcd very fnno- of the

xions on *), e rrh

was a ffrwierP eeVof Wn
eS Wonder! of thcWoHd

n- o te ^e onder of thc

cent y that he did not Lodge there. 1 .mmediacely ther hontft Prejudices that nal

recolieaedUwiiwMroygoodFnendSir ROGER'S Heart of a true Engh&m
Vojce, and that J had promifcd him to go with him s jam

on the Water to Sprotg-Gardtn, m cafe it proved a After

me that if I was Speculating he wou'd flay below
ell I had done. Upon rny coming down I found
*H the Children of the Family got about rny old

blc prating Goffp engaged m a Conference with
lum, being mightily pleafed with his firoakmg- her
UttleBov upon theHcad, and bidding him beagood
Child and mind his Book.

\Ve were no fboner cornc to the Tetj>I* Stairs,
but we were furrounded with a Crowd of Water-
men offcnngus their refpc&ive Services. Sir Ro;
<ER, after having looked about him very attentively,

gave him Orders to gee hi* Boatready. As we were
Balking to wards it, Tou. mujl know. Cays Sir Ro-

t f uber loft aLeg-oraM. j$rm. I wou'd rather
) Strokes of his Oar, than ot

I do not rcmemUr Alt I have , ny wh<re mR

&S3g ^EM/.LPX^tm" wiTh
Good-morrow, or a Good-night Tnis 'the fty
Man doe* out of the QvetRowineiaf h,\ u.. m . .L"
tho' at the fame time >t render him fo SSS'?-
mong all bis Country Neighbours, that it is thought

!wk V K &? r t lfZ!*<* y in * n S hn otic, or
twice Kmght oHhe Shire. He cannot forbear this
txercif* of Benevolence even in Town when he
meets with any one ,---- - *

My old Friend, after having feaeed honfrlf. and
tr-mmedtheBoat with hisCoachman, who, bc.n^ a
vjry fobcr Man, always fervcs for allaft on thVe
afions, we made the beft of our way for/wr-Aa//.
Jf R o c E , obt,ged the Waterman to g,ve us the
Hlftory rh, s R,ghtLcg and hear, ng that he had left ,c
n

- m

ptffcdbyus upon the Water;

"* Sw P rif > a$ he s avc ^ e

W * h e y" n ? Fellows a l.ulc Sfo
071e orthcm^nfteadofrerarnmg the Ci

.

but at length aiTumint a Face of
U5> a* /Ae *> er *
il>rSfr ,
,* w ^^ fp 6e

that glorious Adion, the Knight in the Triumph of

A first page of the London newspaper which young Benjamin Franklin
used as a model in his study to improve his literary style. Size of
original 5 J 7/ x 9^".

190 Literary Style.

He would also take a synopsis and jumble the
hints into confusion, later attempting to restore
them to their proper order, by which process he
taught himself method in the arrangement of his
thoughts.

He supplemented his scanty education by read-
ing the best books. Among them were Bunyan's
"Pilgrim's Progress/' Burton's "Historical Collec-
tions/' Plutarch's "Lives/' DeFoe's "Essays on
Projects/' Mather's "Essays to Do Good/' Locke's
"On the Human Understanding/' du Port Royal's
"Art of Thinking/' Xenophon's "Memorable
Things of Socrates/' and other works that one
would not expect ordinarily to find in the library
of a boy of fifteen or sixteen.

The book last named had a pronounced influ-
ence upon Franklin. He had become an aggressive
controversialist, and his study of Xenophon's work
induced him to adopt the Socratic method of
arguing, that of asking questions seemingly irrele-
vant but leading to conclusions not suspected by
the opponent. He became adept in its use and
his victories afforded him much satisfaction.

Of his arguments with Keimer, who was himself
fond of disputations, he said: "I ufed to work him
fo with my Socratic method, and had trepanned
him fo often by queftions apparently fo diftant
from any Point we had in hand, and yet by De-
grees led to the point, and brought him into Diffi-

Literary Style. 191

culties and Contradictions, that at laft he grew
ridiculoufly cautious, and would hardly anfwer
me the moft common Queftion without aiking
firft, 'What do you intend to infer from that?'
However, it gave him fo high an opinion of my
Abilities in the confuting way that he ferioufly
propofed my being his Colleague in a project he
had of fetting up a new fed:. He was to preach
the Doctrines, and I was to confound all Oppo-

nents/'

Franklin eventually abandoned the Socratic
method. "I continued this Method fome few
years, but gradually left it," he said, "retaining
only the Habit of expreffing myfelf in terms
of modeft Diffidence, never ufing, when I advanced
any thing that might poffibly be difputed, the
words certainly, undoubtedly, or any others that
give the air of pofitivenefs to an Opinion; but
rather fay, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be
fo and fo; it appears to me, or I should think it
fo or fo, for fuch and fuch reafons; or I imagine
it to be fo ; or it is fo, if I am not miftaken. This
Habit, I believe has been of great Advantage to
me when I have had occafion to inculcate my opin-
ions, and perfuade Men into Meafures that I
have been from Time to Time engaged in pro-
moting/'

Franklin gives evidence in his correspondence
of having been always a student of language.

192 Literary Style.

In 1789 young Noah Webster sent him his "Dif-
fertations upon the English Language." Franklin
acknowledged its receipt in approving terms,
complimenting the young author on his "zeal for
preferving the purity of our Language " and recom-
mending further effort along that line.

He objected to the growing use of the word
"improved" instead of "employed" in an expres-
sion like " a country Houfe improved as a Tavern."
He also objected to the forming of verbs from sub-
stantives such as "noticed," "advocated," "pro-
greffed" and "oppofed."

When Franklin published his so-called " Canada
Pamphlet" he himself came under the criticism
of the English historian, David Hume, because of
his use of unusual words. Three that Hume speci-
fied were "pejorate," "colonize" and "unfhake-
able." Franklin gave up the first two as being
provincial and the last as "rather low." He con-
ceded the inadvisabillty of introducing "new words
where we are already pofleffed of old ones fuffi-
ciently expreffive," but added "at the fame time
I cannot but wifh the Ufage of our Tongue per-
mitted making new words, when we want them,
by Composition of old Ones, whofe meanings are
already well underftood." "For inftance, the
word 'inacceffible' fo long in ufe among us, is not,
I darefay, fo univerfally underftood by our people as
the word 'uncomeatable* would immediately be."

Literary Style. 193

Franklin proposed "A Scheme for a New Al-
phabet and Reformed Mode of Spelling," explained
in the following remarks : .

"It is endeavoured to give the Alphabet a more
natural Order; beginning firft with the fimple
Sounds formed by the Breath, with none or very
little help of Tongue, Teeth, and Lips, and pro-
duced chiefly in the Windpipe.

"Then coming forward to thofe, formed by the
Roof of the Tongue next to the Windpipe.

"Then to thofe, formed more forward by the fore
part of the Tongue againft the Roof of the Mouth.

"Then thofe, formed still more forward, in the
Mouth, by the Tip of the Tongue applied firft to
the Roots of the upper Teeth.

"Then to thofe formed by the Tip of the Tongue
applied to the Ends or Edges of the upper Teeth.

"Then to thofe, formed yet more forward, by
the upper and under Lip opening to let out the
founding Breath.

"And laftly, ending with the ftiutting up of the
Mouth, or clofing the Lips, while any Vowel is
founding/'

His reformed alphabet comprised twenty of the 1
characters of the English alphabet and to replace
those rejected he substituted six of his own con-
struction. He used it in correspondence with some
of his close friends whose devotion to him and inter-
est In everything he did caused them to study the
alphabet sufficiently to be able to write with it, but
it had no vogue beyond his immediate circle. Noah

So huen sym endfiel, %i dwyin kamand^
tity rTjmfr tempests fieeks ,e gilti land,
(Sytfi az av leet or peel Mtania past,)
Kalm and siriin hi dryws \ifiuriiis blast;
Jlnd, pUiz*d Tf almiiitis ardyrs tu pyrfarm,
Ryids in \i kiyrlwnd and dyirekts \i stam*

So \i piur limpid striim, huen faul wty steens
at? njfii-%. tarents and disendig* reens,
Uyrh itself kliir; and az it njns rifijm;
Til bifi digriis, \i flotig. miryr fiijins,
Riftekts iitfi flaw \at an its bardyr groz>
Jnd e nu hev'n in its feer tyzym fioz.

Two verses in Franklin's reformed alphabet. " Englished," they read as
follows:

So when some angel by divine command
With rising tempests seeks a guilty land
(Such as of late o'er pale Britannia passed)
Calm and serene he drives his furious blast
And pleased the Almighty's orders to perform
Rides m the whirlwind and directs the storm.

So the pure limpid stream when foul with stains
Of rising torrents or descending rams
Works itself clear and as it runs refines
Till by degrees thy floating mirror shines
Reflects each flower that on its border grows
And a new heav'n in its fair bosom shows.

Literary ff^orks* 195

Webster in his " Dissertation upon the English
Language " makes this interesting reference : " This
indefatigable Gentleman (Dr. Franklin), amidft all
his other employments, public and private, has
compiled a Dictionary on his Scheme of a Reform,
and procured types to be caft for printing it. He
thinks himfelf too old to purfue the plan; but has
honored me with the offer of the Manufcript and
Types and expreffed a ftrong Defire that I fhould
undertake the task. Whether this project, fo
deeply interefting to this Country will ever be
eff edled ; or whether it will be defeated by Infolence
and prejudice remains for my countrymen to
determine."

CHAR XIX.
Literary fi^orks*

A LBERT HENRY SMYTH in his chapter on
the works of Franklin quotes Sydney Smith's
remark to his daughter, "I will disinherit you if
you dq not admire everything written by Franklin,"
and himself adds "The literature of the world
might be searched in vain for the works of another
author who should exhibit such a variety of theme,
fertility of thought and excellence of style/'

Franklin's earliest attempts at authorship were
in the form of ballads. In his time nearly every-

196 Literary

body took a turn at rhyming, and although the
ballads were, as Franklin In later years said of his
own, usually "wretched stuff/' many of them had a
large sale. Thomas Fleet is said by Isaiah Thomas
to have sold so many ballads that "the profit upon
them alone was sufficient to support his family
respectably/' The ballads were commonly of a
tragic nature, relating the " exploits of pirates, the
execution of murderers, the gallantry of highway-
men, terrible shipwrecks, horrible crimes, etc."
Young Franklin, seeming to have some facility at
ballad writing, at the suggestion of his elder brother
James, wrote two, one called "The Light Houfe
Tragedy" and the other relating the exploits of
Edward Teach, a pirate known as "Blackboard/ 5
who cruised up and down the Atlantic Coast,
striking terror wherever he went.

Benjamin not only wrote the ballads, but went,
under his brother's direction, to sell them on the
streets. Of "The Light Houfe Tragedy" it is said
that it "sold prodigiously," which so encouraged
the young author that he would have made further
efforts in ballad writing had not his father cqme to
his rescue and persuaded him to devote his talents
to more sensible endeavor.

Franklin wrote most of the matter in the " Penn-
sylvania Gazette" not credited by him to other
sources. The Almanack was a sort of melting
pot into which he gathered whatever came his way

Literary J^orks, 197

that served his purpose. Some of Poor Richard's
sayings were phrased as they were found, others
were slightly altered, and in many the thought
alone was used but expressed in Franklin's own
words. His attitude may be seen in what Poor
Richard had to say in No. 15 of the Almanack on the
subject of poetry.

"The Verfes on the Heads of Months are alfo
generally defigned to have the fame Tendency. I
need not tell thee that not many of them are of My
Own Making. If thou haft any Judgment in
Poetry, thou wilt eafily difcern the Workman from
the Bungler. I know as well as thee, that I am not
Poet Born; and it is a Trade I never learnt, nor in-
deed could learn. . . . Why then ihould I
give toy Readers bad Lines of my own, when good
Ones of other People's are fo plenty?"

Franklin wrote much on scientific subjects, giv-
ing evidence of interest in them at an early age.
During his first sojourn in London he made the
acquaintance of several men of scientific attain-
ment, one of them being Dr. Pemberton, secretary
of the Royal Society, who made him the promise of
an introduction to Sir Isaac Newton, but failed to
keep it. Another was Sir Hans Sloane, who in-
vited him to his house and showed him his collec-
tion of curiosities.

In the "Gazette" he published papers of his own
authorship on such subjects as "On Making Rivers
Navigable/' "Caufes of Earthquakes," etc., but it

198 Literary Works.

was not until 1746, when he was forty years of age
and two years before his retirement from business,
that his attention was first drawn to electricity. In
that year his friend, Peter Collinson, London
Agent for the Library Company of Philadelphia,
and fellow of the Royal Society of London, sent to
Philadelphia an electrical tube with directions for
its use. Franklin gave himself up to the fascinat-
ing experiments he was able to make with it.

" I never was before engaged in any Study that
fo totally engrofled my Attention and my Time as
this has lately done" ; he says, "for, what with mak-
ing Experiments when I can be alone, and repeating
them to my Friends and Acquaintance, who, from
the Novelty of the thing, come continually in
Crowds to fee them I have, during some Months
past, had little Leifure for anything elfe."

Franklin's writings on the subject of electricity
were sent to Europe, where they were at first re-
ceived with ridicule and later accepted with en-
thusiasm.

With his untiring energy, he delved into the
mystery of natural phenomena in every direction.
He propounded a theory of navigation; it was he
who discovered that storms have a definite di-
rection ; the experiments he conducted on shipboard
to relieve the tedium of the long ocean voyages
demonstrated that there is a difference of tempera-
ture in the Gulf Stream as compared with the

Literary Works. 199

water which surrounds It, and it was he who found
an explanation of the effect of oil upon water.

A conception of Franklin's writings on science
and philosophy may be obtained from the following
statement by Professor Smyth: " Franklin's mind
teemed with ideas. In a single letter he speaks of
linseed oil, northeast storms, the origin of springs in
mountains, petrified shells in the Appalachians, and
tariff laws subjects apparently far apart and with
little connection, and yet they are linked together
with relevancy enough, for, as he said, with homely
comparison, 'ideas will firing themf elves like ropes
of onions/ . . . His philosophical writings
relate to subjects of electricity, seismology, geology,
meteorology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathe-
matics, hydrography, horology, aeronautics, navi-
gation, agriculture, ethnology, paleontology, medi-
cine, hygiene, and pedagogy."

His writings upon scientific subjects received
more than usual attention, one reason being that
they were so understandable. He wrote not in
scientific terms, but in the language of the layman.
"Science appears in his language," says Sparks, "in
a dress wonderfully decorous, the best adapted to
display her native loveliness."

Only one product of Franklin's pen was of
sufficient length to make a book of average size.
All others were intended as contributions to news-
papers or for publication as pamphlets and broad-

2OO Literary Works.

sides, or were social and business letters. There
are in existence between fifteen thousand and six-
teen thousand of his original manuscripts, em-
braced mainly in three great collections, which are
located respectively in the Library of Congress at
Washington, D. C., the Library of the American
Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia, and the
Library of the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia. Among what might be called the
minor collections, because not so large, the most im-
portant probably is that in the possession of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Professor Smyth says of Franklin, "he had the
magpie trait of hoarding things/' Letters written
to him, rough drafts and copies of letters written by
him, visiting cards and invitations to dinner or to
masonic lodge meetings were saved and cherished
and went to swell the tremendous aggregate of his
collection of papers.

When in 1776 Franklin went to France as a rep-
resentative of the Confederation he was seventy
years of age and naturally uncertain as to the prob-
able tenure of his life. He made Joseph Galloway,
once speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and a
friend of many years, one of his executors and in his
supposedly safe care left his collection of papers
securely packed in a chest.

Two things happened which Franklin naturally
did not expect would happen. One was the sending

Literary Works. 201

by Galloway of the chest of papers to his country
seat some miles from Philadelphia, where they were
stored in a small house sometimes used as an office,
and the other was Galloway's desertion of the
patriot cause and alliance with the British.

The house was later broken into by "rebels/* to
use Galloway's phrase, by which he probably
meant American soldiers. The chest was opened
and its contents scattered upon the floor, where
they remained in disorder until Richard Bache,
Franklin's son-in-law, heard of the disaster and
went to Galloway's house, collected such of the
papers as could be found, and returned with them to
Philadelphia. Important letters and manuscripts,
including those relating to the whole period of
Franklin's representation of the Colonies in Eng-
land, the most valuable of his early documents,
were lost.

All of Franklin's papers and manuscripts were be-
queathed to his grandson, William Temple Frank-
lin, who took with him to London some letter books
and a few other original manuscripts, leaving what
remained, comprising thirteen thousand separate
pieces, in the possession of the father of Charles P.
Fox, who nearly fifty years later bequeathed all but
a comparatively small portion of them to the Amer-
ican Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, where
they have since remained.

The portion referred to was stored in a garret

2O2 "Literary

over a stable at the home of the Fox family, and
was therefore .^erlooked. Miss Fox knew what
the papers were but took small interest in them,
and needing a new carpet for her kitchen decided
to sell the waste paper to a paper mill in order to
secure funds with which to purchase the carpet.
They were in process of removal when a Mrs. Hoi-
brook was visiting Miss Fox. Mrs. Holbrook
remonstrated and the papers, with the exception
of those contained in one unlucky barrel, which
could not be recalled, were returned to the house
and later presented to Mrs. Holbrook. Eventu-
ally, through the efforts of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell,
they were purchased and deposited in the Library
of the University of Pennsylvania.

The manuscripts taken abroad by William.
Temple Franklin had the "strange, eventful
history" which seems to have been the fate of all
of the Benjamin Franklin papers. After the
publication of his edition of his grandfather's
writings, the original papers were deposited for
safe keeping with a firm of London bankers. A
few years after William Temple Franklin's death
the widow removed the papers and for the next
seventeen years nothing is known of their where-
abouts. Mrs. Franklin remarried and apparently
lost interest in them.

In 1840 they were found "loosely bundled up/*
on the top shelf of a tailor's shop in the London

Literary Works* 203

street where William Temple Franklin had lodged.
The finder Ineffectually offered them for sale, to
the British Museum among others, for nearly
a dozen years. Finally a buyer was found in
Henry Stevens, of Vermont, who sorted, repaired,
and rearranged them, and in turn sold them to the
United States for $3 5,000. Comprising nearly
three thousand separate items, they are now ac-
curately catalogued and arranged in fourteen
folio volumes in the Manuscript Department of the
Library of Congress in Washington.

When William Temple Franklin came into the
possession of his grandfather's works, his first
thought was of course to issue a complete edition
of such as in his opinion were worthy of preserva-
tion, and that none of the papers might escape
him he inserted in the "Aurora," a newspaper pub-
lished by Duane, who had married the widow of his
cousin, Benjamin Franklin Bache, the following
advertisement :

"DR. FRANKLIN'S PAPERS

"Towards the end of the year 1776,
the late Dr. Franklin, on his departure
for Europe, for greater security deposited
a large chest, containing his papers and
manuscripts, with Mr. Joseph Galloway,
at his place in Bucks County in Penn-
sylvania. The same was left there by
Mr. Galloway, when he quitted his habi-

204 Literary

tation, and was, It is said, broke open by
persons unknown, and many of the papers
taken away and dispersed in the neigh-
borhood.

" Several of the most valuable of these
papers have since been recovered; but
there are still some missing, among which
are a few of the Doctor's Letter Books,
and a manuscript in four or five volumes
folio, on Finance, Commerce, and Manu-
factures. The subscriber, to whom Dr.
Franklin bequeathed all his papers and
manuscripts, and who is preparing to give
his works to the public, takes this method
of informing those 'who may have knowl-
edge of any of the above mentioned pa-
pers, and will communicate the same to
him so that he may thereby be enabled to
recover any of them, or who may them-
selves procure any of them and deliver
them to him, shall be thankfully and gen-
erously rewarded and no questions asked.
He likewise requests those persons who
may have any letters or other writings of
Dr. Franklin that may be deemed worthy
of the public eye, to be so kind as to for-
ward tliem as early as possible, that they
may be inserted in the Doctor's Works.

" Those, also, who may have any books
or maps belonging to the library of the
late Dr. Franklin, are desired to return
them without delay, to the subscriber,
who is about to embark for Europe.

"W. T. FRANKLIN."

Literary W^orks. 205

William Temple Franklin went to London to
arrange for the publishing of the papers, arriving
just in time to halt the issuance in English of two
translations of a French edition of the "Autobi-
ography" that had been published by Buisson in
1791. On his positive assurance that he would
soon bring out a complete edition of his grand-
father's works, the publication of these two trans-
lations was delayed two years. In 1793 they both
appeared, one bearing the imprint of J. Parsons
and the other, edited by Richard Price, one of
Benjamin Franklin's friends, which was much the
better of the two, bearing the imprint of G. C. J.
y J. Robinson*

A year later the "Autobiography" appeared in
Germany, translated from Robinson's edition, and
in 1798 a new version in French was published in
Paris. In this later French edition the editor
complained because the edition promised by Wil-
liam Temple Franklin had not been published,
adding, "the works of a great man belong less to
his heirs than to the human race."

In 1806, "while Temple Franklin was still scis-
soring, sorting, shifting, and pasting the heaps of
his grandfather's papers/' appeared "The Com-
plete Works in Philofophy, Politics and Morals,
of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin now firft col-
lected and arranged: with Memoirs of his early
Life written by himfelf in 3 vols., London, J. John-

EXPERIMENTS

AND

OBSERVATIONS

O N

ELECTRICITY,

M A '15 E At

PHILADELPHIA in AMERICA,
B y

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, L, L. D. and F*R, S*

To which are added,

LETTERS and PAPERS

O N
PtflLOSOEHICAL SUBJECTS.

The Whole -correfted, methodized, improved, and now.firft col-
leded into one Volume,

AND .
niutotcd with COPPER PLAT'ES.'

LONDON:

Printed for DAVID HENRY ; and fold by

at the Corner of St. Paul's Ghurjch-Yard.

MDCCLXIX.

IFirst comprehensive collection of Franklin's writings in English, Original
in the Typographic Library and Museum of the American Type Founders
Company, Jersey City, N. J. Size 4/ 6 " x 7".

Literary Works. 207

son and Longman/' In the preface of this edition,
the editor of which is said to have been a Mr.
Marshall, assisted it is believed by Benjamin
Vaughan, appears a severe criticism of William
Temple Franklin, because of his delay in the pub-
lication of the work. A part of it is as follows :

"The proprietor, it seems, had found a bidder
v of a different description in some emissary of
government, whose object was to withhold the
manuscripts from the world, not to benefit it
by their publication; and they thus either passed
into other hands, or the person to whom they were
bequeathed received a remuneration for suppress-
ing them. This at least has been asserted, by a
variety of persons, both in this country and Amer-
ica, of whom some were at the time intimate with
the grandson, and not wholly unacquainted with
the machinations of the ministry; and the silence,
which has been observed for so many years re-
specting the publication, gives additional credibil-
ity to the report/*

Later in the same year the " American Citizen/'
a newspaper published in New York, joined in the
condemnation by saying that William Temple
Franklin, "without shame and without remorse,
mean and mercenary, has sold the sacred deposit
committed to his care by Dr. Franklin to the
British government. Franklin's works are lost to
the world forever/ 3

To this Temple Franklin published a reply

<E U V R E S

D E

M. FRANKLIN,

DOCTEUR S LOIX,

ROTALE I>ES SCIENCES
deParh, desSodues Roy ales deLondres &de Gottingtic,
d&$ Sociltls Philofophiques d'Edimbtmrg & de Rotterdam 9
Prtjident de la Social Philofophique de Philadetpkie f
& Refident a la Cour de la Grande Bretagne pour plufuurs
Colonies Bntcmni(juts Amlricames*

TRADUITES DEsL'ANGLOIS SUR LA Q'UATRIEME EDITION,
PAR M. BARJ2EUDU8QURG,

AVEC DBS ADDITIONS NOUVELLES
2* to Figures en Tattle douu.

TOME PREMIE'R.

A P A R I S 9

1'ain^, Litraire, tue ChrifHne , au Magafin Littcratre.
z <ESPRIT, Libraire de M r . le Due de Chartres f au Palais Royal
i Et I'Auteur > rue de hBucherie , aux Ecoles ds Mcdeciiie,

M, D C C L X X I II

Approbation & PermiJJion Jit Rai*

First edition of Franklin's writings in French. Original in the Typographic
Library and Museum of the American Type Founders Company, Jersey
City, N. J. Size 5!" x 7 j".

Literary Works. 209

branding the charge as "atrociously false ** and
saying that the papers had been left to him to be
published "in his discretion " and the manuscripts
were not lost but were "under lock and key in the
secure vaults of my bankers/' Finally in 1817,
twenty-seven years after Temple Franklin came
into the possession of the papers willed to him by
his grandfather, appeared the first volume of his
edition. There were six octavo volumes, the last
appearing in 1819. The edition was limited to
seven hundred and fifty copies. The publisher,
Henry Colburn, assumed all the expenses and risks
and took one third of the profits, Temple Frank-
lin's profits amounting to fourteen hundred and
seventy-three pounds.

Of the editions of Franklin's works not men-
tioned above the most notable are the following:

Vaughan, London, 1779, one volume.

Marshall and Vaughan, London, 1806, three vol-
umes.

Duane, Philadelphia, 1808-1818, six volumes.

Jared Sparks, Boston, 1836-1842; ten volumes.

John Bigelow, New York, 1887-1888 ; ten volumes.

Albert Henry Smyth, New York, 1907, ten vol-
umes.

Of these editions the only one now not out of
print is that by Professor Smyth, and it is by far
the best. Sparks took liberties with the manu-

MfiMOIRES

BE LA VIE PRIVfiE

DE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN*

32CRITS PAR LUI^M^ME*
ET ABRESSiS A SON F Z L S';

Sir TV is fun Prlcis historlque etc sa Vie
politique , et de ptu$ieur$ Pieces ^ relatives
d cc JPtre de la Lifertt.

A PARIS,

Chez BvzlsoH; Labraire, rue Haute*feuill, n**

The first edition in any language of the famous "Autobiography.**
Original in the Typographic Library and Museum of the American
Type Founders Company, Jersey City, N. J. Size 3^$" x 6fV"-

Literary Works. 211

scripts, correcting and altering as he chose. Bige-
low's edition was an improvement, but he based
many of his quotations upon the work of Sparks
and thereby repeated the errors.

Professor Smyth performed a notable service
to American letters in preparing his edition of
Franklin's works. He had access to many manu-
scripts not known when previous editions were
published and in republishing he went to the orig-
inal documents in every case, preserving their exact
style, spelling, and of course phraseology.

The "Autobiography" will always remain one
of the great monuments of American literature.
It has been translated into practically every tongue,
securing a wide circulation all over the globe, and
in America no library is complete without it. In
some cities it is used as a text-book in the public
schools.

The manuscript of the " Autobiography" in
Franklin's handwriting long remained in the pos-
session of the family of M. le Veillard, Mayor of
Passy when Franklin lived there, and one of his
close personal friends. In 1867 it tame into the
possession of Hon. John Bigelow, Minister to the
Court of France, and for the first time the public
was made acquainted with the "Autobiography"
as written by Its author. On comparison with the
edition put forth by William Temple Franklin, it
was found that as his grandfather's literary execu-

212 Literary Works.

tor he had taken unwarranted liberties with the
text. More than twelve hundred changes were
found to have been made by him, all of them of
course in his own mind improvements upon the
original.

"Of these changes/' says McMaster, " little need
be said. They are usually Temple Franklin's
Latin words for Benjamin Franklin's Anglo-Saxon,
They remind us of the language of those finished
writers for the press who can never call a fire any-
thing but a conflagration, nor a crowd anything but
a vast concourse, and who dare not use the same
word twice on the same page Thus it is that in the
Temple Franklin edition 'notion' has become 'pre-
tence/ that 'night coming on' has become 'night ap-
proaching/ that 'a very large one 5 has become 'a con-
siderable one/ that 'treated me' has become 'received
me/ that 'got a naughty girl with child' has become
'had an intrigue with a girl of bad character/ that
'very oddly' has been turned into 'a very extraor-
dinary manner.' But the changes did not stop
here. The coarseness of the grandfather was very
shocking to the grandson, and 'guzzlers of beer' is
made 'drinkers of beer/ 'footed it to London' be-
comes 'walked to London/ 'Keimer stared like a pig
poisoned' is made to give way to 'Keimer stared with
astonishment.' "

213
CHAP. XX.

Literary Friends.

first of Benjamin Franklin's friends who
could properly be classed under the title of this
chapter were two friends of his youth, John Collins
and James Ralph. It was with young Collins that
he engaged in youthful controversies over weighty
subjects, as has been related in another chapter,
which resulted in his decision, at the suggestion of
his father, to acquire an improved literary style.
Collins seems to have been a young man of great
promise, but he took to over-indulgence^ in in-
toxicants and early disappeared from Franklin's life.

James Ralph was one of the original members of
the Junto. He was clerk to a merchant and was
"ingenious, genteel in his manners, and extremely
eloquent. 3 ' But he abandoned a young wife and
child and went with Franklin to England, where he
became a literary hack and a producer of indifferent
poetry. His memory is kept alive principally be-
cause of the fact that Alexander Pope satirized him
in the "Dunciad." He dedicated his first work to
Franklin.

In enumerating in the "Autobiography" his
closest acquaintances during his first years in
Philadelphia, Franklin named not only James
Ralph, but Charles Osborne and Joseph Watson,
"all lovers of reading," and presents an attractive

NIG H T:

POEM.

Iii FOUR BOOKS.

Pitchy and dark the night Sometimes ^appears*
Friend to our woe,, and parent of our fears 2
Dtir joys and wonder fometimes he excites,
With ftars unnumbred, and eternal lights^

PRIOR,

By JAMES RALT K

LONDON:

Prittted by C. Ackers for & BitttNcisiir at

Head in Qlanctry-Lam* 1728^ (Price i s.

Title page of a volume by Franklin's youthful friend, James Ralph.

.Original in possession of the author.

Size 4" x 6i".

Ltiterary Friends. 215

}icture of their intimacy when he adds: "Many
}leafant Walks we four had together on Sundays
nto the Woods near Schuykill where we read to
me another and conferred on what we read/ 5

One of the dearest friends of Franklin's later
years was Benjamin Vaughan, a native of the West
Indies, who was in London serving as secretary to
Lord Shelburne when Franklin was there. When
the "Parable of Persecution" was published in
London during Franklin's absence in America, and a
charge of plagiarism was brought against him,
Vaughan sprang immediately and successfully to
his defence. He it was who urged Franklin to con-
tinue the writing of the "Autobiography," and he
was the editor of the first edition of Franklin's
works.

Peter Collinson, celebrated because of his knowl-
edge of botany and natural history, was another
close friend. He kept up a correspondence with
men of science in all parts of the world, and it was to
him that Franklin was indebted for the opportunity
to make his first experiments with an electrical
tube which Collinson sent from London to the
Library Company of Philadelphia.

Cadwallader Golden, another friend, was about
the same age as Benjamin Vaughan, both being a
dozen years older than Franklin. Colden was the
author of the "Hiftory of the Five Indian Nations/'
"Principles of Action in Matter," and other

2 1 6 Literary Friends.

scientific and historical works. He invented a
method of stereotyping about which he wrote a
long description to Franklin, but which did not
come into general use.

Other literary friends in England were Edmund
Burke, author of an " Essay on the Sublime and
the Beautiful/' who later became better known
through his oratory and statesmanship; David
Hume, the historian, and Adam Smith, author of a
"Theory of Mild Sentiments" and "The Wealth
of Nations."

America at the time was not abundantly supplied
with literary men, but Franklin was friend and con-
fidante to two young men whose names were later
to become well known. One of them was Thomas
Paine, to whom he wrote advising him not to pub-
lish his attacks upon the prevailing religious beliefs,
and the other was Noah Webster, compiler of the
dictionary that bore his name.

Franklin's greatest friendship, however, one
which has become historic, does not properly come
under the designation of "literary" in the sense of
authorship. It is that which existed between
him and William Strahan (now pronounced as if
spelled Strawn, but in his lifetime pronounced
Stray-han), the celebrated London printer and
publisher. Strahan was nine years younger than
Franklin, having been born in 1715. He built up a
successful business^ became printer to the king and

^^

^^-
^7

</

The famous "you are now niy enemy" letter.
Original in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C,

2 1 8 Literary Friends.

was the publisher of David Hume's " History of
England " and the works of Edward Gibbon, author
of the " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. "

Strahan and Franklin spent much time in each
other's company when Franklin was resident in
England, and later he was Franklin's representative
in London in his business negotiations. Their cor-
respondence was voluminous and it was to Strahan
that the famous "y u are now my enemy 5 ' letter
was addressed. Paul Leicester Ford makes the
statement, on what authority is not known, that
the letter was never sent. What may be the,
original, but what would seem to be a copy, is pre-
served in the collection of Franklin manuscripts in
the Library of Congress at Washington, and it is the
one usually used for illustration in works relating
to Franklin. In the private library of J. Pierpont
Morgan, in New York, is another copy in Franklin's
handwriting, which fact affords material for in-
teresting speculation.

Franklin's letters to Strahan were, with one ex-
ception, decorous and dignified, save that some of
them, instead of bearing a formal superscription,
were addressed " Dear Straney." What must have
been Strahan's astonishment when he received the
exception, which was dated Burlington, October 4,
1763, and which begins:

" In the name of God what I have faid or done to
you, that fo many Months fliould elapfe, fo many

The Love of Books. 219

Veffels arrive without my having the Pleafure of a
fingle Line from you fince my Arrival in America.
I can't help imagining that you must have Wrote,
and the letter mifcarried, but Mrs. F. fays fhe
thinks you have quite forgot us, now we have left
England, and that you will not trouble yourfelf
about us any more. I hope ihe is miftaken and
that you will enable me to prove her so."

The original is in Mr. Morgan's collection.

William Strahan put himself on record as to his
friendship for Franklin in a letter to Mrs. Franklin,
unsuccessfully urging her to overcome her dislike
for the sea and to make a voyage to London. " For
my own part/' he said to her about her husband,
" I never faw a man who was in every refpect so per-
fectly agreeable to me. Some are amiable in one
view, fome in another, he in all/'

CHAP. XXL

The Love of Books.

TJ ENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S early love of books
is revealed in the incident related in the first
chapter of this volume of his arrangement with the
brother to whom he was apprenticed to spend less
upon his board and clothing in order to provide him
with money for the purchase of books. One of his
earliest friends in Boston was a Matthew Adams,

22O The Love of Books*

who had a collection of books and who invited the
boy to his home and placed the books at his dis-
posal.

It is related in the "Autobiography" that when
he arrived in New York from Boston the second
time, the governor of the province (Burnet) hearing
from the Captain of the ship that one of his pas-
sengers had a great many books, invited the young
man to call upon him. "The Governor treated me
with great Civility, Ihowed me his Library, which
was a very large one, and we had a good deal of
converfation about books and authors." In the
"Autobiography" Franklin relates how he once
changed an enemy into a friend by borrowing a
book: "Having heard that he had in his Library a
certain very fcarce and curious Book, I wrote a note
to him, expreffing my delire of perufmg that Book,
and requefting he would do me the favor of lending
it to me for a few days. He fent it immediately,
and I returned it in about a week with another note
expreffing ftrongly my fenfe of the favor. When
we next met in the Houfe he fpoke to me (which he
had never done before) and with great civility, and
he ever after manifelFd a readinefs to ferve me on
all occafions, fo that we became great friends, and
our friendfhip continued to his death."

Before young Benjamin made the arrangement
with his brother James by which he hoped to ac-
quire a library of his own he became acquainted

The Love of Books. 221

with an apprentice in a second-hand book store,
through whose connivance he sometimes borrowed
a book, "a fmall one/' which he was careful to
return soon and clean, often sitting up the greater
part of the night so as to finish with it and be able
to return it in the morning "left it ftiould be mifled
or wanted/'

Next door to Palmer's printing house in London
was a second-hand book establishment kept by
one Wilcox, with whom he arranged "on certain
reafonable Terms/' to "take, read and return
any of his books/'

Franklin had definite ideas as to the way in
which books should be read. In a letter to his
young friend, Miss Mary Stevenson, accompanying
a gift of books, he wrote: "I would advife you to
read with a Pen in your Hand, and enter in a little
Book fhort Hints of what you find that is curious,
or that may be ufeful; for this will be the beft
method of imprinting fuch Particulars in your
Memory, where they will be ready, either for
practice on fome future occafion, if they are mat-
ters of utility, or at leaft to adorn and improve
your converfation, if they are rather points of
curiofity. And as many of the terms of Science
are fuch, as you cannot have met with in your
common reading, and may therefore be unac-
quainted with, I think it would be well for you to
have a good Dictionary at hand, to confult imme-

222 The Love of Books.

diately when you meet with a Word you do not
comprehend the precife Meaning of. This may at
first feem troublefome and interrupting; but it is
trouble that will daily diminifh, as you will daily
find lefs and lefs occafion for your Dictionary, as
you become more acquaint'd with the Terms; and
in the mean time you will read with more Satif-
faction, becaufe with more underftanding."

Franklin bought books for their contents rather
than for their appearance, as will be seen by the
following quotation from a letter written to Ben-
jamin Vaughan in 1785 : "One can fcarce fee a new
Book, without obferving the exceflive Artifices
made ufe of to puff up a Paper of Verfes into a
Pamphlet, a Pamphlet into an Octavo, and an
Octavo into a Quarto, with Scabboardings, white
Lines, fparfe Titles of chapters, and exorbitant
Margins, to fuch a Degree, that the Selling of
Paper feems now the object, and printing on it
only the Pretence. I enclofe the copy of a Page
in a late Comedy. Between every two Lines there
is a white fpace equal to another line. You have
a Law, I think, againft Butchers blowing of Veal
to make it look fatter; why not one againft Book-
sellers 5 blowing of Books to make them look
bigger/'

As was to be expected, Franklin's own library-
was a large one. The Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler,
while on a visit to Philadelphia, called to pay his

THE DIGNITY OP MAN*
A

DISCOURSE

Addrefled to the Congregation, in

FRANKLIN,

Upon the OccaGon of their receiving from

Dr. FRANKLIXT*

The Mark of his RelpeA, in a rich

DONATION OF BOOKS,

Appropriated to the Ufe of a

PAR ISH-L IB R A R Y.

L E M M Q N S>

PATO& OF THI CHU&CH up FM.ANKX.IK.

PROVIDENCE:

or BENNETT WHEELER* 1*1

A sermon acknowledging one of Franklin's gifts of books.
' Original in Boston Public Library.
Size 3 T V' x 6|".

224 The Love of Books.

respects to Dr. Franklin, and in his journal he
gives this glimpse of the library: "After it was dark
we went into the Houfe, and he invited me into
his Library, which is likewife his Study. It is a
very large Chamber, and high-ftudded. The
Walls are covered with Book-Shelves, filled with
Books; befides there are four large Alcoves, ex-
tending two thirds the Length of the Chamber,
filled in the fame manner. I prefume this is the
largeft and by far the beft private Library in
America/*

Franklin made gifts of books to the Library
Company of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania
Academy, Yale and Harvard Colleges, and the
Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh (St. An-
drews) and was instrumental in securing contribu-
tions of books to other colleges. He gave a li-
brary of three hundred books to the town of Frank-
lin in New Hampshire, and when a request came
from the town of Franklin in Massachusetts for a
bell to hang in the steeple of the meeting house
he advised that he would send books instead of a
bell, " Senfe being preferable to Sound."

225

CHAP. XXII.
Public Service.

Studious of Eafe, and fond of humble Things,
Below the Smiles, below the Frowns of Kings: ^
Thanks to my Stars, I prize the Sweets of Life,
No fleeplefs Nights I count, no Days of Strife.
I reft, I wake, I drink, I fometimes love,
I read, I write, I fettle, or I rove;
Content to live, content to die unknown,
Lord of Myfelf, accountable to None.

QUCH was Poor Richard's conception of life
^ after permanent release from business cares.
When Franklin retired he wrote to his friend
Cadwallader Golden of New York: "I have re-
moved to a more quiet part of the Town, where I
am fettling my old Accounts, and hope foon to be
quite mafter of my own Time, and no longer, as
the Song has it, at every one's call but my own.
. . . Thus you fee I am in a fair way of having
no other Tafks than fuch as I fliali like to give my-
felf, and of enjoying what I look upon as a great
Happlnefs, Leifure to read, ftudy, make Experi-
ments, and converfe at large with fuch ingenious
and worthy Men, as are pleaf d to honor me with
their Friendfhip or Acquaintance, on fuch points
as may produce fomething for the common Benefit
of Mankind, uninterrupted by the little cares and
fatigues of Bufinefs."

But he was not to be permitted to make use as

226 Public Service*

he chose of what he fondly hoped would be leisure
time. On the contrary, no project, public or
semi-public, was proposed but that the first
thought of the proposers seems to have been to
interest Benjamin Franklin in it.

"There is no fuch thing/' said Dr. Bond to
Franklin, "as carrying through a public-fpirited
Project without you are concerned in it, for I am
often alked by thofe to whom I propofe fubfcrib-
ing, * Have you confulted Franklin on this Bufmefs ?
And what does he think of it?' And when I tell
them that I have not (fuppofmg it rather out of
your line), they do not fubfcribe, but fay, they will
confider it. *

Franklin's service to the public began when, at
the age of twenty, he gathered a number of his
young friends around him and established the
Junto, the first American debating society, and
the service ended when, two thirds of a century
later, at the age of eighty-four, he founded the
Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition
of Slavery. Between these two events is a long
list of services and achievements in the public
interest. No work relating to Franklin's life
would be complete without mention of the more
important of these services and achievements,
although want of space in the present volume
permits of no more than the listing of them by
name.

Public Service. 227

So far as the holding of public offices is con-
cerned, Franklin stated it to be his rule "never to
afk, never refufe, or never refign an office." His
first was that of Justice of Peace which, however,
he did resign, because he felt that he had not
sufficient legal knowledge to fill it adequately.
The other offices he held were as follows:

Clerk Pennsylvania Assembly

Speaker Pennsylvania Assembly

Member Philadelphia Common Council and,
later, Alderman

Postmaster of Philadelphia

Deputy Postmaster General for the Colonies

Postmaster General for the Colonies

Delegate to Albany convention to consider
plans for a union of the Colonies

Acting General, Pennsylvania Militia

Colonel, Pennsylvania Militia

President Pennsylvania Commission of Safety

Commissioner to Continental Army at Cam-
bridge

Commissioner to Canada

Agent in England for the Colonies (sixteen
years)

Member Secret Committee of Correspondence

Member Committee to draft Declaration of
Independence

Member Continental Congress

28 Public Service,

President Pennsylvania Constitutional Con-
vention

United States Commissioner to France

United States Minister Plenipotentiary to
France

United States Commissioner to Negotiate
Peace with Great Britain

President (Governor) of Pennsylvania

Equally important with the holding of public
office was Franklin's service of an unofficial kind.
The more important of these achievements, in
addition to the two already mentioned, were as
follows :

Founded the American Philosophical So-
ciety (First President)

Founded the Philadelphia Library, upon
which is based our public library system

Founded the University of Pennsylvania

Founded the Philadelphia Fire Company

Helped to found the Philadelphia Hospital

Introduced the basket willow

Introduced street paving, cleaning, and lighting

Reformed the night watch

Promoted use of plaster

Promoted use of mineral fertilizers

Promoted culture of silk

Advocated building of ships with water-tight
compartments

Public Service. 229

Eventually he began to feel that he was identi-
fying himself to too great a degree with philan-
thropic projects, so when the Reverend Gilbert
Tennent came to him with a request for assistance
in erecting a new meeting house he said, "Unwilling
to make Myfelf difagreeable to my fellow-citizens
by too frequently foliciting their Contributions, 1
abfolutely refuPd." He did, however, give ad-
vice to the reverend solicitor, as to how to proceed^
which was followed to success.

This attitude of mind is further illustrated by
the following quotation from his statement in the
"Autobiography" in regard to the founding of the
Pennsylvania Academy which later became the
University of Pennsylvania. "In the Introduc-
tion of thefe propofals, I ftat'd their publication,
not as an Act of mine, but of fome public-fpirited
Gentlemen, avoiding as much as I could, according
to my ufual Rule, the prefenting Myfelf to the
Public as the author of any Scheme for their
benefit/'

His inventions come properly within the catalog
of public service for the reason that he took out no
patents. He declined Governor Thomas' offer to
give him a patent on the Pennsylvania fireplace,
saying "that as we enjoy great Advantages from
the Inventions of others, we fhould be glad of an
Opportunity to ferve others by an Invention of
ours ; and this we fliould do freely and generoufly."

230 Public Service.

Most of his inventions were of a minor character,
tending merely to convenience or comfort (such
as the chair which turned over and became a step
ladder) exemplifying his statement that "human
felicity is produced not fo much by great pieces of
good fortune that feldom happen as by little ad-
vantages that occur every day." The more im-
portant of his inventions are the following:

Lightning rod
Franklin stove
Smokeless chimney
Bi-focal lens for spectacles
Improved armonica

A part of Franklin's public service resulted from
his deep interest in and his constant study of
medicine. So important were his contributions
to medical literature that a volume on "The Med-
ical Side of Franklin," by Dr. William Pepper,
has been published.

He proposed, among other innovations, a new
theory of colds that met with much opposition
before being finally adopted. His contributions
on the subject of ventilation had much the same
experience, although he came eventually to be
so highly regarded as an authority on the sub-
ject that the government of England consulted
him about the ventilation of the House of Com-
mons.

Public Service. 231

Dr. Pepper says that Franklin's "letters on lead
poisoning are wonderful and would have been a
credit to any physician of that age/' One such
that had reference to printing was addressed to
Benjamin Vaughan and is in part as follows:

"I there found a Practice I had never feen before,
of drying a Cafe of Types (which are wet in dif-
tribution) by placing it Hoping before the fire. I
found this had the additional Advantage, when the
Types were not only dri'd but heat'd, of being
comfortable to the Hands working over them in
cold Weather. I therefore fometimes heat'd my
Cafe when the Types did not want drying. But an
old workman, observing it, advifd me not to do
fo, telling me I might lofe the life of my Hands by
it, as two of our Companions had nearly done,
one of whom that ufed to earn his Guinea a week,
could not then make more than ten Shillings and
the other, who had the Dangles, but feven and
fixpence. This, with a kind of obscure Pain, that
1 had fometimes felt, as it were in the Bones of
my Hand when working over the Types made
very hot, induced me to omit the Practice."

Franklin was not a graduate of a medical
school, but was a member of several medical
societies, and he did treat people for various ills.
Many of the most prominent medical men of
America and Europe were his intimate companions
and valued correspondents, and many medical
works were dedicated to him.

232

CHAP. JCXIIL
" Our ** Benjamin Franklin.

Tl ECAUSE of the wide range of his sympathies,
*** of the astonishing energy and industry that per-
vaded his long life, and of his interest in the. activi-
ties of nearly all the great movements of his cen-
tury, mankind has many claims upon the heritage
left by the words and deeds of Benjamin Franklin.
I am firmly of the belief, however, that we of the
printing and publishing craft have first claim in
that respect, for whatever the many and remark-
able achievements that took him into other fields
in which he received welcome and acclaim, his in-
terest in printing never lessened.

When in England, as agent for the Colonies, he
'went on one occasion to Watt's printing office, and
according to the "Memoirs" of his friend Strahan,
sought out a particular press and designated it as
the one upon which he worked as a journeyman
printer. During his ambassadorship at Paris, he
visited the famous printing house of Didot, and
taking hold of one of the presses with easy familiar-
ity, printed off several sheets. To the startled
printers who observed the performance, he said:
"Do not be aftonifhed, Sirs, it is my former Bufi-
nefs."

To acknowledge having been a tradesman was,
in the circle in French society in which he moved,

Our Benjamin Franklin. 23 3

almost to accept membership In the lower orders,
but Franklin never hesitated to speak of his early
experiences. At dinner one day in Paris in the
presence of a distinguished company he addressed
a young gentleman just arrived from Philadelphia,
with the statement that he had always felt an obli-
gation to the young man's family because his grand-
father had been one of the first of his customers.
In a letter to William Strahan, dated 1784, near
the close of his life, a paragraph is written enter-
tainingly in printing terms. It is as follows :

"But let us leave these ferious Reflections and
converfe with our ufual Pleafantry. I remember
your obfervlng once to me as we fat together in
the Houfe of Commons, that no two Journeymen
Printers, within our Knowledge, had met with
fuch Succefs in the World as ourfelves. You were
then at the head of your Profeffion, and foon after-
wards became a Member of Parliament. I was an
Agent for a few Provinces, and now act for them
all. But we have rifen by different Modes. I, as
a Republican Printer, always liked a Form well
plain'd down; being averfe to thofe overbearing
Letters that hold their Heads fo high, as to hinder
their Neighbours from appearing. You, as a
Monarchift, chofe to work upon Crown Paper, and
found it profitable, while I work'd upon pro patris
(often indeed calFd Fools Cap) with no lefs ad-
vantage. Both our Heaps hold out very well,
and we feein likely to make a pretty good day's
Work of it. With regard to Public Affairs (to

Our Benjamin Franklin.

continue in the same ftile), it feems to me that the
Compofitors in your Chapel do not caft off their
Copy well, nor perfectly understand Impofing;
their Forms, too, are continually pefter'd by the
Outs and Doubles, that are not eafy to be corrected.
And I think they were wrong in laying afide some
Faces, and particularly certain Head-pieces, that
would have been both ufeful and ornamental.
But Courage! The Bufmefs may ftill flourifh with
good Management; and the Mafter become as rich
as any of the Company."

In a letter to Noah Webster dated the day after
Christmas, 1789, he acknowledges receipt of that
author's " Differtations on the Englilh Language "
and takes occasion to make a number of observa-
tions relating to writing and printing. One point
he brings out is that interrogation marks should be
placed at the beginning of a sentence instead of
at the end, so that one reading aloud would know
how to modulate the voice. It was Franklin's
practice usually to capitalize all important words,
and he therefore takes occasion to deprecate the
growing practice of restricting capitals to proper
words. The letter goes on to state :

" From the fame Fondnefs for an even and uni-
form Appearance of Characters in the Line, the
Printers have of late baniflied alfo the Italic Types,
in which Words of Importance to be attended to
in the Senfe of the Sentence, and Words on which
an Emphafis fhould be put in Reading, ufed to be
printed. And lately, another Fancy has induced

Our Benjamin Franklin. 235

fome Printers to ufe the fhort round s, inftead of the
long one, which formerly ferved well to distinguish a
word readily by its varied appearance. Certainly,
the omitting this prominent Letter makes the Line
appear more even, but renders it lefs immediately
legible; as the paring all Men's Nofes might fmooth
and level their Faces, but would render their
Phyfiognomies lefs diftinguifhable.

"Add to all thefe Improvements backwards, an-
other modern Fancy, that grey Printing is more
beautiful than black; hence the Englifh new Books
are printed in fo dim a Character, as to be read with
difficulty by old Eyes, unlefs in a very Strong Light
and with good Glafles. Whoever compares a
Volume of the "Gentleman's Magazine/ print' d be-
tween the Years 1731 and 1740 with one of thofe
printed in the last ten Years, will be convinced of the
much greater Degree of Perfpicuity given by Black
Ink than by grey. Lord Chefterfield pleafantly
remarked this Difference to Faulkener, the Printer
of the Dublin Journal, who was vainly making
Encomiums on his own Paper, as the moft complete
of any in the World; But, Mr. Faulkener, said my
Lord, don't you think it might be ftill farther im-
prov'd by ufing Paper and Ink not quite fo near of a
Colour? For all thefe Reafons I cannot but wifti
that our American Printers would in their Editions
avoid thefe fancied Improvements, and thereby
render their Works more agreeable to Foreigners in.
Europe, to the great advance of our Bookfelling
Commerce."

He felt strongly upon the matter of the misuse
of capitals and italics. According to Professor

236 Our Benjamin Franklin.

Smyth, "he wrote to the printer Woodfail, enclos-
ing a contribution to his paper, asking him to take
care that the compositor observed strictly the
Italicking, Capitalling and Pointing !" And he
told his son that his " Edict of the King of Pruflia"
had been reprinted in the "London Chronicle/' "but
stripped of all the Capitalling and Italicking that
intimate the allufions and mark the emphafis of
written difcourfes, to bring them as near as poffible
to thofe fpoken. Printing fuch a piece all in one
even fmall Character, feems to me like repeating
one of Whitefield's Sermons in the Monotony of a
fchool boy."

Among the memorial services held after Frank-
lin's death, the part played by the printers of Paris
in the meetings held in that city is worthy of
quotation here: "They assembled in a large hall,
in which there was a column surmounted by a bust of
Franklin, with a civic crown. Below the bust were
arrayed printers' cases and types, with a press, and
all the apparatus of the art, which the philosopher
had practiced with such distinguished success.
While one of the fraternity pronounced a eulogy on
Franklin, several printers were employed in com-
posing it at the cases; and, as soon as it was finished,
impressions of it were taken, and distributed to the
large concourse of people, who had been drawn to-
gether as spectators of the ceremony,"

The famous epitaph was written when the author

Our Benjamin Franklin. 237

was twenty-two years of age, but was never used,
the grave in the old cemetery in Philadelphia being
marked only by a simple stone giving the bare facts
of his life. The epitaph reads:

THE BODY
OF

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
PRINTER

(LIKE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOK,

ITS CONTENTS TORN OUT,
AND STRIPT OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING,,)

LIES HERE, FOOD FOR WORMS.

BUT THE WORK SHALL NOT BE LOST,

FOR IT WILL (AS HE BELIEVED) APPEAR ONCE MORE,

IN A NEW AND MORE ELEGANT EDITION

REVISED AND CORRECTED

BY

THE AUTHOR

When he wrote his will in the closing days of his
life it began, "I, Benjamin Franklin, of Philadel-
phia, Printer, late Minister Plenipotentiary from
the United States of America to the Court of
France," etc.

Franklin statues have been erected in most of the
large cities of America, and his bust has a place in

238 Our Benjamin Franklin.

the decoration of school houses and other public
buildings generally throughout the land. Every
year in every important American city his birthday
is celebrated by meetings and banquets of members
of societies of advertising men, publishers, and
printers. Printers claim him as their own by the
statement that he is their " patron saint. "

Benjamin Franklin died April 17, 1790, at the
age of eighty-four years and three months, at his
home in Philadelphia, surrounded by his family
and near friends. Four days later he was buried
in Christ Church burial ground, at Fifth and Arch
streets, in Philadelphia. In the funeral pro-
cession, headed by the clergy of the city, were the
chief members of the executive, legislative, and
judicial departments of the government, and
(according to the ''Gazette of the United States,"
of April 28, 1790) "the Mayor and Corporation
of the City of Philadelphia, the Printers of the
city, with their Journeymen and Apprentices,
the Philosophical Society, the College of Physicians,,
the Cincinnati, the College of Philadelphia, sun-
dry other Societies together with a numerous
and respectable body of Citizens/' The account
in the "Gazette" continues:

"The concourse of spectators was greater than
ever was known on a like occasion. It is com-
puted that not less than 20,000 persons attended
and witnessed the funeral The order and si-

Our Benjamin Franklin 239

ience which prevailed, during the Procession,
deeply evinced the heartfelt sense, entertained
by all classes of citizens, of the unparalleled vir-
tues, talents, and services of the deceased."

The grave in Christ Church burial ground is
unmarked by a monument of any kind. Sim-
plicity was the keynote of all the events of his
long and useful life, and simplicity characterizes
the final resting place of his earthly remains.

THE END

The

INDEX.

Almanac making in the Col-
onies in the eighteenth
century, 112

"American Citizen" quoted,
207

"American Weekly Mer-
cury/' 95

Autobiography, alterations
in, 202

Bache, Benjamin Franklin,

I57> l6 S
Balzac, quoted on Franklin,

172

Baskervillc, John, 154
Bond, Dr., quoted, 226
Boston, early population of,

3

" Boston News-Letter" estab-
lished, II

Bradford, William, first
printer in Philadelphia
and New York, 1 1

Burke, Edmund, 216

Business before the Revolu-
tion, 130

Caslon, William, 152
Childs, Francis, 149
Colden, Caclwallader, 215
Collins, John, 213
Collinson, Peter, 215
"Court of the Press," 103
Craven Street, London, where

Franklin lodged, 48
Cutler, Rev. Dr. Manasseh,

quoted, 222.

Day, Matthew, second prin-
ter in the Colonies, 8

Daye, Stephen, first printer
in the Colonies, 5

Dunlap, William, 140

Editions of Franklin's works,
209

First American magazine ad-
vertisement, 8 1

Fisher, Sydney George,
quoted, 137

Ford, Paul Leicester, quoted,
81, 126

242

The INDEX.

Franklin, Benjamin,
Birth, 13

Goes to school, 14
Adopts a trade, 15
Terms of apprenticeship, 16
Becomes publisher of the
"New England Cour-
ant," 28

Runs away from Boston, 30
In New York, 30
Goes to Philadelphia, 31
Lodges with Andrew Brad-
ford, 35

Meets Sir William Keith, 37
Returns to Boston, 38
Sails for London, 41
Goes to work at Samuel

Palmer's, 42

Sets type for Wollaston's

" Religion of Nature," 43

Goes to work for John

Watts, 45

Known as the "Water-
American," 47
As an athlete, 49
Employed as a clerk, 50
Draws up a plan of life,

52 .
Religious belief, 57

Foreman of Keimer's print-
ing office in Philadelphia,

' ^

Prints the New Jersey

Mojiey ? 6 1

Franklin, Benjamin, Con.
Goes into business with

Hugh Meredith, 62
Secures the public print-
ing, 64.
Dissolution of partnership

with Meredith, 65
Marries, 67

Becomes publisher of " The
Universal Instructor/ 7
98

Becomes typefounder, 151
Writes about the building

of printing presses, 152
Writes about sorts, 157
Goes to France, 161
Establishes himself in

Passy, 1 6 1

On the uses of words, i6S
Interest in medicine, 237
Inventions, 237
Franklin, James, gives em-
ployment to Benjamin, 1 5
Establishes "New Eng-
land Courant," 20
In prison, 26
Franklin, James, Jr., 140
Franklin, Josiah, 12
Franklin, William Temple,

quoted, 162, 186
Inherits his grandfather's

papers, 201

Advertises for those not
in his possession? 203

The INDEX.

"General Magazine/' 72

f Green, Bartholomew, prin-

McMaster, John

quoted, 112

243

Bach,

ter of the first American Mecom, Benjamin, 140

newspaper, 10 Meredith, Hugh, Franklin's

Green, Samuel, third printer first partner, 60

in the Colonies, 8 axT ^ , j ^

7 New England Courant es-

Hale, Edward Everett, tablished, 20

New York, early population
of, 4

Ocean travel early in the
Eighteenth Century, 50

quoted, 162
Hall, David, 142
Hall and Miller, 141
Harris, Benjamin, publisher

"Public Occurrences

Both Foreign and Do- Parker, James, 141

mestic," 10
Harry, David, 65, 67
Holland, Samuel, 140
Hume, David, quoted, 179

James, Thomas, typefounder,

150
Jones, John Paul and "Poor

Richard's Almanack,"

128

Palmer, Samuel, author of

"A History of Printing,"

43
Parton, James, quoted, 56,

68, 131, 136
"Pennsylvania Gazette," 98

Advertisements in, 107,

.

Philadelphia, early popula-
tion of, 4

Johnson, Marmeduke, fourth "Philadelphische Zeitung,"

printer in the Colonies, 9
Junto, Formation of, 213

" Kalendarium Pennsilvan-

icnse," no
Keimer, Samuel, 65, 98

Livingston, Luther S.,

quoted, 157, 164

Mather, Rev. Increase, 24

81
"Poor Richard's Almanack/'

" S

Printing in Philadelphia in

1728, 68
Prophecy of the Death of

Titan Leeds, 120

Ralph, James, 42, 213
Rodcn, Robert F, quoted, 9

244

The INDEX.

Supplement to the Boston
Independent Chronicle/'
172

Scheme for a new alphabet,

IS3> IS7> 193
Scheme for Twenty-Four

Hours, 56, 57
"Sea Hens and Black Gowns," Thomas, Isaiah, quoted, 8,

181, 182 ^ HO, 196

-Shavers and Trimmers," Timothy, Peter, 139

181

Smith, Adam, 216
Smith Sydney, quoted, 195

Smith, William, 141
Smyth, Albert Henry, quoted,

162, 195, 199, 200
Socratic method of arguing,

190

"Touch of the Times," 69
"Universal Instructor/' 97
Vaughan, Benjamin, 215

Watson, John F., quoted,

130
Webb, George, 95

Sparks, Jared, quoted, 13, 199 Webster, Noah, quoted, 192
Strahan, William, 155 Whitemarsh, Thomas, 139

THE COUNTRY LIVE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.