NOTES

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

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

[2]TheNew England Courant, begun Aug. 21, 1721 (fourth American newspaper), was preceded byBoston News-Letter, April 24, 1704,Boston Gazette, Dec. 21, 1719,American Weekly Mercury, Dec. 22, 1719 (Philadelphia).

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

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

[5]Sir Hans Sloane contributed curiosities to Don Saltero's place, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Steele dedicated aTatlerto this collector of gimcracks who wrote of his oddities:"Monsters of all sorts here are seenStrange things in nature as they grew so;Some relicks of the Sheba queen,And fragments of the fam'd Bob Crusoe."

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

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

[6]See note 22.

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

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

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

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

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

[12]Dated July 1, 1733.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[22]When Samuel Keimer discovered that Franklin and Meredith were about to launch a newspaper, he began hisUniversal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette(first issue, Dec. 28, 1728). Franklin and Joseph Breintnall wrote theBusy-Bodyseries for Bradford'sAmerican Weekly Mercury. Nos. I-V and VIII are by Franklin. See S. Bloore's "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library Company" (in Bibliography). That Keimer became infuriated, one can see in issues X, XII, and XVI of theUniversal Instructor ..., in whichBusy-Bodyis scourged with both prose and poetry.

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

[24]SeeAutobiography,Writings, I, 343.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[32]Excellent note inWritings, II, 463-4. Abbé Raynal publishedPolly Bakerin hisHistoire ...as an authentic document. Also Peter Annet printed thisjeu d'espritin hisSocial Bliss(1749). See N. L. Torrey,Voltaire and the English Deists, 187. A. H. Smyth confesses: "The mystery surrounding the authorship and first publication of the 'Speech' remains an impenetrable mystery. The style is altogether Franklinian, and the story seems unquestionably to have been written by him, but I have searchedThe Pennsylvania Gazettein vain for it. It is not there."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[45]"These letters first appeared inThe London Chronicle, February 6 and 8, 1766. They were published again inThe London Magazine, February, 1766, and inThe Pennsylvania Chronicle, January 16, 1769. They were republished in Almon's 'Remembrancer' in 1766." (A. H. Smyth, Writings, III, 231 note.)After the failure of hisAlbany Plan(for text see Writings, III, 197-226), Franklin, visiting Governor Shirley in Boston, was shown an English plan: it "was, that the governors of all the colonies, each attended by one or two members of his council, should assemble at some central town, and there concert measures of defense, raise troops, order the construction of forts, and draw on the British treasury for the whole expense; the treasury to be afterwards reimbursedby a tax laid on the colonies by an act of Parliament" (Parton, I, 340). The letters are a protest against this plan, a protest marking the first stages of the revolution.

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

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

[47]Had made a tour inspecting post offices.

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

[49]Franklin's daughter, born 1744.

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

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

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

[53]From an exact reprint made by W. S. Mason from a copy ofPoor Richard(1758) in his collection. Lindsay Swift, inBenjamin Franklin, notes: "It may safely be said that it is the American classicpar excellence, and shares with Mrs. Stowe'sUncle Tom's Cabinthe honour of having passed by translation into more other tongues than anything else thus far bearing the stamp of our national spirit" (pp. 33-4). A glance at Ford'sFranklin Bibliography, 53-111, will suggest the vogue of this classic. See L. L. L.'s "The Way to Wealth: History and Editions,"Nation, XCVI, 494-6 (May 15, 1913).William Temple Franklin observes thatThe Way to Wealth"is supposed to have greatly contributed to the formation of thatnational characterthey [people of America] have since exhibited" (1818 ed. of Franklin'sWorks, III, 248).

William Temple Franklin observes thatThe Way to Wealth"is supposed to have greatly contributed to the formation of thatnational characterthey [people of America] have since exhibited" (1818 ed. of Franklin'sWorks, III, 248).

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

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

[56]The Interest of Great Britain Considered?

[57]If ever written, not extant.

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

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

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

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

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

[63]John Stanley (1714-1786). Blind organist who composed the music for Hawkesworth's oratorio,Zimri(1760); and for hisThe Fall of Egypt(1774). (Dictionary of National Biography, LIV, 74-5.)

[64]Benjamin West (1738-1820).

[65]James Ralph (d. 1762); seeDictionary of National Biography, XLVII, 221-4. HisNight: A Poem(London, 1728), dedicated to the Earl of Chesterfield, is a jejune imitation of Thomson'sSeasons. He professes himself "a bigotted Admirer of the Antients, and all their Performances" (p. 197) inThe Touch-Stone ...(London, 1728): "My Design was, to animadvert upon the Standard Entertainments of the present Age, in Comparison with those of Antiquity" (p. 237). He aided Fielding in bringing outThe Champion(1741 ff.). Hallam characterized hisHistory of England(1744-1746) as one of the best accounts of the time of Charles II. Succinct survey of Ralph in M. K. Jackson'sOutlines of the Literary History of Colonial Pennsylvania, 37-42.

[66]John Fothergill (1712-1780). SeeDictionary of National BiographyXX, 66-8. See J. C. Lettsom'sMemoirs of John Fothergill(4th ed., London, 1786) for a full treatment of his friendship with Franklin. J. J. Abraham'sLettsom, His Life, Times, Friends and Descendants(London, 1933, chap. XVIII), contains an account of the "conciliation negotiations" between Hyde and Dartmouth (representing Lord North) and Barclay and Fothergill (representing Franklin and the colonial cause). Only George III could not be persuaded. Also see R. H. Fox,Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends ...(London, 1919).For Franklin's quarrel with the Proprietors seeCool Thoughts on the Present Situation of Our Public Affairs(April 12, 1764,Writings, IV, 226-41). A month later he writes to Wm. Strahan: "Our petty publick affairs here are in the greatest confusion, and will never, in my opinion, be composed, while the Proprietary Government subsists" (ibid., IV, 246).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[74]The full title of Dupont de Nemours's work isPhysiocratie, ou constitution naturelle du gouvernement le plus avantageux au genre humain. 2 vols. Leyden and Paris, 1767, 1768. Peter Templeman (1711-1769) was Secretary of the London Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce and in 1762 corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris (Dictionary of National Biography, LVI, 53-4). "Ami des hommes" is the Marquis de Mirabeau (1715-1789) who wroteL'Ami des hommes, ou traité de la population. [1756] 5th ed., Hamburg, 1760, 4 vols. The "crowning work" of the Physiocrats is François Quesnay'sTableau économique. Published by the British Economic Association, London, 1894.Dupont's letter of May 10, 1768, to which Franklin's is an answer, is printed inWritings, V, 153-4. From London (Oct. 2, 1770) Franklin writes to Dupont: "Would to God I could take with me [to America] Messrs. du Pont, du Bourg, and some other French Friends with their good Ladies! I might then, by mixing them with my Friends in Philadelphia, form a little happy Society that would prevent my ever wishing again to visit Europe" (Writings, V, 282). Elision marks in letter of July 28 are Franklin's own.

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

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

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

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

[78]Daughter of Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, who wroteA Speech Intended to have been Spoken on the Bill for Altering the Charters of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay. New York. Ed. 1774. (Cf.Writings, I, 164-6.) Urging that "the true art of government consists inNOT GOVERNING TOO MUCH" (cited in Parton,op. cit., I, 549), Shipley lent sanction to colonial resistance. Franklin writes to Thomas Cushing (London, Oct. 6, 1774): "The Bishop of St. Asaph's intended speech, several Copies of which I send you, and of which many Thousands have been printed and distributed here has had an extraordinary Effect, in changing the Sentiments of Multitudes with regard to America" (Writings, VI, 250).Mungo was a "fine large grey Squirrel" which Deborah sent to her husband (ibid., VI, 16).

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

[79]Printed inExperiments and Observations on Electricity. London, 1769.

[80]Printed inÉphémérides du Citoyen(edited by Dupont after 1767), periodical of the French Physiocrats; and in theLondon Chroniclein 1766.

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

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

[83]Date unknown. For history of this hoax seeWritings, I, 179-81, and L. S. Livingston,Benjamin Franklin's Parable against Persecution. With an Account of the Early Editions(Cambridge, Mass., 1916).

[84]Date unknown.

[85]This letter was never sent.

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

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

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

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

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