lard, announcing his grandfather's death and the interest he had acquired in the Memoirs, which might be said to have owed their existence to M. le Veillard's pertinacity; his intention to prepare them for publication, and requesting M. le Veillard to show them to no one unless to the Academician who should be charged to make the eulogy of the deceased, and to permit no one to take a copy of what had been sent him. He adds that he himself has the original. This letter was written in French.

"PHILADELPHIA, 22 May, 1790.*

"You have already learned, my dear friend, the loss which you and I, and the world, have experienced, in the death of this good and amiable papa. Although we have long expected it, we were none the less shocked by it when it arrived. He loved you very tenderly, as he did all your family, and I do not doubt you will share my just sorrow. I intended writing you the details of his death by M. de Chaumont, but the duty of arranging his affairs, and especially his papers, prevents my answering your last, as well as the one which your daughter was pleased to write me, accompanying her work. I have been touched with this mark of her condescension and friendship, and I beg you to testify to her my gratitude until I have an opportunity of writing to her, which will certainly be by the first occasion for France. Now, as I am about writing, her goodness will awaken me. This letter will reach you by way of England.

"I feel it my duty to profit by this occasion to inform you that my grandfather, among other legacies, has left all his papers and manuscripts to me, with permission to

*For the original see vol. iii. p. 465.

turn them to what profit I can. Consequently, I beg you, my dear friend, to show to no one that part of his Life which he sent you some time since, lest some one copy and publish it, which would infinitely prejudice the publication which I propose to make as soon as possible, of his entire Life and of his other works. As I have the original here of the part which you have, it will not be necessary for you to send it to me, but I beg you at all events to put it in an envelope, well sealed, addressed to me, in order that by no accident it may get into other hands.

"If, however, it should be necessary to assist the person who will pronounce his eulogy at the Academy, you may lend it for that purpose, with the stipulation that no copy of it shall be made, and with such other precautions as you deem necessary. The foreign representatives of our Government have not yet been named. It is possible I be one, which would put me in the way to assist in the publication of my grandfather's works; but even if they think no more of me, it is very probable that I shall conclude to go to Europe, inasmuch as I am persuaded I can derive more advantage from the publication in England or in France than in this country.

may

"Adieu for the present. In two or three weeks I hope to be able to write to you directly, as well as to my other friends, male and female, in France. Love me, my dear friend. I have more need than ever of your friendship. "W. T. FRANKLIN."

In the course of a few months after this letter was written, William Temple Franklin arrived in London, where he pretended to be engaged in preparing an edition

of the Life and works of his grandfather, which he then expected to have ready in the course of the year. But it was ordained that this pre-eminently American work should be first presented to the world in a foreign tongue. A French translation appeared at Paris in 1791.* It embraced only the first eighty-seven pages of the manuscript. In his preface the editor seems to question the good faith of William Temple's promise to publish the Memoirs entire. As this preface is not readily accessible, and as it constitutes an important link in the history of this manuscript, I need offer no apology for giving it entire :

"I shall not enter into an uninteresting detail relative to the manner in which the original manuscript of these Memoirs, which are written in the English language, came into my possession. They appeared to me to be so interesting that I did not hesitate a single moment to translate them into French.

"The name of Franklin will undoubtedly become a passport to a work of this nature, and the character of truth and simplicity discernible in every page must guarantee its authenticity. I have no manner of occasion to join other testimonies.

"If, however, any critic chooses to disbelieve my assertion, and is desirous to bring the existence of the original manuscript into doubt, I am ready to verify it by means of an immediate impression ;† but as I am not certain

Mémoires de la vie privée de Benjamin Franklin, écrits par luimême et adressés à son fils, suivis d'un précis historique de sa vie politique, et de plusieurs pièces relatives à ce père de la liberté. A Paris, chez Buisson, Libraire, Rue Hautefeuille, No. 20. 1791.

↑ "Those who may be desirous of reading the Memoirs of the public life of Franklin in the original are requested to leave their names with Buisson, bookseller, Rue Hautefeuille, No. 20. The work will be sent

of the sale of a work written in a foreign language, I cannot publish it in any other manner than by means of a subscription large enough to indemnify me for the money advanced.

"That part of the Memoirs of Franklin in my possession includes no more than the first period of a life, the remainder of which has become illustrious by events of the highest importance; it terminates at the epoch when, after having married, he began to render himself cele brated by plans and establishments of public utility.

"It is very possible that he may have written more of his history; for the portion of it which I now present to the public concludes, according to his own account, with the year 1771.*

If this be the case, the heirs of that great man will not fail some day to publish it, either in England or in Pennsylvania, and we shall doubtless have a French translation, which will be received by the public with great eagerness; but I am persuaded that his family will not disclose any other than the most brilliant period of his life-that which is connected with the memorable part he acted in the world, both as a philosopher and a statesman. They will never be prevailed upon to narrate the humble details of his early days and the simple but interesting anecdotes of his origin, the obscurity of which, although it enhances the talents and the virtues of this great man, may yet wound their own vanity.

to the press as soon as there are 400 subscribers. The price is 48 sols (or cents)."

This date is erroneous. Dr. Franklin commenced writing his Memoirs in 1771, but in the portion of his Memoirs published in 1791 he did not bring down the narrative of his life beyond the year 1757.

"If my conjecture prove right; if the Memoirs which they are about to publish under the name of Franklin should be mutilated; if the first part, so essential to readers capable of feeling and judging, should be suppressed, I shall applaud myself for having preserved it; and the world will be obliged to me for having enabled them to follow the early developments of the genius, and the first exertions of the sublime and profound mind of a man who afterward penetrated the mystery of electricity and discovered the secret measures of despotism-who preserved the universe from the ravages of thunder, and his native country from the horrors of tyranny!

"If I am accidentally mistaken, if the life of Franklin should appear entire, the public will still have the advantage of anticipating the interesting part of a history which it has long and impatiently expected.

"The principal object proposed by the American philosopher in writing these Memoirs was, to instruct posterity and amuse his own leisure hours. He has permitted his ideas to flow at the will of his memory and his heart, without ever making any effort to disguise the truth, notwithstanding it is not always very flattering to his selflove-but I here stop; it belongs to Franklin to speak for himself.

"It will be easily perceived that I have preserved as much as possible the ease and simplicity of his style in my translation. I have not even affected to correct the negligence of his language, or to clothe his sentiments with a gaudy dress, for which they have no manner of occasion; I should have been afraid of bereaving the work of one of its principal ornaments.

"As these Memoirs reach no farther than his marriage,