- American Super- 455-6 - On visiting England - Public Salaries- Vagrancy of Congress - The War British Disdain for Yankees Consequences To George Whatley. May 23, 1785. Privileges of Old Age - On a Good Epitaph - -Reasons for Con- fidence in a Future State - The American Constitution- - Eng- To Mrs. Mary Hewson, London. May 6, 1786. Recovery of an Old Letter-Life in Philadelphia-Cards - Consolation for Idleness-Public Amusements - Family Mat- &e. MEMOIR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. I. No memoir of Franklin can be a successful substitute for his Autobiography. In the present sketch, we shall aim at little but a review of such facts as are too lightly touched on in his own charming narrative, or as are needed to complete the account of his useful and eventful life. The First Part of his Autobiography, addressed in the form of a letter to his son, William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey, was written in England, in the year 1771, during the author's sojourn at Twyford, the seat of Dr. Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph. In this Part, he brings down the narrative of his life to the year 1730; and of it there were an original draft and a copy taken with a machine. The original manuscript was given to M. Le Veillard, of Passy, who was guillotined during the French revolution, when it fell into the possession of his daughter. The copy became the property of Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin. By M. Veiliard this First Part was translated into French, and published together with a collection of Franklin's Essays. It is a curious circumstance, that an English translation having been made from this French version for a similar collection, published in London, shortly after Franklin's death, this translation of a translation has been repeatedly republished, both in England and this country, as the life of Franklin, written by himself. What renders the fate of it still more singular is the fact that the English re-translation, translated back into French, was published in Paris in 1798. The Autobiography as originally written, and as printed in the present volume, was first published in 1818, by William Temple Franklin. The occurrence of the American revolution interrupted Franklin's autobiographical task, and he did not resume it till twelve years later, while resident at Passy, near Paris, in France. The Second, and last, Part of his Autobiography, terminates with his arrival in London, in 1757, as the agent of the Pennsylvania Assembly, in their dispute with the descendants of Penn, the "proprietaries," as they were. called, of the territory ceded to their ancestor. Such is the graceful and unaffected candor of Franklin's style, that his story is ever best told in his own words. "His confessions of his faults," says Sainte Beuve, "have an air of sincerity and simplicity, which leave us in no doubt as to the genuineness of the sentiment he expresses. When Rousseau, in his Confessions, makes similar avowals, he vaunts, even while he accuses himself. Franklin, who has few but venial faults to reveal, accuses himself less vehemently and does not vaunt at all." We shall give a brief summary of the events related in the Autobiography, and then take up the thread of Franklin's history where he drops it. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, January the 17th, 1706. His father, who had emigrated from England, was a tallow-chandler. Benjamin was the fifteenth of seventeen children, and the eighth of ten by a second wife. He was named for an uncle, who emigrated to Boston in the year 1715. This uncle had the poetical faculty in no ordinary degree, as may be inferred from the following pieces, which, while they are marked by the fashionable quaintnesses of the religious poets of the seventeenth century, give evidence of considerable literary culture. The first bears the title of an "Acrostic sent to Benjamin Franklin, in New England, July 15, 1710.” "Be to thy parents an obedient son; Man's danger lies in, Satan, sin and self! Like judge and witness' this thy acts attend! From the following lines, "sent to Benjamin Franklin, 1713," when he was only seven years old, it would seem that his literary tendencies were developed even earlier than his own account would lead us to suppose: ""Tis time for me to throw aside my pen, When hanging sleeves read, write, and rhyme like men. This forward spring foretells a plenteous crop; For, if the bud bear grain, what will the top? If plenty in the verdant blade appear, What may we not soon hope for in the ear? When flowers are beautiful before they 're blown, If trees good fruit unnoculated bear, You may be sure 't will afterward be rare. If fruits are sweet before they 've time to yellow, How luscious will they be when they are mellow ! If first years' shoots such noble clusters send, What laden boughs, Engedi-like, may we expect in the end!" At twelve years of age, Benjamin was apprenticed to his elder brother, James, a printer, and publisher of the New England Courant, a newspaper in Boston. Benjamin had a passion for reading, and he now found means of gratifying it. He was also tempted to try his skill in literary composition, and wrote some anonymous pieces for his brother's journal, which were published and approved. Some political articles in the Courant having offended the LegisÎative Assembly of the colony, the publisher was imprisoned and forbidden to continue his journal. To elude this prohibition, young Franklin was made the nominal editor, and his indentures were temporarily cancelled. After the |