Chapter VII: Introduction (6)

[i-416] See S. Bloore, "Samuel Keimer. A Footnote to the Life of Franklin," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 255-87 (July, 1930), and "Samuel Keimer," in _Dictionary of American Biography_, X, 288-9. In 1724 Samuel Keimer (probably with Franklin's aid) reprinted Gordon and Trenchard's _The Independent Whig_. (See W. J. Campbell's _A Short-Title Check List of all the Books, Pamphlets, Broadsides, known to have been printed by Benjamin Franklin_.) Franklin also was acquainted with their _Cato's Letters_, having helped to set up parts from it while working on the _New England Courant_. _The Independent Whig_ emphasizes humanitarian morality rather than theological dogma, morality which "prompts us to do good to all Men, and to all Men alike" (London, 1721, xlviii). It is fearful of metaphysical vagaries (p. 26). Warring against priests and their "Monkey Tricks at Church" (p. 165)--"One Drop of Priestcraft is enough to contaminate the Ocean" (p. 168)--it sets up a violent antithesis between reason and authority (p. 212), declaring that "we must judge from Scripture what is Orthodoxy" _but_ "we must judge from Reason, what is Scripture" (p. 276). Tilting at a Deity "revengeful, cruel, capricious, impotent, vain, fond of Commendation and Flattery," exalting an "All-powerful, All-wise, and All-merciful God" (p. 413), _The Independent Whig_, like Franklin's _Articles_, suggests that "it is absurd to suppose, that we can direct the All-wise Being in the Dispensation of his Providence; or can flatter or persuade him out of his eternal Decrees" (p. 436). In _Cato's Letters_ (3rd ed., 4 vols., London, 1733), which were tremendously popular in the American colonies, Franklin could have read that "The People have no Biass to be Knaves" (I, 178), that man "cannot enter into the Rationale of God's punishing all Mankind for the Sin of their first Parents, which they could not help" (IV, 38), "That we cannot provoke him, when we intend to adore him; that the best Way to serve him, is to be serviceable to one another" (IV, 103). Jesus instituted a natural religion, a worship of One Immutable God, free from priests, sacrifices, and ceremonies, in which one shows through "doing Good to men" his adoration for God (IV, 265-6). Here are observations which could easily have reinforced Franklin's deistic rationale. For interesting evidence of further deistic and rationalistic works available to Franklin, see L. C. Wroth's _An American Bookshelf_, 1755.

[i-417] One of the editors has examined the photostated _New England Courant_ in the W. S. Mason Collection. For readable accounts of this newspaper see: W. G. Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism_, chaps. I-II; C. A. Duniway, _The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_, 97-103; W. C. Ford, "Franklin's New England Courant," _Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society_, LVII, 336-53 (April, 1924); H. F. Kane, "James Franklin Senior, Printer of Boston and Newport," _American Collector_, III, 17-26 (Oct., 1926).

[i-418] See _Writings_, II, 52-3.

[i-419] One of the editors has used the Huth copy now possessed by W. S. Mason. Not included in the Sparks, Bigelow, or Smyth editions of his works, it was printed by Parton as an Appendix to his _Life_; by I. W. Riley, _op. cit._, and recently edited by L. C. Wroth for The Facsimile Text Society.

[i-420] Franklin must have been mistaken in his belief that he set up the second edition. The work was privately printed in 1722, reprinted in 1724 and a second time in 1725. Hence Franklin really set up the _third_ edition. For an extensive analysis of this work, see C. G. Thompson's dissertation, _The Ethics of William Wollaston_ (Boston, 1922).

[i-421] Wollaston, _op. cit._, 15.

[i-422] _Ibid._, 23.

[i-423] _Ibid._, 78-9.

[i-424] _Ibid._, 80.

[i-425] _Ibid._

[i-426] _Ibid._, 83.

[i-427] It would be interesting to know whether Franklin's much discussed prudential virtues (listed in _Autobiography_) were not in part motivated by Wollaston's pages 173-80.

[i-428] _Ibid._, 7.

[i-429] _Ibid._, 26.

[i-430] _Ibid._, 63 ff.

[i-431] _Writings_, VII, 412.

[i-432] _A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity_, _Pleasure and Pain_ (London, 1725), 4.

[i-433] _Ibid._, 5.

[i-434] For an incisive exposition of the earlier and contemporary controversy regarding freedom of the will, see C. H. Faust and T. H. Johnson's Introduction to _Jonathan Edwards_ (American Writers Series, New York, 1935), xliii-lxiv.

[i-435] _A Dissertation ..._, 10-1.

[i-436] In Franklin's liturgy of the '30's (in the _Autobiography_) he quotes from Thomson's _Winter_ (lines 217 ff.). While the references to Thomson are few in the complete works, his later influence on Franklin need not be underestimated. See Franklin's letter to W. Strahan (_Writings_, II, 242-3) in which he confesses that "That charming Poet has brought more Tears of Pleasure into my Eyes than all I ever read before." It is not inconceivable that in Thomson Franklin found additional sanction for his humanitarian bias. One remembers the wide differences between the humanitarianism of Thomson and Franklin. Franklin's practical and masculine-humanitarianism keyed to the saving of time and energy was unlike the sentimental warmheartedness often displayed by Thomson. Franklin was never moved to tears at beholding the worm's "convulsive twist in agonizing folds."

[i-437] Phillips Russell has suggested _Spectator_, No. 183, as Franklin's probable source in Part II of the _Dissertation_. There, pleasure and pain are "such constant yoke-fellows." This intuitive assertion can hardly be conceived as the elaborate metaphysical rationale upon which this idea rests in Franklin's work.

[i-438] Robertson, _op. cit._, 239-40.

[i-439] London (4th ed.), 1724. A despiser of authoritarianism in religion, intrigued by the physico-deistic thought of his day, Lyons (with a vituperative force akin to Thomas Paine's) damns those who damn men for revolting against divine and absolute revelation (p. 25). "Men have _Reason_ sufficient to find out proper and regular ways for improving and perfecting their laws." Faith he calls "an unintelligible Chymæra of the Phantasie" (p. 92). The doctrine of the Trinity "is one of the most nice Inventions that ever the subtlest Virtuoso constru'd to puzzle the Wit of Man with" (p. 112). Through faith people make of God "only a confus'd unintelligible Description of a _Heterogeneous Monster_ of their own Making" (p. 117). Deistically he opines that "we shall soon see that the Object of _True Religion_, and all Rational Mens Speculations, is an Eternal, Unchangeable, Omnipotent Being, infinitely Good, Just and Wise" (p. 123). Like Toland he urges, "To pretend to Believe a Thing or the Working of a Miracle, is a stupid and gaping Astonishment" (p. 195). Although he enjoyed Franklin's dissertation, he does not in his work hold to Franklin's necessitarianism: "Nothing interrupts Men, but only as they interrupt one another" (p. 238). Religion to Lyons is remote from books, but is found in the "unalterable laws of Nature, which no Authority can destroy, or Interpolator corrupt" (p. 252).

[i-440] Although Franklin indicates in his _Autobiography_ that he delighted to listen to Mandeville hold forth at the Horns, there seems to be traceable in his writings no direct influence of Mandeville's thought. (One may wonder whether Franklin's use of the name "Horatio" in his 1730 dialogues between Philocles and Horatio could be traced to Mandeville's use of the name in his dialogues between Cleomenes and Horatio.) Mandeville's empirical view of man's essential egoism would have found sympathetic response from Franklin. On the other hand, Mandeville's ethical rigorism (see Kaye's Introd. to The _Fable of the Bees_) differs from the utilitarian cast Franklin sheds over his strenuous ethicism. One may suspect that like a Bunyan, a Swift, a Rabelais, Mandeville would have fortified Franklin against accepting too blithely Shaftesbury's faith in man's innate altruism, even if he did not short-circuit Franklin's growing humanitarianism.

[i-441] _Writings_, I, 278.

[i-442] David Brewster, _Life of Sir Isaac Newton_ (New York, 1831), 258. For fuller treatment see his _Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton_ (Edinburgh, 1855), II, 378 ff., and _passim_.

[i-443] Quoted in C. S. Duncan, _op. cit._, 16. See Desaguliers's _A System of Experimental Philosophy, Prov'd by Mechanicks ..._ (London, 1719), and his _The Newtonian System of the World, The Best Model of Government: An Allegorical Poem_ (Westminster, 1728). The popularizers of Newton were legion: see especially Watts, Derham, Ray, Huygens, Blackmore, Locke, Thomson, Shaftesbury, S. Clarke, Whiston, Keill, Maclaurin.

[i-444] _A View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy_ (London, 1728), 2-3.

[i-445] _Ibid._, 405. Cf. also 13, 18, 181, 406.

[i-446] Not to be neglected in a summary of the factors influencing Franklin during his youth is Quakerism. Taught in Boston to suspect the Quakers, in Philadelphia in the midst of their stronghold he came soon, one may imagine, to have a sympathetic regard for them. Quakerism, in its antagonism towards sacraments and ceremonies, in its emphasis on the priesthood of every man and the right of private judgment, in its strenuous effort to promote fellow-service, was congenial to the young printer, reacting against Presbyterianism. Like the radical thought of the age, Quakerism refused first place to scriptural revelation, which became secondary to the light within, the dictates of one's heart. Often, we may suspect, the light within was blended with the concept in deism, that regardless of the promptings of scripture, each man has within him a natural sense which enables him to apprehend the truths of nature. The effort of deism to simplify religion was historically shared by Quakerism. During the years we have under consideration Franklin was endeavoring to make a simple worship out of the subtle theology which had been offered him during his early years. Presbyterianism had frowned upon a covenant of works; Quakerism attempted to express its covenant with God in terms of human kindliness, fellowship, and service.

[i-447] It would be interesting to know if M. Faÿ is able to document his statement that the Junto "had Masonic leanings" ("Learned Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth Century," _American Historical Review_, XXXVII, 258 [1932]). R. F. Gould (_The History of Freemasonry_, London, 1887, III, 424) conjectures whether where was a lodge in Boston as early as 1720 but can offer no evidence of a real history of Masonry in the colonies until 1730, when colonial Masonry "may be said to have its commencement." Chroniclers of Franklin's Masonic career have found no documentary evidence of his affiliation with Masonry until February, 1731, when he entered St. John's Lodge. See J. F. Sachse, _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason_; J. H. Tatsch, _Freemasonry in the Thirteen Colonies_ (New York, 1924); _Early Newspaper Accounts of Free Masonry in Pennsylvania, England, Ireland, and Scotland. From 1730 to 1750 by Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Reprinted from Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette_ (Philadelphia, 1886); _Masonic Letters of Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia to H. Price of Boston_, ed. by C. P. MacCalla (Philadelphia, 1888); M. M. Johnson, _The Beginnings of Freemasonry in America_ (New York, 1924). See "Prefatory Note" in W. B. Loewy's reprint of Anderson's _Constitutions_ (a reprint of Franklin's imprint of 1734) in _Publications of the Masonic Historical Society of New York_, No. 3 (New York, 1905). Arriving in London only seven years after the inauguration of the Grand Lodge, Franklin could hardly have been unaware of the broader speculations of Masonry. In London only a year after Anderson's _Constitutions_ were printed (in 1723), he may conceivably have read the volume.

Stressing toleration, the universality of natural religion, morality rather than theology, reason rather than faith, Masonry could easily have augmented these ideas as they were latent or already developed in Franklin's mind. Scholars have yet to work out the extent to which Freemasonry, yokefellow of deism, reinforced free thought and was one of the subversive forces breaking down colonial orthodoxy. B. Faÿ's _Revolution and Freemasonry, 1680-1800_ neglects non-political influences of Freemasonry.

Although there is no evidence that Franklin as early as 1728 read such works (popular in the colonies) as De Ramsay's _The Travels of Cyrus_ and Rowe's translation of _The Golden Sayings of Pythagoras_, the manner in which oriental lore augmented science and Masonry in fostering deism is an intriguing problem in eighteenth-century colonial letters.

[i-448] See I. W. Riley, _op. cit._, 249. Also see C. M. Walsh, "Franklin and Plato," _Open Court_, XX, 129 ff.

[i-449] See _Writings_, II, 95-6 (1728).

[i-450] John Ray's _The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation_ (London, 1827; first ed. 1691), 31-2.

[i-451] _The Augustan Age_, 54-5.

[i-452] _Selections from the Writings of Fénelon_, ed. by Mrs. Follen (Boston, 1861), 51-2.

[i-453] _Ibid._, 59.

[i-454] _Ibid._, 47.

[i-455] In Preface to _The Works of the British Poets_, ed. by R. Anderson (London, 1795), 592. Since Franklin frequented Batson's in Cornhill, it is possible that through Dr. Pemberton he might have met Sir R. Blackmore, who was one of its best patrons.

[i-456] _Ibid._, 611.

[i-457] See Ray, _op. cit._, 143: "I persuade myself, that the beautiful and gracious Author of man's being and faculties, and all things else, delights in the beauty of his creation, and is well pleased with the industry of man, in adorning the earth with beautiful cities and castles...."

[i-458] _The Relation of John Locke to English Deism_, 133.

[i-459] See P. S. Wood, "Native Elements in English Neo-Classicism," _Modern Philology_, XXIV, 201-8 (Nov., 1926).

[i-460] See C. E. Jorgenson's "The Source of Benjamin Franklin's Dialogues between Philocles and Horatio (1730)," _American Literature_, VI, 337-9 (Nov., 1934).

[i-461] _Writings_, II, 203.

[i-462] _Ibid._, II, 467.

[i-463] Facsimile reprint by W. Pepper (Philadelphia, 1931), 27 note.

[i-464] See _Almanac_ for 1753.

[i-465] _Writings_, II, 288.

[i-466] _Ibid._, II, 429. See also II, 434-5.

[i-467] See W. J. Campbell, _op. cit._

[i-468] No. 570 (Nov. 15, 1739), No. 565 (Oct. 11, 1739), and No. 628 (Dec. 25, 1740), for example, are loaded with tributes to the effective preaching and contagious saintliness of this preacher of the Great Awakening.

[i-469] No. 618 (Oct. 16, 1740). Franklin's _General Magazine and Historical Chronicle_ contains many Whitefield references.

[i-470] _Writings_, II, 316. In general, emotional Methodism was not responsive to science as a basis for rationalistic deism, although to a considerable extent Methodism and deism synchronized in their endeavor to relieve social suffering. See U. Lee's able study, _The Historical Backgrounds of Early Methodist Enthusiasm_ (New York, 1931).

[i-471] Rev. L. Tyerman, _Life of the Reverend George Whitefield_ (London, 1876), I, 439.

[i-472] _Ibid._, II, 283-4.

[i-473] _Ibid._, II, 540-1.

[i-474] _Ibid._, II, 541.

[i-475] See H. H. Clark's "An Historical Interpretation of Thomas Paine's Religion," _University of California Chronicle_, XXXV, 56-87 (Jan., 1933), and "Toward a Reinterpretation of Thomas Paine," _American Literature_, V, 133-45 (May, 1933).

[i-476] _Writings_, IX, 520.

[i-477] _Ibid._, VIII, 561. See also IX, 506.

[i-478] Aug. 22, 1784; unpublished letter in W. S. Mason Collection. Also see _Writings_, VIII, 113; IX, 476, 488, 621.

[i-479] I. W. Riley, _American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism_, 76.

[i-480] Parton, _op. cit._, I, 546.

[i-481] He admonished Deborah, his wife, that she "should go oftener to Church" (_Writings_, IV, 202), and his daughter, Sarah, "Go constantly to Church, whoever preaches" (_Ibid._, IV, 287).

[i-482] _Letters to Benjamin Franklin from His Family and Friends, 1751-1790_ (New York, 1859), 10.

[i-483] Franklin's English friends, Dr. Richard Price, Joseph Priestley, Rev. David Williams, Dr. John Fothergill, Peter Collinson, Sir Joseph Banks, Jonathan Shipley, Lord Kames, Sir William Jones, et cetera, though not all deists, found Newtonian science useful in augmenting their philosophies.

[i-484] _A Discourse ..._ (London, 1775), 33. For background material on the history of this concept see L. E. Hicks, _A Critique of Design-Arguments_ (New York, 1883).

[i-485] N. Meredith, _Considerations on the Utility of Conductors for Lightning ..._ (London, 1789), 44-5. See especially the characteristic notice in _Monthly Review ..._, XLII (London, 1770), 199-210, 298-308.

[i-486] For references see B. Faÿ, _The Revolutionary Spirit in France and America_; E. E. Hale and E. E. Hale, Jr., _Franklin in France_; L. Amiable, _Un loge maçonnique d'avant 1789 ..._.

[i-487] _Writings_, IX, 436.

[i-488] W. T. Franklin ed. of Franklin's _Writings_ (London, 1818), I, 433.

[i-489] See similar expression in letter to Mme Brillon, cited in J. M. Stifler, _The Religion of Benjamin Franklin_, 55-6.

[i-490] _Writings_, III, 135.

_CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE_

1706. Benjamin Franklin born in Boston, January 17 (January 6,
1705, O. S.).

1714-16. After a year in Boston Grammar School is sent to learn
writing and arithmetic in school kept by George Brownell, from
which, after a year, he is taken to assist his father, Josiah,
a candlemaker.

1717. James Franklin returns from England, following apprenticeship
as printer.

1718. Benjamin is apprenticed to brother James.

1718-23. Period of assiduous reading in Anthony Collins,
Shaftesbury, Locke, Addison and Steele, Cotton Mather, Bunyan,
Defoe, etc.

1719. Writes and hawks ballads of the "Grub-Street" style, "The
Lighthouse Tragedy" and "The Taking of Teach the Pirate."

1721-23. Aids brother in publishing the _New England Courant_.
During 1722-23 in charge of paper after James is declared
objectionable by the authorities.

1722. His _Dogood Papers_ printed anonymously in the _New England
Courant_.

1723. Breaks his indentures and leaves for New York; eventually
arrives in Philadelphia.

1723-24. Employed by Samuel Keimer, a printer in Philadelphia.

1724. Visits Cotton Mather and Governor Burnet (New York). Meets
James Ralph, Grub-Street pamphleteer, historian, and poet in
the Thomson tradition. Patronized by Governor Keith. Leaves
for London in November on the _London-Hope_ to buy type, etc.,
for printing shop to be set up in his behalf by Keith. Upon
arrival he and Ralph take lodgings in Little Britain.

1725-26. Employed in Palmer's and Watts's printing houses.

1725. Publishes _A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain_. One result of this is acquaintance with Lyons,
author of _The Infallibility of Human Judgement_. Through him
Franklin meets Bernard Mandeville and Dr. Henry Pemberton, who
is preparing a third edition of Sir Isaac Newton's
_Principia_. Is received by Sir Hans Sloane in Bloomsbury
Square. Conceives of setting up a swimming school in London.

1726. On July 21, with Mr. Denham, merchant and Quaker, leaves for
Philadelphia on the _Berkshire_. Between July 22 and October
11 writes _Journal of a Voyage from London to Philadelphia_.
Employed by Denham until latter's death in 1727.

1727. Ill of pleurisy and composes his epitaph. After recovery
returns to Keimer's printing house. Forms his Junto club.
Employed in Burlington, New Jersey, on a job of printing paper
money.

1728. Forms partnership with Hugh Meredith. Writes _Articles of
Belief and Acts of Religion_, and _Rules for a Club_--his
Junto club "Constitution."

1729. Buys Keimer's _The Universal Instructor in all Arts and
Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ (begun December 24, 1728).
Changes name to _Pennsylvania Gazette_, first issue, XL,
September 25-October 2, 1729. (Published by Franklin until
1748, by Franklin and David Hall from 1748 to 1766, after
which Hall, until his death, and others publish it until
1815.) Contributes to _American Weekly Mercury_ six papers of
_The Busy-Body_, February 4, 1729-March 27, 1729. Writes and
prints _A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a
Paper Currency_.

1730. Appointed Public Printer by Pennsylvania Assembly (incumbent
until 1764). Partnership with Meredith dissolved. Marries
Deborah Read (Mrs. Rogers). Prints in _Pennsylvania Gazette_
his _Dialogues between Philocles and Horatio_.

1731. First public venture: founds the Philadelphia Library Company,
first subscription library in America. Begins partnership
with Thomas Whitemarsh, Charleston, S. C. (1732, publishes
_South Carolina Gazette_.) Begins Masonic affiliations: enters
St. John's Lodge in February. William Franklin born.

1732. Begins _Poor Richard's Almanack_ (for 1733). His son Francis
Folger Franklin born (dies of smallpox in 1736). Elected
junior grand warden of St. John's Lodge.

1733. Begins to study languages, French, Italian, Spanish, and
continues Latin.

1734. Elected grand master of Masons of Pennsylvania for 1734-35.
Reprints Anderson's _Constitutions_, first Masonic book
printed in America.

1735. Writes and prints three pamphlets in defense of Rev. Mr.
Hemphill. Prints, in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, _Protection
of Towns from Fire_. Secretary of St. John's Lodge until 1738.
Writes introduction for and prints Logan's _Cato's Moral
Distiches_, first classic translated and printed in the
colonies.

1736. Establishes the Union Fire Company, the first in Philadelphia.
Chosen clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

1737. Appointed postmaster of Philadelphia (incumbent until 1753);
also justice of the peace.

1739. Beginning of friendship with the Reverend George Whitefield.

1740. Announces (November 13) _The General Magazine and Historical
Chronicle_.

1741. Six issues (January-June) of this magazine (the first planned
and the second issued in the colonies). With J. Parker
establishes a printing house in New York.

1742. Invents Franklin open stove.

1743. _A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British
Plantations in America_ (circular letter sent to his friends).

1744. Establishes the American Philosophical Society and becomes its
first secretary. Daughter Sarah born. _An Account of the New
Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-places._ Writes preface to and
prints Logan's translation of Cicero's _Cato Major_. Reprints
Richardson's _Pamela_. Father dies.

1746. _Reflections on Courtship and Marriage_, first of his writings
reprinted in Europe. Peter Collinson sends a Leyden vial as
gift to Library Company of Philadelphia. Having witnessed Dr.
Spence's experiments, Franklin now begins his study of
electricity.

1747. _Plain Truth: or, Serious Considerations on the Present State
of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pennsylvania._

1748. Withdraws from active service in his printing and bookselling
house (Franklin and Hall). _Advice to a Young Tradesman._
Chosen member of the Council of Philadelphia.

1749. Appointed provincial grand master of colonial Masons (through
1750). _Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
Pensilvania._ Founds academy which later develops into
University of Pennsylvania. Reprints Bolingbroke's _On the
Spirit of Patriotism_.

1750. Appointed as one of the commissioners to make treaty with the
Indians at Carlisle.

1751. _Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at
Philadelphia in America, By Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and
Communicated in several Letters to Mr. P. Collinson, of
London, F. R. S._ (London.) _Idea of the English School,
Sketch'd out for the Consideration of the Trustees of the
Philadelphia Academy._ Member of Assembly from Philadelphia
(incumbent until 1764). _Observations Concerning the Increase
of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, Etc._ Aids Dr. Bond to
establish Pennsylvania hospital.

1752. Collinson edition of Franklin's works translated into French.
Alleged kite experiment proves identity of lightning and
electricity. Invents lightning rod; in September raises one
over his own house. Mother dies. Aids in establishing the
first fire insurance company in the colonies.

1753. Appointed (jointly with William Hunter) deputy postmaster
general of North America Post, a position he held until 1774.
Makes ten-weeks' survey of roads and post offices in northern
colonies. Abbé Nollet attacks Franklin in _Lettres sur
l'électricité_ (Paris). Beccaria defends Franklin's electrical
theories against Abbé Nollet. Receives M. A. from Harvard and
from Yale. Receives Sir Godfrey Copley medal from the Royal
Society.

1754. Proposes Albany Plan of Union. Second edition of _Experiments
and Observations on Electricity_.

1755. _An Act for the Better Ordering and Regulating such as are
Willing and Desirous to be United for Military Purposes within
the Province of Pennsylvania._ _A Dialogue Between X, Y, & Z,
concerning the Present State of Affairs in Pennsylvania._ Aids
General Braddock in getting supplies and transportation.

1756. Supervises construction efforts in province of Pennsylvania (a
task begun in 1755). Chosen Fellow of the Royal Society of
London. Chosen a member of the London Society of Arts. _Plan
for Settling the Western Colonies in North America, with
Reasons for the Plan._ M. D'Alibard's edition of Franklin's
electrical experiments (French translation). Receives M. A.
from William and Mary College.

1757. Appointed colonial agent for Province of Pennsylvania (arrives
in London July 26). _The Way to Wealth_ (for 1758). (In 1889
Ford noted: "Seventy 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 today as popular
as ever.")

1759. Receives Doctor of Laws degree from University of St. Andrews.
September 5, made burgess and guild-brother of Edinburgh. _An
Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of
Pennsylvania._ (See Ford, pp. 110-111, where he suggests that
this "must still be treated as from Franklin's pen.") _Parable
against Persecution._ Meets Adam Smith, Hume, Lord Kames,
etc., in home of Dr. Robertson at Edinburgh. Makes many
electrical experiments. Chosen honorary member of
Philosophical Society of Edinburgh.

1760. Provincial grand master of Pennsylvania Masons. _The Interest
of Great Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies._
Elected to society of Dr. Bray's Associates. (Corresponding
member until 1790.) Successful close of his issue with the
proprietaries.

1761. Tour of Holland and Belgium.

1762. Receives degree of Doctor of Civil Law from Oxford. Leaves
England in August, arrives in America in October.

1763. Travels through colonies to inspect and regulate post offices.

1764. Appointed agent for Province of Pennsylvania to petition king
for change from proprietary to royal government. Leaves for
London in November. _Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of
Our Public Affairs._ _A Narrative of the Late Massacres in
Lancaster County._ _Preface to the Speech of Joseph Galloway,
Esq._

1765. Presents Grenville with resolution of Pennsylvania Assembly
against Stamp Act.

1766. Examined in House of Commons relative to repeal of the Stamp
Act. _Physical and Meteorological Observations._ With Sir John
Pringle visits Germany and Holland (June-August). Chosen
foreign member of the Royal Society of Sciences, Göttingen.

1767. With Sir John Pringle visits France (August 28-October 8).
Meets French Physiocrats. _Remarks and Facts Concerning
American Paper Money._

1768. Preface to _Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania_ (J.
Dickinson). _A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of
Spelling._ _Causes of the American Discontents before 1768._
_Art of Swimming._ Appointed London agent for colony of
Georgia.

1769. Visits France (July-August). Appointed New Jersey agent in
London. Elected first president of the American Philosophical
Society.

1770. Appointed London agent for Massachusetts Assembly.

1771. Begins _Autobiography_ (from 1706 to 1731) while visiting the
Bishop of St. Asaph at Twyford. Three-months' tour of Ireland
and Scotland. Entertained by Hume and Lord Kames. Chosen
corresponding member of Learned Society of Sciences,
Rotterdam.

1772. Chosen foreign member of Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris.

1773. _Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer_ (with Sir Francis
Dashwood). _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a
Small One._ M. Barbeu Dubourg's edition of _OEuvres de M.
Franklin_. Sends Hutchinson-Oliver letters to Massachusetts.

1774. Examined by Wedderburn before the Privy Council (January 29)
in regard to the Hutchinson-Oliver correspondence. Contributes
notes to George Whately's second edition of _Principles of
Trade_. Dismissed as deputy postmaster general of North
America. Deborah Franklin dies December 19.

1775. First postmaster general under Confederation. Returns to
America in May. Member of Philadelphia Committee of Safety.
Chosen a delegate to second Continental Congress. _An Account
of Negotiations in London for Effecting a Reconciliation
between Great Britain and the American Colonies._ Appointed
member of Committee of Secret Correspondence.

1776. A commissioner to Canada. Presides over Constitutional
Convention of Pennsylvania. Appointed one of committee to
frame Declaration of Independence. In September appointed one
of three commissioners from Congress to the French court.
Leaves Philadelphia October 27; reaches Paris December 21.

1777. Elected member of Loge des Neuf Soeurs. Chosen associate
member of Royal Medical Society of Paris.

1778. Assists at initiation of Voltaire in Loge des Neuf Soeurs.
Officiates at Masonic funeral service of Voltaire. Signs
commercial treaty and alliance for mutual defense with France.
_The Ephemera._ Altercation with Arthur Lee.

1779. Minister plenipotentiary to French court. _The Whistle._
_Morals of Chess._ B. Vaughan edits Franklin's _Political,
Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces_.

1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._

1781. Chosen Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences:
elected foreign member of Academy of Sciences, Letters, and
Arts of Padua, for work in natural philosophy and politics.
Appointed one of the peace commissioners to negotiate treaty
of peace between England and United States.

1782. Elected Venerable of Loge des Neuf Soeurs.

1783. Signs treaty with Sweden. Prints _Constitutions of the United
States_. Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh. Interest in balloons. Signs the Treaty of Paris
with John Jay and John Adams.

1784. With Le Roy, Bailly, Guillotin, Lavoisier, and others,
investigates Mesmer's animal magnetism (results in numerous
pamphlet reports). _Remarks Concerning the Savages of North
America. Advice to Such as Would Remove to America._ Chosen
member of Royal Academy of History, Madrid. At Passy resumes
work on _Autobiography_, beyond 1731.

1785. _Maritime Observations._ _On the Causes and Cure of Smoky
Chimneys._ Signs treaty of amity and commerce with Prussia.
Resigns as minister to French Court, and returns to
Philadelphia. President of Council of Pennsylvania (incumbent
for three years). Associate member of Academy of Sciences,
Literature, and Arts of Lyons. Councillor for Philadelphia
until 1788. Member of Philadelphia Society for the Promotion
of Agriculture, and Royal Society of Physics, National History
and Arts of Orleans, and honorary member of Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society.

1786. Chosen corresponding member of Society of Agriculture of
Milan.

1787. President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of
Slavery (incumbent until death). Pennsylvania delegate to
Constitutional Convention. Chosen honorary member of Medical
Society of London. Aids in establishing the Society for
Political Enquiry; elected its first president.

1788. At Philadelphia works on _Autobiography_, from 1731-1757.

1789. _Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Original
Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia_ and several papers in
behalf of abolition of slavery. At Philadelphia resumes
_Autobiography_, from 1757 to 1759. Chosen member of Imperial
Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

1790. Paper on the slave trade, _To the Editor of the Federal
Gazette_, March 23. Dies, April 17, in Philadelphia.

_SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY_

Starred items are of primary importance.

I. WORKS

Only the most useful and historically significant editions are here listed. The student interested in other editions of Franklin's works, the publication of his separate pamphlets, his contributions to newspapers and periodicals, and his editorial activities should consult P. L. Ford's _Franklin Bibliography_. Many of these items are conveniently listed in _The Cambridge History of American Literature_, I, 442 ff.

_Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in
America, By Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and Communicated in several
Letters to P. Collinson, of London, F. R. S._ London: 1751. (For
various editions and translations of this and the supplementary
letters added to first edition, consult Ford's _Bibliography_.)

_Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces; ... Written by
Benj. Franklin, LL. D. and F. R. S.... Now first collected, With
Explanatory Plates, Notes_, ... [ed. by Benjamin Vaughan]. London:
1779. ("The work is ably performed, many pieces being for the first
time printed as Franklin's; and contains valuable notes. But what
gives a special value to this collection is that it is the only
edition of Franklin's writings [other than his scientific], which was
printed during his life time; was done with Franklin's knowledge and
consent, and contains an 'errata' made by him for it" [Ford, p. 161].
Review in _Monthly Review_, LXII, 199-210, 298-308, describes his
electrical experiments as constituting a "_principia_" of electricity.
See also Smyth, VII, 410-13, for Franklin's own opinion.)

_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._
Paris: 1791. (First edition of Franklin's _Autobiography_ to the year
1731; translation attributed to Dr. Jacques Gibelin. "The remainder of
his life is a translation from Wilmer's _Memoirs_ of Franklin, with
the most objectionable statements omitted" [Ford, p. 183]. For a
succinct history of _Autobiography_, editions, printing, translation,
and fortunes of the MS see Bigelow's introduction to _Autobiography_.)

_Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL. D. F. R. S.
&c.... Written by himself to a late period, and continued to the time
of his death, by his Grandson; William Temple Franklin. Now first
published from the original MSS...._ 3 vols. London: 1818. (The
standard collection, according to A. H. Smyth, until Sparks's edition.
Representative review in _Analectic Magazine_, XI, 449-84, June,
1818.)

_The Works of Benjamin Franklin; containing several political and
historical tracts not included in any former edition, and many letters
official and private not hitherto published; with notes and a life of
the author_, by Jared Sparks. 10 vols. Boston: 1836-1840. (Although
Sparks took undesirable editorial liberties with the MSS, rephrasing,
emending, and deleting, this edition still possesses value for its
notes and inclusion of pieces which Smyth does not include, but which
_may_ have been written by Franklin. Includes many valuable letters to
Franklin. For reviews see _North American Review_, LIX, 446, and
LXXXIII, 402.)

_Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Edited from his Manuscript, with
Notes and an Introduction_, by John Bigelow. Philadelphia: 1868. (To
quote Ford: "This is not only the first appearance of the
autobiography from Franklin's own copy, but also the first publication
in English of the four parts, and the first publication of the very
important 'outline' autobiography. It is therefore the first edition
of _the_ autobiography" [p. 199].)

_The Life of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself. Now first edited
from original manuscripts and from his printed correspondence and
other writings_, by John Bigelow. 3 vols. Philadelphia: 1874.
(Bigelow text of _Autobiography_ and extracts from Franklin's other
works.)

_The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin including his private as well
as his official and scientific correspondence, and numerous letters
and documents now for the first time printed with many others not
included in any former collection, also the unmutilated and correct
version of his autobiography._ Comp. and ed. by John Bigelow. 10 vols.
New York: 1887-1889. (Corrects many of Sparks's errors and adds "some
six hundred new pieces." For first time works are chronologically
arranged.)

*_The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, collected and edited with a Life
and Introduction_, by Albert Henry Smyth. 10 vols. New York:
1905-1907. (The standard edition. It is unfortunate that the editor
has omitted pieces which are either too Rabelaisian or too
metaphysically radical, such as the _Dissertation_ of 1725, or are, in
his mind, _probably_ not written by Franklin.)

II. COLLECTIONS AND REPRINTS

No attempt has been made to include the learned journal articles which reprint occasional letters not in Smyth. Letters which aid in understanding Franklin's mind have been referred to in the Introduction and Notes.

Chinard, Gilbert. _Les amitiés américaines de Madame d'Houdetot,
d'après sa correspondance inédite avec Benjamin Franklin et Thomas
Jefferson._ Paris: 1924.

Diller, Theodore. _Franklin's Contribution to Medicine._ Brooklyn: 1912.
(Able collection of Franklin's letters bearing on medicine. Franklin
is described "as one of the greatest benefactors, friends, and patrons
of the medical profession as well as a most substantial contributor to
the science and art of medicine.")

[Franklin, Benjamin.] _A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain._ Reproduced from the first edition, with a bibliographical
note by Lawrence C. Wroth. The Facsimile Text Society, New York: 1930.
(Although A. H. Smyth omitted this work from his _Writings of
Benjamin Franklin_, suggesting that "the work has no value," it is
difficult to see how a study of the _modus operandi_ of Franklin's
mind could be thoroughly made without it. Parton in his _Life and
Times of Benjamin Franklin_, and I. W. Riley in his _American
Philosophy: The Early Schools_ have reprinted it in appendices.)

Franklin, Benjamin. _Poor Richard's Almanack. Being the Almanacks of
1733, 1749, 1756, 1757, 1758, first written under the name of Richard
Saunders._ With a foreword by Phillips Russell. Garden City, N. Y.:
1928. ("First facsimile edition of a group of the Almanacks to be
published.")

Franklin, Benjamin. _The Prefaces, Proverbs, and Poems of Benjamin
Franklin Originally Printed in Poor Richard's Almanacs for 1733-1758._
Collected and ed. by P. L. Ford. Brooklyn: 1890. (Best collection of
its kind; in addition contains account of popularity and function of
almanacs in colonial period.)

Franklin, Benjamin. _Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in
Pensilvania._ Facsimile reprint, with an introduction by William
Pepper. Philadelphia: 1931. (Franklin's notes omitted in Smyth.
_Proposals_ also reprinted by the William L. Clements Library, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: 1927; "though not a facsimile reprint," it does
include the notes. Thomas Woody in his _Educational Views of Benjamin
Franklin_ [New York: 1931] reprints it with the notes.)

Franklin, Benjamin. _The Sayings of Poor Richard, 1733-1758._ Condensed
and ed. by T. H. Russell. N.p.: n.d. (Best aphorisms chronologically
arranged.)

Goodman, N. G., ed. _The Ingenious Dr. Franklin; Selected Scientific
Letters of Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1931. (Includes several
items not published in Smyth edition.)

_Letters to Benjamin Franklin, from his Family and Friends, 1751-1790._
[Ed. by William Duane.] New York: 1859.

Pepper, William. _The Medical Side of Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia:
1911. (Essentially quotations from the A. H. Smyth edition. Franklin
is viewed as "an early and great hygienist.")

Stifler, J. M., ed. "_My Dear Girl._" _The Correspondence of Benjamin
Franklin with Polly Stevenson, Georgiana and Catherine Shipley._ New
York: 1927. (Engaging collection showing Franklin's "capacity for
lively and enduring friendship" [p. vii]. Many of the letters _to_
Franklin "printed now for the first time." Contains several of
Franklin's letters hitherto unpublished.)

III. BIOGRAPHIES

Becker, Carl. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Dictionary of American
Biography_. New York: 1931. VI, 585-98. (The most authoritative brief
biography.)

*Bruce, W. C. _Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed._ 2 vols. New York:
1917. (In spite of occasional extravagant statements and a
conservative temperament preventing him from discussing Franklin's
religion with sympathetic and historical insight, Mr. Bruce has
provided a brilliant and perspicuous survey. "Self-revealed" fails to
do justice to Bruce's incisive commentary.)

*Faÿ, Bernard. _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times._ Boston: 1929. (A
readable critical biography said to be based on "six hundred to nine
hundred unpublished letters." Would have been more useful had it been
given scholarly documentation. Some new light on Franklin's Masonic
activities and his efforts during 1757-1762 to effect the growth of a
British empire. [Faÿ used the Franklin-Galloway correspondence in the
W. S. Mason and W. L. Clements collections.] Believes that Franklin
was a "follower of the seventeenth-century English Pythagoreans":
since this belief is largely undocumented, one feels it curious that
Pythagoreanism should bulk larger than the pattern of thought provoked
by Locke and Newton. See very critical reviews by H. M. Jones in
_American Literature_, II, 306-12 [Nov., 1930], and W. C. Bruce,
_American Historical Review_, XXXV, 634 ff. [April, 1930]. The latter
concludes that "there is very little, indeed, in the text of the book
under review that makes any unquestionably substantial addition to our
pre-existing knowledge of Franklin, or is marked by anything that can
be termed freshness of interpretation.")

Faÿ, Bernard. _The Two Franklins: Fathers of American Democracy._
Boston: 1933. (Charmingly spirited portrait of patriarchal Franklin of
Passy [reworking of materials in _Franklin, the Apostle of Modern
Times_]. Faÿ's habit of mingling quotation, paraphrase, and intuition
in use of Bache's Diary suggests untrustworthy documentation. The
second Franklin is, of course, Benjamin Franklin Bache [1769-1798, son
of Sally Franklin and Richard Bache], editor of the republican _Aurora
General Advertiser_. For a judicial, unsympathetic review see A.
Guerard's in the _New York Herald Tribune Books_, Oct. 22, 1933. J. A.
Krout, in the _American Historical Review_, XXXIX, 741-2 [July, 1934],
observes that Faÿ "fails to establish the elder Franklin's paternal
relation to the democratic forces of the 'revolutionary' decade after
1790.")

Fisher, S. G. _The True Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1899. (Highly
prejudiced interpretation with disproportionate attention to
Franklin's acknowledged shortcomings.)

*Ford, P. L. _The Many-Sided Franklin._ New York: 1899. (A gracefully
solid and inclusive standard work.)

Hale, E. E., and Hale, E. E., Jr. _Franklin in France. From Original
Documents, Most of Which Are Now Published for the First Time._ 2
vols. Boston: 1887-1888. (Convenient collection of letters to
Franklin; authors had access to Stevens and American Philosophical
Society collections. Franklin letters and documents here given later
published in Smyth. Useful chapters on Franklin's friends, his vogue
in France, meetings with Voltaire, his activities in science, his
interest in balloons, and investigation of Mesmerism. See reviews in
_Dial_, VIII, 7, IX, 204; _Nation_, XLIV, 368; _Athenaeum_, II, 77
[1887]; _Atlantic Monthly_, LX, 318.)

McMaster, J. B. _Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters._ American Men of
Letters series. Boston: 1887. (Fullest account of this aspect of the
many-minded Franklin. See also MacLaurin and Jorgenson items, pp.
clxv, clxvi below.)

More, P. E. _Benjamin Franklin._ Riverside Biographical Series. Boston:
1900. (Suggestive of a _précis_ of Parton's _Life_ with judicial, if
not historical, penetration. Stimulating notes, such as the following:
Franklin was "a great pagan, who lapsed now and then into the
pseudo-religious platitudes of the eighteenth-century deists.")

Morse, John Torrey, Jr. _Benjamin Franklin._ American Statesmen series.
Boston: 1889. (Compact account stressing his political and diplomatic
career.)

*Parton, James. _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin._ 2 vols. New York:
1864. (Although not all works ascribed to Franklin by Parton are by
his pen, and although new materials have been added to the Franklin
canon, he remains the most encyclopedic and often the most penetrating
of Franklin's biographers. He deserves credit for printing in an
appendix Franklin's _Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure
and Pain_. For reviews see _North American Review_ [July, 1864];
_Atlantic Monthly_ [Sept., 1864]; _London Quarterly_, XXIII, 483;
_Littell's Living Age_, LXXXIV, 289.)

Russell, Phillips. _Benjamin Franklin, the First Civilised American._
New York: 1926. (The _esprit_ and readableness of this popular work do
not offset its lack of precision, historical scholarship, and taste.)

Smyth, Albert H. "Life of Benjamin Franklin," in Vol. X, 141-510, of
_The Writings of Benjamin Franklin_. (Stimulating survey.)

Swift, Lindsay. _Benjamin Franklin._ Beacon Biographies of Eminent
Americans. Boston: 1910. (Brief series of biographical "impressions"
arranged chronologically.)

Weems, Mason L. _The Life of Benjamin Franklin, with many Choice
Anecdotes and Admirable Sayings of this Great Man._ Baltimore: 1815.
(One would think it unfair to smile at a writer who had the wit to
describe Franklin as one who "with such equal ease, could play the
_Newton_ or the _Chesterfield_, and charm alike the lightnings and the
ladies." Contains some imaginative, though intuitive, remarks on
Franklin's religion.)

IV. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES

Abbe, C. "Benjamin Franklin as Meteorologist," _Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society_, XLV, 117-28 (1906). ("Worthy
co-laborer" with Newton, Huygens, Descartes, Boyle, and Gay-Lussac.
He is "the first meteorologist of America," "pioneer of the rational
long-range forecasters.")

Abbot, G. M. _A Short History of the Library Company of Philadelphia:
Compiled from the Minutes, together with some personal reminiscences._
Philadelphia: 1913.

Amiable, L. _Une loge maçonnique d'avant 1789. La R.·. L.·. Les Neuf
Soeurs._ Paris: 1897. (Fullest account of Franklin's activities in
French Freemasonry.)

_Analectic Magazine_, XI, 449-84 (June, 1818). (Review of W. T.
Franklin's edition of Franklin's works. Complexion of this eulogy
suggested by: "His name is now exalted in Europe above any others of
the eighteenth century.")

Angoff, Charles. _A Literary History of the American People._ New York:
1931. II, 295-310. (It would be difficult to match the debonair
ignorance of this violently hostile essay.)

"A Poem on the Death of Franklin," _Proceedings of the New Jersey
Historical Society_, XV, 109 (Jan., 1930). (A typical elegy based on
theme suggested by Turgot's epigram on Franklin.)

Bache, R. M. "Smoky Torches in Franklin's Honor," _Critic_, XLVIII,
561-6 (June, 1906). (Charming in its caustic though just view that
"articles on Franklin have verged on superfluity.")

Bache, R. M. "The So-Called 'Franklin Prayer-Book,'" _Pennsylvania
Magazine of History and Biography_, XXI, 225-34 (1897). (See Rev. John
Wright's account of the same in _Early Prayer Books of America_ [St.
Paul: 1896], pp. 386-99.)

Biddison, P. "The Magazine Franklin Failed to Remember," _American
Literature_, IV, 177-80 (May, 1932). (Survey of the Franklin-Webbe
altercation concerning the inauguration of Franklin's _General
Magazine, and Historical Chronicle ..._, 1741.)

Bigelow, John. "Franklin as the Man," _Independent_, LX, 69-72 (Jan. 11,
1906). (Stresses his tolerance, common sense, and "constitutional
unwillingness to dogmatize.")

Bleyer, W. G. _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism._
Boston: 1927. (Chapters I-II contain excellent survey of the _New
England Courant_, and the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ during its formative
years. Bibliography, pp. 431-41.)

Bloore, Stephen. "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library
Company," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIX, 42-56
(Jan., 1935). (Valuable notes on Franklin's collaborator in
_Busy-Body_ series.)

Bloore, Stephen. "Samuel Keimer. A Foot-note to the Life of Franklin,"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 255-87 (July,
1930). (Readers of the _Autobiography_ will appreciate this excellent
study of one who figures prominently in its pages.)

Brett-James, N. G. _The Life of Peter Collinson._ London: [1917]. (Many
notes on Franklin-Collinson friendship. Collinson, it is remembered,
"started Franklin on his career as a researcher in electricity.")

Buckingham, J. T. _Specimens of Newspaper Literature; with Personal
Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Reminiscences._ 2 vols. Boston: 1850. (Vol. I,
49-88, discusses _New England Courant_. Identifies _Dogood Papers_ as
Franklin's.)

Bullen, H. L. "Benjamin Franklin and What Printing Did for Him,"
_American Collector_, II, 284-91 (May, 1926).

Butler, Ruth L. _Doctor Franklin, Postmaster General._ Garden City, N.
Y.: 1928. (A sturdily documented study illustrating that Franklin
"furnished the most highly efficient administration to the postal
system during the colonial period.")

Canby, H. S. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Classic Americans_. New York:
1931, pp. 34-45. (Spirited estimate partly vitiated by excessive
emphasis on influence of Quakerism; Canby observes that Franklin's
mind represents "Quakerism conventionalized, stylized, and Deicized.")

*Carey, Lewis J. _Franklin's Economic Views._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1928.
(Excellent survey.)

Cestre, Charles. "Franklin, homme représentatif," _Revue
Anglo-Américaine_, 409-23, 505-22 (June, August, 1928).

Choate, J. H. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Abraham Lincoln, and Other
Addresses in England_. New York: 1910, pp. 47-94. (Sanely eulogistic
biographical survey.)

Condorcet, Marquis de. _Éloge de M. Franklin, lu à la séance publique de
l'Académie des Sciences, le 13 Nov., 1790...._ Paris: 1791. (Both a
eulogy, and an interpretation of _why_ France, as representative of
the Enlightenment, eulogized the Philadelphia tradesman. By the most
sublime of the _philosophes_.)

Cook, E. C. _Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750._ New
York: 1912. (Trenchant analysis of Franklin's indebtedness to Addison
and Steele--especially in the _Dogood Papers_--the character of the
_New England Courant_, advertisements of books in _Pennsylvania
Gazette_, etc. "Benjamin Franklin was the only prominent man of the
period who deliberately attempted to spread the knowledge and love of
literature among his countrymen.")

Crane, V. W. "Certain Writings of Benjamin Franklin on the British
Empire and the American Colonies," _Papers of the Bibliographical
Society_, XXVIII, Pt. 1, 1-27 (1934). (Newly identified Franklin
papers more than double existing canon. He becomes "the chief agent of
the American propaganda in England, especially between 1765 and 1770."
New canon promises to "illuminate the development of Franklin's
political ideas." Very significant.)

Cumston, C. G. "Benjamin Franklin from the Medical Viewpoint," _New York
Medical Journal_, LXXXIX, 3-12 (Jan. 2, 1909). (Useful survey.)

Cutler, W. P., and Cutler, J. P. _Life, Journals and Correspondence of
Rev. Manasseh Cutler._ 2 vols. Cincinnati: 1888. (Portrait of
patriarchal Franklin at age of eighty-four.)

Dickinson, A. D. "Benjamin Franklin, Bookman," _Bookman_, LIII, 197-205
(May, 1921). (Brief account of Franklin imprints.)

_Discours du Comte de Mirabeau. Dans la séance du 11 Juin, sur la mort
de Benjamin Francklin_ [_sic_]. Imprimé par ordre de l'Assemblée
National. Paris: 1790.

Draper, J. W. "Franklin's Place in the Science of the Last Century,"
_Harper's Magazine_, LXI, 265-75 (July, 1880). (Franklin's discoveries
"were only embellishments of his life." Superficial.)

Duniway, C. A. _The Development of Freedom of the Press in
Massachusetts._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1906. (Chapter VI includes account
of James Franklin and the _New England Courant_.)

Eddy, G. S. "Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Library," _Proceedings of the
American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 206-26 (Oct., 1924). (This
indefatigable scholar has ascertained the titles of 1350 volumes in
Franklin's library. This survey article does not list the titles.)

*Eiselen, M. R. _Franklin's Political Theories._ Garden City, N. Y.:
1928. (Thoughtful survey.)

Eiselen, M. R. _The Rise of Pennsylvania Protectionism._ Philadelphia:
1932. (University of Pennsylvania dissertation. Chapter I describes
Franklin's holding to laissez faire in a state dominantly
protectionist.)

Eliot, T. D. "The Relations Between Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin
before 1776," _Political Science Quarterly_, XXXIX, 67-96 (March,
1924). (Exhaustive documentary data which fails to establish specific
and incontrovertible Franklin influence on Smith.)

"Excerpts from the Papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush," _Pennsylvania Magazine
of History and Biography_, XXIX, 15-30 (Jan., 1905). (Includes
"Conversations with Franklin," pp. 23-8: Franklin terms Latin and
Greek the "quackery of literature"; is alleged to have reprobated the
Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, in that it placed "the Supreme
power of the State in the hands of a Single legislature." Other
interesting sidelights.)

Farrand, Max, ed. _The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787._ 3
vols. New Haven: 1911. (Records show Franklin as a sober moderator:
when rival factions tended to render the convention impotent, he
said, "When a broad table is to be made, and the edges <of planks do
not fit> the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good
joint.")

Fauchet, Claude. _Éloge civique de Benjamin Franklin, prononcé, le 21
Juillet 1790, dans la Rotonde, au nom de la Commune de Paris._ Paris:
1790.

Faÿ, Bernard. "Franklin et Mirabeau collaborateurs," _Revue de
Littérature Comparée_, VIII, 5-28 (1928). (Franklin furnished
materials for Mirabeau's _Considerations on the Order of
Cincinnatus_.)

Faÿ, Bernard. "Learned Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth
Century," _American Historical Review_, XXXVII, 255-66 (Jan., 1932).
(Urges that like all learned societies in the eighteenth century,
Franklin's Junto and American Philosophical Society "had Masonic
leanings.")

Faÿ, Bernard. "Le credo de Franklin," _Correspondant_, 570-8 (Feb. 25,
1930).

Faÿ, Bernard. "Les débuts de Franklin en France," _Revue de Paris_,
577-605 (Feb. 1, 1931).

Faÿ, Bernard. "Les dernières amours d'un philosophe," _Correspondant_,
381-96 (May 10, 1930).

Faÿ, Bernard. "Le triomphe de Franklin en France," _Revue de Paris_,
872-96 (Feb. 15, 1931).

Ford, P. L. "Franklin as Printer and Publisher," _Century Magazine_,
LVII, 803-17 (April, 1899).

Ford, W. C. "Franklin and Chatham," _Independent_, LX, 94-7 (Jan. 11,
1906).

Ford, W. C. "Franklin's New England Courant," _Proceedings of the
Massachusetts Historical Society_, LVII, 336-53 (April, 1924).

Ford, W. C. "One of Franklin's Friendships. From Hitherto Unpublished
Correspondence between Madame de Brillon and Benjamin Franklin,
1776-1789," _Harper's Magazine_, CXIII, 626-33 (Sept., 1906).

Foster, J. W. "Franklin as a Diplomat," _Independent_, LX, 84-9 (Jan.
11, 1906).

Fox, R. H. _Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends; Chapters in Eighteenth
Century Life._ London: 1919. (Franklin and Fothergill, "lovers of
nature and keen students of physical science," met in 1757. See also
J. C. Lettsom, _Memoirs of John Fothergill_, 4th ed., London: 1786.)

Garrison, F. W. "Franklin and the Physiocrats," _Freeman_, VIII, 154-6
(Oct. 24, 1923). (Transcended by Carey's chapter in _Franklin's
Economic Views_, but has quotation from Dupont de Nemours [1769]: "Who
does not know that the English have today their Benjamin Franklin, who
has adopted the principles and the doctrines of our French
economists?")

Goggio, E. "Benjamin Franklin and Italy," _Romanic Review_, XIX, 302-8
(Oct., 1928). (Largely through the efforts of G. Beccaria, "Benjamin
Franklin was one of the first Americans to gain eminence and
popularity among the people of Italy.")

Goode, G. B. "The Literary Labors of Benjamin Franklin," _Proceedings of
the American Philosophical Society_, XXVIII, 177-97 (1890).

Grandgent, C. H. "Benjamin Franklin the Reformer," in _Prunes and
Prisms, with Other Odds and Ends_. Cambridge, Mass.: 1928, pp. 86-97.
("The principles advocated in his unfinished exposition [on spelling
reform] are those which phoneticians now advocate.")

Greene, S. A. "The Story of a Famous Book," _Atlantic Monthly_, XXVII,
207-12 (Feb., 1871). (A kind of _précis_ of Bigelow's Introduction to
_Autobiography_.)

Griswold, A. W. "Three Puritans on Prosperity," _New England Quarterly_,
VII, 475-93 (Sept., 1934). (Cotton Mather, Timothy Dwight, and
Franklin. One wonders by what right Franklin is dubbed the "soul of
Puritanism.")

Guedalla, Philip. "Dr. Franklin," in _Fathers of the Revolution_. New
York: 1926, pp. 215-34. (Chatty popular review of "the first
high-priest of the religion of efficiency.")

Guillois, Antoine. _Le salon de Madame Helvétius._ Paris: 1894.

Gummere, R. M. "Socrates at the Printing Press. Benjamin Franklin and
the Classics," _Classical Weekly_, XXVI, 57-9 (Dec. 5, 1932). (Survey
of his references to the classics, with occasional estimates of impact
on his mind.)

Hale, E. E. "Ben Franklin's Ballads," _New England Magazine_, N. S.
XVIII, 505-7 (1898). (Thinks "The Downfall of Piracy," found in
Ashton's _Real Sea-Songs_, is "one of the two lost ballads" Franklin
mentions in _Autobiography_.)

Hale, E. E. "Franklin as Philosopher and Moralist," _Independent_, LX,
89-93 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Does not go beyond terming Franklin's
philosophy common sense.)

Harrison, Frederic. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Memories and Thoughts_. New
York: 1906, pp. 119-23. (Keen appraisal.)

Hart, C. H. "Benjamin Franklin in Allegory," _Century Magazine_, XLI (N.
S. XIX), 197-204 (Dec., 1890). (The French sanctify Franklin in
allegory.)

Hart, C. H. "Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An Inquiry
Demonstrating that She Was Deborah Read, Wife of Benjamin Franklin,"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXXV, 308-14 (July,
1911). (Plausible circumstantial evidence is offered.)

Hays, I. M. _The Chronology of Benjamin Franklin, Founder of the
American Philosophical Society._ Philadelphia: 1904.

Hill, D. J. "A Missing Chapter of Franco-American History," _American
Historical Review_, XXI, 709-19 (July, 1916). (Political interests of
Masonic "Lodge of the Nine Sisters," Paris, of which Franklin was an
active member. Franklin described as "creator of constitutionalism in
Europe.")

Houston, E. J. "Franklin as a Man of Science and an Inventor," _Journal
of the Franklin Institute_, CLXI, Nos. 4-5, 241-383 (April-May, 1906).

Hulbert, C. _Biographical Sketches of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, General
Washington, and Thomas Paine; with an Essay on Atheism and
Infidelity._ London: 1820. (Franklin and Washington made almost
saintly to contrast with Paine, "a notorious Unbeliever." Quotes one
who sees Franklin as "the patriot of the world, the playmate of the
lightning, the philosopher of liberty.")

Jackson, M. K. _Outlines of the Literary History of Colonial
Pennsylvania._ Lancaster, Pa.: 1906. (Especially chapter III, which
surveys Franklin as man of letters.)