Chapter VIII: Introduction (7)

Jernegan, M. W. "Benjamin Franklin's 'Electrical Kite' and Lightning
Rod," _New England Quarterly_, I, 180-96 (April, 1928). ("The question
still remains however whether Franklin flew his kite _before_ he heard
of the French experiments, and thus discovered the identity of
lightning and electricity independently." Summarizes and supersedes:
McAdie, A., "The Date of Franklin's Kite Experiment," _Proceedings of
the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 188-205; Rotch, A. L.,
"Did Benjamin Franklin Fly His Electrical Kite before He Invented the
Lightning Rod?" _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N.
S. XVIII, 115-23.)

Jordan, J. W. "Franklin as a Genealogist," _Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography_, XXIII, 1-22 (April, 1899).

Jorgenson, C. E. "A Brand Flung at Colonial Orthodoxy. Samuel Keimer's
'Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences,'" _Journalism
Quarterly_, XII, 272-7 (Sept., 1935). (Shows deistic tendencies.)

Jorgenson, C. E. "The New Science in the Almanacs of Ames and Franklin,"
_New England Quarterly_, VIII, 555-61 (Dec., 1935). (Newtonianism and
scientific deism diffused through these popular almanacs.)

Jorgenson, C. E. "Sidelights on Benjamin Franklin's Principles of
Rhetoric," _Revue Anglo-Américaine_, 208-22 (Feb., 1934). (Franklin's
principles in general are consonant with the eighteenth-century
neoclassic ideals.)

Jorgenson, C. E. "The Source of Benjamin Franklin's Dialogues between
Philocles and Horatio (1730)," _American Literature_, VI, 337-9 (Nov.,
1934). (The source is Shaftesbury's "The Moralists," in the
_Characteristics_.)

*Jusserand, J. J. "Franklin in France," in _Essays Offered to Herbert
Putnam...._ Ed. by W. W. Bishop and A. Keogh. New Haven: 1929, pp.
226-47. (Delightful summary.)

Kane, Hope F. "James Franklin Senior, Printer of Boston and Newport,"
_American Collector_, III, 17-26 (Oct., 1926). (A study of his _New
England Courant_ and his place in the development of freedom of the
press.)

King, M. R. "One Link in the First Newspaper Chain, _The South Carolina
Gazette," Journalism Quarterly_, IX, 257-68 (Sept., 1932). (Franklin's
partnership with Thomas Whitemarsh in 1731 is here alleged to have
begun the first American newspaper "chain.")

Kite, Elizabeth S. "Benjamin Franklin--Diplomat," _Catholic World_,
CXLII, 28-37 (Oct., 1935). (An intelligent and appreciative brief
survey of the subject, with a considerable preface showing the extent
to which Franklin's worldly success grew out of his religious views.)

Lees, F. "The Parisian Suburb of Passy: Its Architecture in the Days of
Franklin," _Architectural Record_, XII, 669-83 (Dec., 1902). (Several
good illustrations included.)

Livingston, L. S. _Franklin and His Press at Passy; An Account of the
Books, Pamphlets, and Leaflets Printed There, including the Long-Lost
Bagatelles._ The Grolier Club, New York: 1914. (For additions to this
work begun by L. S. Livingston, see R. G. Adams, "The 'Passy-ports'
and Their Press," _American Collector_, IV, 177-80 [Aug., 1927], which
includes bibliography useful to study of the Passy imprints.)

MacDonald, William. "The Fame of Franklin," _Atlantic Monthly_, XCVI.
450-62 (Oct., 1905).

Mackay, Constance D'A. _Franklin. A Play._ New York: 1922.

MacLaurin, Lois M. _Franklin's Vocabulary._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1928.
(His "conservative ideas about linguistic innovations" are to a
notable degree achieved in his practices. For example, of a vocabulary
of 4062 words used in his writings between 1722 and 1751, "only 19
were discovered to be pure 'Americanisms.'")

McMaster, J. B. "Franklin in France," _Atlantic Monthly_, LX, 318-26
(Sept., 1887). (Good survey, based on Hale and Hale, _Franklin in
France_.)

Malone, Kemp. "Benjamin Franklin on Spelling Reform," _American Speech_,
I, 96-100 (Nov., 1925). (Franklin was the "first American to tackle
English phonetics scientifically.")

Mason, W. S. "Franklin and Galloway: Some Unpublished Letters,"
_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 227-58
(Oct., 1924). (Significant sidelights cast on "the problems of
Pennsylvania colonial history from 1757 to 1760." Excellent summary of
Franklin's and Galloway's victory over the Proprietors. Mr. Mason's
collection includes many valuable letters [Franklin-Galloway] between
1757 and 1772, not published in Smyth.)

Mathews, Mrs. L. K. "Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union,
1750-1775," _American Political Science Review_, VIII, 393-412 (Aug.,
1914).

Melville, Herman. _Israel Potter._ London: 1923. (Graphic intuitive
portrait of Franklin: he lives as a "household Plato," "a practical
Magian in linsey-woolsey," a "didactically waggish," prudent courtier
who "was everything but a poet.")

_Mémoires de l'Abbé Morellet, de l'Académie Française, sur le
dixhuitième siècle et sur la Révolution._ 2 vols. Paris: 1821.
(Especially II, 286-311. Franklin viewed as very emblem of Liberty.)

Montgomery, T. H. _A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its
Foundation to A. D. 1770._ Philadelphia: 1900.

_Monthly Review; or Literary Journal: By Several Hands._ London: 1770.
XLII, 199-210, 298-308. ("The experiments and observations of Dr.
Franklin constitute the _principia_ of electricity, and form the basis
of a system equally simple and profound.")

*More, P. E. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Shelburne Essays_, Fourth Series.
New York: 1906, pp. 129-55. (Provocative appraisal: stresses
Franklin's "contemporaneity," his tendency to be oblivious to the
past--a suggestive, if a moot point.)

Morgan, W. _Memoirs of the Life of Rev. Richard Price._ London: 1815.
(Notes on Franklin's relations with Price during early 1760's;
meetings at Royal Society and London Coffee-house.)

Mottay, F. _Benjamin Franklin et la philosophie pratique._ Paris: 1886.
(Good model for citizens of a free nation and "le véritable catechisme
de l'homme vertueux." Also several just remarks on his style which
possesses "les mots épiques d'un Corneille et les élégantes
périphrases d'un Racine.")

Moulton, C. W., ed. _Library of Literary Criticism of English and
American Authors_. Buffalo, N. Y.: 1901. IV, 79-106. (Stimulating
assembly of extracts which aids student in discovering the history of
Franklin's reputation.)

Mustard, W. P. "Poor Richard's Poetry," _Nation_, LXXXII, 239, 279
(March 22, April 5, 1906). (Indicates Franklin's borrowings from
Dryden, Pope, Prior, Gay, Swift, and others.)

Nichols, E. L. "Franklin as a Man of Science," _Independent_, LX, 79-84
(Jan. 11, 1906). (Franklin's mind "turned ever by preference to the
utilitarian and away from the theoretical and speculative aspects of
things.")

"Notice sur Benjamin Franklin," in _OEuvres posthumes de Cabanis_.
Paris: 1825, pp. 219-74. (Representative in its rapturous eulogy.)

Oberholtzer, E. P. _The Literary History of Philadelphia._ Philadelphia:
1906. (Chap. II, "The Age of Franklin," written with conservative
bias, belabors Franklin who as a statesman "was almost as wrong as
Paine and Mirabeau." What Voltaire was to France, Franklin was to his
native city and state.)

Oswald, J. C. _Benjamin Franklin in Oil and Bronze._ New York: 1926.
("Probably the features and form of no man who ever lived were
delineated so frequently and in such a variety of ways as were those
of Benjamin Franklin." Best survey of its kind, including many
excellent reproductions.)

Oswald, J. C. _Benjamin Franklin, Printer._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1917.
(Fullest and ablest account of this phase of Franklin's life.)

Owen, E. D. "Where Did Benjamin Franklin Get the Idea for His Academy?"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LVIII, 86-94 (Jan.,
1934). (Inconclusive evidence attributing it to Dr. Philip Doddridge.)

*Parker, Theodore. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Historic Americans_. Ed.
with notes by S. A. Eliot. Boston: 1908 [written in 1858]. (Franklin
"thinks, investigates, theorizes, invents, but never does he dream."
Although Parker, an idealist and reformer, exalts "the sharp outline
of his [Franklin's] exact idea," his humanitarianism, his combining
the "rare excellence of Socrates and Bacon" in making things "easy
for all to handle and comprehend," he concludes that Franklin is "a
saint devoted to the almighty dollar." There are few more readable
estimates.)

*Parrington, V. L. "Benjamin Franklin," in _The Colonial Mind,
1620-1800_. New York: 1927, pp. 164-78. (Emphasizes Franklin's
tendencies toward agrarian democracy; Parrington's indifference to the
genetic approach and his chronic economic determinism lead him to
slight the primary importance of Franklin's religious and philosophic
views in conditioning his other activities.)

Pennington, E. L. "The Work of the Bray Associates in Pennsylvania,"
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LVIII, 1-25 (Jan.,
1934). (Franklin's humanitarian interest in negro education. In 1758
he writes from London urging school for instructing young Negroes in
Philadelphia.)

_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXV, 307-22, 516-26
(1901), XXVI, 81-90, 255-64 (1902). (Reprints one of Dean Tucker's
pamphlets with Franklin's annotations. Casts light on Franklin's
loyalty to the Crown, while rebellious against Parliament.)

Potamian, Brother, and Walsh, J. J. _Makers of Electricity._ New York:
1909. ("Franklin and Some Contemporaries," chapter II, pp. 68-132, by
Brother Potamian, is an excellent survey of Franklin's contributions
to the science of electricity.)

Powell, E. P. "A Study of Benjamin Franklin," _Arena_, VIII, 477-91
(Sept., 1893). (Fair survey of Franklin as a diplomatist.)

Priestley, J. _The History and Present State of Electricity, with
Original Experiments._ London: 1767. (Many notes observing Franklin's
"truly philosophical greatness of mind." Preface contains suggestive
generalizations concerning function of the natural philosopher:
especially, he who experiments in electricity discerns laws of nature,
"that is, of the God of nature himself.")

Rava, Luigi. "La fortuna di Beniamino Franklin in Italia," Prefazione al
volume _Beniamino Franklin_ di Lawrence Shaw Mayo. Firenze: n.d.

Repplier, Emma. "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor," _Lippincott's
Magazine_, LXXVII, 63-70 (Jan., 1906). (Concerning those who during
the Revolution wrote Franklin for favors and places.)

Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Money," _Pennsylvania
Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 52-64 (Jan., 1930).

Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin's Mission to Canada and the Causes of
Its Failure," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_,
XLVIII, 111-58 (April, 1924).

*Riley, I. W. _American Philosophy: The Early Schools._ New York: 1907,
pp. 229-65. (Conventional view of Franklin's deism; with C. M. Walsh
[see below], Riley overemphasizes influence of Plato on Franklin's
thought.)

Riley, I. W. _American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism and
Beyond._ New York: 1915, pp. 68-77. (Graphic glimpses of "most
precocious of the American skeptics.")

Rosengarten, J. G. "The American Philosophical Society," reprinted from
_Founders' Week Memorial Volume_. Philadelphia: 1908.

Ross, E. D. "Benjamin Franklin as an Eighteenth-Century Agriculture
Leader," _Journal of Political Economy_, XXXVII, 52-72 (Feb., 1929).
(No "rural sentimentalist," Franklin experimented in agriculture,
particularly during 1747-1755, as a utilitarian idealist. Quotes one
who suggests Franklin was "half physiocratic before the rise of the
physiocratic school." Excellent and well-documented survey.)

Sachse, J. F. _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason._ Philadelphia: 1906.
("To write the history of Franklin as a Freemason is virtually to
chronicle the early Masonic history of America." Soundly documented
survey. Includes useful chronological table of Franklin's Masonic
activities.)

*Sainte-Beuve, C. A. _Portraits of the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. by K.
P. Wormeley, with a critical introduction by E. Scherer. New York:
1905. I, 311-75. (The two essays on Franklin in _Causeries du lundi_
are "here put together," though with no important omissions from
either. Brilliant portrait of the "most gracious, smiling, and
persuasive utilitarian," one who assigned "no part to human
imagination.")

Seipp, Erika. _Benjamin Franklins Religion und Ethik._ Darmstadt: 1932.
(Suggestive, though brief, view of Franklin's deism and
utilitarianism. Attempts to see his thought in reference to various
representative deists. This is not, however, a "source" study.)

Shepherd, W. R. _History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania._ New
York: 1896. (Franklin emerges as "a sort of tribune to the people," a
"mighty Goliath," a "plague" in the eyes of the feudalistic rulers of
Pennsylvania, "a huge fief." Author relatively unsympathetic to
Franklin.)

*Sherman, S. P. "Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment," in _Americans_.
New York: 1922, pp. 28-62. (Penetrating survey and estimate.)

Smith, William, D.D. _Eulogium on Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia:
1792. (One agrees with P. L. Ford, that this work "forms a somewhat
amusing contrast to the savageness of the Doctor's earlier writings
against Franklin." Bombastic in its rhetoric and eulogy.)

Smythe, J. H., Jr., comp. _The Amazing Benjamin Franklin._ New York:
1929. (Anthology of brief, popular estimates. If individual notes are
trivial, the collection illustrates Franklin's many-mindedness, a
Renaissance versatility.)

Sonneck, O. G. "Benjamin Franklin's Relation to Music," _Music_, XIX,
1-14 (Nov., 1900).

Steell, Willis. _Benjamin Franklin of Paris, 1776-1785._ New York: 1928.
(An undocumented, partly imaginative, popular account.)

Stifler, J. M. _The Religion of Benjamin Franklin._ New York: 1925.
(Popular survey. Warm appreciation of Franklin's _penchant_ for
projects of a humanitarian sort.)

Stuber, Henry. "Life of Franklin" [a biography meant as a continuation
of Franklin's _Autobiography_], in _Columbian Magazine and Universal
Asylum_, May, July, September, October, November, 1790, and February,
March, May, June, 1791.

*Thorpe, F. N., ed. _Benjamin Franklin and the University of
Pennsylvania._ U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No.
2 (1892). Washington: 1893. (See especially chapters I, II, written by
Thorpe, which deal particularly with Franklin's ideas of self and
formal education.)

Titus, Rev. Anson. "Boston When Ben Franklin Was a Boy," _Proceedings of
the Bostonian Society_, pp. 55-72 (1906). (Brief suggestive view of
the climate of opinion with regard to inoculation, Newtonianism, and
Lockian sensationalism.)

Trent, W. P. "Benjamin Franklin," _McClure's Magazine_, VIII, 273-7
(Jan., 1897). ("The most complete representative of his century that
any nation can point to." Franklin "thoroughly represents his age in
its practicality, in its devotion to science, in its intellectual
curiosity, in its humanitarianism, in its lack of spirituality, in its
calm self-content--in short, in its exaltation of prose and reason
over poetry and faith." An enthusiastic and wise account.)

Trowbridge, John. "Franklin as a Scientist," _Publications of the
Colonial Society of Massachusetts_, XVIII (1917). (Excellent
appreciation of Franklin's capacity for inductive reasoning.)

Tuckerman, H. T. "Character of Franklin," _North American Review_,
LXXXIII, 402-22 (Oct., 1856). (Praises disinterestedness of Franklin
as a scientist, as "one whom Bacon would have hailed as a disciple,"
although he "is not adapted to beguile us 'along the line of infinite
desires.'")

Tudury, M. "Poor Richard," _Bookman_, LXIV, 581-4 (Jan., 1927). (Popular
glance at "cynical patriarch of American letters.")

_Typothetae Bulletin_, XXII, No. 15 (Jan. 11, 1926). (Issue devoted to
the printer Franklin.)

Vicq d'Azyr, Félix. _Éloge de Franklin._ N.p.: 1791.

Victory, Beatrice M. _Benjamin Franklin and Germany._ Americana
Germanica series, No. 21. Press of the University of Pennsylvania:
1915. (Sources reflecting Franklin's reputation in Germany of
particular interest.)

Walsh, C. M. "Franklin and Plato," _Open Court_, XX, 129-33 (March,
1906). (An attempt to interpret his _Articles of Belief_, 1728, in
terms of the _Timaeus_, _Protagoras_, _Republic_, and _Euthyphro_.)

Webster, Noah. _Dissertations on the English Language: With Notes,
Historical and Critical. To which is added, By Way of Appendix, an
Essay on a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Dr. Franklins Arguments on
that Subject._ Boston: 1789. (Notable remarks on Franklin's
perspicuous and correct style which is "plain and elegantly neat": he
"writes for the child as well as the philosopher.")

Wendell, Barrett. _A Literary History of America._ New York: 1900.
(Franklin estimate, pp. 92-103.)

Wetzel, W. A. _Benjamin Franklin as an Economist._ Johns Hopkins
University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Thirteenth
Series, IX, 421-76. Baltimore: 1895. (Useful summary, but superseded
by Carey's _Franklin's Economic Views_.)

Wharton, A. H. "The American Philosophical Society," _Atlantic Monthly_,
LXI, 611-24 (May, 1888).

Bibliographical suggestions relating to Franklin's American friends and contemporaries will be found following the brief but scholarly studies in the _Dictionary of American Biography_. Of these see especially John Adams (also G. Chinard, _Honest John Adams_, Boston, 1933); Samuel Adams; Ethan Allen; Nathaniel Ames; Joel Barlow (also V. C. Miller, _Joel Barlow: Revolutionist, London, 1791-92_, Hamburg, 1932, and T. A. Zunder, _Early Days of Joel Barlow_, New Haven, 1934); John Bartram; William Bartram (also N. Fagin, _William Bartram_, Baltimore, 1933); Hugh H. Brackenridge (also C. Newlin, _Brackenridge_, Princeton, 1933); Cadwallader Colden; John Dickinson; Philip Freneau; Francis Hopkinson; T. Jefferson; Cotton Mather; Jonathan Mayhew; Thomas Paine; David Rittenhouse; Dr. Benjamin Rush (also N. Goodman, _Rush_, Philadelphia, 1934); Rev. William Smith; Ezra Stiles; John Trumbull; Noah Webster.

V. THE AGE OF FRANKLIN

Adams, J. T. _Provincial Society, 1690-1763._ (Volume III of _A History
of American Life_, ed. Fox and Schlesinger.) New York: 1927.
(Contains useful "Critical Essay on Authorities" consulted, pp.
324-56, which serves as a guide for further study of many phases of
the social history of the period.)

Adams, R. G. _Political Ideas of the American Revolution._ Durham, N.
C.: 1922.

Andrews, C. M. _The Colonial Background of the American Revolution._ New
Haven: 1924. (Stresses economic factors and the need of viewing the
subject from the European angle; profitably used as companion study to
Beer's _British Colonial Policy_.)

Baldwin, Alice M. _The New England Clergy and the American Revolution._
Durham, N. C.: 1928. (Prior to 1763 the clergy popularized "doctrines
of natural right, the social contract, and the right of resistance"
and principles of American constitutional law.)

Beard, C. A. _The Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy._ New York:
1915. (Suggestive, if _other_ factors are not neglected. See C. H.
Hull's review in _American Historical Review_, XXII, 401-3.)

Becker, Carl. _The Declaration of Independence; A Study in the History
of Political Ideas._ New York: 1922. (Excellent survey of natural
rights, and the extent to which this concept was influenced by
Newtonianism.)

Becker, Carl. _The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century
Philosophers._ New Haven: 1932. (R. S. Crane observes, after calling
attention to certain obscurities and confusions: "The description of
the general temper of the 'philosophers,' the characterization of the
principal eighteenth-century historians, much at least of the final
chapter on the idea of progress--these can be read with general
approval for their content and with a satisfaction in Becker's prose
style that is unalloyed by considerations of exegesis or terminology"
[_Philological Quarterly_, XIII, 104-6].)

Beer, George L. _British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765._ New York: 1933
[1907].

Bemis, S. F. _The Diplomacy of the American Revolution._ New York; 1935.
(Brilliant exposition of French, Spanish, Austrian, and other
diplomacy relative to the Revolution. Should be supplemented by Frank
Monaghan's _John Jay_.)

Bloch, Léon. _La philosophie de Newton._ Paris: 1908. (A comprehensive,
standard exposition.)

Bosker, Aisso. _Literary Criticism in the Age of Johnson._ Groningen:
1930. (Reviewed by N. Foerster in _Philological Quarterly_, XI,
216-7.)

Brasch, F. E. "The Royal Society of London and Its Influence upon
Scientific Thought in the American Colonies," _Scientific Monthly_,
XXXIII, 336-55, 448-69 (1931). (Useful survey.)

Brinton, Crane. _A Decade of Revolutions, 1789-1799._ New York: 1934.
(Useful on the pattern of ideas associated with the French Revolution;
has a full and up-to-date "Bibliographical Essay," pp. 293-322, with
critical commentary.)

Bullock, C. J. _Essays on the Monetary History of the United States._
New York: 1900. (Useful bibliography, pp. 275-88.)

Burnett, E. C., ed. _Letters of Members of the Continental Congress._
Washington, D. C.: 1921. (Seven volumes now published include letters
to 1784. Contain a mass of new material of first importance, edited
with notes, cross-references, and introductions.)

Burtt, E. A. _The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science; A
Historical and Critical Essay._ New York: 1925.

Bury, J. B. _The Idea of Progress._ New York: 1932 (new edition).
(Standard English work on the topic. See also Jules Delvaille, _Essai
sur l'histoire de l'idée de progrès_ [Paris, 1910], a more
encyclopedic book.)

Channing, Edward. _A History of the United States._ New York: 1912.
(Volumes II-III.)

Clark, H. H. "Factors to be Investigated in American Literary History
from 1787 to 1800," _English Journal_, XXIII, 481-7 (June, 1934).
(Suggests the genetic interrelations of classical ideas;
neoclassicism; the scientific spirit, rationalism, and deism;
primitivism and the idea of progress; physical America and the
frontier spirit; agrarianism and laissez faire; Federalism versus
Democracy, whether Jeffersonian or French; sentimentalism and
humanitarianism; Gothicism; and conflicting currents of aesthetic
theory.)

Clark, H. H., ed. _Poems of Freneau._ New York: 1929. (F. L. Pattee says
of the Introduction, "No one has ever traced out better the
ramifications of French Revolution deism in America and the effects of
its clash with Puritanism" [_American Literature_, II, 316-7]. Also
see Clark's "Thomas Paine's Theories of Rhetoric," _Transactions of
the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters_, XXVIII, 307-39
[1933], which discusses relationships between deism and literary
theory.)

Clark, J. M., Viner, J., and others. _Adam Smith, 1776-1926._ Chicago:
1928. (Brilliant essays on various aspects of Smith's thought and
influence. See especially Jacob Viner's "Adam Smith and
Laissez-Faire," pp. 116-55, which shows the relations in Smith's mind
between economics and religion, between laissez faire and "the
harmonious order of nature" posited by the scientific deists.)

Crane, R. S. "Anglican Apologetics and the Idea of Progress, 1699-1745,"
_Modern Philology_, XXXI, 273-306 (Feb., 1934), 349-82 (May, 1934).
(Demonstrates in masterly fashion how the idea of progress grew out of
orthodox defenses of revealed religion, current in Franklin's
formative years. Modifies the conventional view that the Church was
hostile to the idea of progress and that it derived exclusively from
the scientific spirit.)

Davidson, P. G., Jr. "Whig Propagandists of the American Revolution,"
_American Historical Review_, XXXIX, 442-53 (April, 1934). (Also see
_Revolutionary Propaganda in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania,
1763-1776_. Unpublished dissertation, University of Chicago, 1929.)

"Deism," in _The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge_,
III, 391-7 (by Ernst Troeltsch).

De la Fontainerie, F., tr. and ed. _French Liberalism and Education in
the Eighteenth Century: The Writings of La Chalotais, Turgot, Diderot,
and Condorcet on National Education._ New York: 1932. (Convenient
source book.)

Dewey, D. R. _Financial History of the United States._ New York: 1924
(9th ed.). (Bristles with bibliographical aids for study of eighteenth
century.)

Draper, J. W. _Eighteenth Century English Aesthetics: A Bibliography._
Heidelberg: 1931. (Source materials, pp. 61-128, for aesthetics of
literature and drama: includes in appendix, pp. 129-40, ablest
secondary works to 1931. An invaluable guide. See additions by R. S.
Crane, _Modern Philology_, XXIX, 251 ff. [1931], W. D. Templeman,
_ibid._, XXX, 309-16, R. D. Havens, _Modern Language Notes_, XLVII,
118-20 [1932].)

Drennon, Herbert. "Newtonianism: Its Method, Theology, and Metaphysics,"
_Englische Studien_, LXVIII, 397-409 (1933-1934). (Other parts of Mr.
Drennon's brilliant doctoral dissertation, _James Thomson and
Newtonianism_ [University of Chicago, 1928], have been published in
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XLIX, 71-80, March,
1934; in _Studies in Philology_, XXXI, 453-71, July, 1934; and in
_Philological Quarterly_, XIV, 70-82, Jan., 1935.)

Ducros, Louis. _French Society in the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. from the
French by W. de Geijer; with a Foreword by J. A. Higgs-Walker. London:
1927.

Duncan, C. S. _The New Science and English Literature in the Classical
Period._ Menasha, Wis.: 1913. (Scholarly.)

Dunning, W. A. _A History of Political Theories from Luther to
Montesquieu._ New York: 1905, and _A History of Political Theories
from Rousseau to Spencer_. New York: 1920. (Standard works.)

Elton, Oliver. _The Augustan Age._ New York: 1899, and _A Survey of
English Literature, 1730-1780_. 2 vols. London: 1928. (Acute on
literary trends, though hardly adequate on ideas.)

Evans, Charles. _American Bibliography._ Chicago: 1903-1934. (Volumes
I-XII, 1639-1799.)

Faÿ, Bernard. _Revolution and Freemasonry, 1680-1800._ Boston: 1935.
(Stimulating conjectures vitiated by extravagant and undocumented
conclusions.)

Faÿ, Bernard. _The Revolutionary Spirit in France and America._ Tr. by
R. Guthrie. New York: 1927. (Especially valuable for notes on the
vogue of Franklin in France. Highly important comprehensive survey of
French influence in America, and the impetus our revolution gave to
French liberalism.)

Fisher, S. G. _The Quaker Colonies. A Chronicle of the Proprietors of
the Delaware._ New Haven: 1921. (Useful bibliography, pp. 231-4.)

Fiske, John. _The Beginnings of New England, or the Puritan Theocracy in
Its Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty._ Boston: 1896 [1889].
(See also Perry Miller's _Orthodoxy in Massachusetts, 1630-1650_. _A
Genetic Study._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1933.)

Gettell, R. G. _History of American Political Thought._ New York: 1928.
(The standard comprehensive treatment of its subject. Has good
bibliographies.)

Gide, Charles, and Rist, Charles. _A History of Economic Doctrines from
the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day._ Authorized
translation from the second revised and augmented edition of 1913
under the direction of the late Professor Wm. Smart, by R. Richards.
Boston: 1915. (Excellent survey of physiocracy.)

Gierke, Otto. _Natural Law and the Theory of Society, 1500 to 1800._
With a Lecture on The Ideas of Natural Law and Humanity, by Ernst
Troeltsch. Tr. with an introduction by E. Barker. 2 vols. Cambridge,
England: 1934. (A standard work, with excellent notes, especially
valuable on European backgrounds.)

Gohdes, Clarence. "Ethan Allen and his _Magnum Opus_," _Open Court_,
XLIII, 128-51 (March, 1929). (Suggests the eighteenth-century battle
between revelation and reason, the latter as buttressed by Lockian
sensationalism and Newtonian science.)

Greene, E. B. _The Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North
America._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1898. (Inveterate divergence between
provincial governor and provincial assemblies foreshadowed the
American Revolution.)

Halévy, E. _The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism._ Tr. by M. Morris,
with a preface by A. D. Lindsay. London: 1928. (A comprehensive,
authoritative work.)

Hansen, A. O. _Liberalism and American Education in the Eighteenth
Century._ With an introduction by E. H. Reisner. New York: 1926. (A
good bibliography of primary sources and a poor bibliography of
secondary sources, pp. 265-96. Although this slights Franklin and
deals especially with plans following Franklin's death, it surveys
educational ideals with reference to the ideas of the Enlightenment,
ideas latent in Franklin's writings.)

Haroutunian, Joseph. _Piety versus Moralism, the Passing of the New
England Theology._ New York: 1932. (An important scholarly work
arguing reluctantly that Puritanism declined because it was
theocentric and inadequate to the social needs of the time. Has an
excellent bibliography.)

Hefelbower, S. G. _The Relation of John Locke to English Deism._
Chicago: 1918. (The relation between Locke and the English deists is
"not causal, nor do they mark different stages of the same movement";
they are "related as coordinate parts of the larger progressive
movement of the age." Stresses Locke's tolerance, rationalism, and
natural religion.)

Higgs, Henry. _The Physiocrats. Six Lectures on the French Économistes
of the Eighteenth Century._ London: 1897. (Gide and Rist term this a
"succinct account" of the physiocratic system.)

Hildeburn, C. R. _Issues of the Pennsylvania Press. A Century of
Printing, 1685-1784._ 2 vols. Philadelphia: 1885-1886. (A highly
useful guide to what was being read in Pennsylvania year by year.)

Horton, W. M. _Theism and the Scientific Spirit._ New York: 1933.
(Popular accounts of "Copernican world" and "God in the Newtonian
world" in chapters I-II.)

Humphrey, Edward. _Nationalism and Religion in America, 1774-1789._
Boston: 1924.

Jameson, J. F. _The American Revolution Considered as a Social
Movement._ Princeton, N. J.: 1926. (Brief and general, but
suggestive.)

Jones, H. M. _America and French Culture, 1750-1848._ Chapel Hill, N.
C.: 1927. (A monumental, elaborately documented comprehensive work,
containing an excellent bibliography.)

Jones, H. M. "American Prose Style: 1700-1770," _Huntington Library
Bulletin_, No. 6, 115-51 (Nov., 1934). (Shows that Puritan preachings
inculcated the ideal of a simple, lucid, and dignified style.)

Kaye, F. B., ed. _The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick
Benefits. With a Commentary Critical, Historical, and Explanatory._ 2
vols. Oxford: 1924. (The introduction is the most lucid and
penetrating commentary on Mandeville in relation to the pattern of
ideas of his age. See L. I. Bredvold's review in _Journal of English
and Germanic Philology_, XXIV, 586-9, Oct., 1925.)

Koch, G. A. _Republican Religion: The American Revolution and the Cult
of Reason._ New York: 1933. ("A vast body of facts about a host of
obscure figures"--reviewed by H. H. Clark in _Journal of Philosophy_,
XXXI, 135-8. Contains an elaborate bibliography.)

Kraus, M. _Intercolonial Aspects of American Culture on the Eve of the
Revolution._ New York: 1928. (Scholarly.)

Lecky, W. E. H. _A History of England in the Eighteenth Century._ 7
vols. New York: 1892-1893 (new ed.). (A standard work, containing a
finely documented treatment of the political aspects of the American
Revolution.)

Leonard, S. A. _The Doctrine of Correctness in English Usage,
1700-1800._ Madison, Wis.: 1929. (Authoritative.)

Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien. _History of Modern Philosophy in France._ Chicago:
1899.

Lincoln, C. H. _The Revolutionary Movement in Pennsylvania, 1760-1776._
Philadelphia: 1901. (A highly important study showing that local
sectional strife which would have eventually led to conflict
synchronized with the strife between the colony and England.)

Lovejoy, A. O. "The Parallel of Deism and Classicism," _Modern
Philology_, XXIX, 281-99 (Feb., 1932). ("A systematic statement of the
rationalistic _preconceptions_ which, when applied in matters of
religion terminated in Deism, when applied in aesthetics produced
Classicism. An illuminating synthesis, done throughout with
characteristic finesse and discrimination" [_Philological Quarterly_,
XII, 106, April, 1933].)

McIlwain, C. H. _The American Revolution: A Constitutional
Interpretation._ New York: 1923. (Offers defense of revolution on
English constitutional grounds.)

Martin, Kingsley. _French Liberal Thought in the Eighteenth Century: A
Study of Political Ideas from Bayle to Condorcet._ Boston: 1929.
(Stimulating survey of ideology motivating the French revolution, "a
dramatic moment when feudalism, clericalism and divine monarchy
collapsed.")

Merriam, C. E. _A History of American Political Theories._ New York:
1924 [1903]. (Authoritative, brief treatment.)

Monaghan, Frank. _John Jay, Defender of Liberty._ New York: 1935. (A
brilliant biography and a fully documented study of the activities and
diplomacy of the Continental Congress. Supplements S. F. Bemis; see
above.)

Moore, C. A. "Shaftesbury and the Ethical Poets in England, 1700-1760,"
_Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XXXI (N. S. XXIV),
264-325 (June, 1916). (Penetrating and brilliant survey of the growth
of altruism, to be supplemented by R. S. Crane's studies of earlier
sources.)

Morais, H. M. _Deism in Eighteenth Century America._ New York: 1934. (If
little space is given to the implications of Deism in terms of
political, economic, and literary theory, and if the leaders of
deistic thought, such as Franklin, Jefferson, and Paine are too
lightly dealt with, this work is "substantial, precise,
well-documented, modest, cautious, and objective." Has a good
bibliography. Reviewed by H. H. Clark, _American Literature_, VI,
467-9, Jan., 1935. See also Morais's "Deism in Revolutionary America,
1763-89," _International Journal of Ethics_, XLII, 434-53, July,
1932.)

Morley, John. _Diderot and the Encyclopædists._ 2 vols. London: 1923. (A
suggestive survey, parts of which have been superseded by more recent
studies.)

Mornet, Daniel. _French Thought in the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. by L. M.
Levin. New York: 1929. (Lucid and penetrating survey; suggestive notes
on the influence of speculation motivated by science.)

Mornet, Daniel. _Les origines intellectuelles de la Révolution française
(1715-1787)._ Paris: 1933. (A brilliant work, concluding that without
the extraordinary diffusion of radical ideas in all classes in France,
the States-General in 1789 would not have adopted revolutionary
measures. See C. Brinton's review, _American Historical Review_,
XXXIX, 726-7, 1934.)

Morse, W. N. "Lectures on Electricity in Colonial Times," _New England
Quarterly_, VII, 364-74 (June, 1934). (Presents fourteen items on the
vogue of electrical experiments, 1747-1765.)

Mott, F. L. _A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850._ New York:
1930.

Mullett, C. F. _Fundamental Law and the American Revolution, 1760-1776._
New York: 1933. (A highly important scholarly study, with excellent
bibliography of relevant investigations of recent date. Supplements B.
F. Wright.)

Ornstein, Martha. _The Rôle of Scientific Societies in the Seventeenth
Century._ New York: 1913. Reprinted, University of Chicago Press:
1928. (Shows their radical influence. See suggestive reviews in
_American Historical Review_, XXXIV, 386-7, 1929; and _Times Literary
Supplement_ [London], 679, Sept. 27, 1928.)

Osgood, H. L. _The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century._ 4 vols.
New York: 1924-1925. (Standard work on political aspects.)

Perkins, J. B. _France in the American Revolution._ Boston: 1911.
(Includes able survey of Franklin's efforts in behalf of colonies.)

Richardson, L. N. _A History of Early American Magazines, 1741-1789._
New York: 1931. (An encyclopedic survey indispensable to all students
of the period. Enormously documented.)

Robertson, J. M. _A Short History of Free Thought, Ancient and Modern._
2 vols. London: 1915. (Third edition, revised and expanded. An
important survey, if somewhat militantly partisan.)

Roustan, Marius. _The Pioneers of the French Revolution._ Tr. by F.
Whyte, with an Introduction by H. J. Laski. Boston: 1926. (Thesis:
"The spirit of the _philosophes_ was the spirit of the Revolution."
Highly readable, but inferior to parallel studies by Martin and Mornet
in incisive analysis of patterns of ideas. Stresses picturesque social
aspects.)

Schapiro, J. S. _Condorcet and the Rise of Liberalism in France._ New
York: 1934. (Condorcet is the "almost perfect expression of the
pioneer liberalism of the period"; he is viewed as the "last of the
encyclopedists and the most universal of all." A lucid scholarly
study, although hardly superseding Alengry's _Condorcet_.)

Schlesinger, A. M. "The American Revolution," in _New Viewpoints in
American History_. New York: 1922, pp. 160-83. (A brief but excellent
interpretation, stressing economic factors, and presenting a useful
"Bibliographical Note," pp. 181-3, including references to studies of
political and religious factors. See also studies of the latter by R.
G. Adams, Alice Baldwin, Carl Becker, B. F. Wright, C. F. Mullett, C.
H. Van Tyne, and Edward Humphrey.)

Schneider, H. W. _The Puritan Mind._ New York: 1930. (An acute scholarly
study, with excellent bibliography. The stress on ideas supplements
and balances Parrington's tendency to dismiss ideas as by-products of
economic factors.)

Smith, T. V. _The American Philosophy of Equality._ Chicago: 1927.
(Chapter I includes discussion of "natural rights," with recognition
of the influence of European theorists.)

Smyth, A. H. _The Philadelphia Magazines and Their Contributors,
1741-1850._ Philadelphia: 1892. (Brief descriptive account, mostly
superseded by the relevant sections in F. L. Mott's and L. N.
Richardson's histories.)

Stephen, Leslie. _A History of English Thought in the Eighteenth
Century._ 2 vols. London: 1902 (3rd ed.). (As J. L. Laski observes, it
is "almost insolent to praise such work." In certain aspects, however,
it has been superseded by studies by such men as R. S. Crane, A. O.
Lovejoy, H. M. Jones, etc.)

Stimson, Dorothy. _The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory of
the Universe._ Hanover, N. H.: 1917.

Taylor, O. H. "Economics and the Idea of Natural Law," _Quarterly
Journal of Economics_, XLIV, 1-39 (Nov., 1929). ("The evolution of the
idea of 'law' in economics" paralleling "its evolution in the natural
sciences" led to belief in an economic mechanism which "was regarded
as a wise device of the Creator for causing individuals, while
pursuing only their own interests, to promote the prosperity of
society, and for causing the right adjustment to one another of
supplies, demands, prices, and incomes, to take place automatically,
in consequence of the free action of all individuals." The author
suggests that there is evident an incongruous dichotomy between the
mechanistic idea of the physiocrats and their assumption that
enlightened men "would be able to use government as a scientific tool
for carrying out purely rationalistic measures in the common
interest." See also outline of his doctoral thesis on this subject.
Harvard University _Summaries of Theses_ [1928], 102-6. An
authoritative study of an important subject.)

Torrey, N. L. _Voltaire and the English Deists._ New Haven: 1930. (Shows
Voltaire's great indebtedness to Newtonianism, which he popularized in
France, and to earlier deists than Bolingbroke. Authoritative.)

Turberville, A. S., ed. _Johnson's England. An Account of the Life and
Manners of His Age._ 2 vols. Oxford University Press: 1933. (Although
this collaborative work neglects political, religious, economic, and
aesthetic ideas, it embodies readable and authoritative surveys of
external aspects of social history, viewed from many angles. Contains
useful bibliographies. See review by H. H. Clark, _American Review_,
II, No. 4 [Feb., 1934].)

Tyler, M. C. _A History of American Literature, 1607-1765_ (2 vols. New
York: 1878), and _The Literary History of the American Revolution_ (2
vols. New York: 1897). (Somewhat grandiloquent but very full survey,
including Loyalists. Excellent on literary aspects but partly
superseded on ideas. Contains excellent bibliography of primary
sources.)

Van Tyne, C. H. _The Causes of the War of Independence._ Boston: 1922.
(Brilliant both in interpretation and style, and well balanced in
considering economic, political, social, religious, and philosophic
factors.)

Veitch, G. S. _The Genesis of Parliamentary Reform._ London: 1913.
(Useful for English backgrounds.)

Weld, C. R. _A History of the Royal Society with Memoirs of the
Presidents._ 2 vols. London: 1848.

Wendell, Barrett. _Cotton Mather, the Puritan Priest._ Cambridge, Mass.:
1926 [1891]. (A sympathetic study of one of Franklin's masters, based
on a deep knowledge of the Puritan spirit.)

Weulersse, Georges. _Le mouvement physiocratique en France_ (_de 1756 à
1770_). 2 vols. Paris: 1910. (The standard treatment.)

White, A. D. _A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in
Christendom._ 2 vols. New York: 1897. (Prominent attention given to
colonial eighteenth century.)

Whitney, Lois. _Primitivism and the Idea of Progress in English Popular
Literature of the Eighteenth Century._ Baltimore: 1934. (An acute
study of the history of an important idea, especially as embodied in
novels. Occasionally misleading because Miss Whitney does not always
pay necessary attention to the major individuals' change of attitude,
to their genetic development. Contains no bibliography. See Bury,
above.)

Williams, David. "The Influence of Rousseau on Political Opinion,
1760-1795," _English Historical Review_, XLVIII, 414-30 (1933).

Winsor, Justin, ed. _Narrative and Critical History of America._ 8 vols.
Boston: [1884-] 1889. (Especially valuable for bibliographical notes.)

Wright, B. F. _American Interpretations of Natural Law. A Study in the
History of Political Thought._ Cambridge, Mass.: 1931. (An able
outline of main trends, although it neglects evidence both in
eighteenth-century sermons and in legal papers of colonial attorneys.
Shows strong influence of Grotius, Puffendorf, and Locke on
Revolutionary theories. Should be supplemented by C. F. Mullett's
parallel book. Reviewed by R. B. Morris, _American Historical Review_,
XXXVII, 561-2, April, 1932.)

Wright, T. G. _Literary Culture in Early New England, 1620-1730._ New
Haven: 1920. (Valuable for its check lists of colonial libraries,
suggesting books current in Franklin's formative years. The best
treatment of its subject although it neglects the literary and
aesthetic theories of the period. To be supplemented by books by C. F.
Richardson, W. F. Mitchell, and E. C. Cook.)

Further background studies may be found in _The Cambridge History of English Literature_, Cambridge and New York, 1912-1914, VIII-XI, and _The Cambridge History of American Literature_, New York, 1917, Vol. I. See also the more up-to-date bibliographies in P. Smith's _A History of Modern Culture_, New York, 1934, II, 647-76; R. S. Crane's _A Collection of English Poems, 1660-1800_, New York, 1932, pp. 1115-42; and especially O. Shepard and P. S. Wood, _English Prose and Poetry, 1660-1800_, Boston, 1934, pp. xxxiii-xxxviii and pp. 937-1067. For bibliographical guides, see note following, p. clxxxviii.

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND CHECK LISTS

Boggess, A. C., and Witmer, E. R. _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin
Franklin in the Library of the University of Pennsylvania._ (Being
the Appendix to the _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in
the Library of the American Philosophical Society_, edited by I. M.
Hays.) Philadelphia: 1908. (This valuable work lists letters to
Franklin, letters from Franklin, and miscellaneous letters, with
brief notes on the topics discussed in each letter and place of
publication in cases where the letters have been published.)

_Books Printed by Benjamin Franklin. Born Jan. 17, 1706._ New York:
1906. (Lists best known imprints; useful although eclipsed by
Campbell.)

*_The Cambridge History of American Literature._ New York: 1917. I,
442-52. (Lists of "Collected Works," "Separate Works," and
"Contributions to Periodicals" constitute a convenient abridgment of
Ford, but the list, "Biographical and Critical," limited to two pages,
is at best inadequately suggestive.)

Campbell, W. J. _The Collection of Franklin Imprints in the Museum of
the Curtis Publishing Company. With a Short-Title Check List of All
the Books, Pamphlets, Broadsides, &c., known to have been printed by
Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1918.

Campbell, W. J. _A Short-Title Check List of All the Books, Pamphlets,
Broadsides, &c., known to have been printed by Benjamin Franklin._
Philadelphia: 1918.

*Faÿ, B. _Benjamin Franklin bibliographie et étude sur les sources
historiques relatives à sa vie_ (Vol. III of _Benjamin Franklin,
bourgeois d'Amérique et citoyen du monde_.) Paris: 1931. (Faÿ, in
_Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times_, pp. 517-33, has furnished
"only a summary bibliography," which, in spite of its occasional
inaccuracies and infelicities in form, contains many useful items,
American, English, and French; especially valuable for notes on
several manuscript collections. In this French edition the
bibliography is more detailed.)

*Ford, P. L. _Franklin Bibliography. A List of Books Written by, or
Relating to Benjamin Franklin._ Brooklyn, N. Y.: 1889. (The standard,
time-honored work, unfortunately not superseded.)

Ford, W. C. _List of the Benjamin Franklin Papers in the Library of
Congress._ Washington, D. C.: 1905.

Hays, I. M. _Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library
of the American Philosophical Society._ Vols. II-VI in _The Record of
the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of
Benjamin Franklin, under the Auspices of the American Philosophical
Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, April 17
to 20, 1906_. Philadelphia: 1908. (A. H. Smyth purports to have
printed in his ten-volume edition all of Franklin's letters in this
collection. Valuable especially for letters addressed to Franklin.)

"List of Works in the New York Public Library by or Relating to Benjamin
Franklin," _Bulletin of New York Public Library_, X, No. 1. New York:
1906, pp. 29-83.

Rosengarten, J. G. "Some New Franklin Papers," _University of
Pennsylvania Alumni Register_, 1-7 (July, 1903). (A report to the
Board of Trustees saying "there are over five hundred pieces of MS
among the collection of Franklin papers recently added to the Library
of the University." These range from 1731 to Franklin's latest
correspondence. Only a few of these pieces are described.)

Stevens, Henry. _Benjamin Franklin's Life and Writings. A
Bibliographical Essay on the Stevens Collection of Books and
Manuscripts Relating to Doctor Franklin._ London: 1881. (Pp. 21-40
contain a list of "Franklin's Printed Works.")

Swift, Lindsay. "Catalogue of Works Relating to Benjamin Franklin in the
Boston Public Library," _Bulletin of the Boston Public Library_, V,
217-31, 276-84, 420-33. Boston: 1883. (Including Dr. S. A. Green's
collection, this was the "immediate predecessor" to Ford.)

For current articles the student should consult especially the bibliographies in _Philological Quarterly_, _American Literature_, _Publications of the Modern Language Association_, bibliographical bulletins of the Modern Humanities Research Association, and Grace G. Griffin's annual bibliography, _Writings on American History_.

*

_Selections from_ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

*

NOTE: Superior figures through the text refer to notes in pp. 529 ff.

_From the_ AUTOBIOGRAPHY[1]

TWYFORD, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's, 1771.

DEAR SON, I have ever had a Pleasure in obtaining any little Anecdotes of my Ancestors. You may remember the Enquiries I made among the Remains of my Relations when you were with me in England; and the journey I undertook for that purpose. Now imagining it may be equally agreable to you to know the Circumstances of _my_ Life, many of which you are yet unacquainted with; and expecting a Weeks uninterrupted Leisure in my present Country Retirement, I sit down to write them for you. To which I have besides some other Inducements. Having emerg'd from the Poverty and Obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a State of Affluence and some Degree of Reputation in the World, and having gone so far thro' Life with a considerable Share of Felicity, the conducing Means I made use of, which, with the Blessing of God, so well succeeded, my Posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own Situations, and therefore fit to be imitated. That Felicity, when I reflected on it, has induc'd me sometimes to say, that were it offer'd to my Choice, I should have no Objection to a Repetition of the same Life from its Beginning, only asking the Advantages Authors have in a second Edition to correct some Faults of the first. So would I if I might, besides corr[ecting] the Faults, change some sinister Accidents and Events of it for others more favourable, but tho' this were deny'd, I should still accept the Offer. However, since such a Repetition is not to be expected, the next Thing most like living one's Life over again, seems to be a _Recollection_ of that Life; and to make that Recollection as durable as possible, the putting it down in Writing. Hereby, too, I shall indulge the Inclination so natural in old Men, to be talking of themselves and their own past Actions, and I shall indulge it, without being troublesome to others who thro' respect to Age might think themselves oblig'd to give me a Hearing, since this may be read or not as any one pleases. And lastly (I may as well confess it, since my Denial of it will be believ'd by no Body) perhaps I shall a good deal gratify my own _Vanity_. Indeed I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory Words, _Without vanity I may say_, &c. but some vain thing immediately follow'd. Most People dislike Vanity in others whatever share they have of it themselves, but I give it fair Quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of Good to the Possessor and to others that are within his Sphere of Action: And therefore in many Cases it would not be quite absurd if a Man were to thank God for his Vanity among the other Comforts of Life.--

And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all Humility to acknowledge, that I owe the mention'd Happiness of my past Life to his kind Providence, which led me to the Means I us'd and gave them Success. My Belief of this, induces me to _hope_, tho' I must not _presume_, that the same Goodness will still be exercis'd towards me in continuing that Happiness, or in enabling me to bear a fatal Reverse, which I may experience as others have done, the Complexion of my future Fortune being known to him only: in whose Power it is to bless to us even our Afflictions.

The Notes one of my Uncles (who had the same kind of Curiosity in collecting Family Anecdotes) once put into my Hands, furnish'd me with several Particulars relating to our Ancestors. From these Notes I learnt that the Family had liv'd in the same Village, Ecton in Northamptonshire, for 300 Years, and how much longer he knew not (perhaps from the Time when the Name _Franklin_ that before was the name of an Order of People, was assum'd by them for a Surname, when others took surnames all over the kingdom)[,] on a Freehold of about 30 Acres, aided by the Smith's Business, which had continued in the Family till his Time, the eldest son being always bred to that Business[.] A Custom which he and my Father both followed as to their eldest Sons.--When I search'd the Register at Ecton, I found an Account of their Births, Marriages and Burials, from the Year 1555 only, there being no Register kept in that Parish at any time preceding.--By that Register I perceiv'd that I was the youngest Son of the youngest Son for 5 Generations back. My Grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow Business longer, when he went to live with his Son John, a Dyer at Banbury in Oxfordshire, with whom my Father serv'd an Apprenticeship. There my Grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his Gravestone in 1758. His eldest Son Thomas liv'd in the House at Ecton, and left it with the Land to his only Child, a Daughter, who, with her Husband, one Fisher of Wellingborough sold it to Mr. Isted, now Lord of the Manor there. My Grandfather had 4 Sons that grew up, viz Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what Account I can of them at this distance from my Papers, and if these are not lost in my Absence, you will among them find many more Particulars. Thomas was bred a Smith under his Father, but being ingenious, and encourag'd in Learning (as all his Brothers likewise were) by an Esquire Palmer then the principal Gentleman in that Parish, he qualify'd himself for the Business of Scrivener, became a considerable Man in the County Affairs, was a chief Mover of all publick Spirited Undertakings for the County or Town of Northampton and his own village, of which many instances were told us; and he was at Ecton much taken Notice of and patroniz'd by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, Jan. 6, old Stile, just 4 Years to a Day before I was born. The Account we receiv'd of his Life and Character from some old People at Ecton, I remember struck you as something extraordinary, from its Similarity to what you knew of mine. Had he died on the same Day, you said one might have suppos'd a Transmigration.--John was bred a Dyer, I believe of Woollens. Benjamin, was bred a Silk Dyer, serving an Apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious Man, I remember him well, for when I was a Boy he came over to my Father in Boston, and lived in the House with us some Years. He lived to a great Age. His Grandson Samuel Franklin now lives in Boston. He left behind him two Quarto Volumes, MS of his own Poetry, consisting of little occasional Pieces address'd to his Friends and Relations, of which the following sent to me, is a Specimen. [Although Franklin wrote in the margin "Here insert it," the poetry is not given.] He had form'd a Shorthand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it I have now forgot it. I was nam'd after this Uncle, there being a particular Affection between him and my Father. He was very pious, a great Attender of Sermons of the best Preachers, which he took down in his Shorthand and had with him many Volumes of them. He was also much of a Politician, too much perhaps for his Station. There fell lately into my Hands in London a Collection he had made of all the principal Pamphlets relating to Publick Affairs from 1641 to 1717. Many of the Volumes are wanting, as appears by the Numbering, but there still remains 8 Vols. Folio, and 24 in 4.^to and 8.^vo.--A Dealer in old Books met with them, and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. It seems my Uncle must have left them here when he went to America, which was above 50 years since. There are many of his Notes in the Margins.--

This obscure Family of ours was early in the Reformation, and continu'd Protestants thro' the Reign of Queen Mary, when they were sometimes in Danger of Trouble on Account of their Zeal against Popery. They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fastened open with Tapes under and within the Frame of a Joint Stool. When my Great Great Grandfather read it [it] to his Family, he turn'd up the joint Stool upon his Knees, turning over the Leaves then under the Tapes. One of the Children stood at the Door to give Notice if he saw the Apparitor coming, who was an Officer of the Spiritual Court. In that Case the Stool was turn'd down again upon its feet, when the Bible remain'd conceal'd under it as before. This Anecdote I had from my Uncle Benjamin.--The Family continu'd all of the Church of England till about the End of Charles the 2^ds Reign, when some of the Ministers that had been outed for Nonconformity, holding Conventicles in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Josiah adher'd to them, and so continu'd all their Lives. The rest of the Family remain'd with the Episcopal Church.

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his Wife with three Children into New England, about 1682. The Conventicles having been forbidden by Law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable Men of his Acquaintance to remove to that Country, and he was prevail'd with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their Mode of Religion with Freedom.--By the same Wife he had 4 Children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all 17, of which I remember 13 sitting at one time at his Table, who all grew up to be Men and Women, and married. I was the youngest Son, and the youngest Child but two, and was born in Boston, N. England. My mother, the 2^d wife was Abiah Folger, a daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first Settlers of New England, of whom honourable mention is made by Cotton Mather, in his Church History of that Country, (entitled Magnalia Christi Americana) as _a godly learned Englishman_, if I remember the Words rightly. I have heard that he wrote sundry small occasional Pieces, but only one of them was printed which I saw now many years since. It was written in 1675, in the home-spun Verse of that Time and People, and address'd to those then concern'd in the Government there. It was in favour of Liberty of Conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other Sectaries, that had been under Persecution; ascribing the Indian Wars and other Distresses, that had befallen the Country to that Persecution, as so many Judgments of God, to punish so heinous an Offense; and exhorting a Repeal of those uncharitable Laws. The whole appear'd to me as written with a good deal of Decent Plainness and manly Freedom. The six last concluding Lines I remember, tho' I have forgotten the two first of the Stanza, but the Purport of them was that his Censures proceeded from Good will, and therefore he would be known as the Author,

"Because to be a Libeller, (says he)
I hate it with my Heart.
From[A] Sherburne Town where now I dwell,
My Name I do put here,
Without Offense, your real Friend,
It is Peter Folgier."

[A] In MS Franklin notes, "In the Island of Nantucket."