The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface
• The Autobiography
• I: Skeleton Sketch of the Topics For the Autobiography
• 1706-1730 Ii
• Continuation of the Account of My Life, Begun At Passy, Near Paris, 1784
• 1.: Temperance
• 2.: Silence
• 3.: Order
• 4.: Resolution
• 5.: Frugality
• 6.: Industry
• 7.: Sincerity
• 8.: Justice
• 9.: Moderation
• 10.: Cleanliness
• 11.: Tranquillity
• 12.: Chastity
• 13.: Humility
• Correspondence and Miscellaneous Writings
• III: To Sir Hans Sloane 1
• IV: To Miss Jane Franklin 1
• V: Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion
• First Principles
• Milton’s Hymn to the Creator
• Petition
• Duty
• VI: Miscellaneous Observations
• VII: Rules For a Club Established For Mutual Improvement 1
• VIII: The Busy-body—no. I 1
• The Busy-body—no. Ii
• The Busy-body—no. Iii
• The Busy-body—no. Iv
• The Busy-body—no. V
• The Busy-body—no. Viii
• IX: A Modest Inquiry Into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency 1
• X: Dialogue Concerning Virtue and Pleasure 2
• XI: Public Men 1
• XII: To Mrs. Jane Mecom 1
• XIII: Letter From Celia Single 1
• XIV: Letter From Anthony Afterwit 1
• XV: Self-denial Not the Essence of Virtue 1

DUTY

That I may be preserved from Atheism & Infidelity, Impiety and Profaneness, and in my Addresses to Thee carefully avoid Irreverence and ostentation, Formality and odious Hypocrisy,

Help me, O Father.

That I may be loyal to my Prince and faithful to my country, careful for its good, valiant in its defense, and obedient to its Laws, abhorring Treason as much as Tyranny,

Help me, O Father.

That I may to those above me, be dutiful, humble, and submissive, avoiding Pride, Disrespect, and Contumacy,

Help me, O Father.

That I may to those below me, be gracious, Condescending, & Forgiving, using Clemency, protecting innocent Distress, avoiding Cruelty, Harshness, & oppression, Insolence and unreasonable Severity,

Help me, O Father.

That I may refrain from Censure, Calumny, & Detraction; that I may avoid and abhor Deceit and Envy, Fraud, Flattery, and Hatred, Malice, Lying and Ingratitude,

Help me, O Father.

That I may be sincere in Friendship, faithful in trust and Impartial in Judgment, watchful against Pride and against Anger (that momentary Madness),

Help me, O Father.

That I may be just in all my Dealings and temperate in my Pleasures, full of Candour and Ingenuity, Humanity and Benevolence,

Help me, O Father.

That I may be grateful to my Benefactors and generous to my Friends, exerting Charity and Liberality to the Poor and Pity to the Miserable,

Help me, O Father.

That I may avoid Avarice and Ambition, Jealousie and Intemperance, Falsehood, Luxury, and Lasciviousness,

Help me, O Father.

That I may possess Integrity and Evenness of Mind, Resolution in Difficulties, and Fortitude under affliction; that I may be punctual in performing my promises, Peaceable and prudent in my Behaviour,

Help me, O Father.

That I may have tenderness for the weak and a Reverent respect for the Ancient; that I may be Kind to my Neighbours, goodnatured to my companions and hospitable to strangers,

Help me, O Father.

That I may be averse to Tale bearing, Backbiting, Detraction, Slander, & Craft, and overreaching, abhor Extortion and Perjury and every Kind of wickedness,

Help me, O Father.

That I may be honest and open hearted, gentle, merciful, and good, cheerful in spirit, rejoicing in the Good of others,

Help me, O Father.

That I may have a constant Regard to Honour and Probity; That I may possess a perfect innocence and a good Conscience, and at length become Truly Virtuous and Magnanimous,

Help me, Good God.

Help me, O Father.

VI

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS

Whence does it proceed, that the proselytes to any sect or persuasion generally appear more zealous than those that are bred up in it?

Answer. I suppose that people bred in different persuasions are nearly zealous alike. Then he that changes his party is either sincere or not sincere; that is, he either does it for the sake of the opinions merely, or with a view of interest. If he is sincere, and has no view of interest, and considers, before he declares himself, how much ill-will he shall have from those he leaves, and that those he is about to go among will be apt to suspect his sincerity; if he is not really zealous he will not declare, and therefore must be zealous if he does declare.

If he is not sincere, he is obliged at least to put on an appearance of great zeal, to convince the better his new friends that he is heartily in earnest; for his old ones, he knows, dislike him. And as few acts of zeal will be more taken notice of than such as are done against the party he has left, he is inclined to injure or malign them, because he knows they contemn and despise him. Hence, as the proverb says, One renegado is worse than ten Turks.

Sir:—It is strange that among men who are born for society and mutual solace there should be any who take pleasure in speaking disagreeable things to their acquaintance. But such there are, I assure you; and I should be glad if a little public chastisement might be any means of reforming them. These ill-natured people study a man’s temper, or the circumstances of his life, merely to know what disgusts him, and what he does not care to hear mentioned; and this they take care to omit no opportunity of disturbing him with. They communicate their wonderful discoveries to others, with an ill-natured satisfaction in their countenances; Say such a thing to such a man and you cannot mortify him worse. They delight (to use their own phrase) in seeing galled horses wince, and, like flies, a sore place is a feast to them. Know, ye wretches, that the meanest insect, the trifling musqueto, the filthy bug, have it in their power to give pain to men; but to be able to give pleasure to your fellow creatures requires good nature and a kind and humane disposition, joined with talents to which ye seem to have no pretension.

X. Y.

If a sound body and a sound mind, which is as much as to say, health and virtue, are to be preferred before all other considerations, ought not men, in choosing a business either for themselves or children, to refuse such as are unwholesome for the body, and such as make a man too dependent, too much obliged to please others, and too much subjected to their humors in order to be recommended and get a livelihood?

I am about courting a girl I have had but little acquaintance with. How shall I come to a knowledge of her faults, and whether she has the virtues I imagine she has?

Answer. Commend her among her female acquaintance.

The great secret of succeeding in conversation is to admire little, to hear much; always to distrust our own reason, and sometimes that of our friends; never to pretend to wit, but to make that of others appear as much as possibly we can; to hearken to what is said, and to answer to the purpose.

• In vain are musty morals taught in schools
• By rigid teachers and as rigid rules,
• Where virtue with a frowning aspect stands,
• And frights the pupil with her rough commands.
• But woman . . .
• Charming woman can true converts make,
• We love the precepts for the teacher’s sake;
• Virtue in her appears so bright and gay,
• We hear with pleasure and with pride obey.

VII

RULES FOR A CLUB ESTABLISHED FOR MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT1

PREVIOUS QUESTION, TO BE ANSWERED AT EVERY MEETING

Have you read over these queries this morning, in order to consider what you might have to offer the Junto touching any one of them? viz.:

1. Have you met with any thing in the author you last read, remarkable or suitable to be communicated to the Junto, particularly in history, morality, poetry, physic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?

2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?

3. Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?

4. Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?

5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?

6. Do you know of a fellow citizen who has lately done a worthy action deserving praise and imitation, or who has lately committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?

7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard; of imprudence, of passion, or of any other vice or folly?

8. What happy effects of temperance, of prudence, of moderation, or of any other virtue?

9. Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?

10. Whom do you know that are shortly going voyages or journeys, if one should have occasion to send by them?

11. Do you think of any thing at present in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind, to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?

12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you have heard of? And what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? And whether, think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?

13. Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?

14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the legislature for an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?

15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?

16. Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? And what can the Junto do towards securing it?

17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure for you?

18. Have you lately heard any member’s character attacked, and how have you defended it?

19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?

20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honorable designs?

21. Have you any weighty affair on hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?

22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?

23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?

24. Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto which might be amended?

Any person to be qualified [as a member of the Junto], to stand up, and lay his hand upon his breast, and be asked these questions, viz.:

1. Have you any particular disrespect to any present members? Answer. I have not.

2. Do you sincerely declare that you love mankind in general, of what profession or religion soever? Answer. I do.

3. Do you think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name, or goods, for mere speculative opinions or his external way of worship? Answer. No.

4. Do you love truth for truth’s sake, and will you endeavour impartially to find and receive it yourself, and communicate it to others? Answer. Yes.

PROPOSALS AND QUERIES FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE JUNTO1

Proposals

That P. S. and A. N. be immediately invited into the Junto.

That all new members be qualified by the four qualifications, and all the old ones take . . .

That these queries, copied at the beginning of a book, be read distinctly at each meeting; a pause between each, while one might fill and drink a glass of wine.

That if they cannot be gone through in one night, we begin the next where we left off; only such as particularly regard the Junto to be read every night.

That it be not hereafter the duty of any member to bring queries, but left to his discretion.

That an old declamation be read without fail every night, when there is no new one.

That Mr. Breintnal’s poem on the Junto be read once a month, and hummed in concert by as many as can hum it.

That in spring, summer, and fall the Junto meet once a month in the afternoon, in some proper place across the river, for bodily exercise.

That in the aforesaid book be kept minutes, thus:

Friday,June 30, 1732.

Present, A. B., C. D., E. F., &c.

That these minutes be read once a year at the anniversary.

That all fines due be immediately paid in, and the penal laws for queries and declamations abolished; only he who is absent above ten times in a year to pay ten shillings toward the anniversary entertainment.

That the Secretary, for keeping the minutes, be allowed one shilling per night, to be paid out of the money already in his hands.

That after the queries are begun reading, all discourse foreign to them shall be deemed impertinent.

When any thing from reading an author is mentioned, if it exceed a line, and the Junto require it, the person shall bring the passage, or an abstract of it, the next night, if he has it not with him.

When the books of the library come, every member shall undertake some author, that he may not be without observations to communicate.

Queries

How shall we judge of the goodness of a writing? Or what qualities should a writing have to be good and perfect in its kind?

Answer. To be good, it ought to have a tendency to benefit the reader, by improving his virtue or his knowledge. But, not regarding the intention of the author, the method should be just; that is, it should proceed regularly from things known to things unknown, distinctly and clearly without confusion. The words used should be the most expressive that the language affords, provided that they are the most generally understood. Nothing should be expressed in two words that can be as well expressed in one; that is, no synonymes should be used, or very rarely, but the whole should be as short as possible, consistent with clearness; the words should be so placed as to be agreeable to the ear in reading; summarily, it should be smooth, clear, and short, for the contrary qualities are displeasing.

But, taking the query otherwise, an ill man may write an ill thing well; that is, having an ill design, he may use the properest style and arguments (considering who are to be readers) to attain his ends. In this sense, that is best wrote, which is best adapted for obtaining the end of the writer.

Can a man arrive at perfection in this life, as some believe; or is it impossible, as others believe?

Answer. Perhaps they differ in the meaning of the word perfection. I suppose the perfection of any thing to be only the greatest the nature of the thing is capable of. Different things have different degrees of perfection, and the same thing at different times. Thus, a horse is more perfect than an oyster, yet the oyster may be a perfect oyster, as well as the horse a perfect horse. And an egg is not so perfect as a chicken, nor a chicken as a hen; for the hen has more strength than the chicken, and the chicken more life than the egg; yet it may be a perfect egg, chicken, and hen.

If they mean a man cannot in this life be so perpect as an angel, it may be true; for an angel, by being incorporeal, is allowed some perfections we are at present incapable of, and less liable to some imperfections than we are liable to. If they mean a man is not capable of being so perfect here, as he is capable of being in heaven, that may be true likewise. But that a man is not capable of being as perfect here, as he is capable of being here, is not sense; it is as if I should say, a chicken, in the state of a chicken, is not capable of being so perfect as a chicken is capable of being in that state.

In the above sense, there may be a perfect oyster, a perfect horse, a perfect ship; why not a perfect man—that is, as perfect as his present nature and circumstances admit.

Question.

Wherein consists the happiness of a rational creature?

Answer.

In having a sound mind and a healthy body, a sufficiency of the necessaries and conveniences of life, together with the favor of God and the love of mankind.

Q.

What do you mean by a sound mind?

A.

A faculty of reasoning justly and truly in searching after such truths as relate to my happiness. This faculty is the gift of God, capable of being improved by experience and instruction into wisdom.

Q.

What is wisdom?

A.

The knowledge of what will be best for us on all occasions, and the best ways of attaining it.

Q.

Is any man wise at all times and in all things?

A.

No, but some are more frequently wise than others.

Q.

What do you mean by the necessaries of life?

A.

Having wholesome food and drink wherewith to satisfy hunger and thirst, clothing, and a place of habitation fit to secure against the inclemencies of the weather.

Q.

What do you mean by the conveniences of life?

A.

Such a plenty . . .

Whether it is worth a rational man’s while to forego the pleasure arising from the present luxury of the age, in eating and drinking, and artful cookery, studying to gratify the appetite, for the sake of enjoying a healthy old age, a sound mind, and a sound body, which are the advantages reasonably to be expected from a more simple and temperate diet?

Whether those meats and drinks are not the best, that contain nothing in their natural taste, nor have any thing added by art, so pleasing as to induce us to eat or drink when we are not thirsty or hungry, or after thirst and hunger are satisfied; water, for instance, for drink, and bread or the like for meat?

Is there any difference between knowledge and prudence? If there is any, which of the two is most eligible?

Is it justifiable to put private men to death for the sake of public safety or tranquillity, who have committed no crime? As, in the case of the plague, to stop infection; or, as in the case of the Welshmen here executed?

If the sovereign power attempts to deprive a subject of his right (or, which is the same thing, of what he thinks his right), is it justifiable in him to resist, if he is able?

What general conduct of life is most suitable for men in such circumstances as most of the members of the Junto are? Or, of the many schemes of living which are in our power to pursue, which will be most probably conducive to our happiness?

Which is best, to make a friend of a wise and good man that is poor, or of a rich man that is neither wise nor good?

Which of the two is the greatest loss to a country if they both die?

Which of the two is happiest in life?

Does it not, in a general way, require great study and intense application for a poor man to become rich and powerful, if he would do it without the forfeiture of his honesty?

Does it not require as much pains, study, and application to become truly wise and strictly virtuous, as to become rich?

Can a man of common capacity pursue both views with success, at the same time?

If not, which of the two is it best for him to make his whole application to?

Whence comes the dew that stands on the outside of a tankard that has cold water in it in the summer time?

Does the importation of servants increase or advance the wealth of our country?

Would not an office of insurance for servants be of service, and what methods are proper for the erecting such an office?

VIII

THE BUSY-BODY—NO. I1

Tuesday, February 4, 1728-9.

Mr. Andrew Bradford:

I design this to acquaint you that I, who have long been one of your courteous readers, have lately entertained some thought of setting up for an author myself; not out of the least vanity, I assure you, or desire of showing my parts, but purely for the good of my country.

I have often observed with concern that your Mercury is not always equally entertaining. The delay of ships expected in and want of fresh advices from Europe make it frequently very dull; and I find the freezing of our river has the same effect on news as trade. With more concern have I continually observed the growing vices and follies of my country-folk; and though reformation is properly the concern of every man, that is, every one ought to mend one; yet it is too true in this case, that what is everybody’s business is nobody’s business; and the business is done accordingly. I therefore, upon mature deliberation, think fit to take nobody’s business wholly into my own hands; and, out of zeal for the public good, design to erect myself into a kind of censor morum; purposing, with your allowance, to make use of the Weekly Mercury as a vehicle in which my remonstrances shall be conveyed to the world.

I am sensible I have in this particular undertaken a very unthankful office, and expect little besides my labor for my pains. Nay, it is probable I may displease a great number of your readers, who will not very well like to pay ten shillings a year for being told of their faults. But, as most people delight in censure when they themselves are not the objects of it, if any are offended at my publicly exposing their private vices, I promise they shall have the satisfaction, in a very little time, of seeing their good friends and neighbours in the same circumstances.

However, let the fair sex be assured that I shall always treat them and their affairs with the utmost decency and respect. I intend now and then to dedicate a chapter wholly to their service; and if my lectures any way contribute to the embellishment of their minds and brightening of their understandings, without offending their modesty, I doubt not of having their favor and encouragement.

It is certain that no country in the world produces naturally finer spirits than ours; men of genius for every kind of science, and capable of acquiring to perfection every qualification that is in esteem among mankind. But as few here have the advantage of good books, for want of which good conversation is still more scarce, it would doubtless have been very acceptable to your readers if, instead of an old out-of-date article from Muscovy or Hungary, you had entertained them with some well-chosen extract from a good author. This I shall sometimes do, when I happen to have nothing of my own to say that I think of more consequence. Sometimes I purpose to deliver lectures of morality or philosophy, and (because I am naturally inclined to be meddling with things that do not concern me) perhaps I may sometimes talk politics. And if I can by any means furnish out a weekly entertainment for the public that will give a rational diversion, and at the same time be instructive to the readers, I shall think my leisure hours well employed; and if you publish this, I hereby invite all ingenious gentlemen and others (that approve of such an undertaking) to my assistance and correspondence.

It is like by this time you have a curiosity to be acquainted with my name and character. As I do not aim at public praise, I design to remain concealed; and there are such numbers of our family and relations at this time in the country, that though I have signed my name at full length, I am not under the least apprehension of being distinguished and discovered by it. My character, indeed, I would favor you with, but that I am cautious of praising myself, lest I should be told my trumpeter ’s dead; and I cannot find in my heart at present to say any thing to my own disadvantage.

It is very common with authors, in their first performances, to talk to their readers thus: “If this meets with a suitable reception, or, if this should meet with due encouragement, I shall hereafter publish, &c.” This only manifests the value they put on their own writings, since they think to frighten the public into their applause, by threatening that, unless you approve what they have already wrote, they intend never to write again; when perhaps it may not be a pin matter whether they ever do or no. As I have not observed the critics to be more favorable on this account, I shall always avoid saying any thing of the kind; and conclude with telling you that, if you send me a bottle of ink and a quire of paper by the bearer, you may depend on hearing further from, Sir, your most humble servant,

The Busy-Body.