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

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?