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The Works of Benjamin Franklin, including the Private as well as the Official and Scientific Correspondence, together with the Unmutilated and Correct Version of the Autobiography, compiled and edited by John Bigelow (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). The Federal Edition in 12 volumes. Vol. I (Autobiography, Letters and Misc. Writings 1725-1734).

Author: Benjamin Franklin
Editor: John Bigelow

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XV

SELF-DENIAL NOT THE ESSENCE OF VIRTUE1

It is commonly asserted that without self-denial there is no virtue, and that the greater the self-denial the greater the virtue.

If it were said that he who cannot deny himself any thing he inclines to, though he knows it will be to his hurt, has not the virtue of resolution or fortitude, it would be intelligent enough; but as it stands it seems obscure or erroneous.

Let us consider some of the virtues singly.

If a man has no inclination to wrong people in his dealings, if he feels no temptation to it, and therefore never does it, can it be said that he is not a just man? If he is a just man, has he not the virtue of justice?

If to a certain man idle diversions have nothing in them that is tempting, and therefore he never relaxes his application to business for their sake, is he not an industrious man? Or has he not the virtue of industry?

I might in like manner instance in all the rest of the virtues; but, to make the thing short, as it is certain that the more we strive against the temptation to any vice and practise the contrary virtue, the weaker will that temptation be and the stronger will be that habit, till at length the temptation has no force or entirely vanishes; does it follow from thence that in our endeavours to overcome vice we grow continually less and less virtuous, till at length we have no virtue at all?

If self-denial be the essence of virtue, then it follows that the man who is naturally temperate, just, &c., is not virtuous; but that in order to be virtuous he must, in spite of his natural inclination, wrong his neighbours, and eat, and drink, &c., to excess.

But perhaps it may be said that by the word virtue in the above assertion is meant merit; and so it should stand thus: Without self-denial there is no merit, and the greater the self-denial the greater the merit.

The self-denial here meant must be when our inclinations are towards vice, or else it would still be nonsense.

By merit is understood desert; and when we say a man merits, we mean that he deserves, praise or reward.

We do not pretend to merit any thing of God, for he is above our services; and the benefits he confers on us are the effects of his goodness and bounty.

All our merit, then, is with regard to one another, and from one to another.

Taking, then, the assertion as it last stands:

If a man does me a service from a natural benevolent inclination, does he deserve less of me than another who does me the like kindness against his inclination?

If I have two journeymen, one naturally industrious, the other idle, but both perform a day’s work equally good, ought I to give the latter the most wages?

Indeed lazy workmen are commonly observed to be more extravagant in their demands than the industrious, for if they have not more for their work, they cannot live as well. But though it be true to a proverb, that lazy folks take the most pains, does it follow that they deserve the most money?

If you were to employ servants in affairs of trust, would you not bid more for one you knew was naturally honest, than for one naturally roguish but who has lately acted honestly? For currents, whose natural channel is dammed up, till the new course is by time worn sufficiently deep and become natural, are apt to break their banks. If one servant is more valuable than another, has he not more merit than the other? and yet this is not on account of superior self-denial.

Is a patriot not praiseworthy if public spirit is natural to him?

Is a pacing-horse less valuable for being a natural pacer?

Nor, in my opinion, has any man less merit for having in general natural virtuous inclinations.

The truth is, that temperance, justice, charity, &c., are virtues, whether practised with or against our inclinations, and the man who practises them merits our love and esteem; and self-denial is neither good nor bad, but as it is applied. He that denies a vicious inclination is virtuous in proportion to his resolution: but the most perfect virtue is above all temptation—such as the virtue of the saints in heaven; and he who does a foolish, indecent, or wicked thing, merely because it is contrary to his inclination (like some mad enthusiasts I have read of, who ran about naked, under the notion of taking up the cross), is not practising the reasonable science of virtue, but is a lunatic.

end of vol. i

[2 ]Mémoires de la vie privée du Benjamin Franklyn, écrits par luimême et addressés à son fils; suivis d’un précis historique de sa vie politique, et de plusieurs précis, relatives à ce père de la liberté. A. Paris: chez Buisson, Libraire, rue Hautefeuille No. 20, 1791.

[1 ]See Nos. for May, June, July, September, October, November of 1790, and February, March, May, and June of 1791.

[2 ]The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklyn, LL.D., late Minister and Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to France, and originally written by himself. And now translated from the French. To which are added some account of his public life, and a variety of anecdotes concerning him, by M. M. Brissot, Condorcet Rochefoucault, Le Roy, etc., etc. And the Eulogium of M. Fauchet. London: J. Parsons, 1798.

[1 ]“Sept. 7th, Mad. Gautier procured for me the reading of the original manuscript of Dr. Franklin’s Life. There are only two copies—this, and one which Dr. Franklin took with a machine for copying letters, and which is in possession of his grandson. Franklin gave the manuscript to M. le Veillard, of Passy, who was guillotined during the Revolution. Upon his death it came into the hands of his daughter or granddaughter, Mad’lle le Veillard, who is the present possessor of it. It appears evidently to be the first draught written by Franklin, for in a great many places the word originally written is erased with a pen, and a word nearly synonymous substituted in its place, not over the other, but further on, so as manifestly to show that the correction was made at the time of the original composition. The manuscript contains a great many additions made upon a very wide margin; but I did not find that a single passage was anywhere struck out. Part of the work, but not quite half of it, has been translated into French, and from French re-translated into English. The Life comes down no lower than to the year 1758.”—“Life of Romilly, vol. i., p. 408.

[1 ]A letter of introduction to M. Laboulaye, which I had sent him by a subsequent post.

[1 ]The trusty messenger at the Consulate and now the Dean of the representatives of the U. S. in foreign parts.

[2 ]Where I was staying with some friends.

[1 ]In an auction-sale catalogue of Stevens’s Historical Collections, printed in 1881, Stevens thus refers to his unsuccessful effort to acquire this manuscript:

“That his old friend might possess a substantial memorial of Franklin, the grandson left the original draft with the Veillard family. The writer saw it in 1852 at Amiens in the possession of M. de Senarmont, a relative by marriage of M. le Veillard, who had been beheaded in 1794. He spent two days with that amiable gentleman and his family, and was permitted to collate the autograph with Temple Franklin’s printed text of the autobiography. The manuscript was then the undivided property of three persons. They were all there, but on consultation were not willing to sell unless they could obtain a sum worth dividing. A small price, therefore, was no temptation. They did not then care to dispose of the other autograph papers or the portrait by Duplessis. The writer left a standing offer of £200 for it; they wanting £600. As it was not an unpublished paper, the purchase was not completed, though considerable friendly correspondence followed.”

[1 ]For further details the reader is referred to The Life of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself, now first edited, from original manuscripts and from his printed correspondence and other writings, by John Bigelow, second edition, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1884; Dr. Samuel A. Green’s Story of a Famous Book, Boston, 1874; and The Lost Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Penn. Monthly for May, 1882.

[1 ]This memorandum, probably in the handwriting of M. le Veillard, immediately precedes the Outline in the MS. The line through the pages was doubtless drawn to show how far the topics had been treated in the autobiography at the time the line was drawn.

[1 ]Here is a bracket in the manuscript to show to what point the topics had been worked up into the autobiography, which terminates at this point.—Ed.

[2 ]To this point the projêt is in a strange and clerkly hand. The remainder is in the handwriting of Franklin.—Ed.

[1 ]The country-seat of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Jonathan Shipley, the “good Bishop,” as Dr. Franklin used to style him. Their relations were intimate and confidential. In his pulpit, and in the House of Lords, as well as in society, the bishop always opposed the harsh measures of the Crown toward the Colonies.

[1 ]That Franklin was anciently the common name of an order or rank in England, see Fortescue’s De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, written about the year 1412, in which is the following passage, to show that good juries might easily be formed in any part of England: “Moreover, the same country is so filled and re-plenished with landed menne, that therein so small a thorpe cannot be found wherein dweleth not a knight, an esquire, or such an householder, as is there commonly called a Franklin, enriched with great possessions, and also other freeholders and many yeomen able for their livelihoodes to make a jury in form aforementioned.”

Chaucer, too, calls his country gentleman a Franklin, and, after describing his good housekeeping, thus characterizes him:

“This worthy Franklin has a purse of silk,
Fixed to his girdle, white as morning milk.
Knight of the Shire, first Justice at the Assize,
To help the poor, the doubtful to advise.
In all employments, generous, just, he proved,
Renowned for courtesy, by all beloved.”

[1 ]The following letter to Franklin from his father, relating mainly to the origin of the Franklin family, was found among Dr. Franklin’s papers:

From Josiah to B. Franklin.

“Loving Son:

As to the original of our name, there is various opinions; some say that it came from a sort of title, of which a book that you bought when here gives a lively account. Some think we are of a French extract, which was formerly called Franks; some of a free line, a line free from that vassalage which was common to subjects in days of old; some from a bird of long red legs. Your uncle Benjamin made inquiry of one skilled in heraldry, who told him there is two coats of armor, one belonging to the Franklins of the North, and one to the Franklins of the West. However, our circumstances have been such as that it hath hardly been worth while to concern ourselves much about these things any farther than to tickle the fancy a little. The first that I can give account of is my great-grandfather, as it was the custom in those days among young men too many times to goe to seek their fortunes, and in his travels he went upon liking to a taylor; but he kept such a stingy house, that he left him and travelled farther, and came to a smith’s house, and coming on a fasting day, being in popish times, he did not like there the first day; the next morning the servant was called up at five in the morning, but after a little time came a good toast and good beer, and he found good housekeeping there; he served and learned the trade of a smith. In Queen Mary’s days, either his wife, or my grandmother, by father’s side, informed my father that they kept their Bible fastened under the top of a joint-stool, that they might turn up the book and read in the Bible, that when anybody came to the dore they turned up the stool for fear of the aparitor, for if it were discovered, they would be in hazard of their lives. My grandfather was a smith also, and settled in Eton, in Northamptonshire, and he was imprisoned a year and a day on suspicion of his being the author of some poetry that touched the character of some great man. He had only one son and one daughter; my grandfather’s name was Thomas, my mother’s name was Jane. My father was born at Ecton or Eton, Northamptonshire, on the 18th of October, 1698; married to Miss Jane White, niece to Coll. White, of Banbury, and died in the 84th year of his age. There was nine children of us, who were happy in our parents, who took great care by their instructions and pious example to breed us up in a religious way. My eldest brother had but one child, which was married to one Mr. Fisher, at Wallingborough, in Northamptonshire. The town was lately burnt down, and whether she was a sufferer or not I cannot tell, or whether she be living or not. Her father dyed worth fifteen hundred pounds, but what her circumstances are now I know not. She hath no child. If you by the freedom of your office, makes it more likely to convey a letter to her, it would be acceptable to me. There is also children of brother John and sister Morris, but I hear nothing from them, and they write not to me, so that I know not where to find them. I have been again to about seeing . . ., but have mist of being informed.

“We received yours, and are glad to hear poor Jammy is recovered so well. Son John received the letter, but is so busy just now that he cannot write you an answer, but will do the best he can. Now with hearty love to, and prayer for you all, I rest your affectionate father,

“Josiah Franklin. “Boston, May 26, 1739.”

[1 ]Here follow in the margin the words, in brackets, “here insert it,” but the poetry is not given. Mr. Sparks informs us (Life of Franklin, p. 6) that these volumes had been preserved, and were in possession of Mrs. Emmons, of Boston, great-granddaughter of their author. The following are specimens quoted by Mr. Sparks:

“Sent to his namesake upon a Report of his Inclination to Martial Affairs July 7th, 1710:

“Believe me, Ben, it is a dangerous trade,
The sword has many marred as well as made;
By it do many fall, not many rise,
Makes many poor, few rich, and fewer wise;
Fills towns with ruin, fields with blood; beside
’T is sloth’s maintainer, and the shield of pride.
Fair cities, rich to-day in plenty flow,
War fills with want to-morrow, and with woe.
Ruined estates, the nurse of vice, broke limbs and scars,
Are the effects of desolating wars.”

The following piece was sent when his namesake was seven years old. It would appear that he had received from him some evidence of his juvenile skill in composition:

“Sent to Benjamin Franklin, 1713:

“ ’T is time for me to throw aside my pen,
When hanging sleeves read, write, and rhyme like men.
This forward spring foretells a plentous crop;
For if the bud bear grain, what will the top?
If plenty in the verdant blade appear,
What may we not soon hope for in the ear?
When flowers are beautiful before they ’re blown,
What rarities will afterward be shown!
If trees good fruit un’noculated bear,
You may be sure ’t will afterward be rare.
If fruits are sweet before they ’ve time to yellow,
How luscious will they be when they are mellow?
If first year’s shoots such noble clusters send,
What laden boughs, Engedi-like, may we expect in the end!”

This uncle Benjamin died in Boston, in 1728, leaving one son, Samuel, the only survivor of ten children. This son had an only child, who died in 1775, leaving four daughters. There are now no male descendants of Dr. Franklin’s grandfather living who bear his name. The Doctor’s eldest son, William, left one son, William Temple Franklin, who died without issue bearing his name. His second son, Francis Folger, died when about four years of age. His very clever daughter Sarah married Richard Bache in 1767. Their descendants are: Benjamin Franklin Bache, who married Margaret Markoe; William Hartman Bache, who married Catharine Wistar; Eliza Franklin Bache, who married John Edward Harwood; Louis Bache, who married (first wife) Mary Ann Swift, (second wife) Esther Egee; Deborah Bache, who married William J. Duane; Richard Bache, who married Sophia B., a daughter of Alexander J. Dallas; Sarah Bache, who married Thomas Sargeant, together with their children.

[1 ]See infra a letter to Samuel Franklin, dated July 12, 1771.

[1 ]Franklin was born in Milk Street and opposite the Old South Church, of which his parents were members, Jan. 6, 1706, old style, or January 17th, new style. He was baptized in the Old South Church the same day.—Ed.

[1 ]Sherburne is now known by the name of Nantucket.—Ed.

[2 ]These lines are from A Looking-Glass for the Times; or, The Former Spirit of New England Revived in this Generation, by Peter Folger, printed in a pamphlet of fourteen duodecimo pages, and bearing date April 23, 1676, while Philip’s war was raging. The author was the only son of John Folger, who came from Norwich in England, and was among the first settlers of Watertown, Mass. The father afterward removed to Martha’s Vineyard, where Peter became thoroughly versed in the Indian tongue, as spoken in that section, so that he could speak and write it with facility. This accomplishment made him useful as an interpreter, and it was through his agency that the island of Nantucket was fairly purchased of the natives and honestly paid for. His wife’s maiden name was Mary Morrill, a servant of the celebrated Hugh Peters, with whom and in the same ship he came to America. During the voyage he became enamoured of her, and purchased her time of her master for £20. She afterward became his wife, the mother of Abiah Folger, and the grandmother, of course, of Dr. Franklin. These lines, immediately preceding those quoted by Dr. Franklin, which are necessary to complete the sentiment intended to be conveyed by the author, are the following:

“I am for peace and not for war,
And that ’s the reason why
I write more plain than some men do,
That use to daub and lie.
But I shall cease, and set my name
To what I here insert,
Because to be a libeller
I hate it with my heart.”

[1 ]A more durable monument was erected over the graves of the father and mother of Franklin in 1827 by the voluntary subscriptions of a large number of the citizens of Boston. It is an obelisk of granite twenty-one feet high, which rests on a square base measuring seven feet on each side and two feet in height. The obelisk is composed of five massive blocks of granite, placed one above another. On one side is the name of Franklin in large bronze letters, and a little below is a tablet of bronze, thirty-two inches long and sixteen wide, sunk into the stone. On this tablet is engraven Dr. Franklin’s original inscription, as quoted in the text, and beneath it are the following lines:

The Marble Tablet,

Bearing the above inscription,

Having been dilapidated by the ravages of time,

A number of citizens,

Entertaining the most profound veneration

For the memory of the illustrious

Benjamin Franklin,

And desirous of reminding succeeding generations

That he was born in Boston,

ad MDCCVI.,

Erected this

Obelisk

Over the grave of his parents,

MDCCCXXVII.

[1 ]“This was written from recollection, and it is not surprising that, after the lapse of fifty years, the author’s memory should have failed him in regard to a fact of small importance. The New England Courant was the fourth newspaper that appeared in America. The first number of the Boston News-Letter was published April 24, 1704. This was the first newspaper in America. The Boston Gazette commenced December 21, 1719; the American Weekly Mercury, at Philadelphia, December 22, 1719; the New England Courant, August 21, 1721. Dr. Franklin’s error of memory probably originated in the circumstance of his brother having been the printer of the Boston Gazette when it was first established. This was the second newspaper published in America.”—Sparks.

[1 ]I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me might be a means of impressing me with that aversion to arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life.

[1 ]This was in October, 1723.—Ed.

[1 ]M. Laboulaye presumes Keimer was one of the Camisards or Protestants of the Cevennes, so persecuted by Louis XIV.—Ed.

[1 ]Governor Burnet was appointed governor of the Colony of New York and New Jersey on the 19th of April, 1720. He entered upon the duties of his office in September following. He was a man of scholarly tastes, fond of accumulating books, with a turn for theological speculation, which he indulged in making a commentary upon the three periods contained in the twelfth chapter of Daniel. The governor married a daughter of Cornelius Van Horne, of New York, who died soon. He was transferred to the governorship of Boston in July, 1728. His administration there, however, was not of long duration. He was taken ill from exposure on a fishing excursion, and died on the 7th of September, 1729.

The governor’s interest in theology did not commend him especially to the authorities at home.

The Bishop of London complained that clergymen already provided with his license to preach in the colonies were subject to a new examination, conducted in a somewhat unusual manner by the governor.

“Your method [wrote Richard West, the governor’s brother-in-law, Solicitor-General to the Board of Trade] is to prescribe him a text, to give him a Bible for his companion, and then lock him into a room by himself, and if he does not in some stated time produce a sermon to your satisfaction, you peremptorily refuse to grant him your instrument (permission to preach). The consequence is, the man must starve. . . . I have seen a great many complaints against governors, but then nobody was surprised, because I could always give some pecuniary reason for what they had done. You surely are the first who ever brought himself into difficulties by an inordinate care of souls; and I am sure that makes no part of your commission.”

For an account of this worthy man, see Whitehead’s Contributions to East Jersey History, pp. 156-168.—Ed.

[1 ]In one of the later editions of the Dunciad occur the following lines:

“Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,
And makes Night hideous—answer him, ye owls.”
Book iii., line 165.

To this the poet adds the following note:

“James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not known till he writ a swearing-piece called Sawney, very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and myself. These lines allude to a thing of his entitled Night, a poem. This low writer attended his own works with panegyrics in the journals, and once in particular praised himself highly above Mr. Addison, in wretched remarks upon that author’s account of English poets, printed in a London journal, September, 1728. He was wholly illiterate and knew no language, not even French. Being advised to read the rules of dramatic poetry before he began a play, he smiled and replied, ‘Shakespeare writ without rules.’ He ended at last in the common sink of all such writers, a political newspaper, to which he was recommended by his friend Arnal, and received a small pittance for pay; and being detected in writing on both sides on one and the same day, he publicly justified the morality of his conduct.”

In the first book of the Dunciad, line 215, there is another allusion to Ralph:

“And see! the very Gazetteers give o’er,
Ev’n Ralph repents, and Henley writes no more.”
—Ed.

[1 ]A comedian.—Ed.

[1 ]Watts’s printing-office was situated on the south side of Wild-Court, near the eastern end, and three doors from King’s Head yard.

The press worked by Franklin was bought by Mr. Edward Cox, with other materials, about 1771, and set up in the office belonging successively to Messrs. Cox & Sons, Cox & Wyman, Wyman & Sons, Nos. 74 and 75 Great Queen Street. The press was worked for some time by Messrs. Cox, but, becoming obsolete, lay idle for years. Ultimately, its room being required, it was taken down and passed into the hands of Messrs. Harrild & Sons, printers’ brokers of the period, in whose lumber room it remained until June, 1841, when Mr. J. B. Murray, of New York, interested himself successfully in procuring it to be sent to America. For many years it was installed in the Patent Office at Washington. Changes taking place there, it was claimed by Mr. J. B. Murray, who then deposited it in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Subsequently it was removed to the model-room of the Patent Office, where it has since remained, with the exception of a short interval, during which it was shown at the Philadelphia International Exhibition, 1876.

Mr. Murray acquired the Franklin press from Messrs. Harrild & Sons, upon the understanding that they were to be assured, in return, a donation to the London Printers’ Pension Society. In a letter which has been printed Mr. Murray says: “Messrs. Harrild, meanwhile, allowed me the immediate possession of the press, forwarding it to me at Liverpool; and to prove my desire to make a proper return to the Printers’ Pension Fund, I determined to permit the press to be exhibited until a reply should be received from America. It was deposited in the Council Chamber of the Liverpool Medical Institution, and for about three weeks during which the press remained open to the public, it was visited by numerous parties, both English and American. Impressions of a poem by Dr. Franklin, entitled Paper, and also the Twelve Rules which he laid down for his own government in early life, were printed, and about 5,800 copies were freely given among the visitors. In return for these impressions (which were occasionally printed off at the press by the visitors themselves), small voluntary contributions to the Printers’ Pension Fund were received in a box placed near the press. Great interest appeared to be excited about the exhibition of the press and it was suggested to me that a lecture on the life of Dr. Franklin would aid the Society for whose benefit it was being exhibited. I made this suggestion known to the Rev. Hugh M’Neile, who eventually accepted the task, though at the sacrifice of many personal and professional duties.”

“Subsequently,” says Mr. Murray, “I received, through Mr (Petty) Vaughan, a communication from the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, regretting that they could not, consistently with their constitution, accept the press on the conditions named. I immediately made this known to Messrs. Harrild, as I could not now expect to realize for them the anticipated donations from that society, neither could I in honour claim any further title to the press. To this I received a reply, presenting the press to me, individually, unreservedly, and in a still more handsome manner than when they first consented to part with it. I had the pleasure to remit to the Printers’ Pension Society of London, through Messrs. Harrild, the sum of £150, 9s. 4d., the proceeds of the lecture and of the exhibition of the press.

The sum derived from the Liverpool exhibition was funded by Messrs. Harrild, and in 1854 it had accumulated to an amount sufficient to enable the Committee of the Printers’ Pension Society to initiate the “Franklin Pension” of £10, 10s., per year.—Ed.

[1 ]A printing-house used to be called a chapel by the workmen, and a journeyman, on entering a printing-house, was accustomed to pay one or more gallons of beer “for the good of the chapel.”—Ed.

[1 ]The “plan” referred to as the most “important part” of the Journal, is not found in the manuscript Journal which was left among Franklin’s papers.

[1 ]For the greater convenience of the reader and also to preserve the chronological order which the editor has prescribed for himself in the arrangement of this work, this journal is inserted here, though it was not included in the autobiography.—Ed.

[1 ]One gone to the Baltic, one to the Mediterranean, and one to the West Indies.

[1 ]The impression left by the perusal of Boyle’s Lectures upon Franklin’s youthful mind gives new point to an incident related by Richard Baxter in his Notes on the Life and Death of Sir Matthew Hale.

“His many hard questions, doubts, and objections to me occasioned me to draw up a small tract of the nature and immortality of man’s soul, as proved by natural light alone, by way of question and answers, in which I had not baulked the hardest questions and difficulties that I could think of; conceiving that Atheists and Sadducees are so unhappily witty, and Satan such a tutor, that they are as like to think of them as I. But the good man, when I sent it to him, was wiser than I; and sent me word in his return that he would not have me publish it in English, nor without some alterations of the method, because, though he thought I had sufficiently answered all the objections, yet ordinary readers would take deeper into their minds such hard objections as they never heard before, than the answer, how full soever, would be able to overcome: whereupon, not having leisure to translate and alter it, I cast it by.”

[1 ]Printed in 1725. For a further account of this pamphlet, see infra, letter to Mr. B. Vaughan, dated Nov. 9, 1779.—Ed.

[1 ]The words, “Some foolish intrigues with low women excepted, which from the expense were rather more prejudicial to me than to them,” effaced on the revision, and the sentence which follows in the text written in the margin.—Ed.

[1]In a careful and interesting paper read before the American Philosophical Society by Dr. Patterson, one of its Vice-Presidents, on the 25th of May, 1843, in commemoration of its Centennial Anniversary, will be found much new and important information about the Junto.

When the Philosophical Society was instituted, a book containing some of the questions discussed by the Junto was put into the hands of Dr. William Smith, who selected from it, and published in his Eulogium on Franklin, the following specimens:

“Is sound an entity or body?

How may the phenomena of vapors be explained?

Is self-interest the rudder that steers mankind—the universal monarch to whom all are tributaries?

Which is the best form of government, and what was that form which first prevailed among mankind?

Can any one particular form of government suit all mankind?

What is the reason that the tides rise higher in the Bay of Fundy than in the Bay of Delaware?

Is the emission of paper money safe?

What is the reason that men of the greatest knowledge are not the most happy?

How may the possessions of the Lakes be improved to our advantage?

Why are tumultuous, uneasy sensations united with the desires?

Whether it ought to be the aim of philosophy to eradicate the passions.

How may smoky chimneys be best cured?

Why does the flame of a candle tend upwards in a spire?

Which is least criminal—a bad action joined with a good intention, or a good action with a bad intention?

Is it consistent with the principles of liberty in a free government to punish a man as a libeller when he speaks the truth,”—Ed.

[1 ]This paper was called The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette. Keimer printed his last number, the 39th, on the 25th day of September, 1729.—Ed.

Its leading articles were an installment of Chambers’ Dictionary, Art. “Air,” a message from Gov. Burnet of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the reply of the Assembly, and an obituary of the governor, who had just died. The following announcement filled the rest of the sheet:

Philadelphia,September 25th.

“It not quadrating with the circumstances of the printer hereof, S. K., to publish this Gazette any longer, he gives notice that this paper concludes his third quarter; and is the last that will be printed by him. Yet, that his generous subscribers may not be baulked or disappointed, he has agreed with B. Franklin and H. Meredith, at the new printing office, to continue it to the end of the year, having transferred the property wholly to them [D. Harry declining it2 ], and probably if further encouragement appears it will be continued longer. The said S. K. designs to leave this province early in the spring or sooner, if possibly he can justly accommodate his affairs with every one he stands indebted to.”

The next number, 40, appeared on the 2d of October, in new type, with the following announcement, the title Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences having been dropped, and with it the feature of the paper which it designated:

“The Pennsylvania Gazette being now to be carryed on by other hands, the reader may expect some account of the method we design to proceed in.

Upon a view of Chambers’ great dictionaries, from whence were taken the materials of The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, which usually made the first part of this paper, we find that besides their containing many things abstruse or insignificant to us, it will probably be fifty years before the whole can be gone through in this manner of publication. There are likewise in those books continual references from things under one letter of the alphabet to those under another, which relate to the same subject and are necessary to explain and complete it; these taken in their turn may be ten years distant; and since it is likely that they who desire to acquaint themselves with any particular art or science would gladly have the whole before them in much less time, we believe our readers will not think such a method of communicating knowledge to be a proper one.

However, though we do not intend to continue the publication of those dictionaries in a regular alphabetical method, as has hitherto been done; yet, as several things exhibited from them in the course of these papers, have been entertaining to such of the curious who never had and cannot have the advantage of good libraries; and as there are many things still behind, which, being in this manner made generally known, may perhaps become of considerable use by giving such hints to the excellent natural genius’s of our country, as may contribute either to the improvement of our present manufactures or towards the invention of new ones; we propose from time to time to communicate such particular parts as appear to be of the most general consequence.

As to the ‘Religious Courtship,’ part of which has been retal’d to the publick in these papers, the reader may be informed, that the whole book will probably in a little time be printed and bound by itself; and those who approve of it will doubtless be better pleased to have it entire, than in this broken, interrupted manner.

There are many who have long desired to see a good newspaper in Pennsylvania; and we hope those gentlemen who are able, will contribute towards the making this such. We ask assistance because we are fully sensible, that to publish a good newspaper is not so easy an undertaking as many people imagine it to be. The author of a Gazette (in the opinion of the learned) ought to be qualified with an extensive acquaintance with languages, a great easiness and command of writing, and relating things clearly and intelligibly and in a few words; he should be able to speak of war both by land and sea; be well acquainted with geography, with the history of the time, with the secret interests of princes and states, the secrets of courts, and the manners and customs of all nations. Men thus accomplished are very rare in this remote part of the world; and it would be well if the writer of these papers could make up among his friends what is wanting in himself.

Upon the whole, we may assure the publick, that, as far as the encouragement we meet with will enable us, no care and pains shall be omitted that may make the Pennsylvania Gazette as agreeable and useful an entertainment as the nature of the thing will allow.”

After the publication of two numbers the Gazette was published twice a week, beginning with No. 43. Franklin was only twenty-three years of age when he embarked in this enterprise.—Ed.

[1 ]The following are the spirited remarks here referred to:

“His excellency, governor Burnet, died unexpectedly about two days after the date of this reply to his last message; and it was thought the dispute would have ended with him, or at least have lain dormant till the arrival of a new governor from England, who possibly might or might not be inclined to enter too vigorously into the measures of his predecessor. But our last advices by the post acquaint us that his honor the lieutenant-governor (on whom the government immediately devolves upon the death or absence of the commander-in-chief) has vigorously renewed the struggle on his own account, of which the particulars will be seen in our next. Perhaps some of our readers may not fully understand the original ground of this warm contest between the governor and assembly. It seems that people have for these hundred years past, enjoyed the privilege of rewarding the governor for the time being, according to their sense of his merit and services; and few or none of their governors have complained, or had cause to complain, of a scanty allowance. When the late governor Burnet brought with him instructions to demand a settled salary of 1000 pounds sterling per annum, on him and all his successors, and the Assembly were required to fix it immediately; he insisted on it strenuously to the last, and they as constantly refused it. It appears by their votes and proceedings that they thought it an imposition, contrary to their own charter, and to Magna Charta; and they judged that there should be a mutual dependence between the governor and governed; and that to make the governor independent would be dangerous and destructive to their liberties, and the ready way to establish tyranny. They thought likewise, that the province was not the less dependent on the crown of Great Britain, by the governor’s depending immediately on them, and his own good conduct, for an ample support; because all acts and laws which he might be induced to pass, must nevertheless be constantly sent home for approbation, in order to continue in force. Many other reasons were given, and arguments used in the course of the controversy, needless to particularize here, because all the material papers relating to it have been already given in our public news.

Much deserved praise has the deceased governor received for his steady integrity in adhering to his instructions, notwithstanding the great difficulty and opposition he met with, and the strong temptations offered from time to time to induce him to give up the point. And yet, perhaps, something is due to the Assembly (as the love and zeal of that country for the present establishment is too well known to suffer any suspicion of want of loyalty), who continue thus resolutely to abide by what they think their right, and that of the people they represent; manage all the arts and menaces of a governor, famed for his cunning and politics, backed with instructions from home, and powerfully aided by the great advantage such an officer always has of engaging the principal men of a place in his party, by conferring, when he pleases, so many posts of profit and honor. Their happy mother country will perhaps observe, with pleasure, that though her gallant cocks and matchless dogs abate their natural fire and intrepidity when transported to a foreign clime (as this nation is), yet her sons in the remotest part of the earth, and even to the third and fourth descent, still retain that ardent spirit of liberty, and that undaunted courage, which has in every age so gloriously distinguished Britons and Englishmen from the rest of mankind.”

[1 ]I got his son once £500 [marg. note].

[1 ]By the agreement of dissolution, still extant, it appears that it took place July 14, 1730.—Sparks.

[1 ]Mrs. Franklin survived her marriage over forty years. She died December 19, 1774.—Ed.

[1 ]This library was founded in 1731, and incorporated in 1742. By the addition made to it of the library left by Mr. James Logan, and by annual purchases, the Philadelphia Library now numbers between 70,000 and 80,000 volumes.—Ed.

[1 ]This was a wise application of one of the most cynical precepts of Ovid in his banishment: “Crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit.”—Tristia Elegia, iv., 25. This line was subsequently adopted as his motto by the illustrious author of the Cartesian philosophy.

[1 ]The verses here referred to are thus given as Englished from the version of Hierocles:

“In this place you should collect together the sense of all the foregoing precepts, that so giving heed to them as to the laws of God in the inward judicature of the soul, you may make a just examination of what you have done well or ill. For how will our remembrance reprehend us for doing ill, or praise us for doing well, unless the preceding meditation receive some laws, according to which the whole tenor of our life should be ordered, and to which we should conform the very private recesses of conscience all our lives long? He requires also that this examination be daily repeated, that by continual returns of recollection we may not be deceived in our judgment. The time which he recommends for this work is about even or bed-time, that we may conclude the action of the day with the judgment of conscience, making the examination of our conversation an evening song to God. Wherein have I transgressed? What have I done? What duty have I omitted? So shall we measure our lives by the rules above mentioned, if to the law of the mind we join the judgment of reason.

“What then does the law of the mind say? That we should honor the more excellent natures according to their essential order, that we should have our parents and relations in high esteem, love and embrace good men, raise ourselves above corporal affections, everywhere stand in awe of ourselves, carefully observe justice, consider the frailty of riches and momentary life, embrace the lot which falls to us by divine judgment, delight in a divine frame of spirit, convert our mind to what is most excellent, love good discourses, not lie open to impostures, not be servilely affected in the possession of virtue, advise before action to prevent repentance, free ourselves from uncertain opinions, live with knowledge, and lastly, that we should adapt our bodies and the things without to the exercise of virtue. These are the things which the law-giving mind has implanted in the souls of men, which when reason admits, it becomes a most vigilant judge of itself, in this manner, Wherein have I transgressed? what have I done? and if afterwards she finds herself to have spent the whole day agreeably to the foregoing rules, she is rewarded with a divine complacency. And if she find any thing done amiss, she corrects herself by the restorative of an after admonition.

“Wherefore he would have us keep off sleep by the readiness and alacrity of reason. And this the body will easily endure, if temperately dieted it has not contracted a necessity of sleeping. By which means even our most natural appetites are subjected to the empire of reason.

“Do not admit sleep (says he) till you have examin’d every action of the day. And what is the form of examination? Wherein have I transgress’d? what have I done? what duty have I omitted? For we sin two ways. By doing what we should not, and by not doing what we should. For ’t is one thing not to do well, and another thing to commit evil. One is a sin of omission, and the other of commission.

“For instance, ’t is our duty to pray, but not to blaspheme; to nourish our parents, but not to revile them. He that does the former of these, does what he ought; he that does the latter, what he ought not. Though there is as much guilt in a sin of omission as in a sin of commission.

“He exhorts also that we proceed methodically in our examination from the beginning to the end, leaving nothing out in the middle, which is implied by the word, runover. For oftentimes change of order deceives the judgment, and makes us favorable to our ill actions through disorder of memory. Besides, a daily recollection of our actions begets care and studiousness of conversation, and a sense of our immortality. And this is worth our admiration, that when he bid us recollect everything, yet he added not, Wherein have I done well? or what duty have I perform’d? But he turn’d the memory to what was a less occasion of pride, requiring a scrutiny only of our sins. And as for the judge, he has constituted that which is most just and impartial, and most intimate and domestick, the conscience, right reason, or a man’s self, which he had before caution’d us to stand in awe of above all things. For who can so admonish another as every man can himself? For he that is at his own liberty will use the freedom of nature, and shake off the admonition of others, when he is not minded to follow them. But reason, which is within us, cannot chuse but hear itself. God has set this over us as a guardian, instructor, and schoolmaster. And this the verse makes the judge of the day’s action, acquiesces in its determination whether it condemns or approves itself. For when it reads over what is done in the register of memory, then, looking into the exemplar of the law, it pronounces itself worthy of honor or dishonor. This course, if daily follow’d, perfects the divine image in them that use it, leading them by additions and subtractions to the beauty of virtue, and all attainable perfection. For here end the instructions about civil virtue.”—Ed.

[1 ]This “little book” is dated 1st of July, 1733.

[1 ]Nothing so likely to make a man’s fortune as virtue.—Marg. Note.

[1 ]This is a marginal memorandum.—Ed.

[1 ]The advertisement to the first number of this the most celebrated of almanacs was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette on the 19th of December, 1732. Though appearing thus late in the season, three editions of No. 1 were sold before the end of January. The advertisement ran as follows:

“Just published, for 1733, An Almanack, containing the Lunations, Eclipses, Planets’ Motions and Aspects, Weather, Sun and Moon’s Rising and Setting, High Water, etc.; besides many pleasant and witty Verses, Jests, and Sayings; Author’s Motive of Writing; Prediction of the Death of his Friend, Mr. Titan Leeds; Moon no Cukold; Bachelor’s Folly; Parson’s Wine and Baker’s Pudding; Short Visits; Kings and Bears; New Fashions; Game for Kisses; Katherine’s Love; Different Sentiments; Signs of a Tempest; Death of a Fisherman; Conjugal Debate; Men and Melons; The Prodigal; Breakfast in Bed; Oyster Lawsuit, etc. By Richard Saunders, Philomat. Printed and Sold by B. Franklin.”

[1 ]This fire company was formed Dec. 7, 1736. It was designed primarily for the security of the property of its members, though they did not limit their usefulness to their own members when their property was not in danger. The Union Fire Company was in active service as late as 1791. In a roll of the companies of that day we find it heading the list, having thirty members, one engine, two hundred and fifty buckets, thirteen ladders, two hooks, no bags, and one eighty-foot rope.

[1 ]See infra, 14th of May, 1743: “A Proposal for Promoting Useful knowledge among the British Plantations in America.”

Though the American Philosophical Society was not, strictly speaking, the organic continuation of the Junto, there can be no doubt that the plan of establishing it had been often brought before the Junto for consideration, for we know that it was the practice of Franklin, when he had new projects to propose, to have them first discussed in the Club. But a stronger evidence still of the part which they took in forming the new institution is presented by the fact that of the nine original members of the Philosophical Society, six, including the three officers, are known to have belonged to the Junto,—namely, Franklin, Hopkinson, Coleman, Godfrey, Rhoads, and Parsons.—Ed.

[1 ]See the votes.—Marg. note.

[1 ]The old “Academy,” as the building of which Franklin speaks was called, has given place to a new and tasteful edifice. For many years the new building had been occupied as an academy, preparatory to the University, commodious buildings for which, were erected in South Ninth Street, near Chestnut.—Ed.

[1 ]See the votes to have this more correctly.—Marg. note.

[1 ]See votes.—Marg. note.

[1 ]From the MS. journal of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, I have been kindly favored by Mr. J. C. G. Kennedy, of Washington, one of his descendants, with the following extract which was written three years before the preceding paragraph in the autobiography:

“I found him (Franklin) in his little room among his papers. He received me very politely and immediately entered into conversation about the western country. His room makes a singular appearance, being filled with old philosophical instruments, papers, boxes, tables and stools. About ten o’clock he placed some water on the fire but not being expert through his great age, I desired him to give me the pleasure of assisting him. He thanked me and replied that he ever made it a point to wait upon himself and although he began to find himself infirm, he was determined not to increase his infirmities by giving way to them. After the water was hot I observed his object was to shave himself, which operation he performed without a glass and with great expedition. I asked him if he never employed a barber, he answered: ‘No, I think happiness does not consist so much in particular pieces of good fortune which perhaps accidentally fall to a man’s lot, as to be able in his old age to do those little things which, being unable to perform himself, would be done by others with a sparing hand.’ ”

[1 ]See infra, July, 1754, “Papers Relating to a Plan of Union of the Colonies.”—Ed.

[1 ]My acts in Morris’s time, military, etc.—Marg. note.

[1 ]This dialogue and the militia act are in the Gentleman’s Magazine for February and March, 1756.—Marg. note.

[1 ]For a fuller account of his election see, infra, letter to Governor William Franklin, 19th Dec., 1767.—Ed.

[1 ]The many unanimous resolves of the Assembly—what date?—Marg. note.

[1 ]For another account of this conversation with Granville see infra letter from Franklin to Mr. James Bowdoin, dated 13 January, 1772.

[1 ]In reference to Gov’r Denny’s removal, see also a letter which Franklin wrote to his wife while the negotiations here described were progressing, and dated June 10, 1758.

[1 ]First printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for September, 1780. The author was nineteen years old at the time this letter was written, and was then residing in London, employed as a printer. Referring to this asbestos purse in his autobiography, Franklin says: “Sir Hans Sloane came to see me, and invited me to his house in Bloomsbury Square, showed me all his curiosities, and persuaded me to add that to the number; for which he paid me handsomely.”

[1 ]His youngest sister, at this time nearly fifteen years old.

[1 ]There is no reason to suppose that Franklin ever wrote a second part. He was in the twenty-second year of his age when this was written.

[1 ]See Junto Paper of “Good and Evil,” &c.

[1 ]These Rules were drawn up in the year 1728, and designed as general regulations for a Club, called The Junto, consisting of a select number of Franklin’s acquaintances in Philadelphia, whom he had induced to associate and hold weekly meetings for mutual improvement.

[1 ]The “Queries” appear to have been the author’s first thoughts, written down without regard to method, and in parts are unfinished.

[1 ]These papers had their origin in a desire to punish Keimer for forestalling a project Franklin had formed for the establishment of a newspaper in Philadelphia. See supra, p. 176. They were contributed to the Weekly Mercury, the first newspaper published in Philadelphia, and accomplished their purpose of breaking down Keimer’s enterprise by giving new interest and popularity to the older print. The Busy-Body papers are the earliest compositions known to have come from Franklin’s pen, and were written in the beginning of his twenty-third year. They exhibit the germs of all those qualities, to which he owed his subsequent fame as a writer. The first five numbers and the eighth of “The Busy-Body” were unquestionably written by Franklin.—Ed.

[1]

Nam id arbitror
Apprime in vitâ esse utile, ut ne quid nimis.
—Terent.

[1 ]This is the first tract of a political nature known to have come from Franklin’s pen. It was printed at Philadelphia in 1729, when he was in his twenty-third year. At that early age, and so long before political economy had been recognized as a science, a correct theory of currency was not to be expected even from Franklin, but both in matter and manner it will be found superior to the average political economy of the period, either in America or Europe. For the circumstances under which it was written, see supra, i., pp. 152, 153.

[1 ]Franklin states this doctrine in 1729, precisely as Adam Smith does forty-six years afterwards in The Wealth of Nations.—W. Phillips.

[1 ]This passage shows that the theory as to the effect of the South American mines upon the rate of money prices and the reduction of the value of the precious metals, so elaborately set forth and reasoned out by Adam Smith, was quite a familiar notion when he was but six years old; the correctness of which, however, to the extent laid down by Franklin in this place, and afterwards by Smith, has of late years been gravely questioned by very respectable writers.—W. Phillips.

[1 ]This is a clear and just view of the effects and utility of banks of deposit. But the application which Franklin is about to make of it to land banks will not be acquiesced in at this day. Everybody knows that certainty as to time of payment of bills that pass as a circulating medium is no less important than the certainty that they will be eventually paid. The convertibility of the fund pledged for the redemption of the bill is as material a circumstance as its sufficiency and permanency of value. Land and immovable property generally is less convertible than movable property, for it cannot be removed from its place to seek a market; this renders this kind of property peculiarly unfit to constitute a fund or pledge for the redemption of bills that circulate as money.—W. Phillips.

[1 ]All commerce is by exchange, or rather is exchange, whether a trade involves money or not. The kind of trade intended by the author is in technical as well as in common language known by the name of barter.—W. Phillips.

[1 ]Soon after this pamphlet was written the measure proposed in it was adopted by the Assembly of Pennsylvania; and subsequently another bill for a similar object was passed, the principal features of which were published by Governor Pownall. They were understood to have been communicated to him by Franklin, with other remarks on paper money.

[2 ]From the Pennsylvania Gazette, June 23, 1730.

[1 ]From the Pennsylvania Gazette, July 9, 1730.

[1 ]From the Pennsylvania Gazette, September 3, 1730.

[1 ]The sister of Franklin, and the youngest of seventeen children. She was married and a widow at a very early age. She was left in very straitened circumstances, and through life was obliged to have constant recourse to the counsel and purse of her brother. She was also sorely afflicted by the death or misfortunes of her children. She was devoted to her brother Benjamin, whom in her qualities of mind and character she was said to have much resembled.

[1 ]From the Pennsylvania Gazette, July 24, 1732.

[1 ]From the Pennsylvania Gazette, July 10, 1732.

[1 ]From the Pennsylvania Gazette, February 18, 1734.

Philadelphia,September 25th.

“The Pennsylvania Gazette being now to be carryed on by other hands, the reader may expect some account of the method we design to proceed in.

After the publication of two numbers the Gazette was published twice a week, beginning with No. 43. Franklin was only twenty-three years of age when he embarked in this enterprise.—Ed.

[2 ]In the previous number Keimer announced that he had made over his business to David Harry, with the design to leave this province as soon as he could get in his debts and justly balance with every one of his few creditors, etc., etc.

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