to the terms hereinafter prescribed; all which bonds are to be taken for Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in current gold coin: and the manager shall keep a bound book, or books, wherein shall be entered the names of those who shall apply for and receive the benefit of this institution, and of their sureties, together with the sums lent, the dates, and other necessary and proper records, respecting the business and concerns of this institution: and as these loans are intended to assist young married artificers in setting up their business, they are to be proportioned by the discretion of the managers, so as not to exceed sixty pounds sterling to one person, nor to be less than fifteen pounds.

"And if the number of appliers so entitled should be so large as that the sum will not suffice to afford to every one some assistance, these aids may there→ fore be small at first, but as the capital increases by the accumulated interest, they will be more ample. And in order to serve as many as possible in their turn, as well as to make the repayment of the princi❤ pal borrowed more easy, each borrower shall be obliged to pay with the yearly interest, one-tenth part of the principal; which sums of principal and interest so paid in, shall be again let out to fresh borrowers. And it is presumed that there will be al ways found in Boston virtuous and benevolent citizens, willing to bestow a part of their time in doing good to the rising generation, by superintending and managing this institution gratis ;-it is hoped, that no part of the money will at any time lie dead, or be diverted to other purposes, but be continually aug menting by the interest; in which case there may in time be more than the occasion in Boston may re quire and then some may be spared to the neighbouring or other towns in the said state of Massachusetts, which may desire to have it, such towns engaging to pay punctually the interest, and the pro portions of the principal annually to the inhabitants of the town of Boston. If this plan is executed, and

succeeds, as projected, without interruption for one hundred years, the sum will be then one hundred and thirty-one thousand pounds; of which I would have the managers of the donation to the town of Boston then lay out, at their discretion, one hundred thousand pounds in public works which may be judged of most general utility to the inhabitants: such as fortifications, bridges, aqueducts, public buildings, baths, pavements, or whatever may make living in the town more convenient to its people, and render it more agreeable to strangers resorting thither for health, or a temporary residence. The remaining thirty-one thousand pounds I would have continued to be let out to interest, in the manner above directed, for one hundred years; as I hope it will have been found, that the institution has had a good effect on the conduct of youth, and been of service to many worthy characters and useful citizens. At the end of this second term, if no unfortunate accident has prevented the operation, the sum will be four millions and sixty-one thousand pounds sterling, of which I leave one million and sixty-one thousand pounds to the disposition and management of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, and the three millions to the disposi→ tion of the government of the state; not presuming to carry my views farther.

"All the directions herein given respecting the disposition and management of the donation to the inhabitants of Boston, I would have observed respecting that to the inhabitants of Philadelphia, only as Philadelphia is incorporated, I request the corporation of that city to undertake the management, agreeable to the said directions; and I do hereby vest them with full and ample powers for that purpose. And having considered that the covering its ground-plot with buildings and pavements, which carry off most rain, and prevent its soaking into the earth, and renewing and purifying the springs, whence the water of the wells most gradually grow worse, and in time be unfit for use, as I find has happened in all old cities; I re

commend, that, at the end of the first hundred years, if not done before, the corporation of the city employ a part of the hundred thousand pounds in bringing by pipes the water of Wiffahickon-creek into the town, so as to supply the inhabitants, which I apprehend may be done without great difficulty, the level of that creek being much above that of the city, and may be made higher by a dam. I also recommend making the Schuylkil completely navigable. At the end of the second hundred years, I would have the disposition of the four millions and sixty-one thousand pounds divided between the inhabitants of the city of Philadelphia and the government of Pennsylvania in the same manner as herein-directed with respect to that of the inhabitants of Boston and the government of Massachusetts. It is my desire that this institution should take place, and begin to operate within one year after my decease; for which purpose.

due notice should be publicly given, previous to the expiration of that year, that those for whose benefit this establishment is intended may make their respective applications: and I hereby direct my executors, the survivors and survivor of them, within six `months after my decease, to pay over the said sum of two thousand pounds sterling to such persons as shall be duly appointed by the select men of Boston, and the corporation of Philadelphia, and to receive and take charge of their respective sums of one thousand pounds each for the purposes aforesaid. Considering the accidents to which all human affairs and projects are subject in such a length of time, I have perhaps too much flattered myself with a vain fancy, that these dispositions, if carried into execution, will be continued without interruption, and have the effects proposed; I hope, however, that if the inhabitants of the two cities should not think fit to undertake the execution, they will at least accept the offer of these donations, as a mark of my good will, token of my gratitude, and testimony of my desire to be useful to them even after my departure. I wish, in

deed, that they may both undertake to endeavour the execution of my project, because I think, that, though unforeseen difficulties may arise, expedients will be found to remove them, and the scheme be found prac ticable. If one of them accepts the money with the conditions, and the other refuses, my will then is, that both sums be given to the inhabitants of the city accepting; the whole to be applied to the same pur poses, and under the same regulations directed for the separate parts; and if both refuse, the money remains of course in the mass of my estate, and it is to be disposed of therewith, according to my will made the seventeenth day of July, 1788.

My fine crab-tree walking-stick, with a gold head curiously wrought in the form of the Cap of Liberty, I give to my friend, and the friend of mankind, General Washington. If it were a sceptre, he has merited it, and would become it.

Dr Priestley in 1802, felt himself called upon to vindidicate the character of his deceased friend, and contributes an interesting anecdote or two of his life, in the following letters :-—

Sir,

I have just read in the Monthly Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 357, that the late Mr Pennant said of Dr Franklin, that, living under the protection of our mild government, he was secretly playing the incendiary, and too successfully inflaming the minds of our fellowsubjects in America, till that great explosion hap pened, which for ever disunited us from our once happy colonies. As it is in my power, as far as my testimony will be regarded to refute this charge, I think it due to our friendship to do it. It is probable that no person now living was better acquainted with Dr Franklin and his sentiments, on all subjects of importance, than myself, for several years before the American war. I think I knew him as well as any one man can gene

rally know another; I spent the winters in London in the family of the marquis of Lansdowne, and few days passed without my seeing more or less of Dr Franklin; and the last day that he passed in England, having given out that he should depart, the day before we spent together without any interruption from morning till night.

Now he was so far from wishing for a rupture with the colonies, that he did more than most men would have done, to prevent it. His constant advice to his countrymen he always said, was, "to bear every thing from England, however unjust;" saying, that it could not last long, as they would soon outgrow all their hardships. On this account Dr Price, who then corresponded with some of the principal persons in America, said, he began to be very unpopular there. He always said, if there must be a war, it will last ten years, and I shall not live to see the end of it. This I have heard him say many times.

It was at his request, enforced by that of Dr Fothergil, that I wrote an anonymous pamphlet, calculated to show the injustice and impolicy of a war with the colonies, previous to the meeting of a new parliament. As I then lived at Leeds, he corrected the press himself, and to a passage, in which I lamented the attempt to establish an arbitrary power, in so large a part of the British empire, he added the following clause; "to the imminent danger of our most valuable commerce, and of that national strength, liberty, security, and felicity, which depend on union and liberty."

The unity of the British empire in all its parts, was a favourite idea of his. He used to compare it to a beautiful China vase, which, if once broken, could never be put together again; and so great an admirer was he at the time of the British constitution, that he said he saw no inconvenience from its being extended over a great part of the globe.. With these sentiments he left England, but when, on his arrival in America, he found the war begun, and that there was no receding, no man entered more warmly into the