describes as having materially improved the conversation of the Americans, diffused universal knowledge amongst the farmers and tradesmen, and contributed, in no small degree, to that assertion of the civil rights of the colonies which resulted in their final independence.

At this time there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the American colonies south of Boston; there were printers and stationers in New York and Philadelphia, but they sold only paper, ballads, almanacks, &c.: people disposed to read used to be under the necessity of sending for their books from England. The new library was open one day in the week, for the purpose of lending books to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if they were not duly returned. And Franklin observes, in after-life, that the objections he met with in soliciting the subscriptions, made him feel the impropriety of presenting himself as the proposer of any useful project that might be supposed to raise his reputation above his neighbour. "I therefore," says he, "put myself as much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends who had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way my affairs went on more smoothly, and I ever after practised it on such occasions, and from my frequent success can heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of vanity will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains awhile uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some one more vain than yourself would be encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you justice, by plucking those assumed feathers, and restoring them to their right owner." Franklin's personal advantages from this library were not small; he imported the books, and freely used them for private study; thus at once accelerating his fortune and his mental improvement, and repairing the loss of that learned education

from the period of which we are writing, became daily easier; and reflecting often on what his father used to impress upon him in youth-"Seest thou a man diligent in his calling; he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men,”—he lived in his advanced age to realize this proverb in a remarkable manner. I did not think," says he, "that I should ever literally stand before kings, which however has since happened; for I have stood before five, and even had the honour of sitting down with one, the king of Denmark, to dinner."

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Franklin describes his wife as equally frugal and diligent with himself. She assisted him in his business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending the shop, and making small purchases for him in the way of trade. He kept no idle servants, his table was plain and simple, and his furniture homely. His breakfast, for instance, was bread and milk; and he ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon, indulging himself with no tea. But one morning our philosopher discovered a china bowl with a silver spoon, upon his breakfast table, which cost twenty-three shillings. These were bought for him, without his knowledge, by Mrs Franklin, who had only the sound apology to make, that she thought her husband deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as well as any of his neighbours! This, he says, was the first appearance of plate and china in his house.

In 1732 he published his Almanack, which was continued about twenty-five years under the name of "Richard Sanders," and commonly called Poor Richard's Almanack. The work was replete with useful information, and particularly suited to the thin and rising population of the colonies. It soon came into general demand, and Franklin vended annually ten thousand copies. In his own precise and clear way, he filled all the spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the Calendar with proverbial sentences, inculcating particularly honesty and frugality, adapted to the circumstances of

"It is hard for an empty sack to stand

"God helps "he that lives upon

all readers. upright," was one of these proverbs. them that help themselves; hope will die fasting;" "at the working man's door hunger looks in, but dares not enter," were others. In the Almanack of 1757, he brought all these scattered counsels together, and formed them into a connected discourse, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an auction, and entitled them, "The Way to Wealth." This piece has been printed in all the principal languages of Europe, in a variety of forms. We subjoin the whole in our Appendix*, nothing of a more characteristic nature having proceeded from our author's pen.

In the conduct of his newspaper, as a vehicle of public instruction, Franklin also acted with his usual good sense and promptitude; as far as it was compatible with the free discussion of public measures, he carefully excluded personal attacks. To the pleas of some zealots for a different course, his reply was curious. They would urge, he says, the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper, like a stage-coach, should afford a place to all who would pay for it. His answer was, that he would furnish copies of the objectionable pieces for the private distribution of the parties (thus preserving their good will) but not intrude on his subscribers what might be private scandal, or might be deemed so. His selections from the Spectator and other works were very attractive to readers of such limited education and means of knowledge as surrounded him; while his own original contributions evinced the rapid growth of his intellect. He particularizes a Socratic dialogue, and a discourse on self-denial, as amongst his most successful essays. The subjects were characteristic of the writer; the former being designed to prove, that no vicious man could be, strictly, a man of sense; and the latter, that virtue was not secure until its prac

tice became habitual, and free from the dominion of contrary desires.

He was a strong advocate for women of the middle classes being taught the practice of reading, writing, and accounts, in preference to music, dancing, and unsuitable accomplishments. Of the importance of this he supplies an instance from his own observation. A journeyman of his was sent by him to Charlestown, Carolina, where a printer was much wanted, provided with a press, type, &c. on an agreement of partnership, according to which, Franklin was to have one-third of the final profits of the trade. He was a well-educated young man, but ignorant of accounts, and while he lived, they were never regularly remitted; but at his death, his wife (educated in Holland) gave the clearest statement of all the past transactions he had ever managed, and conducted the business in future with the greatest punctuality and success; so that, after bringing up a large family respectably, she was finally able to buy the printinghouse for her son.

In 1733, he began to turn his attention to the acquirement of languages, and became familiar with the French, Italian, and Spanish, successively. From these he proceeded to regain and extend his knowledge of Latin, in which he never had more than one year's instruction, he observes, in the early part of life. Here the unexpected facility which he derived from his acquaintance with the European languages, urged him to suspect that boys are wrongly put to Latin first. It is, as he states, as if we were placed on the top of a flight of stairs, at once, for the sake of walking down them easily; whereas, if we begin at the lower, we shall most easily reach the top. But surely he argues too precisely from his own case. His object was simply the acquirement of certain languages, and he brought to their study a mind unusually disciplined. Boys are easily taught the classical languages, and especially Latin, as a means of mental discipline, and because the form and

structure of that language will, at the same time, facilitate the acquirement of every other.

Affluence, never better deserved, now shone upon our aspiring tradesman: when, having been ten years absent from Boston, he made a second journey to visit his relations. He called at Newport on his return, to see his brother James, who had removed thither with his printing-office; their meeting was cordial, and all former differences were forgotten. His brother, being in a declining state of health, requested him to take a nephew under his charge, and bring him up to the printing business; a kindness which Franklin nobly considered to have been a matter of some "justice" to his brother, in recompense for the disadvantage he sustained from his leaving his service so abruptly.

About this time our author became acquainted with a young preacher of the Presbyterian persuasion, who came to Philadelphia in 1734, and who, with all Franklin's scepticism, attracted much of his attention. Gifted with a sonorous voice, he delivered extempore moral discourses of a very superior description, which drew large congregations, composed of all classes of the citizens. Franklin's attention was fixed by the absence of all peculiar religious dogmas, which distinguished them, and which soon drew down upon the preacher the censure of his brethren. The synod of the province was moved to sit upon his supposed delinquency as a heterodox preacher; when Franklin publicly espoused his cause, and became the chief champion in a paper war which was undertaken by his hearers in his defence.

But a most untoward discovery of the opposing party turned the tide of popular applause. One of the orator's best sermons was traced to a review imported from England, in which it was quoted almost verbatim from the celebrated Dr Foster. On this being known, all his other friends abandoned his cause; but Franklin slyly argued, "that he rather approved of his giving good sermons of other people's