Title: Poor Richard Improved, 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

To the Reader.
The Hope of acquiring lasting Fame, is, with many Authors, a most powerful Motive to Writing. Some, tho’ few, have succeeded; and others, tho’ perhaps fewer, may succeed hereafter, and be as well known to Posterity by their Works, as the Antients are to us. We Philomaths, as ambitious of Fame as any other Writers whatever, after all our painful Watchings and laborious Calculations, have the constant Mortification to see our Works thrown by at the End of the Year, and treated as mere waste Paper. Our only Consolation is, that short-lived as they are, they out-live those of most of our Cotemporaries.
Yet, condemned to renew the Sisyphean Toil, we every Year heave another heavy Mass up the Muses Hill, which never can the Summit reach, and soon comes tumbling down again.
This, kind Reader, is my seventeenth Labour of the Kind. Thro’ thy continued Good-will, they have procur’d me, if no Bays, at least Pence; and the latter is perhaps the better of the two; since ’tis not improbable that a Man may receive more solid Satisfaction from Pudding, while he is living, than from Praise, after he is dead.
In my last, a few Faults escap’d; some belong to the Author, but most to the Printer: Let each take his Share of the Blame, confess, and amend for the future. In the second Page of August, I mention’d 120 as the next perfect Number to 28; it was wrong, 120 being no perfect Number; the next to 28 I find to be 496. The first is 6; let the curious Reader, fond of mathematical Questions, find the fourth. In the 2d Page of March, in some Copies, the Earth’s Circumference was said to be nigh 4000, instead of 24000 Miles, the Figure 2 being omitted at the Beginning. This was Mr. Printer’s Fault; who being also somewhat niggardly of his Vowels, as well as profuse of his Consonants, put in one Place, among the Poetry, mad, instead of made, and in another wrapp’d, instead of warp’d; to the utter demolishing of all Sense in those Lines, leaving nothing standing but the Rhime. These, and some others, of the like kind, let the Readers forgive, or rebuke him for, as to their Wisdom and Goodness shall seem meet: For in such Cases the Loss and Damage is chiefly to the Reader, who, if he does not take my Sense at first Reading, ’tis odds he never gets it; for ten to one he does not read my Works a second Time.
Printers indeed should be very careful how they omit a Figure or a Letter: For by such Means sometimes a terrible Alteration is made in the Sense. I have heard, that once, in a new Edition of the Common Prayer, the following Sentence, We shall all be changed in a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye; by the Omission of a single Letter, became, We shall all be hanged in a Moment, &c. to the no small Surprize of the first Congregation it was read to.
May this Year prove a happy One to Thee and Thine, is the hearty Wish of, Kind Reader, Thy obliged Friend,
R. Saunders

The Number of People in New-Jersey, taken by Order of Government in 1737–8.

Counties.
Males above 16.
Females above 16.
Males under 16.
Females under 16.
   Slaves.
Total of Whites,
Total of Slaves,

      Males,
      Females,

Middlesex,
1134
1085
1086
956
272
231
4261
503

Essex,
1118
1720
1619
1494
198
177
6644
375

Bergen,
939
822
820
708
443
363
3289
806

Somerset,
967
940
999
867
425
307
3773
732

Monmouth,
1508
1339
1289
1295
362
293
5431
655

Burlington,
1487
1222
1190
996
192
151
4895
343

Gloucester,
930
757
782
676
74
48
3145
122

Salem,
1669
1391
1313
1327
97
87
5700
184

Cape-May,
261
219
271
211
21
21
962
42

Hunterdon,
1618
1230
1270
1170
124
95
5288
219

Totals,
   11631
   10725
   10639
   9700
   2208
   1773
   43388
   3981

Number of Ditto, taken in 1745, by order of Gov. Morris.

Morris,
1109
957
1190
1087
57
36
4343
93

Hunterdon,
2302
2117
2182
2090
244
216
8691
460

Burlington,
1786
1605
1528
1454
233
197
6373
430

Gloucester,
913
797
786
808
121
81
3304
202

Salem,
1716
1603
1746
1595
90
97
6660
187

Cape-May,
306
272
284
274
30
22
1136
52

Bergen,
721
590
494
585
379
237
2390
616

Essex,
1694
1649
1652
1548
244
201
6543
445

Middlesex,
1728
1659
1651
1695
483
396
6733
879

Monmouth,
2071
1783
1975
1899
513
386
7728
899

Somerset,
740
672
765
719
194
149
2896
343

Totals,
15086
13704
14253
13754
2588
2018
56797
4606

Note, That Morris and Hunterdon Counties, were both in one, under the Name of Hunterdon, in 1737–8. In 1745, the Number of the People called Quakers in New-Jersey, was found to be 6079; no distinct Account was taken of them in 1737–8. Total of Souls in 1737, 47369; Ditto in 1745, 61403; Increase 14034. Query, At this Rate of Increase, in what Number of Years will that Province double its Inhabitants?

Buried in the several Burying Grounds of Philadelphia, belonging to the

In the Years
Church of England,
Swedish Church
Presbyterians,
Baptist Meeting,
Quaker Meeting,
Strangers,
Negroes,

1738
113
24
29
15
46
269
54

1739
109
16
18
7
56
97
47

1740
105
8
22
12
29
80
34

1741
165
30
41
20
120
300
69

1742
126
35
21
9
70
98
50

1743
117

19
21
68
150
50

1744
123
16
29
14
81
100
47

858
129
179
98
470
1094
351

Note; No Account of Burials in the Swedish Ground, was taken in the Year 1743, and those Germans buried in the new Dutch Burying Ground, are numbered among the Strangers, who were chiefly Palatines: The Mortality among them is not owing to any Unhealthiness of this Climate, but to Diseases they contract on Shipboard, the Voyage sometimes happening to be long, and too great a Number crowded together. Exclusive of those, the Total of Deaths in seven Years is about 2100, which is 300 per Annum: By which we should have had nearly 10,500 Inhabitants during those seven Years, at a Medium; for in a healthy Country (as this is) political Arithmeticians compute, there dies yearly One in Thirty-five. But in these last five Years, from 1744, the Town is greatly increased.

In the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New-England, Anno 1735, there were 35,427 Polls of white Men of 16 Years and upwards, 2600 Negroes, 27,420 Horse-kind of three Years old and upwards, 52,000 Neat Cattle of three to four Years old and upwards, 130,001 sheep of one year old and upwards. In 1742 there was 41,000 Polls of white Men, from 16 Years upwards. Increase of Men in seven Years 1573, which is near one Sixth. New-Jersey increased in the same Time near one Third.
By the New-Jersey Accounts it appears, that the Number of Males, aged above 16, is nearly one fourth Part of the whole Number of Souls. If the same Proportion holds in the Massachusetts, they should have had in that Province, in 1742, about 164000 Souls. There are three other Provinces in New-England, viz. Connecticut, Rhode-Island, and New-Hampshire.
In 1742, a Year of middling Health in Boston, were buried about 515, which multiplied by 35, makes nearly 18,000 Inhabitants. In the same Year were found in that Town, Dwelling-houses 1719, Warehouses 166, Widows 1200, of which 1000 poor; in the Almshouse III Persons; in the Work-house 36; Negroes 1514; Horses 418; Cows 141.
In 1748–9, the Dwelling-houses in Philadelphia were 2076. The following Summer arrived 24 or 25 Sail of Ships with German Families, supposed to bring near 12,000 Souls.
It has been computed in England, that the Colonies on the Continent, taken one with another, double the Number of their Inhabitants every Thirty Years. This quick Increase is owing not so much to natural Generation, as the Accession of Strangers. What the natural Increase of Mankind is, is a curious Question. In Breslaw, the Capital of Silesia, a healthy inland City, to which many Strangers do not come, the Number of Inhabitants was found to be generally about 34,000. An exact Register is kept there of the Births and Burials, which taken for 30 Years together, amount, as follows,

Births per Annum,
1238

Deaths per Annum,
1174

Yearly Increase but
64

Let the expert Calculator say, how long it will be, before by an Increase of 64 per Annum, 34,000 People will double themselves?
Yet I believe People increase faster by Generation in these Colonies, where all can have full Employ, and there is Room and Business for Millions yet unborn. For in old settled Countries, as England for Instance, as soon as the Number of People is as great as can be supported by all the Tillage, Manufactures, Trade and Offices of the Country, the Overplus must quit the Country, or they will perish by Poverty, Diseases, and want of Necessaries. Marriage too, is discouraged, many declining it, till they can see how they shall be able to maintain a Family.
January. XI Month.

So weak are human Kind by Nature made,
Or to such Weakness by their Vice betray’d,
Almighty Vanity! to thee they owe
Their Zest of Pleasure, and their Balm of Woe.
Thou, like the Sun, all Colours dost contain,
Varying like Rays of Light on Drops of Rain;
For every Soul finds Reason to be proud,
Tho’ hiss’d and hooted by the pointing Croud.

   There are three Things extreamly hard, Steel, a Diamond and to know one’s self.
   Hunger is the best Pickle.
   He is a Governor that governs his Passions, and he a Servant that serves them.
   On the 9th of this Month, 1744–5, died Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, and Emperor of Germany. ’Tis thought his Death was hastened by Grief and Vexation at the Success of the Queen of Hungary, and the Disappointments of his own Ambition. O Content! What art thou! And where to be found! Art thou not an inseparable Companion of Honour, Wealth and Power? No. This Man was rich, great, a Sovereign Prince: But he wanted to be richer, greater, and more a Sovereign. At first his Arms had vast Success; but a Campaign or two left him not a Foot of Land he could call his own, and reduc’d him to live with his Empress in a hired House at Frankfort!

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless Hour,
Tries the dread summits of Cesarean Power,
With unexpected Legions bursts away,
And sees defenceless Realms receive his Sway;
Short Sway! Fair Austria spreads her mournful Charms,
The Queen, the Beauty, sets the World in Arms;
From Hill to Hill the Beacon’s rousing Blaze
Spreads wide the Hope of Plunder and of Praise;
The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar,
And all the Sons of Ravage, crowd the War;
The baffled Prince, in Honour’s flatt’ring Bloom,
Of hasty Greatness, finds the fatal Doom;
His Foes Derision, and his Subjects Blame,
And steals to Death from Anguish, and from Shame.

February. XII Month.

We smile at Florists, we despise their Joy,
And think their Hearts enamour’d of a Toy;
But are those wiser, whom we most admire,
Survey with Envy, and pursue with Fire?
What’s he, who fights for Wealth, or Fame, or Power?
Another Florio, doating on a Flower,
A short-liv’d Flower, and which has often sprung,
From sordid Arts, as Florio’s out of Dung.

   A Cypher and Humility make the other Figures and Virtues of ten fold Value.
   If it were not for the Belly, the Back might wear Gold.

On the 19th of this Month, 1653, was a great Sea-Fight between the English and Dutch. The Fleet of the former commanded by Blake and Dean, Admirals: That of the latter by Van Trump. The Dutch were beaten, lost 11 Men of War, and 30 Merchant Ships, and 1500 Men killed. The English lost but one Ship, the Sampson, which was sunk; but the Number of their Slain supposed to be nearly equal.
   For Liberality.

Tho’ safe thou think’st thy Treasure lies,
Hidden in Chests from Human Eyes,
Thieves, Fire, may come, and it may be
Convey’d, my Friend, as far from thee.
Thy Vessel that yon Ocean sails,
Tho’ favour’d now with prosp’rous Gales,
Her Cargo which has Thousands cost,
All in a Tempest may be lost.
Cheats, Whores and Quacks, a thankless Crew,
Priests, Pickpockets, and Lawyers too,
All help by several Ways to drain,
Thanking themselves for what they gain;
The Liberal are secure alone,
For what they frankly give, for ever is their own.

March. I Month.

What’s the bent Brow, or Neck in Thought reclin’d?
The Body’s Wisdom, to conceal the Mind.
A Man of Sense can Artifice disdain,
As Men of Wealth may venture to go plain;
And be this Truth eternal ne’er forgot,
Solemnity’s a Cover for a Sot;
I find the Fool, when I behold the Screen:
For ’tis the Wise Man’s Interest to be seen.

   Wouldst thou confound thine Enemy, be good thy self.

   Pride is as loud a Beggar as Want, and a great deal more saucy.
   Pay what you owe, and what you’re worth you’ll know.
   The Reason, says Swift, why so few Marriages are happy, is, because young Ladies spend their Time in making Nets, not in making Cages.

Why, Celia, is your spreading Waist
So loose, so negligently lac’d?
How ill that Dress adorns your Head;
Distain’d and rumpled from the Bed?
Those Clouds that shade your blooming Face,
A little Water might displace,
As Nature ev’ry Morn bestows
The chrystal Dew to cleanse the Rose.
Those Tresses as the Raven black,
That wav’d in Ringlets down your Back,
Uncomb’d, and injur’d by Neglect,
Destroy the Face that once they deck’d,
Whence this Forgetfulness of Dress?
Pray, Madam, are you marry’d? Yes.
Nay then indeed the Wonder ceases,
No matter now how loose your Dress is;
The End is won, your Fortune’s made,
Your Sister now may take the Trade.
Alas, what Pity ’tis to find
This Fault in Half the Female kind!
From hence proceed Aversion, Strife,
And all that sours the wedded Life.
Beauty can only point the Dart,
’Tis Neatness guides it to the Heart;
Let Neatness then, and Beauty strive
To keep a wav’ring Flame alive.

April. II Month.

When e’er by seeming Chance, Fop throws his Eye
On Mirrors flushing with his Finery,

With how sublime a Transport leaps his Heart;
Pity such Friends sincere should ever part.
So have I seen on some bright Summer’s Day,
A spotted Calf, sleek, frolicksome and gay;
Gaze from the Bank, and much delighted seem,
Fond of the pretty Fellow in the Stream.

   Sorrow is good for nothing but Sin.
   Many a Man thinks he is buying Pleasure, when he is really selling himself a Slave to it.

Graft good Fruit all,
Or graft not at all.

   On the 17th of this Month, 1722, the Princesses Amelia and Carolina, were inoculated for the Small Pox, after the Experiment had been tried for the first Time in England on some condemned Malefactors. The Example of the Court was soon followed by many of the Nobility and Gentry, and Success attending the Practice, ’tis now grown more common in many Parts of Europe; and tho’ at first it was reckoned by many to be a rash and almost impious Action, to give a Distemper to a Person in Health; so changeable are the Opinions of Men, that it now begins to be thought rash to hazard taking it in the common Way, by which one in seven is generally lost; and impious to reject a Method discovered to Mankind by God’s good Providence, whereby 99 in 100 are saved.
The Indians of America generally suffer extreamly by this Distemper when it gets among them, perhaps from the Closeness and Hardness of their Skins. Monsieur Condamine, a French Academician, who, in 1744, made a Voyage from Peru, down the River Amazones, thro’ the Middle of South America, reports, that a few Years before, the Small-Pox getting among the Indians, full Half of those taken sick were carried off by it: Which a Portuguese Missionary observing, and having met by Chance with an Account of Inoculation in a News Paper, he try’d it on great Numbers of his Indian Disciples, and preserved them all; which gave a high Opinion both of the Man and his Religion.

MAY. III Month.

Content let all your Virtues lie unknown,
If there’s no Tongue to praise them, but your own,
Of Boasting more than of a Bomb afraid,
Merit should be as modest as a Maid.
Fame is a Bubble the Reserv’d enjoy,
Who strive to grasp it, as they touch, destroy;
’Tis the World’s Debt to Deeds of high Degree;
But if you pay yourself, the World is free.

   Tis hard (but glorious) to be poor and honest: An empty Sack can hardly stand upright; but if it does, ’tis a stout one!
   He that can bear a Reproof, and mend by it, if he is not wise, is in a fair way of being so.
   Beatus esse sine Virtute, nemo potest.
   On the 22d of this Month, 1453, was the famous City of Constantinople, the Capital of the Greek Empire, taken from the Christians by the Turks, who have ever since held it in Possession. When it was besieg’d, the Emperor made most earnest Application to his People, that they would contribute Money to enable him to pay his Troops, and defray the Expence of defending it; but they thro’ Covetousness refused, pretending Poverty, &c. Yet the Turks in pillaging it, found so much Wealth among them, that even their common Soldiers were enriched: And it became a Saying, which continues to this Day, when they observe a Man grown suddenly rich, He has been at the Sack of Constantinople.
   O Avarice! How blind are thy Votaries! How often by grasping at too much, do they lose all, and themselves with it! The Thirst of More, encreases with the Heap; and to the restless Desire of Getting, is added the cruel Fear of Losing, a Torment from which the Poor are free. And Death often scatters all we have with so much Care and Toil been gathering;

High built Abundance, Heap on Heap for what?
To breed new Wants, and beggar us the more;
Then make a richer Scramble for the Throng?
Soon as this feeble Pulse, which leaps so long

Almost by Miracle, is tir’d with Play,
Like Rubbish from disploding Engines thrown,
Our Magazines of hoarded Trifles fly;
Fly diverse; fly to Foreigners, to Foes:
New Masters court, and call the former Fool,
(How justly!) for Dependance on their Stay,
Wide scatter, first, our Playthings, then our Dust.

June. IV Month.

“Daphnis, says Clio, has a charming Eye;
What Pity ’tis her Shoulder is awry?
Aspasia’s Shape indeed—but then her Air,
’Twould ask a Conj’rer to find Beauty there.”
Without a But, Hortensia she commends,
The first of Women, and the best of Friends;
Owns her in Person, Wit, Fame, Virtue, bright;
But how comes this to pass?—She dy’d last Night.

   Sound, and sound Doctrine, may pass through a Ram’s Horn, and a Preacher, without straitening the one, or amending the other.
   Clean your Finger, before you point at my Spots.
   On the 7th of this Month, 1692, the Town of Port Royal, in Jamaica, was sunk by a fearful Earthquake.
The Day was very clear, and afforded no Suspicion of the least Evil; but in the Space of three Minutes, about half an Hour after 11 in the Morning, that fine Town was shaken to Pieces, sunk into, and cover’d, for the greater Part, by the Sea: By the falling of the Houses, Opening of the Earth, and Inundation of the Waters, near 2000 Persons were lost, many of Note.
For some Days afterwards, ’twas dismal to see the Harbour cover’d with the dead Bodies of People of all Conditions, floating up and down without Burial: For the great Burial Place, was destroy’d by the Earthquake; which dashing to Pieces the Tombs, whereof there were Hundreds in that Place, the Sea washed the Carcasses of those who had been buried out of their Graves.

A Sickness followed, which carried off some Thousands more. During the Earthquake, Thieves robbed and plundered the Sufferers, even among the Ruins, while the Earth trembled under their Feet. Some were killed in the very Act by falling Walls, &c.
July. V Month.
  On Time.

See Time launch’d forth, in solemn Form proceed,
And Man on Man advance, and Deed on Deed!
No Pause, no Rest in all the World appears,
Ev’n live long Patriarchs waste their 1000 Years.
Some Periods void of Science and of Fame,
Scarce e’er exist, or leave behind a Name;
Meer sluggish Rounds, to let Succession climb,
Obscure, and idle Expletives of Time.

   He that spills the Rum, loses that only; He that drinks it, often loses both that and himself.

That Ignorance makes devout, if right the Notion,
Troth, Rufus, thou’rt a Man of great Devotion.

   A plain, clean, and decent Habit, proportioned to one’s Circumstances, is one Mark of Wisdom. Gay Cloathing so generally betokens a light and empty Mind, that we are surpriz’d if we chance to find good Sense under that disguise.

Vain are the Studies of the Fop and Beau,
Who all their Care expend on outward Show.
Of late abroad was young Florello seen;
How blank his Look! How discompos’d his Mien!
So hard it proves in Grief sincere to feign,
Sunk were his Spirits,—for his Coat was plain?
Next Day his Breast regain’d its wonted Peace,
His Health was mended—with a Silver Lace.

   What an admirable Invention is Writing, by which a Man may communicate his Mind without opening his Mouth, and at 1000 Leagues Distance, and even to future Ages, only by the Help of 22 Letters, which may be joined 5852616738497664000 Ways, and will express all Things in a very narrow Compass. ’Tis a Pity this excellent Art has not preserved the Name and Memory of its Inventor.
   Bed-Bugs, by some called Chinces, because first brought from China in East-India Goods, are easily destroy’d, Root and Branch, by boiling Water, poured from a Teakettle into the Joints, &c. of the Bedstead, or squirted by a Syringe, where it cannot well be poured. The old Ones are scalded to Death, and the Nits spoilt, for a boil’d Egg never hatches. This done once a Fortnight, during the Summer, clears the House. Probatum est.
August. VI Month.

Others behold each nobler Genius thrive,
And in their generous Labours long survive;
By Learning grac’d, extend a distant Light;
Thus circling Science has her Day and Night.
Rise, rise, ye dear Cotemporaries, rise;
On whom devolve these Seasons and these Skies!
Assert the Portion destin’d to your Share,
And make the Honour of the Times your Care.

   Those that have much Business must have much Pardon.
   Discontented Minds, and Fevers of the Body are not to be cured by changing Beds or Businesses.

Little Strokes,
Fell great Oaks.

   The 22d of this Month, 1711, the English Fleet, sent against Canada, was shipwrecked in the Bay of St. Lawrence.
From Martial.
Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem, &c.

I fancy, O my Friend, that this
In Life bids fair for Happiness;

Timely an Estate to gain,
Left, or purchased by your Pain:
Grounds that pay the Tiller’s Hire,
Woods to furnish lasting Fire;
Safe from Law t’enjoy your own,
Seldom view the busy Town;
Health with moderate Vigour join’d;
True well-grounded Peace of Mind;
Friends, your Equals in Degree,
Prudent, plain Simplicity;
Easy Converse Mirth afford,
Artless Plenty fill the Board;
Temp’rate Joy your Ev’nings bless,
Free from Care as from Excess:
Short the Night by Sleep be made,
Chaste, not chearless, be the Bed:
Chuse to be but what you are;
And Dying neither wish nor fear.

September. VII Month.

Still be your darling Study Nature’s Laws;
And to its Fountain trace up every Cause.
Explore, for such it is, this high Abode,
And tread the Paths which Boyle and Newton trod.
Lo, Earth smiles wide, and radiant Heav’n looks down,
All fair, all gay, and urgent to be known!
Attend, and here are sown Delights immense,
For every Intellect, and every Sense.

   You may be too cunning for One, but not for All.
   Genius without Education is like Silver in the Mine.
   Many would live by their Wits, but break for want of Stock.
   Poor Plain dealing! dead without Issue!
The 3d of this Month, 1658, died Oliver Cromwell, aged 60 Years. A great Storm happen’d the Night he died, from whence his Enemies took Occasion to say, The D---l fetch’d him away in a Whirlwind: But his Poet Waller, in some Verses on his Death, gave that Circumstance quite a different Turn. He begins with these lofty Lines; viz.

We must resign, Heav’n his great Soul does claim,
In Storms as loud as his immortal Fame;
His dying Groans, his last Breath shakes our Isle,
And Trees uncut fall for his Fun’ral Pile, &c.

   When the King came in, Waller made his Peace by a congratulatory Poem to his Majesty: And one Day ’tis said the King asked him jocularly, What is the Reason, Mr. Waller, that your Verses on Oliver are so much better than those you made on me? We Poets, my Liege, reply’d he, always succeed better in Fiction than in Truth.

Much Learning shows how little Mortals know;
Much Wealth, how little Worldlings can enjoy.
At best it baby’s us with endless Toys,
And keeps us Children ’till we drop to Dust.
As Monkies at a Mirror stand amaz’d,
They fail to find what they so plainly see;
Thus Men, in shining Riches, see the Face
Of Happiness, nor know it is a Shade;
But gaze, and touch, and peep, and peep again,
And wish, and wonder it is absent still.

October. VIII Month.

With Adoration think, with Rapture gaze,
And hear all Nature chant her Maker’s Praise;
With Reason stor’d, by Love of Knowledge fir’d,
By Dread awaken’d, and by Love inspir’d,
Can We, the Product of another’s Hand,
Nor whence, nor how, nor why we are, demand?
And, not at all, or not aright employ’d,
Behold a Length of Years, and all a Void?

   You can bear your own Faults, and why not a Fault in your Wife.
   Tho’ Modesty is a Virtue, Bashfulness is a Vice.

Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made.
What’s a Sun-Dial in the Shade!

   On the first of this Month, 1680, the great Comet appeared in England, and continued blazing near 3 Months. Of these surprizing Bodies, Astronomers hitherto know very little; Time and Observation, may make us better acquainted with them, and if their Motions are really regular, as they are supposed to be, enable us hereafter to calculate with some Certainty the Periods of their Return. They have heretofore been thought Forerunners of National Calamities, and Threateners of Divine Vengeance on a guilty World. Dr. Young, intimates this Opinion, in his Paraphrase on that Chapter of Job, where the Deity challenges the Patriarch, and convinces him of the Weakness of Man;

Who drew the Comet out to such a Size,
And pour’d his flaming Train o’er Half the Skies!
Did thy Resentment bang him out? Does he
Glare on the Nations, and denounce from Thee?
      The Summer Fruits now gathered in,
Let thankful Hearts in chearful Looks be seen;
Ope the hospitable Gate,
Ope for Friendship, not for State;
Neighbours and Strangers enter there
Equal to all of honest Air;
To Rich or Poor of Soul sincere.
Cheap bought Plenty, artless Store,
Feed the Rich, and fill the Poor;
Converse chear the sprightly Guest,
Cordial Welcome crown the Feast;
Easy Wit with Candour fraught,
Laughter genuine and unsought;
Jest from double Meaning free,
Blameless, harmless Jollity;
Mirth, that no repenting Gloom
Treasures for our Years to come.

November. IX Month.

Happy, thrice happy he! whose conscious Heart,
Enquires his Purpose, and discerns his Part;
Who runs with Heed, th’ involuntary Race,
Nor lets his Hours reproach him as they pass;
Weighs how they steal away, how sure, how fast,
And as he weighs them, apprehends the last.
Or vacant, or engag’d, our Minutes fly;
We may be negligent, but we must die.

   What signifies knowing the Names, if you know not the Natures of Things.
   Tim was so learned, that he could name a Horse in nine Languages; So ignorant, that he bought a Cow to ride on.
   The Golden Age never was the present Age.
   On the 30th of this Month, 1718, Charles XII. of Sweden, the modern Alexander, was kill’d before Fredericstadt. He had all the Virtues of a Soldier, but, as is said of the Virtues of Cesar, They undid his Country: Nor did they upon the whole afford himself any real Advantage. For after all his Victories and Conquests, he found his Power less than at first, his Money spent, his Funds exhausted, and his Subjects thinn’d extreamly. Yet he still warr’d on, in spite of Reason and Prudence, till a small Bit of Lead, more powerful than they, persuaded him to be quiet.

On what Foundation stands the Warrior’s Pride?
How just his Hopes, let Swedish Charles decide;
A Frame of Adamant, a Soul of Fire,
No Dangers fright him, and no Labours tire;
O’er Love, o’er Force, extends his wide Domain,
Unconquer’d Lord of Pleasure and of Pain;
No Joys to him pacific Scepters yield,
War sounds the Trump, he rushes to the Field;
Behold surrounding Kings their Pow’r combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign;
Peace courts his Hand, but spreads her Charms in vain,
“Think nothing gain’d, he cries, ’till nought remain;
On Moscow’s Walls till Gothic Standards fly,

And all is mine beneath the Polar Sky.”
The March begins in military State,
And Nations on his Eye suspended wait;
Stern Famine guards the solitary Coast,
And Winter barricades the Realms of Frost;
He comes, nor Want nor Cold his Course delay;
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa’s Day:
The vanquish’d Hero leaves his broken Bands,
And shews his Miseries in distant Lands;
Condemn’d a needy Supplicant to wait,
While Ladies interpose, and Slaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her Error mend?
Did no subverted Empire mark his End?
Did rival Monarchs give the fatal Wound?
Or hostile Millions press him to the Ground?
His Fall was destin’d to a barren Strand,
A petty Fortress, and a dubious Hand;
He left the Name at which the World grew pale,
To point a Moral, or adorn a Tale.

December. X Month.

And thou supreme of Beings and of Things!
Who breath’st all Life, and giv’st Duration Wings;
Intense, O let me for thy Glory burn,
Nor fruitless view my Days and Nights return;
Give me with Wonder at thy Works to glow;
To grasp thy Vision, and thy Truths to know;
To reach at length thy everlasting Shore,
And live and sing ’till Time shall be no more.

   ’Tis a Shame that your Family is an Honour to you! You ought to be an Honour to your Family.
   Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.
   Adieu, my Task’s ended.

   On the 7th of this Month, 1683, was the honourable Algernon Sidney, Esq; beheaded, charg’d with a pretended Plot, but whose chief Crime was the Writing an excellent Book, intituled, Discourses on Government. A Man of admirable Parts and great Integrity. Thompson calls him the British Cassius. The good Lord Russel and he were intimate Friends; and as they were Fellow Sufferers in their Death, the Poet joins them in his Verses,

Bring every sweetest Flower, and let me strow
The Grave where Russel lies; whose temper’d Blood
With calmest Chearfulness for Thee

   *Britannia

 resign’d,
Stain’d the sad Annals of a giddy Reign,
Aiming at lawless Power, tho’ meanly sunk,
In loose inglorious Luxury. With him
His Friend, the British Cassius, fearless bled;
Of high, determin’d Spirit, roughly brave,
By ancient Learning to th’ enlighten’d Love
Of ancient Freedom warm’d.

  Of Courts.

If any Rogue vexatious Suits advance
Against you for your known Inheritance:
Enter by Violence your fruitful Grounds,
Or take the sacred Land-mark from your Bounds;
Or if your Debtors do not keep their Day,
Deny their Hands, and then refuse to pay;
You must with Patience all the Terms attend,
Among the common Causes that depend,
Till yours is call’d:—And that long-look’d-for Day,
Is still encumber’d with some new Delay:
Your Proofs and Deeds all on the Table spread,
Some of the B------ch perhaps are sick a-bed;
That J---ge steps out to light his Pipe, while this
O’er night was boozy, and goes out to p---ss.

   Some Witness miss’d; some Lawyer not in Town,
So many Rubs appear, the Time is gone,
For Hearing, and the tedious Suit goes on.
Then rather let two Neighbours end your Cause,
And split the Difference; tho’ you lose one Half;
Than spend the Whole, entangled in the Laws,
While merry Lawyers sly, at both Sides laugh.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 8 January 1750
From: Logan, James
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Friend B.F.
Jan. 8th [1750]
If there be any convenient room left, Since my eldest Son has rejected the Offer, I am willing my name Should be inserted amongst the Collegues of your Society, tho’ very uncapable of being in any manner useful to it, yet I am very desirous to have it by all means promoted, tho’ I expect to be excused from contributing any thing to it more than that £35 Sterl. per an. Settled on my Library for ever. I am Thy Affectionate friend
JL


Title: William Watson: Notice of Franklin’s Experiments, 11 January 1750
From: Watson, William
To:

William Watson: Notice of Franklin’s Experiments

   MS: The Royal Society; also copy: American Academy of Arts and Sciences

[January 11, 1750]
At the reading of this paper Mr. Watson took notice, that several of Mr. Franklin’s experiments were new and very curious; but, besides that Mr. Watson is not quite master of part of this gentleman’s reasoning, there are two things therein more particularly to be attended to: and these are, first, that when this gentleman in this paper mentions, that the Electricity is in the glass, he always means the accumulated electricity; as he in his former papers, which Mr. Watson has seen, is of opinion constantly that the Electrical power is originally furnished by, what have been hitherto called, the non electric substances applied to the glasses in rubbing them, and not from the glasses themselves. Secondly, he imagines, contrary to what Mr. Watson has laid before the Society and in which opinion he finds by what has been published Mr. Watson does persist, that in all the improvements of the experiment of Leyden the violence of the Shock is not owing to any accumulation of electric matter in the water or other non electrics made use of in that experiment, but that the shock is owing to the glass that contains this water or such like. To this Mr. Watson observed, that as yet he has seen no reason to alter or retract his former sentiments; and that he has frequently made an experiment, which in his opinion is very conclusive in determining this point. This experiment is, that if one person causes to be fully electrised a vial two thirds full of water, or other proper non electric matter, by means of a peice of wire connected with the prime conductor so as easily to be drawn out; if this person, he says, pours the water contained in this vial into a bason held in one hand of a second person supported by wax, who the instant of the pouring the water presents the finger of his other hand near some warm spirit of wine in the hand of a third person, there will ensue a snap, and the spirit will frequently be set on fire. This testifies the accumulation of electricity in the second person, which here he can receive by no other means than by the pouring of the water from the vial into the bason held in his hand. Now as the water only, and not the vial, touched the bason, the electricity, it must be presumed, came from the water.
Mr. Watson would further recommend to our worthy brother Mr. Collinson, in writing to his correspondent Mr. Franklin, to desire to know his success in attempting to kill a Turkey by the electrical strokes.
 Endorsed: Read at R. S. Janry 11. 1749[/50]. given a copy to Mr. Peter Collinson.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from James Logan, 12 January 1750
From: Logan, James
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Esteemed Friend
11 [January] 12th [1750]
I wrote to him to come up hither next first day if the weather was good Seeing while the Assembly Sits I can appoint no other day and if my Son has delivered him the Magic Squares I pray him to bring them with him. His affectionate friend
J L
To B. Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 29 January 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Logan, James

Sir
Monday Jany 29. 1750
Enclosed I send you a Copy of the Constitution of the Academy. Your agreeing to be one of the Trustees gave great pleasure to all concerned. I shall wait on you with Mr. Kalm on Wednesday next, if the Weather be tolerable, and nothing extraordinary prevents.
I am with great respect Sir Your Affectionate humble Servant
B. Franklin
To the Hon. James Logan Esqr. Stenton.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 5 February 1750
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Londn. february 5: 1749/50
I have so many Obligations to my kind Friend, that I dedicated a time to Visit all the Booksellers in London to search for foreign Electrical Books and could only find Two in French. One I take to be the same I sent for thy perusal but could not be certain which Elce [I] had not bought both for I sent it away just as I received it from France.
I have many Things to say but am att present so Engaged I cannot Collect my Thought together, but shall do it I hope by Next, for this is our busiest time a year shiping Goods to the plantations.
I have sent a Parcell of books to Elias Blands and thine with them.
The Guinea came safe. I wish I could have laid it all out to thy satisfaction. Pray what must I do with the remainder?
Your very Curious peices relateing to Electricity and Thundergusts have been read before the Society and have been Deservedly Admired not only for the Clear Intelligent Stile but also for the Novelty of the Subjects. I am collecting all these Tracts together: your first Account with the Drawings and your Two Letters in 1747 and your Two last Accounts with Intention to putt them into some printers Hand to be communicated to the publick.
The Almanack had many Things very Acceptable.
On the Books and Scheme of Education more in my Next, It is much Approved. If some prizes was given annually to the greatest proficients, on a publick Day in presence of the Magistrates, Governors, &c. it stimulats greatly and begets a Laudable ambition to Excel which produces surprising Effects. In short my Dear friend I scrawl any thing. Thy Candor will excuse and thy Ingenuity will find out my Meaning.
Your American Electrical Operator seems to putt ours out of Countenance by his Novelty and Variety. Certainly something very usefull to Mankind will be found out by an by.

Douglasses and Elliots Essays are productive of many pretty Entertaining Articles which I read with pleasure and the Elephant by [blank] has its Admirers.
I shall be glad to hear the Books came safe and print of London &c. I am now out of Town to shake off the Citty Dust so have not my Memorandums with Mee so my Dear friend fare well. Its Late and I am Tired. Thine
P Collinson

But I must add—that on Thursday the Fifth Day of the Week on the 8 Instant at about 20 Minutes past 12 at Noone, Wee felt a very Surpriseing Shock of an Earthquake. It was more sensible and Violent in some places than others. To Mee and many others it seem’d as if a Bale of Heavy Goods had fell down by Accident at my Next Neighbours and shook my House which sometimes Happens. But a Friend of Mine whose House is near the Thames, hear’d, (as did others) a Loud rumbling sound like cannon at a distance and then so Terrible a shock ensued that he instantly ran out of Doors, thinking his new House was tumbled about his Ears. There is an Endless Variety of Relations about its Effects but its certain Extent and Direction is not yet known but accounts came that Day that it was felt from Twickenham on the Thames to Greenwich. I dont find any people that was rideing or Walking was sensible of It. At my House in the Country 10 Miles North of London near Barnet it was not felt nor in our Neighbourhood.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 13 February 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Sir
Philada. Feb. 13. 1749, 50
I receiv’d your very kind Letter relating to my Proposals for the Education of our Youth, and return you the Thanks of the Gentlemen concern’d, for the useful Hints you have favour’d us with. It was long doubtful whether the Academy would be fix’d in the Town or Country; but a Majority of those from whose generous Subscriptions we expected to be able to carry the Scheme into Execution, being strongly for the Town, it was at last fix’d to be there. And we have for the purpose made an advantageous Purchase of the Building which was erected for itinerant Preaching; a House 100 foot long and 70 wide, with a large Lot of Ground, capable of additional Buildings; situate in an airy Part of the Town. It cost I suppose not less than £2000 Building; but we have it for less than half the Money. It is strongly built of Brick; and we are now about dividing it into Rooms for the Academy. The Subscription goes on with great Success; and will not I believe be much short of £5000, besides what we expect from the Proprietors. From our Government we expect nothing. Enclos’d I send you a Copy of our present Constitutions; but we are to have a Charter, and then such of the Constitutions as are found good on Experience will I suppose be enacted into Laws, and others amended, &c.
In this Affair, as well as in other publick Affairs I have been engag’d in, the Labouring Oar has lain and does lay very much upon me, which is one Cause of my not having of late kept up so regular a Correspondence with distant Friends as I should otherways have done; and have thereby been depriv’d of much Pleasure. I assure you with great Sincerity, that I always look’d on the Friendship you honour me with, as one of the Happinesses of my Life; and that I was never acquainted with any part of your Conduct in Publick or private Life, that did not encrease the Esteem and Respect I had for you. This is in Answer to a part of your Letter, in which you are conjecturing at the Cause of the late Interruption of our Correspondence, which I beg you would attribute to any thing, rather than what you mention.
I have no Observations of Jupiter’s Satellites to send you, as I expected I should have. Being my self otherwise engag’d, and not very skilful in those Matters, I depended on our Astronomer Mr. Godfrey, and put the Telescope into his Hands for that purpose: He had a fine Summer for it, but I am inform’d was so continually muddled with Drink, that our Surveyor General, Mr. Scull, who was his Neighbour, could never get him to assist in making the Meridian Line. He is now dead, and your Letter of Directions for making such a Line, which I put into his Hands, is lost. Mr. Scull desires me to write to you for a Repetition of those Directions, and when you have a little Leisure, I shall be oblig’d to you for them: But it will now be Midsummer before we shall have an Opportunity of observing Jupiter again.
I have wrote some additional Papers on Electricity, which I will get copied, and send to you per next Post. They go on much slower in those Discoveries at home, than might be expected.
I am glad you are about enlarging and explaining your Principles of Natural Philosophy: I believe the Work will be well receiv’d by the Learned World. I am, Sir, with great Respect, Your affectionate humble Servant
B Franklin


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to James Logan, 17 February 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Logan, James

[February 17, 1750]
I send Whiston’s Life. He seems to me to have been a man of great industry and little prudence. I have been lame these two weeks past, but am now so much better, that I think I shall be able to wait on you next week with Mr. Kalm. We had a very bright appearance of the Aurora Borealis last night. When I have the pleasure of seeing you, I shall give you a full account of the affairs of the Academy, which go on with all the success that could be expected.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from George Whitefield, 26 February 1750
From: Whitefield, George
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My dear Mr. F[ranklin],
Plymouth, Feb. 26, 1750
Ever since I received your last kind letter, I have been endeavouring to redeem some time to answer it, but till now have not had opportunity. Indeed even now a multiplicity of business obliges me to be much more brief than otherwise I should. However, I cannot help informing you, that I am glad that the gentlemen of Philadelphia are exerting their efforts to erect an academy. I have often thought such an institution was wanted exceedingly; and if well-conducted, am persuaded it will be of public service. Your plan I have read over, and do not wonder at its meeting with general approbation. It is certainly well calculated to promote polite literature; but I think there wants aliquid Christi in it, to make it so useful as I would desire it might be. It is true, you say, “The youth are to be taught some public religion, and the excellency of the Christian religion in particular:” but methinks this is mentioned too late, and too soon passed over. As we are all creatures of a day; as our whole life is but one small point between two eternities, it is reasonable to suppose, that the grand end of every christian institution for forming tender minds, should be to convince them of their natural depravity, of the means of recovering out of it, and of the necessity of preparing for the enjoyment of the supreme Being in a future state. These are the grand points in which christianity centers. Arts and sciences may be built on this, and serve to embellish and set off this superstructure, but without this, I think there cannot be any good foundation. Whether the little Dutch book I have sent over, will be of any service in directing to such a foundation, or how to build upon it, I cannot tell. Upon mentioning your desire to the King’s German chaplain, a worthy man of God, he sent it to me, and thought, if translated, it might be of service. Glad should I be of contributing, though it was but the least mite, in promoting so laudable an undertaking; but the gentlemen concerned are every way so superior to me, both in respect to knowledge of books and men, that any thing I could offer, I fear, would be of very little service. I think the main thing will be, to get proper masters that are acquainted with the world, with themselves, and with God, and who will consequently naturally care for the welfare of the youth that shall be committed to their care. I think also in such an institution, there should be a well-approved christian Orator, who should not be content with giving a public lecture in general upon oratory, but who should visit and take pains with every class, and teach them early how to speak, and read, and pronounce well. An hour or two in a day, I think, ought to be set apart for this. It would serve as an agreeable amusement, and would be of great service, whether the youth be intended for the pulpit, the bar, or any other profession whatsoever. I wish also, that the youth were to board in the academy, and by that means be always under the master’s eye. And if a fund could be raised, for the free education of the poorer sort, who should appear to have promising abilities, I think it would greatly answer the design proposed. It hath been often found, that some of our brightest men in church and state, have arisen from such an obscure condition. When I heard of the academy, I told Mr. B——, that the new building, I thought, would admirably suit such a proposal; and I then determined in my next to mention some terms that might be offered to the consideration of the Trustees. But I find since, that you have done this already, and that matters are adjusted agreeable to the minds of the majority. I hope your agreement meets with the approbation of the inhabitants, and that it will be serviceable to the cause of vital piety and good education. If these ends are answered, a free-school erected, the debts paid, and a place preserved for public preaching, I do not see what reason there is for any one to complain. But all this depends on the integrity, disinterestedness, and piety of the gentlemen concerned. An institution, founded on such a basis, God will bless and succeed; but without these, the most promising schemes will prove abortive, and the most flourishing structures, in the end, turn out mere Babels. I wish you and the gentlemen concerned much prosperity; and pray the LORD of all lords to direct you to the best means to promote the best end; I mean, the glory of God, and the welfare of your fellow-creatures. Be pleased to remember me to them and all friends as they come in your way, and believe me, dear Sir, Yours, &c.
G.W.


Title: James Logan to Peter Collinson, 28 February 1750
From: Logan, James
To: Collinson, Peter

Dear Peter
Stenton 12 mo [February] 28 1749/50
I have Spent most of this day for the first time with thy friend Kalm accompanied with B. Franklin, and I know not what to make of him, nor of his Journey to Canada, where, after the whole last winter Spent at a Swedish Woman’s House near Newcastle, he Spent near five Months, and dined many times at the Governors at Quebec, without Seeing during the 8 Months or more that he had been here, any one person that I could hear of, but B.Franklin and Jno. Bartram, and he talks of returning to Canada again, but on what business I cannot learn. The Swedes had a Colony Sent in this River under Christina their Queen, but because they were neglected by their own People at home, they were obliged to Surrender to the Low Dutch, who being attack’d by an English Fleet and army Surrendred to them about 1664, and the Same Lowlanders in 1672 recovering the Countrey again were obliged the Succeeding year to resign all their pretensions to it to the English. But the principal of these Actions were at the North River and New Amstel now called Hudsons River and New York. This Delaware was called the South River, and the Dutch in it built the town of Newcastle. The Swedes are not much encreased and in my time here (now above 50 years) are much Anglified as our Term is, nor if we had a War now with France Should we have any reason to apprehend the French in conjunction with the Swedes were they to joyn them, for B. Franklin found a way in 1747 to put the Countrey on raising above 120 Companies of Militia of which Philadelphia raised ten, of about a hundred men each with Some few Germans amongst them, and the women were So Zealous that they furnished ten pair of Silk Colours wrought with various Mottoes. The Serjeants had also Halberds &c. &c., but in all the rest Scarce one for they all vote for the Quakers purely to Save their own Money. Benjamin also was the Sole Author of two Lotteries that raised above Six thousand pounds of our Money to pay for the Charge of Batteries on the River. And tho’ we had now a war with France we Should be Secure against any common Attempt, as lying So far up the River. In Short he is an excellent yet a humble man, and carried himself a Musket among the Common Soldiers. He is now also putting forward an Academy for the improvement of Youth, for which he is [has] already got Subscriptions for above five hundred pounds per annum for five years and has a full dependance of finding wayes to continue it for futurity. But I must here add that thou hast Seen my Tully of old Age of which he printed a thousand and of these I Sent over a dozen but they were taken in the first of the French War in 1744. He also Sent over to Wm. Strahan a Printer in or near Fleet Street 2 or 3 years after 300 of them (to whom he only directs to Wm. Strahan Printer in London) of which he has no further account but that they were received and would not Sell, by reason that there was another version lately published which I Suspect, and therefore I beg thee to find that Strahan and expostulate with him, but on a further thought I shall write to Jno. Whiston William’s Son at Boyles Head in Fleet Street and for the present bid thee [farewell.] Thy Affectionate
J.L.
P.S. I have read all the first Vol. of Wm. Whiston’s life and look’d over the 2d and I pity him. Pray call on his Son telling him where I have wrote to thee of Wm. Strahan, and if thou canst learn, please to inform me what profession of Religion Jno. Makes. His father now professes himself a Baptist.
2d P.S. Pray do not imagine that I overdoe it in my Character of BF for I am rather short in it and I hope to convince thee when an opportunity offers free of Postage that what I wrote in my last by Capt. James of his Magical Squares is truly Astonishing. And if thou art free in thy communication with our Proprietor he can shew thee his (B.F.’s) Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania, a tract 8vo, also a large Sheet called Constitutions of the Publick Academy in the City of Philadelphia in which he first put me at the Head of the Trustees unknown to me and I refused it, yet being left open in a few Weeks I accepted of it, for it was at first proposed to me that [the Library?] I was about to Settle on the Publick would be [remainder missing]. But what I principally esteem him for, is not those Squares tho’ they are commendable but his real Service to the Countrey in being Instrumental in Saving it by his contriving the plan [of] his 2 Lotteries for the Charges of Batteries his borrowing Great Guns from N York but with W. Allen’s Assistance but he is the prime actor in all this as he is in the Academy. Certain conceited people when Whitefield came first over and having had leave to preach in the publick Church two or three times and afterwards on its being denied to him, contributed to build a House large enough for him to preach in and therefore by the favour of a good woman who obliged them by Some means in the Ground for it built a House one hundred feet lo[ng] 70 ft. br[oad] and about 35 ft. high which the Trustees of the Academy have purchased. I have now wrote to John Whiston who I hope will take care of the business of Strahan and thou needs not to Speak to him about it otherwise than as thou pleases and thou may in like manner Speak to Strahan or forbear.

J L


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Abiah Franklin, 12 April 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Franklin, Abiah

Honoured Mother
Philada. April 12. 1750
We received your kind Letter of the 2d Instant, and are glad to hear you still enjoy such a Measure of Health, notwithstanding your great Age. We read your Writing very easily; I never met with a Word in your Letters but what I could readily understand; for tho’ the Hand is not always the best, the Sense makes every thing plain.
My Leg, which you enquire after, is now quite well. I still keep those Servants, but the Man not in my own House: I have hired him out to the Man that takes Care of my Dutch Printing Office, who agrees to keep him in Victuals and Clothes, and to pay me a Dollar a Week for his Work. His Wife since that Affair behaves exceeding well: But we conclude to sell them both the first good Opportunity; for we do not like Negro Servants. We got again about half what we lost.
As to your Grandchildren, Will. is now 19 Years of Age, a tall proper Youth, and much of a Beau. He acquir’d a Habit of Idleness on the Expedition, but begins of late to apply himself to Business, and I hope will become an industrious Man. He imagin’d his Father had got enough for him: But I have assur’d him that I intend to spend what little I have, my self; if it please God that I live long enough: And as he by no means wants Sense, he can see by my going on, that I am like to be as good as my Word.
Sally grows a fine Girl, and is extreamly industrious with her Needle, and delights in her Book. She is of a most affectionate Temper, and perfectly Dutiful and obliging, to her Parents and to all. Perhaps I flatter my self too much; but I have Hopes that she will prove an ingenious sensible notable and worthy Woman, like her Aunt Jenney. She goes now to the Dancing School.
For my own Part, at present I pass my time agreably enough. I enjoy (thro’ Mercy) a tolerable Share of Health; I read a great deal, ride a little, do a little Business for my self, more for others; retire when I can, and go [into] Company when I please; so the Years roll round, and the last will come; when I would rather have it said, He lived usefully, than, He died rich.
Cousins Josiah and Sally are well, and I believe will do well, for they are an industrious saving young Couple: But they want a little more Stock to go on smoothly with their Business.
My Love to Brother and Sister Mecom and their Children, and to all my Relations in general. I am Your dutiful Son
B Franklin


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 25 April 1750
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Lond. Aprill 25 1750
I wish I have before this advised my Worthy Friend that his pacquet per Cap. Clark came at last to my Hands, with the Electrical Papers, which are now on the Press under the Inspection and Correction of our Learned and Ingenious Friend Doctor Fothergill for Wee thought it a great Pitty that the Publick should be deprived the benefit of so many Curious Experiments.
Great Doctors will differ as may be seen by the Inclosed Paper from Mr. Watson Which was read some Time after thy papers had been communicated to the Society, who was greatly pleased with them and Desired their Thanks for so kind a Communication.
Abbé Nolet has been at the pains to Travel on purpose to Turin to Venice and Bologna to see those Experiments Verified of Giveing Purges, Transfusion of Odours and Cureing the Gout &c. but to his great Surprise found very Little or no Satisfaction. The Ingenious Men in those Citties had been too premature in publishing for Facts, Experiments [which,] if they did once succeed, could not be depended on for Certainty to do again, to the no small Disappointment of Abbé Nolet—Who Indeed could never make them do, but thought they might have a Knack in performing those Opperations that He was Ignorant Off.
I am Obliged to thee for the Constitutions. They are very Rational and well Calculated for the Purposes Intended. I am glad to find so Laudable an Institution Meets with such Encouragement.
Wee have had Heithertoo the Warmest and Mildest Winter and Spring that Ever was known. Our Apricots and Peaches are sett Like ropes of Onions and the Face of plenty smiles Every Where—but our Neighbours complain Spain, Portugal and South of France by this Long Warm Dry Season are like to Loose their Crops of Corn unless suddenly retrieved by Rain. Our Wheat is risen on this News. I have seen no Snow and Scarsly any Ice and Winter has been Insensibly Lost in a very Early Spring, but yett as the Season has been so agreeable on one Hand yett on the other it may have furnishd Materials or putt them in Action to the Great Surprise of all that Felt four Earthquakes—the 8th feby and March at London and then at Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight and Since at Chester and Liverpool. Divers Hypotheses’s are advanced to Solve these Phenomena, Hales I send. Others have been read before the Society wholy Accounting for it on the principle of Electricity. Others presume as Wee have had a very Long Dry Time for 6 months past, the Caverns are Exhausted of the Water, Air has Supplyed its Roome. This had putt the Beds of pyri[tes] in a Ferment. Such unusuall Warmth has Rarified it, an Explosion Ensued. Thus in short Hints my good friend take it as I can give, and be assured I am thine
P Collinson


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Samuel Johnson, [10 May 1750]
From: Johnson, Samuel
To: Franklin, Benjamin

[May 10, 1750]
[First part missing] Seat of London. I drew it up at first only for the use of my Son, and had no further tho’ts, but when I tho’t it necessary to take the pains to transcribe it in order for your perusal, I could not forbear having the vanity to wish it might be useful to others, for I was always very desirous if I could, to contribute something towards promoting the Interest of Learning in the Country, and could therefore wish, (tho’ I dare not expect,) that it might possibly obtain so favourable an Opinion with Gentlemen as to be thot not altogether undeserving the Press, but as to this I am intirely resigned to the Judgment of my Friends, and particularly do submit it to your Candid Judgment and that of any Friend to whom you may think it worth the while to give the perusal of it. Only if it were to be printed I should be glad you would suggest any defects you observe in it or any thing that might make it more intelligible and useful. I will only add that if it were tho’t in some measure fit to be printed, and practicable to get it done, I had some thots of printing with it a new Edition of my Ethics with some Enlargements and Emendations, and that I beleive I could dispose of over 100 Copies of it here, and perhaps another 100 might be disposed of at Boston and some at N.Y. and the Jersies. However I intirely submit what I have thus had the assurance to write, to your free and candid animadversion, and remain Sir your most humble &c.
S.J.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 2 June 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Strahan, William

Dear Sir
Philada. June 2. 1750
The Person from whom you had the Power of Attorney to receive a Legacy, was born in Holland, and at first call’d Aletta Crell; but not being Christen’d when the Family came to live among the English in America, she was baptiz’d by the Name of Mary. This Change of Name probably might be unknown to the Testator, as it happen’d in Carolina, and so the Legacy might be left her by her first Name Aletta. She has wrote it on a Piece of Paper which I enclose, and desires you would take the Trouble of acquainting the Gentleman with these Particulars, which she thinks may induce him to pay the Money.
I am glad to understand by the Papers, that the Parliament has provided for paying off the Debts due on the Canada Expedition. I suppose my Son’s Pay is now in your Hands. I am willing to allow 6 per Cent (the Rate of Interest here) for the Delay; or more, if the Disappointment has been a greater Loss to you. I hope the £50 Bill I lately sent you, is come to hand, and paid.
The Description you give of the Company and Manner of Living in Scotland, would almost tempt one to remove thither. Your Sentiments of the general Foible of Mankind, in the Pursuit of Wealth to no End, are express’d in a Manner that gave me great Pleasure in reading: They are extreamly just, at least they are perfectly agreable to mine. But London Citizens, they say, are ambitious of what they call dying worth a great Sum: The very Notion seems to me absurd; and just the same as if a Man should run in debt for 1000 Superfluities, to the End that when he should be stript of all, and imprison’d by his Creditors, it might be said, he broke worth a great Sum. I imagine that what we have above what we can use, is not properly ours, tho’ we possess it; and that the rich Man who must die, was no more worth what he leaves, than the Debtor who must pay.
I am glad to hear so good a Character of my Son-in Law. Please to acquaint him that his Spouse grows finely, and will probably have an agreable Person. That with the best Natural Disposition in the World, she discovers daily the Seeds and Tokens of Industry, Oeconomy, and in short, of every Female Virtue, which her Parents will endeavour to cultivate for him; and if the Success answers their fond Wishes and Expectations, she will, in the true Sense of the Word, be worth a great deal of Money, and consequently a great Fortune.
I suppose my Wife writes to Mrs. Strahan. Our Friend Mr. Hall is well, and manages perfectly to my Satisfaction. I cannot tell how to accept your repeated Thanks for Services you think I have done to him, when I continually feel my self oblig’d to him, and to you for sending him. I sincerely wish all Happiness to you and yours, and am, Dear Sir, Your most obliged humble Servant
B Franklin
 Addressed: To  Mr Wm Strahan  Printer  London


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Cadwallader Colden, 28 June 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Colden, Cadwallader

Sir
Philada. June 28. 1750
I wrote a Line to you last Post, and sent you some Electrical Observations and Experiments. You formerly had those Papers of mine out of which something has been taken by Mr. Watson, and inserted in the Transactions: If you have forgot the Contents of those Papers, I am afraid some Things in that I last sent you will be hardly understood, as they depend on what went before. I send you herewith my Essay towards a new Hypothesis of the Cause and Effects of Lightning, &c. of which you may remember some Hints in my first Electrical Minutes. I sent this Essay above a 12 month since to Dr. Mitchel in London, and have since heard nothing of it, which makes me doubt of its getting to hand. In some late Experiments, I have not only frequently fired unwarm’d Spirits, by the Electrical Stroke, but have even melted small Quantities of Copper, Silver and Gold, and not only melted but vitrified them, so as to incorporate them with common Glass; and this without any sensible Heat; which strengthens my Supposition that the Melting of Metals by Lightning may be a cold Fusion. Of these Experiments I shall shortly write a particular Account. I wrote to Mr. Collinson, on Reading in the Transactions the Accounts from Italy and Germany, of giving Purges, transferring Odours, &c. with the Electrical Effluvia, that I was persuaded they were not true. He since informs me, that Abbé Nolet of Paris, who had try’d the Experiments without Success, was lately at the Pains to make a Journey to Turin, Bologna and Venice, to enquire into the Facts, and see the Experiments repeated, imagining they had there some Knacks of Operating that he was unacquainted with; but to his great Disappointment found little or no Satisfaction; the Gentlemen there having been too premature in Publishing their Imaginations and Expectations for real Experiments. Please to return me the Papers when you have perus’d them.
My good old Friend Mr. Logan, being about three Months since struck with a Palsey, continues Speechless, tho’ he knows People, and seems in some Degree to retain his Memory and Understanding. I fear he will not recover. Mr. Kalm is gone towards Canada again, and Mr. Evans is about to take a Journey to Lake Erie, which he intends next Week. Mr. Bertram continues well and hearty. I thank you for what you write concerning celestial Observations. We are going on with our Building for the Academy, and propose to have an Observatory on the Top; and as we shall have a mathematical Professor, I doubt not but we shall soon be able to send you some Observations accurately made. I am, with great Esteem and Respect, Sir, Your most obliged Humble Servant
B Franklin

P.S. If you think it would be agreable to Mr. Alexander, or any other Friend in N York, to peruse these Electrical Papers, you may return them to me thro’ his Hands.
Cr. Colden Esqr


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, [June 1750]
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

[June, 1750]
[First part missing] Pray give my respects to Lewis Evans. I have not Time to write to Him but I putt his Mapps to Bowles one of the most noted Print and Mapp sellers near the Exchange—and He Tells Mee he has disposed of few of them the Price is so High.
Thou will see by Byrd’s Letter the reason no Thermometers was done. So farewell.
The Books &c. for Lib: Com. I shall send to the Care of Friend Griffith.
Per next I may more particularly consider thine of March the 2d. There is something very Marvelous in the Doctrine of Points.
 Addressed: To  Benjam Franklin Esqr  Philadelphia


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Collinson, 3 July 1750
From: Collinson, Peter
To: Franklin, Benjamin

My Worthy Friend B: Franklin
Lond. July 3d: 1750
I received thy Letter from the Trustees and Bill per £100 on Jno Gurnell & Company which is accepted. I was really unwilling to undertake a New affair haveing so little Time to spare and yett I was as Unwilling so Benevolent a Design should suffer for want of my Concurrence. I have therefore procured your Value of Books of Whiston who I would willingly hope is an Honest Man. I Acquainted him and showed Him the Constitutions. He has promissed Mee to Encourage so Laudable a Work, He will contribute on his part in the price of his Books. I shall be well pleased If you find it so. Some Instruments I procured of Adams but was of such a Length I could not pack them in your Trunk—so was obliged to ask the favour of E. Bland to putt them up and He had no package but with the Goods of Capt. John Dagenworthy of Trent Town so please to send for them. The Parcell is Directed in thy Name.
The Other Instruments are in Hand to come per Next Ship.
But the most Difficult task is behind to provide a Sett of Instruments (besides what you have) for a Course of Lectures. In the first place I don’t remember any Book but Disaguliers but I will Informe my Self and when Wee have found an Author next I shall consider about the Instruments and Give you the List and Value of them.
In the Trunk will be found the Remainder of the Last Order of Lib[rary] Company. For the sake of package I was Obliged to Mix the Books, but they will be Easily found by the bills of Parcells. The Nat[ural] His[tory] of Barbados was not time to gett bound. A Second Vol. of the Popes is pub[lished] but the Author desires it may not be bound up untill a few More Sheets is Deliver’d to compleat it to a Certain Period. So may come per Next.
The whole Designe of the Academy is generally Approved by all my Ingenious knowing Friends and all Wish its prosperity but three Things are remarked that they Wish may not prove Illconveniencys.
1st. They Think you Grasp at too much your Plans to Large for a Begining.
  2d. Your Nearness to the Capital may prove a Snare to the youth in many Respects.
  3dly. If you take In West Indians they will be bad Examples, and Corrupt the Morals and Manners of your youth.
I need say no more to my Friend Mans- N-B-on the Constitutions which is in the Trunk.
I am with much Esteem thy Sincere Friend
P Collinson

It gives Mee great Concern to hear of the 3d fatal Shock of that Great and Good Man J. Logan. I Lament Him as my Friend and as General Loss to his Country but such is the Course of Nature, such the Will of Heaven.
I was in hopes to have sent thee some Coppys of thy Electrical papers now printed, I have delay’d the full completion in hopes of those papers on the Doctrine of Points.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 27 July 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Sir
Philada. July 27. 1750
Mr. Watson I believe wrote his Observations on my last Paper in Haste; without having first well considered the Experiments related in §17

   *Of the third Letter.

 which still appear to me decisive in the Question; Whether the Accumulation of Electrical Fire be in the Electrified Glass, or in the Non-electric Matter connected with the Glass? and to demonstrate that it is really in the Glass.
As to the Experiment that ingenious Gentleman mentions, and which he thinks conclusive on the other Side, I doubt not but he will change his Mind, when he is pleased to reflect, that, as one person applying the Wire of the charg’d Bottle to warmed Spirits in a Spoon held by another Person, both standing on the Floor, will fire the Spirits, and yet such Firing will not determine, whether the Accumulation was in the Glass or the Non-electric: So the placing another Person between them, standing on Wax, with a Bason in his Hand, into which the Water from the Vial is poured; while he at the Instant of pouring, presents a Finger of his other Hand to the Spirits, does not at all alter the Case: The Stream from the Vial, the Side of the Bason, with the Arms and Body of the Person on Wax, being all together but as one long Wire, reaching from the internal Surface of the Vial to the Spirits.
I refer you to my next Paper for an Account of our Experiments on Animals.
Abbé Nolet has our Thanks for the Pains he took to discover the Truth relating to those pretended Italian Experiments, I gave you my Opinion of them in a former Letter.
I want to know, how it was observed that the Firing a Cannon in the Park, Electrified the Glass of the Windows of the Treasury, mentioned by Dr. Hales in his Piece on Earthquakes.
The rest on private affairs.
To P. Collinson Esqr.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 29 July 1750
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Sir
Philada. July 29 1750
As you first put us on Electrical Experiments by sending to our Library-Company a Tube with Directions how to use it; and as our honourable Proprietor enabled us to carry those Experiments to a greater Height, by his generous Present of a complete Electrical Apparatus; ’Tis fit that both should know from Time to Time what Progress we make. It was in this View I wrote and sent you my former Papers on this Subject, desiring, that, as I had not the Honour of a direct Correspondence with that bountiful Benefactor to our Library, they might be communicated to him thro’ your Hands. In the same View I write and send you this additional Paper. If it happens to bring you Nothing new (which will not be strange, considering the many ingenious Men in Europe continually engaged in the same Researches) at least it will shew, that the Instruments put into our Hands are not neglected, and that if no valuable Discoveries are made by us, whatever may be the Cause, it is not a Want of Industry and Application.