_Excursion to England._
Attention to dress--Receives a visit from Gov. Keith--His
visit to Boston--Collins returns to Philadelphia with
him--Sir William Keith's aid--Excursions on the
Sabbath--Difficulty with Collins--Spending Mr. Vernon's
money--His three friends--Engagement with Deborah
Read--Voyage to England--Keith's deceit--Ralph--Franklin
enters a printing house in London.
The eccentric Keimer soon found that Franklin was a workman whose
services would be invaluable to him. He had no home of his own, but
became very unwilling that Benjamin, while in his employ, should board
in the family of a rival printer. He therefore made arrangements for
him to board at Mr. Read's, whose pretty daughter, Deborah, had made
herself merry but a few days before in view of his uncouth appearance.
Fortunately for the young man, who was never regardless of the
advantages of a genteel dress, his chest had arrived bringing his
clothing. He was thus able to present himself before the young lady in
attractive costume. And his address was always that of an accomplished
gentleman. As we have mentioned, he was ever in his youth, middle
life, and old age, remarkable for his personal beauty.
Bright and sunny days now dawned upon Franklin. His employer
appreciated his varied and wonderful merits. He received good wages.
The family in which he resided was highly attractive, and he there
found a home congenial with his pure and refined tastes. Several
months passed away before he heard from the friends he had left in
Boston. The tyranny of his brother had so greatly offended him, that
for a time he endeavored to exclude from his mind all thoughts of his
home. He heard, however, that one of his sisters had married Captain
Robert Holmes, the captain of a vessel sailing between Boston and the
ports on the Delaware.
In those piratical days, when the master of a ship was compelled to
sail with guns loaded to the muzzle, and with sharpened sabres, he was
deemed a personage of great importance. No weak or ordinary man could
discharge the responsibilities of such a post. Captain Holmes,
influenced by the love of his wife, wrote to Benjamin informing him of
the grief his departure had caused the family, entreating him to
return, and assuring him that all the past should be forgotten.
Benjamin, in his reply, wrote with such precision and force of logic,
that Captain Holmes became satisfied that he was by no means so much
in the wrong as he had supposed. It so chanced that when the captain
received this letter, he was in company with Sir William Keith, then
the Governor of Pennsylvania. He read the letter to the Governor. Sir
William was charmed with its literary and rhetorical ability; and
could scarcely believe that the writer was but eighteen years of age.
"The Philadelphia printers," said he, "are wretched ones. Keimer is a
compound of fool and rogue. But this young man is manifestly of great
promise and ought to be encouraged."
One day Benjamin and his master were working together, when they saw
two well-dressed gentlemen approaching. They proved to be the Governor
of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, and Franklin's brother-in-law,
Captain Holmes, whom he probably had never before seen. Keimer ran
down stairs to meet them, supposing, of course, that he must be the
man who was entitled to the honor of their visit. To his surprise they
inquired for his apprentice, and went up the stairs to the printing
office to see him.
Benjamin was quite overwhelmed by the honors with which he was
greeted. The Governor paid him many compliments, expressed an earnest
desire to make his acquaintance, and politely censured him for
not calling at the gubernatorial mansion upon his arrival in
Philadelphia. The interview was terminated by taking Franklin with
them to a neighboring tavern to dine. There the three met upon
apparently perfect social equality, and very freely discussed many
important matters as they drank their wine.
The Governor, a very plausible, unreliable man, ever lavish of
promises without performance, proposed that Franklin, aided by funds
from his father, should open a printing office for himself. He
promised to exert his influence to secure for his young protegé the
public printing of both the provinces of Pennsylvania and Delaware.
When Franklin suggested that he feared his father would be either
unable or unwilling to furnish the needed funds, the Governor promised
to write to him with his own hand, explaining the advantages of the
scheme.
During the protracted interview, it was decided that Benjamin should
return to Boston by the first vessel. He was to take with him Sir
William's letter, and thus aided, endeavor to win over his father to
their plans.
A week or two elapsed before there was a vessel ready to sail for
Boston. At that time the social rank of a printer was decidedly above
that of other mechanic arts. There was something sacred attached to
the employment, and it was regarded as near akin to the learned
professions. Franklin was frequently invited to dine with the
Governor. His perfect self-possession, his careful dress and polished
address, united with his wonderful conversational powers, rendered him
a great favorite with all the distinguished guests whom he was
accustomed to meet at the table of the Governor.
The latter part of April, 1724, Franklin, then eighteen years of age,
took passage in a small vessel for Boston. His friends in Philadelphia
generally understood that he was going home merely to visit his
friends. It was deemed expedient to throw the veil of great secrecy
over the enterprise in which he was contemplating to engage.
The voyage was exceedingly tempestuous. The vessel sprang a leak. For
some time passengers and crew worked at the pumps night and day. But
after being buffeted by winds and waves for fourteen dreary days, the
little vessel cast anchor in the harbor of Boston. Franklin had then
been absent from home seven months.
His sudden appearance was a great surprise to all the members of the
numerous family. It is not surprising that the young man, elated by
his brilliant prospects, assumed rather lordly airs. His dress was new
and quite elegant. He had purchased a handsome watch, which he was not
reluctant to display. He had in his pocket twenty-five dollars of
silver coin.
Franklin's brother James, from whom he had run away, was greatly
annoyed by the airs of superiority assumed by his old apprentice. With
a cold and almost scornful eye, he scanned his person from head to
foot, scarcely offering his hand in greeting, and soon coldly and
silently returned to his work. But the imperial young man was not thus
to be put down. His former acquaintances gathered eagerly around him
and listened with intensest interest to the narrative of his
adventures. In glowing terms, Benjamin described his new home in
Philadelphia, drew out from his pocket handfuls of silver which he
exhibited to them, and with quite lordly dignity gave his former
fellow-journeymen money to go to the ale-house for a treat.
The candid reader will make some allowances for the conduct of
Benjamin, when he remembers that but a few months before, he had run
away to escape the cudgel of his brother. He will also feel inclined
to make some allowance for James, when informed that he was in
adversity, and struggling severely with pecuniary embarrassment. The
Courant, deprived of the graphic pen of Franklin, was rapidly losing
its subscribers, and soon became extinct.
Benjamin's father Josiah, who needed in his own business every dollar
of the funds he could raise, silently and almost without remark, read
the letter of Sir William Keith, and listened attentively to the
glowing descriptions of his son. Soon after Captain Holmes arrived.
The judicious father conversed fully with him, and expressed his
opinion that Sir William Keith must be a man of but little discretion
to think of setting up independently, in very responsible business, a
young man of but eighteen years of age.
Though Captain Holmes earnestly advocated the views of the Governor,
Josiah Franklin, after mature deliberation, decisively declined
furnishing the necessary funds.
"Benjamin," said he, "is too young to undertake an enterprise so
important. I am much gratified that he has been able to secure the
approbation of the Governor of Pennsylvania, and that by his industry
and fidelity he has been able to attain prosperity so remarkable. If
he will return to Philadelphia and work diligently until he is
twenty-one, carefully laying up his surplus earnings, I will then do
everything in my power to aid him."
The cautious Christian father then gave his son some very salutary
advice. He entreated him to be more careful in throwing out his arrows
of satire, and to cease presenting, in the aspect of the ridiculous,
so many subjects which religious men regarded with veneration. He
wrote a very courteous letter to Sir William Keith, thanking him for
his kindness to his son, and stating his reasons for declining the
proposed aid. Indeed, Josiah Franklin was intellectually, morally, and
in all sound judgment, immeasurably the superior of the fickle and
shallow royal Governor.
Sixty years after this visit of Franklin to his paternal home, he
wrote a letter to the son of the Rev. Cotton Mather, from which we
make the following pleasing extract:
"The last time I saw your father was in the beginning of
1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania.
He received me in his library; and on my taking leave showed
me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage
which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking
as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I, turning
partly toward him, when he said hastily, _stoop, stoop!_ I
did not understand him till I felt my head hit against the
beam. He was a man that never missed any occasion of giving
instruction; and upon this he said to me 'You are young and
have the world before you. Stoop as you go through it, and
you will miss many hard thumps.' This advice, thus beat into
my head, has frequently been of use to me. And I often think
of it when I see pride mortified and misfortunes brought
upon people by their carrying their heads too high."
There was in Boston a young man by the name of Collins, a reckless,
dissipated spendthrift, of very considerable personal attractions. He
had been quite an intimate friend of Franklin; and was so pleased with
his descriptions of Philadelphia that he decided to remove there. This
proved one of the calamities of Franklin's life.
Franklin eventually embarked, in a sloop, for his return. It touched
at Newport. His brother John lived there, pursuing the trade of a
candle-maker. Benjamin was received by him with great cordiality. At
Newport, among the other passengers, two young girls were taken on
board for New York. They were showy, voluble, gaudily dressed. All
their arts were exerted to secure intimate association with Franklin.
A venerable Quaker lady on board called the inexperienced young man
aside, and with motherly tenderness warned him against their wiles.
Though he doubted the necessity of this caution, he was put upon his
guard. When the girls left at New York, he declined their pressing
invitation for him to visit them at their home, and he learned from
the captain that they had undoubtedly stolen from him a silver spoon,
an article then not often seen in common life, and highly prized.
They were charged with the crime, convicted, and it is said that they
were publicly whipped in the market place.
Upon Franklin's arrival at New York, Collins, the playmate of his
childhood, was one of the first to meet him. In his earlier days he
had been sober, industrious, and was highly esteemed for his mental
powers and attainments. But he had become intemperate and a gambler,
and was every day intoxicated. Reduced almost to beggary, Franklin
felt compelled to furnish him with money to save him from starvation.
Penniless he had come on board the boat at New York, and Franklin paid
his passage to Philadelphia.
William Burnett was then Governor of New York. He was very fond of
books and had collected a large library. Franklin also had the same
taste and had a large number of books which he was conveying to
Philadelphia. The captain informed the Governor that he had a young
man on board fond of books, and of superior literary attainments. The
Governor begged the captain to bring young Franklin to see him.
"I waited upon him," wrote Franklin, "and would have taken Collins
with me had he been sober. The Governor received me with great
civility; and we had a good deal of conversation relative to books
and authors. This was the second Governor who had done me the honor to
take notice of me, and to a poor boy like me it was very pleasing."
Upon reaching Philadelphia, Franklin presented the letter of his
father to Sir William Keith. The Governor, upon reading the letter,
said,
"Your father is too prudent. There is a great difference in persons.
Discretion does not always accompany years; nor is youth always
without it. But since he will not set you up, I will do it myself.
Give me an inventory of the things necessary to be had from England,
and I will send for them. You shall repay me when you are able. I am
resolved to have a good printer here and I am sure you must succeed."
Franklin supposed of course, that he could rely upon the word of the
Governor. He drew up an inventory of goods to the amount of about five
hundred dollars. The strange Governor, who found it very easy to talk,
ran his eye over the list and as if money were a consideration of no
moment to him, and suggested that Franklin should go to London in
person. Greatly elated at this idea, young Franklin eagerly embraced
it, and the Governor directed him to be ready to embark in the London
Hope, a ship which sailed regularly between London and Philadelphia,
leaving each port once a year.
Several months would elapse before the ship would sail. Sir William
enjoined it upon Franklin to keep their plans in the utmost secrecy.
Consequently, Franklin continued to work for Keimer, not giving him
the slightest intimation that measures were in progress for the
establishment in Philadelphia, of a printing house which would
entirely overshadow his own. This secrecy which was practiced also
prevented any one from informing Franklin of the Governor's real
character, as a vain, unreliable, gasconading boaster.
Six months passed away. They were with Franklin happy months.
He was in perfect health, greatly enjoyed his own physical and
intellectual attributes, was much caressed, and was engaged in
lucrative employment. He was highly convivial in his tastes, very
fond of social pleasures, of the wine cup and of the song: and on
Sundays in particular, the enchanting forests of the Schuylkill
resounded with the songs and the shouts of the merry bacchanals,
led by Franklin, who was ever recognized as their chief.
There probably never was a young man more skillful than Benjamin
Franklin in plucking the rose and avoiding the thorn. In all his
festivities he was the thoughtful philosopher. Never did he drink to
excess; no money was squandered at the gaming table. Carefully he
avoided all views which he deemed vulgar and degrading; and he made it
the general rule of his life, to avoid everything which would bring
pain to his body, or remorse to his soul.
Still man is born to mourn. Even Franklin could not escape the general
lot. The drunken Collins became his constant scourge. Franklin felt
constrained to lend his old friend money. He had been entrusted by a
family friend, a Mr. Vernon, to collect a debt of about fifty dollars.
This money he was to retain till called for. But to meet his own
expenses and those of his spendthrift companion, he began to draw
upon it, until it all disappeared. He was then troubled with the
apprehension that the money might be demanded. Bitter were the
quarrels which arose between him and John Collins. His standard of
morality which was perhaps not less elevated than that which the
majority of imperfect professing Christians practice, was certainly
below that which the religion of Jesus Christ enjoins. Had he been a
true Christian according to the doctrines and precepts of Jesus, he
would have escaped these accumulating sorrows.
[Illustration]
This breaking in upon his friend Vernon's money, and spending it,
he pronounces in his autobiography, to have been the _first great
error_ of his life. Though it so chanced that the money was not
required until Franklin was able to pay it, yet for several months
he was in the endurance of intense mental anxiety and constant
self-reproach.
At length, Collins and Franklin became so antagonistic to each other
as to proceed to violence. They were on a pleasure party in a boat
down the river. Collins, as usual, was intoxicated. The wrath of the
muscular Benjamin was so aroused, by some act of abuse, that he seized
the fellow by the collar and pitched him overboard. Collins was a good
swimmer. They therefore kept him in the water till he was nearly
drowned. When pretty thoroughly humbled, and upon his most solemn
promise of good behavior, he was again taken on board. Seldom after
this was a word exchanged between them. Collins, deeply indebted to
Franklin, accepted of some business offer at Barbadoes. He sailed for
that island, and was never heard of more.
Almost every young man has a few particular friends. The three most
intimate companions of Benjamin Franklin were young men of his own
rank and age, of very dissimilar characters, but having a common taste
for business. They were all clerks. One of these, Joseph Watson, was,
according to Franklin's description, "a pious, sensible young man of
great integrity." It would seem that they were all persons of very
estimable character, though some of them had imbibed Franklin's
skeptical opinions. They spent many of their Sabbaths, wandering on
the banks of the romantic Schuylkill, reading to each other their
compositions in prose and verse.
James Ralph, who was very emphatic in his deistical views, in his
enthusiasm, decided to devote himself to the art of rhyming. The
sensible Franklin tried to dissuade him from his folly, but in vain.
On one occasion they all agreed to attempt a version of the Eighteenth
Psalm. This sublime production of an inspired pen contains, in fifty
verses, imagery as grand and sentiments as beautiful, as perhaps can
anywhere else be found, within the same compass, in any language. It
certainly speaks well for the intellectual acumen of these young men,
and for their devotional instincts, that they should have selected so
noble a theme. As their main object was to improve themselves in the
command of language, and in the power of expression, they could not
have chosen a subject more appropriate, than the Psalmist's
description of the descent of God to earth.
"He bowed the heavens also and came down; and darkness was under
his feet.
And He rode upon a cherub and did fly;
Yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his secret place.
His pavilion round about him were dark waters, thick clouds of
the skies.
At the brightness which was before him his thick clouds passed.
Hail stones and coals of fire."[5]
[Footnote 5: The intelligent reader will recall the glowing version of
this Psalm, by Steinhold.
"The Lord descended from above,
And bowed the heavens most high;
And underneath his feet he cast
The darkness of the sky.
On cherub and on cherubim,
Full royally he rode;
And on the wings of mighty winds,
Came flying all abroad."]
Joseph Watson died quite young, in the arms of Franklin. Charles
Osborne acquired money and reputation, as a lawyer. Removing to the
West Indies, he died, in the prime of life.
Franklin and Osborne entered into the agreement, which has so often
been made, that whichever should first die, should, if possible,
return to the other and reveal to him the secrets of the spirit land.
It is hardly necessary to say that Franklin watched long in vain, for
a visit from his departed companion.
Two months before Franklin sailed for London, Mr. Read, with whom he
boarded, died. With the father, mother, and very pretty and amiable
daughter, Deborah, Franklin had found a happy home. A strong affection
apparently sprang up between the two young people. She was seventeen
years of age, and Franklin eighteen. Their union would be eminently
fitting, as in fortune and position in society, they were on the same
level.
Franklin, enjoying the patronage of the governor, and with, as he
supposed, very brilliant prospects before him, entered into an
engagement with Deborah, and was anxious to be married before he
embarked for England, designing to leave his young bride at home with
her mother. But Mrs. Read, in consideration of their youth, urged that
the nuptials should be postponed until after his return.
Sir William Keith continued to invite Franklin to his house, and
lavished commendation and promises upon him. Still he continually
postponed giving him any letters of credit with which he could
purchase types, paper and press. Though, as the hour for sailing
approached, Franklin called again and again to obtain the needful
documents, he was continually met with apologies. At length, the day
for the ship to weigh anchor arrived. It was about the 5th of
November, 1724.
At that late hour the private secretary of the Governor called
upon Franklin and informed him that Sir William would meet him at
Newcastle, where the vessel was to cast anchor, and would then and
there, deliver to him all the important documents. Franklin went on
board. The ship dropped down the broad and beautiful Delaware,
whose banks were brilliant with foliage in their richest autumnal
brilliance, about thirty-two miles below Philadelphia, to Newcastle.
To the great disappointment of Franklin, the Governor still did not
appear. He however sent his secretary, with a profusion of excuses,
and professing to be pressed with business of the utmost importance,
promised to send the letters to the captain before the vessel would be
permitted to sail.
Franklin, naturally buoyant and hopeful, did not even then, consider
it possible that the Governor was intending to deceive him. Neither
was it possible to conceive of any motive which would induce Sir
William to betray him by so deceptive a game. At length a bag from the
Governor, apparently filled with letters and dispatches, was brought
on board, and again the vessel unfurled her sails. Franklin, with some
solicitude, asked for those which were directed to him. But Captain
Annis, all engrossed with the cares of embarkation, said that he was
too busy to examine the bag at that time, but that they would, at
their leisure, on the voyage select the letters.
On the 10th of November, 1724, the good ship, the London Hope, pushed
out from the Delaware upon the broad Atlantic. We know not whether
Franklin was surprised to find on board, as one of the passengers, his
poetical deistical friend James Ralph. This young man, who had
renounced Christianity, in the adoption of principles, which he
professed to believe conducive to the formation of a much higher moral
character, had deliberately abandoned his wife and child to seek
his fortune in London. He had deceived them by the most false
representation. Carefully he concealed from Franklin, his unprincipled
conduct and visionary schemes.
The voyage was long and rough, as the vessel did not reach London
until the twenty-fourth of November. On the passage he very carefully,
with the captain, examined the letter-bag. But no letter was found
addressed to him. There were several, however, addressed to other
persons, with Franklin's name upon the envelope as if they were in his
care. As one of these was addressed to the king's printer and another
to a stationer in London, the sanguine young man through all the
dreary and protracted voyage, clung to the hope that all was right.
Upon arriving in London, Franklin hastened first to the stationer's
and presented him with the letter, saying to him, "Here is a letter
from Governor Keith, of Pennsylvania." The stationer looked up with
surprise and said:
"Governor Keith! I do not know of any such person." Then breaking the
seal, and looking at the signature, he said very contemptuously,
"Riddlesden. I have lately found him to be a complete rascal. I will
have nothing to do with him, nor receive any letters from him."[6]
[Footnote 6: We both of us happen to know, as well as the stationer,
that Riddlesden, the attorney, was a very knave. He had half ruined
Miss Read's father by persuading him to be bound for him. By
his letter it appeared there was a secret scheme on foot to the
prejudice of Mr. Hamilton; that Keith was concerned in it with
Riddlesden.--Works of Franklin, by Sparks, Vol. i, p. 55.]
So saying he thrust the letter back into Franklin's hand, and turned
away to serve a customer. Franklin was almost stunned with this
intelligence. He immediately conferred with a Mr. Denham, a judicious
friend whose acquaintance he had made on board the ship. They
ascertained that the infamous Governor, from motives which it is
difficult to comprehend, had not furnished Franklin with a single
document. There was not a bill of credit or a single letter of
introduction, commending the young adventurer to people in London.
Denham then told him that no one who knew Keith had the slightest
confidence in his promises. That the idea that he would furnish him
with any letters of credit was preposterous, since Sir William had no
credit with any body.
And thus Franklin found himself with his companion James Ralph, alone
in the great world of London, without any letters of introduction,
without any prospect of employment, and almost without money. The
virtues of Franklin had exerted a restraining influence upon the
unprincipled Ralph, and Franklin had not as yet become acquainted with
the true basis of his character. The two young men met together to
consult in this dilemma and to examine their finances. It appeared
that Ralph had scarcely one penny in his pocket. He had intended to be
a hanger-on upon Franklin, in whose ability to take care of himself
and others he had the greatest confidence. Franklin's purse contained
about fifty dollars.
Again he returned to consult with Mr. Denham. He very wisely advised
Franklin to seek employment in some of the printing offices in London.
He encouraged him with the thought that thus with a few months' labor,
he might not only pay his expenses, but also lay up a sufficient sum
to defray his passage home.
Franklin gradually perceived to his dismay, what an old man of the sea
he had got upon his shoulders in the person of James Ralph. The
following is his calm comment upon the atrocious conduct of Keith:
"What shall we think," he writes, "of a governor playing such pitiful
tricks, and imposing so grossly upon a poor ignorant boy? It was a
habit he had acquired; he wished to please every body, and having
little to give, he gave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenuous,
sensible man, a pretty good writer, and a good governor for the
people, though not for his constituents the proprietaries. Several of
our best laws were of his planning, and passed during his
administration."
The entire absence of anger in this statement, has won for Franklin
great commendation.
With his dependent protegé Ralph, he took humble lodgings in Little
Britain street. Ralph had remarkable powers of conversation, with much
more than ordinary literary talent, and could, whenever he wished,
make himself very agreeable and almost fascinating as a companion. But
he was quite a child as to all ability to take care of himself.
Franklin really loved him at that time. He was a very handsome young
man, graceful in his demeanor; and those who listened to his eloquent
harangues would imagine that he was destined to attain to greatness.
Franklin immediately applied for work at the great printing
establishment of Palmer in Bartholomew Close. Fifty journeymen
were here employed. He promptly entered into a contract with the
proprieter for the remuneration of about six dollars a week. Ralph,
characteristically hurried to the theatre to enter upon the profession
of a play-actor. Being disappointed in that attempt, his next plan was
to edit a newspaper to be called the Spectator. Not being able to find
a publisher, he then went the rounds of the law offices, in search of
copying, but not even this, could he obtain. In the meantime they were
both supported by the purse of Franklin. With fifty dollars in his
pocket, and earning six dollars a week, he felt quite easy in his
circumstances, and was quite generous in his expenditure for their
mutual enjoyment.