"Were I so tall to reach the pole,
And grasp the ocean in my span,
I must be measur'd by my soul;
For 'tis the MIND that makes the man."
From the best accounts which I have been able to pick up, it would
appear that a passion for learning had a long run in the family of the
Franklins. Of the doctor's three uncles, the elder, whose name was
Thomas, though conscientiously brought up a blacksmith, and subsisting
his family by the din and sweat of his anvil, was still a great
reader. Instead of wasting his leisure hours, as too many of the trade
do, in tippling and tobacco, he acquired enough of the law to render
himself a very useful and leading man among the people of Northampton,
where his forefathers had lived in great comfort for three hundred
years, on thirty acres of land.
His uncle Benjamin, too, another old _English gentleman_ of the right
stamp, though a very hard-working man at the silk-dying trade, was
equally devoted to the pleasures of the mind. He made it a rule
whenever he lighted on a copy of verses that pleased him, to
transcribe them into a large blank book which he kept for the purpose.
In this way he collected two quarto volumes of poems, written in short
hand of his own inventing. And, being a man of great piety, and fond
of attending the best preachers, whose sermons he always took down, he
collected in the course of his life, _eight_ volumes of sermons in
_folio_, besides near _thirty_ in quarto and octavo, and all in the
aforesaid short hand! Astonishing proof, what a banquet of elegant
pleasures even a poor mechanic may enjoy, who begins early to read and
think! 'Tis true, he was a long time about it. His piety afforded him
a constant cheerfulness. And deriving from the same source a regular
temperance, he attained to a great age. In his seventy-third year,
still fresh and strong, he left his native country, and came over to
America, to see his younger brother Josias, between whom and himself
there had always subsisted a more than ordinary friendship. On his
arrival in Boston, he was received with unbounded joy by Josias, who
pressed him to spend the residue of his days in his family. To this
proposition the old gentleman readily consented; and the more so as he
was then a widower, and his children, all married off, had left him.
He had the honor to give his name, and to stand godfather to our
little hero, for whom, on account of his vivacity and fondness for
learning, he conceived an extraordinary affection. And Ben always took
a great delight in talking of this uncle. Nor was it to be wondered
at; for he was an old man who wore his religion very much to win young
people--a pleasant countenance--a sweet speech--and a fund of
anecdotes always entertaining, and generally carrying some good moral
in the tail of them. His grandfather before him must have been a man
of rare humour, as appears from a world of droll stories which uncle
Benjamin used to tell after him, and which his New England descendants
to this day are wont to repeat with great glee. I must let the reader
hear one or two of them. They will amuse him, by showing what strange
things were done in days of yore by kings and priests in the land of
our venerable forefathers.
It was his grandfather's fortune to live in the reign of Queen Mary,
whom her _friends_ called _holy_ Mary, but her enemies _bloody_ Mary.
In the grand struggle for power between those humble followers of the
cross, the catholics and the protestants, the former gained the
victory, for which 'Te Deums' in abundance were sung throughout the
land. And having been sadly rib-roasted by the protestants when in
power, they determined, like good christians, now that the tables were
turned, to try on them the virtues of fire and faggot. The Franklin
family having ever been sturdy protestants, began now to be in great
tribulation. "What shall we do to save our Bible?" was the question.
After serious consultation in a family caucus, it was resolved to hide
it in the close-stool; which was accordingly done, by fastening it,
open, on the under side of the lid by twine threads drawn strongly
across the leaves. When the grandfather read to the family, he turned
up the aforesaid lid on his knees, passing the leaves of his Bible, as
he read, from one side to the other. One of the children was carefully
stationed at the door, to give notice if he saw the priest, or any of
his frowning tribe, draw near. In that event, the lid with the Bible
lashed beneath it, was instantly clapped down again on its old place.
These things may appear strange to us, who live under a wise republic,
which will not suffer the black gowns of one church to persecute those
of another. But they were common in those dark and dismal days, when
the clergy thought more of creeds than of Christ, and of learning
Latin than of learning love. Queen Mary was one of this gnostic
generation, (who place their religion in the _head_, though Christ
places it in the HEART,) and finding it much easier to her _unloving_
spirit, to burn human beings called heretics, than to mortify her own
lust of popularity, she suffered her catholic to fly upon and worry
her protestant subjects at a shameful rate. Good old uncle Benjamin
used to divert his friends with another story, which happened in the
family of his own aunt, who kept an inn at Eaton, Northamptonshire.
A most violent priest, of the name of Asquith, who thought, like Saul,
that he should be doing "_God service_" by killing the heretics, had
obtained letters patent from queen Mary against those people in the
county of Warwick. On his way he called to dine at Eaton, where he was
quickly waited on by the mayor, a strong catholic, to ask how the
_good work went on_. Asquith, leaping to his saddle-bags, drew forth a
little box, that contained his commission, which he flourished before
the mayor, exclaiming with high glee, "_Aye! there's that that will
scorch the rogues!_" Old Mrs. Franklin, under the rose a sturdy
protestant, overhearing this, was exceedingly troubled; and watching
her opportunity when the priest had stepped out with the mayor,
slipped the commission out of the box, and put in its place a pack of
cards, wrapped in the same paper. The priest returning in haste, and
suspecting no trick, huddled up his box, and posted off for Coventry.
A grand council of the saints was speedily convoked to meet him. He
arose, and having with great vehemence delivered a set speech against
the heretics, threw his commission on the table for the secretary to
read aloud. With the eyes of the whole council on him, the eager
secretary opened the package, when in place of the flaming commission,
behold a pack of cards with the knave of clubs turned uppermost! A
sudden stupefaction seized the spectators. In silence they stared at
the priest and stared at one another. Some looking as though they
suspected treachery: others as dreading a judgment in the case. Soon
as the dumb-founded priest could recover speech, he swore by the HOLY
MARY, that he once had a commission; that he had received it from the
queen's own hand. And he also swore that he would get another
commission. Accordingly he hurried back to London, and having procured
another, set off again for Coventry. But alas! before he got down,
poor queen Mary had turned the corner, and the protestants under
Elizabeth got the rule again. Having nothing now to dread, our
quizzing old hostess, Mrs. Franklin, came out with the knavish trick
she had played the priest, which so pleased the protestants of
Coventry that they presented her a piece of plate, that cost fifty
pounds sterling, equal, as money now goes, to a thousand dollars.
From an affair which soon after this took place there, it appears that
Coventry, however famous for saints, had no great cause to brag of her
poets.--When queen Elizabeth, to gratify her subjects, made the tour
of her island, she passed through Coventry. The mayor, aldermen, and
company hearing of her approach, went out in great state to meet her.
The queen being notified that they wished to address her, made a full
stop right opposite to a stage erected for the purpose, and covered
with embroidered cloth, from which a ready orator, after much bowing
and arms full extended, made this wondrous speech--"We men of Coventry
are glad to see your royal highness--Lord how _fair_ you be!"
To this the maiden queen, equal famed for fat and fun, rising in her
carriage, and waving her lily white hand, made this prompt reply--"Our
royal highness is glad to see you men of Coventry--Lord what FOOLS you
be!"