PART II.

_From Mr. Abel James (received in Paris)._

"MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND,

"I have often been desirous of writing to thee, but could not be

reconciled to the thought that the letter might fall into the hands

of the British, lest some printer or busybody should publish some

part of the contents, and give our friend pain and myself censure.

"Some time since there fell into my hands, to my great joy, about

twenty-three sheets in thy own handwriting, containing an account

of the parentage and life of thyself, directed to thy son, ending

in the year 1730, with which there were notes, likewise in thy

writing; a copy of which I enclose, in hopes it may be a means, if

thou continued it up to a later period, that the first and latter

part may be put together; and if it is not yet continued, I hope

thee will not delay it. Life is uncertain, as the preacher tells

us; and what will the world say, if kind, humane, and benevolent

Ben Franklin should leave his friends and the world deprived of so

pleasing and profitable a work; a work which would be useful and

entertaining not only to a few, but to millions? The influence

writings under that class have on the minds of youth is very great,

and has nowhere appeared to me so plain as in our public friend's

journals. It almost insensibly leads the youth into the resolution

of endeavouring to become as good and eminent as the journalist.

Should thine, for instance, when published (and I think they could

not fail of it), lead the youth to equal the industry and

temperance of thy early youth, what a blessing with that class

would such a work be! I know of no character living, nor many of

them put together, who has so much in his power as thyself to

promote a greater spirit of industry and early attention to

business, frugality, and temperance, with the American youth. Not

that I think the work would have no other merit and use in the

world; far from it: but the first is of such vast importance, that

I know nothing that can equal it."

The foregoing letter, and the minutes accompanying it, being shown to a

friend, I received from him the following:

_From Mr. Benjamin Vaughan._

"Paris, January 31, 1783.

"MY DEAREST SIR,

"When I had read over your sheets of minutes of the principal

incidents of your life, recovered for you by your Quaker

acquaintance, I told you I would send you a letter expressing my

reasons why I thought it would be useful to complete and publish it

as he desired. Various concerns have, for some time past, prevented

this letter being written, and I do not know whether it was worth

any expectation; happening to be at leisure, however, at present, I

shall, by writing, at least interest and instruct myself; but as

the terms I am inclined to use may tend to offend a person of your

manners, I shall only tell you how I would address any other person

who was as good and as great as yourself, but less diffident. I

would say to him, sir, I solicit the history of your life, from the

following motives:

"Your history is so remarkable, that, if you do not give it,

somebody else will most certainly give it; and perhaps so as nearly

to do as much harm as your own management of the thing might do

good.

"It will, morever, present a table of the internal circumstances of

your country, which will very much tend to invite to it settlers of

virtuous and manly minds. And, considering the eagerness with

which such information is sought by them, and the extent of your

reputation, I do not know of a more efficacious advertisement than

your biography would give.

"All that has happened to you is also connected with the detail of

the manners and situation of a _rising_ people; and in this respect

I do not think that the writings of Caesar and Tacitus can be more

interesting to a true judge of human nature and society.

"But these, sir, are small reasons, in my opinion, compared with

the chance which your life will give for the forming of future

great men; and, in conjunction with your _Art of Virtue_ (which you

design to publish), of improving the features of private character,

and, consequently, of aiding all happiness, both public and

domestic.

"The two works I allude to, sir, will, in particular, give a noble

rule and example of _self-education_. School and other education

constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy

apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple,

and the mark a true one; and while parents and young persons are

left destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming

prepared for a reasonable course in life, your discovery, that the

thing is in many a man's private power, will be invaluable!

"Influence upon the private character, late in life, is not only an

influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in _youth_ that

we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we

take our party as to profession, pursuits, and matrimony. In youth,

therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the

next generation is given; in youth the private and public character

is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to

age, life ought to begin well from youth; and more especially

_before_ we take our party as to our principal objects.

"But your biography will not merely teach self-education, but the

education of _a wise man_; and the wisest man will receive lights

and improve his progress by seeing detailed the conduct of another

wise man. And why are weaker men to be deprived of such helps, when

we see our race has been blundering on in the dark, almost without

a guide in this particular, from the farthest trace of time? Show

then, sir, how much is to be done, _both to sons and fathers_; and

invite all wise men to become like yourself, and other men to

become wise.

"When we see how cruel statesmen and warriors can be to the human

race, and how absurd distinguished men can be to their

acquaintance, it will be instructive to observe the instances

multiply of pacific, acquiescing manners; and to find how

compatible it is to be great and _domestic_; enviable and yet

_good-humoured_.

"The little private incidents which you will also have to relate,

will have considerable use, as we want, above all things, _rules of

prudence in ordinary affairs_; and it will be curious to see how

you have acted in these. It will be so far a sort of key to life,

and explain many things that all men ought to have once explained

to them, to give them a chance of becoming wise by foresight.

"The nearest thing to having experience of one's own, is to have

other people's affairs brought before us in a shape that is

interesting; this is sure to happen from your pen. Your affairs and

management will have an air of simplicity or importance that will

not fail to strike; and I am convinced you have conducted them with

as much originality as if you had been conducting discussions in

politics or philosophy; and what more worthy of experiments and

system (its importance and its errors considered) than human life!

"Some men have been virtuous blindly, others have speculated

fantastically, and others have been shrewd to bad purposes; but

you, sir, I am sure, will give, under your hand, nothing but what

is at the same moment wise, practical, and good.

"Your account of yourself (for I suppose the parallel I am drawing

for Dr. Franklin will hold not only in point of character, but of

private history) will show that you are ashamed of no origin; a

thing the more important as you prove how little necessary all

origin is to happiness, virtue, or greatness.

"As no end, likewise, happens without a means, so we shall find,

sir, that even you yourself framed a plan by which you became

considerable; but, at the same time, we may see that, though the

event is flattering, the means are as simple as wisdom could make

them; that is, depending upon nature, virtue, thought, and habit.

"Another thing demonstrated will be the propriety of every man's

waiting for his time for appearing upon the stage of the world. Our

sensations being very much fixed to the moment, we are apt to

forget that more moments are to follow the first, and,

consequently, that man should arrange his conduct so as to suit the

_whole_ of a life. Your attribution appears to have been applied to

your _life_, and the passing moments of it have been enlivened with

content and enjoyment, instead of being tormented with foolish

impatience or regrets. Such a conduct is easy for those who make

virtue and themselves their standard, and who try to keep

themselves in countenance by examples of other truly great men, of

whom patience is so often the characteristic.

"Your Quaker correspondent, sir (for here again I will suppose the

subject of my letter to resemble Dr. Franklin), praised your

frugality, diligence, and temperance, which he considered as a

pattern for all youth: but it is singular that he should have

forgotten your modesty and your disinterestedness, without which

you never could have waited for your advancement, or found your

situation in the mean time comfortable; which is a strong lesson to

show the poverty of glory, and the importance of regulating our

minds.

"If this correspondent had known the nature of your reputation as

well as I do, he would have said, your former writings and measures

would secure attention to your Biography and Art of Virtue; and

your Biography and Art of Virtue, in return, would secure attention

to them. This is an advantage attendant upon a various character,

and which brings all that belongs to it into greater play; and it

is the more useful, as, perhaps, more persons are at a loss for the

_means_ of improving their minds and characters than they are for

the time or the inclination to do it.

"But there is one concluding reflection, sir, that will show the

use of your life as a mere piece of biography. This style of

writing seems a little gone out of vogue, and yet it is a very

useful one; and your specimen of it may be particularly

serviceable, as it will make a subject of comparison with the lives

of various public cutthroats and intriguers, and with absurd

monastic self-tormentors or vain literary triflers. If it

encourages more writings of the same kind with your own, and

induces more men to spend lives fit to be written, it will be worth

all Plutarch's Lives put together.

"But being tired of figuring to myself a character of which every

figure suits only one man in the world, without giving him the

praise of it, I shall end my letter, my dear Dr. Franklin, with a

personal application to your proper self.

"I am earnestly desirous, then, my dear sir, that you should let

the world into the traits of your genuine character, as civil

broils may otherwise tend to disguise or traduce it. Considering

your great age, the caution of your character, and your peculiar

style of thinking, it is not likely that any one besides yourself

can be sufficiently master of the facts of your life or the

intentions of your mind.

"Besides all this, the immense revolution of the present period

will necessarily turn our attention towards the author of it; and

when virtuous principles have been pretended in it, it will be

highly important to show that such have really influenced; and, as

your own character will be the principal one to receive a scrutiny,

it is proper (even for its effects upon your vast and rising

country, as well as upon England and upon Europe) that it should

stand respectable and eternal. For the furtherance of human

happiness, I have always maintained that it is necessary to prove

that man is not even at present a vicious and detestable animal;

and still more to prove that good management may greatly amend him;

and it is for much the same reason that I am anxious to see the

opinion established, that there are fair characters among the

individuals of the race; for the moment that all men, without

exception, shall be conceived abandoned, good people will cease

efforts deemed to be hopeless, and, perhaps, think of taking their

share in the scramble of life, or, at least, of making it

comfortable principally for themselves.

"Take then, my dear sir, this work most speedily into hand: show

yourself good as you are good; temperate as you are temperate; and,

above all things, prove yourself as one who, from your infancy,

have loved justice, liberty, and concord, in a way that has made it

natural and consistent for you to act as we have seen you act in

the last seventeen years of your life. Let Englishmen be made not

only to respect, but even to love you. When they think well of

individuals in your native country, they will go nearer to thinking

well of your country; and when your countrymen see themselves

thought well of by Englishmen, they will go nearer to thinking well

of England. Extend your views even farther; do not stop at those

who speak the English tongue, but, after having settled so many

points in nature and politics, think of bettering the whole race of

men.

"As I have not read any part of the life in question, but know only

the character that lived it, I write somewhat at hazard. I am sure,

however, that the life, and the treatise I allude to (on the _Art

of Virtue_), will necessarily fulfil the chief of my expectations;

and still more so if you take up the measure of suiting these

performances to the several views above stated. Should they even

prove unsuccessful in all that a sanguine admirer of yours hopes

from them, you will at least have framed pieces to interest the

human mind; and whoever gives a feeling of pleasure that is

innocent to man, has added so much to the fair side of a life

otherwise too much darkened by anxiety and too much injured by

pain.

"In the hope, therefore, that you will listen to the prayer

addressed to you in this letter, I beg to subscribe myself, my dear

sir, &c., &c.,

"BENJ. VAUGHAN."

* * * * *

CONTINUATION,

_Begun at Passy, near Paris, 1784._

It is some time since I received the above letters, but I have been too

busy till now to think of complying with the request they contain. It

might, too, be much better done if I were at home among my papers, which

would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates; but my return being

uncertain, and having just now a little leisure, I will endeavour to

recollect and write what I can: if I live to get home, it may there be

corrected and improved.

Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not whether

an account is given of the means I used to establish the Philadelphia

public library, which, from a small beginning, is now become so

considerable, though I remember to have come down near the time of that

transaction (1730). I will, therefore, begin here with an account of it,

which may be struck out if found to have been already given.

At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania, there was not a good

bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In

New-York and Philadelphia the printers were, indeed, stationers, but

they sold only paper, &c., almanacs, ballads, and a few common

schoolbooks. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their

books from England: the members of the Junto had each a few. We had left

the alehouse where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in. I

proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room, where

they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences, but become a

common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished

to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contented

us: finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed to

render the benefit from the books more common, by commencing a public

subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would

be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to

put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed; by

which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first

purchase of the books, and an annual contribution for increasing them.

So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority

of us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry, to find more

than fifty persons (mostly young tradesmen) willing to pay down for this

purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum; with this

little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was open one

day in the week for lending them to subscribers, on their promissory

notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon

manifested its utility; was imitated by other towns and in other

provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading became

fashionable; and our people, having no public amusements to divert their

attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few

years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more

intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other

countries.

When we were about to sign the above-mentioned articles, which were to

be binding on us, our heirs, &c., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden, the

scrivener, said to us: "You are young men, but it is scarce probable

that any of you will live to see the expiration of the term fixed in the

instrument." A number of us, however, are yet living; but the instrument

was, after a few years, rendered null by a charter that incorporated and

gave perpetuity to the company.

The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the

subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's

self as the proposer of any useful project that might be supposed to

raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's

neighbours, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that

project. I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and

stated it as a scheme of a _number of friends_, who had requested me to

go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In

this way my affairs went on more smoothly, and I ever after practised it

on such occasions, and from my frequent successes can heartily recommend

it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterward be amply

repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some

one more vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, and then

even envy will be disposed to do you justice, by plucking those assumed

feathers and restoring them to their right owner.

This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for

which I set apart an hour or two each day; and thus I repaired, in some

degree, the loss of the learned education my father once intended for

me. Reading was the only amusement I allowed myself. I spent no time in

taverns, games, or frolics of any kind, and my industry in my business

continued as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was indebted for my

printing-house, I had a young family coming on to be educated, and I had

two competitors to contend with for business who were established in the

place before me. My circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My

original habits of frugality continuing, and my father having, among his

instructions to me when a boy, frequently repeated a Proverb of Solomon,

"_seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings,

he shall not stand before mean men_," I thence considered industry as a

means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encouraged me; though I

did not think that I should ever literally stand before kings, which,

however, has since happened; for I have stood before five, and even had

the honour of sitting down with one (the king of Denmark) to dinner.

We have an English proverb that says,

"He that would thrive

Must ask his wife."

It was lucky for me that I had one as much disposed to industry and

frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in my business, folding

and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for the

paper-makers, &c. We kept no idle servants; our table was plain and

simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was,

for a long time, bread and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny

earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon: but mark how luxury will enter

families, and make a progress in spite of principle; being called one

morning to breakfast, I found it in a china bowl, with a spoon of

silver. They had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and

had cost her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings; for which

she had no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought _her_

husband deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as well as any of his

neighbours. This was the first appearance of plate and china in our

house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increased,

augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.

I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; but though some of

the dogmas of that persuasion appeared unintelligible, and I early

absented myself from their public assemblies (Sunday being my studying

day), I never was without some religious principles: I never doubted,

for instance, the existence of a Deity; that he made the world, and

governed it by his providence; that the most acceptable service of God

was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all

crimes will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.

These I esteemed the essentials of every religion; and being to be found

in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, though

with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mixed

with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote, or

confirm morality, served principally to divide us, and make us

unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an opinion that the

worst had some effects, induced me to avoid all discourse that might

tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his own religion;

and as our province increased in people, and new places of worship were

continually wanted and generally erected by voluntary contribution, my

mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect, was never refused.

Though I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of

its propriety and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly

paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian

minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He used to visit me

sometimes as a friend, and admonish me to attend his administrations;

and I was now and then prevailed on to do so; once for five Sundays

successively. Had he been in my opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might

have continued, notwithstanding the occasion I had for the Sunday's

leisure in my course of study: but his discourses were chiefly either

polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of our

sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since

not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforced. I had some

years before composed a little liturgy or form of prayer for my own

private use (viz., in 1728), entitled _Articles of Belief and Acts of

Religion_. I returned to the use of this, and went no more to the public

assemblies. My conduct might be blameable, but I leave it without

attempting farther to excuse it; my present purpose being to relate

facts, and not to make apologies for them.

It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of

arriving at _moral perfection_; I wished to live without committing any

fault at any time, and to conquer all that either natural inclination,

custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew,

what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not _always_ do the

one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of

more difficulty than I had imagined: while my attention was taken up,

and care employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised

by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was

sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere

speculative conviction, that it was our interest to be completely

virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the

contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established,

before we can have any dependance on a steady, uniform rectitude of

conduct. For this purpose I therefore tried the following method.

In the various enumerations of the _moral virtues_ I had met with in my

reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different

writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. _Temperance_,

for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking; while by

others it was extended to mean the moderating of every other pleasure,

appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice

and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use

rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names

with more ideas; and I included, under thirteen names of virtues, all

that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed

to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its

meaning.

These names of _virtues_, with their precepts, were,

1. TEMPERANCE.--Eat not to dulness: drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE.--Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself: avoid

trifling conversation.

3. ORDER.--Let all your things have their places: let each part of your

business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION.--Resolve to perform what you ought: perform without fail

what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY.--Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself:

i.e., waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY.--Lose no time: be always employed in something useful: cut

off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY.--Use no hurtful deceit: think innocently and justly: and,

if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE.--Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that

are your duty.

9. MODERATION.--Avoid extremes: forbear resenting injuries so much as

you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS.--Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or

habitation.

11. TRANQUILLITY.--Be not disturbed at trifles, nor at accidents common

or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY.

13. HUMILITY.

My intention being to acquire the _habitude_ of all these virtues, I

judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the

whole at once, but to fix it on _one_ of them at a time; and when I

should be master of that, then to proceed to another; and so on till I

should have gone through the thirteen: and as the previous acquisition

of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged

them with that view as they stand above. _Temperance_ first, as it tends

to promote that coolness and clearness of head which is so necessary

where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and a guard maintained

against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits and the force of

perpetual temptations. This being acquired and established, _Silence_

would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same

time that I improved in virtue; and considering that in conversation it

was obtained rather by the use of the ear than of the tongue, and,

therefore, wishing to break a habit I was getting into of _prattling_,

_punning_, and _jesting_ (which only made me acceptable to trifling

company), I gave _Silence_ the second place. This and the next,

_Order_, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project

and my studies _Resolution_, once become habitual, would keep me firm in

my endeavours to obtain all the subsequent virtues. _Frugality_ and

_Industry_, relieving me from my restraining debt, and producing

affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of

_Sincerity_ and _Justice_, &c., &c. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to

the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, daily examination would

be necessary, I contrived the following method for conducting that

examination.

I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the

virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns,

one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the

day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the

beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues; on

which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black

spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed

respecting that virtue upon that day.[10]

_Form of the pages._

TEMPERANCE.

Eat not to dulness: drink not to elevation.

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| | Sun. | M. | T. | W. | Th. | F. | S. |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Tem. | | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Sil. | * | * | | * | | * | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Ord. | * | * | * | | * | * | * |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Res. | | * | | | | * | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Fru. | * | | | | | * | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Ind. | | | * | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Sinc.| | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Jus. | | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Mod. | | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Clea.| | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Tran.| | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Chas.| | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

| Hum. | | | | | | | |

+------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues

successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to every the

least offence against _Temperance_; leaving the other virtues to their

ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day. Thus,

if in the first week I could keep my first line marked T. clear of

spots, I supposed the habit of that virtue so much strengthened, and its

opposite weakened, that I might venture extending my attention to

include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of

spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could get through a course

complete in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him

who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad

herbs at once (which would exceed his reach and his strength), but works

on one of the beds at a time, and having accomplished the first,

proceeds to a second, so I should have (I hoped) the encouraging

pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress made in virtue, by clearing

successively my lines of their spots, till, in the end, by a number of

courses, I should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen

week's daily examination.

This my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's Cato:

"Here will I hold; if there's a power above us

(And that there is, all nature cries aloud

Through all her works), he must delight in virtue;

And that which he delights in must be happy."

Another from Cicero:

O vitae philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix et expultrixque vitiorum!

Unus dies bene, et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati est

anteponendus."

"Oh Philosophy, guide of life! Diligent inquirer after virtue, and

banisher of vice! A single day well spent, and as thy precepts direct,

is to be preferred to an eternity of sin."

Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or virtue:

"Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and

honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and

necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I

formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables of

examination, for daily use.

"O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! Increase me in

that wisdom which discovers my truest interest: Strengthen my resolution

to perform what that wisdom dictates! Accept my kind offices to thy

other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favours

to me."

I used also, sometimes, a little prayer which I took from Thomson's

Poems, viz.,

"Father of light and life, thou God supreme!

Oh teach me what is good; teach me thyself!

Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,

From every low pursuit; and fill my soul

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;

Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

The precept of _Order_, requiring that _every part of my business should

have its allotted time_, one page in my little book contained the

following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural

day.

SCHEME.

Hours.

_Morning._ { } Rise, wash, and address _Powerful

The Question { 5} Goodness_! Contrive day's business, and

What good shall { 6} take the resolution of the day; prosecute

I do this day? { 7} the present study, and breakfast.

8}

9} Work.

10}

11}

_Noon._ {12} Read, or look over my accounts, and

{ 1} dine.

{ 2}

_Afternoon._ { 3} Work.

{ 4}

{ 5}

_Evening._ { 6}

The Question, { 7} Put things in their places. Supper,

What good have { 8} music, or diversion, or conversation.

I done to-day? { 9} Examination of the day.

{10}

{11}

{12}

_Night._ { 1} Sleep.

{ 2}

{ 3}

{ 4}

I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and

continued it, with occasional intermissions, for some time. I was

surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined;

but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the trouble

of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping out the

marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new

course, became full of holes, I transferred my tables and precepts to

the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn

with red ink, that made a durable stain; and on those lines I marked my

faults with a black lead pencil; which marks I could easily wipe out

with a wet sponge. After a while I went through one course only in a

year; and afterward only one in several years; till at length I omitted

them entirely, being employed in voyages and business abroad, with a

multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little

book with me. My scheme of _Order_ gave me the most trouble; and I found

that though it might be practicable where a man's business was such as

to leave him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman-printer,

for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master,

who must mix with the world, and often receive people of business at

their own hours. Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers,

&c., I found it extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been early

accustomed to _method_, and having an exceeding good memory, I was not

so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article,

therefore, cost me much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me

so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such

frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and

content myself with a faulty character in that respect. Like the man

who, in buying an axe of a smith my neighbour, desired to have the whole

of its surface as bright as the edge, the smith consented to grind it

bright for him if he would turn the wheel: he turned while the smith

pressed the broad face of the axe hard and heavily on the stone, which

made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came every now and then

from the wheel to see how the work went on; and at length would take his

axe as it was, without farther grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on,

we shall have it bright by-and-by; as yet 'tis only speckled." "Yes,"

said the man, "but _I think I like a speckled axe best_." And I believe

this may have been the case with many, who having, for the want of some

such means as I employed, found the difficulty of obtaining good and

breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up

the struggle, and concluded that "_a speckled axe was best_." For

something that pretended to be reason was every now and then suggesting

to me, that such extreme nicety as I exacted of myself, might be a kind

of foppery in morals, which, if it were known, would make me ridiculous;

that a perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of

being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few

faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance. In truth, I found

myself incorrigible with respect to _Order_; and, now I am grown old and

my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole,

though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of

obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a

better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not

attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the

engraved copies, though they may never reach the wished-for excellence

of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavour, and is tolerable

while it continues fair and legible.

It may be well my posterity should be informed, that to this little

artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor owed the constant

felicity of his life down to the 79th year, in which this is written.

What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand of Providence:

but if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoyed ought to

help his bearing them with more resignation. To _temperance_ he ascribes

his long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good

constitution. To _industry and frugality_, the early easiness of his

circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge

that enabled him to be a useful citizen and obtained for him some degree

of reputation among the learned. To _sincerity_ and _justice_, the

confidence of his country, and the honourable employs it conferred upon

him: and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even

in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of

temper and that cheerfulness in conversation which makes his company

still sought for, and agreeable even to his young acquaintance: I hope,

therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap

the benefit.

It will be remarked that, though my scheme was not wholly without

religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets of

any particular sect; I had purposely avoided them; for being fully

persuaded of the utility and excellence of my method, and that it might

be serviceable to people in all religions, and intending some time or

other to publish it, I would not have anything in it that would

prejudice any one of any sect against it. I proposed writing a little

comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the advantages of

possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice; I should

have called my book _The Art of Virtue_, because it would have shown the

means and manner of obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it

from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct and

indicate the means; but is like the apostle's man of verbal charity,

who, without showing to the naked and hungry how or where they might get

clothes or victuals, only exhorted them to be fed and clothed James

ii., 15, 16.

But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this

comment was never fulfilled. I had, indeed, from time to time, put down

short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, &c., to be made use of in it,

some of which I have still by me: but the necessary close attention to

private business in the earlier part of life, and public business since,

have occasioned my postponing it. For it being connected in my mind with

_a great and extensive project_, that required the whole man to execute,

and which an unforeseen succession of employs prevented my attending to,

it has hitherto remained unfinished.

In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this doctrine,

_that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but

forbidden because they are hurtful_; the nature of man alone considered:

that it was, therefore, every one's interest to be virtuous, who wished

to be happy even in this world: and I should, from this circumstance

(there being always in the world a number of rich merchants, nobility,

states, and princes who have need of honest instruments for the

management of their affairs, and such being so rare), have endeavoured

to convince young persons, that no qualities are so likely to make a

poor man's fortune as those of _probity_ and _integrity_.

My list of virtues contained at first but twelve: but a Quaker friend

having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my

pride showed itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content

with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing,

and rather insolent (of which he convinced me by mentioning several

instances), I determined to endeavour to cure myself, if I could, of

this vice or folly among the rest; and I added _humility_ to my list,

giving an extensive meaning to the word. I cannot boast of much success

in acquiring the _reality_ of this virtue, but I had a good deal with

regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct

contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of

mine own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our junto,

the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a

fixed opinion; such as _certainly_, _undoubtedly_, &c., and I adopted,

instead of them, _I conceive_, _I apprehend_, or _I imagine_ a thing to

be so or so; or it so _appears to me at present_. When another asserted

something that I thought an error, I denied myself the pleasure of

contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in

his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain

cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present

case there _appeared_, or _seemed to me_, some difference, &c. I soon

found the advantage of this change in my manners; the conversations I

engaged in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I proposed

my opinions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction; I

had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more

easily prevailed with others to give up their mistakes and join with me

when I happened to be in the right. And this mode, which I at first put

on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length easy, and

so habitual to me, that perhaps for the fifty years past no one has ever

heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my

character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so

much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions or

alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I

became a member: for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to

much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and

yet I generally carried my point.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to

subdue as _pride_; disguise it, struggle with it, stifle it, mortify it

as much as you please, it is still alive, and will every now and then

peep out and show itself; you will see it perhaps often in this history.

For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should

probably be _proud_ of my _humility_.

[Here concludes what was written at Passy, near Paris.]

* * * * *

MEMORANDUM.

_I am now about to write at home (Philadelphia), August, 1788, but

cannot have the help expected from my papers, many of them being lost in

the war. I have, however, found the following_:

Having mentioned a _great and extensive project_ which I had conceived,

it seems proper that some account should be here given of that project

and its object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the above-mentioned

little paper, accidentally preserved, viz.:

OBSERVATIONS on my reading history, in library, May 9, 1731.

"That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, &c., are

carried on and effected by parties.

"That the view of these parties is their present general interest; or

what they take to be such.

"That the different views of these different parties occasion all

confusion.

"That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his

particular private interest in view.

"That, as soon as a party has gained its general point, each member

becomes intent upon his particular interest, which, thwarting others,

breaks that party into divisions and occasions more confusion.

"That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their

country, whatever they may pretend; and though their actings bring real

good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and

their country's interest were united, and so did not act from a

principle of benevolence.

"That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of

mankind.

"There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a _United

Party for Virtue_, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations

into a regular body, to be governed by suitable good and wise rules,

which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their

obedience to than common people are to common laws.

"I at present think, that whoever attempts this aright, and is well

qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God and of meeting with success. B.

F."

Revolving this project in my mind as to be undertaken hereafter, when my

circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure, I put down from

time to time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurred to me

respecting it. Most of these are lost, but I find one purporting to be

the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the

essentials of every known religion, and being free of everything that

might shock the professors of any religion. It is expressed in these

words: viz.,

"That there is one God, who made all things.

"That he governs the world by his providence.

"That he ought to be worshipped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving.

"But that the most acceptable service to God is doing good to man.

"That the soul is immortal.

"And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here

or hereafter."

My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun and spread at

first among young and single men only; that each person to be initiated

should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should have

exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination and practice of

the virtues, as in the before-mentioned model; that the existence of

such a society should be kept a secret till it was become considerable,

to prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons; but that

the members should, each of them, search among his acquaintance for

ingenious, well-disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, the

scheme should be gradually communicated. That the members should engage

to afford their advice, assistance, and support to each other in

promoting one another's interest, business, and advancement in life:

that, for distinction, we should be called THE SOCIETY OF THE FREE AND

EASY. Free, as being, by the general practice and habits of the virtues,

free from the dominion of vice; and particularly by the practice of

industry and frugality, free from debt, which exposes a man to

constraint, and a species of slavery to his creditors.

This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I

communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it with

enthusiasm: but my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was

under of sticking close to my business, occasioned my postponing the

farther prosecution of it at that time, and my multifarious occupations,

public and private, induced me to continue postponing, so that it has

been omitted, till I have no longer strength or activity left sufficient

for such an enterprise. Though I am still of opinion it was a

practicable scheme, and might have been very useful, by forming a great

number of good citizens: and I was not discouraged by the seeming

magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of

tolerable abilities may work great changes and accomplish great affairs

among mankind, if he first forms a good plan; and, cutting off all

amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes

the connexion of that same plan his sole study and business.

In 1732 I first published my Almanac under the name of _Richard

Saunders_; it was continued by me about twenty-five years, and commonly

called _Poor Richard's Almanac_. I endeavoured to make it both

entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand

that I reaped considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten

thousand. And observing that it was generally read (scarce any

neighbourhood in the province being without it), I considered it as a

proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who

bought scarcely any other books. I therefore filled all the little

spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the calendar with

proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality

as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being

more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly, as (to use here

one of those proverbs) "_it is hard for an empty sack to stand

upright_." These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages and

nations, I assembled and formed into a connected discourse, prefixed to

the Almanac of 1757 as the harangue of a wise old man to the people

attending an auction: the bringing all these scattered counsels thus

into a focus, enabled them to make greater impression. The piece, being

universally approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the American

Continent; reprinted in Britain on a large sheet of paper, to be stuck

up in houses; two translations were made of it in French, and great

numbers bought by the clergy and gentry to distribute gratis among their

poor parishioners and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged

useless expense in foreign superfluities, some thought it had its share

of influence in producing that growing plenty of money which was

observable for several years after its publication.

I considered my newspaper also another means of communicating

instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from

the Spectator and other moral writers; and sometimes published little

pieces of mine own, which had been first composed for reading in our

_Junto_. Of these are a Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that,

whatever might be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not

properly be called a man of sense; and a discourse on self-denial,

showing that virtue was not secure till its practice became a

_habitude_, and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations:

these may be found in the papers about the beginning of 1735. In the

conduct of my newspaper I carefully excluded all libelling and personal

abuse, which is of late years become so disgraceful to our country.

Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind, and the

writers pleaded (as they generally did) the liberty of the press, and

that a newspaper was like a stagecoach, in which any one who would pay

had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the piece

separately if desired, and the author might have as many copies as he

pleased to distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me to

spread his detraction; and that, having contracted with my subscribers

to furnish them with what might be either useful or entertaining, I

could not fill their papers with private altercation, in which they had

no concern, without doing them manifest injustice. Now, many of our

printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of individuals by

false accusations of the fairest characters among ourselves, augmenting

animosity even to the producing of duels; and are, moreover, so

indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on the government of

neighbouring states, and even on the conduct of our best national

allies, which may be attended with the most pernicious consequences.

These things I mention as a caution to young printers, and that they may

be encouraged not to pollute the presses and disgrace their profession

by such infamous practices, but refuse steadily, as they may see by my

example that such a course of conduct will not, on the whole, be

injurious to their interests.

In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charleston, South Carolina, where

a printer was wanting. I furnished him with a press and letters, on an

agreement of partnership, by which I was to receive one third of the

profits of the business, paying one third of the expense. He was a man

of learning, but ignorant in matters of account; and, though he

sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from him, nor any

satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived. On his decease the

business was continued by his widow, who, being born and bred in

Holland, where (as I have been informed) the knowledge of accounts makes

a part of female education, she not only sent me as clear a statement as

she could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with

the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterward; and

managed the business with such success, that she not only reputably

brought up a family of children, but, at the expiration of the term, was

able to purchase of me the printing-house and establish her son in it. I

mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending that branch of

education for our young women, as likely to be of more use to them and

their children in case of widowhood than either music or dancing; by

preserving them from losses by imposition of crafty men, and enabling

them to continue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house, with

established correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to undertake and

go on with it, to the lasting advantage and enriching of the family.

I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much

master of the French as to be able to read the books in that language

with ease. I then undertook the Italian: an acquaintance, who was also

learning it, used often to tempt me to play chess with him: finding this

took up too much of the time I had to spare for study, I at length

refused to play any more, unless on this condition, that the victor in

every game should have a right to impose a task, either of parts of the

grammar to be got by heart, or in translations, &c., which tasks the

vanquished was to perform upon honour before our next meeting: as we

played pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language. I

afterward, with a little painstaking, acquired as much of the Spanish as

to read their books also. I have already mentioned that I had only one

year's instruction in a Latin school, and that when very young, after

which I neglected that language entirely. But when I had attained an

acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surprised to

find, on looking over a Latin Testament, that I understood more of that

language than I had imagined, which encouraged me to apply myself again

to the study of it; and I met with the more success, as those preceding

languages had greatly smoothed my way. From these circumstances, I have

thought there was some inconsistency in our common mode of teaching

languages. We are told that it is proper to begin first with the Latin,

and, having acquired that, it will be more easy to attain those modern

languages which are derived from it; and yet we do not begin with the

Greek in order more easily to acquire the Latin. It is true, that if we

can clamber and get to the top of a staircase without using the steps,

we shall more easily gain them in descending; but certainly, if we begin

with the lowest, we shall with more ease ascend to the top; and I would

therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the

education of our youth, whether--since many of those who begin with the

Latin, quit the same after spending some years without having made any

great proficiency and what they have learned becomes almost useless, so

that their time has been lost--it would not have been better to have

begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian and Latin. For though,

after spending the same time, they should quit the study of languages

and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have acquired

another tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be serviceable

to them in common life.

After ten years' absence from Boston, and having become easy in my

circumstances, I made a journey thither to visit my relations, which I

could not sooner afford. In returning, I called at Newport to see my

brother James, then settled there with his printing-house: our former

differences were forgotten, and our meeting was very cordial and

affectionate: he was fast declining in health, and requested of me that,

in case of his death, which he apprehended not far distant, I would take

home his son, then but ten years of age, and bring him up to the

printing business. This I accordingly performed, sending him a few years

to school before I took him into the office. His mother carried on the

business till he was grown up, when I assisted him with an assortment of

new types, those of his father being in a manner worn out. Thus it was

that I made my brother ample amends for the service I had deprived him

of by leaving him so early.

In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the

smallpox, taken in the common way. I long regretted him bitterly, and

still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I

mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the

supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died

under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way,

and, therefore, that the safer should be chosen.

Our club, the _Junto_, was found so useful, and afforded such

satisfaction to the members, that some were desirous of introducing

their friends, which could not well be done without exceeding what we

had settled as a convenient number, viz., twelve. We had, from the

beginning, made it a rule to keep our institution a secret, which was

pretty well observed; the intention was to avoid applications of

improper persons for admittance, some of whom, perhaps, we might find it

difficult to refuse. I was one of those who were against any addition to

our number; but, instead of it, made in writing a proposal, that every

member, separately, should endeavour to form a subordinate club, with

the same rules respecting queries, &c., and without informing them of

the connexion with the _Junto_. The advantages proposed were the

improvement of so many more young citizens by the use of our

institutions; our better acquaintance with the general sentiments of the

inhabitants on any occasion, as the junto member might propose what

queries we should desire, and was to report to the _Junto_ what passed

in his separate club: the promotion of our particular interests in

business by more extensive recommendation, and the increase of our

influence in public affairs, and our power of doing good by spreading

through the several clubs the sentiments of the _Junto_. The project was

approved, and every member undertook to form his club: but they did not

all succeed. Five or six only were completed, which were called by

different names, as the _Vine_, the _Union_, the _Band_, &c.; they were

useful to themselves, and afforded us a good deal of amusement,

information, and instruction, besides answering, in some degree, our

views of influencing the public on particular occasions; of which I

shall give some instances in course of time as they happened.

My first promotion was my being chosen, in 1736, clerk of the General

Assembly. The choice was made that year without opposition; but the year

following, when I was again proposed (the choice, like that of the

members, being annual), a new member made a long speech against me, in

order to favour some other candidate. I was, however, chosen, which was

the more agreeable to me, as, besides the pay for the immediate service

of clerk, the place gave me a better opportunity of keeping up an

interest among the members, which secured to me the business of printing

the votes, laws, paper money, and other occasional jobs for the public,

that, on the whole, were very profitable. I therefore did not like the

opposition of this new member, who was a gentleman of fortune and

education, with talents that were likely to give him, in time, great

influence in the house, which, indeed, afterward happened. I did not,

however, aim at gaining his favour by paying any servile respect to him,

but after some time took this other method. Having heard that he had in

his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to

him, expressing my desire of perusing that book, and requesting that he

would do me the favour of lending it to me for a few days. He sent it

immediately; and I returned it in about a week with another note,

expressing strongly my sense of the favour. When we next met in the

house, he spoke to me (which he had never done before), and with great

civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all

occasions, so that we became great friends, and our friendship continued

to his death. This is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I

had learned, which says, "_He that has once done you a kindness will be

more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged_."

And it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to

resent, return, and continue inimical proceedings.

In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Virginia, and then

postmaster-general, being dissatisfied with his deputy at Philadelphia

respecting some negligence in rendering, and want of exactness in

framing, his accounts, took from him his commission and offered it to

me. I accepted it readily, and found it of great advantage; for, though

the salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence that improved my

newspaper, increased the number demanded, as well as the advertisements

to be inserted, so that it came to afford me a considerable income. My

old competitor's newspaper declined proportionally, and I was satisfied,

without retaliating his refusal, while postmaster, to permit my papers

being carried by the riders. Thus he suffered greatly from his neglect

in due accounting; and I mention it as a lesson to those young men who

may be employed in managing affairs for others, that they should always

render accounts and make remittances with great clearness and

punctuality. The character of observing such a conduct is the most

powerful of recommendations to new employments and increase of business.

I began now to turn my thoughts to public affairs, beginning, however,

with small matters. The city watch was one of the first things that I

conceived to want regulation. It was managed by the constables of the

respective wards in turn; the constable summoned a number of

housekeepers to attend him for the night. Those who chose never to

attend, paid him six shillings a year to be excused, which was supposed

to go to hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, more than was

necessary for that purpose, and made the constableship a place of

profit; and the constable, for a little drink, often got such

ragamuffins about him as a watch that respectable housekeepers did not

choose to mix with. Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected, and

most of the nights spent in tippling: I thereupon wrote a paper, to be

read in Junto, representing these irregularities, but insisting more

particularly on the inequality of this six-shilling tax of the

constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it, since a

poor widow housekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by the watch

did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as much as the

wealthiest merchant who had thousands of pounds worth of goods in his

stores. On the whole, I proposed, as a more effectual watch, the hiring

of proper men to serve constantly in the business; and, as a more

equitable way of supporting the charge, the levying of a tax that should

be proportioned to the property. This idea, being approved by the Junto,

was communicated to the other clubs, but as originating in each of them;

and though the plan was not immediately carried into execution, yet, by

preparing the minds of the people for the change, it paved the way for

the law, obtained a few years after, when the members of our clubs were

grown into more influence.

About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in the Junto, but it

was afterward published) on the different accidents and carelessnesses

by which houses were set on fire, with cautions against them, and means

proposed of avoiding them. This was spoken of as a useful piece, and

gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a company for

the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance in removing

and securing of goods when in danger. Associates in this scheme were

presently found amounting to thirty. Our articles of agreement obliged

every member to keep always in good order and fit for use a certain

number of leathern buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for packing

and transporting goods), which were to be brought to every fire; and we

agreed about once a month to spend a social evening together in

discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to us upon the

subject of fires as might be useful in our conduct on such occasions.

The utility of this institution soon appeared; and many more desiring to

be admitted than we thought convenient for one company, they were

advised to form another, which was accordingly done; and thus went on

one new company after another, till they became so numerous as to

include most of the inhabitants who were men of property; and now, at

the time of my writing this (though upward of fifty years since its

establishment), that which I first formed, called the UNION FIRE

COMPANY, still subsists; though the first members are all deceased but

one, who is older by a year than I am. The fines that have been paid by

members for absence at the monthly meetings have been applied to the

purchase of fire-engines, ladders, fire-hooks, and other useful

implements for each company; so that I question whether there is a city

in the world better provided with the means of putting a stop to

beginning conflagrations; and, in fact, since these institutions, the

city has never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time, and

the flames have often been extinguished before the house in which they

began has been half consumed.

In 1739 arrived among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitefield, who

had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher. He was at

first permitted to preach in some of our churches; but the clergy,

taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pulpits, and he was

obliged to preach in the fields. The multitude of all sects and

denominations that attended his sermons were enormous, and it was a

matter of speculation to me (who was one of the number) to observe the

extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers, and how much

they admired and respected him. It was wonderful to see the change soon

made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or

indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing

religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening

without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street. And

it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air, subject to its

inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was no sooner proposed,

and persons appointed to receive contributions, than sufficient sums

were soon received to procure the ground and erect the building, which

was one hundred feet long and seventy broad; and the work was carried

with such spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time than could

have been expected. Both house and ground were vested in trustees,

expressly for the use of _any preacher of any religious persuasion_ who

might desire to say something to the people at Philadelphia. The design

in building not being to accommodate any particular sect, but the

inhabitants in general.

Mr. Whitefield, on leaving us, went preaching all the way through the

colonies to Georgia. The settlement of that province had lately been

begun; but, instead of being made with hardy, industrious husbandmen,

accustomed to labour, the only people fit for such an enterprise, it was

with families of broken shopkeepers and other insolvent debtors; many of

indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being set down in

the woods, unqualified for clearing land, and unable to endure the

hardships of a new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving many

helpless children unprovided for. The sight of their miserable situation

inspired the benevolent heart of Mr. Whitefield with the idea of

building an orphan-house there, in which they might be supported and

educated. Returning northward, he preached up this charity and made

large collections, for his eloquence had a wonderful power over the

hearts and purses of his hearers, of which I myself was an instance. I

did not disapprove of the design, but as Georgia was then destitute of

materials and workmen, and it was proposed to send them from

Philadelphia at a great expense, I thought it would have been better to

build the house at Philadelphia, and bring the children to it. This I

advised; but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel,

and I therefore refused to contribute. I happened soon after to attend

one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to

finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he should get nothing

from me: I had in my pocket a handful of copper-money, three or four

silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold; as he proceeded I began to

soften, and concluded to give the copper. Another stroke of his oratory

made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; and he

finished so admirably, that I emptied my pocket wholly into the

collector's dish, gold and all! At this sermon there was also one of our

club, who, being of my sentiments respecting the building in Georgia,

and suspecting a collection might be intended, had, by precaution,

emptied his pockets before he came from home; towards the conclusion of

the discourse, however, he felt a strong inclination to give, and

applied to a neighbour who stood near him to lend him some money for the

purpose. The request was fortunately made to perhaps the only man in the

company who had the firmness not to be affected by the preacher. His

answer was, "_At any other time, friend Hopkinson, I would lend to thee

freely; but not now, for thee seems to me to be out of thy right

senses_."

Some of Mr. Whitefield's enemies affected to suppose that he would apply

these collections to his own private emolument; but I, who was

intimately acquainted with him (being employed in printing his sermons,

journals, &c.), never had the least suspicion of his integrity, but am

to this day decidedly of opinion that he was in all his conduct a

perfectly _honest man_; and methinks my testimony in his favour ought to

have the more weight, as we had no religious connexion. He used, indeed,

sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of

believing that his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship,

sincere on both sides, and lasted to his death.

The last time I saw Mr. Whitefield was in London, when he consulted me

about his orphan-house concern, and his purpose of appropriating it to

the establishment of a college.

He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words so perfectly

that he might be heard and understood at a great distance, especially as

his auditors observed the most perfect silence. He preached one evening

from the top of the courthouse steps, which are in the middle of

Market-street, and on the west side of Second-street, which crosses it

at right angles. Both streets were filled with his hearers to a

considerable distance: being among the hindmost in Market-street, I had

the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backward

down the street towards the river, and I found his voice distinct till I

came near Front-street, when some noise in that street obscured it.

Imagining then a semicircle, of which my distance should be the radius,

and that it was filled with auditors, to each of whom I allowed two

square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty

thousand. This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having

preached to 25,000 people in the fields, and to the history of generals

haranguing whole armies, of which I had sometimes doubted.

By hearing him often I came to distinguish easily between sermons newly

composed and those which he had often preached in the course of his

travels. His delivery of the latter was so improved by frequent

repetition, that every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of

voice, was so perfectly well-turned and well-placed, that, without being

interested in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the

discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an

excellent piece of music. This is an advantage itinerant preachers have

over those who are stationary, as the latter cannot well improve their

delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals. His writing and printing

from time to time gave great advantage to his enemies; unguarded

expressions, and even erroneous opinions delivered in preaching, might

have been afterward explained or qualified, by supposing others that

might have accompanied them, or they might have been denied; but _litera

scripta manet_--what is written remains: critics attacked his writings

violently, and with so much appearance of reason as to diminish the

number of his votaries and prevent their increase. So that I am

satisfied that if he had never written anything, he would have left

behind him a much more numerous and important sect; and his reputation

might in that case have been still growing, even after his death; as

there being nothing of his writing on which to found a censure and give

him a lower character, his proselytes would be left at liberty to

attribute to him as great a variety of excellences as their enthusiastic

admiration might wish him to have possessed.

My business was now constantly augmenting, and my circumstances growing

daily easier, my newspaper having become very profitable, as being for a

time almost the only one in this and the neighbouring provinces. I

experienced, too, the truth of the observation, "_that after getting the

first hundred pounds it is more easy to get the second_;" money itself

being of a prolific nature.

The partnership at Carolina having succeeded, I was encouraged to engage

in others, and to promote several of my workmen who had behaved well, by

establishing them with printing-houses in different colonies, on the

same terms with that in Carolina. Most of them did well, being enabled

at the end of our term (six years) to purchase the types of me and go on

working for themselves, by which means several families were raised.

Partnerships often finish in quarrels; but I was happy in this, that

mine were all carried on and ended amicably; owing, I think, a good deal

to the precaution of having very explicitly settled in our articles

everything to be done by, or expected from, each partner, so that there

was nothing to dispute, which precaution I would therefore recommend to

all who enter into partnership; for whatever esteem partners may have

for, and confidence in, each other at the time of the contract, little

jealousies and disgusts may arise, with ideas of inequality in the care

and burden, business, &c., which are attended often with breach of

friendship and of the connexion; perhaps with lawsuits and other

disagreeable consequences.

I had, on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with my being

established in Pennsylvania; there were, however, some things that I

regretted, there being no provision for defence nor for a complete

education of youth; no militia, nor any college: I therefore, in 1743,

drew up a proposal for establishing an academy; and at that time,

thinking the Rev. Richard Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person to

superintend such an institution, I communicated the project to him; but

he, having more profitable views in the service of the proprietors,

which succeeded, declined the undertaking: and not knowing another at

that time suitable for such a trust, I let the scheme lie a while

dormant. I succeeded better the next year, 1744, in proposing and

establishing a _Philosophical Society_. The paper I wrote for that

purpose will be found among my writings, if not lost with many others.

With respect to defence, Spain having been several years at war against

Great Britain, and being at length joined by France, which brought us

into great danger; and the laboured and long-continued endeavour of our

governor, Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker assembly to pass a militia

law, and make other provisions for the security of the province, having

proved abortive, I proposed to try what might be done by a voluntary

subscription of the people: to promote this, I first wrote and published

a pamphlet, entitled PLAIN TRUTH, in which I stated our helpless

situation in strong lights, with the necessity of a union and discipline

for our defence, and promised to propose in a few days an association,

to be generally signed for that purpose. The pamphlet had a sudden and

surprising effect. I was called upon for the instrument of association;

having settled the draught of it with a few friends, I appointed a

meeting of the citizens in the large building before-mentioned. The

house was pretty full; I had prepared a number of printed copies, and

provided pens and ink dispersed all over the room. I harangued them a

little on the subject, read the paper, explained it, and then

distributed the copies, which were eagerly signed, not the least

objection being made. When the company separated and the papers were

collected, we found above twelve hundred signatures; and other copies

being dispersed in the country, the subscribers amounted at length to

upward of ten thousand. These all furnished themselves, as soon as they

could, with arms, formed themselves into companies and regiments, chose

their own officers, and met every week to be instructed in the manual

exercise and other parts of military discipline. The women, by

subscriptions among themselves, provided silk collours, which they

presented to the companies, painted with different devices and mottoes,

which I supplied. The officers of the companies composing the

Philadelphia regiment, being met, chose me for their colonel; but,

conceiving myself unfit, I declined that station, and recommended Mr.

Lawrence, a fine person and a man of influence, who was accordingly

appointed. I then proposed a lottery to defray the expense of building a

battery below the town, and furnished with cannon: it filled

expeditiously, and the battery was soon erected, the merlons being

framed of logs and filled with earth. We bought some old cannon from

Boston; but these not being sufficient, we wrote to London for more,

soliciting, at the same time, our proprietaries for some assistance,

though without much expectation of obtaining it. Meanwhile, Colonel

Lawrence, ---- Allen, Abraham Taylor, Esquires, and myself, were sent to

New-York by the associators, commissioned to borrow some cannon of

Governor Clinton. He at first refused us peremptorily; but at a dinner

with his council, where there was great drinking of Madeira wine, as the

custom of that place then was, he softened by degrees, and said he would

lend us six. After a few more bumpers he advanced to ten; and at length

he very good-naturedly conceded eighteen. They were fine cannon, 18

pounders, with their carriages, which were soon transported and mounted

on our batteries, where the associators kept a nightly guard while the

war lasted: and, among the rest, I regularly took my turn of duty there

as a common soldier.

My activity in these operations was agreeable to the governor and

council; they took me into confidence, and I was consulted by them in

every measure where their concurrence was thought useful to the

association. Calling in the aid of religion, I proposed to them the

proclaiming a fast, to promote reformation and implore the blessing of

Heaven on our undertaking. They embraced the motion; but as it was the

first fast ever thought of in the province, the secretary had no

precedent from which to draw the proclamation. My education in

New-England, where a fast is proclaimed every year, was here of some

advantage: I drew it in the accustomed style; it was translated into

German, printed in both languages, and circulated through the province.

This gave the clergy of the different sects an opportunity of

influencing their congregations to join in the association, and it would

probably have been general among all but the Quakers if the peace had

not soon intervened.

In order of time, I should have mentioned before, that having, in 1742,

invented an open stove for the better warming of rooms, and, at the same

time, saving fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering, I

made a present of the model to Mr. Robert Grace, one of my early

friends, who, having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates

for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand. To

promote that demand, I wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled, "_An

Account of the new-invented Pennsylvania Fireplaces; wherein their

construction and manner of operation is particularly explained, their

advantages above every method of warming rooms demonstrated, and all

objections that have been raised against the use of them answered and

obviated_," &c. This pamphlet had a good effect. Governor Thomas was so

pleased with the construction of this stove, as described in it, that he

offered to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of

years; but I declined it, from a principle which has ever weighed with

me on such occasions, viz., _That as we enjoy great advantages from the

inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve

others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and

generously_.

An ironmonger in London, however, assuming a good deal of my pamphlet,

and working it up into his own, and making some small change in the

machine, which rather hurt its operation, got a patent for it there, and

made, as I was told, a little fortune by it. And this is not the only

instance of patents taken out of my inventions by others, though not

always with the same success; which I never contested, as having no

desire of profiting by patents myself, and hating disputes. The use of

these fireplaces in very many houses, both here in Pennsylvania and the

neighbouring states, has been, and is, a great saving of wood to the

inhabitants.

Peace being concluded, and the association business therefore at an end,

I turned my thoughts again to the affair of establishing an academy. The

first step I took was to associate in the design a number of active

friends, of whom the Junto furnished a good part: the next was to write

and publish a pamphlet, entitled, "_Proposals relating to the Education

of Youth in Pennsylvania_." This I distributed among the principal

inhabitants gratis: and as soon as I could suppose their minds a little

prepared by the perusal of it, I set on foot a subscription for opening

and supporting an academy; it was to be paid in quotas yearly for five

years; by so dividing it, I judged the subscription might be larger; and

I believe it was so, amounting to no less, if I remember right, than

five thousand pounds.

In the introduction to these proposals, I stated their publication not

as an act of mine, but of some _public-spirited gentleman_; avoiding as

much as I could, according to my usual rule, the presenting myself to

the public as the author of any scheme for their benefit.

The subscribers, to carry the project into immediate execution, chose

out of their number twenty-four trustees, and appointed Mr. Francis,

then attorney-general, and myself, to draw up constitutions for the

government of the academy; which being done and signed, a house was

hired, masters engaged, and the schools opened; I think in the same

year, 1749.

The scholars increasing fast, the house was soon found too small, and we

were looking out for a piece of ground, properly situated, with intent

to build, when accident threw into our way a large house ready built,

which, with a few alterations, might well serve our purpose: this was

the building before mentioned, erected by the hearers of Mr. Whitefield,

and was obtained for us in the following manner.

It is to be noted, that the contributions to this building being made by

people of different sects, care was taken in the nomination of trustees,

in whom the building and ground were to be vested, that a predominance

should not be given to any sect, lest in time that predominance might be

a means of appropriating the whole to the use of such sect, contrary to

the original intention; it was for this reason that one of each sect was

appointed; viz., one Church of England man, one Presbyterian, one

Baptist, one Moravian, &c., who, in case of vacancy by death, were to

fill it by election among the contributors. The Moravian happened not to

please his colleagues, and on his death they resolved to have no other

of that sect; the difficulty then was, how to avoid having two of some

other sect, by means of the new choice. Several persons were named, and

for that reason not agreed to: at length one mentioned me, with the

observation that I was merely an honest man, and of _no sect_ at all,

which prevailed with them to choose me. The enthusiasm which existed

when the house was built had long since abated, and its trustees had not

been able to procure fresh contributions for paying the ground rent and

discharging some other debts the building had occasioned, which

embarrassed them greatly. Being now a member of both boards of

trustees, that for the building and that for the academy, I had a good

opportunity of negotiating with both and brought them finally to an

agreement, by which the trustees for the building were to cede it to

those of the academy; the latter undertaking to discharge the debt, to

keep for ever open in the building a large hall for occasional

preachers, according to the original intention, and maintain a free

school for the instruction of poor children. Writings were accordingly

drawn; and on paying the debts, the trustees of the academy were put in

possession of the premises; and by dividing the great and lofty hall

into stories, and different rooms above and below for the several

schools, and purchasing some additional ground, the whole was soon made

fit for our purpose, and the scholars removed into the building. The

whole care and trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing

materials, and superintending the work, fell upon me, and I went through

it the more cheerfully, as it did not then interfere with my private

business, having the year before taken a very able, industrious, and

honest partner, Mr. David Hall, with whose character I was well

acquainted, as he had worked for me four years; he took off my hands all

care of the printing-office, paying me punctually my share of the

profits. This partnership continued eighteen years, successfully for us

both.