_The works of Dr. Franklin have been often partially collected, never
before brought together in one uniform publication._
_The first collection was made by Mr. Peter Collinson in the year
1751. It consisted of letters, communicated by the author to the
editor, on one subject, electricity, and formed a pamphlet only,
of which the price was half-a-crown. It was enlarged in 1752, by a
second communication on the same subject, and in 1754, by a third,
till, in 1766, by the addition of letters and papers on other
philosophical subjects, it amounted to a quarto volume of 500 pages._
_Ten years after, in 1779, another collection was made, by a
different editor, in one volume, printed both in quarto and octavo,
of papers not contained in the preceding collection, under the title
of Political, Miscellaneous, and Philosophical Pieces._
_In 1787, a third collection appeared in a thin octavo volume,
entitled Philosophical and Miscellaneous Papers._
_And lastly, in 1793, a fourth was published, in two volumes,
crown octavo, consisting of Memoirs of Dr. Franklin's Life, and
Essays humourous, moral and literary, chiefly in the Manner of the
Spectator._
_In the present volumes will be found all the different collections
we have enumerated, together with the various papers of the same
author, that have been published in separate pamphlets, or inserted
in foreign collections of his works, or in the Transactions of our
own or of foreign philosophical societies, or in our own or foreign
newspapers and magazines, as far as discoverable by the editor, who
has been assisted in the research by a gentleman in America. Among
these papers some, we conceive, will be new to the English reader on
this side of the Atlantic; particularly a series of essays entitled
The Busy-Body, written, as Dr. Franklin tells us in his Life, when he
was an assiduous imitator of Addison; and a pamphlet, entitled Plain
Truth, with which he is said to have commenced his political career
as a writer. We hoped to have been enabled to add, what would have
been equally new, and still more acceptable, a genuine copy of the
Life of our author, as written by himself; but in this hope we are
disappointed, and we are in consequence obliged to content ourselves
with a translation, which has been already before the public, from
a copy in the French language, coming no farther down than the year
1731; and a continuation of his history from that period, by the late
Dr. Stuber of Philadelphia._
_The character of Dr. Franklin, as a philosopher, a politician,
and a moralist, is too well known to require illustration, and
his writings, from their interesting nature, and the fascinating
simplicity of their style, are too highly esteemed, for any apology
to be necessary for so large a collection of them, unless it should
be deemed necessary by the individual to whom Dr. Franklin in his
will consigned his manuscripts: and to him our apology will consist
in a reference to his own extraordinary conduct._
_In bequeathing his papers, it was no doubt the intention of the
testator, that the world should have the chance of being benefited
by their publication. It was so understood by the person in
question, his grandson, who, accordingly, shortly after the
death of his great relative, hastened to London, the best mart
for literary property, employed an amanuensis for many months in
copying, ransacked our public libraries that nothing might escape,
and at length had so far prepared the works of Dr. Franklin for the
press, that proposals were made by him to several of our principal
booksellers for the sale of them. They were to form three quarto
volumes, and were to contain all the writings, published and
unpublished, of Franklin, with Memoirs of his Life, brought down by
himself to the year 1757, and continued to his death by the legatee.
They were to be published in three different languages, and the
countries corresponding to those languages, France, Germany, and
England, on the same day. The terms asked for the copyright of the
English edition were high, amounting to several thousand pounds,
which occasioned a little demur; but eventually they would no doubt
have been obtained. Nothing more however was heard of the proposals
or the work, in this its fair market. The proprietor, it seems,
had found a bidder of a different description in some emissary of
government, whose object was to withhold the manuscripts from the
world, not to benefit it by their publication; and they thus either
passed into other hands, or the person to whom they were bequeathed
received a remuneration for suppressing them. This at least has been
asserted, by a variety of persons, both in this country and America,
of whom some were at the time intimate with the grandson, and not
wholly unacquainted with the machinations of the ministry; and the
silence, which has been observed for so many years respecting the
publication, gives additional credibility to the report._
_What the manuscripts contained, that should have excited the
jealousy of government, we are unable, as we have never seen them,
positively to affirm; but, from the conspicuous part acted by the
author in the American revolution and the wars connected with it, it
is by no means difficult to guess; and of this we are sure, from his
character, that no disposition of his writings could have been more
contrary to his intentions or wishes._
_We have only to add, that in the present collection, which is
probably all that will ever be published of the works of this
extraordinary man, the papers are methodically arranged, the moral
and philosophical ones according to their subjects, the political
ones, as nearly as may be, according to their dates; that we have
given, in notes, the authorities for ascribing the different pieces
to Franklin; that where no title existed, to indicate the nature of a
letter or paper, we have prefixed a title; and lastly, that we have
compiled an index to the whole, which is placed at the beginning,
instead of, as is usual, at the end of the work, to render the
volumes more equal._
_April 7, 1806._