more; and that matter must remain in our bodies, and occasion diseases;
but it gives some previous notice of its being about to be hurtful, by
producing certain uneasiness, slight indeed at first, which as with
regard to the lungs is a trifling sensation, and to the pores of the
skin a kind of restlessness, which is difficult to describe, and few
that feel it know the cause of it. But we may recollect, that sometimes
on waking in the night, we have, if warmly covered, found it difficult
to get asleep again. We turn often without finding repose in any
position. This fidgettiness (to use a vulgar expression for want of a
better) is occasioned wholly by an uneasiness in the skin, owing to the
retention of the perspirable matter--the bed-clothes having received
their quantity, and, being saturated, refusing to take any more. To
become sensible of this by an experiment, let a person keep his position
in the bed, but throw off the bed-clothes, and suffer fresh air to
approach the part uncovered of his body; he will then feel that part
suddenly refreshed; for the air will immediately relieve the skin, by
receiving, licking up, and carrying off, the load of perspirable matter
that incommoded it. For every portion of cool air that approaches the
warm skin, in receiving its part of that vapour, receives therewith a
degree of heat that rarefies and renders it lighter, when it will be
pushed away with its burthen, by cooler and therefore heavier fresh air,
which for a moment supplies its place, and then, being likewise changed
and warmed, gives way to a succeeding quantity. This is the order of
nature, to prevent animals being infected by their own perspiration. He
will now be sensible of the difference between the part exposed to the
air and that which, remaining sunk in the bed, denies the air access:
for this part now manifests its uneasiness more distinctly by the
comparison, and the seat of the uneasiness is more plainly perceived
than when the whole surface of the body was affected by it.
Here, then, is one great and general cause of unpleasing dreams. For
when the body is uneasy, the mind will be disturbed by it, and
disagreeable ideas of various kinds will in sleep be the natural
consequences. The remedies, preventive and curative, follow:
1. By eating moderately (as before advised for health's sake) less
perspirable matter is produced in a given time; hence the bed-clothes
receive it longer before they are saturated, and we may therefore sleep
longer before we are made uneasy by their refusing to receive any more.
2. By using thinner and more porous bed-clothes, which will suffer the
perspirable matter more easily to pass through them, we are less
incommoded, such being longer tolerable.
3. When you are awakened by this uneasiness, and find you cannot easily
sleep again, get out of bed, beat up and turn your pillow, shake the
bed-clothes well, with at least twenty shakes, then throw the bed open
and leave it to cool; in the meanwhile, continuing undrest, walk about
your chamber till your skin has had time to discharge its load, which it
will do sooner as the air may be dried and colder. When you begin to
feel the cold air unpleasant, then return to your bed, and you will soon
fall asleep, and your sleep will be sweet and pleasant. All the scenes
presented to your fancy will be too of the pleasing kind. I am often as
agreeably entertained with them, as by the scenery of an opera. If you
happen to be too indolent to get out of bed, you may, instead of it,
lift up your bed-clothes with one arm and leg, so as to draw in a good
deal of fresh air, and by letting them fall force it out again. This,
repeated twenty times, will so clear them of the perspirable matter they
have imbibed, as to permit your sleeping well for some time afterwards.
But this latter method is not equal to the former.
Those who do not love trouble, and can afford to have two beds, will
find great luxury in rising, when they wake in a hot bed, and going into
the cool one. Such shifting of beds would also be of great service to
persons ill of a fever, as it refreshes and frequently procures sleep. A
very large bed, that will admit a removal so distant from the first
situation as to be cool and sweet, may in a degree answer the same end.
One or two observations more will conclude this little piece. Care must
be taken, when you lie down, to dispose your pillow so as to suit your
manner of placing your head, and to be perfectly easy; then place your
limbs so as not to bear inconveniently hard upon one another, as, for
instance, the joints of your ankles; for, though a bad position may at
first give but little pain and be hardly noticed, yet a continuance will
render it less tolerable, and the uneasiness may come on while you are
asleep, and disturb your imagination. These are the rules of the art.
But, though they will generally prove effectual in producing the end
intended, there is a case in which the most punctual observance of them
will be totally fruitless. I need not mention the case to you, my dear
friend, but my account of the art would be imperfect without it. The
case is, when the person who desires to have pleasant dreams has not
taken care to preserve, what is necessary above all things,
A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
_NOTES_
References are to Franklin's _Writings_, edited by A. H. Smyth, 10
vols., 1905-1907.
[1] In addition to John Bigelow's "Historical Sketch of the Fortunes
and Misfortunes of the Autograph Manuscript of Franklin's Memoirs of
His Own Life," see Franklin's references to the _Autobiography_, in
_Writings_, IX, 550-51, 559, 665, 675, 688; X, 50.
[2] The _New England Courant_, begun Aug. 21, 1721 (fourth American
newspaper), was preceded by _Boston News-Letter_, April 24, 1704,
_Boston Gazette_, Dec. 21, 1719, _American Weekly Mercury_, Dec. 22,
1719 (Philadelphia).
[3] Sir Wm. Keith (1680-1749), governor of Pennsylvania 1717-1726. He
was dismissed by the Proprietaries in 1726; after casting his lot with
the provincial assembly, he became "a tribune of the people"
(_Dictionary of American Biography_, X, 292-3). It is not improbable
that Franklin's antipathy for the Proprietaries was quickened by his
contacts with Keith (even though he was the victim of the governor's
gulling). See note 65 for "James Ralph."
[4] Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), botanist and physician, friend of
Sydenham, Newton, Ray, and Boyle, made President of the Royal Society
in 1727 (until 1741). See _Dictionary of National Biography_, LII,
379-80, and Franklin's letter to Sir Hans Sloane (London, June 2,
1725) in _Writings_, II, 52-3.
[5] Sir Hans Sloane contributed curiosities to Don Saltero's place,
Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Steele dedicated a _Tatler_ to this collector of
gimcracks who wrote of his oddities:
"Monsters of all sorts here are seen Strange things in nature as they
grew so; Some relicks of the Sheba queen, And fragments of the fam'd
Bob Crusoe."
[6] See note 22.
[7] For an account of this sturdy colonial who learned Latin in order
to read Newton's _Principia_, see E. P. Oberholtzer's _A Literary
History of Philadelphia_, 57 ff.
[8] James Parton's _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_, I, 154-67
(chap. XIII) contains a good account of this junto of friends.
[9] See C. E. Jorgenson's "A Brand Flung at Colonial Orthodoxy" (in
Bibliography, p. clxv above), for the deistic patterns of thought
found in Keimer's newspaper.
[10] Consult C. H. Hart, "Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An
Inquiry Demonstrating that She Was Deborah Read, Wife of Benjamin
Franklin." (See Bibliography, p. clxiv above.) Also see _Who Was the
Mother of Franklin's Son? An Historical Conundrum, hitherto given up,
now partly answered by Paul Leicester Ford_. With an afterword by John
Clyde Oswald (New Rochelle, N. Y.: 1932).
[11] End of reprint of the original MS in the Henry E. Huntington
Library. The selections that follow are from _Writings_, in which A.
H. Smyth reprints the Bigelow transcript with indifferent accuracy.
"Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near Paris,
1784." Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan urge Franklin to continue his
life beyond 1730 (see _Writings_, I, 313-20). Vaughan promises that
when finished "it will be worth all Plutarch's Lives put together" (p.
318).
[12] Dated July 1, 1733.
[13] "Thus far written at Passy, 1784." He continues his
_Autobiography_ in Philadelphia in August, 1788.
[14] Consult C. E. Jorgenson's "The New Science in the Almanacs of
Ames and Franklin" (see Bibliography, p. clxv, above).
[15] "Self-Denial Not the Essence of Virtue," _Pennsylvania Gazette_,
No. 324, Feb. 18, 1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition, III,
233-5. "On True Happiness," _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No. 363, Nov. 20,
1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition, III, 238-9.
[16] Chosen Clerk of Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1736.
[17] See their correspondence in L. Tyerman's _Life of the Rev. George
Whitefield_ (2 vols., London, 1876).
[18] J. Parton observes that this list may have been suggested by the
word-catalogs in the _Gargantua_ (_Life and Times of Benjamin
Franklin_, I, 221). This mildly Rabelaisian series is later elaborated
into "The Drinker's Dictionary" found in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_,
No. 494, May 25, 1738; and reprinted by Parton, I, 222-5.
[19] When James Franklin was accused of mocking the clergy and
unsettling the peace, he was refused license to print the _New England
Courant_. So Benjamin, his apprenticeship indentures cancelled (though
new ones were privately signed), became nominal editor. Consult C. A.
Duniway, _The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts_,
97-103; W. G. Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of American
Journalism_, chaps. I-II.
[20] Rules for his famous Junto, begun in 1727.
[21] No Part II has ever been found. A. H. Smyth suggests that this
creed and liturgy was "Franklin's daily companion to the end of his
life" (_Writings_, II, 92 note).
[22] When Samuel Keimer discovered that Franklin and Meredith were
about to launch a newspaper, he began his _Universal Instructor in all
Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ (first issue, Dec. 28,
1728). Franklin and Joseph Breintnall wrote the _Busy-Body_ series for
Bradford's _American Weekly Mercury_. Nos. I-V and VIII are by
Franklin. See S. Bloore's "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the
Library Company" (in Bibliography). That Keimer became infuriated,
one can see in issues X, XII, and XVI of the _Universal Instructor
..._, in which _Busy-Body_ is scourged with both prose and poetry.
[23] Franklin purchases Keimer's _Universal Instructor ..._, deleting
the first half of the title, which had appeared in small italic type.
[24] See _Autobiography_, _Writings_, I, 343.
[25] The use of scales suggests that Franklin probably knew
Aristophanes' _The Frogs_. It is more likely, however that he was
acquainted with the use of scales in contemporary witch trials. In the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ for Jan., 1731, there is an account of a witch
trial at "Burlington, in Pensilvania," in the course of which scales
and the Bible were used. (See Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ [H. Ellis,
ed., London, 1888], III, 35.) In the same magazine for Feb., 1759, is
an account of a similar trial which took place in England (_ibid._,
III, 22).
[26] In his 1734 issue of the _American Almanack_ Leeds observed that
the account of his death was grossly exaggerated. Doubtless Franklin
had read (Swift's) Bickerstaff's predictions of the death of
Partridge.
[27] Compare Swift's _A Meditation upon a Broomstick_. Mug and
broomstick are alike obliged to undergo the indignities of a "dirty
wench." But more conclusively, the rhetoric and the ethical
application to human affairs suggest Franklin's indebtedness to Swift.
[28] His parents' response is learned from a letter (not in Smyth) to
his father: "Hon. Father, I received your kind letter of the 4th of
May in answer to mine of April 13th. I wrote that of mine with design
to remove or lessen the uneasiness you and my Mother appear'd to be
under on account of my Principles, and it gave me great Pleasure when
she declar'd in her next to me that she approved of my Letter and was
satisfy'd with me." (Cited in J. F. Sachse, _Benjamin Franklin as a
Free Mason_, 75.)
[29] Rev. George Whitefield, whom Franklin met in 1739.
[30] _M. T. Cicero's Cato Major or his Discourse of Old-Age: With
Explanatory Notes._ Philadelphia. Printed and Sold by B. Franklin,
1744.
[31] "This letter is undated, but from Franklin's ecclesiastical
mathematics it would appear to have been written on the tenth of
March" (A. H. Smyth, _Writings_, II, 283 note).
[32] Excellent note in _Writings_, II, 463-4. Abbé Raynal published
_Polly Baker_ in his _Histoire ..._ as an authentic document. Also
Peter Annet printed this _jeu d'esprit_ in his _Social Bliss_ (1749).
See N. L. Torrey, _Voltaire and the English Deists_, 187. A. H. Smyth
confesses: "The mystery surrounding the authorship and first
publication of the 'Speech' remains an impenetrable mystery. The style
is altogether Franklinian, and the story seems unquestionably to have
been written by him, but I have searched _The Pennsylvania Gazette_ in
vain for it. It is not there."
[33] See "Introduction" in Wm. Pepper's Facsimile Reprint of the
_Proposals_ (Philadelphia, 1931), vii-xvii. Although A. H. Smyth
prints "Authors quoted in this Paper," he does not print the copious
documentation Franklin included. The "Authors" listed are: Milton,
Locke, Hutcheson, Obadiah Walker, M. Rollin, George Turnbull, "with
some others."
[34] Printed as Appendix to Rev. R. Peters's _A Sermon on Education
..._, Philadelphia, Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1751.
[35] Samuel Croxall's (d. 1752) _Fables of Æsop and Others_, 1722.
"The remarkable popularity of these fables, of which editions are
still published, is to be accounted for by their admirable style. They
are excellent examples of naïve, clear, and forcible English"
(_Dictionary of National Biography_, XIII, 246-8).
[36] A part of Johnson's _Elementa Philosophica_, printed by Franklin
in 1752. See H. and C. Schneider, eds., _Samuel Johnson, President of
King's College. His Career and Writings_. 4 vols., New York, 1929.
[37] Fénelon's Telemachus. Chevalier de Ramsay's _Travels of Cyrus_. 2
vols. London, 1727 (2d ed.).
[38] For Franklin's awareness of Rabelais, see C. E. Jorgenson's
"Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais," _Classical Journal_, XXIX, 538-40
(April, 1934).
[39] First published in [Clarke, Wm.] _Observations on the Late and
present Conduct of the French, with Regard to their Encroachments upon
the British Colonies in North America.... To which is added, wrote by
another Hand; Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind,
Peopling of Countries, Etc.,_ Boston, 1755. See L. J. Carey's
_Franklin's Economic Views_, 46-60, for able survey of Franklin's
theory of population and its relation to Malthus and Adam Smith. Also
see L. C. Wroth, _An American Bookshelf_, 1755 (Philadelphia, 1934),
25-7.
[40] Hume having objected to the use of "pejorate" and "colonize,"
Franklin yields to him. "Since they are not in common use here
[England], I give up as bad; for certainly in writings intended for
persuasion and for general information, one cannot be too clear; and
every expression in the least obscure is a fault" (_Writings_, IV,
82-4; Sept. 27, 1760).
[41] On complaint of John Bartram and Cadwallader Colden, Franklin
deleted the concluding paragraphs in subsequent editions.
[42] Read before the Royal Society on Dec. 21, 1752. It was printed in
the _Gentleman's Magazine_, December, 1752. Essentially because of his
identification of electricity with lightning. Franklin in 1753
received the Copley medal and was in 1756 elected F. R. S.
[43] Mr. George S. Eddy has compiled a "Catalogue of Pamphlets, Once a
Part of the Library of Benjamin Franklin, and now owned by the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania," which one of the editors was
permitted to use in MS form in the W. S. Mason Collection. One of the
pamphlets is: _An Hymn to the Creator of the World, The Thoughts taken
chiefly from Psal. CIV. To which is added in Prose An Idea of the
Creator From His Works ..._ London, MDCCL. James Burgh. If most of the
material in this issue (it is equally true of many of the other
issues) is "borrowed," it none the less shows toward what ideas
Franklin was sympathetic. Almanac makers on the whole were not
characterized by a vast display of originality.
[44] Brackets in this letter are the result of A. H. Smyth's collation
of two MSS.
[45] "These letters first appeared in _The London Chronicle_, February
6 and 8, 1766. They were published again in _The London Magazine_,
February, 1766, and in _The Pennsylvania Chronicle_, January 16, 1769.
They were republished in Almon's 'Remembrancer' in 1766." (A. H.
Smyth, Writings, III, 231 note.)
After the failure of his _Albany Plan_ (for text see Writings, III,
197-226), Franklin, visiting Governor Shirley in Boston, was shown an
English plan: it "was, that the governors of all the colonies, each
attended by one or two members of his council, should assemble at some
central town, and there concert measures of defense, raise troops,
order the construction of forts, and draw on the British treasury for
the whole expense; the treasury to be afterwards reimbursed _by a tax
laid on the colonies by an act of Parliament_" (Parton, I, 340). The
letters are a protest against this plan, a protest marking the first
stages of the revolution.
[46] The second cousin and in 1758 the wife of William Greene, the
second governor of the state of Rhode Island. See _Dictionary of
American Biography_, VII, 576-7.
[47] Had made a tour inspecting post offices.
[48] Daughter of Samuel Ward, governor of Rhode Island.
[49] Franklin's daughter, born 1744.
[50] John Franklin died in Boston, January, 1756, age sixty-five.
[51] Daughter of John Franklin's second wife by a former marriage.
[52] See discussion (including bibliographical note) of Rev. Wm. Smith
in Introduction, section on "Franklin's Theories of Education."
[53] From an exact reprint made by W. S. Mason from a copy of _Poor
Richard_ (1758) in his collection. Lindsay Swift, in _Benjamin
Franklin_, notes: "It may safely be said that it is the American
classic _par excellence_, and shares with Mrs. Stowe's _Uncle Tom's
Cabin_ the honour of having passed by translation into more other
tongues than anything else thus far bearing the stamp of our national
spirit" (pp. 33-4). A glance at Ford's _Franklin Bibliography_,
53-111, will suggest the vogue of this classic. See L. L. L.'s "The
Way to Wealth: History and Editions," _Nation_, XCVI, 494-6 (May 15,
1913).
William Temple Franklin observes that _The Way to Wealth_ "is supposed
to have greatly contributed to the formation of that _national
character_ they [people of America] have since exhibited" (1818 ed. of
Franklin's _Works_, III, 248).
[54] Stephen Potts and William Parsons were among the original members
of the Junto (Writings, I, 299-300). See note on Parsons in
_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXXIII, 340 (1909).
[55] Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782). See _Dictionary of National
Biography_, XXVII, 232-4; A. F. Tytler's _Memoirs_ of Lord Kames, 3
vols., Edinburgh, 1814 (2d ed.). Franklin writes an interesting letter
to Kames (London, Jan. 3, 1760) affirming that he rejoices "on the
reduction of Canada; and this is not merely as I am a colonist, but as
I am a Briton. I have long been of opinion, that the _foundations of
the future grandeur and stability of the British empire lie in
America_; and though, like other foundations, they are low and little
seen, they are, nevertheless, broad and strong enough to support the
greatest political structure human wisdom ever yet erected."
Concerning his recent visit to Kames in Scotland he writes, "On the
whole, I must say, I think the time we spent there, was six weeks of
the _densest_ happiness I have met with in any part of my life ..."
(_Writings_, IV, 3-7). In a letter (London, Nov., 1761) he praises
Kames's _Introduction to the Art of Thinking_ and inquires "after your
_Elements of Criticism_." He also tells Kames about his plans to write
an _Art of Virtue_ (_ibid._, IV, 120-3). From Portsmouth, Aug. 17,
1762, he sends his farewell: "I am going from the old world to the
new; and I fancy I feel like those, who are leaving this world for the
next: grief at the parting; fear of the passage; hope of the future"
(_ibid._, IV, 174).
[56] _The Interest of Great Britain Considered?_
[57] If ever written, not extant.
[58] Daughter of Mrs. Margaret Stevenson, Franklin's landlady at
Number Seven, Craven Street, Strand, London. Miss Mary later married
Dr. Hewson (see note 77, below).
[59] Dr. Thomas Bray's philanthropic schemes for education of Negroes
is here referred to. See E. L. Pennington's "The Work of the Bray
Associates in Pennsylvania" for Franklin's connection with this work.
Mr. Wm. Strahan wished to prevail on Franklin to remove permanently to
England. Franklin writes to Deborah, March 5, 1760 (_Writings_, IV,
9-10), offering two reasons for his veto of Strahan's plan: "One, my
Affection to Pensilvania, and long established Friendships and other
connections there: The other, your invincible Aversion to Crossing the
Seas." The remainder of the letter indicates, however, that he was not
dead to the hope that his wife would relent.
[60] For Franklin's friendship with Ingersoll consult L. H. Gipson's
_Jared Ingersoll_. _A Study of American Loyalism in Relation to
British Colonial Government_ (New Haven, 1920).
[61] Richard ("Omniscient") Jackson (d. 1787), member of Parliament,
friend of the colonial cause. See _Dictionary of National Biography_,
XXIX, 104-5.
[62] John Hawkesworth (1715?-1773). From 1752 to 1754 he edited the
_Adventurer_, aided by Johnson, Bathurst, and Wharton. Edited Swift's
writings in 1755, Swift's letters in 1766, and Cook's, Byron's,
Carteret's, and Wallis's _Voyages_ in 1773. (_Dictionary of National
Biography_, XXV, 203-5.)
[63] John Stanley (1714-1786). Blind organist who composed the music
for Hawkesworth's oratorio, _Zimri_ (1760); and for his _The Fall of
Egypt_ (1774). (_Dictionary of National Biography_, LIV, 74-5.)
[64] Benjamin West (1738-1820).
[65] James Ralph (d. 1762); see _Dictionary of National Biography_,
XLVII, 221-4. His _Night: A Poem_ (London, 1728), dedicated to the
Earl of Chesterfield, is a jejune imitation of Thomson's _Seasons_. He
professes himself "a bigotted Admirer of the Antients, and all their
Performances" (p. 197) in _The Touch-Stone ..._ (London, 1728): "My
Design was, to animadvert upon the Standard Entertainments of the
present Age, in Comparison with those of Antiquity" (p. 237). He aided
Fielding in bringing out _The Champion_ (1741 ff.). Hallam
characterized his _History of England_ (1744-1746) as one of the best
accounts of the time of Charles II. Succinct survey of Ralph in M. K.
Jackson's _Outlines of the Literary History of Colonial Pennsylvania_,
37-42.
[66] John Fothergill (1712-1780). See _Dictionary of National
Biography_ XX, 66-8. See J. C. Lettsom's _Memoirs of John Fothergill_
(4th ed., London, 1786) for a full treatment of his friendship with
Franklin. J. J. Abraham's _Lettsom, His Life, Times, Friends and
Descendants_ (London, 1933, chap. XVIII), contains an account of the
"conciliation negotiations" between Hyde and Dartmouth (representing
Lord North) and Barclay and Fothergill (representing Franklin and the
colonial cause). Only George III could not be persuaded. Also see R.
H. Fox, _Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends ..._ (London, 1919).
For Franklin's quarrel with the Proprietors see _Cool Thoughts on the
Present Situation of Our Public Affairs_ (April 12, 1764, _Writings_,
IV, 226-41). A month later he writes to Wm. Strahan: "Our petty
publick affairs here are in the greatest confusion, and will never, in
my opinion, be composed, while the Proprietary Government subsists"
(_ibid._, IV, 246).
[67] His son William Franklin (1731-1813), governor of New Jersey, and
wife. See _Dictionary of American Biography_, VI, 600-1.