The Autobiography of Ben Franklin(本富兰克林自传)

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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

THE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES EDITED

BY CHARLES W ELIOT LLD P F COLLIER & SON

COMPANY, NEW YORK (1909)

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was born in Milk Street, Boston, on

January 6, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler who

married twice, and of his seventeen children Benjamin was the youngest

son. His schooling ended at ten, and at twelve he was bound apprentice to

his brother James, a printer, who published the "New England Courant."

To this journal he became a contributor, and later was for a time its

nominal editor. But the brothers quarreled, and Benjamin ran away, going

first to New York, and thence to Philadelphia, where he arrived in October,

1723. He soon obtained work as a printer, but after a few months he was

induced by Governor Keith to go to London, where, finding Keith's

promises empty, he again worked as a compositor till he was brought back

to Philadelphia by a merchant named Denman, who gave him a position in

his business. On Denman's death he returned to his former trade, and

shortly set up a printing house of his own from which he published "The

Pennsylvania Gazette," to which he contributed many essays, and which

he made a medium for agitating a variety of local reforms. In 1732 he

began to issue his famous "Poor Richard's Almanac" for the enrichment of

which he borrowed or composed those pithy utterances of worldly wisdom

which are the basis of a large part of his popular reputation. In 1758, the

year in which he ceases writing for the Almanac, he printed in it "Father

Abraham's Sermon," now regarded as the most famous piece of literature

produced in Colonial America.

Meantime Franklin was concerning himself more and more with

public affairs. He set forth a scheme for an Academy, which was taken up

later and finally developed into the University of Pennsylvania; and he

founded an "American Philosophical Society" for the purpose of enabling

scientific men to communicate their discoveries to one another. He himself

had already begun his electrical researches, which, with other scientific

inquiries, he called on in the intervals of money-making and politics to the

end of his life. In 1748 he sold his business in order to get leisure for study,

having now acquired comparative wealth; and in a few years he had made

discoveries that gave him a reputation with the learned throughout Europe.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

In politics he proved very able both as an administrator and as a

controversialist; but his record as an office-holder is stained by the use he

made of his position to advance his relatives. His most notable service in

home politics was his reform of the postal system; but his fame as a

statesman rests chiefly on his services in connection with the relations of

the Colonies with Great Britain, and later with France. In 1757 he was sent

to England to protest against the influence of the Penns in the government

of the colony, and for five years he remained there, striving to enlighten

the people and the ministry of England as to Colonial conditions. On his

return to America he played an honorable part in the Paxton affair, through

which he lost his seat in the Assembly; but in 1764 he was again

despatched to England as agent for the colony, this time to petition the

King to resume the government from the hands of the proprietors. In

London he actively opposed the proposed Stamp Act, but lost the credit

for this and much of his popularity through his securing for a friend the

office of stamp agent in America. Even his effective work in helping to

obtain the repeal of the act left him still a suspect; but he continued his

efforts to present the case for the Colonies as the troubles thickened

toward the crisis of the Revolution. In 1767 he crossed to France, where

he was received with honor; but before his return home in 1775 he lost his

position as postmaster through his share in divulging to Massachusetts the

famous letter of Hutchinson and Oliver. On his arrival in Philadelphia he

was chosen a member of the Continental Congress and in 1777 he was

despatched to France as commissioner for the United States. Here he

remained till 1785, the favorite of French society; and with such success

did he conduct the affairs of his country that when he finally returned he

received a place only second to that of Washington as the champion of

American independence. He died on April 17, 1790.

The first five chapters of the Autobiography were composed in

England in 1771, continued in 1784-5, and again in 1788, at which date he

brought it down to 1757. After a most extraordinary series of adventures,

the original form of the manuscript was finally printed by Mr. John

Bigelow, and is here reproduced in recognition of its value as a picture of

one of the most notable personalities of Colonial times, and of its

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

acknowledged rank as one of the great autobiographies of the world.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HIS

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1706-1757

TWYFORD, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's,<0> 1771.

<0> The country-seat of Bishop Shipley, the good bishop, as Dr.

Franklin used to style him.--B.

DEAR SON: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes

of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the

remains of my relations when you were with me in England, and the

journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally

agreeable to<1> you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which

you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's

uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I sit down to write

them for you. To which I have besides some other inducements. Having

emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a

state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and having

gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity, the

conducing means I made use of, which with the blessing of God so well

succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them

suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imitated.

<1> After the words "agreeable to" the words "some of" were

interlined and afterward effaced.--B.

That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to say,

that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition

of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors

have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first. So I might,

besides correcting the faults, change some sinister accidents and events of

it for others more favorable. But though this were denied, I should still

accept the offer. Since such a repetition is not to be expected, the next

thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of

that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it

down in writing.

Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to be

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall indulge it

without being tiresome to others, who, through respect to age, might

conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since this may be read

or not as any one pleases. And, lastly (I may as well confess it, since my

denial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps I shall a good deal gratify

my own vanity. Indeed, I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words,

"Without vanity I may say," &c., but some vain thing immediately

followed. Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have

of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being

persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others

that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would

not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among

the other comforts of life.

And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to

acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His

kind providence, which lead me to the means I used and gave them

success. My belief of this induces me to hope, though I must not presume,

that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me, in continuing

that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may

experience as others have done: the complexion of my future fortune

being known to Him only in whose power it is to bless to us even our

afflictions.

The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of curiosity in

collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished me with

several particulars relating to our ancestors. From these notes I learned

that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in Northamptonshire,

for three hundred years, and how much longer he knew not (perhaps from

the time when the name of Franklin, that before was the name of an order

of people, was assumed by them as a surname when others took surnames

all over the kingdom), on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the

smith's business, which had continued in the family till his time, the eldest

son being always bred to that business; a custom which he and my father

followed as to their eldest sons. When I searched the registers at Ecton, I

found an account of their births, marriages and burials from the year 1555

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time preceding. By

that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of the youngest son

for five generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598,

lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow business longer, when he went

to live with his son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom

my father served an apprenticeship. There my grandfather died and lies

buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the

house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child, a daughter, who,

with her husband, one Fisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now

lord of the manor there. My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.:

Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what account I can of

them, at this distance from my papers, and if these are not lost in my

absence, you will among them find many more particulars.

Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and

encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer,

then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for the

business of scrivener; became a considerable man in the county; was a

chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county or town of

Northampton, and his own village, of which many instances were related

of him; and much taken notice of and patronized by the then Lord Halifax.

He died in 17O2, January 6, old style, just four years to a day before I was

born. The account we received of his life and character from some old

people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as something extraordinary, from

its similarity to what you knew of mine.

"Had he died on the same day," you said, "one might have supposed a

transmigration."

John was bred a dyer, I believe of woolens. Benjamin was bred a silk

dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious man. I

remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in

Boston, and lived in the house with us some years. He lived to a great age.

His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left behind him

two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, consisting of little occasional

pieces addressed to his friends and relations, of which the following, sent

to me, is a specimen.<2> He had formed a short-hand of his own, which

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

he taught me, but, never practising it, I have now forgot it. I was named

after this uncle, there being a particular affection between him and my

father. He was very pious, a great attender of sermons of the best

preachers, which he took down in his short-hand, and had with him many

volumes of them. He was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for

his station. There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had

made of all the principal pamphlets, relating to public affairs, from 1641 to

1717; many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering, but

there still remain eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in

octavo. A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing me by my

sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. It seems my uncle must

have left them here, when he went to America, which was about fifty years

since. There are many of his notes in the margins.

<2> Here follow in the margin the words, in brackets, "here insert it,"

but the poetry is not given. Mr. Sparks informs us (Life of Franklin, p. 6)

that these volumes had been preserved, and were in possession of Mrs.

Emmons, of Boston, great-granddaughter of their author.

This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation, and

continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary, when they were

sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal against popery.

They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was

fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a joint-stool. When

my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he turned up the joint-

stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then under the tapes. One of

the children stood at the door to give notice if he saw the apparitor coming,

who was an officer of the spiritual court. In that case the stool was turned

down again upon its feet, when the Bible remained concealed under it as

before. This anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin. The family

continued all of the Church of England till about the end of Charles the

Second's reign, when some of the ministers that had been outed for

nonconformity holding conventicles in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and

Josiah adhered to them, and so continued all their lives: the rest of the

family remained with the Episcopal Church.

Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles having been

forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable

men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was prevailed

with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their mode

of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four children more born

there, and by a second wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I

remember thirteen sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be

men and women, and married; I was the youngest son, and the youngest

child but two, and was born in Boston, New England. My mother, the

second wife, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first

settlers of New England, of whom honorable mention is made by Cotton

Mather in his church history of that country, entitled Magnalia Christi

Americana, as 'a godly, learned Englishman," if I remember the words

rightly. I have heard that he wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only

one of them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was

written in 1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and

addressed to those then concerned in the government there. It was in favor

of liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other

sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian wars, and

other distresses that had befallen the country, to that persecution, as so

many judgments of God to punish so heinous an offense, and exhorting a

repeal of those uncharitable laws. The whole appeared to me as written

with a good deal of decent plainness and manly freedom. The six

concluding lines I remember, though I have forgotten the two first of the

stanza; but the purport of them was, that his censures proceeded from

good-will, and, therefore, he would be known to be the author.

"Because to be a libeller (says he) I hate it with my heart; From

Sherburne town, where now I dwell My name I do put here; Without

offense your real friend, It is Peter Folgier."

My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was put

to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote

me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church. My early

readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not

remember when I could not read), and the opinion of all his friends, that I

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

should certainly make a good scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of

his. My uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all

his short-hand volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I

would learn his character. I continued, however, at the grammar-school not

quite one year, though in that time I had risen gradually from the middle of

the class of that year to be the head of it, and farther was removed into the

next class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the end of the

year. But my father, in the meantime, from a view of the expense of a

college education, which having so large a family he could not well afford,

and the mean living many so educated were afterwards able to obtain--

reasons that be gave to his friends in my hearing--altered his first intention,

took me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and

arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very

successful in his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging

methods. Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the

arithmetic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was taken home

to assist my father in his business, which was that of a tallow-chandler and

sope-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but had assumed on his arrival

in New England, and on finding his dying trade would not maintain his

family, being in little request. Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick

for the candles, filling the dipping mold and the molds for cast candles,

attending the shop, going of errands, etc.

I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my

father declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much in

and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and when in a

boat or canoe with other boys, I was commonly allowed to govern,

especially in any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions I was

generally a leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into scrapes,

of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an early projecting

public spirit, tho' not then justly conducted.

There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge

of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much

trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a

wharff there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large

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THEAUTOBIOGRAPHYOFBENJAMINFRANKLIN1THEAUTOBIOGRAPHYOFBENJAMINFRANKLINWITHINTRODUCTIONANDNOTESEDITEDBYCHARLESWELIOTLLDPFCOLLIER&SONCOMPANY,NEWYORK(1909)THEAUTOBIOGRAPHYOFBENJAMINFRANKLIN2INTRODUCTORYNOTEBENJAMINFRANKLINwasborninMilkStreet,Boston,onJanuary6,1706.Hisfather,JosiahFranklin,wasatallowchan...

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