Franklin's Autobiography

At Palmer's I was employed in composing 67 for the second edition of Wollaston's "Religion of Nature." Some of his reasonings not appearing to me well founded, I wrote a little metaphysical piece, in which I made remarks on them. It was entitled, "Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain." I inscribed it to my friend Ralph; I printed a small number. It occasioned my being more considered by Mr. Palmer as a young man of some ingenuity, though he seriously expostulated with me upon the principles of my pamphlet, which to him appeared abominable. My printing this pamphlet was another erratum.

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1

See pp. 198–206.

2

The time of Braddock's defeat.

3

When the old duties "upon all rum, spirits, molasses, syrups, sugar," etc., were renewed, and extended to other articles.

4

A village near Winchester, Hampshire, England, where Dr. Jonathan Shipley had his country house. Dr. Shipley was Bishop of St. Asaph's in Wales, and Franklin's friend.

5

Franklin's only living son, William, who in 1762 had been made royal governor of New Jersey, with the hope of detaching Franklin from the cause of the colonists.

6

A franklin was a freeman, or freeholder, or owner of the land on which he dwelt. The franklins were by their possessions fitted for becoming sheriffs, knights, etc. After the Norman Conquest, men in England took, in addition to the first name, another which was suggested by their condition in life, their trade, or some personal peculiarity. See Note, p. 203.

7

A title given in England in Franklin's time to the descendants of knights and noblemen.

8

A writer whose duties were similar to those of our notary.

9

"Old style," i.e., the method of reckoning time which formerly prevailed and which had caused an error of eleven days. The new style of reckoning was adopted in England in 1752.

10

The passage of the soul into another body; one might have supposed that the soul of the uncle had taken up abode in Franklin's body.

11

Franklin omitted the verses.

12

Who was queen from 1553 to 1558.

13

"Joint stool," i.e., a stool made of parts fitted together.

14

"Outed for nonconformity," i.e., turned out of the church for not conforming to the usages of the Church of England and for holding meetings of dissenters for public worship.

15

Franklin was born Sunday, Jan. 17, 1706 (Jan. 6, old style). The family then lived in a small house on Milk Street, near the Old South Church, where the Boston Post building now stands.

16

The persecution which the first settlers practiced against all who differed with them in religious doctrines.

17

Sherburne is now called Nantucket.

18

The lines which Dr. Franklin had forgotten are these:

"I am for peace and not for war,And that's the reason whyI write more plain than some men do,That used to daub and lie.But I shall cease, and set my nameTo what I here insert,Because to be a libelerI hate it with my heart."

19

In Franklin's time the grammar school was a school for teaching Latin, which was begun by committing the grammar to memory.

20

Characters, or method of writing shorthand.

21

Candles were made by dipping wicks in the fat a number of times, and also by setting the wicks in a mold and pouring the fat round them.

22

Ants.

23

The marble having crumbled, a larger stone was placed over the grave in 1827, and Franklin's inscription repeated. It stands in the Granary Burying Ground.

24

Aged.

25

A joiner is a mechanic who does the woodwork of houses, etc.; a turner, one who works with a lathe; a brasier, a worker in brass.

26

A chapman was a peddler.

27

Agreements written upon sheets, the edges of which were cut or indented to match each other, for security and identification.

28

A street in London in which many writers of small ability or reputation, or of unhappy fortune, had lodgings. "Grub Street style," therefore, means poor or worthless in literary value. The term, which always implied a sneer, was made current by Pope and Swift and their coterie.

29

A paper published in London every week day from the 1st of March, 1711, to the 6th of December, 1712, and made up for the most part of essays by Addison, Steele, and their friends. It held aloof from politics, and dealt with the manners of the time and with literature.

30

These gentlemen of Port Royal lived in the old convent of Port Royal des Champs, near Paris. They were learned men who, with other works, prepared schoolbooks, among which was the "Art of Thinking," a logic.

31

"The Socratic method," i.e., the method of modest questioning, which Socrates used with pupils and opponents alike, and by which he led them to concessions and unforeseen conclusions.

32

These lines are not Pope's, but Lord Roscommon's, slightly modified.

33

"The New England Courant was the fourth newspaper that appeared in America. The first number of the Boston News-Letter was published April 24, 1704. This was the first newspaper in America. The Boston Gazette commenced Dec. 21, 1719; the American Weekly Mercury, at Philadelphia, Dec. 22, 1719; the New England Courant, Aug. 21, 1721. Dr. Franklin's error of memory probably originated in the circumstance of his brother having been the printer of the Boston Gazette when it was first established. This was the second newspaper published in America." – Sparks.

34

Told.

35

Lowered; put down. [n]

36

The legislature.

37

Errors; mistakes.

38

Kill von Kull, the strait between Staten Island and New Jersey.

39

That is, John Bunyan, the author of the book.

40

In New Jersey.

41

Learning.

42

English penny pieces. The coin money used by the colonists was at this time of foreign make.

43

This market stood on the southwest corner of Second and Market Streets.

44

A composing stick is a small tray which the compositor holds in his left hand and in which he arranges the type that he picks out of the cases with his right hand.

45

A false reasoner, and hence a deceiver.

46

The name of a kind of type.

47

Manuscript or printing of original matter.

48

Boarded.

49

The Camisards, who broke away from the state religion of France, and suffered persecution at the hands of Louis XIV. They showed their spiritual zeal by the prophetic mania and by working miracles, as well as by a stout attachment to their creed.

50

"Both governments," i.e., both Pennsylvania and Delaware.

51

Peep show.

52

"Piece of eight," i.e., the Spanish dollar, containing eight reals. The present value of a real is about five cents.

53

The seats across the boat on which the oarsmen sit.

54

For Governor Keith's character and popularity, see p. 58.

55

Captain Annis, commander of the ship, is here referred to.

56

Entrapped.

57

Lev. xix. 27.

58

An agent or commission merchant.

59

In 1728 Alexander Pope published his Dunciad, and in Book III. lines 165, 166, he refers to Ralph, who was then living in London:

"Silence, ye wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls.And makes night hideous – answer him, ye owls!"

Later, his History of England during the Reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and King George I. was highly praised (see pp. 177, 178).

60

Responsible for the payment of a note.

61

The owners or proprietors of Pennsylvania, which Charles II. had given William Penn, were Penn's sons. They lived in England.

62

A street in London.

63

A pistole was a Spanish gold coin worth about four dollars.

64

A comedian of some note.

65

A hackney writer, or hack writer, is one employed to write according to direction.

66

Inns of Court in London, occupied by lawyers.

67

Setting type.