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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. P F COLLIER& SON COMPANY, NEW YORK (1909

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	27 septembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819923695
Langue	English

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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
EDITED BY CHARLES W ELIOT LLD
P F COLLIER & SON COMPANY, NEW YORK (1909)
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was born in Milk Street, Boston,on January 6, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallowchandler who married twice, and of his seventeen children Benjaminwas the youngest son. His schooling ended at ten, and at twelve hewas bound apprentice to his brother James, a printer, who publishedthe “New England Courant. ” To this journal he became acontributor, and later was for a time its nominal editor. But thebrothers quarreled, and Benjamin ran away, going first to New York,and thence to Philadelphia, where he arrived in October, 1723. Hesoon obtained work as a printer, but after a few months he wasinduced by Governor Keith to go to London, where, finding Keith'spromises empty, he again worked as a compositor till he was broughtback to Philadelphia by a merchant named Denman, who gave him aposition in his business. On Denman's death he returned to hisformer trade, and shortly set up a printing house of his own fromwhich he published “The Pennsylvania Gazette, ” to which hecontributed many essays, and which he made a medium for agitating avariety of local reforms. In 1732 he began to issue his famous“Poor Richard's Almanac” for the enrichment of which he borrowed orcomposed those pithy utterances of worldly wisdom which are thebasis of a large part of his popular reputation. In 1758, the yearin which he ceases writing for the Almanac, he printed in it“Father Abraham's Sermon, ” now regarded as the most famous pieceof literature produced in Colonial America.
Meantime Franklin was concerning himself more andmore with public affairs. He set forth a scheme for an Academy,which was taken up later and finally developed into the Universityof Pennsylvania; and he founded an “American Philosophical Society”for the purpose of enabling scientific men to communicate theirdiscoveries to one another. He himself had already begun hiselectrical researches, which, with other scientific inquiries, hecalled on in the intervals of money-making and politics to the endof his life. In 1748 he sold his business in order to get leisurefor study, having now acquired comparative wealth; and in a fewyears he had made discoveries that gave him a reputation with thelearned throughout Europe. In politics he proved very able both asan administrator and as a controversialist; but his record as anoffice-holder is stained by the use he made of his position toadvance his relatives. His most notable service in home politicswas his reform of the postal system; but his fame as a statesmanrests chiefly on his services in connection with the relations ofthe Colonies with Great Britain, and later with France. In 1757 hewas sent to England to protest against the influence of the Pennsin the government of the colony, and for five years he remainedthere, striving to enlighten the people and the ministry of Englandas to Colonial conditions. On his return to America he played anhonorable part in the Paxton affair, through which he lost his seatin the Assembly; but in 1764 he was again despatched to England asagent for the colony, this time to petition the King to resume thegovernment from the hands of the proprietors. In London he activelyopposed the proposed Stamp Act, but lost the credit for this andmuch of his popularity through his securing for a friend the officeof stamp agent in America. Even his effective work in helping toobtain the repeal of the act left him still a suspect; but hecontinued his efforts to present the case for the Colonies as thetroubles thickened toward the crisis of the Revolution. In 1767 hecrossed to France, where he was received with honor; but before hisreturn home in 1775 he lost his position as postmaster through hisshare in divulging to Massachusetts the famous letter of Hutchinsonand Oliver. On his arrival in Philadelphia he was chosen a memberof the Continental Congress and in 1777 he was despatched to Franceas commissioner for the United States. Here he remained till 1785,the favorite of French society; and with such success did heconduct the affairs of his country that when he finally returned hereceived a place only second to that of Washington as the championof American independence. He died on April 17, 1790.
The first five chapters of the Autobiography werecomposed in England in 1771, continued in 1784-5, and again in1788, at which date he brought it down to 1757. After a mostextraordinary series of adventures, the original form of themanuscript was finally printed by Mr. John Bigelow, and is herereproduced in recognition of its value as a picture of one of themost notable personalities of Colonial times, and of itsacknowledged rank as one of the great autobiographies of theworld.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1706-1757
TWYFORD, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's, [0] 1771.
[0] The country-seat of BishopShipley, the good bishop, as Dr. Franklin used to style him. —B.
DEAR SON: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining anylittle anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries Imade among the remains of my relations when you were with me inEngland, and the journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining itmay be equally agreeable to [1] you to know thecircumstances of my life, many of which you are yet unacquaintedwith, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's uninterrupted leisurein my present country retirement, I sit down to write them for you.To which I have besides some other inducements. Having emerged fromthe poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a stateof affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and havinggone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity, theconducing means I made use of, which with the blessing of God sowell succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as they may findsome of them suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit tobe 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 inducedme sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I shouldhave no objection to a repetition of the same life from itsbeginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a secondedition to correct some faults of the first. So I might, besidescorrecting the faults, change some sinister accidents and events ofit for others more favorable. But though this were denied, I shouldstill accept the offer. Since such a repetition is not to beexpected, the next thing most like living one's life over againseems to be a recollection of that life, and to make thatrecollection as durable as possible by putting it down inwriting.
Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination sonatural in old men, to be talking of themselves and their own pastactions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to others,who, through respect to age, might conceive themselves obliged togive me a hearing, since this may be read or not as any onepleases. And, lastly (I may as well confess it, since my denial ofit will be believed by nobody), perhaps I shall a good deal gratifymy own vanity. Indeed, I scarce ever heard or saw the introductorywords, “Without vanity I may say, ” and c. , but some vain thingimmediately followed. Most people dislike vanity in others,whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fairquarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is oftenproductive of good to the possessor, and to others that are withinhis sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not bealtogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity amongthe other comforts of life.
And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with allhumility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of mypast life to His kind providence, which lead me to the means I usedand gave them success. My belief of this induces me to hope, thoughI must not presume, that the same goodness will still be exercisedtoward me, in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear afatal reverse, which I may experience as others have done: thecomplexion of my future fortune being known to Him only in whosepower it is to bless to us even our afflictions.
The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind ofcuriosity 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 samevillage, Ecton, in Northamptonshire, for three hundred years, andhow much longer he knew not (perhaps from the time when the name ofFranklin, that before was the name of an order of people, wasassumed by them as a surname when others took surnames all over thekingdom), on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the smith'sbusiness, which had continued in the family till his time, theeldest son being always bred to that business; a custom which heand my father followed as to their eldest sons. When I searched theregisters at Ecton, I found an account of their births, marriagesand burials from the year 1555 only, there being no registers keptin that parish at any time preceding. By that register I perceivedthat I was the youngest son of the youngest son for fivegenerations back. My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598,lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow business longer, whenhe went to live with his son John, a dyer at Banbury, inOxfordshire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship. There mygrandfather died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758.His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it withthe land to his only child, a daughter, who, with her husband, oneFisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of themanor there. My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz. :Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what account Ican of them