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cit._, II, 498), apparently agreeing with his father that poets ”were generally beggars” (_Writings_ I, 240), Franklin allowed only that writing poetry may improve one's language. Yet _Dogood Paper_ No. VII and his estimate of Cowper (characterized by easiness in manner, correctness in language, clarity of expression, perspicuity, and justness of the sentiments) (_ibid._, VIII, 448-9), and the ”Tears of Pleasure” he shed over Thomson, all suggest that he was not wholly blind to poetry. He hoped to see Philadelphia ”become the Seat of the _American_ Muses” (_ibid._, II, 245, 110; IV, 181, 184; VI, 437).]

[Footnote i-151: A. Bosker, _Literary Criticism in the Age of Johnson_, 34. For important qualifications see the thorough study by Donald F.

Bond, ”'Distrust' of Imagination in English Neo-Cla.s.sicism,”

_Philological Quarterly_, XIV, 54-69 (Jan., 1935). Those interested in considering Franklin with reference to contemporary literary theory will find full materials in J. W. Draper's _Eighteenth-Century English Aesthetics: A Bibliography_, and additions to it by R. S. Crane, _Modern Philology_, XXIX, 25 ff. (1931); W. D. Templeman, _ibid._, x.x.x, 309-16; R. D. Havens, _Modern Language Notes_, XLVII, 118-20 (1932).]

[Footnote i-152: _Writings_, II, 24.]

[Footnote i-153: _Ibid._, V, 182; also II, 43, and VIII, 128, 163, 604.]

[Footnote i-154: See G. S. Eddy, ”Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Library,”

_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. x.x.xIV, 206-26 (Oct., 1924).]

[Footnote i-155: See C. E. Jorgenson, ”Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais,”

_Cla.s.sical Journal_, XXIX, 538-40 (April, 1934).]

[Footnote i-156: _The Travels of Cyrus._]

[Footnote i-157: _Independent Whig_ and _Cato's Letters_.]

[Footnote i-158: For an interesting summary of Franklin's references to the cla.s.sics, see R. M. Gummere, _op. cit._]

[Footnote i-159: Add to this, Franklin's use of the Swiftian hoax and complex irony. After writing _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One_ (1773) he explained to a friend: ”These odd ways of presenting Matters to the publick View sometimes occasion them to be more read, talk'd of, and more attended to” (_Writings_, VI, 137).

Parton observes that the _Edict of the King of Prussia_ ”was the nine-days' talk of the kingdom.” Raynal unsuspectingly used Franklin's _Polly Baker_, as an authentic doc.u.ment in his _Histoire ..._.

Franklin's _Exporting of Felons to the Colonies_, _The Sale of Hessians_, and _A Dialogue between Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Saxony, and America_ ill.u.s.trate these trenchant devices used to achieve a political purpose.]

[Footnote i-160: _Writings_, I, 49.]

[Footnote i-161: _The True Benjamin Franklin_, 158.]

[Footnote i-162: _Writings_, I, 239.]

[Footnote i-163: Smyth's note, _Writings_, VIII, 336.]

[Footnote i-164: _Writings_, I, 238.]

[Footnote i-165: _Writings_, X, 4 (to Mrs. Catherine Greene, March 2, 1789).]

[Footnote i-166: There were eight towns in the colonies which had presses when Franklin went into business for himself: Cambridge, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, New London (Conn.), Woodbridge (N.

J.), and Williamsburg. See Isaiah Thomas, _The History of Printing in America_ (Worcester, 1810), II, _pa.s.sim_.]

[Footnote i-167: ”A printer of first-rate eminence,” according to Charles Henry Timperley's _A Dictionary of Printers and Printing_ (London, 1839), 714 note.]

[Footnote i-168: R. A. Austen Leigh, ”William Strahan and His Ledgers,”

in _Transactions of the Bibliographical Society_, N. S. III, 286. For Strahan see also Spottiswoode & Co.'s _The Story of a Printing House, Being a Short Account of the Strahans and Spottiswoodes_ (London, 1911); and Timperley, _op. cit._, 754-6.]

[Footnote i-169: See G. S. Eddy, ”Correspondence Between Dr. Benjamin Franklin and John Walter, Regarding the Logographic Process of Printing,” _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S.

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