Part 19 (1/2)

Swift, Lindsay. _Benjamin Franklin._ Beacon Biographies of Eminent Americans. Boston: 1910. (Brief series of biographical ”impressions”

arranged chronologically.)

Weems, Mason L. _The Life of Benjamin Franklin, with many Choice Anecdotes and Admirable Sayings of this Great Man._ Baltimore: 1815.

(One would think it unfair to smile at a writer who had the wit to describe Franklin as one who ”with such equal ease, could play the _Newton_ or the _Chesterfield_, and charm alike the lightnings and the ladies.” Contains some imaginative, though intuitive, remarks on Franklin's religion.)

IV. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES

Abbe, C. ”Benjamin Franklin as Meteorologist,” _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society_, XLV, 117-28 (1906). (”Worthy co-laborer” with Newton, Huygens, Descartes, Boyle, and Gay-Lussac.

He is ”the first meteorologist of America,” ”pioneer of the rational long-range forecasters.”)

Abbot, G. M. _A Short History of the Library Company of Philadelphia: Compiled from the Minutes, together with some personal reminiscences._ Philadelphia: 1913.

Amiable, L. _Une loge maconnique d'avant 1789. La R.. L.. Les Neuf Surs._ Paris: 1897. (Fullest account of Franklin's activities in French Freemasonry.)

_a.n.a.lectic Magazine_, XI, 449-84 (June, 1818). (Review of W. T.

Franklin's edition of Franklin's works. Complexion of this eulogy suggested by: ”His name is now exalted in Europe above any others of the eighteenth century.”)

Angoff, Charles. _A Literary History of the American People._ New York: 1931. II, 295-310. (It would be difficult to match the debonair ignorance of this violently hostile essay.)

”A Poem on the Death of Franklin,” _Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society_, XV, 109 (Jan., 1930). (A typical elegy based on theme suggested by Turgot's epigram on Franklin.)

Bache, R. M. ”Smoky Torches in Franklin's Honor,” _Critic_, XLVIII, 561-6 (June, 1906). (Charming in its caustic though just view that ”articles on Franklin have verged on superfluity.”)

Bache, R. M. ”The So-Called 'Franklin Prayer-Book,'” _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXI, 225-34 (1897). (See Rev. John Wright's account of the same in _Early Prayer Books of America_ [St.

Paul: 1896], pp. 386-99.)

Biddison, P. ”The Magazine Franklin Failed to Remember,” _American Literature_, IV, 177-80 (May, 1932). (Survey of the Franklin-Webbe altercation concerning the inauguration of Franklin's _General Magazine, and Historical Chronicle ..._, 1741.)

Bigelow, John. ”Franklin as the Man,” _Independent_, LX, 69-72 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Stresses his tolerance, common sense, and ”const.i.tutional unwillingness to dogmatize.”)

Bleyer, W. G. _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism._ Boston: 1927. (Chapters I-II contain excellent survey of the _New England Courant_, and the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ during its formative years. Bibliography, pp. 431-41.)

Bloore, Stephen. ”Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library Company,” _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIX, 42-56 (Jan., 1935). (Valuable notes on Franklin's collaborator in _Busy-Body_ series.)

Bloore, Stephen. ”Samuel Keimer. A Foot-note to the Life of Franklin,”

_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 255-87 (July, 1930). (Readers of the _Autobiography_ will appreciate this excellent study of one who figures prominently in its pages.)

Brett-James, N. G. _The Life of Peter Collinson._ London: [1917]. (Many notes on Franklin-Collinson friends.h.i.+p. Collinson, it is remembered, ”started Franklin on his career as a researcher in electricity.”)

Buckingham, J. T. _Specimens of Newspaper Literature; with Personal Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Reminiscences._ 2 vols. Boston: 1850. (Vol. I, 49-88, discusses _New England Courant_. Identifies _Dogood Papers_ as Franklin's.)

Bullen, H. L. ”Benjamin Franklin and What Printing Did for Him,”

_American Collector_, II, 284-91 (May, 1926).

Butler, Ruth L. _Doctor Franklin, Postmaster General._ Garden City, N.

Y.: 1928. (A st.u.r.dily doc.u.mented study ill.u.s.trating that Franklin ”furnished the most highly efficient administration to the postal system during the colonial period.”)

Canby, H. S. ”Benjamin Franklin,” in _Cla.s.sic Americans_. New York: 1931, pp. 34-45. (Spirited estimate partly vitiated by excessive emphasis on influence of Quakerism; Canby observes that Franklin's mind represents ”Quakerism conventionalized, stylized, and Deicized.”)