Part 86 (1/2)

20, 1735; printed in W. T. Franklin's edition, III, 238-9.]

[Footnote 16: Chosen Clerk of Pennsylvania General a.s.sembly in 1736.]

[Footnote 17: See their correspondence in L. Tyerman's _Life of the Rev.

George Whitefield_ (2 vols., London, 1876).]

[Footnote 18: J. Parton observes that this list may have been suggested by the word-catalogs in the _Gargantua_ (_Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_, I, 221). This mildly Rabelaisian series is later elaborated into ”The Drinker's Dictionary” found in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, No.

494, May 25, 1738; and reprinted by Parton, I, 222-5.]

[Footnote 19: When James Franklin was accused of mocking the clergy and unsettling the peace, he was refused license to print the _New England Courant_. So Benjamin, his apprentices.h.i.+p indentures cancelled (though new ones were privately signed), became nominal editor. Consult C. A.

Duniway, _The Development of Freedom of the Press in Ma.s.sachusetts_, 97-103; W. G. Bleyer, _Main Currents in the History of American Journalism_, chaps. I-II.]

[Footnote 20: Rules for his famous Junto, begun in 1727.]

[Footnote 21: No Part II has ever been found. A. H. Smyth suggests that this creed and liturgy was ”Franklin's daily companion to the end of his life” (_Writings_, II, 92 note).]

[Footnote 22: When Samuel Keimer discovered that Franklin and Meredith were about to launch a newspaper, he began his _Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette_ (first issue, Dec. 28, 1728). Franklin and Joseph Breintnall wrote the _Busy-Body_ series for Bradford's _American Weekly Mercury_. Nos. I-V and VIII are by Franklin.

See S. Bloore's ”Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library Company” (in Bibliography). That Keimer became infuriated, one can see in issues X, XII, and XVI of the _Universal Instructor ..._, in which _Busy-Body_ is scourged with both prose and poetry.]

[Footnote 23: Franklin purchases Keimer's _Universal Instructor ..._, deleting the first half of the t.i.tle, which had appeared in small italic type.]

[Footnote 24: See _Autobiography_, _Writings_, I, 343.]

[Footnote 25: The use of scales suggests that Franklin probably knew Aristophanes' _The Frogs_. It is more likely, however that he was acquainted with the use of scales in contemporary witch trials. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for Jan., 1731, there is an account of a witch trial at ”Burlington, in Pensilvania,” in the course of which scales and the Bible were used. (See Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ [H. Ellis, ed., London, 1888], III, 35.) In the same magazine for Feb., 1759, is an account of a similar trial which took place in England (_ibid._, III, 22).]

[Footnote 26: In his 1734 issue of the _American Almanack_ Leeds observed that the account of his death was grossly exaggerated.

Doubtless Franklin had read (Swift's) Bickerstaff's predictions of the death of Partridge.]

[Footnote 27: Compare Swift's _A Meditation upon a Broomstick_. Mug and broomstick are alike obliged to undergo the indignities of a ”dirty wench.” But more conclusively, the rhetoric and the ethical application to human affairs suggest Franklin's indebtedness to Swift.]

[Footnote 28: His parents' response is learned from a letter (not in Smyth) to his father: ”Hon. Father, I received your kind letter of the 4th of May in answer to mine of April 13th. I wrote that of mine with design to remove or lessen the uneasiness you and my Mother appear'd to be under on account of my Principles, and it gave me great Pleasure when she declar'd in her next to me that she approved of my Letter and was satisfy'd with me.” (Cited in J. F. Sachse, _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason_, 75.)]

[Footnote 29: Rev. George Whitefield, whom Franklin met in 1739.]

[Footnote 30: _M. T. Cicero's Cato Major or his Discourse of Old-Age: With Explanatory Notes._ Philadelphia. Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1744.]

[Footnote 31: ”This letter is undated, but from Franklin's ecclesiastical mathematics it would appear to have been written on the tenth of March” (A. H. Smyth, _Writings_, II, 283 note).]

[Footnote 32: Excellent note in _Writings_, II, 463-4. Abbe Raynal published _Polly Baker_ in his _Histoire ..._ as an authentic doc.u.ment.

Also Peter Annet printed this _jeu d'esprit_ in his _Social Bliss_ (1749). See N. L. Torrey, _Voltaire and the English Deists_, 187. A. H.

Smyth confesses: ”The mystery surrounding the authors.h.i.+p and first publication of the 'Speech' remains an impenetrable mystery. The style is altogether Franklinian, and the story seems unquestionably to have been written by him, but I have searched _The Pennsylvania Gazette_ in vain for it. It is not there.”]

[Footnote 33: See ”Introduction” in Wm. Pepper's Facsimile Reprint of the _Proposals_ (Philadelphia, 1931), vii-xvii. Although A. H. Smyth prints ”Authors quoted in this Paper,” he does not print the copious doc.u.mentation Franklin included. The ”Authors” listed are: Milton, Locke, Hutcheson, Obadiah Walker, M. Rollin, George Turnbull, ”with some others.”]

[Footnote 34: Printed as Appendix to Rev. R. Peters's _A Sermon on Education ..._, Philadelphia, Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D.

Hall, 1751.]

[Footnote 35: Samuel Croxall's (d. 1752) _Fables of aesop and Others_, 1722. ”The remarkable popularity of these fables, of which editions are still published, is to be accounted for by their admirable style. They are excellent examples of nave, clear, and forcible English”