Pennsylvania Magazine of HISTORY and BIOGRAPHY

THE Pennsylvania Magazine OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY

VOLUME LXI OCTOBER, 1937 NUMBER FOUR

SAMUEL KEIMER A Study in the Transit of English Culture to Colonial Pennsylvania LTHOUGH the career of Samuel Keimer has been scrutinized by several biographers, and was made the subject of an ex- A tended study some years ago,1 the peculiarities of his person- ality and the significance of his achievement have not been examined with disinterested sympathy. In his own days he was a man of few friends; up to our own his reputation has suffered from the adverse criticism of Franklin, while the relative paucity of records dealing with him has discouraged critics from a fresh examination of his character and accomplishment. In addition, the importance of his work as an intermediary, albeit an indirect one, between the culture of Eng- land and that of colonial Pennsylvania, has never been fully recognized, and hence there has been less incentive than might else have been the case to appraise impartially the extent and importance of that which he did. The details of Keimer's early life offer few problems, should one wish merely to outline it. Perhaps no man in writing of himself has shown a greater preoccupation with his own sufferings, real and imaginary, than Keimer. Surely no man of the time has told of his own doings with a more unashamed and amazing fidelity. This 1 Stephen Bloore, "Samuel Keimer," PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, LIV. 255-87. This study, however, considered Keimer chiefly as "a footnote to the Life of Franklin." 357 358 C. LENNART CARLSON October very fact must mark him as a person apart, whose aberrancies and foibles should be examined as the evidence of an egocentricity that is peculiar and worthy of study, rather than condemned as the sign of a disordered mind. Of Keimer's literary productions, the most important is a series of three books, written shortly after one another. All are autobio- graphical, all record his search for a usable religious faith, and all were written before he came to Pennsylvania. Since his literary output after coming to the colonies was relatively small, it is on those of his writings that were completed in England that his claim to a niche in the history of eighteenth-century literature must rest. His accomplishment after coming to Philadelphia, on the other hand, entitles him to some notice in the history of colonial culture.

At some time in 1718 there appeared in the London pamphlet shops a thin book of about thirty pages, entitled *A Search sAfter Religion.2 To this was appended Jin ^Address and Tetition to %ing Jesus, by Samuel Keimer, "a Listed Soldier under Him, and a peaceable Subject of King George." This six-penny pamphlet was Keimer's first known literary production. Bitterly Protestant in tone, it marks the author as a critic of the shams of institutionalized religion and of the pretensions of the sects. Yet it is less of an attack on ecclesiastical organization than on the supposedly pious among the well-known religious leaders of the time. In doggerel verse Keimer tells how he, reared a Presbyterian, sought a religious faith that would satisfy an emotional temperament and give him solace in his yearning for truth. One receives the impression that he had gone to hear the famous preachers of the day, impelled by that nervous uncertainty which frequently characterizes the immature mind in its search for the Absolute. He tells of having heard Nat Vincent, Doolittle, Pomfret, of having read Edmund Calamy. But

2 The title page reads as follows: A Search After Religion, Among the many Modern Pretenders to it. Offered to the Perusal of all those who are dancing to the Pipes of those false Prophets and Teachers, Christians are wanted to take heed of. Like diligent Bee, From every Tree, To the Hungry, my Honey Pll bring; But for Truth's hidden Foesy Pll fluck off their Cloaths, Their Shame Pll disclose, Tho' I smart, or die forH, Pll leave >em my Sting. To which is added An Address and Petition to King Jesus. By Samuel Keimer, a Listed Soldier under Him, and a feaceable Subject of King George. (London: Printed for the Author, and sold at the Cheshire-CofTee-House in King's-Arms- Court on Ludgate Hill.) The verse on the title page is undoubtedly by Keimer. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 359 he was not satisfied, and went to hear Williams, Mat Henry, New- man, and Reynolds3— ... the Priests who many Miles would row ye, Who'd skip, and trip, and leap, like Hare or Coney, Not for your soul's sake, but to get your money. The tale is a tedious and sorry one, of his searching for truth among the Independents, the Water-Divers, the French Prophets, of his being "beguiled by Rome," until as he says, With Priests and Prophets I was so confounded, With schemes, chimeras, whims, so much abounded, As my poor seeking soul was sorely wounded. He then tells of having rebelled against the government, and of having been imprisoned for it, but without giving any specific details or explaining the circumstances of his treasonable activity.4 While in prison, he . . . read Richard Steeles bright Christian Hero, I thought that tract might e'en convince a Nero, It answer'd me, as verum does to vero. Here, too, he became "converted": Now 'twas in Prison I became a Quaker, The Holy Ghost to me became a Shaker, I did resolve by Christ to serve my Maker. It is with such naive contrition, as always characterized his attitude after an unwise course of action had brought him to grief, that he informs us how he will adopt the Quaker simplicity of life, will wear no superfluous adornment, swear no oaths, give no lying com- pliments. Also, he will wear a beard . . . 'cause God to me he gave it, If I had none, I then should weekly crave it; How dare I then, presume with Edge to shave it?

"The Dictionary of National Biografhy contains accounts of all these men, the majority of whom were Presbyterian divines. Keimer must have heard some of them while very young-, since Nathaniel Vincent died in 1697. One, Matthew Henry, he cannot have heard very frequently, since Henry had a charge in Chester until 1712, and spent only two years in Hackney, where he removed then. Contemporary judgment does not agree with Keimer in condemning the preaching of the men whom he had heard, though it appears that Doolittle, at least, showed little depth of thought in his discourses. 4 This, as we shall see, he chose to explain in another book. 36O C. LENNART CARLSON October The Search Jljter Religion constitutes a spiritual autobiography. It reveals little intellectual keenness, certainly no ability to analyze abstruse problems. His search for objective standards predominates -y clearly his attempt to see in truth something absolute, rather than the relative concept it is, was the source of Keimer's unhappy experience with the vagaries of faith. Rarely does his criticism touch on the more fundamental aspects of the social instability of which religious sectarianism is an evidence. Indeed, there is but one hint of his having possibly perceived such a problem in his suggestion that the "reformers" have parted with "what has been of no Concern to lose," but have kept their profitable corruptions. In the Search Keimer had concerned himself with criticizing the current situation in the church, but in the ^Address and Petition to %ing Jesus, which followed it, his emphasis was quite different. The ^Address is a prayer in verse, such as he was fond of using on oc- casions which he felt demanded a particular solemnity. Strongly emotional in tone, uncouth in imagery, almost rhapsodic in its self- abasement, it is quite typical of Keimer's other work in the same genre: Hail mighty Monarch, Glorious King of Kings! Whose holy presence great salvation brings, To thee, Great Prince, my humble soul she sings.

To thee all earthly Kings are crawling vermin, And Queens compared with thee like Princess Germ'n; Princes, Dukes, Earls, like beggars dress'd in vermin.

For thee, that man of sin, the Pope, must tremble; Kings, his supporters, for thee become humble. O how the Card'nals, Monks and Fryars will grumble! In some of the verses that follow, he prays for Jesus' blessing on the King, obviously to atone for his previous attacks against the House of Hanover, and begs to be again considered with favor: Pour forth thy spirit on George, by Man appointed As King to rule: Let him by thee be anointed, And all his actions at thy glory pointed.... Today, on reading the Search and ^Address, one would like to believe that Keimer wrote them out of the fullness of his heart, in a chaotic anger and disillusionment. Their naive lack of finish, occasional vulgarity, and unforgiving forthrightness suggest that the 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 361 author felt genuinely what he neither had the poise to conceal, nor the talent to express adeptly. But though there is little ground for questioning the sincerity of Keimer's feelings, he has given us reason to suspect that he was not unwilling to capitalize on his experiences. The Search raises a number of problems, in particular that of the relationship between Keimer's background and his rebellious attitude toward the church of the day. The author must have realized that once his readers had perused the Search, they would wish to know more about himself, and more about the practices of the religious enthusiasts whose meetings he had frequented. In fact, it appears from this pamphlet that he merely intended it to awaken public curiosity concerning another book which he had in hand, a book which he promised "will surprise all that read it, it containing nothing but real Matter of Fact, which the Author here but just hints at."5 Some explanation of the "hints" was given by the publication later in 1718 of Keimer's most considerable work,

activities and practices of this religious group. It originated in France, among the Camisard Protestants in the Cevennes region, during the late seventeenth century. Dev- otees of the sect came to England in 1706, but did not attract widespread attention until somewhat later. There seems to have been a mystical element in their devotion, and believers acknowledged the divine inspiration of certain individuals who delivered trance messages at their meetings} SchafT Herzog, Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,

cited by Bloore, loc. cit.y 256-57. 8 He mentions having printed for John Lawrence, Henry Clements, William Innys, Bernard Lintot, Jonas Brown, and N. Cliff. With the exception of Brown, these men were among the most prominent London booksellers of the time. They were in business at such a time that Keimer could well have worked for them all, just as he states $ Plomer, of. cit. 9 A Brandy 75. 10 A newspaper with this title was being issued in London during 1715-16} R. S. Crane and F. B. Kaye, A Census of British Newsfafers and Periodicals, 1665-1800 (Durham, N.C., 1927), 1530, 1531. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 363 which he seems to have started in 1715, he carried on from Ludgate with his father's assistance. Later he was removed to the Fleet, by a writ of habeas corpus, and after his father had aided him to pur- chase the liberty of the Rules he continued to issue the paper from his lodgings there. Then came the Rebellion of 1715. The unpopu- larity of the House of Hanover was making the reading public take kindly to Jacobite propaganda, and Keimer saw a good market for seditious material. Following the example of other publishers, he inserted in his paper a false account of a victory of the forces of the Pretender over those of the King. Even so, he received no immediate punishment, but his continuing to print material of a seditious nature did lead to his being imprisoned under strict surveillance for some time, until he was removed on petition to the Rules of the Fleet. Once he had returned there he was free to print again, and could not desist from the temptation to publish such lucrative Jacobite items as brought him funds with which to discharge his debts.11 As a consequence, the periods of time when he was permitted to live in the Rules of the Fleet were of short duration, and he found himself a state prisoner at five different times before writing *A 'Brand. On the last occasion he was committed to the Gatehouse. Here he became converted, saw the folly of his opposition to the government and of his association with the Prophets, and determined to embrace the Quaker faith.12 He decided also to record his experiences and to reveal the follies of the French Prophets, for "the Glory of God, and the Good of Mankind."13 Accordingly, as soon as he had secured release from the Gatehouse, and had returned to the Rules of the Fleet, he began to write, first the Search, then oA "Brandy which he completed on August 6, 1718.14 Such is the outline of Keimer's life as he gives it in J[ Brand—

11 Keimer mentions having- met William Paul, the Catholic priest who was executed at Tyburn for his share in the rebellion of 1715. He also tells us (A Brand, 86) that he met a number of Roman Catholics in prison and for a time thought of joining- the Roman Church, "having" at that time a hankering desire after being- fixed upon a rock spiritually." His association with the Roman Catholics must have played some part in making him sympathetic to the Jacobites, so that his printing of treasonable material was not wholly due to a desire for gain. 12 A Brandy 97-98. 18 A Brandy Preface. 14 Keimer may well have worked on the Brand for several months. Internal evidence {A Brandy 124) shows that it was written over a period including July and part of Au- gust, 1718, not in August, as Bloore suggests, loc. cit.y 261. 364 C. LENNART CARLSON October a life which despite his clashes with governmental authority would appear less exciting than that of Defoe had not the author's religious experiences given it an element of novelty. Reared in a home with a strong Dissenting tradition, he had been taught by his mother to look on religion as morality, to avoid profane language, wicked words, lying, and swearing. He had learned rigorous concepts of truth and justice, and had also been taught to examine his own acts in the light of those rules until his impressionable nature was made abnormally sensitive to the moral aspect of the religious life. The cramping influence of his childhood training does not appear to have been mitigated by his schooling, which to judge from the slight attention he gives it, had little influence on his character. It would seem that Keimer had always been dissatisfied with his early religious training—that he had rebelled instinctively against the identification of religion with morality and craved some more emotional means of religious expression than that of patterning his life according to a given standard. While it is difficult to say what he means when speaking of "the Glory and Beauty of the Church of Christ" as being "altogether of a spiritual Nature,"15 he seems thus to express his distrust of both ceremony and works—to indicate that he considers religion as a matter of naive and emotionalized faith. If this be so, it explains both his dissatisfaction with the preaching of the Dissenting clergy of the day and his long period of ad- herence to the French Prophets. The former emphasized the moral aspect of religion; the latter, so Keimer first thought, had grasped its spiritual significance. Only after they had deserted him in his trials, and he had lost respect for their leaders, did he wish to discredit them. Much of the interest of Jt "Brand comes from the relation that Keimer has there given of the practices of the French Prophets and from his description of conditions in English prisons in the early eighteenth century. There can be no question of the trustworthiness of the latter, as Keimer had no reason to exaggerate them when writing Jt "Brand; moreover, his testimony has been confirmed by that of other writers. His account, however, of the religious orgies of the French Prophets may be questioned. Always wishing to appear as the champion of truth, he would have us believe that none of the * A Brand, 87. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 365 facts related in J[ "Brand are other than he himself had observed or learned at first hand from persons who had attended meetings of the Prophets.16 Yet the details of his story are so spectacular that it seems almost certain he chose to comment on some of the most ridiculous features of the activities of the Prophets, in the hope of justifying himself to the world by casting discredit on them. His strong self-pity made him unable to exercise such slight critical insight as he had, for he failed to see that by discussing so fully his own belief in their divine mission he was only making his case appear the more ridiculous. Keimer's account of the Prophets remains the most complete contemporary account of their activities, and there is little against which one may check its reliability.17 While it is certain that they incurred the odium of the French Protestant groups in London and were subjected to persecution because of their riotous meetings,18 they appear sometimes to have conducted themselves with seemliness and decorum, though fanatical tendencies were characteristic of their devotion. A recently discovered manuscript book of verse19 makes clear that there was much of the commonplace in their prayers and "blessings," most of which emphasize the sinfulness of man, the greatness of the Deity, and the need for repentance.20 This circumstance, however, in no way invalidates Keimer's assertion that the "prophets" of the sect were occasionally subject to mystical trances. Actually their devotional poetry reveals that some of them enjoyed experiences characterized by that passivity and ineffability which William

16 A Brand, Preface. The Sion College Library in London contains some five volumes of contemporary material dealing with "The Late False Prophets commonly called the French Prophets," which on the whole is as uncomplimentary as what Keimer writes. M. Aikin's Memoirs of Religious Impostors (London, 1823) contains an account of them which is based on that of Keimer. 18 Aikin, of. cit.y says that the French Protestant groups in London paid for the prosecution of various of the leaders in the Court of Queen's Bench. 19 This was recently secured by the Brown University Library. Beginning in 1712, it contains numerous "blessings" and poems dated from various cities of England and Scotland. All the poetry in the volume is by adherents of the Prophets, but none seems to be by Keimer. There are, however, numerous references to his sister, who had joined the sect in 1707. I am indebted to Mr. Vernon L. Parrington of Brown University for calling my attention to this item. 20 Keimer did not quarrel with moral principles j nor was his attack on the French Prophets motivated by their acceptance of the doctrine of original sin. 366 C. LENNART CARLSON October James states to be typical of the mystical.21 The following lines may serve as an example:22 Enable me my Lord, & I shall sing The evidences which thy Sp'rit doth bring When it with Pow'r resistless acts on me By which I surely know it comes from thee. No sooner do I feel its mighty Hand, But filled with Holy Fear I waiting stand To know the Will of God I do resign My self to him, who doth my Soul incline By a Constraint of Love to cease from all that's mine. Those Images which fill'd my brain before Are banish'd thence; they do appear no more. I am delivered then from all Desire But what the Sp'rit itself doth then inspire. 'Tis not from pow'r in me, that thus I cease From acting, or thus feel thy Heav'nly peace. I feel th' Effect from Heav'nly Pow'r to spring Which still goes on, subjecting ev'ry thing In me, till it my Soul doth thus to Quiet bring. From thence, my God, even from that passive State Thou dost the fruit of Words in me create I conscious am I do not them produce. No corresponding Thoughts do then amuse My Soul wrapt up, & waiting still on thee. . . . Since Keimer's description of the seizures of the "prophets" cor- responds to and supplements the evidence of their own writings, it may be assumed that he has not exaggerated his description of the trance phenomena to which they were subject. Also, there is little reason to doubt the truth of his relation concerning various unsavory scenes that were enacted at meetings of the group, once it has been recognized that sexual excitement frequently accompanies the more violent manifestations of religious enthusiasm.23 While throwing some light on various features of religious emo- tionalism, Keimer's account of the French Prophets also reveals much concerning the author's character. It proves what the Search

21 William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (London, 1928), 380^. 22 Manuscript volume previously noted, 113, 114, 115. The verses are headed Feb- ruary 28, 1713, Edinburgh, and preceded by an explanatory note which informs us that they were spoken "before a Stranger being an Answer to some Questions he had been asking at another Inspired. . . ." 28 In this connection see J. H. Leuba, The Psychology of Religious Mysticism (New York, 1929), i37#.,- also F. M. Davenport, Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals (New York, 1905). 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 367 had already suggested: that while he had some interest in matters of doctrine, he never appears to have had either the patience or insight necessary to discriminate between the niceties of various points of faith. In consequence, he judged crudely, on the basis of appear- ances alone, whatever he could not understand and dismissed it with an angry contempt. This lack of critical insight also made him the more anxious to secure the impossible: a religious faith that would satisfy both his demand for an absolute standard of truth and the yearning of his soul for strong emotional stimulus.24 His purported conversion to the Quaker faith was but a compromise with his real desires; the fact that he never worshipped with the Friends25 suggests that his attachment to them was as unstable as his relation with other religious groups had been. In addition to its importance as Keimer's most sustained literary work, *A "Brand has a unique interest as a document of eighteenth- century Protestantism. Such a book by a Protestant author would have been unthinkable in the years following the Restoration. The relative security which Protestant groups enjoyed in England after the Glorious Revolution made it possible for writers who would normally have attacked the Church of Rome alone to turn their attention toward the failings of sects within their own group and to criticize their unlovely features. As an evidence of the blossoming of Dissent and the weakening of the hold of the Established Church on Englishmen once the danger of Catholic supremacy had sub- sided,26 aA "Brand deserves more attention than it has received. Al- though written by a man whose critical ability is not to be trusted, it constitutes a significant comment on some of the less-known features of eighteenth-century life, and its graphic portrayal of the hectic sectarianism of the day is a curious comment on the persistence of human folly. From the purely literary point of view, the book has numerous faults. It is repetitious and badly proportioned. Though 24 Keimer's demand for the emotional in religion would seem to be expressed by his insistence that the valid religion must be "spiritual." He did not approve of those Quakers whose religion was merely "formal," as appears from his letter "To the truly spiritual among the Quakers" {A Brand, 124). A similar censure of the "formal" Quakers occurs in the Platonick Courtship (p. 7), which will be discussed later. 25 Keimer's relations with the Friends in Philadelphia will be discussed elsewhere in this study. There is no indication that he associated with the Friends in England. For a discussion of the precarious state of the Church in the early years of Hanoverian rule in England, see H. T. Buckle, History of Civilization in England (London, 1882), I. 42o#. 368 C. LENNART CARLSON October its language is unpolished, its lack of style and finish is partly atoned for by a vividness and directness that occasionally recall the manner of Defoe. How well Keimer had learned a pamphleteer's art can be seen from the third and apparently last book he wrote while in England: The Tlatonick Courtship.27 Published shortly after Jt "Brandy it has a preface which is particularly helpful in showing us Keimer's eminent preoccupation with himself and the nature of his conflict with society. He begins in a self-assertive way by promising the reader "an uncommon Piece, from as strange a Man," and assuring him that should he not like it, the author will not "value his Censure." The preface he has "clapt on," "according to Custom," but he states that he will never venerate custom, nor obey it unless he can do so in "pure Innocence." Having offered himself as a spiritual guide to any who may wish to learn truth, he defends his use of what some might call "loose, frothy" writing by an appeal to the manner of Bunyan and to that of the clergy of various denominations, whose use of allegory and figurative language in general he considers to offer an apology for his own. He then denounces the sins of the time, its "Luxury, Pride, Drunkenness, Swearing, Oppression, Whoredoms, and [the] abominable Effeminacy of the Children of the Nation," criticizes the Jacobites for rebelling against the King, and condemns the French Prophets, Ranters, and Socinians, "Imps of Hell," who have brought him to his sorry plight. The preface to the Couri;shi/p reveals the author to have been in a state of nervous excitement bordering on insanity, but it also shows he possessed a commendable open-mindedness of which he has given little evidence elsewhere. Here he carefully explains that his criticism has been di- rected not against the "truly Good" of any religious group, but only against "corrupt opinions and practices." The main body of the work consists of twenty-four pages of doggerel verse, with numerous footnotes, and may be briefly dismissed. 27 The title page bears witness to the author's eccentricity. It reads as follows: The Tlatonick Courtship A Poem. By Keimer Samuel, a Hearty Lover of Honesty, Sincerity, and Truth. Thee, whose sweet Youth and early Hofes inhance Thy Kate & Price and mark thee for a Treasure; Hearken unto a Verser who may chance Rhyme thee to Good, and make a Bait of Pleasure, A Verse may find him who a Sermon flies, And turn Delight into a Sacrifice. (London: Printed and sold by J. Bettenham in Pater-noster-row. MDCCXVIII.) The verse is by George Herbert, "that divinely inspired Efiscofal Priest^ as Keimer calls him. (Preface, p. xvi.) 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 369 The familiar story of Keimer's religious quest is here retold, by means of a somewhat erotic allegory, which portrays his soul wooed by the representatives of various denominations and finally wed to Christ. Ostensibly written to show forth the "truth," it also appears to have been intended to advertise the "Brandy to which frequent reference is made in the notes to the poem. None of the three books which Keimer wrote after his conversion indicates that he formed his literary style on that of any particular author of the time. A certain similarity between his manner and that of Defoe has already been noted, but his style possessed neither the terseness nor clarity that we find in Defoe. Though he seems to have imagined that his use of allegory was in the manner of Bunyan, this was but one of his frequent errors of judgment. There is nothing in common between the reflective sincerity and studied order of Bun- yan's allegory, and the confusion of vulgar and disordered ideas of Keimer's Qourtship. In prose and verse alike his manner never rose above that of the pamphleteer; he can never have felt the surge of creative effort, since he lacked all power of self-criticism. The one quality of his work which justifies its survival is the interest of the story he has to tell.

Nothing is known about the date and circumstances of Keimer's release from jail. If he ever discharged his debt to Potter it is most unlikely that the sale of his writings brought him funds to do it, and his relatives may have paid it for him. We only know that he left his wife28 and secured passage for Philadelphia, where he is supposed to have arrived in February, 1722.29 While the exact reasons that led him to go to Philadelphia can only be surmised, he may have done so to counteract the activities of his sister who he tells us30 had gone to Pennsylvania to preach the doctrines of the French Prophets, though possibly he may also have felt that since he had professed himself a Quaker he would find welcome in that city. The Philadelphia to which Keimer came had passed beyond the

28 Franklin states in his Autobiography that he met her in London. The known details of Keimer's arrival in Philadelphia, as deduced from contemporary records, have been summarized by Bloore, loc. cit., 265. He also discusses Keimer's project of establishing a school to teach Negroes to read the scriptures, which seems to have oc- cupied him for a time after his arrival. 30 A Brand, 124. There is no other record of her mission. 370 C. LENNART CARLSON October pioneer stage of development; it was staid and well ordered.31 The growth of commerce and trade and the social security that accom- panied it had created within the Quaker community a homogeneous standard of culture. The only major conflicts were such as arose between the governors and the Assembly, and these were never ac- companied by violence. Religious dissensions and quarrels between rival sects were both unknown. The Quakers themselves had de- veloped an attitude of complacency, and their position as the original founders of the city assured them of a social recognition that they had never received in England. Such an environment offered but few chances for a man like Keimer to make himself heard, and no account exists of his attempting to preach his peculiar doctrines after his arrival. Barring the possibility of his having taught school, he must have busied himself for some time in establishing a business, since he opened a printing-house in High Street in 1723.32 Although Keimer was printing in Philadelphia from 1723 to 1729, contemporary records concerning his activities are meagre.33 The fullest account is found in Franklin's ^Autobiography/4 though some further information may be gained from contemporary newspapers and from the imprints of books issued by Keimer's press. Even so, it is difficult to determine how good his business was, since he had a singular faculty for arousing enemies and was seldom written of by others, except to be ridiculed or reviled. Nor is his own testimony to be trusted, since it may have been exaggerated and was perhaps an expression of wishful thinking more frequently than not. In the

81 The best account of Philadelphia at this period is in A History of Philadelphia by J. T. Scharf and T. Westcott (Philadelphia, 1884), on which these generalizations are based. 82 Dr. Lawrence C. Wroth has suggested a distant possibility that Keimer may have secured the old Bladen-Reading press, from the estate of William Bladen. In 1722 it had been in Annapolis and Michael Piper had then intended to print the laws of the Colony on it. In September, 1723, Piper informed the Assembly that the press was in Phila- delphia, so that he would not be able to print the laws as he had petitioned} Wroth, A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland (Baltimore, 1922), 54. If Dr. Wroth's suggestion be true, Keimer may even have made a trip to Annapolis between his arrival in Philadelphia and his later establishment as a printer there. MBlooreJs study touches on some aspects of Keimer's publishing activities, but only with reference to the almanacs which he issued and the Universal Spectator. See also Isaiah Thomas, History of Printing in America, I. 229^., which contains information used by Bloore. 34 Since the relations between Keimer and Franklin have been summarized by Bloore, on the basis of the Autobiografhy, they will be treated here only as occasion demands. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 371 pages that follow will be considered the significance of Keimer's literary work, and the output of his press after his arrival in Philadelphia. Of the numerous items that came from Keimer's press while he was in Philadelphia, only a limited number need concern the person interested in the colonial literary tradition. These include his own writings, but few of which appear to be extant, and his reprints of books previously issued in England. The longest and worst poem which Keimer is known to have written while in Pennsylvania has real interest, because it is his best known and is reputed to have been his first bid for public attention.35 Evidently intended to arouse a friendly interest in himself, e/fn Elegy on the much lamented death of the ingenious and well-beloved Jtquila l{ose reveals only his pam- phleteering manner, and does not suggest any close personal acquaint- ance with its subject.36 It was printed as a broadside and decorated with the usual symbols of death that adorned funeral elegies of the time. Selling for two pence, it may have been cried through the streets. While it has been called "perhaps the worst elegy ever written,"37 this criticism is too harsh. It is an excellent illustration of how readily high seriousness may lapse into the mock-heroic, but its couplets are more regular than the stanzas in most elegies of the

85 Charles Evans, American Bibliography, I. 2436, where it is noted as the first issue of his press. A curious difficulty is raised by this assertion, which is based on Franklin's Autobiography. Though Franklin does not say that this was the first item which Keimer published, he implies as much, by stating* that Keimer's press had not been used when he (Franklin) arrived in Philadelphia, that Keimer knew nothing of its operation and called him in to print off the Elegy. As present accounts have it (Dictionary of American Biography), Franklin did not arrive in Philadelphia until October, 1723, and his story of the printing of the Elegy does not agree with the known facts relating to Keimer's career. Aquila Rose is known to have died on the 24th. of the 4th. month (i.e., June 24), 1723, and while it is possible that the Elegy on Rose was the first thing Keimer printed, it is unlikely that he issued it so long after Rose's death as October. If he did, Franklin is wrong in stating that his press had not been used, since another of Keimer's publications, A Parable (see below), was denounced at the Monthly Meeting of the Philadelphia Friends on September 29, 1723. Granting that the Elegy was published in October, one must assume either that Franklin's memory so long after the event had failed him, or that he was deliberately trying to belittle Keimer's reputation. On the other hand, if it was Keimer's first publication, and Franklin's account be correct, he himself must have arrived in Philadelphia earlier than his biographers have stated. 86 Rose was a printer in the employ of Bradford and Clerk of the Assembly. The Elegy has been reprinted in Duyckinck, Cyclopaedia of American Literature (New York, 1875), I. IIO-II. 87 Cambridge History of American Literature, I. 161. Cited by Bloore, loc. cit.y 269. 372 c' LENNART CARLSON October

day. There is no record of the contemporary reception of the Slegyy but one other of Keimer's publications in the same year caused considerable stir in Philadelphia. This was *A Tarable*8 apparently written by Keimer himself, and published at some time during the summer of 1723. Its reception by the Friends of Philadelphia sub- stantiates Franklin's statement39 that Keimer did not profess any particular religion at this time and proves that he had no communion with the Friends. In fact, the only reference to him in the Minutes of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting concerns this publication, which was denounced in the following terms at the Monthly Meet- ing of the Friends in September, 1723:40 Whereas one Samuel Keimer hath printed and published divers papers particularly one entitled A Parable & etc in some parts of which he assumes to use such a style and Language as that perhaps he may be deemed where he is not known to be one of the people called Quakers, its therefore the direction of this meeting that there be an advertisement in the weekly Mercury, to certify such as are unacquainted with the man that he is not of us the people called Quakers. While this suggests that Keimer had published several items offen- sive to the Quakers, it also seems to indicate that he was considered to be the author of them,41 otherwise his mere publication of the material would not have resulted in their disowning him in such a manner. Since no copy of Jt Varable is known to be extant, it is impossible to say what it contained. In all likelihood, however, it was another allegorical account of Keimer's religious experiences, perhaps with references to the Quakers, whom he may have considered "formal" in Philadelphia. If we exclude official documents, almanacs, and the Universal In- structor•> the list of all Keimer's known publications, from 1723 to the end of 1729, includes somewhat over forty items.42 Possibly he printed a number of other ephemeral ones of which no record has survived. Of this total, approximately one-half are of a moral or theological nature, but their proportion to his entire output is no greater than that of other publishers of the day.43 Keimer himself 88 89 Evans, of. cit.y 2437. Franklin, Autobiography. 401 am indebted for this information to Mrs. Eleanor Melson of the Department of Records of the Religious Society of Friends of Philadelphia j Philadelphia Monthly Meeting Minutes, 102. 41 In A Brand Keimer had made use of Quaker expressions, and their occurrence in A Parable, which was not by one of the Quakers, again suggests Keimer as the author. 42 This count is based on the list in Evans, American Bibliography. 43 The religious and moral items constituted an even larger part of the total output of 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 373 may have written various anonymous items in this class,44 though it would be difficult to fix the authorship with certainty, since no copies of any of these are known to be extant. In general, however, he chose for reprinting the writings of well-known theologians and religious writers of the time, of which a considerable number were by Quaker authors. These were mostly short pamphlets or books of less than one hundred pages, probably because Keimer's establishment would not allow him to undertake more considerable ventures.45 As one of the first books to be issued from his press, Keimer chose Thomas Chalkley's Jêtter to a Friend" which contained an account of the sad effects of intemperance, intended as a warning to the young. A pamphlet typical of many of the period, it pointed out, by citing graphic examples, the consequences of yielding to some particular human weakness.47 Its authorship by a Quaker may have persuaded Keimer that it would appeal to the Friends of Philadelphia. Perhaps his own dislike for the Presbyterian doctrine of absolute reprobation motivated the publication in the same year, 1723, of Benjamin East- burn's Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation . . . refuted™ since it is unlikely that a book such as this could have enjoyed a good sale the New England presses, from which were issued a large number of sermons. Keimer is known to have printed only one sermon, The Craftsman, by Daniel Burgess. This he issued in 17255 (Evans, of. cit.} 2615). He seems to have published this because it was so strong a warning against "the Infection of Priestcraft" (cf. his edition of The Indefendent Whig, where it is advertised). 44 The following anonymous items which were published by Keimer in 1724. have titles which suggest that he perhaps wrote them, though it should be noted that in general he did not write anonymously: An account of the affrehending, tryal and condemnation of . . . Idleness and Pride (Evans, of. cit.y 2497), A Dialogue between a Burgomaster of Rotterdam, and . . . a French Calvinist Preacher (ibid., 2523), and A Dialogue be- twixt a learned divine and a beggar (ibid., 2524). No copies of these items are known. The anonymous A Touch of the Times, which he issued in 1729, was also his own work} (cf. Bloore, loc. cit., 277). 45 Franklin asserts in his Autobiografhy that Keimer's shop was very poorly equipped in 1723 and speaks with contempt of his poor types. While it would seem that he did not have a large shop, and possibly had poor equipment to begin with, those of his items that survive from 1724 are no worse typographically than most that were published in the colonies at the time. His edition of The Indefendent Whig, issued in that year, is a clean and quite accurate piece of work. 46 Evans, of. cit., 2416. 4T The popularity of such pamphlets in the colonies can be seen from the numeroug Boston reprints of the anonymous Onania, or the heinous sin of self-follution, which sold widely in England also during the early eighteenth century. 48 Evans, of. cit., 2430. 374 C- LENNART CARLSON October among the Friends. The possibility that it sold poorly may explain why Keimer published nothing further dealing with the Presbyte- rians or their doctrines, except cA Jêtter from the Vresbyterian SVLin- istersy Âssociation of "Boston to the Baptists of "Providence/9 which he issued in 1724. Indeed, from that year on, nothing of a contro- versial religious nature seems to have come from his press, though he reprinted numerous items of monitory literature that probably had a more general appeal. So was published in 1724 Stephen Crisp's *A Short History of a Jông bravely from Babylon to Bethel,50 a book quite popular in its time which told the story of the salvation of a human soul, after the allegorical manner, of which "Pilgrim's Progress remains the best example. Another of his publications in the same year was William DelPs Baptismon Didaches: or the T>octrine of Baptisms51 which had first appeared in London in 1652 and had gone through several editions in England. Neither of these books has any importance as literature. The first may claim notice as an example of current devotional reading, but the second is a theological pamphlet that can excite us no longer. A certain similarity may be observed between the type of books that Keimer reprinted and his own writings. Crisp's book was only the first of several biographical, if less abstractly homiletic, items that Keimer was to print. In 1725 he issued "The Fighting Sailor turn'dpeaceable Christian52 the autobiography of one Thomas Lur- ting; in 1726 he published Elizabeth Stirredge's Strength and Weak- 5 ness * another autobiography -yan d in 1729 Jt {Memorable Âccount 54 of the Christian Experiences ... 0/ ... Edward Perry} by himself. Of these items the first two were reprinted from English originals. Nothing is known of the third. It is evident, however, that all three tell the story of how the authors arrived at a quiet faith in God. Keimer may have reprinted them in respohse to a popular demand, but the facts that they are not known to have been issued by other colonial printers, and that they tell a tale of the type with which he himself was preoccupied suggest that he printed them because he liked them and thought that they would be useful to others. Had Keimer confined himself to publishing only such material

49Ibid., 2503. "Ibid., 2518. "Ibid., 2522. MIbid., 2654. nIbid., 2815. 64Ibid., 3205. Keimer printed two editions of this in the same year. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 375 as this, he could not be said to have done anything noteworthy for the cause of literature in colonial Pennsylvania. But the case is otherwise. Before he began printing in Philadelphia the only important English author whose work had been published in the colonies was Bunyan, whose Tilgrim's Trogress was issued in the first American edition by Samuel Green of Boston, in 1681.55 Then in 1725 Keimer issued Defoe's History of the Wars of Charles Z7756 and Steele's Crisis*1 He thereby became the first colonial printer to introduce these authors to would-be readers in anything other than English editions. So far as is known, he was the first colonial publisher who on his own initiative issued works by men whose importance in the history of English literature has since been recognized.58 The reprinting of Defoe's book derives additional interest from the suggestion that Keimer had known him,59 while one cannot help connecting his reprinting of a work by Steele with the influence he asserts the Christian Hero had had in shaping his life. Other things that Keimer printed justify Franklin's assertion that he was "somewhat of a 60 scholar." There was, for example, the History of T>iodorus Siculus} which he published in 1725,61 and the ^Morals of Epictetus, which came from his press in 1729.62 These books are notable as the first translations of works by Classical authors that were printed by an American publisher. His literary interests also appear by his publication in 1728 of Sir Matthew Hale's D^ecessary and Important Con- siderations™ and of Defoe's Religious Courtship, which it seems that he issued as a volume in 1729 in addition to serializing it in the Universal Instructor.™ Keimer's taste for substantial moralizing appears in his publication of both these works, but Mary Molineux's Fruits of Retirements which also appeared in 1729, was issued perhaps less because of his personal interest in it than because of its previous

Ibid.y 299. Green printed it "upon the Assignment of Samuel Sewall." 56 Ibid., 2623. 67 Ibid., 2703. 58 In this connection it may be noted that Daniel Leeds's The Temfle of Wisdomy printed by Bradford at Philadelphia in 1688, contains Wither's Abuses Strip and Whip, Quarles's Divine Poems, and some of Bacon's Essays. 69 Dictionary of National Biografhy, Keimer. Cited by Bloore, loc. cit., 261. The supposition is admittedly tenuous, and should be treated cautiously. 60 Franklin, Autobiography. 61 Evans, of. cit., 2625. 62 Ibid., 3160. This was advertised in the Universal Instructor, 19th. of 4th. month, 1729. Ibid., 3035. There was an edition by Bradford in 1736. (Ibid., 4023.) "/«*., 3155- 37^ C. LENNART CARLSON October popularity in England and his conviction that it would enjoy a ready sale in Philadelphia.65 Among Keimer's reprints of items that had appeared in England, one other remains to be noted, that of the Independent Whig, which he published in penny numbers on "every Fourth Day of the Week" during I724.68 Though not the work of a colonial writer, it is notable as the first periodical other than a newspaper to be published in the American colonies. The Independent Whig was the work of J. Tren- chard and T. Gordon, two of the ablest political writers of the early eighteenth century, and must have appealed to Keimer because of its strong criticism of the ill effects of High Church principles on society and the State. That it did so is at least suggested by his preface to the reprint, wherein he states that the paper had met with such un- usual popularity from persons of high rank in England, that67 It is ... proposed to Re-re-print the said Discourses Weekly (for the Benefit and Delight of those who have any Relish for useful Knowledge, and are not contented to be led blindfold into the boggy Mazes of Ignorance and Super- stition), and published . . . much cheaper than they were sold in England, the Printer hereof, not studying so much his private Interest as the publick Good Aside from its literary interest, Keimer's edition of the Independent Whig must stand as testimony of his peculiar distrust of organized religion and of his belief in the sovereign power of the State. The items that we have just considered are, from the purely literary point of view, the most important issues of Keimer's press. Except for what has been indicated, it is difficult to say to what extent he was guided by his personal taste in publishing them. The probability remains that some of the items by Quaker authors which he reprinted were either commissioned by members of that sect68 or issued with a view to their ready sale. Even so, it would seem that his own range of literary interests was not very wide, and that he had a strong pref-

Ibid.y 3191. A first edition appeared in London in 1702, and a third in 1720. Ibid.y 2537, also Preface to Keimer's reprint. The Independent Whig was published in weekly issues from Jan. 20, 1720, to Jan. 4, 1721. There were 53 numbers j R. S. Crane and F. B. Kaye, of. cit.y 329. It was collected into a volume in 1721, and Keimer perhaps based his reprint on that. 08 The Quakers are known to have commissioned Keimer to print only SewePs History of the Quakers, which he brought out after much difficulty in 1728} Evans, of. cit.y 3104. See also Bloore, loc. cit.y 280-82 where the publication of this has been discussed. Keimer may have been commissioned to do Pugh's A Salutation to the Britains (Evans of. cit.y 2950), and Barclay's Catechism (Evans, of. cit.} 2727) which are, of course, by Quaker writers. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 377 erence for the didactic, or informative, in his choice of belles lettres.69 Aside from having made books of the latter type more available in Pennsylvania, he contributed little toward building up a literary tradition in the colony. However little this may have been, it is not entirely negligible when the relatively varied output of Keimer's press is contrasted with that of Bradford's and if we bear in mind that his press first issued material such as no other Philadelphia publisher printed until Franklin and Meredith had established theirs.70 During his stay in Philadelphia Keimer published a number of other items, including Assembly Proceedingsy almanacs, and the Uni- versal Instructory with only a few of which we need be concerned here. The publication of Assembly Proceedings and official proclamations appears to have been but a routine task, which both Keimer and Brad- ford engaged in. No such publications came from Keimer's press in 1723, and it remains uncertain whether he was officially commissioned to print a Proclamation by Governor Keith, which he issued in 1724.71 In 1725, however, he published a Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the Representatives of the Province for that year and informs us in the imprint that he had been appointed by order of a committee of the House to print it.72 If he received a special commission for that year there is no indication that it was renewed for the one following, in which both he and Bradford published the Journal.™ In all likelihood the competition with Bradford made it unprofitable for him to continue with this venture, and he published no further issues of the Journal after 1726.74 Furthermore, Keimer's appointment as printer for the Province of New Jersey, and his con- sequent engagement to issue the currency and official acts of that 69 Concerning- his taste in poetry there is little evidence, despite the citation from George Herbert on the title page of the Religious Courtshif. His Barbados Gazette (see below) contained numerous poems in the Cavalier manner, but these were not by him, and were printed to oblige his readers. 70 So Keimer's lead in publishing works by Classical authors was followed when Franklin and Meredith issued Logan's translation of Cato's Moral Distichs in 1735, and his translation of Cicero's De Senectute in 1744. 71 Evans, of. cit.y 2577. This has been mentioned in a letter by Keith to Hannah Penn on May 14, 1724, but no reference to a commission for printing it occurs, Penn MSS., Official Correspondence, I. 145, in H. S. P. 72 Evans, of. cit.y 2694. No record of the order has been located. Ibid., 2799, 2800. 74 He printed a short account of the Proceedings of some Members of Assembly in

1728$ Evans, of. cit.y 3096. Bradford, however, had "compleat Setts" of the Journal for sale already in 1725 j Evans, of. cit.y 2692-2693. 37^ C. LENNART CARLSON October province/5 may have made it impossible for him to undertake such an enterprise in 1727 and 1728, while the poor state of his business perhaps hindered it in 1729. Concerning Keimer's ventures in almanac publishing less is known than one might wish, but this is sufficient to show that his business ethics were in no way superior to those of his contemporaries.76 His publication, in 1725, of *A Comf^ea^ S-phemeris for . . . 1726 by Jacob Taylor shows that in attempting to secure business he did not hesitate to employ the common, if dishonest, practice of issuing an almanac of his own making under the name of an author whose work had an established reputation.77 Taylor denounced the "lying Pam- phlet," in an advertisement in Bradford's ^Mercury, and his denun- ciation indicates that Keimer had inserted into the almanac an attack on various "professors of Christ and Christianity."78 Obviously, he had not forgotten his old quarrel with the sects, though this is the only clear evidence of his having raised it in Philadelphia.79 There is no indication that Keimer continued the Taylor almanac regularly after 1725,80 but that his interest in items of this sort had not lapsed is proved by the fact that he bought the right to publish Titan Leeds's ^Almanack and began to issue it in 1726. Leeds seems to have sold the publication rights to Bradford, before making any arrangements with Keimer, and since both publishers claimed a share in the almanac it continued to be a bone of contention between them during the re- mainder of Keimer's career in Philadelphia.81

75 Franklin, Autobiografhy. 78 Some of the main facts relating to Keimer's almanac publishing have been summarized by Bloore, loc. cit., 266-6$. See also the Pennsylvania Gazette, Nov. 10-13, 1729. "Evans, of. cit., 2708. The entry here informs us that all but the calculations were by Keimer. Taylor had been issuing almanacs since 1701, when his first almanac, for 1702, had been published at Philadelphia by Reynier Jansen. His later publications came from the press of Bradford. 781. Thomas, History of Printing in America, I. 231. 79 Keimer had continued his peculiar religious practices after coming to Philadelphia. He continued to observe the Mosaic injunction to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath and wore his beard. That he was still the religious projector is clear from Franklin's account of his scheme for establishing a new sect in which he was to preach the doctrines and Franklin was to confute all opponents} Franklin, Autobiografhy. 80 Evans lists but one other Taylor almanac published by Keimer (of. cit.> 2966). Since this was published in 1727 for the year following, after Keimer had begun to issue the Leeds almanac, it is possible that he issued both concurrently, at least for a time. 91 In all probability it was issued yearly by Keimer. Though Evans lists no copies for 1727, 1728, and 1729, the Library of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania has copies 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 379 Although one must look to the almanacs for much of the verse written in colonial times, the fact that so few of those which were published by Keimer have survived makes it almost impossible to judge of the literary merit of all that he issued. His edition of Taylor's ^Almanack for 1726 makes it clear that he wrote some of the verses in the almanacs which he printed, though how frequently remains uncertain.82 Insufficient data must also leave the problem unsolved whether he was responsible for the choice of verses in praise of the Penns and Pennsylvania that appeared in Titan Leeds's Jtlmanack for 1730, though it is likely that he had a hand in securing them for that publication.83 From such evidence as is available, it

for the last two years, as well as for 1730, when the almanac was printed by David Harry, Keimer's successor in his business. As appears from Bloore's account, loc. cit., 267-68, Bradford secured the aid of Titan Leeds's brother, Felix Leeds, who compiled an almanac for him which he published under the same title as that issued by Keimer. It is possible that Bradford's almanac was partly reprinted from that which Keimer issued. Titan Leeds at least alleges that the calculations in Bradford's publication for 1729 had been taken from that of Keimer (Preface, The Genuine Leeds Almanack . . . 1730, Philadelphia, D. Harry). Titan Leeds began to issue almanacs in 1714, when his first almanac was published by Boone, in Boston. In the year 1715 William Bradford in New York, and Andrew Bradford in Philadelphia were publishing his com- pilation. From that time until 1726 Andrew Bradford was publishing it. An extenuating circumstance, so far as Keimer's part in the affair is concerned, is the possibility that he did not know of the arrangement between Leeds and Bradford when he bought the publication rights, and that Leeds failed to divulge it, on Keimer's payment to him of a sum larger than he had received from Bradford. 82 He seems to have written some of the verses in Titan Leeds's Almanack for 1729, where the following occurs for June: Two wou'd be thought Wits on a Time, Met Keimer, and him fain would banter j Each filPd himself a Glass of Wine, Then offer'd him empty Decanter $ Saying, Keimer, tell what's rhime to Crambo? Keimer reply'd You're Coxcombs, Ambo. 88 This is possible even though it was printed by Harry, since he had been associated with Keimer. There are two variant copies of the 1730 Leeds Almanack in the Library of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. One bears Harry's imprint, and the date 1730. The other has no imprint, and in its place is this: "Note, That in the first Impres- sion of this Almanack, the time of the Courts of New-York & N. Jersey are all wrong, but in this 2d Impression they are right." There were two prefaces in the edition with Harry's imprint, one by the author, asserting that the only genuine Leeds almanac was by him, the other by Harry, explaining that he had taken over Keimer's business. Neither occurs in the issue without the imprint, but it is not certain whether the latter was pirated or not. This possibility gains in interest from the consideration that the verses on the Penns in the Harry publication are unsigned, while those in the issue without an imprint are signed "Oxf. Schol. Exit.," suggesting them to be the work of George Webb, who had been in Keimer's employ $ Franklin, Autobiography. 38O C. LENNART CARLSON October would seem that while Kcimer's almanacs were not free from trite drollery and jejune occasional verse, their literary merit was on the whole no less than that of other similar publications of the time. Perhaps the only other of Keimer's publications that kept him in the public eye as much as the almanacs did was the 'Pennsylvania Qazette, or Universal Instructor. This he began to issue on December 24, 17285 some months after he had learned of Franklin's plan to establish a newspaper that would serve the needs of the city more adequately than did Bradford's {Mercury.** As one of the most am- bitious ventures that Keimer had undertaken, it was to bring him into conflict with Franklin, whose plans he had forestalled, as well as with Bradford, whose American {Mercury had been established in 1719 and was the only news-sheet in the city. The Universal Instructor was announced in a "Prospectus which Keimer issued on October 1,1728.85 Here his militant attitude toward Bradford, and his sanguine hopes for his own journal are clearly expressed. He explains that he has been encouraged by various gentle- men in Pennsylvania and the "Neighbouring Province" to publish a "Paper of Intelligence," and states that it is necessary, because Bradford's {Mercury is "a reproach to the Province," and "such a Scandal to the very Name of Printing, that it may, for its unparallel'd Blunders and Incorrectness be truly stiled Nonsense in folio."86 His own paper will be a contrast to this, containing only "the best and most authentick Accounts of the most remarkable Transactions in Europe," along with the "Theory of all Arts, both Liberal and Me- chanical, and the several Sciences, both humane and divine." As if to justify his use of the title Universal Instructor, Keimer lists above thirty fields of knowledge that will be surveyed in the new journal, and explains that a similar design for a comprehensive survey of the arts and sciences has been under way in Europe for several years, where it has been supported by eminent noblemen and ecclesiastics, by James Logan of Philadelphia, and by "the wisest King that ever sat on the British Throne, the Darling of Heaven, King GEORGE the Second."87 The grandiloquent promises of the Prospectus show that Keimer

S4 Franklin, Autobiografhy. 89 Evans, of. cit., makes no mention of this. 86 Franklin has also commented on its poor quality. "The survey to which Keimer refers was Chambers's Dictionary, issued in 1728. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 381 was being strongly influenced by contemporary European trends in periodical publication,88 as well as by current attempts to systematize knowledge and make it more generally accessible. But he does not appear to have been conscious of the democratic implications of those trends and merely wished to attract attention by issuing a newspaper that must needs appear on a full sheet, as contrasted with the half- sheet on which the {Mercury was frequently issued. Some of his enthusiasm for the project is evident in his assertion that his journal would soon be so successful that within a few weeks after its first publication it would "exceed all others that ever were in America,"89 and be one of the "richest" mines of "useful Knowledge ever before discovered." With unconscious humor Keimer then tells that he is "sincere to serve his Country" at a "cheap Rate," and promises all the advantages of subscription to so "unexceptionable" a journal for but ten shillings a year, proclamation money. He also states that subscribers will be allowed to insert one advertisement gratis in the first half-year.90 The first issue of the Universal Instructory as we have seen, did not appear until almost two months after the Prospectus. It showed that Keimer could keep a promise, but also demonstrated that reality is seldom as dazzling as the expectation. In fact, the promised survey of knowledge was begun by an extract from Chambers's "Dictionary. Further extracts from that work appeared regularly, and in alpha- betical order, until Franklin took over the paper.91 At first they were its only distinguishing feature, since Keimer, like other colonial printers, depended on English newspapers for all his foreign and some occasional news. But it was not long before additional material of a more literary nature began to appear.92 So we find his own replies

For a discussion of this matter see W. Graham, English Literary Periodicals, Chapter I. 89Keimer's journal was made available in other colonies through his agents. Henry- Newton sold it in Newcastle, William Heurtin in New York, and Eleazar Phillips in Charles-Town. While Keimer's connection with these men is not clear, it appears from an edition of Henry ScougaPs Vital Christianity (Evans, of. cit.y 2700), which he printed in 1725, that already he was having business relations with Phillips. The normal rate for advertisements was three shillings an insertion, as appears from the imprint of the Universal Instructor. 91 The single exception is in the case of the Universal Instructor for the 3rd. of the 5th. month, 1729, in which Keimer's account of his recent imprisonment took the place usually given to the extract. 02 Bloore, loc. cit.y 275-80 offers some comment on the material inserted into the 382 C. LENNART CARLSON October to Franklin's "Busybody Tapers, an essay from an English journal,93 and similar items. But this is of minor significance, except for its personal interest. Of somewhat more importance, historically, was his serial publication of Defoe's %eligious Courtship, which was begun, without any mention of the author, in the issue for April 24, 1729, and continued in later issues until Keimer relinquished the paper. Though the publication of these extracts was perhaps motivated by Keimer's desire to fill his entire sheet, in the absence of news, it should be noted as the first sustained attempt on the part of a colonial publisher to print an extended story serially in his newspaper.94 Nor are his extracts from Chambers's "Dictionary entirely negligible, despite Franklin's contemptuous criticism.95 If they show that Keimer had poor judgment, they none the less indicate that he kept himself informed about significant English publications and was alert to bring whatever he thought useful, or saleable, before his readers. From the beginning Keimer seems to have realized that it would be difficult to establish another newspaper in Philadelphia and made a bid for public notice by various ingenious means, in addition to promising a journal of instructive value. His campaign for publicity began with the appearance of the Vrospectus. Copies of this he had printed on a full sheet, of which half was left blank, and offered to distribute them gratis to merchants, who might then write their advertisements on the blank half, and send the entire sheet to their correspondents without paying double postage. A further bid for public attention, and for more advertising, was made when the Uni- versal Instructor had been established some months.96 Then Keimer

Instructor. Consequently, it has not seemed necessary to consider the news, and such items as he has noted at length. His study, however, is more particularly concerned with the quarrel between Franklin and Keimer, after the establishment of that paper, so that this will not be considered here. 98 Essays from English journals do not occur frequently in the colonial journals. Number 20 of the Universal Instructor has Truth and Falshood from the Craftsman. 94 Keimer asserts that he printed it "to make our Paper more useful." A similar method of serializing popular books came to be practised by London publishers in the thirties of the eighteenth century. Read's Journal, in particular had such extracts. 95 Pennsylvania Gazette, Sept. 23-Oct. 2, 1729. This was the first issue by Franklin. Since it did not contain the extract from Chambers's work he explained the omission by saying that it would take fifty years to publish the whole by the method Keimer had used. 98 Universal Instructor, 20th. of 1st. month, 1729. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 383 explained that he was establishing a "Friendly Office for selling all sorts of Goods cheap." He purported to be actuated by the most charitable motives in this scheme, and in announcing it stated that the shortage of money in Philadelphia, and the need that many poor people were under of selling their goods for a mere pittance at ven- dues, had prompted him to it. He offered to receive any goods that people might wish to sell and to advertise them for sale in the In- structor, charging for advertising only. Although the normal charge was three shillings an insertion, he further stipulated that he would charge but six-pence for advertising an item that sold for twenty shillings or less, twelve-pence for one between twenty and forty shillings, and the full three shillings only for an article that brought over three pounds.97 The plan obviously had some points in its favor and was not wholly selfish, yet the printer's purpose is clear from his remark that "by looking into this Paper the Publick may constantly find what Goods are to be sold, and may be furnished with what they want."98 Later issues of the Instructor show that the Friendly Office received some patronage and that on occasion Keimer had a dozen or more articles to be disposed of. These were duly advertised in the paper until sold. But they were largely books, with only an occasional article of household furniture, and were neither so numerous nor so valuable that the project could have added much to his income from advertising. Moreover, there is nothing to show that it appreciably increased the circulation of his paper,99 against which Franklin and Bradford were then conducting their united campaign with a telling effect. Nor does his business appear to have been particularly flourishing in other respects. Like numerous publishers of the time, he had joined a stationer's business with his printing, at least by 1726,100 and con-

Bloore's statement, loc. cit.} 274, that Keimer charged a commission for his services is not correct. He charged for advertising only. 98 Universal Instructor, No. XIII. 80 In the advertisement for the Friendly Office, Keimer states that he printed two hundred and fifty copies of the Instructor weekly. This must include any that were sold outside of Philadelphia. Franklin says he had "at most ninety subscribers." Though this does not contradict Keimer's statement, it suggests that his paper cannot have been a very profitable venture. 100 In that year he moved into new quarters on Second Street. That he was established in the stationer's business that year appears from an advertisement in an edition of

Francis Rawle's A Just Rebukey which he issued in 1726. It will also be recalled that Franklin comments on the flourishing condition of his business then. 384 C. LENNART CARLSON October tinued with it until he left Philadelphia. It was with an eye to increasing his sales that he printed a Short-Hand Hook in 1728,101 which was given gratis to those purchasing three shillings worth of useful books. The fact that it was not reprinted in a second edition until the year following,102 suggests that the volume of his sales was not large, since there is little reason to suppose that the first impression exceeded five hundred copies. Indeed, he seems to have been in straitened financial circumstances by 1728, and his attempt to run a lottery at the fair that year only proves that he was hard pressed for money.103 Advertisements in the Instructor also make it clear that during his last year in Philadelphia, at least, Keimer was adopt- ing various means for increasing his income. So he took to selling loaf sugar and other sundries imported from England, in an attempt to augment his business in the months preceding its collapse. This all pointed in the direction of disaster, and one is not surprised to find that on one occasion the publication of the Universal Instructor was interrupted by the printer's imprisonment for debt.104 After his release he took pains to inform the public that his business was in a solvent condition,105 but matters were undoubtedly not as well with him as he would have had men believe, and his difficulties came to a head in September, 1729, when he sold the rights of the Universal Instructor to Franklin.106 A little later his former apprentice, David Harry, took over his business, and Keimer's career in Philadelphia was at an end. His experiences here had not been happy. From the beginning he had shown himself tactless and undiplomatic, though his purpose seems often to have been sincere. His eccentricities had gained him attention, but no respect. In England he had never managed his

101 102 Evans, of. cit.y 3105. Ibid., 3218. 103 He was not allowed to run the lottery; Bloore, loc. cit.} 273. 104 There was no issue of the Universal Instructor for the last week of June, 1729. Number XXVII, for the 3d. of the 5th. month, 1729, contains Keimer's account of his imprisonment. The details here have been summarized by Bloore, loc. cit.y 278, 279. 105 He states that he had a well-tenanted real estate, which brought him in five pounds a year, that his newspaper and Leeds's Almanack brought in a hundred and twenty pounds a year, clear of all charges, and that he had over one hundred and sixty persons in his debt, some for sizeable sums. Also he states that he owed money to about thirty persons, three of whom were his creditors for above twenty pounds, four for more than ten, and the rest for trifling sums. This may be true but there is nothing against which it can be checked. 106 Franklin, Autobiography. 1937 SAMUEL KEIMER 385

business capably, and in Philadelphia he seems to have been constantly in debt.107 Under circumstances such as these, he could not compete with Bradford, whose position in the city was so firmly established that even Franklin found him a formidable opponent.108 But for all this his accomplishment should not be neglected. From his press had come works which in their day were solid and instructive, some of them with literary importance. The newspaper which he established was to have a longer life than any other colonial journal, and while in his hands was superior to many of the newspapers of the time. While his press-work was not the best it compares favorably with that of other colonial presses and is no disgrace to him. If his business methods were sometimes unethical, they do not seem to have differed much from those of his contemporaries, and even Franklin, his sever- est critic, had not been above the use of practices almost as reprehen- sible to hasten his failure.

Shortly after Harry had taken over his business, Keimer left Philadelphia for the Barbados. The little that is known of his career there has been summarized in Bloore's study109 and need not be considered here. It remains to be noted, however, that he carried with him his interest in literary journalism. His "Barbados Qazette, founded in 1731, continued for seven years to contain a larger per- centage of literary material than other colonial newspapers.110 Most of this was in the contemporary manner, occasional verse such as the eighteenth century reader liked, and appears to have been by local writers. What part Keimer himself took in writing for the journal is uncertain. Surely none of the verse that is known to have appeared there is in his characteristic manner. Aside from its interest as a repository of little-known colonial verse, the Barbados Qazette is important as the first newspaper on the island, and one of the first among colonial newspapers to be regularly noted in England. In the thirties of the eighteenth century, colonial journals furnished only occasional items of news for the English 107 Ibid. ™ibid. 109 Bloore, loc. cit.y 283-87. 110 Many of the important literary items that appeared in the Gazette were reprinted in Caribbeana. . . . Chiefly wrote by several Hands in the West Indies, which was

published in London in 1741. (See Bloore, loc. cit.} 284). The Gazette, unlike the Universal Instructor, continued as a weekly only for a short time, and was then issued twice a week. 386 C. LENNART CARLSON October weeklies and magazines, and it was not until later in the century that attention to colonial affairs began to increase. Under these circumstances, it is worth noting that the "Barbados Qazette was regularly extracted in the Qentleman's ^Magazine from the beginning of that periodical in 1731 and furnished a number of poems as well as articles of news for its columns. Whether this was due to a personal relationship between Keimer and Edward Cave, the owner of the Qentle- y man sy is impossible to say. Essentially, that is of little importance. The significant fact is that Keimer, even in his last years, was one of the first among colonial printers to issue a newspaper of sufficient literary value to receive the attention of English publishers. When he died in 1742111 there passed from the colonial scene one of its most baffled and curious figures, a man whose eccentricities have almost overwhelmed his accomplishment, whose concern for others gained him only their ridicule, and whose constant self-pity drove him to fail in all his own affairs. Surely none but the self-assured can condemn him, and even he ought temper his contempt with pity.

C°lby Qollege C. LENNART CARLSON

111 All previous accounts of Keimer follow the Dictionary of National Biography in stating that KeimerJs connections with the Barbados Gazette ended in 1738, and that he died in that year. (Cf. Dictionary of American Biography', also Bloore, loc. clt.). While no evidence exists to show that he was concerned with the Gazette after this, the record of Keimer's burial in the Registration Office at the Public Buildings in Barbados shows that he did not die in 1738: "Burial solemnized in the Cathedral and Parish Church of Saint Michael in the Island of Barbados in the year 1742. i74-2> 20th August, Samuel Keimer, Printer." (Cf. Vol. 3 A, 44. I am indebted for this information to J. D. Owen, Esquire, Colonial Secretary of the Barbados). Nothing definite is known of Keimer's activities in Barbados from 1738 until the time of his death. He may have been concerned with editing Qarlbbeana (see above), unless failing health prevented him from doing any active work.