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Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin M\\ : K\ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/autobiographyofb00fran2 \V ^uo^ii::::-^ X 'I>-^ % V' A,-'*^ f >/'^' N^^ AUTOBIOGRAPHY :A Benjamin Franklin, EDITED FROM HIS MANUSCRIPT, WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION, JOHN BIGELOW. Sage plein d'indulgence, grand homme plein de simplicity, tant qu'on cultivera la science, qu'on admirera le g^nie, qu'on goutera I'esprit, qu'on honorera la vertu, qu'on voudra la liberty, sa me- moire sera I'une des plus respect^es et des plus ch^ries. Puisse- t-il etre utile encore par ses examples apres I'avoir et^ par ses actions ! L'un des bienfaiteurs de I'humanit^, qu'il reste un de ses modules I MiGNET, de VAcadhnk Fratiiaise. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. LONDON: TRUBNER & CO. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by JOHN BIGELOW, the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. One hundred copies printed. No.. LIPPINCOTT'8 PB«8B, CONTENTS. rAGB INTRODUCTORY 7 FRANKLIN'S OUTLINE OF TOPICS 61 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANKLIN 65 APPENDIX 361 INDEX 389 IT is proper that I state the circumstances which seem to have imposed upon me the duty of adding another to the already numberless editions of Dr. Franklin's •Autobiography. It is well known that Franklin prepared so much of the celebrated Memoirs of his life as was originally in- tended for publication, mainly at the solicitation of one of his most chei'ished friends in France—M. le Veillard, then Mayor of Passy. Towards the close of the year 1789 he presented to this gentleman a copy of all this sketch that was then finished. At the Doctor's death, his papers, including the original of the manuscript, passed into the hands of one of his grandsons, William Temple Franklin,* who undertook to prepare an edition of the * Benjamin Pranklin died on the 17th of April, 1790, aged eighty- four years and three months. life and writings of his grandfather for a pubHshing house in London. For the greater convenience of the printer in the pre- paration of this edition—so goes the tradition in the Le Veillard family—William Temple Franklin exchanged the original autograph with Mrs. le Veillard, then a widow, for her copy of the Memoirs ; and thus the auto- graph passed out of the Franklin familj'. At the death of the widow le Veillard this manuscript passed to her daughter ; and at her death, in 1834, it be- came the property of her cousin, M. de Senarmont, whose grandson, M. P. de Senarmont, transferred it to me on the 26th of January, 1S67, with several other memorials of Franklin which had descended to him with the manuscript. Among the latter were the famous pastel portrait of Franklin by Duplessis which he presented to M. le Veillard ; a number of letters to M. le Veil- lard from Dr. Franklin and from his grandsons, William Temple Franklin and Benjamin Franklin Bache ; to- gether with a minute outline of the topics of his Me- moirs, brought down to the termination of his mission to France. I availed myself of my earliest leisure to subject the Memoirs to a careful collation with the edition which appeared in London in 1817, and which was the first and only edition that ever purported to have been printed from the manuscript. The results of this collation re- vealed the curious fact that more than twelve hundred separate and distinct changes had been made in the text, and, what is more remarkable, that the last eight pages of the manuscript, which are second in value to no other eight pages of the work, were omitted entii-ely. Many of these changes are mere modernizations of measure some of the modifications style ; such as would which English prose had undergone between the days of Goldsmith and Southey. Some, Franklin might have approved of; others he might have tolerated; but it is safe to presume that very many he would have rejected without ceremony. A few specimens taken from the first chapter will show the general character of these changes. It is a curious fact that the very first words of the edition of 1S17 are interpolations. It commences : " To William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey. "Dear Son, &c." The autograph commences with "Dear Son," naming no person. Though William Franklin was the Doctor's only son, and in 1771, when this was commenced, was also Gov- ernor of New Jersey, it is very unlikely that the Doctor would have given his son any titles in addressing him a communication of this domestic and confidential charac- ter. This improbability is increased by the circumstance that at the time this manuscript was revised and copied to be sent to his friend, Le Veillard, William Franklin not only was not Governor of New Jersey, but was not living upon terms even of friendly correspondence with his grandfather. The fact that the French version com- mences with "Mon cher fils," omitting the name and title, leaves no doubt that the titles were added by the editor in the edition of 1817. A* (From the Edition of 1817,/. i.*) {From the Autograph, p. i.) Imagining it may be equally Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to learn the cir- agreeable to you to know the cir- cumstances of my life, many of cumstances of my life, many of which you are unacquainted mth, which you are yet unacquainted and expecting the enjoyment of a with, and expecting a week's un- few weeks' uninterrupted leisure, I interrupted leisure in my present sit down to write them. Besides, country retiretnent, I sit down to there are some other inducements write i\iem for you. tliat excite me to this undertaking. To which I have besides some From the poverty and obscurity in other inducements. Having emerged which I was born, and in -which I from the poverty and obscurity in passed my earliest years, I have which I was bom a7id bred to a raised myself to a state of affluence state of affluence and some de- and some degree of celebrity in the gree of reputation in the world, world. As constantgoodfortune !uis and Jiaving gotte sofar through life accompanied me even to an advanced with a considerable share offelicity, period of life, my posterity will per- the conducing means I made use of, haps be desirous of learning the which, with tlie blessing of God, so means which /employed, and which, well succeeded, 7ny posterity may like thanks to Providence, so well suc- to know, as they may find some of ceeded with me. They may also them suitable to their own situations, deem them fit to be imitated, should and therefore fit to be imitated. any of them find themselves in simi- lar circumstances. (From the Edition of 1817, /. 4.) (From the Autograph, p. i.) My grandfather Thomas, who My grandfather Thomas, who was born 159S, lived at Ecton till was born in 1598, lived at Ecton he was too old to continue his busi- till he grew too old to follow iusi- ness, when he retired to Banbury ness longer when he went to live in Oxfordshire to the house of his with his son John, a dyer, at Ban- son John with whom my father bury in Oxfordshire with whom served an apprenticeship. There my father served an apprentice- my uncle died and lies buried. ship. There my grandfather died and lies buried. * Whenever I shall have occasion to c the edition of 18 17, refer- ence will be made to the American edil 1 of this work, in six vols., published in Philadelphia in 1818. (Edition of i?,iy, p. ^) {Autograph, p. 2.) My grandfather had four sons My grandfather had four sons who grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. Being at a Benjamin and Josiah. I will give distancefrom my papers, I will give you what account I can of them at you what account I can of them this distance from my papers, and if from memory, and if my papers these are not lost in my absence, you are not lost in my absence, you will will, among them, find many more find among them many more par- particulars. ticulars. {Autograph, p. 3.) I was named after this uncle, I0mitt€d.'\ there being a particular affection between him and my father. {From the Edition of 1 817,/. 10.) {From the Autograph, p. 7.) I suppose you may like to know / think you may like to know what kind of a man myfather was. something of his person and charac- He had an excellent constitution, ter. He had an excellent constitu- and was of a middle stature, well tion of body, was of middle stature, set, and very strong; he could but well set and very strong; he draw prettily, and was a little 7uas ingenious; could draw prettily, skilled in music ; his voice was son- and was skilled a little in music, ormis and agreeable so that when and had a clear, pleasing voice, so he played on his violin and sung that when he played psabn tuites withal, as he was accustomed to do on his violin, and sung withal, as after the business of the day was he sometimes did in an evening, after over, it was e.xtremely agreeable to the business of the day was over, hear. He had some knowledge of it was extremely agreeable to hear.
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