4901[Elegy on My Sister Franklin, 1722] (Franklin Papers)
Copy: University of Pennsylvania Library The University of Pennsylvania acquired in 1934 an eighty-six line “Elegy on my Sister Franklin,” undated but written in an eighteenth-century hand, and signed “B.F.” The Elegy opens as follows: The manuscript is a sheet of four pages and appears to be a copy of an earlier version, for the penman inadvertently skipped lines 35 and 36, but put them in at...
4902Silence Dogood, No. 14, 8 October 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , October 8, 1722. Earum causarum quantum quaeque valeat, videamus. Cicero. It often happens, that the most zealous Advocates for any Cause find themselves disappointed in the first Appearance of Success in the Propagation of their Opinion; and the Disappointment appears unavoidable, when their easy Proselytes too suddenly start into Extreams, and are...
4903Silence Dogood, No. 13, 24 September 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , September 24, 1722. In Persons of a contemplative Disposition, the most indifferent Things provoke the Exercise of the Imagination; and the Satisfactions which often arise to them thereby, are a certain Relief to the Labour of the Mind (when it has been intensely fix’d on more substantial Subjects) as well as to that of the Body. In one of the late pleasant...
4904Silence Dogood, No. 12, 10 September 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , September 10, 1722. Quod est in cordi sobrii, est in ore ebrii. It is no unprofitable tho’ unpleasant Pursuit, diligently to inspect and consider the Manners and Conversation of Men, who, insensible of the greatest Enjoyments of humane Life, abandon themselves to Vice from a false Notion of Pleasure and good Fellowship . A true and natural Representation of...
4905Silence Dogood, No. 11, 20 August 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , August 20, 1722. Neque licitum interea est meam amicam visere. From a natural Compassion to my Fellow-Creatures, I have sometimes been betray’d into Tears at the Sight of an Object of Charity, who by a bear [ sic ] Relation of his Circumstances, seem’d to demand the Assistance of those about him. The following Petition represents in so lively a Manner the...
4906Silence Dogood, No. 10, 13 August 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , August 13, 1722. Optimè societas hominum servabitur. Cic. Discoursing lately with an intimate Friend of mine of the lamentable Condition of Widows, he put into my Hands a Book, wherein the ingenious Author proposes (I think) a certain Method for their Relief. I have often thought of some such Project for their Benefit my self, and intended to communicate my...
4907Silence Dogood, No. 9, 23 July 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , July 23, 1722. Corruptio optimi est pessima. It has been for some Time a Question with me, Whether a Commonwealth suffers more by hypocritical Pretenders to Religion, or by the openly Profane? But some late Thoughts of this Nature, have inclined me to think, that the Hypocrite is the most dangerous Person of the Two, especially if he sustains a Post in the...
4908Silence Dogood, No. 8, 9 July 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , July 9, 1722. On June 11 the Courant had insinuated that the Massachusetts authorities were not making proper exertions to capture a pirate vessel reported to be off the coast. Exasperated by this “High Affront,” the latest of many, the General Court the next day ordered James Franklin to be confined in jail for the remainder of the legislative session....
4909Silence Dogood, No. 7, 25 June 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , June 25, 1722. It has been the Complaint of many Ingenious Foreigners, who have travell’d amongst us, That good Poetry is not to be expected in New-England . I am apt to Fancy, the Reason is, not because our Countreymen are altogether void of a Poetical Genius, nor yet because we have not those Advantages of Education which other Countries have, but purely...
4910Silence Dogood, No. 6, 11 June 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , June 11, 1722. Quem Dies videt veniens Superbum, Hunc Dies vidit fugiens jacentem. Seneca. Among the many reigning Vices of the Town which may at any Time come under my Consideration and Reprehension, there is none which I am more inclin’d to expose than that of Pride . It is acknowledg’d by all to be a Vice the most hateful to God and Man. Even those who...
4911Silence Dogood, No. 5, 28 May 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , May 28, 1722. Mulier Mulieri magis congruet. Ter. I shall here present your Readers with a Letter from one, who informs me that I have begun at the wrong End of my Business, and that I ought to begin at Home, and censure the Vices and Follies of my own Sex, before I venture to meddle with your’s: Nevertheless, I am resolved to dedicate this Speculation to...
4912Silence Dogood, No. 4, 14 May 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , May 14, 1722. An sum etiam nunc vel Graecè loqui vel Latinè docendus? Cicero. Discoursing the other Day at Dinner with my Reverend Boarder, formerly mention’d, (whom for Distinction sake we will call by the Name of Clericus,) concerning the Education of Children, I ask’d his Advice about my young Son William, whether or no I had best bestow upon him...
4913Silence Dogood, No. 3, 30 April 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , April 30, 1722. It is undoubtedly the Duty of all Persons to serve the Country they live in, according to their Abilities; yet I sincerely acknowledge, that I have hitherto been very deficient in this Particular; whether it was for want of Will or Opportunity, I will not at present stand to determine: Let it suffice, that I now take up a Resolution, to do...
4914Silence Dogood, No. 2, 16 April 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , April 16, 1722. Histories of Lives are seldom entertaining, unless they contain something either admirable or exemplar: And since there is little or nothing of this Nature in my own Adventures, I will not tire your Readers with tedious Particulars of no Consequence, but will briefly, and in as few Words as possible, relate the most material Occurrences of...
4915Silence Dogood, No. 1, 2 April 1722 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The New-England Courant , April 2, 1722. The first issue of James Franklin’s New-England Courant appeared on August 7, 1721, at the height of the inoculation controversy in Boston. Because the Mathers supported inoculation, the Courant opposed it; and the paper’s lively, combative essays and verses were soon directed also against the clergy, the magistrates, the postmaster, Harvard...
4916The Taking of Teach the Pirate, 1719 (Franklin Papers)
Not found The second ballad which Franklin wrote and hawked through the streets of Boston was “a Sailor Song on the Taking of Teach or Blackbeard the Pirate.” This may have been written in March 1719, after the Boston News-Letter carried a full account of the last fight and death of Captain Edward Teach on November 22, 1718. In the middle of the nineteenth century the Boston physician George...
4917The Lighthouse Tragedy, 1718 (Franklin Papers)
Not found As a lad of twelve or thirteen Franklin “took a Fancy to Poetry, and made some little Pieces.” One of these was a ballad he remembered as “the Light House Tragedy ,” inspired by the drowning on November 3, 1718, of George Worthylake, keeper of the light on Beacon Island, with his wife and daughter. (In the autobiography he remembered it incorrectly as Worthylake and his two...
4918Editorial Introduction (Franklin Papers)
These letters illustrate the complexities—perhaps increased by the writer’s nature—of trying to negotiate a transatlantic sale of land. Daniel Roberdeau wanted to dispose of his plantation in the Antilles; he believed that he had one potential buyer in London, and hoped that he might find several who would vie with each other. To save himself a journey to England he sent a power of attorney to...