31From Benjamin Franklin to Jane Franklin, 6 January 1727 (Franklin Papers)
MS not found; reprinted from Duane, Works , VI , 3. I am highly pleased with the account captain Freeman gives me of you. I always judged by your behaviour when a child that you would make a good, agreeable woman, and you know you were ever my peculiar favourite. I have been thinking what would be a suitable present for me to make, and for you to receive, as I hear you are grown a celebrated...
32Epitaph, 1728 (Franklin Papers)
Autograph MS : Yale University Library; another autograph MS : Richard Gimbel, New Haven, Conn. (1959); facsimile printed in Charles John Smith, Historical and Literary Curiosities (London, 1840). Three autograph texts of the Epitaph are known—two in manuscript, one a facsimile of the now lost Upcott holograph. Each differs from the other two, and all vary, significantly or in details, from...
33Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, 20 November 1728 (Franklin Papers)
Autograph MS : Library of Congress; also transcript: Library of Congress Franklin mentioned this private liturgy in his autobiography. Though he had had a conventional religious upbringing and contributed to the support of the Presbyterian meeting in Philadelphia, he seldom attended public worship, preferring to use Sundays for his own studies. Once, however, persuaded to go to church, he went...
34Martha Careful and Caelia Shortface, 28 January 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , January 28, 1728/9. When Samuel Keimer forestalled Franklin’s plan to publish a newspaper by announcing that he would publish one of his own, Franklin expressed his resentment through the satirical essays of The Busy-Body (see below, p. 113). The Busy-Body, however, was not the first to ridicule Keimer. Plodding methodically through the alphabet of...
35The Busy-Body, No. 1, 4 February 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , February 4, 1728/9. Franklin and Hugh Meredith decided in 1728 to start a newspaper in opposition to Bradford’s American Weekly Mercury . Samuel Keimer learned of this plan from George Webb, to whom Franklin incautiously revealed it when the former applied for employment as a journeyman, and forestalled the new printing firm by publishing, October 1,...
36The Busy-Body, No. 2, 11 February 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , February 11, 1728/9. All Fools have still an Itching to deride; And fain would be upon the laughing Side. Pope. Monsieur Rochefocaut tells us somewhere in his Memoirs, that the Prince of Conde delighted much in Ridicule; and us’d frequently to shut himself up for Half a Day together in his Chamber with a Gentleman that was his Favourite, purposely...
37The Busy-Body, No. 3, 18 February 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , February 18, 1728/9. Non vultus instantis Tyranni Mente quatit solida—neque Auster Dux inquieti turbidus Adriae, Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus. Hor. It is said that the Persians in their ancient Constitution, had publick Schools in which Virtue was taught as a Liberal Art or Science; and it is certainly of more Consequence to a Man that he has...
38The Busy-Body, No. 4, 25 February 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , February 25, 1728/9. Nequid nimis. In my first Paper I invited the Learned and the Ingenious to join with me in this Undertaking; and I now repeat that Invitation. I would have such Gentlemen take this Opportunity, (by trying their Talent in Writing) of diverting themselves and their Friends, and improving the Taste of the Town. And because I would...
39The Busy-Body, No. 5, 4 March 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , March 4, 1728/9. Vos, O Patricius sanguis, quos vivere fas est Occipiti caeco, posticae occurrite sannae. Persius. This Paper being design’d for a Terror to Evil-Doers, as well as a Praise to them that do well, I am lifted up with secret Joy to find that my Undertaking is approved, and encourag’d by the Just and Good, and that few are against me but...
40The Busy-Body, No. 8, 27 March 1729 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The American Weekly Mercury , March 27, 1729. ——Quid non mortalia Pectora cogis Auri sacra Fames! Virgil. One of the greatest Pleasures an Author can have is certainly the Hearing his Works applauded. The hiding from the World our Names while we publish our Thoughts, is so absolutely necessary to this Self-Gratification, that I hope my Well-wishers will congratulate me on my Escape...