Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE

LIFE

OF

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN;

WITH

MANY CHOICE ANECDOTES

AND

ADMIRABLE SAYINGS

OF THIS

GREAT MAN,

NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED BY ANY OF HIS BIOGRAPHERS.

BY M. L. WEEMS,

AUTHOR OF THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON.

THE SIXTH EDITION.

"Sage Franklin next arose in cheerful mien,
And smil'd, unruffled, o'er the solemn scene;
High on his locks of age a wreath was brac'd,
Palm of all arts that e'er a mortal grac'd,
Beneath him lay the sceptre kings had borne,
And crowns and laurels from their temples torn."

Philadelphia:

H. C. CAREY & I. LEA-CHESNUT-STREET.

Ан

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

[blocks in formation]

DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA-TO WIT:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the first day of January, in the FORTY-FIRST year of the INDEPENDENCE of the United States of America, A. D. 1817, Mason L. Weems, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

SEAL.

"The Life of Benjamin Franklin, with many choice anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man, never before published by any of his biographers, By Mason L. Weems, author of the Life of Washington.

"Sage Franklin next arose in cheerful mien,
And smil'd, unruffled, o'er the solemn scene;
High on his locks of age a wreath was brac'd,
Palm of all arts that e'er a mortal grac'd,
Beneath him lay the sceptre kings had borne,

And crowns and laurels from their temples torn."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act. entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints."

D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania.

LIFE OF FRANKLIN.

CHAPTER I.

DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRESIDENT OF THE

AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH, LONDON AND PARIS; GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA; AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES TO THE

COURT OF FRANCE, was the son of an obscure tallowchandler and soap-boiler, of Boston, where he was born on the 17th day of January, 1706.

Some men carry letters of recommendation in their looks, and some in their names. 'Tis the lot but of few to inherit both of these advantages. The hero of this work was one of that favoured number. As to his phy siognomy, there was in it such an air of wisdom and philanthropy, and consequently such an expression of majesty and sweetness, as charms, even in the commonest pictures of him. And for his name, every one acquainted with the old English history, must know, that Franklin stands for what we now mean by "Gentleman,"

or "CLEVER FFLLOW."

WQR 19 FEB'36

« PreviousContinue »