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Dr Franklin also found that he was himself the youngest son of the youngest son for five succeeding generations.

His grandfather, Thomas Franklin, born in 1598, left the paternal village in the decline of life, and enjoyed a tolerable competence in the house of his son John, a dyer, at Banbury in Oxfordshire. His sons were

Thomas, John, and Benjamin, who all reached man's estate; but the male line failing in the eldest branch, Elizabeth, the only daughter of Thomas Franklin, became seised of the land; and her husband,

Fisher, of Wellingborough, near Ecton, sold it to the lord of the manor, a Mr Isted.

This Thomas Franklin possessed much of the inquisitive and enterprising spirit of his distinguished grandson. Bred a smith, he resigned his business, studied for the bar, and became a man of considerable consequence in his neighbourhood. "Had he died," said governor Franklin, "four years later than he did, one might have believed in a transmigration."

John, the next brother, was a dyer in wool; and the third, named Benjamin, was bred a silk-dyer in London, where he accumulated property, and became, in his way, literary and poetical. He retired finally to the house of Dr Franklin's father at Boston in America, where he died in a good old age. His bookish propensities were connected, as we shall see, with those of the greater Benjamin, his nephew.

The family had become Protestants in the dawn of the Reformation. Dr Franklin's godfather and uncle, Benjamin, used to relate an anecdote which supplies a striking picture of the tinies. They had an English Bible (in queen Mary's reign) which, to conceal and place in safety, they fastened open, with tapes across the leaves, under the cover of a joint-stool. When Franklin's great-grandfather used to read it to his family, he placed the joint-stool on his knees, and then turned over the leaves under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door, to give notice of the

approach of the proctor, an officer of the spiritual court, if he saw him coming. In that case, the stool was turned down again on its feet, and the Bible remained concealed as before.

Persecution therefore did not deter them from their Protestantism; nor, when its unhallowed weapons were assumed by Protestants themselves, did it deter the younger branch of the family from nonconformity. In the latter part of Charles the Second's reign, Benjamin and Joseph Franklin both declared for the dissenting interests; and the younger brother, having married early, and finding a family coming quickly, was prevailed upon, in 1682, to emigrate to America. Accompanying a party of friends, he at first tried amongst them his business of a dyer, but this failing, became a soap-boiler and tallow-chandler. Here he had four more children, in all seven, by his first wife, and ten by a second; thirteen of whom lived to years of maturity, and were married. Dr Franklin well remembered, as he tells us, to have seen the whole of this numerous group round the family board.

The subject of our memoir was born at Boston in New England, January 17, 1706. His mother, whom he characterizes as pious and prudent, discreet and virtuous*, was the daughter of one of the first settlers of that part of the country, a Mr Peter Folgier, honourably mentioned in Dr Cotton Mather's "Mag

* In the following epitaph, it is true, (but Franklin had too much good sense, to inscribe even a parent's tomb with a notoriously false compliment) which he placed on a marble tablet over the grave of his parents, after his more successful course :

"HERE LIE

"Josias Franklin,'and Abiah his wife: they lived together with reciprocal affec⚫ tion for fifty-nine years; and, without private fortune, without lucrative employment, by assiduous labour, and honest industry, decently supported a numerous family, and educated, with success, thirteen children and seven grandchildren. Let this example, reader, encourage thee diligently to dis charge the duties of thy calling, and to rely on the support of Divine Provi dence.

"He was pious and prudent,
"She discreet and virtuous.

"Their youngest son, from a sentiment of filial duty, consecrates this stone to their memory."

nalia Christi Americana." His elder brothers were apprenticed to different trades; but being, as he quaintly says, "the tithe of his father's sons,' " he was originally designed for the church, and was accordingly placed at the grammar-school of Boston for about a year. This clerical destination was greatly encouraged by his uncle and sponsor, Benjamin, then residing in the family, who had already prepared a goodly stock of abridged and short-hand sermons for his nephew's future use. But his father's straitened circumstances ill affording the expense, and his excellent understanding teaching him the folly of educating a child beyond his probable prospects in life, Benjamin was finally placed at a respectable English school, where he continued until he had completed his tenth year. He states it as something remarkable, that he never remembers the time when he could not read.

At the age of ten, much against his own will, hẹ was taken home, to assist his father in business. This unsettled him, and together with the contiguity of the sea, and the similar attempt of an elder brother, urged him frequently to think of resorting to a seafaring life. The father however was too wise a parent to constrain his inclinations hopelessly, and exhibited something of the practical philosophy of a mind adapted to his circumstances. When walking amongst joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, &c., at their work, he was careful to observe upon which of these useful arts the attention of Benjamin appeared to fix itself. This was one of the most critical points of that son's history. It was the best and final effort of the father" to fix him in some trade or profession that would keep him on the land;" and the kindness of the motive was duly appreciated by the son. opened the only proper door of escape from pursuits to which he had an insuperable aversion. From the period of these walks, he says, "it ever afterwards became a pleasure to him to see good workmen handle their tools."

It

He was now placed for a few months with a cousin, a cutler; but his brother James, who had been bred a printer, opportunely returning to Boston with a set of types from England, the father established him there in that business; and Benjamin was offered a situation as his apprentice. This accorded with his bookish propensities; but the term of bondage proposed was unreasonable, and his seafaring inclinations yet remained. He at last however signed an indenture, at twelve years of age, which bound him to his brother until his majority, and decided in a great measure the course and fortune of his future days. As the father here resigns all immediate government of our young philosopher, the reader may be gratified with the following sketch of his person and character, delivered by Dr Franklin in old age to his only son, forming as it does an excellent portrait of a father of a family in a subordinate line of life.

"It will not perhaps be uninteresting to you to know what sort of a man my father was. He had an excellent constitution, was of a middle size, but well made and strong, and extremely active in whatever he undertook. He designed with a degree of neatness, and knew a little of music. His voice was sonorous and agreeable; so that when he sang a psalm or hymn, with the accompaniment of his violin, as was his frequent practice in an evening, when the labours of the day were finished, it was truly delightful to hear him. He was versed also in mechanics, and could, upon occasion, use the tools of a variety of trades. But his greatest excellence was a sound understanding and solid judgment in matters of prudence, both in public and private life. In the former, indeed, he never engaged, because his numerous family, and the mediocrity of his fortune, kept him unremittingly employed in the duties of his profession. But I well remember, that the leading men of the place used frequently to come and ask his advice respecting the affairs of the town, or of the church to which he belonged, and that they paid much deference to his opinion. Individuals

were also in the habit of consulting him in their private affairs, and he was often chosen arbiter between contending parties.

"He was fond of having at his table, as often as possible, some friends or well-informed neighbours, capable of rational conversation; and he was always careful to introduce useful or ingenious topics of discourse, which might tend to form the minds of his children. By this means, he early attracted our attention to what was just, prudent, and beneficial, in the conduct of life. He never talked of the meats which appeared upon the table; never discussed whether they were well or ill dressed, of a good or bad flavour, high-seasoned or otherwise, preferable or inferior to this or that dish of a similar kind. Thus accustomed, from my infancy, to the utmost inattention as to these objects, I have been perfectly regardless of what kind of food was before me; and I pay so little attention to it even now, that it would be a hard matter for me to recollect, a few hours after I had dined, of what my dinner had consisted. When travelling, I have particularly experienced the advantage of this habit: for it has often happened to me to be in company with persons, who, having a more delicate because a more exercised, taste, have suffered, in many cases, considerable inconvenience; while, as to myself, I have had nothing to desire.”

Franklin, from childhood, was of a frugal turn, and saved money prior to his apprenticeship, which made him master of "Burton's Historical Collection;" "small chapmen's books," as he describes them," and cheap, forty volumes in all." His father's library contained the usual books of the more intelligent nonconformists of that day, i. e., those of speculative and controversial divinity; Plutarch's Lives, however,

An anecdote of Dr Franklin's childhood has often been given; but it exhibits his propensity to inuocent humour so characteristically, that we cannot omit it. The father followed the patterns of piety he had received from his ancestors, so as to be addicted to very long graces. When therefore, on one occasion, the family provision of salt meat for the winter was about to be put into a barrel," Father," said Benjamin, “if you were to say grace now, over the whole barrel at once, it would be a prodigious saving of time."

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