To the severe and arbitrary spirit of this brother, he ascribes, however, the first impressions of that hatred of tyranny, which influenced all the actions and opinions of his future life. The application of the lash, in admitting this consequence, is indeed less a cause of regret, than resistance to it is a just subject of commendation.

After a prosperous voyage of a few days, he landed at New York, where having endeavoured, for some time in vain, to procure occupation, he proceeded onwards with a faint hope of better fortune, to Philadelphia. After much intermediate fatigue from travelling on foot, or the rowing of a boat; and having, more than once, had occasion to repent of his fugitive expedition, he arrived in that city. He now perceived himself, at the age of seventeen years, thrown upon the mercy of the world; at the distance of four hundred miles from his native home, without a friend or counsellor; with scarce a hope of employment; and of the slender provision of money which he had carried with him, but a single dollar remaining in his pocket.

His appearance at Philadelphia, on this occasion, if we compare it with many succeeding incidents of his life, was not a little romantic. He is represented as making his entrance into Market street with a roll of bread under each arm; with his pockets enormously distended by shirts and stockings, which he had crammed into them on leaving the boat, and thus accoutred, walking, in the solemnity of a Sunday morning, through the principal streets of the city. An appearance so singular drew upon him, even in those days of rustic simplicity, the observation of the inhabitants; among others, of his future wife, in whose eyes he made, it seems, "a very awkward and ridiculous figure." Having eat a portion of his bread and bestowed the remainder on a fellow passenger, he sought a draught of water from the Delaware; VOL. III.-F

and being afterwards borne, by the passing crowd, to a meeting of Quakers, sat down amongst them and slept until the end of the service, when he was admonished by one of the congregation to retire.

But two printing houses were, at that time, established in Philadelphia, in one of which he happily obtained employment as compositor; and instigated by the necessities of his condition, by the ardour which enterprising youth feels in the first enjoyment of liberty, and sensible that he had now to commence life with no other pretensions than such as he derived from personal merit, he exerted in his business the most studious and indefatigable industry. In his private affairs, he observed a scrupulous and parsimonious economy; was seen, during the usual hours of recreation, at the occupations of his trade, and in all his actions maintaining a strict punctuality and regularity of conduct, he soon drew upon him the observation of the public, and filled the town with his praises. By such arts he procured money against emergency, and friends whose patronage contributed to his future reputation and fortune.

But a short period since his arrival in Philadelphia had elapsed, when he was surprised by a visit from the governor of the province, sir William Keith, whom, by his solicitation, he accompanied to a neighbouring hotel; shared his wine and conversation, and received a general invitation to his house, which he afterwards frequented, with many tokens of kindness and hospitality. For this distinguished attention, he was indebted, especially, to the perusal of a letter he had written to a friend at New Castle, from which the governor, learning the history of his recent adventures, had conceived a favourable opinion of his spirit and abilities.

As a farther mark of his attachment, he proposed that Franklin should commence business on his own account, of

fering in aid of the project his own influence, the interest of his friends, and the printing of the government; and urged him to return to Boston, with his recommendation, to solicit the concurrence of his father. Franklin, armed with this powerful intercession, not doubting of success, was easily prevailed on to fall in with the scheme; he therefore commenced his journey, and after an absence of seven months, re-appeared in his native town. By his relations, with the exception of the brother only, who retained a consciousness of his injurious treatment towards him, he was received with an affectionate welcome. Of his brother also he conciliated the favour, on a subsequent visit; and in retribution for the blows he had received, took in charge one of his sons, whom he instructed in his trade and established in business. In the principal object of his present visit, however, he proved unsuccessful; for his father advised him, by reason of his age and inexperience, to lay aside all further thoughts of his enterprise, and to the same effect wrote to his patron the governor. He returned, therefore, and resuming his station with his former master, pursued his trade with the same assiduous attention. The notice he received from the great stimulated his industry, and added to the prepossessions which the public already entertained in his favour.

But the zeal of the governor, it appears, was not cooled by interruption. He invited Franklin still more frequently to his house, where he treated him always with the same politeness and affability, and resolved at last to acquire for himself the exclusive honour of giving success to their projected enterprise. He encouraged him to proceed by a vessel of government, then ready to sail, for London, that he might make interest with booksellers, and, under his patronage, procure such materials as were requisite for his establishment; a proposition which Franklin readily accepted; and full of

gratitude to his generous benefactor, embarked on his voyage; nor was it until his arrival in a foreign country, three thousand miles from his native home, that he perceived, with astonishment, no provision, not even that which the immediate exigencies of his condition required, had been made for him; that in London his patron was without credit, and that he was much less aided than dishonoured by his credentials. He was now involved in the most distressful perplexities; seduced from a prosperous business; all his other schemes interrupted, and was turned loose a stranger amidst the competition of a vast city to struggle for the means of subsistence.

This governor, it appears, being a man of good natured and officious vanity, was extremely subject to these fits of romantic benevolence. He was destitute of money, and therefore lavish of promises; and from a desire of diffusing a report of his generosity through the world, engaged himself often in schemes of patronage beyond his capacity to accom. plish. He performed, however, many personal services, and where money was not required, was a man of unbounded liberality. Franklin, therefore, notwithstanding the rude imposition practised upon his inexperience, entertained against him no lasting animosity; but writes in his Memoirs, of the many wise laws which he made; of his excellent capacity for government, and the many worthy qualities which he possessed, to redeem his trivial imperfections.

Franklin was much embarrassed concerning the measures which, in this difficult emergency, he ought to pursue; but had too much force of character, had been too much accustomed to vicissitude, and was too fertile in expedient, to sink into a pusillanimous dejection. Upon the whole, this disappointment, as it furnished him the opportunity of increasing his acquaintance with the world; of improving the essential knowledge of his profession; and of resuming, on his return

to America, his career with greater confidence and prospects of success, is to be regarded only as a temporary calamity.

He obtained employment in one of the most considerable printing houses in London, and by his industry soon secured the esteem and favour of his patrons. By his temperate habits and rigid economy he procured, not only a decent subsistence for himself, but the means also of relieving the necessities of his friends. Ralph, one of his literary associates of Philadelphia, having, in the sunshine of his magnificent hopes, become the companion of his voyage, was now involved in his calamities, and having no other trade than that of an author, was prevented from starving, wholly by his benefactions. This Ralph, who remained in England the remainder of his life, having sustained many valiant struggles against poverty, received at last a pension from the British government, as historian; and by an officious libel upon Pope, has established, in the Dunciad, his reputation as a poet.

During his short residence in London, Franklin pursued his private studies with so much diligence, and discovered so generous an ambition for literary improvement, as caused him to be regarded by the ingenious part of his acquaintance with great partiality. He obtained, by subscription, access to an extensive library, and was prompted by some occasional interests of the subject, or by an impertinent inclination for scribbling, to compose a small pamphlet upon Deistical Metaphysics. This served, at that time, to diffuse his name amongst the multitude, and procured him a favourable introduction to several persons of distinguished infidelity; amongst others, to Mandeville, who hailed him as a youth of very promising abilities.

This youthful levity on the subject of religion, when he had acquired a riper age and more ample intelligence, he