Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
30 4 Square Mars Ven. _rain_. 3 Vi 4 40 8 Moon sets 9 30
_V Mon._ July hath xxxi days.
Who can charge _Ebrio_ with Thirst of Wealth? See he
consumes his Money, Time and Health, In drunken Frolicks
which will all confound, Neglects his Farm, forgets to
till his Ground, His Stock grows less that might be kept
with ease; In nought but Guts and Debts he finds
Encrease. In Town reels as if he'd shove down each Wall,
Yet Walls must stand, poor Soul, or he must fall.
1 5 Day short 11 mi. 4 15 4 40 8 _None preaches_
2 6 7* rise 12 32 5 Li 4 41 8 _better than the_
3 7 _windy weather._ 6 15 4 41 8 _ant, and she says_
4 C 2 Sund. p Trinit 6h Sc 4 42 8 First Quarter.
5 2 Vc Jup. Ven. _now_ 7 14 4 43 8 _nothing._
6 3 _pleasant weather_ 8 27 4 44 8 Moon sets 12 30 m
7 4 _some days_ 9 Sa 4 45 8 _The absent are_
8 5 _together,_ 10 23 4 48 8 _never without_
9 6 _but inclines to_ 10 Cp 4 47 8 _fault, nor the_
10 7 _falling_ 11 18 4 48 8 _present without_
11 C 3 Sund. p. Trin. 12 Aq 4 49 8 Full moon 11 day,
12 2 Sxtil Sat. Merc. weather. 1 13 4 50 8 2 afternoon.
13 3 Dog-days begin 2 25 4 50 8 sun in Leo
14 4 Days 14h. 20 m 2h Pi 4 51 8 Moon rise 8 35 aft.
15 5 St. _Swithin_. 3 19 4 52 8 _excuse._
16 6 Le 1 Li 4 Ar 4 53 8
17 7 conj. Sun Merc. _rain_ 5 13 4 54 8 _Gifts burst_
18 C 7* rise 11 40 6 25 4 55 8 _rocks_
19 2 _hail or rain,_ 6h Ta 4 56 8 Last Quarter.
20 3 Sxtil Sun Sat. thunder. 7 19 4 57 8 Moon rise 11 52 af
21 4 7* rise 11 18 8 Gm 4 57 8 _If wind blows on_
22 5 _then high_ 9 14 4 58 8 _you thro' a hole,_
23 6 _wind._ 10 27 4 59 8 _Make your will_
24 7 opp. Sun Jupiter 10 Cn 4 59 8 _and take care of_
25 C St. James. 11 25 5 0 7 _your soul._
26 2 _hail_ 12 Le 5 1 7 New moon 26 day,
27 3 Moon near cor Leo 1 24 5 2 7 near 8 aftern
28 4 opp. Jup. Ven. _a clear_ 2 Vi 5 3 7 Moon sets 8 aftern
29 5 _air; and fine_ 2h 24 5 4 7 _The rotten Apple_
30 6 _weather_ 3 Li 5 5 7 _spoils his_
31 7 7* rise 10 40 4 23 5 6 7 _Companion._
[Transcriber's note: Zodiac signs, aspects and symbols of the planets
have been replaced by their names and/or by their standard
abbreviations.
Ar=Aries, Ta=Taurus, Gm=Gemini, Cn=Cancer, Le=Leo, Vi=Virgo,
Li=Libra, Sc=Scorpio, Sa=Sagittarius, Cp=Capricorn, Aq=Aqua,
Pi=Pisces, Oppos=Opposition, Trine=Trine, Squr=Square,
Conj=Conjunction, Sxtil=Sextile, Qucnx= Quincunx.
Merc=Mercury, Ven=Venus, Mars=Mars, Jup=Jupiter, Sat=Saturn
Ura=Uranus, Nep=Neptune, Plu=Pluto.]
I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of communicating
instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from
the Spectator, and other moral writers; and sometimes publish'd little
pieces of my own, which had been first composed for reading in our
Junto. Of these are a Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that,
whatever might be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not
properly be called a man of sense; and a discourse on self-denial,
showing that virtue was not secure till its practice became a
habitude, and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations.
These may be found in the papers about the beginning of 1735.[75]
[75] June 23 and July 7, 1730.--Smyth.
In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all libeling and
personal abuse, which is of late years become so disgraceful to our
country. Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind, and
the writers pleaded, as they generally did, the liberty of the press,
and that a newspaper was like a stage-coach, in which anyone who would
pay had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the
piece separately if desired, and the author might have as many copies
as he pleased to distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me
to spread his detraction; and that, having contracted with my
subscribers to furnish them with what might be either useful or
entertaining, I could not fill their papers with private altercation,
in which they had no concern, without doing them manifest injustice.
Now, many of our printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of
individuals by false accusations of the fairest characters among
ourselves, augmenting animosity even to the producing of duels; and
are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on the
government of neighboring states, and even on the conduct of our best
national allies, which may be attended with the most pernicious
consequences. These things I mention as a caution to young printers,
and that they may be encouraged not to pollute their presses and
disgrace their profession by such infamous practices, but refuse
steadily, as they may see by my example that such a course of conduct
will not, on the whole, be injurious to their interests.
In 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to Charleston, South Carolina,
where a printer was wanting. I furnish'd him with a press and letters,
on an agreement of partnership, by which I was to receive one-third of
the profits of the business, paying one-third of the expense. He was a
man of learning, and honest but ignorant in matters of account; and,
tho' he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from
him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived. On
his decease, the business was continued by his widow, who, being born
and bred in Holland, where, as I have been inform'd, the knowledge of
accounts makes a part of female education, she not only sent me as
clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but
continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every
quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that
she not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at the
expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house,
and establish her son in it.
I mention this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending that branch
of education for our young females, as likely to be of more use to
them and their children, in case of widowhood, than either music or
dancing, by preserving them from losses by imposition of crafty men,
and enabling them to continue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house,
with establish'd correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to
undertake and go on with it, to the lasting advantage and enriching of
the family.
About the year 1734 there arrived among us from Ireland a young
Presbyterian preacher, named Hemphill, who delivered with a good
voice, and apparently extempore, most excellent discourses, which drew
together considerable numbers of different persuasions, who join'd in
admiring them. Among the rest, I became one of his constant hearers,
his sermons pleasing me, as they had little of the dogmatical kind,
but inculcated strongly the practice of virtue, or what in the
religious stile are called good works. Those, however, of our
congregation, who considered themselves as orthodox Presbyterians,
disapprov'd his doctrine, and were join'd by most of the old clergy,
who arraign'd him of heterodoxy before the synod, in order to have him
silenc'd. I became his zealous partisan, and contributed all I could
to raise a party in his favour, and we combated for him awhile with
some hopes of success. There was much scribbling pro and con upon the
occasion; and finding that, tho' an elegant preacher, he was but a
poor writer, I lent him my pen and wrote for him two or three
pamphlets, and one piece in the Gazette of April, 1735. Those
pamphlets, as is generally the case with controversial writings, tho'
eagerly read at the time, were soon out of vogue, and I question
whether a single copy of them now exists.[76]
[76] See "A List of Books written by, or relating to
Benjamin Franklin," by Paul Leicester Ford. 1889. p.
15.--Smyth.
During the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his cause exceedingly.
One of our adversaries having heard him preach a sermon that was much
admired, thought he had somewhere read the sermon before, or at least
a part of it. On search, he found that part quoted at length, in one
of the British Reviews, from a discourse of Dr. Foster's.[77] This
detection gave many of our party disgust, who accordingly abandoned
his cause, and occasion'd our more speedy discomfiture in the synod. I
stuck by him, however, as I rather approv'd his giving us good sermons
composed by others, than bad ones of his own manufacture, tho' the
latter was the practice of our common teachers. He afterward
acknowledg'd to me that none of those he preach'd were his own;
adding, that his memory was such as enabled him to retain and repeat
any sermon after one reading only. On our defeat, he left us in search
elsewhere of better fortune, and I quitted the congregation, never
joining it after, tho' I continu'd many years my subscription for the
support of its ministers.
[77] Dr. James Foster (1697-1753):--
"Let modest Foster, if he will excel
Ten metropolitans in preaching well."
--Pope (Epilogue to the Satires, I, 132).
"Those who had not heard Farinelli sing and Foster
preach were not qualified to appear in genteel company,"
Hawkins. "History of Music."--Smyth.
I had begun in 1733 to study languages; I soon made myself so much a
master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease. I then
undertook the Italian. An acquaintance, who was also learning it, us'd
often to tempt me to play chess with him. Finding this took up too
much of the time I had to spare for study, I at length refus'd to play
any more, unless on this condition, that the victor in every game
should have a right to impose a task, either in parts of the grammar
to be got by heart, or in translations, etc., which tasks the
vanquish'd was to perform upon honour, before our next meeting. As we
play'd pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language. I
afterwards with a little painstaking, acquir'd as much of the Spanish
as to read their books also.
I have already mention'd that I had only one year's instruction in a
Latin school, and that when very young, after which I neglected that
language entirely. But, when I had attained an acquaintance with the
French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surpris'd to find, on looking over
a Latin Testament, that I understood so much more of that language
than I had imagined, which encouraged me to apply myself again to the
study of it, and I met with more success, as those preceding languages
had greatly smooth'd my way.
From these circumstances, I have thought that there is some
inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages. We are told
that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having acquir'd
that, it will be more easy to attain those modern languages which are
deriv'd from it; and yet we do not begin with the Greek, in order more
easily to acquire the Latin. It is true that, if you can clamber and
get to the top of a staircase without using the steps, you will more
easily gain them in descending; but certainly, if you begin with the
lowest you will with more ease ascend to the top; and I would
therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the
education of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin with