K : FRANKLIN. N the 17th of January, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was born. at Boston, in New England, North America; and was the youngest but two of a family of seventeen children. His ancestors, as far as they can be traced back for above three hundred years, were small freeholders at Eaton, in Northamptonshire and by the surname of the family-the ancient Norman appellative for a country gentleman-we may conclude they had originally been of some consequence. His father, who had emigrated from England about twenty-four years before, followed the occupation of a soap-boiler and tallow-chandler, a business to which he had not been bred, and by which he with difficulty supported his numerous family. At first it was proposed to make Benjamin a clergyman, and he was accordingly put to the Grammarschool, at eight years of age;-an uncle, whose namesake he was, and who was an ingenious man, encouraged the project, and presented him with several volumes of sermons to set up with, which he had taken down in a shorthand of his own invention, from the different preachers he had been in the habit of hearing. Young Franklin, however, had not been quite a year at the Grammar-school, when his father reflecting that the expence of a college education for him was what he could not well afford, and considering that the church in America was a poor profession after all, removed him. He was then placed for another year under a teacher of writing and arithmetic after which his father took him home, when he was no more than ten years old, to assist him in his own business; but he soon testified such repugnance to the cutting wicks for candles, running of errands, waiting in the shop, with other drudgery of the same nature, that, after a tedious trial of two years, he was sent on trial for a few days to a cousin, who was a cutler, but that relative being desirous of a larger apprentice-fee than his uncle could spare, Benjamin was recalled. A short time previous to this period, his brother James had returned from England, whither he had been sent to learn the printing business, and set up a press and types on his own account at Boston. To him, therefore, after no little persuasion, Benjamin at last agreed to become apprentice, and he was indentured accordingly for the term of nine years. The choice of this profession, as it turned out, was a lucky one; and it was made after much careful observation on the part of the parent. He had watched his son's increasing fondness for books, and thirst for information, and that, too, of a solid and instructive sort. He therefore judiciously resolved to place him in a favourable situation for gratifying this propensity in the youthful mind. Franklin thus speaks of his early and insatiable craving after knowledge : "From my earliest years I had been passionately fond of reading, and I laid ont in books all the money I could procure. I was particularly pleased with accounts of voyages. My first acquisition was Bunyan's collection, in small volumes. These I afterwards sold, in order to buy an historical collection by R. Burton, which consisted of small cheap volumes, amounting in all to about forty or fifty. My father's little library was principally made up of books of practical and Polemical Theology. I read the greatest part of them. There was also among my father's books Plutarch's Lives, in which I read continually, and I still regard as advantageously employed the time devoted to them. I found, besides, a work of De Foe's, entitled "An Essay on Projects," from which, perhaps I derived impressions that have since influenced some of the principal events of my life." By his assiduity, Franklin soon attained great proficiency in his business, and became very serviceable to his brother. At the same time, he formed acquaintance with several booksellers' apprentices, by whose furtive assistance he was enabled to extend the sphere of his reading. This gratification, however, was, for the most part enjoyed at the expense of his natural rest. "How often,' says he, has it happened to me to pass the greater part of the night in reading by my bedside, when the book has been lent me in the evening, and was to be returned the next morning, lest it might be missed or wanted! His studious habits and intelligent conversation also attracted the notice of a wealthy merchant who was in the habit of coming about the office, who invited him to his house, and gave him the use of an excellent library. From the delight he took in the perusal of books, Franklin, at last, bethought him of trying his own hand at composition; his first efforts were of a poetical nature. His brother encouraged him to proceed, thinking such a talent might prove useful in the establishment. At the suggestion of the latter, therefore, he finished two ballads, which, after being printed, he was sent round the town to sell; and one of them, the subject of which was a a recent affecting shipwreck, had, he says, a prodigious run. But his father having heard of the circumstance, soon humbled the young poet's vanity, by analyzing his verses before him in a most unmerciful style, and demonstrating, as Franklin, says, what "wretched stuff they really were." This sharp lesson, which concluded with a warning that versifyers were almost uniformly beggars, effectually weaned him from his rhyming propensities. Franklin immediately afterwards betook himself to the composition of prose, and the first opportunity of exercising his pen and his faculties in this way occurred in the following manner-He had an intimate acquaintance of the name of Collins, who was, like himself, passionately fond of books, and with whom he was in the habit of arguing upon such subjects as they met with in the course of their reading. Among other questions which they discussed in this way, one accidentally arose on the abilities of women, and the propriety of giving them a learned education. Collins maintained their natural unfitness for any of the severer studies, while Franklin took the contrary side of the question-"perhaps," he says, "a little for dispute sake." As they parted without bringing it to a termination, and as they were to be separated for some time, an agreement was made that they should carry on their argument by letter: This was accordingly done; when, after the interchange of several epistles, the whole correspondence happened to fall into the hands of Franklin's father. After perusing it with much interest, his natural acuteness and good sense enabled him to point out to his son, how inferior he was to his adversary in elegance of expression, arrange |