Benjamin Franklin From the painting by Duple;.i,i., Reproduc"rl: b, permi-,,,j,.,n of Foster Brothen., Bostul' ibt fdlttrk~ ttf I l\ffljttmin rttttluitt litnrtltr,e lolumt~ The Works of Benjamin Franklin Including the Private as well as the Official and Scientific Correspondence Together with The U nmutilatcd and Correct Version of the Autobiography Compiled and Edited by John Bigelow "Strange that Ulylses does a thoimnd things 10 well."-lLIAo, B. 11, 33S ; T.: •~ : •: •Ji :• : ', : : "etilJnc.· : ·. ·: I 11 I I I I I I I l I I ./ G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London itbc tniderbocket l)rcse 1904 342153 . " \ . ·.. ... . . ..:.. .:: ·:·.. :. :: · .:.: .·.: ::· ·. .... .•..:• •·: :· • :.! .·: ... .: ..... . . ·. :.: ...· !:. :.... ...• . .: : • .• :: :: :: :: :: . . -...: ::: .:: ··.. .,: •.•: : i::·:: :: ..: : : : ... _ APR 6 1940 PREFACE THE addition of another to the already numerous collections of Franklin's works requires some explanation. Though a voluminous writer and one of the great masters of English expression, Franklin wrote habit ually with a single eye to immediate practical re sults. He never posed for posterity. Of all the writings to which he mainly owes his present fame, it would be difficult to name one which he gave to the press himself or of which he saw the proofs. Yet he never wrote a dull line nor many which a century of time has robbed of their interest or value. What ever he wrote seems to have been conceived upon a scale which embraced the whole human race as well as the individual or class to whom it was specifically addressed, the one evidence of true greatness which never deceives nor misleads. If he wrote to his wife, it was more or less a letter from every husband to his wife; if to his daughter, it was a letter that any daughter would be pleased to receive from her father; if to a philosopher or a statesman, there was always that in the manner and the matter of it which time cannot stale, and which will be read by every statesman and philosopher with the sort iii .. ..) . .. • ""... . Preface IV of interest they would have felt had it been ad dressed personally to them. In proportion to Franklin's apparent indifference to posthumous fame, has been the zeal with which the products of his pen have been hunted down and gathered in from all the comers of the earth and new precautions taken to guard them from the de predations of time. The first collection made of any of Franklin's writings we owe to his faithful and accomplished friend, Peter Collinson. 1 It consisted of letters he had received from Franklin from time to time on electricity, and made only a moderate-sized pam phlet, and was sold for half a crown. 2 It was enlarged in 1752 by the addition of another com munication on the same subject, and again in 17 54, and, by subsequent additions of letters and papers on various philosophical subjects it amounted in 1766 to a quarto volume of five hundred pages. The first edition of these papers was given to the public without the, author's knowledge, the editor • In a letter to Jared Elliott in 1751, Franklin writes: '' The Collinson you mention is the same gentleman I correspond with. He is a most benevolent, worthy man, very curious in botany and other branches of natural history and fond of improvements in agriculture, &c. He will be pleased with your acquaintance. In the late Philosophical Transactwns, you may see frequently papers of his, or letters that were directed to him, on various subjects. He is a member of the Royal Socie~." Mr. Collinson was a liberal contributor to the Public Library of Philadelplua and sent to it the first electrical macbine that was ever aeen in America. 2 Expm,u,w afld Obsfff1Cdiotls on Elllclnci,,y Mads at P1'iladelphta, in America, by Mr. Benjamin Franklin, Esq. [sic.) London: E. Caw, :1751; plates, .po. Preface V assigning as his excuse for the liberty he had taken, their extreme importance. They went through at least a half dozen editions before they began to be reprinted in more comprehensive collections, and were promptly translated into the Latin, Italian, French, and German languages. In 1779 a collection of Franklin's writings, which, with a very few exceptions, were not included in Collinson's collection, was published under the edi torial supervision of Mr. Benjamin Vaughan; who for a period of more than thirty years, and until separated by death, was one of Franklin's most devoted friends and valued correspondents. In the preface to this edition Mr. Vaughan says: The times appear not ripe enough for the editor to give expression to the affection, gratitude, and veneration he bears to a writer he has so intimately studied: nor is it wanting to the author; as history lies in wait for him, and the judgment of mankind balances already in his favor. The editor only wishes that other readers may reap that improvement from hia.. productions which he conceives they have rendered to himself. Yet perhaps he may be excused for stating one opinion. He conceives that no man ever made larger or bolder guesses than Dr. Frank lin from like materials in politics and philosophy, which, after the scrutiny of events and fact, have been more complet.ely verified. Can Englishmen read these things and not sigh at recollecting that the country which could produce their author was once without controversy their I Political, Miscellatseot,.s, and Philosophical Pwca;• flOIII first &ol- 1«:Ml, fllith nplanatory plates, ftOtes, attd a• indn to tM """"6. Lotulon: }. }olmsO#, :c779; 8fJO, 574 l>fJ. Also, see infra Franklin's letter to Vaughan, Nov. 9, 1779. vi Preface mvn! Yet he who praises Dr. Franklin for mere ability, praises him for that quality of his mind which stands lowest in his own esteem. Reader, whoever you are -and how much soever you think you hate him, know that this great man loves you enough to wish to do you good. His "country's friend, but more of human kind." Dr. Franklin died on the 17th of April, 1790. In his will, after disposing of portions of his library, he adds: The rest, residue, and remainder of all my books and manuscripts I do give to my grandson, William Temple Franklin. A few months after his grandfather's decease, William Temple Franklin left the United States for London with all of his precious heritage that he had been able to reduce to possession, intending, as he assured his COITespondents, at once to prepare and publish a complete and final edition of his grand father's writings. Some twenty-six years, however, were permitted to elapse before this intention was executed. Meantime, and in the year 1793, the Messrs. Robinson, of London, published '' The Works of Franklin" in two small volumes.• In this collec tion, what purported to be Franklin's autobiography, translated from a French version which appeared in Paris in 1791, made its first appearance in an Eng lish dress. It only gave Franklin's autobiography 1 Works of tie late Doctor Bmfa •in Fra1tl,lin; COffl'im,sg of his lif• fllrittm by hffNS•lf, topt/tff fl1ith nmys--lum&orotu, moral, atsd lilerary ch#fly in a.. man-of tie Sp«lalor. LorldoN: G. G. ]. (!f J. Robitss0ts, 1793, in a vols., 8vo. This collection was edited by Dr. Price. It paased through three editions. Preface vii down to 1731, with Dr. Stuber's continuation, which had already appeared in the Columbian M agazi.ne of Philadelphia. The second volume of this edition consisted mainly of essays written after the pub lication of Mr. Vaughan. "In the present volumes," says the preface, "will be found all the different collections we have enumerated, together with the various papers of the same author that have been published in separate pamphlets, inserted in foreign collections of his works or in the transactions of our own or of foreign philosophical societies, or in our own or foreign newspapers or magazines, as dis coverable by the editor, who has been assisted in the research by a gentleman in America." A German edition of his works, substantially a translation of the preceding, was published at Wei mar the year following.1 In 1799 a French collection of some of Franklin's writings was published in Paris, translated from the English, by one J. Castera.2 It is a curious circum stance that the copy of the memoirs given in this collection of Castera was translated from an English edition, which was itself only a translation from the first French translation, thus removed by three translations from the original. This edition con tained some new pieces which had not appeared in • Bmj/Jfflffl Franklin's KlnM Schri/tffl fflftSI in der Manm Ms Stuehauer, Mbsl sntU11H Leben aus dem Englisclun von G. Schats, I TJOl. Weimar, 1794. • Vu M Franklin, lcri"1 par lui-"""'8, suiw Mses <Euvus moraks politiqws Ill li1"1raires, dont la plus graflll parlU n'aflcJ~ pas ew;ore It.I pt,1,1.ih. Traduu M l'Anglais, awe MS ,wtt,s, par]. Casllra. Erif'U# ClfiO fr,lt,affl, sceptrumqw tyraffffis. Paris, chn F. Buisson. lwp Lib., Rw Hautefeuille, No. 20. An VI. M la Rlpt,1,1.ttJVe (1799).