PART SIXTH. SELECTIONS FROM FRANKLIN'S WORKS. Sage Franklin next arose with cheerful mien, CHAPTER 1. Barlow's Columbiad. SELECTIONS FROM THE FIRST PART OF THE LIFE OF DR. FRANKLIN, ADDRESSED TO HIS SON WILLIAM FRANKLIN, ESQ. DATED 1771. SECTION I. His early diligence in reading and improving his mind, &c. 1 Dear Son-I have ever had a pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the remains of my relations, when you were with me in England. Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to learn the circumstances of my life, and expecting a few weeks uninterrupted leisure, I sit down to write them. Besides, there are some other inducements to excite me to this undertaking. 2 From the bosom of poverty and obscurity, in which I drew my first breath and spent my earliest years, I have raised myself to a state of opulence, and to some degree of celebrity in the world. A constant good fortune has attended me through every period of life to my present advanced age; and my descendants may be desirous of learning what were the means of which I made use, and which, thanks to the assisting hand of Providence, have proved so eminently successful. They may also, should they ever be placed in a similar situation, derive some advantage from my narrative. 3 This good fortune, when I reflect on it, which is frequently the case, has induced me sometimes to say, that if it were left to my choice I should have no objection to go over * Alluding to the American Revolution. eral, and at all times, nor to deny that many follies and absurdities can be counteracted best, in less familiar circles by the lashes of fine, not too plain, nor too personal ridicule. Neither do I desire you to applaud every thing you see and hear, nor to excuse all faults; I rather must confess, that I always suspect people that affect to cover all defects of others with the cloak of charity. 12 They are generally hypocrites, who wish to bribe others by the honorable terms in which they speak of them, to forget the injuries which they commit against those very persons: or they intend to prevail on us by such a conduct, to be equally indulgent to their own failings and defects. 13 Be careful not to carry stories from one house to another, nor to relate familiar table talks, family discourses, and observations which you have made on the domestic concerns and life of people with whom you frequently converse. Although you should not be a malicious tale-bearer, yet such an officious garrulity would create mistrust, and might occasion a great deal of animosity and discord. 14 Whenever you speak of bodily, mental, moral, or other defects, or relate anecdotes that place certain principles in a ridiculous light, or reflect some blame upon certain ranks in life; then be cautious to ascertain first, that no one is present who could be offended by it, or take that censure or ridicule as a reflection upon himself, or his relations and friends. Ridicule the person, shape and features of no one; for it is not in the power of any mortal to alter them. SECTION II. On the conversation with ourselves. 1 Take care of the health of your mind as well as that of your body; but spoil neither the one nor the other by too much tenderness. The man that endangers his constitution by too much labor or excess, squanders away a treasure which frequently is alone sufficient to raise him above men and fate, and for the loss of which the wealth of all the world cannot compensate. 2 But he that dreads every breeze of air, and is fearful to exert and exercise his limbs, lives a nerveless life of constant anxiety, and attempts in vain to put the rusty springs in motion when he has occasion to exert his natural powers. 3 A man that constantly exposes his mind to the tempests of passion, or incessantly crowds the sails of his spirit, either runs aground or must return with his leaky vessel into port, when the best season for making new discoveries sets in. But he that suffers the faculties of his understanding and memory constantly to sleep, or shudders at every little struggle or at any sort of painful exertion, enjoys not only very little of the sweets of life, but is also totally lost as soon as energy, courage and resolution are required. 4 Take care, therefore, not to torment yourself by imaginary sufferings of the body or the mind; do not give way to every adverse incident or corporeal affliction! Take courage and be resolute! All the storms of adversity are transient; all difficulties can be overcome by firmness of mind; and the remembrance of every loss can be exploded from the memory, if we bend our attention upon some other object. 5 Have a proper regard for yourself, if you wish to be esteemed by others. Act well and properly, rather to preserve your regard for yourself than to please others., Preserve a proper sense of your internal dignity. Never lose your reliance upon yourself, and upon the consciousness of your value in the eyes of your Creator; and although you are sensible not to be as wise and capable as others, yet do not despair; let not your zeal slacken, nor be wanting in probity of heart! 6 Have confidence in yourself and trust to Providence! There exists a greatness which is independent of men, fate, and the applause of the world; it consists in the internal consciousness of our merit and rectitude, and our sense of it grows stronger, the less it is taken notice of. 7 Be an agreeable companion to yourself: that is, never be entirely unoccupied, nor confide entirely in the store of knowledge which you have treasured up in your mind; but collect new ideas from books and men. 8 Our own society does, however, never grow more tedious and distressing to ourselves than when we have painful accounts to settle with our heart and conscience. If you wish to convince yourself of the truth of this assertion, you need but to observe the difference of your disposition. 9 How much dissatisfied with ourselves, how absent, and how burdensome to ourselves, are we after a train of hours. which we have trifled away or spent in doing wrong, and how serene, how happy to reflect upon our conduct, and to give audience to our ideas at the close of a well spent day! SECTION III. On the conversation with people of different tempers and dispositions. 1 Amongst all adventurers, gamblers by profession are the most contemptible and prejudicial class. On speaking of them, I beg leave to say a few words on gaming in general. 2 No passion can lead to such extremities, nor involve man in such a complicated train of crimes and vices, and ruin whole families, so completely, as the baneful rage for gambling. It produces and nourishes all imaginable disgraceful sensations; it is the most fertile nursery of covetousness, envy, rage, malice, dissimulation, falsehood, and foolish reliance on blind fortune;* it frequently leads to fraud, quarrels, murder, forgery, meanness and despair; and robs us, in the most unpardonable manner, of the greatest and most irrecoverable treasure-Time. 3 Drunkards, voluptuaries, and all votaries of vice in general, you ought to shun, and if possible, to avoid their society; yet if you should not always be able to do it, you cannot be too careful to watch over your innocence lest it should be infected by their example. 4 This, however, is not sufficient; it is also your duty not to indulge them in their excesses, how pleasing soever the shape may be in which they appear, but to show, as far as prudence permits, that you have an unconquerable aversion against them, and to be particularly careful never to join in smutty discourses. 5 We see frequently that elegant rakes are uncommonly well received in the fashionable circles as they are called; and but too often experience in many societies, particularly * The same pernicious consequences are liable to occur more or less, from the toleration of lotteries, horse-racing, and every description of wagering, or betting; which, it is to be hoped, will not, much longer, be encouraged and promoted by gentlemen of honor and wealth, who, in all other respects, sustain the reputation of irreproachable morals, patriotism and beneficence. These fashionable modes of gambling may be amusing to those who have an abundance of money and leisure; but there are two insuperable objections to their indulgence in them. First, every parent incurs a moral obligation of fidelity and prudence in the management of the property, which, though in his possession and control, his family and descendants have a just claim to a participation in, during his life, and the possession of, after his decease. Second, public games promote dissipation and idleness among all classes who attend them. J. T. in such as consist entirely of males, that the conversation turns upon obscene ambiguities, which inflame the imagination of young people, and spread farther the corruption of morals. 6 An honest man ought not to contribute the least thing in the world to this general corruption of morals; he rather is bound to display his aversion to it in the strongest manner, without shewing any respect of persons; and if he cannot correct people who walk in the path of vice by amicable admonitions, and by directing their activity to nobler objects, at least to convince them that he values decency and virtue, and that innocence must be respected in his presence. 7 People who believe without any sufficient ground in certain doctrines and obligations, or in supernatural causes, agencies and apparitions, who for instance believe that God is an irascible and revengeful being, that those who are heretics, in their opinion, ought to be deprived of all civil privileges, that future events can be foretold from omens and signs, that ghosts and superior beings can appear to men, &c. and who regard these objects of their faith as highly sacred and inviolable are called superstitious. 8 It is a certain criterion of superstition to believe too much, i. e. more than sound reason warrants. People who are given to superstition do not therefore listen to the voice of reason, but are deaf to sober arguments, and believe the most contradictory tenets. They never give up an opinion which they have once adopted, how absurd and incomprehensible soever it may be, and the firmness of their faith is founded merely on habit. 9 They have heard for instance a certain tenet asserted in their youth, it was recommended to them as a religious truth, and they have believed in it for many years; or something was inculcated into their mind as an invariable duty and obligation; or they were taught to believe that certain invisible powers produce certain effects; and now they continue. to adhere to that opinion, because they have accustomed themselves so much to believe it, that the contrary of it appears to them a daring violation of truth, which they are bound to abhor or to hate: and as reason opposes to their belief incontrovertible doubts, their commodiousness leads them to think that the voice of reason ought not to be listened to in matters of faith. 10 Superstition undoubtedly is a source of numerous evils, and productive of great misery; and it is extremely painful and distressing for every individual to be connected |