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say, that if it were left to my choice, I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end: requesting only the advantage authors have, of correcting in a second edition the faults of the first. So would I also wish to change some incidents of it for others more favorable. Notwithstanding, if this condition was denied, I should still accept the offer of recommencing the same life. But as this repetition is not to be expected, that which resembles most living one's life over again, seems to be to recall all the circumstances of it; and, to render this remembrance more durable, to record them in writing.

In thus employing myself, I shall yield to the inclination so natural to old men, of talking of themselves and their own actions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to those who, from respect to my age, might conceive themselves obliged to listen. to me, since they will be always free to read me or not. And, lastly (I may as well confess it, as the denial of it would be believed by nobody), I shall perhaps not a little gratify my own vanity. Indeed, I never heard or saw the introductory words "Without vanity I may say," &c., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter, wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others who are within his sphere of action: and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to

thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to acknowledge that I attribute the mentioned happiness of my past life to his divine providence, which led me to the means I used and gave the success. My belief of this induces me to hope, though I must not presume, that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me, in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may experience as others have done; the complexion of my future fortune being known to him only in whose power it is to bless us, even in our afflictions.

Some notes which one of my uncles (who had the same curiosity in collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished me with several particulars relative to our ancestors. From these notes I learned that they lived in the same village, Ecton, in Northamptonshire, on a freehold of about thirty acres, for at least three hundred years, and how much longer could not be ascertained.*

This small estate would not have sufficed for their maintenance without the business of a smith, which had continued in the family down to my

* Sir John Fortescue, chief justice of the King's Bench in the time of Henry VI., in his famous work, "De Laudibus Legum Angliæ," written in 1412, speaks of wealthy freeholders as commonly called Franklins. Chaucer and Spencer both speak of the country gentleman as a Franklin; and the name was probably assumed as a surname when the fashion of surnames came up. The name Francquelin or Franqueln is found in France, and may be traced back as far as 1521, and even to the century before.

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uncle's time, the eldest son being always brought up to that employment; a custom which he and my father followed with regard to their eldest sons. When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an account of their marriages and burials from the year 1555 only, as the registers kept did not commence previous thereto. I, however, learned from it that I was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he was too old to continue his business, when he retired to Banbury, in Oxfordshire, to the house of his son John, with whom my father served an apprenticeship. There my uncle died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the manor there. My grandfather had four sons, who grew up: viz., Thomas, John, Benjamin, and Josiah. Being at a distance from my papers, I will

give you what account I can of them from memory: and if my papers are not lost in my absence, you will find among them many more particulars.*

Thomas, my eldest uncle, was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer, then the principal inhabitant of that parish, he qualified himself for the bar, and became a considerable man in the county; was chief mover of all public-spirited enterprises for the county or town of Northampton, as well as of his own village, of which many instances were related of him; and he was much taken notice of and patronized by Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, on the 6th of January, four years to a day before I was born. The recital which some elderly persons made to us of his character, I remember, struck you as something extraordinary, from its similarity with what you knew of me. "Had he died," said you, "four years later, on the same day, one might have supposed a transmigration."

John, my next uncle, was bred a dyer, I believe of wool. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an apprenticeship in London. He was an ingenious man. I remember, when I was a boy, he came to my father's in Boston, and resided in the house with

* Among Dr. Franklin's papers was found a letter from his father, dated Boston, May 25th, 1739: “As to the original of our name there is various opinions; some say that it came from a sort of title of which a book, that you bought when here, gives a lively account. Some think we are of a French extract, which was formerly called Franks; some of a free line, a line free from that vassalage which was common to subjects in days of old; some from a bird of long red legs."

us for several years. There was always a particular affection between my father and him, and I was his godson. He lived to a great age. He left behind him two quarto volumes of manuscript, of his own poetry, consisting of fugitive pieces addressed to his friends.* He had invented a short-hand of

* These volumes are now in the possession of Mrs. Samuel Emmons, of Boston, great-granddaughter of their author. The thoughts of the writer run chiefly on moral and religious subjects; and the pieces embrace many acrostics, as the names of his friends and connections, and other pieces addressed to them on various occasions. The following lines were sent to his namesake, and were probably elicited by some juvenile performance of the future philosopher. They were prophetic : ""Tis time for me to throw aside my pen

When hanging sleeves read, write, and rhyme like men.

This forward Spring fortells a plenteous crop ;

For, if the bud bear grain, what will the top!

If plenty in the verdant blade appear,

What may we not soon hope for in the ear!

When flowers are beautiful before they're blown,
What rarities will afterward be shown!

If trees good fruit un'noculated bear,

You may be sure 'twill afterward be rare.

If fruits are sweet before they've time to yellow,

How luscious will they be when they are mellow!

If first years' shoots such noble clusters send,

What laden boughs, Engedi-like, may we expect in the end!" Benjamin Franklin, the philosopher's uncle, died in Boston in 1728, leaving one son, Samuel, the only survivor of ten children. This son had an only child, a son, referred to in the text, as living in 1771. He died in 1775, leaving four daughters. It may be here remarked, that there is not now a male descendant of Dr. Franklin's grandfather living who bears the name of Franklin. Dr. Franklin's eldest son, to whom this autobiography was addressed, left one son, William Temple Franklin, who died without issue. His second son, Francis Folger, died in childhood. His daughter, Sarah, married Richard Bache in 1767, and their descendants are numerous, six out of seven marrying: viz., Benjamm Franklin Bache, who married Margaret Marcoe; William, who married Catharine Wistar; Deborah, William J. Duane; Richard, a daughter of Alexander J. Dallas; Sarah, Thomas Sergeant.

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