12. Profile of the Pennsylvania Chimney and Fireplace.-Stafford shire Fireplace. (Plate VI.) 13. Magical Squares, (Plate VII.) Frontispiece, III. Frontispiece, IV. 456 Frontispiece, V. 196 372 384 442 VI. 46 50 102 19. Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, exhibiting the Course of the Gulf Stream, &c., (Plate XIII.) 504 20. Illustrating the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys, (Plate LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. AUTOBIOGRAPHY.* CHAPTER I. Origin and Genealogy of his Family. His Birth. His Mother. Employments in his Boyhood.- Anecdote.-Character of his Father. -Epitaph on his Father and Mother.- Fond of reading. Apprenticed to his Brother to learn the Printer's Trade. - Writes Ballads. Intimacy with Collins. - Practises Composition. - Adopts a vegetable Diet. Studies the Socratic Method of Disputation. Concerned in publishing a Newspaper. Disagrees with his Brother. - Leaves Boston and takes Passage in a Sloop for New York. 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, and the journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to learn the circumstances of my life, many of which you are unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a few weeks' uninterrupted leisure, I sit down to write them. Besides, there are some other inducements that excite me to this *The first part of the Autobiography, constituting the first six Chapters of this edition, was written in the form of a letter to his son, William Franklin, then governor of New Jersey. It was begun while the author was on a visit to the family of the Bishop of St. Asaph, at Twyford, in the year 1771.- EDITOR. VOL. I. 1 A |