12. Profile of the Pennsylvania Chimney and Fireplace.-Stafford

shire Fireplace. (Plate VI.)

13. Magical Squares, (Plate VII.)

14. Magical Circle, (Plate VIII.)

15. Waterspout, (Plate IX.)

16. Armonica, (Plate X.)

17. Aurora Borealis, &c., (Plate XI.)

456

V.

196

372

384

442

VI. 46

50

102

104

156

248

420

494

18. Improvements in Navigation, (Plate XII.)

19. Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, exhibiting the Course of the Gulf Stream, &c., (Plate XIII.)

20. Illustrating the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys, (Plate XIV.)

LIFE

OF

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.*

CHAPTER 1.

--

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 five 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

1