THE repeated calls of the Public for the republication of the "Life of Franklin," evince at once a correct judgment of literary merit, and a veneration for the illustrious character, the subject and author of these memoirs. The history of Franklin is replete with interesting incidents; and as they are detailed in the following sheets, they become doubly engaging. The simplicity, purity and admirable perspicuity of the style, the minuteness and fidelity of the detail, the persevering firmness of character, the constant and rapid developement of mind continually unfolding as page succeeds to page, the variety of adventure, and, finally, the successful issue of his intellectual exertions, unite to render the Life of Franklin, as committed to paper by his own hand, one of the most interesting pieces of modern Biography. Franklin's greatness was intrinsic was intellectual. From the humble occupation of an inferior Printer, he rose to an honorable rank among the first Philosophers and Statesmen of his day, without fortune and without patronage. Nature had formed him for distinction, and habit for usefulпеля. His youthful mind resembled a luxuriant soil, rich and uncultivated-a glebe as yet cir. cumscribed by no hedge, uncleared and unfurrowed, which needed only the friendly hand of Industry to display all the useful and ornamental variety of a tropical garden; such was its native fertility. |