to be wholly on on charitable contributions? If this should be concluded, then it may be proper to open an account with each orphan on admission; the orphans to have credit for any subsistence brought in with them, and for the profit made of it and of their labor, and made debtors for their maintenance and education. And at their discharge on coming of age, to be paid the balance, if any, in their favor, or remain debtors for the balance, if against them, which they may be exhorted to pay, if ever able, but not to be compelled. Such as receive a balance may be exhorted to give back a part in charity to the institution that has taken such kind care of them, or at least to remember it favorably, if hereafter God should bless them with ability, either in benefaction while living, or a legacy on decease. The orphans, when discharged, to receive, besides decent clothing and some money, a certificate of their good behaviour, if such it has been, as a recommendation; and the managers of the institution should still consider them as their children, so far as to counsel them in their affairs, encourage and promote them in their business, watch over and kindly admonish them when in danger of misconduct.

PAPER;

A POEM.

This poem has been printed in nearly all the collections of Dr. Franklin's writings, and for that reason it is retained in the present edition; but I have seen no evidence, which satisfies me that he was the author of it. In the American Museum, where it was printed in 1788, it was said to be " ascribed to Dr. Franklin"; and, on that authority, it was taken first into Robinson's and then into Longman's edition, and thence transferred, under Franklin's name, to various other publications in England and the United States. not contained in W. T. Franklin's edition. - EDITOR.

SOME wit of old, - such wits of old there were, -
Whose hints showed meaning, whose allusions care,
By one brave stroke to mark all human kind,
Called clear blank paper every infant mind;
Where still, as opening sense her dictates wrote,
Fair virtue put a seal, or vice a blot.

The thought was happy, pertinent, and true;
Methinks a genius might the plan pursue.
I, (can you pardon my presumption?) I-
No wit, no genius,-yet for once will try.

Various the papers various wants produce,
The wants of fashion, elegance, and use.
Men are as various; and, if right I scan,

Each sort of paper represents some man.

Pray note the fop, - half powder and half lace, —

Nice as a band-box were his dwelling-place;

He's the gilt paper, which apart you store,

And lock from vulgar hands in the 'scrutoire.

Mechanics, servants, farmers, and so forth,
Are copy-paper of inferior worth;

Less prized, more useful, for your desk decreed,
Free to all pens, and prompt at every need.

The wretch, whom avarice bids to pinch and spare, Starve, cheat, and pilfer, to enrich an heir,

Is coarse brown paper; such as pedlers choose
To wrap up wares, which better men will use.

Take next the miser's contrast, who destroys Health, fame, and fortune, in a round of joys. Will any paper match him? Yes, throughout, He's a true sinking paper, past all doubt.

The retail politician's anxious thought

Deems this side always right, and that stark naught;
He foams with censure; with applause he raves,-
A dupe to rumors, and a tool of knaves;
He'll want no type his weakness to proclaim,
While such a thing as foolscap has a name.

The hasty gentleman, whose blood runs high,
Who picks a quarrel, if you step awry,
Who can't a jest, or hint, or look endure,
What's he? What? Touch-paper to be sure.

What are our poets, take them as they fall,
Good, bad, rich, poor, much read, not read at all?
Them and their works in the same class you'll find;
They are the mere waste-paper of mankind.

Observe the maiden, innocently sweet;
She's fair white paper, an unsullied sheet;
On which the happy man, whom fate ordains,
May write his name, and take her for his pains.

One instance more, and only one I'll bring; 'Tis the great man who scorns a little thing,

Whose thoughts, whose deeds, whose maxims are his own,

Formed on the feelings of his heart alone;

True genuine royal puper is his breast;
Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best.

BAGATELLES.

Concerning all the following articies, from The Levee to An Economical Project inclusive, Mr. William Temple Franklin remarks, that they "were chiefly written by Dr. Franklin for the amusement of his intimate society in London and Paris; and were actually collected in a small PORTFOLIO, endorsed as above. Several of the pieces were either originally written in French, or afterwards translated by him into that language, by way of exercises." The pieces which follow next, entitled The Craven Street Gazette, and A Letter concerning China, may perhaps be properly ranked in the same class. - EDITOR.

THE LEVEE.

In the first chapter of Job we have an account of a transaction said to have arisen in the court, or at the levee, of the best of all possible princes, or of governments by a single person, viz. that of God himself.

At this levee, in which the sons of God were assembled, Satan also appeared.

It is probable the writer of that ancient book took his idea of this levee from those of the eastern monarchs of the age he lived in.

It is to this day usual, at the levees of princes, to have persons assembled who are enemies to each other, who seek to obtain favor by whispering calumny and detraction, and thereby ruining those that distinguish themselves by their virtue and merit. And kings frequently ask a familiar question or two, of every one