And, wandering, Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel RANGER! Ye who blindly seek more liberty, "You see, my dear miss, how much more decent and proper this broken style is, than if we were to say, by way of epitaph: Here Skugg Lies snug As a bug In a rug. And yet, perhaps, there are people in the world of so little feeling, as to think that this would be a good-enough epitaph for poor Mingo. "If you wish it, I shall procure another to succeed him; but perhaps you will now choose some other amusement.” CHAPTER XXXII. Letter to his Son.- Homesick. - Anticipating vations. Prepares an Abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer.-Lord Mansfield. DR. FRANKLIN had now been absent from home more than eight years. Writing to his son, Jan. 30, 1772, he says: "I have, of late, great debates with myself, whether or not I shall continue here any longer. I grow homesick, and being now in my sixty-seventh year, I begin to apprehend some infirmity of age may attack me, and make my return impracticable. I have also important affairs to settle before my death, a period I ought to think cannot now be far distant. I see here no disposition in Parliament to meddle farther in colony affairs for the present, either to lay more duties or to repeal any. I have, indeed, so many good kind friends here, that I could spend the remainder of my life among them with great pleasure, if it were not for my American connexions, and the indelible affection I retain for that dear country, from which I have so long been in a state of exile. My love to Betsy." But circumstances occurring from time to time, relating to his various agencies, and the hope of a favorable change in the spirit of the Parliament, still kept him at his post. There was a prospect, too, of a change of ministry; that Hillsborough would be superseded by Lord Dartmouth. Writing to his son in Angust, he says of his situation, that "nothing could be more agreeable," especially as he hoped for "less emb. rrassment from the new minister." "My company is so much desired, that I seldom dine at home in winter, and could spend the whole summer in the country-houses of inviting friends, if I chose it. Learned and ingenious foreigners, that come to England, almost all nake a point of visiting me; for my reputation is still higher broad than here. Several of the foreign ambassadors have ssiduously cultivated my acquaintance, treating me as one f their corps. "These are flattering circumstances; but a violent longing for home seizes me, which I can no otherwise subdue but by promising myself a return next spring or next fall.” About this time, he was appointed one of a Committee of the Royal Society, who were to examine some government powder-works, in or der to settle the question, whether pointed or blunt conductors would afford the best protection. He drew up a Report in favor of pointed rods, to which all the Committee agreed, except a Mr. Wilson. He insisted that points, by attracting the lightning, would prove dangerous. The doctor had only to reply, that the clouds needed to be disarmed of their electricity, and quietly and gradually; which he proved, by a series of new experiments, could not be done by rods with blunt tops. Mr. Wilson was not or would not be convinced, and a hot controversy ensued, between the partisans of the two sorts of rods, in which, however, the doctor took no part. The stupid king was made to believe that his precious life was in danger from the American conductor that had been put up at his palace, and had it changed for one of Wilson's pattern. Dr. Franklin knew that he was right, in spite of Mr. Wilson and George III., and kept silent. "I have never," he said, "entered into any controversy in defence of my philosophical opinions; I leave them to take their chance in the world. If they are right, truth and experience will support them; if wrong, they ought to be refuted and rejected. Disputes are apt to sour one's temper, disturb one's quiet. I have no private interest in the reception of my inventions by the world, having never made, nor proposed to make, the least profit by any of them. The king's changing his pointed conductors for blunt ones is, therefore, a matter of small importance to me. If I had a wish about it, it would be, that he had rejected them altogether as ineffectual. For it was only since he thought himself and family safe from the thunder of Heaven, that he dared to use his own thunder in destroying his innocen subjects." The laugh was soon turned upon the oppoaents of Franklin's rods, the "great George himself not being spared in an epigram published at the time: "While you, great GEORGE, for safety hunt, And all your thunder fearless views, Franklin also made experiments showing the effect of oil in stilling waves. In a letter, dated November 7th, 1773, he says: "I had, when a youth, read and smiled at Pliny's account of a practice among the seamen of his time, to still the waves in a storm by pouring oil into the sea. "In 1757, being at sea in a fleet of ninety-six sail bound against Louisburg, I observed the wakes of two of the ships to be remarkably smooth, while all the others were ruffled by the wind, which blew fresh. Being puzzled with the differing appearance, I at last pointed it out to our captain, and asked him the meaning of it. The cooks,' says he, 'have, I suppose, been just emptying their greasy water through the scuppers, which has greased the sides of those ships a little.' Afterwards, being again at sea in 1762, I first observed the wonderful quietness of oil on agitated water, in the swinging glass lamp I made to hang up in the cabin. An old sea-captain, then a passenger with me, said [it] was a practice of the Bermudians [to put oil on water to smooth it] when they would strike fish which they could not see, if the surface of the water was ruffled |