common labour for a great number; they will also provide, that such, as indicate proper talents, may learn various trades, which may be done by prevailing upon them to bind themselves for such a term of years, as shall compensate their masters for the expence and trouble of instruction and maintenance. The committee may attempt the institution of some useful and simple manufactures, which require but little skill, and also may assist, in commencing business, such as appear to be qualified for it.

Whenever the committee of inspection shall find persons of any particular description requiring attention, they shall immediately direct them to the committee, of whose care they are the proper objects.

In matters of a mixed nature, the committees shall confer, and, if necessary, act in concert. Affairs of great importance shall be referred to the whole committee.

The expence, incurred by the prosecution of this plan, shall be defrayed by a fund, to be formed by donations, or subscriptions, for these particular purposes, and to be kept separate from the other funds of this society.

The committee shall make a report of their proceedings, and of the state of their stock, to the society, at their quarterly meetings, in the months called April and October.

Philadelphia,

26th October, 1789.

Paper:

Paper: a Poem*.

SOME wit of old-such wits of old there were-
Whose hints show'd meaning, whose allusions care,
By one brave stroke to mark all human kind,
Call'd clear blank paper ev'ry infant mind;
When 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 yon 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 bandbox 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 priz'd, more useful, for your desk decreed,
Free to all pens, and prompt at ev'ry need.

The wretch, whom av rice bids to pinch and spare,
Starve, cheat, and pilfer, to enrich an heir,
Is coarse brown-paper; such as pedlars, 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.

We have been told, that this poem is not Franklin's and the name of some other person was at the time mentioned to us as the author; but as we have forgotten both the name and the authority, and as the poem has been ascribed to Dr. Franklin in the American Museum, we think it not right to omit it. Editor.

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 nought;
He foams with censure; with applause he raves—
A dupe to rumours, and a tool of knaves;
He'll want no type his weakness to proclaim,
While such a thing as fools-cap 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,
Form'd on the feelings of his heart alone:

True genuine royal-paper is his breast;

Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best,

Plain

Plain truth; or serious Considerations on the present State of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pensylzania :

BY A TRADESMAN OF PHILADELPHIA.

Capta urbe, nihil fit reliqui victis. Sed, per deos immortales, vos ego appello, qui semper domos, villas, signa, tabulas vestras, tantæ æstimationis fecistis si ista, cujuscumque modi sint, quæ amplexamini, retinere, si voluptatibus vestris otium præbere vultis; expergiscimini ali. quando, & capessite rempublicam. Non agitur nune de sociorum injuriis; libertas & anima nostra in dubio est. Dux hostium cum exercitu supra caput est. Vos cunctamini etiam nunc, & dubitatis quid faciatis? Scilicet, res ipsa aspera est, sed vos non timetis eam. Imo vero maxime; sed inertia & mollitia animi, alius alium expectantes, cunctamin; videlicit, diis immortalibus confisi, qui hanc rempublicam in maximis periculis servare non votis, neque suppliciis muliebribus, auxilia deorum parantur: vigilando, agendo, bene consulendo, prospere omnia cedunt. Ubi socordiæ tete atque iguavia tradideris, nequicquam deos implores; irati, infestique sunt.

M. POR. CAT. IN SALLUST.

It is said, the wise Italians make this proverbial remark on our nation, viz. The English feel, but they

For this pamphlet we are indebted to the same American correspondent, who furnished us with the papers intitled The Busy-Body: but it came too late for insertion in its proper place, which, agreeably to its date, is at the commencement of the present volume. Dr W. Smith, in his eulogium on our author, delivered before the American philosophical society, speaks of this production as follows: "In 1744, a Spanish privateer, having entered the Bay of Delaware, ascended as high as New castle, to the great terror of the citizens of Philadelphia. On this occasion Franklin wrote his first political pamphlet called Plain Truth, to exhort his fellow-citizens to the bearing of arms; which laid the foundation of those military associations, which followed, at different times, for the defence of the country." We presume that Dr. Smith is correct in his date, but the copy sent us by our correspondent, which is the second edi tion, was printed in 1747. Editor.

do

do not see. That is, they are sensible of inconveniences when they are present, but do not take sufficient care to prevent them: their natural courage makes them too little apprehensive of danger, so that they are often surprised by it, unprovided of the proper means of security. When it is too late, they are sensible of their imprudence: after great fires, they provide buckets and engines after a pestilence, they think of keeping clean their streets and common sewers: and when a town has been sacked by their enemies, they provide for its defence, &c. This kind of after-wisdom is indeed so common with us, as to occasion the vulgar, though very insignificant saying, When the steed is stolen, you shut the stable door.

But the more insensible we generally are of public danger and indifferent when warned of it, so much the more freely, openly, and earnestly, ought such as apprehend it to speak their sentiments; that, if possible, those who seem to sleep may be awakened, to think of some means of avoiding or preventing the mischief, before it be too late.

Believing therefore, that it is my duty, I shall honestly speak my mind in the following paper.

War, at this time, rages over a great part of the known world; our newspapers are weekly filled with fresh accounts of the destruction it every where оссаsions. Pensylvania, indeed, situate in the centre of the colonies, has hitherto enjoyed profound repose; and though our nation is engaged in a bloody war, with two great and powerful kingdoms, yet, defended, in a great degree, from the French, on the one hand, by the northern provinces, and from the Spaniards, on the

other,