HISTORICAL SERIES No. 14
THE LIFE OF
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
BY
M. L. WEEMS
STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
THE LIFE
OF
Benjamin Franklin
WITH MANY
CHOICE ANECDOTES
AND
ADMIRABLE SAYINGS OF THIS GREAT MAN
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED BY ANY OF HIS BIOGRAPHERS
BY
M. L. WEEMS
AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON"
"Sage Franklin next arose in cheerful mien,
And smil'd, unruffled, o'er the solemn scene;
High on his locks of age a wreath was brac'd,
Palm of all arts that e'er a mortal grac'd;
Beneath him lay the sceptre kings had borne,
And crowns and laurels from their temples torn."
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LIFE OF FRANKLIN.
CHAPTER I.
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,president of the american philosophical society; fellow of the royal society of edinburgh, london and paris; governor of the state of pennsylvania; and minister plenipotentiary from the united states to the court of france, was the son of an obscure tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, of Boston, where he was born on the 17th day of January, 1706.
Some men carry letters of recommendation in their looks, and some in their names. 'Tis the lot but of few to inherit both of these advantages. The hero of this work was one of that favoured number. As to his physiognomy, there was in it such an air of wisdom and philanthropy, and consequently such an expression of majesty and sweetness, as charms, even in the commonest pictures of him. And for his name, every one acquainted with the old English history, must know, that Franklin stands for what we now mean by "Gentleman," or "clever fellow."
In the days ofAuld Lang Syne, their neighbours from the continent ma