more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas." These virtues were thirteen in number: Temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquillity, chastity, humility. The moral world to him was a region of experiment and he was the moral world. He proceeded to experiment with himself as he would experiment with electricity. Perhaps the originality and practical tendency of his mind was never better displayed than in his scheme for perfection in the Art of Virtue.

I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line and its proper column I might mark by a little black spot every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting virtue upon that day.

How to grow good.

This little book is dated July 1, 1733, when Franklin was a little past 27 years of age, and from the specimens given we can read Franklin's progress in the "art of virtue" for one week. His scheme provided for a complete course in thirteen weeks and for four courses in a year, and taking a lesson from the gardener, who does not attempt "to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and having accomplished the first, proceeds to a second," Franklin had hope that "by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination."

This self-culture in virtue for self-improvement is on the same principle as Mather's societies and the Junto. Being a practical man, Franklin strengthened his little book with maxims and quotations-one from Addison's Cato, which he had doubtless learned years before in the Spectator, another from Cicero, and a third from the Proverbs of Solomon:

Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand The Art of Virtue riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

applied.

But not satisfied with mere quotation, he prefixed to his tables of examination for daily use a little prayer of his own composition, which in itself is a lesson in self-improvement in the Art of Virtue:

O powerful Goodness, bountiful Father, merciful Guide, increase in me that

wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me.

His Art of Virtue was the art of promoting the general welfare by selfimprovement and self-training in morals. He was a busy man, and found it troublesome to keep an ordinary book which must be renewed from time to time, and which, "by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new course, became full of holes; I transferred my tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines I marked my faults with a black lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I went through one course only in a year, and afterwards only one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being employed in voyages and business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little book with me."

Whenever we read in Franklin's writings any reference to virtue, and he is constantly referring to the virtues, we must have in mind his Art of Virtue and his scheme for self-improvement in morality, for I suppose he thought it illogical for any individual to require a child to form habits of self-education in politics and natural history and not in morality. His scheme of culture was, after all, the practical application of Socrates's famous maxim, “Know thyself." Perhaps the time may come when Franklin's method of self-education in morality shall be the prevailing one in society, but it is hindered at present by the more popular vicarious method of moral improvement. If every man would make self-education in morals a matter of business we might be able to trace an influence of Franklin's Art of Virtue in our country as great as his influence in founding public libraries. Again and again through life he mentioned his intention of writing and publishing "a great and extensive project that required the whole man to execute,” and this was to be a treatise on the Art of Virtue.

His

observations

on his readings.

It was the consideration of this "great and extensive project," an adequate treatment of which he could not find in the books of the world, that he made some observations after one of his readings in the library, May 19, 1731:

That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and effected by parties.

That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such.

That the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion. That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view.

That as soon as a party has gained its general point, each member becomes intent upon his particular interest, which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions and occasions much confusion.

That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their country, whatever they may pretend: and tho' their actings bring real good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and their country's interest was united and did not act from a principle of benevolence.

That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of mankind. There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a United Party of Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be governed by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to than common people are to common laws.

I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well qualified, can not fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success.

If I understand these observations correctly, they signify that Franklin conceived of a moral order in the world. From that conception he made scientific

deductions, the most important of which was that the moral order will prevail if men understand the principles of the moral world. Therefore he would encourage all men to make self-improvement the basis of moral investigation. From the mass of these moral experiments the ruling principles of the moral world might be deduced. In this mental process we see the man of science. Experiments in shipbuilding.

When, in 1757, he had engaged passage to England in a New York packet ship, had embarked stores for himself and his son, and was waiting orders of the tedious Lord Loudoun, who delayed the sailing of the fleet more than three months, he had occasion to practice his "art of virtue," and illustrate all his capacity for patience and happiness. It was in describing this voyage in his Autobiography that he wrote:

It has been remarked, as an imperfection in the art of shipbuilding, that it can never be known till she is tried whether a new ship will or will not be a good sailer; for that the model of a good sailing ship has been exactly followed in a new one, which has proved, on the contrary, remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly be occasioned by the different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship. Each has his system, and the same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders of one captain, shall sail better or worse than when by the orders of another. Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is formed, fitted for the sea, and sailed by the same person. * * Yet

*

I think a set of experiments might be instituted, first, to determine the most proper form of the hull for swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for the masts, then the form and quantity of sails, and their position as the wind may be, and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combined would be of great use. I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish success.

His observations on the sailing of ships illustrate his ideas in education: by frequent experiment, rules for the conduct of life should be deduced, and the dominant idea of all experimentation should be utility.

The idea of experimentation and the deduction of principles from it is the chief idea in his philosophy of education. He would have “natural and mechanic history" taught, because deductions might be made which would improve agricul

ture and mechanics. He would have composition taught in his How to teach com- ideal school because "writing one's own language well is the position. next necessary accomplishment after good speaking. It is the writing master's business to take care that the boys make fair characters, and place them straight and even in the line; but to form their style and even to take care that the stops and capitals are properly disposed is the part of the English master. The boys should be put on writing letters to each other on any common occurrences and on various subjects, imaginary business, etc., containing little stories, accounts of their late reading, what parts of authors please them, and why; letters of congratulation, of compliment, of request, of thanks, of recommendation, of admonition, of consolation, of expostulation, excuse, etc. In these they should be taught to express themselves clearly, concisely, and naturally, without affected words or highflown phrases. All their letters to pass through the master's hand, who is to point out the faults, advise the corrections, and commend what he finds right. Some of the best letters published in our own language, as Sir William Temple's, those of Pope and his friends, and some others, might be set before the youth as models, their beauties pointed out and explained by the master, the letters themselves transcribed by the scholar.

Morality to be taught.

Dr. Johnson's Ethica Elementa, or First Principles of Morality, may now be read by the scholars, and explained by the master to lay a solid foundation of virtue and piety in their minds. And as this class continues the reading of history let them now, at proper hours, receive some further instruction in chronology and in that part of geography (from the mathematical master) which is necessary to understand the

maps and globes. They should also be acquainted with the modern names of the places they find mentioned in ancient writers. The exercise of good reading and proper speaking still continued at suitable times.

His fifth class, for further improvement in composition, were Essays and logic. to continue writing letters, and, in addition, to begin writingLittle essays in prose, and sometimes in verse, not to make them poets, but for this reason: That nothing acquaints a lad so speedily with variety of exercises as the necessity of finding such words and phrases as will suit the measure, sound, and rhyme of verse, and at the same time well express the sentiment. These essays should all pass under the master's eye, who will point out their faults and put the writer on correcting them. Where the judgment is not ripe enough for forming new essays, let the sentiment of a Spectator be given and required to be clothed in the scholar's own words; or the circumstances of some good story, the scholar to find expression. Let them sometimes be put on abridging a paragraph of a diffuse author; sometimes on dilating or amplifying what is wrote more closely. And now let Dr. Johnson's Noetica, or First Principle of Human Knowledge, containing a logic, or art of reasoning, etc., be read by the youth, and the difficulties that may occur to them be explained by the master. The reading of history, and the exercise of good reading and just speaking still continued. This formula is an epitome of Franklin's own experience. Origin of Frank- He had written little essays in prose and sometimes in verse as a boy, and had learned the art from his uncle, who was a pro

lin's ideas.

digious maker of verses. Franklin, while apprenticed to this brother in Boston, had written doggerel verses and street ballads which sold so well that he was persuaded of their value, but his passing inclination to become a poet was smothered by his father's sage remark, one that was characteristic of the whole Franklin family, that "poets were usually very poor people and died beggars."a

His plan for clothing the sentiments of the Spectator in the scholar's own words was based entirely on his own boyish acquaintance with that classic.

In his sixteenth year he had experienced the exquisite pleasure, and he often spoke of it tenderly more than half a century later, of seeing his first piece in print in the Boston Courant, and though it was not signed Benjamin Franklin it was his own, that is, as much his own as a paraphrase of a popular author could be. Under the signature of Silence Dogood he wrote a number of articles in which he criticised colleges and graduates of colleges, discussed childhood, marriage, and widowhood, and in affected words and highflown phrases delivered himself of his thought. These articles in the Courant were doubtless in Franklin's mind when he prescribed the kind of composition useful for the classes in his model school. He had educated himself in that way.

His scientific mind recognized the value of correct deductions and therefore logic took a primary place in his system of culture. His first class should be taught the English grammar rules; his second should construe the parts of speech and sentences and recur to the rules of grammar; his third should learn the elements of rhetoric; and his class should study the art of reasoning in Dr. Johnson's First Principles of Human Knowledge, because without practice in that art correct deductions in life could not be made. The introduction of logic into the list of studies was due not only to the tendency of his mind, but also to the results of his own experience.

At 15, soon after awakening to his own ignorance of figures, he read Locke's Human Understanding and the Art of Thinking, by Messrs. du Port Royal, books which evidently greatly aided him in the orderly examination of phenomena and in making correct deductions from his experiments. He says in drawing up his Art of Virtue that he found himself "incorrigible with respect to order," and

a See a specimen of Franklin's verses, page 132.

deficient in what might now be called system. One of the serious criticisms made of him while minister to France many years later was the confusion of affairs in his office. Self-study had revealed to him this defect, and doubtless one reason for the introduction of logic and the rules of grammar and rhetoric into the studies of childhood was to remedy in others the defect from which he had suffered himself.

Self-education in morality.

It should be said of him that his scheme for self-culture in morality was the means of his own regeneration, and that after his Art of Virtue was clearly before his mind he was probably as free from faults as any man of his times. The utility of his ideas in morals was thus proved in his own life.

It was at this time that he prepared for his own use his Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion, a creed, a prayer book, and a litany, which, he tells us, he continued to use for twenty years. His practice of the Art of Virtue confirmed his opinion that, as the object of religion was to promote virtue, religion was useful to mankind, and that the sects of his times contributed on the whole to the happiness and virtue of their members. It should be remembered that Franklin lived during one of the great religious revivals of history under the preaching of Whitefield. It would be interesting to trace the influence of the revival of religion under Wesley and Whitefield upon the education of Americans.

The spread of Methodism in America and the founding of seminaries and colleges by that denomination present a pleasing subject for historical investigation. Whitefield was better known to Franklin than to any other Franklin and American. The great preacher came to Philadelphia in 1739 Whitefield. and threw the whole city into a ferment. He was as unlike Franklin as Franklin was unlike Dr. Johnson. He found in Franklin a true friend, a genial host, and a publisher. Philadelphia was tolerant, and Whitefield had no difficulty in gathering an audience. Tradition tells us of the multitudes who thronged to hear the great preacher. Franklin was greatly moved by his eloquence, but was not persuaded to adopt his doctrines. It having been found inconvenient for the crowds who came to hear Whitefield to assemble in the open air, it was proposed to erect a building 100 feet long and 70 broad, which should be for the accommodation of inhabitants of the town who might care to hear any preacher on any subject.

Whitefield had changed the manners of Philadelphia. Franklin records how under the influence of his preaching "from being thoughtless or indifferent about religion it seems as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in the evening without hearing Psalms sung in different families in every street."

The eloquence of Whitefield and the multitudinous demand of the people for accommodation to hear him were the occasion for the building of a suitable meeting house, which also became a few years later the first building used by the Academy of Philadelphia, later the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania.

He experiments

voice.

Franklin's love of natural philosophy prompted him to use with Whitefield's Whitefield's voice as the means of an experiment in acoustics. He preached one evening from the top of the court-house steps, which are in the middle of Market street and on the west side of Second street which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were filled with his hearers to a considerable distance. Being among the hindmost in Market street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard by retiring backward down the street toward the river, and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front street when some noise in the street obscured it. Imagining then a semicircle, of which my distance would be the radius and that it were filled with auditors, to each of whom I allowed 2 feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than 30,000. This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached to