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TO THE REV. DR. LATTCKOP, BO6TOH

Philadelphia, 31st May, 1788.

Reverend Sir: I received your obliging favor of the 6th instant by Mr. Hillard, with whose conversation I was much pleased, and would have been glad to have had more of it if he would have spared it to me j but the short time of his stay has prevented. You need make no apology for introducing any of your friends to me. I consider it as doing me honor as well as giving me pleasure. I thank you for the pamphlet of the Humane Society. In return, please to accept one of the same kind, which was published while I resided in France. If your society have not hitherto seen it, it may possibly afford them useful hints.

It would certainly, as you observe, be a very great pleasure to me if I could once again visit my native town and walk over the grounds I used to frequent when a boy, and where I enjoyed many of the innocent pleasures of youth, which would be so brought to my remembrance, and where I might find some of my old acquaintance to converse with. But when I consider how well I am situated here, with everything about me that I can call either necessary or convenient, the fatigues and bad accommodations to be met with and suffered in a land journey, and the unpleasantness of sea voyages to one who, although he has crossed the Atlantic eight times and made many smaller tripe, does not recollect his having ever been at sea without taking a firm resolution never to go to sea again ; and that, if I were arrived in Boston, I should see but little of it, as I could neither bear walking nor riding in a carriage over its pebbled streets; and, above all, that I should find very few indeed ol" my old friends living, it being now sixty-five yean 244 AVlVBlOGKArHr OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIX

since I left it to settle here — all this considered, I say, it seems probable, though not certain, that I shall hardly again Tisit that beloved place. But I enjoy the company and con versation of its inhabitants when any of them are so good as to visit me; for besides their general good sense, which I value, the Boston manner, turn of phrase; and even tone of voice and •/rent in pronunciation, all please and seem to refresh and revive me.

I have been long impressed with the same sentiments you so well express of the growing felicity of mankind, from the improvements iu philosophy, morals, politics, and even the conveniences of common living, and the invention and acquisition of new and useful utensils and instruments, so that I have souetimes almost wished it hail been my destiny to be born two or three centuries hence; for invention and improvement are prolific and beget more of their kind. The present progress is rapid. Many of great importance, now unthougtit of, will before that period be produced; and then I might not only enjoy their advantages, but have my curiosity gratified by knowing what they are to be. I see a little absurdity in what I have just written; but it is to a friend who will wink and let it pass, while I mention one reason more for such a wish, which is that if the art of physic shall be improved in proportion to other arts, we may then be able to avoid diseases and live as long as the patriarchs in Genesis, to which 1 suppose we should have little objection.

I am glad my dear sister has so good and kind a neighbor. I sometimes suspect she may be backward in acquainting ma with circumstances in which I might be more useful to her. If any such should occur to your observation, your mentioning them to me will be a favor I shall be thankful for.

With great esteem, I have the honov to be, reverend sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

B. Feankloi.

NOTES

P. 11. Plutarch, born 40 X.d., died 120 A.d.; one of the most widely read Greek philosophers, moralists, and historians; the author of many works on historical and philosophical subjects; his "Lives of Celebrated Greeks and Romans" is one of the bestknown works of classical literature.

P. 11. Defoe, a famous English journalist and novelist; li.iru. 1661, died 1731 ; his most famous story was " Robinson Crusoe."

P. 11. Cotton Mather, son of Increase Mather, a prominent Puritan minister of Boston, born in that city in 1663; graduated from Harvard College; became his father's colleague in the pulpit, was a voluminous writer and an advocate of the supremacy of the ministry and churches in civil affairs; took a leading part in the suppression of witchcraft by the courts; author of "Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft," of a very curious and onoe famous book entitled "Magnolia Christ! Americana," and of many other works; died in Boston 1728.

P. 12. Occasional ballads, or narrative poems describing striking events; widely circulated before the days of newspapers and carried by pedlers into all parts of the country.

P. 14. The Spectator, a journal of small size published in London in 1711 and 1712, written chiefly by Addison with the aid of Steele; attained great popularity and has become an English classic by reason of its style.

P. 16. John Locke, one of the most famous English philosophers; born 1632; educated in London and Oxford; his greatest 246

work, the "Essay on the Human Understanding," appeared in

1090; died 1704.

P. 16. Messrs. de Port-Royal. The " gentlemen of Port Royal" were adherents of the Jansenist cause. Port Royal was originally a Cistercian abbey near Versailles; a sister house was established in Paris in 1620 and became the headquarters of the movement.

P. 16. Xenophon, born 445, died 391 B.c.; a Greek historian; his principal works are the "Anabasis," describing the retreat of ten thousand Greek mercenaries in the service of the Persian King Cyrus, and the "Memorabilia," a record of the conversations of Socrates.

P. 22. "Moll Flanders," one of the best known of De Foe's stories, appeared in 1722, three years after the appearance of "Robinson Crusoe."

P. 22. "Pamela," one of the earliest English novels; the work of Samuel Richardson, born 1689, died 1761; the author also of "SirCharlesGrandison" and " Clarissa Harlowe."

P. 27. An elegy, a mournful or plaintive poem.

P. 44. Little Britain, a locality in the heart of London; on the west, Christ Church School; on the north, Smithfield; on the east, Aldergate; Irving writes delightfully of it in " The Sketch Book."

P. 45. Cheapside, one of the oldest and busiest thoroughfares in London, running from St. Paul's Churchyard to the Mansion House.

P. 45. "Fable of the Bees," a curious piece of moralization, with illustrations from bee-life, by Bernard Mandeville, a Dutchman; born about 1670, died 1733; a practising physician in London; a cynical and paradoxical writer; has been called the Diogenes of English philosophy.

P. 45. Sir Isaac Newton, a famous English scientist and writer on scientific subjects; born 1642, died 1727; educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; the discoverer of universal gravitation, set forth in bis "Principia" in 1687 ; author of many notable works.

P. 46. Edward Young, English poet; born 1681, died 1765 author of " Night Thoughts" and other poems of less note.

P. 60. St. Veronica, according to an old legend, as Christ was carrying the cross, wiped his face with a cloth upon which an impression of the countenance remained.

P. 51. Blackfriars, a locality in London, on the bank of the Thames, near the centre of the old city; derives its name from an ancient monastery of the Black Friars, the scene of many striking incidents in English history.

P. 65. A bought servant. A man or woman brought to the colonies to serve for a stipulated period in payment for passage.

P. 84. James Thomson, English poet; born 1700, died 1748; the author of the "Seasons,'' "The Castle of Indolence," ana other poems, largely descriptive of nature.

P. 93. Junto, a faction, cabal, or small group of men organized to accomplish some end; general secret.

P. 99. General Assembly, or legislature of the colony.

P. 103. George Whitefield, born in Gloucester, England, 1714; educated at Oxford; under the influence of the Methodist movement became a preacher; developed remarkable speaking powers; addressed vast congregations in this country and England; died 1770.

P. 112. The Quakers, or Friends, a religious society formed in England as the result of the preaching of George Fox during the last half of the seventeenth century; believing in the inward guidance of the spirit; rejecting forms and creeds; opposed to war; discarding a paid ministry; notable for simplicity, integrity, and thrift.

P. 114. Louisbourg, a fortress built by the French on the eastern shore of Cape Breton Island; besieged by the New England colonies in 1745 and taken; restored to the French three years later by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; finally destroyed by the British in 175&