Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

AUTOBIOGRAPHYOFBENJAMIN FRANKLINIANCESTRY AND EARLY YOUTH INBOSTON Twyford, [3] _at the Bishop of St. Asaph's_, 1771.Dear son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotesof my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among theremains of my relations when you were with me in England, and thejourney I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equallyagreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of whichyou are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week'suninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I sit down towrite them for you. To which I have besides some other inducements.Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born andbred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in theworld, and having gone so far through life with a considerable shareof felicity, the conducing means I made use of, which with theblessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may like to know, asthey may find some of them suitable to their own situations, andtherefore fit to be imitated. [3] A small village not far from Winchester in Hampshire, southern England. Here was the country seat of the Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Jonathan Shipley, the "good Bishop," as Dr. Franklin used to style him. Their relations were intimate and confidential. In his pulpit, and in the House of Lords, as well as in society, the bishop always opposed the harsh measures of the Crown toward the Colonies.--Bigelow.That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes tosay, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection toa repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking theadvantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults ofthe first. So I might, besides correcting the faults