OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL.D. F.R.S. &c. MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WRITTEN BY HIMSELF TO A LATE PERIOD, AND CONTINUED TO THE TIME OF HIS DEATH BY HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN. COMPRISING THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE And Public Negociations of Dr. Franklin ; AND HIS SELECT POLITICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND MISCELLANEOUS WORKS, NEW EDITION. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. V. POSTHUMOUS AND OTHER WRITINGS. LONDON: PUBLISHED FOR HENRY COLBURN, BY R. BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1833. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE POSTHUMOUS AND OTHER WRITINGS. WITH the present Volumes the Editor conceives that he has completely redeemed his pledge to the Public, and faithfully discharged his trust as the conservator of Dr. Franklin's literary remains. It is a common complaint that the reputation of men of eminence in the world of letters suffers by their posthumous works; nothing however of that kind is to be apprehended in regard to the present collection, for many of the fugitive Essays here assembled, and the |