[
{"created_timestamp": "01-18-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0070", "content": "Title: Query to the Casuist: The Case of the Missing Horse, 18 January 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nTo the Printer of the Gazette.\nIn one of your Papers about two Years since, there was an Account of a Horse which by Mistake was shot in a Field in the Night, by a Man who lay watching for Deer. The Account was accompanied with a Query, Whether the Man ought to pay for the Horse, since it was by Misadventure, and the Horse a Trespasser? The Query, I remember, was answered the Week following, very much to my Satisfaction, by one that stil\u2019d himself The Casuist. If Mr. Casuist be yet in being, I would by your means communicate to him another Query about a Horse; on which I should be glad to have his Opinion. The Case is this: A Man bargained with another, for the Keeping of his Horse six Months, while he made a Voyage to Barbadoes. At his Return, he demands the Horse. The Man who had him to keep, assures the Owner, that his Horse stray\u2019d away, or was stolen, within a few Days after he receiv\u2019d him, and that he has not heard of him since. The Owner then demands the Value of his Horse in Money. Query, Whether the Man who took the Horse to keep, may not justly demand a Deduction of so much as the Keeping of the Horse would have amounted to for Six Months, according to the Agreement?\nT. P.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0071", "content": "Title: From the Casuist: The Case of the Missing Horse, 25 January 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nTo the Query, propos\u2019d to the Casuist in the last Gazette, I have received two Answers, from different Hands, each of which subscribes himself The Casuist. As their Opinions are different, \u2019twill perhaps be more satisfactory to the Querist if I insert them both. \nTo the Printer of the Gazette.\nMy Opinion, which is desired by T.P. on his Query in your last Week\u2019s Paper, I here send to you.\nThe Keeper, being accountable for the Value of the Horse, at the end of Six Months, to his Owner, should then ask him if he\u2019s willing to sell the Horse, and for what Price. The Owner setting a reasonable Price, may thereout deduct his Charge for Keeping (according to Agreement) and pay the remaining Sum to the Owner in Money.\nThis I think will be just in so plain a Case. But as the Owner\u2019s Consent to the Selling of his Horse, is requisite, and as it may happen he will refuse, and the Case may be attended with other Circumstances; to wit, in the Opinion of the Keeper the Owner sets too great a Price, and will not, when he is told of the Misfortune of the Horse\u2019s being stray\u2019d or stolen away, make a moderate Abatement; Or, at first he answers he is not willing to part with his Horse: And, in the Opinion of the Owner, the Keeper has not duly regarded the Performance of his Bargain, has carelessly suffered the Horse to stray or be stolen, or does conceal him in order to purchase him at an under Rate. The Case being thus, I would advise the Parties to refer the Decision of it to two or more honest Men, indifferently chosen between them. Yours,\nThe Casuist\nTo the Printer of the Gazette.\nAccording to the Request of your Correspondent, T.P. I send you my Thoughts on the following Case, by him proposed, viz.\nA Man bargained with another, for the Keeping of his Horse six Months, while he made a Voyage to Barbadoes. At his Return, he demands the Horse. The Man who had him to keep, assures the Owner, that his Horse stray\u2019d away, or was stolen, within a few Days after he receiv\u2019d him, and that he has not heard of him since. The Owner then demands the Value of his Horse in Money. Query, Whether the Man who took the Horse to keep, may not justly demand a Deduction of so much as the Keeping of the Horse would have amounted to for six Months, according to the Agreement?\nIt does not appear they had any Dispute about the Value of the Horse, whence we may conclude there was no room for such Dispute, it being well known how much he cost, and that he could not honestly have been sold again for more.\nBut the Value of the Horse is not express\u2019d in the Case, nor the Sum agreed for keeping him six Months; wherefore in order to our more clear Apprehension of the Thing, let Ten Pounds represent the Horse\u2019s Value, and Three Pounds the Sum agreed for his Keeping.\nNow the sole Foundation on which the Keeper can ground his Demand of a Deduction, for Keeping a Horse he did not keep, is this; Your Horse, he may say, which I was to restore to you at the end of 6 Months, was worth Ten Pounds; If I now give you Ten Pounds, \u2019tis an equivalent for your Horse, and equal to returning the Horse itself: Had I return\u2019d your Horse, (value \u00a310) you would have paid me \u00a33 for his Keeping, and therefore would have receiv\u2019d in Fact but \u00a37 clear; you then suffer no Injury if I now pay you \u00a37; and consequently you ought in Reason to allow me the remaining \u00a33 according to our Agreement.\nBut the Owner of the Horse may possibly insist upon being paid the whole Sum of Ten Pounds, without allowing any Deduction for his Keeping after he was lost; and that for these Reasons.\n1. Unless an express Agreement be made to the contrary, \u2019tis always suppos\u2019d when Horses are put out to keep, that the Keeper runs the Risque of them, (unavoidable Accidents only excepted, wherein no Care of the Keeper can be supposed sufficient to preserve them, such as their being slain by Lightning, swept away by sudden Floods, or the like). This you yourself tacitly allow, when you offer to restore me the Value of my Horse. Were it otherwise, People, having no Security against a Keeper\u2019s Neglect or Mismanagement, would never put Horses out to keep.\n2. Keepers, considering the Risque they run, always demand such a Price for keeping Horses, that if they were to follow that Business continually, they may have a living Profit, tho\u2019 they now and then pay for a Horse they have lost. And if they were to be at no Risque, they could afford to keep Horses for less than they usually have: So that what a Man pays more for his Horse\u2019s Keeping, than the Keeper could afford to take if he ran no Risque, is in the Nature of a Premium for the Insurance of his Horse. If I then pay you for the few Days you kept my Horse, you ought to restore me his full Value.\n3. You acknowledge that my Horse eat of your Hay and Oats but a few Days, \u2019tis unjust then to charge me for all the Hay and Oats that he only might have eat if you had kept him, in the Remainder of the 6 Months, and which you have now good in your Stable. If, as the Proverb says, \u2019tis unreasonable to expect a Horse should void Oats, who never eat any; \u2019tis certainly as unreasonable to expect Payment for those Oats.\n4. If Men in such Cases as this, are to be paid for keeping Horses when they were not kept; then they have a great Opportunity of wronging the Owners of Horses: For, by privately selling my Horse for his Value \u00a310 soon after you had him in Possession, and returning me only \u00a37 at the Expiration of the Time, demanding \u00a33 as a Deduction agreed for his Keeping; you get that \u00a33 clear into your Pocket; beside the Use of my Money 6 Months for nothing.\n5. But, you say, the Value of my Horse being \u00a310 if you deduct \u00a33 for his Keeping, and return me \u00a37 \u2019tis all I would in fact have receiv\u2019d, had you return\u2019d my Horse; therefore, as I am no Loser, I ought to be satisfied. This Argument, were there any weight in it, might equally serve to justify a Man in selling, as abovesaid, as many of the Horses he takes to keep, as he conveniently can, putting clear into his own Purse, all that Charge their Owners must have been at for their Keeping, and returning the rest; for this being no Loss to the Owners, he may say, Where no Man is a Loser, Why may not I be a Gainer? I need only answer to this, That I allow the Horse cost me but \u00a310 nor could I have sold him for more, had I been dispos\u2019d to part with him; but this can be no Reason why you should buy him of me at that Price, whether I will sell him or not. \u2019Tis plain I valued him at \u00a313 otherwise I should not have paid \u00a310 for him, and agreed to give you \u00a33 more for his Keeping till I had Occasion to use him. Thus, tho\u2019 you pay me the whole \u00a310 which he cost me (deducting only for his Keeping those few Days) I am still a Loser; I lose the Charge of those Days Keeping, I lose the \u00a33 at which I valued him above what he cost me, and I lose the Advantage I might have made of my Money in 6 Months, either by the Interest, or by joining it to my Stock in Trade in my Voyage to Barbadoes. And all this I lose by your Negligence.\n6. And lastly, Whenever a Horse is put to keep, the Agreement naturally runs thus: The Keeper says, I will feed your Horse 6 Months on good Hay and Oats, if at the End of that Time you will pay me \u00a33. The Owner says, If you will feed my Horse 6 Months on good Hay and Oats, I will give you \u00a33 at the End of that Time. Now we may plainly see, the Keeper\u2019s Performance of his Part of the Agreement must be antecedent to that of the Owner; and the Agreement being wholly conditional, the Owner\u2019s Part is not in Force till the Keeper has performed his. You then, not having fed my Horse 6 Months, as you agreed to do, there lies no Obligation on me to pay you for 6 Months Feeding.\nThus we have heard what can be said on both sides. Upon the whole, I am of Opinion, that no Deduction should be allow\u2019d for the Keeping of the Horse after the Time of his straying. I am Yours, &c.\nThe Casuist\nSince the Above, I have also receiv\u2019d the Following.\nTo the Printer of the Pennsylvania Gazette.\nAltho\u2019 I am not Mr. Casuist, I have presumed to send the following Answer to the Query in your last Week\u2019s Paper.\nThe Loss of the Horse, naturally implies a Neglect of the Keeper; and there is no Reason the Owner should suffer by any Act of the Keeper, either in the Price of the Horse, or Expence of seeking after him. And forasmuch as the Keeper hath fallen short in the Performance of his Contract, he not only doth not deserve any Reward, but hath forfeited the Penalty of the Bargain, if there were any Penalty annexed to it. But it is quite otherwise with the Owner; for the Performance on his Part, is subsequent to that of the Keeper; nor can he be said to fail till the other hath performed, which he hath put out of his Power ever to do. Therefore he ought to have Satisfaction for no more than the Time he had the Horse in Keeping. Yours, &c.\nN.B.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "02-15-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0072", "content": "Title: The Palatines\u2019 Appeal, 15 February 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nBeing desired the Week before last, to render into good English an imperfect Translation of the Letter from some Palatines to the Rev. Mr. Weys, I took the Pains to alter the Form of it entirely, and put it in the most advantageous Dress I could, with a View of inserting it afterwards in my Gazette: But before the Time of Publishing, the Gentleman from whom I had the Letter, let me know, that there being some Reflections therein upon the Captain, which perhaps were too much aggravated, and he not here to answer any thing in his own vindication, it might be better not to print it till we should be further informed, and allowed me only to make a short Abstract, giving an Account what Distress the poor People had been in, without mentioning the Captain at all. This I did; but was surpriz\u2019d upon sight of Mr. Bradford\u2019s next Paper, to find my Version inserted there at length, Word for Word, (excepting a few typographical Errors and his affixing a Date to it whereas there was none in the Original.) It seems some Person, to whom a Copy had been lent, carried it to him. I was displeas\u2019d that I had taken so much pains for my Competitor, and my Subscribers are displeased that I did not in my Paper give as full an Account as he gave: I have therefore now made a new Version of the Letter, containing some Particulars omitted in the former, and more agreeable to the rude Simplicity of Language and Incoherence of Narrative in the Original. From which the Reader may perhaps be able to make a better Judgment of the Affair than before.\nDear Mr. Weys,\nWe your poor and abandon\u2019d Sheep, who have no Relief or Assistance to expect of any Body, turn our selves to you as our faithful Pastor, and beseech you to take part of our deplorable Condition, and to represent it to the Spiritual and Temporal Powers in Philadelphia: For this wicked Murderer of Souls, Capt. Labb, has thought to starve us all, (not have taken enough Provision in Rotterdam according to our Agreement) and to make himself Master of all our Goods; for we have seen in the last eight Weeks no Bread at all, and in four of these eight Weeks, a pint of Grouts was the Allowance of Five Persons one Day, and a Quart of Water a Person one Day. Our Time from Rotterdam to the Land here at Homes Hole Marthas Vineyard 16 hours from Rhode-island, has been four and twenty Weeks, and of 150 Persons, more than 100 are died and perished. And the Ship went on only in the Day-time, and Nights commonly the Helm was tied, and twice we awaked them, and asking them why they did not sail, and the Wind was so good; then they loosed the Sails, and went away. And in these last eight Weeks, the Hunger was so great, that we have eat Rats and Mice, so that one Rat cost eight pence, and two Shillings; and a Mouse three pence and four pence, and a Quart of Water four pence, that some of us let others have for their Childrens sake. When it was a little stormy Weather, the whole Voyage from Rotterdam, they did not give us in two and three Days no Victuals, and these last eight Weeks no Water too; so that in one Night seven Persons miserably are starved to Death and thrown into the Sea; one must throw the poor People naked into the Sea, and let them swim, and one could not have a little Sand to sink the Body to the Ground; one dare not ask any thing from the Sailors, for they sent us back with Scolding and Railing, and we were kicked, beat and used as if we were Slaves and maleficent Persons. In this Time, we thought to refresh our selves with our Rhenish Wine, which was about six Awms that we had bought at Worms for our Money got with hard Labour; we would distribute it amongst the People, that they might not all be starved; and we went together to the Captain, and desired that he would give it us out; at last he gave us the Key to the Hold in a great Passion, but sent no body with to show where they had put the Wine: When we had searched a great while, we found some of our Casks, the Bungs drawn out with a Skrew, and the Wine all drunk up. And when we asked the Sailors what they had done with our Wine, we received Scolding and Railing for all Answer. Misery was so great: And we desired the Captain oftentimes to put us on Land, that we might buy us some more Provision; then he has put us off from day to day eight Weeks long. Till at last it pleased Almighty God to send us a Sloop, which brought us to Homes Hole, Marthas Vineyard, where he came to Anchor in the middle of the Sea: He kept us there in the Ship still five or six Days, and we must pay dear for every thing, so that one Loaf of Indian Corn Bread cost 8 Shillings; and he gave out of us, that we were Turks and no Christians: In that time starved yet fifteen Persons more, and if we had been kept there three or four Days longer, we should all have been starved, for not one was able to reach to the other a Drop of Water. And then we were put in a great Hurry in the Sloop, and set on shore, without our Beds, or any thing of our Moveables; so that we did not know what he intended to do with us, nor if we should ever see any thing again of our Moveables; which makes us suffer much, for there are but few Houses, so that we can have no Accommodation, because of the narrowness of the Place. The good People of this Island did whatever they could to refresh us with Bread, Meat and other Victuals. And the Sailors carried away most all our Moveables, and all our Chests broke open and spoliated. They have persuaded us, for dead and living, to pay the whole Freight, as if they had landed us at Philadelphia; and which we have sign\u2019d to, not understanding what it was; but we are not able to accomplish; for in order to pay for the dead, we should have taken the Goods of the Dead; but in discharging the Vessel we found, that most of their Chests as well as ours were broke open and plundered. The Captain however has obtained that we should pay him in 3 Weeks time, therefore we desire you instantly to have Compassion with us, and to assist us as much as in your Power, and to represent our pitiful State to the Governour; for if no Resistance be made to this wicked Captain, he\u2019ll make us all Beggars. What shall be our Duty for your pains, we shall thankfully repay. God Almighty have Mercy upon us, and help us out of this Distress. We would have sent two or three Men with this Letter, but not one is yet able to stir; for we are all very weak and feeble; but assoon as there shall be two or three able to travel, they shall follow: But if the cold Weather should fall in, and hinder them, we desire you to go on in our Name, and recommending you to the Protection of the Almighty we are\nJohannes Gohr, Jacob Dieffebach, Jonas Daner, Jacob Kuntz, Samuel Schwachhamer", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "03-25-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0073", "content": "Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Library Company Subscribers, 25 March 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: Library Company of Philadelphia Subscribers\nMarch 25th 1732.\nThe Directors, in Town, met with the Treasurer and Secretary at Nicholas Scull\u2019s, as was agreed at last Meeting, B. Franklin having sent a Messenger about with printed Notes in these Words Vizt. \u201cSir. Next Saturday Evening Attendance will be given at N. Scull\u2019s, to receive the Money subscribed to the Library, of those who have not yet paid; when you are desired to appear without Fail, either to pay or relinquish; that it may then be known who are, and who are not concerned.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "05-06-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0074", "content": "Title: Louis Timoth\u00e9e to the German Inhabitants, 6 May 1732\nFrom: Timoth\u00e9e, Louis\nTo: German Inhabitants\nden 6 Mey 1732\nAn alle teutsche Einwohner der Provintz Pennsylvanien.\nNachdem ich von verschiedenen teutschen Einwohnern dieses Landes bin ersuchet worden, eine teutsche Zeitung ausgehen zu lassen, und ihnen darinnen das vornehmste und merckw\u00fcrdigste neues, so hier und in Europa vorfallen m\u00f6chte, zu communiciren; doch aber hierzu viele m\u00fche, grosse correspondentz und auch Unkosten erfordert werden: Als habe mich entschlossen, denen teutschen zu lieb, gegenw\u00e4rtiges Specimen davon heraus zu geben, und ihnen dabey die Conditiones welche nothwendig zu der continuation derselben erfordert werden, bekent zu machen.\nErstlich, m\u00fcsten zum wenigsten, um die unkosten die darauf lauffen, gut zu machen, 300 st\u00fccks k\u00f6nnen gedruckt und debitiret werden, und m\u00fcste in jeder Township dazu ein mann ausgemachet werden, welcher mir wissen liesse, wie viel Zeitungen jedes mahl an ihn m\u00fcsten gesandt werden, und der sie dan weiters einen jeglichen zustellen und die bezahlung davor einfordern m\u00fcste.\nVor jede Zeitung muss j\u00e4hrlich 10 Shillinge erleget, und davon alle quartal 2sh. 6d. bezahlet werden.\nDagegen verspreche ich auf meiner seite, durch gute Correspondentz die ich in Holland und England habe allezeit das merkw\u00fcrdigste und neueste so in Europa und auch hier passiret, alle woche einmahl, nemlich Sonnabends in gegenw\u00e4rtiger form einer Zeitung, nebst denen schiffen so hier abgehen und ankommen, und auch das steigen oder fallen des Preisses der G\u00fcter, und was sonst zu wissen dienlich, bekandt zu machen.\nAdvertissemente oder Bekant machungen, welche man an mich schicken m\u00f6chte, sollen das erste mahl vor 3 shill. 3 mahl aber vor 5 shil. hinein gesetzet werden.\nUnd weil ich n\u00fctzlich erachte die gantze beschreibung der aufrichtung dieser provintz, mit alien derselben privilegien, rechten und gesetzen, bey ermangelung genugsamer Neuigkeiten, darinen bekandt zu machen; solte nicht undienlich seyn, dass ein jeder, zumahl wer kinder hat, diese Zeitungen wohl bewahre, und am ende des jahres an einander heffte; zumahl da solche dann gleichsam als eine Chronica dienen konnen, die vorigen Geschichte daraus zu ersehen, und die folgende desto besser zu verstehen.\nAuch wird anbey zu bedencken gegeben, ob es nicht rahtsam ware, in jeder grossen Township einen reitenden Boten zu bestellen, welcher alle woche einmahl nach der stadt reiten und was ein jeder da zu bestellen hat, mit nehmen k\u00f6nne.\nSo bald nun die obgemeldte anzahl der Unterschreiber vorhanden, welche so bald als m\u00f6glich ersuche in Philadelphia an Caspar Wuster, oder in Germantown an Daniel Mackinet zu \u00fcbersenden, soil die w\u00f6chentliche continuation erfolgen; biss dahin bleibe Euer allerseits Dienstwilliger\nL. Timoth\u00e9e,\nSprachmeister, wohnhafft in Frontstreet, Philad.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "06-05-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0075", "content": "Title: Report of a Committee on By-Laws for St. John\u2019s Lodge, [5 June 1732]\nFrom: \nTo: \nGentlemen of the Lodge\nThe Committee you have been pleased to appoint to consider of the present State of the Lodge, and of the properest Methods to improve it, in obedience to your commands have met, and, after much and mature Deliberation, have come to the following Resolutions:\n1. That since the excellent Science of Geometry and Architecture is so much recommended in our ancient Constitutions, Masonry being first instituted with this Design, among others, to distinguish the true and skilful Architect from unskilful Pretenders; total Ignorance of this Art is very unbecoming a Man who bears the worthy Name and Character of Mason; We therefore conclude, that it is the Duty of every Member to make himself, in some Measure, acquainted therewith, as he would honor the Society he belongs to, and conform to the Constitutions.\n2. That every Member may have an Opportunity of so doing, the present Cash be laid out in the best Books of Architecture, suitable Mathematical Instruments, &c.\n3. That since the present whole Stock is not too large for that purpose, every Member indebted to the Lodge pay what is from him respectively due on Monday night, the nineteenth Instant, that so the whole being ready by the 24th of June, may be sent away by the first Opportunity. And that every one not paying that Night, be suspended till he do pay: For without Care be taken that Rules are punctually observed, no Society can be long upheld in good Order and Regularity.\n4. That since Love and Good Will are the best Cement of any Society, we endeavour to encrease it among ourselves by a kind and friendly conversation, so as to make us of ourselves desire to meet, but that all Compulsion, by fining any Person for not Meeting, be utterly taken away and abolished, Except only Persons in Office, and others when a Meeting is call\u2019d upon Extraordinary Occasions.\n5. That the use of the Balls be established in its full Force and Vigour; and that no new Member be admitted against the will of any present Member; because certainly more Regard ought to be had in this way to a Brother who is already a Mason, than to any Person who is not one, and we should never in such cases disoblige a Brother, to oblige a Stranger.\n6. That any Member of this Lodge having a complaint against any other Member, shall first apply himself to the Wardens, who shall bring the Cause before the Lodge, where it shall be consider\u2019d and made up, if possible, before the Complainant be allow\u2019d to make that Complaint publick to the World: the Offender against this Rule to be expell\u2019d.\nThe Members whose Names are underwritten, being a Majority, agree unanimously to the within Proposals of the Committee (except the fourth, which is cross\u2019d out) and accordingly have hereunto set their hands.\nWill. Pringle\nJohn Emerson\nThomas Boude\nLawce Reynolds\nB. Franklin\nJohn Hobart\nXtopher Thompson\nHenry Pratt\nThos. Hartt\nSam\u2019l Nicholas\nDavid Parry", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0076", "content": "Title: [Louis Timoth\u00e9e?] to the Reader, 24 June 1732\nFrom: Timoth\u00e9e, Louis\nTo: \nWiewohl ich geglaubet h\u00e4tte, dass sich unter denen teutschen Einwohnern dieses Landes mehr Liebhaber solten gefunden haben, die dieses zumahl vor junge Persohnen so n\u00fctzliche werck, die ausgabe der Zeitungen nehmlich, bef\u00f6rdern, und dazu mit anstehen w\u00fcrden; so erstrecket sich doch die anzahl derer die sich dazu unterschrieben haben vor jetzo nicht \u00fcber 50. Nichts desto weniger habe auf meiner seiten nicht ermangeln wollen damit einen anfang zu machen, der hoffnung lebende, dass sich noch mehrere einfinden werden selbiges zu bef\u00f6rdern, sonsten ich mich gen\u00f6thiget sehen wiirde, bald wieder damit auf zu h\u00f6ren.\nIch hatte zwar in meiner ersten Zeitung versprochen dieselbe alle 8 tage zu publiciren, doch die meisten stimmen haben erwahlet dieselbe lieber vor 5. Schillinge das gantze Jahr alle 14 tage einmahl zu haben; weilen alsdann f\u00fcglicher zwey und zwey eine zeitung halten, und jede person gem\u00e4chlt eher die helffte bezahlen k\u00f6nte; Welches ich mir dann auch gefallen lasse, und selbige von nun an alle 14. tage einmal heraus geben will. Die Ansprache des K\u00f6niges von England, welche ich in meinem vorigen versprochen, weil sie allzulang, und ich einen andern vorrath von Neuigkeiten bekommen, habe lieber wollen auslassen, wie ich auch um der ursachen willen meine erkl\u00e4hrungen, die wohl \u00fcber einige sachen n\u00f6thig gewesen w\u00e4ren, lieber auf eine andere gelegenheit verspahre, und nur die brieffe von wort zu wort jetzo mittheile.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "06-26-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0077", "content": "Title: Query to the Casuist: A Case of Conscience, 26 June 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nTo the Printer of the Gazette.\n  Sir,\n  New-Castle, June 20\nI am puzzled with a certain Case of Conscience, which I would gladly have well solved; and if the acute Gentleman who has sometimes in your Paper assum\u2019d the Name of Casuist, would undertake the Discussion, it will exceedingly oblige, Your Friend and Reader, &c.\nThe Case is this;\nSuppose A discovers that his Neighbour B has corrupted his Wife and injur\u2019d his Bed: Now, if \u2019tis probable, that by A\u2019s acquainting B\u2019s Wife with it, and using proper Solicitations, he can prevail with her to consent, that her Husband be used in the same Manner, is he justifiable in doing it?\nP.S. If you are acquainted with Mr. Casuist, you may give him this privately, and I will cause one to call at your House sometime hence for his Answer: But if you know him not, please to publish it, that he may read it in your Paper.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "07-03-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0078", "content": "Title: From the Casuist: A Case of Conscience, 3 July 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nTo the Printer of the Gazette.\n  Sir,\nThe Case of Conscience propos\u2019d to me in you last Gazette, does not require much Consideration to give an Answer.\nIt should seem that the Proposer of that Case, is either no Christian, or a very ill instructed one; otherwise he might easily have learnt his Duty from these positive Laws of Religion, Thou shalt not commit Adultery: Return not Evil for Evil, but repay Evil with Good. But supposing him to be one who would make Reason the Rule of his Actions, I am of Opinion he will find himself wholly unjustifiable in such a Proceeding; when he considers That it is a Breach of the Laws of his Country, which every reasonable Man knows he ought to observe: That it is making himself Judge in his own Cause, which all allow to be unreasonable: And, that such Practices can produce no Good to Society, but great Confusion and Disturbance among Mankind.\nThe Philosopher said, with Regard to an Affront which he was urg\u2019d to revenge, If an Ass kicks me, should I kick him again? So may the injured Man of Prudence and Virtue say, \u201cIf a Fool has made himself wicked and vicious, and has prevailed with an honest Woman to become as bad as himself; should I also make my self wicked and vicious, and corrupt another honest Woman, that I may be even, or upon a Level, with him?\u201d I am your Friend,\nThe Casuist", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "07-03-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0079", "content": "Title: Anti-Casuist: A Case of Conscience, [3 July 1732]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nAnti Casuist says: I allow the Heighnousness of the Crime, &c.\nWhether I am a Christian or a Man of Reason, I am not unjustifiable in doing it, from these Considerations.\nIf my Wife commits Adultery with him, she thereby dissolves the Bond of Marriage between her and me, and makes us two separate and single Persons. The Laws of every Country and even of Christianity allow Adultery to be a good Cause of Divorce and tho\u2019 the fact be not publickly prov\u2019d it doth nevertheless in its own Nature make this Separation. Also he by committing Adultery dissolves the Bond of Marriage between himself and his Wife, and makes them two separate single Persons; tis plain then, that being all four single; if I afterwards enjoy his Wife, or rather her that was his Wife, I do not commit Adultery for Adultery cannot be committed where both Parties are single and consequently, do not breake that positive Command which he mentions; I am not Lawyer enough to be sure of it, but I question it is a Breach of the Law of the Country either; for I know of no Law that says I shall not use his Wife nor [illegible].\nBut 2ly supposing the Marriages remain undissolved and she is his Wife still; if he has injur\u2019d his Wife and defrauded her of her due Benevolence, bestowing it where it was not due, on my Wife; my Family having receiv\u2019d is properly Debtor, and his Wife is Creditor; if I then bestow on his Wife the Benevolence which was before due to mine; my Wife has no Cause to complain having before receiv\u2019d from him; and with respect to his Wife, tis so far from doing an Injury that \u2019tis rather righting the injured or paying a just Debt; and then tis also as far from Revenge; for as he took my Wife for his Use, I give myself for his Wife\u2019s Use; which is the same thing as if a Man demanded my Bed and I give him the Coverlid also. So that a Man does not thereby as the Casuist asserts, break the Law which forbids Revenge.\nThen as to Injury, no Injury can be done where no Body is injur\u2019d; and I believe \u2019twill puzzle the Casuist, or any Body else to show who is injur\u2019d in this Case, provided the Thing be never made publick.\nHe says such a Practice would bring nothing but Confusion in the World; and that the Person injuring is a Debtor and tis better &c. If he means that the Practice of B is apt to make Confusion I agree to it, because some in A\u2019s Case would not act so prudently as A is suppos\u2019d to do, but would murder their Wives and perhaps the Agressor also; But the suppos\u2019d Practice of A is apt if things are in Confusion to set all to rights again. B being conscious that he is an Agressor, and has injur\u2019d A; if A does not return him the like; must always be in fear of A\u2019s Revenge in a worse Manner; and some instances might be given of Men in B\u2019s Case, who have kill\u2019d Persons they have first injur\u2019d meerly to be free from the Fear of their Resentment: But when B knows that A is even with him in the particular abovemention\u2019d he has no further Cause of Suspicion; and they may embrace with open Hearts like Brothers, and be good Friends ever after; For If B might think it an Injury in any other Man to use his Wife; he cannot say tis an Injury in A, because he had first serv\u2019d him so; and If he will say that his Familiarity with A\u2019s Wife, was only a Civility; he cannot [written above: has no Room to] complain that the Civility was not return\u2019d. I shall conclude by observing that while Mr. Casuist, kept to the Subject of Horses, he seem\u2019d to talk well enough; but now in meddling with Affairs between Man and Wife, it plainly appears that he is but a Horse Casuist. Next Week the Story out of human Prudence. I am Yours.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "07-10-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0080", "content": "Title: Anthony Afterwit, 10 July 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nMr. Gazetteer,\nI am an honest Tradesman, who never meant Harm to any Body. My Affairs went on smoothly while a Batchelor; but of late I have met with some Difficulties, of which I take the Freedom to give you an Account.\nAbout the Time I first address\u2019d my present Spouse, her Father gave out in Speeches, that if she married a Man he liked, he would give with her \u00a3200 on the Day of Marriage. \u2019Tis true he never said so to me, but he always receiv\u2019d me very kindly at his House, and openly countenanc\u2019d my Courtship. I form\u2019d several fine Schemes, what to do with this same \u00a3200 and in some Measure neglected my Business on that Account: But unluckily it came to pass, that when the old Gentleman saw I was pretty well engag\u2019d, and that the Match was too far gone to be easily broke off; he, without any Reason given, grew very angry, forbid me the House, and told his Daughter that if she married me he would not give her a Farthing. However (as he foresaw) we were not to be disappointed in that Manner; but having stole a Wedding, I took her home to my House; where we were not in quite so poor a Condition as the Couple describ\u2019d in the Scotch Song, who had\nNeither Pot nor Pan,\nBut four bare Legs together;\nfor I had a House tolerably furnished, for an ordinary Man, before. No thanks to Dad, who I understand was very much pleased with his politick Management. And I have since learn\u2019d that there are old Curmudgeons (so called) besides him, who have this Trick, to marry their Daughters, and yet keep what they might well spare, till they can keep it no longer: But this by way of Digression; A Word to the Wise is enough.\nI soon saw that with Care and Industry we might live tolerably easy, and in Credit with our Neighbours: But my Wife had a strong Inclination to be a Gentlewoman. In Consequence of this, my old-fashioned Looking-Glass was one Day broke, as she said, No Mortal could tell which way. However, since we could not be without a Glass in the Room, My Dear, says she, we may as well buy a large fashionable One that Mr. Such-a-one has to sell; it will cost but little more than a common Glass, and will be much handsomer and more creditable. Accordingly the Glass was bought, and hung against the Wall: But in a Week\u2019s time, I was made sensible by little and little, that the Table was by no Means suitable to such a Glass. And a more proper Table being procur\u2019d, my Spouse, who was an excellent Contriver, inform\u2019d me where we might have very handsome Chairs in the Way; And thus, by Degrees, I found all my old Furniture stow\u2019d up into the Garret, and every thing below alter\u2019d for the better.\nHad we stopp\u2019d here, we might have done well enough; but my Wife being entertain\u2019d with Tea by the Good Women she visited, we could do no less than the like when they visited us; and so we got a Tea-Table with all its Appurtenances of China and Silver. Then my Spouse unfortunately overwork\u2019d herself in washing the House, so that we could do no longer without a Maid. Besides this, it happened frequently, that when I came home at One, the Dinner was but just put in the Pot; for, My Dear thought really it had been but Eleven: At other Times when I came at the same Hour, She wondered I would stay so long, for Dinner was ready and had waited for me these two Hours. These Irregularities, occasioned by mistaking the Time, convinced me, that it was absolutely necessary to buy a Clock; which my Spouse observ\u2019d, was a great Ornament to the Room! And lastly, to my Grief, she was frequently troubled with some Ailment or other, and nothing did her so much Good as Riding; And these Hackney Horses were such wretched ugly Creatures, that\u2014I bought a very fine pacing Mare, which cost \u00a320. And hereabouts Affairs have stood for some Months past.\nI could see all along, that this Way of Living was utterly inconsistent with my Circumstances, but had not Resolution enough to help it. Till lately, receiving a very severe Dun, which mention\u2019d the next Court, I began in earnest to project Relief. Last Monday my Dear went over the River, to see a Relation, and stay a Fortnight, because she could not bear the Heat of the Town. In the Interim, I have taken my Turn to make Alterations, viz. I have turn\u2019d away the Maid, Bag and Baggage (for what should we do with a Maid, who have (except my Boy) none but our selves). I have sold the fine Pacing Mare, and bought a good Milch Cow, with \u00a33 of the Money. I have dispos\u2019d of the Tea-Table, and put a Spinning Wheel in its Place, which methinks looks very pretty: Nine empty Canisters I have stuff\u2019d with Flax; and with some of the Money of the Tea-Furniture, I have bought a Set of Knitting-Needles; for to tell you a Truth, which I would have go no farther, I begin to want Stockings. The stately Clock I have transform\u2019d into an Hour-Glass, by which I gain\u2019d a good round Sum; and one of the Pieces of the old Looking-Glass, squar\u2019d and fram\u2019d, supplies the Place of the Great One, which I have convey\u2019d into a Closet, where it may possibly remain some Years. In short, the Face of Things is quite changed; and I am mightily pleased when I look at my Hour-Glass, what an Ornament it is to the Room. I have paid my Debts, and find Money in my Pocket. I expect my Dame home next Friday, and as your Paper is taken in at the House where she is, I hope the Reading of this will prepare her Mind for the above surprizing Revolutions. If she can conform to this new Scheme of Living, we shall be the happiest Couple perhaps in the Province, and, by the Blessing of God, may soon be in thriving Circumstances. I have reserv\u2019d the great Glass, because I know her Heart is set upon it. I will allow her when she comes in, to be taken suddenly ill with the Headach, the Stomach-ach, Fainting-Fits, or whatever other Disorders she may think more proper; and she may retire to Bed as soon as she pleases: But if I do not find her in perfect Health both of Body and Mind the next Morning, away goes the aforesaid Great Glass, with several other Trinkets I have no Occasion for, to the Vendue that very Day. Which is the irrevocable Resolution of, Sir, Her loving Husband, and Your very humble Servant,\nAnthony Afterwit\nPostscript, You know we can return to our former Way of Living, when we please, if Dad will be at the Expence of it.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0082", "content": "Title: Alice Addertongue, 12 September 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nMr. Gazetteer,\nI was highly pleased with your last Week\u2019s Paper upon Scandal, as the uncommon Doctrine therein preach\u2019d is agreeable both to my Principles and Practice, and as it was published very seasonably to reprove the Impertinence of a Writer in the foregoing Thursdays Mercury, who at the Conclusion of one of his silly Paragraphs, laments, forsooth, that the Fair Sex are so peculiarly guilty of this enormous Crime: Every Blockhead ancient and modem, that could handle a Pen, has I think taken upon him to cant in the same senseless Strain. If to scandalize be really a Crime, what do these Puppies mean? They describe it, they dress it up in the most odious frightful and detestable Colours, they represent it as the worst of Crimes, and then roundly and charitably charge the whole Race of Womankind with it. Are they not then guilty of what they condemn, at the same time that they condemn it? If they accuse us of any other Crime, they must necessarily scandalize while they do it: But to scandalize us with being guilty of Scandal, is in itself an egregious Absurdity, and can proceed from nothing but the most consummate Impudence in Conjunction with the most profound Stupidity.\nThis, supposing, as they do, that to scandalize is a Crime; which you have convinc\u2019d all reasonable People, is an Opinion absolutely erroneous. Let us leave then these Ideot Mock-Moralists, while I entertain you with some Account of my Life [and] Manners.\nI am a young Girl of about thirty-five, and live at present with my Mother. I have no Care upon my Head of getting a Living, and therefore find it my Duty as well as Inclination, to exercise my Talent at Censure, for the Good of my Country folks. There was, I am told, a certain generous Emperor, who if a Day had passed over his Head, in which he had conferred no Benefit on any Man, used to say to his Friends, in Latin, Diem perdidi, that is, it seems, I have lost a Day. I believe I should make use of the same Expression, if it were possible for a Day to pass in which I had not, or miss\u2019d, an Opportunity to scandalize somebody: But, Thanks be praised, no such Misfortune has befel me these dozen Years.\nYet, whatever Good I may do, I cannot pretend that I first entred into the Practice of this Virtue from a Principle of Publick Spirit; for I remember that when a Child, I had a violent Inclination to be ever talking in my own Praise, and being continually told that it was ill Manners, and once severely whipt for it, the confin\u2019d Stream form\u2019d itself a new Channel, and I began to speak for the future in the Dispraise of others. This I found more agreable to Company, and almost as much so to my self: For what great Difference can there be, between putting your self up, or putting your Neighbour down? Scandal, like other Virtues, is in part its own Reward, as it gives us the Satisfaction of making our selves appear better than others, or others no better than ourselves.\nMy Mother, good Woman, and I, have heretofore differ\u2019d upon this Account. She argu\u2019d that Scandal spoilt all good Conversation, and I insisted that without it there could be no such Thing. Our Disputes once rose so high, that we parted Tea-Table, and I concluded to entertain my Acquaintance in the Kitchin. The first Day of this Separation we both drank Tea at the same Time, but she with her Visitors in the Parlor. She would not hear of the least Objection to any one\u2019s Character, but began a new sort of Discourse in some such queer philosophical Manner as this; I am mightily pleas\u2019d sometimes, says she, when I observe and consider that the World is not so bad as People out of humour imagine it to be. There is something amiable, some good Quality or other in every body. If we were only to speak of People that are least respected, there is such a one is very dutiful to her Father, and methinks has a fine Set of Teeth; such a one is very respectful to her Husband; such a one is very kind to her poor Neighbours, and besides has a very handsome Shape; such a one is always ready to serve a Friend, and in my Opinion there is not a Woman in Town that has a more agreeable Air and Gait. This fine kind of Talk, which lasted near half an Hour, she concluded by saying, I do not doubt but every one of you have made the like Observations, and I should be glad to have the Conversation continu\u2019d upon this Subject. Just at that Juncture I peep\u2019d in at the Door, and never in my Life before saw such a Set of simple vacant Countenances; they looked somehow neither glad, nor sorry, nor angry, nor pleas\u2019d, nor indifferent, nor attentive; but, (excuse the Simile) like so many blue wooden Images of Rie Doe [rye Dough]. I in the Kitchin had already begun a ridiculous Story of Mr. \u2014\u2014\u2019s Intrigue with his Maid, and his Wife\u2019s Behaviour upon the Discovery; at some Passages we laugh\u2019d heartily, and one of the gravest of Mama\u2019s Company, without making any Answer to her Discourse, got up to go and see what the Girls were so merry about: She was follow\u2019d by a Second, and shortly after by a Third, till at last the old Gentlewoman found herself quite alone, and being convinc\u2019d that her Project was impracticable, came her self and finish\u2019d her Tea with us; ever since which Saul also has been among the Prophets, and our Disputes lie dormant.\nBy Industry and Application, I have made my self the Center of all the Scandal in the Province, there is little stirring but I hear of it. I began the World with this Maxim, That no Trade can subsist without Returns; and accordingly, whenever I receiv\u2019d a good story, I endeavour\u2019d to give two or a better in the Room of it. My Punctuality in this Way of Dealing gave such Encouragement, that it has procur\u2019d me an incredible deal of Business, which without Diligence and good Method it would be impossible for me to go through. For besides the Stock of Defamation thus naturally flowing in upon me, I practice an Art by which I can pump Scandal out of People that are the least enclin\u2019d that way. Shall I discover my Secret? Yes; to let it die with me would be inhuman. If I have never heard Ill of some Person, I always impute it to defective Intelligence; for there are none without their Faults, no not one. If she is a Woman, I take the first Opportunity to let all her Acquaintance know I have heard that one of the handsomest or best Men in Town has said something in Praise either of her Beauty, her Wit, her Virtue, or her good Management. If you know any thing of Humane Nature, you perceive that this naturally introduces a Conversation turning upon all her Failings, past, present, and to come. To the same purpose, and with the same Success, I cause every Man of Reputation to be praised before his Competitors in Love, Business, or Esteem on Account of any particular Qualification. Near the Times of Election, if I find it necessary, I commend every Candidate before some of the opposite Party, listning attentively to what is said of him in answer: (But Commendations in this latter Case are not always necessary, and should be used judiciously;) of late Years I needed only observe what they said of one another freely; and having for the Help of Memory taken Account of all Informations and Accusations received, whoever peruses my Writings after my Death, may happen to think, that during a certain Term, the People of Pennsylvania chose into all their Offices of Honour and Trust, the veriest Knaves, Fools and Rascals in the whole Province. The Time of Election used to be a busy Time with me, but this Year, with Concern I speak it, People are grown so good natur\u2019d, so intent upon mutual Feasting and friendly Entertainment, that I see no Prospect of much Employment from that Quarter.\nI mention\u2019d above, that without good Method I could not go thro\u2019 my Business: In my Father\u2019s Life-time I had some Instruction in Accompts, which I now apply with Advantage to my own Affairs. I keep a regular Set of Books, and can tell at an Hour\u2019s Warning how it stands between me and the World. In my Daybook I enter every Article of Defamation as it is transacted; for Scandals receiv\u2019d in, I give Credit; and when I pay them out again, I make the Persons to whom they respectively relate Debtor. In my Journal, I add to each Story by Way of Improvement, such probable Circumstances as I think it will bear, and in my Ledger the whole is regularly posted.\nI suppose the Reader already condemns me in his Heart, for this particular of adding Circumstances; but I justify that part of my Practice thus. \u2019Tis a Principle with me, that none ought to have a greater Share of Reputation than they really deserve; if they have, \u2019tis an Imposition upon the Publick: I know it is every one\u2019s Interest, and therefore believe they endeavour, to conceal all their Vices and Follies; and I hold, that those People are extraordinary foolish or careless who suffer a Fourth of their Failings to come to publick Knowledge: Taking then the common Prudence and Imprudence of Mankind in a Lump, I suppose none suffer above one Fifth to be discovered: Therefore when I hear of any Person\u2019s Misdoing, I think I keep within Bounds if in relating it I only make it three times worse than it is; and I reserve to my self the Privilege of charging them with one Fault in four, which, for aught I know, they may be entirely innocent of. You see there are but few so careful of doing Justice as my self; what Reason then have Mankind to complain of Scandal? In a general way, the worst that is said of us is only half what might be said, if all our Faults were seen.\nBut alas, two great Evils have lately befaln me at the same time; an extream Cold that I can scarce speak, and a most terrible Toothach that I dare hardly open my Mouth: For some Days past I have receiv\u2019d ten Stories for one I have paid; and I am not able to ballance my Accounts without your Assistance. I have long thought that if you would make your Paper a Vehicle of Scandal, you would double the Number of your Subscribers. I send you herewith Account of 4 Knavish Tricks, 2 crackt M\u2014n\u2014ds, 5 Cu-ld-ms, 3 drub\u2019d Wives, and 4 Henpeck\u2019d Husbands, all within this Fortnight; which you may, as Articles of News, deliver to the Publick; and if my Toothach continues, shall send you more; being, in the mean time, Your constant Reader,\nAlice Addertongue\nI thank my Correspondent Mrs. Adddertongue for her Good-Will; but desire to be excus\u2019d inserting the Articles of News she has sent me; such Things being in Reality no News at all.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "11-07-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0083", "content": "Title: Joseph Breintnall to Peter Collinson, 7 November 1732\nFrom: Breintnall, Joseph\nTo: Collinson, Peter\nSir\nPhilada. 9br. 7th [November 7], 1732\nYour Goodness in assisting Mr. Hopkinson in the Choice and Purchase of our Books, and the valuable Present you have so generously made us, demand our most grateful Acknowledgements. An Undertaking like ours, was as necessary here, as we hope it will be useful; there being no Manner of Provision made by the Government for publick Education, either in this or the neighbouring Provinces, nor so much as a good Booksellers Shop nearer than Boston.\nEvery Encouragement to an Infant Design, by Men of Merit and Consideration, gives new Spirit to the Undertakers, strengthens the Hands of all concern\u2019d, and greatly tends to secure and establish their Work; Hence, as well as from the noble Knowledge communicated in the Books you have given us, will arise the lasting Obligation we shall find ourselves under to Mr. Collinson. We wish you every kind of Happiness and Prosperity, and particularly that you may never want Power nor Opportunity of enjoying that greatest of Pleasures to a benevolent Mind, the giving Pleasure to others.\nSigned by Order of the Library Company of Philadelphia\nJoseph Breintnall Secry\n Endorsed: On sending a present of Books to the Library Company of Pensilvania\u2014Just Establish\u2019d.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "11-09-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0084", "content": "Title: Reply to a Complaining Reader, 9 November 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nTo the Printer of the Gazette.\nAs you sometimes take upon you to correct the Publick, you ought in your Turn patiently to receive publick Correction. My Quarrel against you is, your Practice of publishing under the Notion of News, old Transactions which I suppose you hope we have forgot. For Instance, in your Numb. 669, you tell us from London of July 20. That the Losses of our Merchants are laid before the Congress of Soissons, by Mr. Stanhope, &c. and that Admiral Hopson died the 8th of May last. Whereas \u2019tis certain, there has been no Congress at Soissons nor any where else these three Years at least; nor could Admiral Hopson possibly die in May last, unless he has made a Resurrection since his Death in 1728. And in your Numb. 670. among other Articles of equal Antiquity, you tell us a long Story of a Murder and Robbery perpetrated on the Person of Mr. Nath. Bostock, which I have read Word for Word not less than four Years since in your own Paper. Are these your freshest Advices foreign and domestick? I insist that you insert this in your next, and let us see how you justify yourself.\nMemory\nI need not say more in Vindication of my self against this Charge, than that the Letter is evidently wrong directed, and should have been To the Publisher of the Mercury: Inasmuch as the Numb. of my Paper is not yet amounted to 669, nor are those old Articles any where to be found in the Gazette, but in the Mercury of the two last Weeks. I may however say something in his Excuse, viz. That \u2019tis not to be always expected there should happen just a full Sheet of New Occurrences for each Week; and that the oftner you are told a good Thing, the more likely you will be to remember it. I confess I once lately offended in this kind my self, but it was thro\u2019 Ignorance; and that may possibly be the Case with others.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0086", "content": "Title: On Colds, 30 November 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nFrom all Parts of this Province, and even from Maryland, People complain of Colds, which are become more general than can be remember\u2019d in these Parts before. Some ascribe this Distemper to the sudden Change of Weather into hard Frost, which we had about the middle of November; but others believe it contagious, and think \u2019tis communicated by infected Air, after somewhat the same Manner as the Small-pox or Pestilence. They urge in Support of this Opinion, not only that this Cold was first heard of in the eastermost Parts of New-England, about the End of September and Beginning of October last, from whence it has gradually made its Progress thro\u2019 all the English Settlements hitherto, New-Hampshire, Massachusets, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania; but also the Judgment of Dr. Molineux a noted Physician of Ireland, who gives an Account of an universal Cold very much like this, which happen\u2019d in his Time. This Account, which is to be met with in the Philosophical Transactions, seems, however, to favour both Opinions; the following is an Extract of it.\n\u201cAbout the Beginning of November, 1693, after a constant Course of moderately warm Weather for the Season, upon some Snow falling in the Mountains and Country round about the Town, of a sudden it grew extreamly cold, and soon after succeeded some few Days of a very hard Frost; whereupon Rheums of all kinds, such as violent Coughs that chiefly affected in the Night, great Defluction of thin Rheum at the Nose and Eyes, immoderate Discharge of Saliva by Spitting, Hoarseness in the Voice, sore Throats with some Trouble in swallowing, Wheasings, Stuffings, and soreness in the Breast, a dull Heaviness and stoppage in the Head, with such like Disorders, the usual Effects of Cold, seized great Numbers of all sorts of People in Dublin.\n\u201cWhen the Distemper was but moderate, it was usually over in eight or ten Days; but with those in whom it rose to greater Height, it continued a Fortnight or 3 Weeks, and sometimes above a Month; one way or other it universally affected all kinds of Men, those that were in the Country as well as City; those that were much abroad in the Weather and open Air, and those that stayed much within-doors, or even kept close in their Chambers; those that were robust and hardy, as well as those that were weak and tender; Men, Women, Children, of all Ranks and Conditions, the youngest and the oldest.\n\u201cIt was remarkable for its vast Extent: It seized them at London, Oxford, and all other Places of England, as universally, and with the same Symptoms as us at Dublin; but with this observable Difference, that it appeared three or four Weeks sooner at London than at Dublin. It also reached the Continent, and infested the northern Parts of France, as about Paris; also Flanders, Holland, and the rest of the United Provinces, with more Violence than these Countries; so that I believe no other epidemic Distemper was ever observed to extend so far.\u201d The Doctor concludes with a Remark, that spreading epidemic Distempers generally take their Progress from East to West.\nThe curious, perhaps would be glad to know whether this Cold was preceded by a sudden Change of Weather and Frost, throughout its Progress, as well as in Pensilvania.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0087", "content": "Title: A Sea Captain\u2019s Letter, 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nFranklin drafted private letters, Gazette essays, and Junto papers in a commonplace book he kept during 1730\u201338. Those parts of this manuscript book which can be identified and dated are presented at their proper chronological places in the present work. The remaining materials have been assigned the date 1732, the year in which most of the commonplace book was filled. They include this and the next four items.\nWe thank the Gentlewoman who favour\u2019d us with the following Copy of Letter, which was written by [a] Sea Captain then at Leghorn to his Wife in Boston. Dated July 17. 1724.\nMy Dear,\nWhen you sollicited me to give you some Instructions for the Education of our Daughters, I ever thought I said enough, in this single Rule, Endeavour to make them like your self: And were I assured that Fate had decreed this present Separation between us to be lasting, which God forbid, I could with Satisfaction leave those dear Pledges of our mutual Love in your Care, whose Prudence could allway advise them to Things that are best, and whose Example would be the most perfect Pattern.\nHowever, when I last had the Pleasure of being with you and them, you obtained from me a Promise, That I would give you my Thoughts on that Subject in Writing. Hurry of Business hinder\u2019d my performing it then, but my Indisposition in this City occasion\u2019d by the unfortunate breaking of my Leg, (of which you have already had an Account) has afforded me Leisure enough to comply with your Request, and my Engagement. [Unfinished]", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0089", "content": "Title: Proposals and Queries to be Asked the Junto, 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nProposals\nThat P S and A N be immediately invited into the Junto.\nThat all New Members be qualified by the 4 qualifications and all the old ones take it.\nThat these Queries [be] copied at the beginning of a Book [and] be read distinctly each Meeting [with] a Pause between each while one might fill and drink a Glass of Wine.\nThat if they cannot all be gone thro\u2019 in one Night we begin the next where we left off, only such as particularly regard the Junto to be read every Night.\nThat it be not hereafter the Duty of any Member to bring Queries but left to his Discretion.\nThat an old Declamation be without fail read every Night when there is no New One.\nThat Mr. Brientnals Poem on the Junto be read once a Month, and hum\u2019d in Consort, by as many as can hum it.\nThat once a Month in Spring, Summer and Fall the Junto meet of a Sunday in the Afternoon in some proper Place cross the River for Bodily Exercise.\nThat in the aforesaid Book be kept Minutes thus\nFryday June 30. 1732.\nPresent ABCDEF &c.\n1. HP read this Maxim viz. or this Experiment viz or &c.\n5. Lately arriv\u2019d one \u2014\u2014 of such a Profession or such a Science &c.\n7. XY grew rich by this Means &c.\nThat these Minutes be read once a Year at the Anniversary.\nThat all Fines due be immediately paid in, and that penal Laws for Queries and Declamations [be] abolish\u2019d only he who is absent above ten Times in the Year, to pay 10s. towards the Anniversary Entertainment.\nThat the Secretary for keeping the Minutes be allow\u2019d one Shilling per Night, to be paid out of the Money already in his Hands.\nThat after the Queries are begun reading, all Discourse foreign to them shall be deem\u2019d impertinent.\nWhen any thing from Reading an Author is mention\u2019d, if it excead  lines and the Junto require it; The Person shall bring the Passage, or an Extract from [written above: Abstract of] it, in Writing, the next Night, if he has it not [with] him.\nWhen the Books of the Library come: Every Member shall undertake some Author, that he may not be without Observations to communicate.\nQueries to be ask\u2019d the Junto\nWhence comes the Dew that stands on the Outside of a Tankard that has cold Water in it in the Summer Time?\nDoes the Importation of Servants increase or advance the Wealth of our Country?\nWould not an Office of Insurance for Servants be of Service, and what Methods are proper for the erecting such an Office?\nQu. Whence does it proceed, that the Proselytes to any Sect or Persuasion generally appear more zealous than those who are bred up in it?\nAnsw. I Suppose that People bred in different Persuasions are nearly zealous alike. He that changes his Party is either sincere, or not sincere; that is he either does it for the sake of the Opinions merely, or with a View of Interest. If he is sincere and has no View of Interest; and considers before he declares himself, how much Ill will he shall have from those he leaves, and that those he is about to go among will be apt to suspect his Sincerity: if he is not really zealous he will not declare; and therefore must be zealous if he does declare. If he is not sincere, He is oblig\u2019d at least to put on an Appearance of great Zeal, to convince the better, his New Friends that he is heartily in earnest, for his old ones he knows dislike him. And as few Acts of Zeal will be more taken Notice of than such as are done against the Party he has left, he is inclin\u2019d to injure or malign them, because he knows they contemn and despise him. Hence one Renegade is (as the Proverb says) worse than 10 Turks.\nQu. Can a Man arrive at Perfection in this Life as some Believe; or is it impossible as others believe?\nA. Perhaps they differ in the meaning of the Word Perfection.\nI suppose the Perfection of any Thing to be only the greatest the Nature of that Thing is capable of;\ndifferent Things have different Degrees of Perfection; and the same thing at different Times.\nThus an Horse is more perfect than an Oyster yet the Oyster may be a perfect Oyster as well as the Horse a perfect Horse.\nAnd an Egg is not so perfect as a Chicken, nor a Chicken as a Hen; for the Hen has more Strength than the Chicken, and the C[hicken] more Life than the Egg: Yet it may be a perfect Egg, Chicken and Hen.\nIf they mean, a Man cannot in this Life be so perfect as an Angel, it is [written above: may be] true; for an Angel by being incorporeal is allow\u2019d some Perfections we are at present incapable of, and less liable to some Imperfections that we are liable to.\nIf they mean a Man is not capable of being so perfect here as he is capable of being in Heaven, that may be true likewise. But that a Man is not capable of being so perfect here, as he is capable of being here; is not Sense; it is as if I should say, a Chicken in the State of a Chicken is not capable of being so perfect as a Chicken is capable of being in that State. In the above Sense if there may be a perfect Oyster, a perfect Horse, a perfect Ship, why not a perfect Man? that is as perfect as his present Nature and Circumstances admit?\nQuest. Wherein consists the Happiness of a rational Creature?\nAns. In having a Sound Mind and a healthy Body, a Sufficiency of the Necessaries and Conveniencies of Life, together with the Favour of God, and the Love of Mankind.\nQu. What do you mean by a sound Mind?\nA. A Faculty of reasoning justly and truly in searching after [and] discovering such Truths as relate to my Happiness. Which Faculty is the Gift of God, capable of being improv\u2019d by Experience and Instruction, into Wisdom.\nQ. What is Wisdom?\nA. The Knowledge of what will be best for us on all Occasions and of the best Ways of attaining it.\nQ. Is any Man wise at all Times, and in all Things?\nA. No; but some are much more frequently wise than others.\nQ. What do you mean by the Necessaries of Life?\nA. Having wholesome Food and Drink wherewith to satisfie Hunger and Thirst, Cloathing and a Place of Habitation fit to secure against the inclemencies of the Weather.\nQ. What do you mean by the Conveniencies of Life?\nA. Such a Plenty [uncompleted]\nAnd if in the Conduct of your Affairs you have been deceived by others, or have committed any Error your self, it will be a Discretion in you to observe and note the same, and the Defailance, with the Means or Expedient to repair it.\nNo Man truly wise but who hath been deceived.\nLet all your observations be committed to writing every Night before you go to Sleep.\nQuery, Whether it is worth a Rational Man\u2019s While to forego the Pleasure arising from the present Luxury of the Age in Eating and Drinking and artful Cookery, studying to gratify the Appetite for the Sake of enjoying healthy Old Age, a Sound Mind and a Sound Body, which are the Advantages reasonably to be expected from a more simple and temperate Diet.\nWhether those Meats and Drinks are not the best, that contain nothing in their natural Tastes, nor have any Thing added by Art so pleasing as to induce us to Eat or Drink when we are not athirst or Hungry or after Thirst and Hunger are satisfied; Water for Instance for Drink and Bread or the Like for Meat?\nWhat is the [written above: is there any] Difference between Knowledge and Prudence?\nIf there is any, which of the two is most Eligible?\nIs it justifiable to put private Men to Death for the Sake of publick Safety or Tranquility, who have committed no Crime?\nAs in the Case of the Plague to stop Infection, or as in the Case of the Welshmen here Executed.\nWhether Men ought to be denominated Good or ill Men from their Actions or their Inclinations?\nIf the Sovereign Power attempts to deprive a Subject of his Right, (or which is the same Thing, of what he thinks his Right) is it justifiable in him to resist if he is able?\nWhat general Conduct of Life is most suitable for Men in such Circumstances as most of the Members of the Junto are; Or, of the many Schemes of Living which are in our Power to pursue, which will be most probably conducive to our Happiness.\nWhich is best to make a Friend of, a wise and good Man that is poor; or a Rich Man that is neither wise nor good? Which of the two is the greatest Loss to a Country, if they both die?\nWhich of the two is happiest in Life?\nDoes it not in a general Way require great Study and intense Application for a Poor Man to become rich and Powerful, if he would do it, without the Forfeiture of his Honesty?\nDoes it not require as much Pains, Study and Application to become truly Wise and strictly Good and Virtuous as to become rich?\nCan a Man of common Capacity pursue both Views with Success at the same Time?\nIf not, which of the two is it best for him to make his whole Application to?", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0090", "content": "Title: On the Providence of God in the Government of the World, 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nWhen I consider my own Weakness, and the discerning Judgment of those who are to be my Audience, I cannot help blaming my self considerably, for this rash Undertaking of mine, it being a Thing I am altogether ill practis\u2019d in and very much unqualified for; I am especially discouraged when I reflect that you are all my intimate Pot Companions who have heard me say a 1000 silly Things in Conversations, and therefore have not that laudable Partiality and Veneration for whatever I shall deliver that Good People commonly have for their Spiritual Guides; that You have no Reverence for my Habit, nor for the Sanctity of my Countenance; that you do not believe me inspir\u2019d or divinely assisted, and therefore will think your Selves at Liberty to assent or dissent agree [written above: approve] or disagree [written above: disapprove] of any Thing I advance, canvassing and sifting it as the private Opinion of one of your Acquaintance. These are great Disadvantages and Discouragements but I am enter\u2019d and must proceed, humbly requesting your Patience and Attention.\n  I propose at this Time to discourse on the Subject of our last Conversation: the Providence of God in the Government of the World. I shall not attempt to amuse you with Flourishes of Rhetorick, were I master of that deceitful Science because I know ye are Men of substantial Reason and can easily discern between sound Argument and the false Glosses of Oratory; nor  shall I endeavour to impose on your Ears, by a musical Accent in delivery, in the Tone of one violently affected with what he says; for well I know that ye are far from being superstitious [or] fond of unmeaning Noise, and that ye believe a Thing to be no more true for being sung than said. I intend to offer you nothing but plain Reasoning, devoid of Art and Ornament; unsupported by the Authority of any Books or Men how sacred soever; because I know that no Authority is more convincing to Men of Reason than the Authority of Reason itself. It might be judg\u2019d an Affront to your Understandings should I go about to prove this first Principle, the Existence of a Deity and that he is the Creator of the Universe, for that would suppose you ignorant of what all Mankind in all Ages have agreed in. I shall therefore proceed to observe: 1. That he must be a Being of great Wisdom; 2. That he must be a Being of great Goodness and 3. That he must be a Being of great Power. That he must be a Being of infinite Wisdom, appears in his admirable Order and Disposition of Things, whether we consider the heavenly Bodies, the Stars and Planets, and their wonderful regular Motions, or this Earth compounded of such an Excellent mixture of all the Elements; or the admirable Structure of Animal Bodies of such infinite Variety, and yet every one adapted to its Nature, and the Way of Life it is to be placed in, whether on Earth, in the Air or in the Waters, and so exactly that the highest and most exquisite human Reason, cannot find a fault and say this would have been better so or in another Manner, which whoever considers attentively and thoroughly will be astonish\u2019d and swallow\u2019d up in Admiration.\n2. That the Deity is a Being of great Goodness, appears in his giving Life to so many Creatures, each of which acknowledge it a Benefit by their unwillingness to leave it; in his providing plentiful Sustenance for them all, and making those Things that are most useful, most common and easy to be had; such as Water necessary for almost every Creature\u2019s Drink; Air without which few could subsist, the inexpressible Benefits of Light and Sunshine to almost all Animals in general; and to Men the most useful Vegetables, such as Corn, the most useful of Metals as Iron, and the most useful Animals, as Horses, Oxen and Sheep, he has made easiest to raise, or procure in Quantity or Numbers: each of which particulars if considered seriously and carefully would fill us with the highest Love and Affection. 3. That he is a Being of infinite Power appears, in his being able to form and compound such Vast Masses of Matter as this Earth and the Sun and innumerable Planets and Stars, and give them such prodigious Motion, and yet so to govern them in their greatest Velocity as that they shall not flie off out of their appointed Bounds nor dash one against another, to their mutual Destruction; but \u2019tis easy to conceive his Power, when we are convinc\u2019d of his infinite Knowledge and Wisdom; for if weak and foolish Creatures as we are, by knowing the Nature of a few Things can produce such wonderful Effects; such as for instance by knowing the Nature only of Nitre and Sea Salt mix\u2019d we can make a Water which will dissolve the hardest Iron and by adding one Ingredient more, can make another Water which will dissolve Gold and render the most Solid Bodies fluid\u2014and by knowing the Nature of Salt Peter Sulphur and Charcoal those mean Ingredients mix\u2019d we can shake the Air in the most terrible Manner, destroy Ships Houses and Men at a Distance and in an Instant, overthrow Cities, rend Rocks into a Thousand Pieces, and level the highest Mountains. What Power must he possess who not only knows the Nature of every Thing in the Universe, but can make Things of new Natures with the greatest Ease and at his Pleasure!\nAgreeing then that the World was at first made by a Being of infinite Wisdom, Goodness and Power, which Being we call God; The State of Things ever since and at this Time must be in one of these four following manners, viz.\n1. Either he unchangeably decreed and appointed every Thing that comes to pass; and left nothing to the Course [of] Nature, nor allow\u2019d any Creature free agency. or\n2. Without decreeing any thing, he left all to general Nature and the Events of Free Agency in his Creatures, which he never alters or interrupts. or\n3. He decreed some Things unchangeably, and left others to general Nature and the Events of Free agency, which also he never alters or interrupts; or\n4. He sometimes interferes by his particular Providence and sets aside the Effects which would otherwise have been produced by any of the Above Causes.\nI shall endeavour to shew the first 3 Suppositions to be inconsistent with the common Light of Reason; and that the 4th is most agreeable to it, and therefore most probably true.\nIn the 1. place. If you say he has in the Beginning unchangedably decreed all Things and left Nothing to Nature or free Agency. These Strange Conclusions will necessarily follow; 1. That he is now no more a God. \u2019Tis true indeed, before he had made such unchangeable Decree, he was a Being of Power, Almighty; but now having determin\u2019d every Thing, he has divested himself of all further Power, he has done and has no more to do, he has ty\u2019d up his Hands, and has now no greater Power than an Idol of Wood or Stone; nor can there be any more Reason for praying to him or worshipping of him, than of such an Idol for the Worshippers can be never the better for such Worship. Then 2. he has decreed some things contrary to the very Notion of a wise and good Being; Such as that some of his Creatures or Children shall do all Manner of Injury to others and bring every kind of Evil upon them without Cause; that some of them shall even blaspheme him their Creator in the most horrible manner; and, which is still more highly absurd that he has decreed the greatest Part of Mankind, shall in all Ages, put up their earnest Prayers to him both in private and publickly in great Assemblies, when all the while he had so determin\u2019d their Fate that he could not possibly grant them any Benefits on that Account, nor could such Prayers be any way available. Why then should he ordain them to make such Prayers? It cannot be imagined they are of any Service to him. Surely it is not more difficult to believe the World was made by a God of Wood or Stone, than that the God who made the World should be such a God as this.\nIn the 2. Place. If you say he has decreed nothing but left all things to general Nature, and the Events of Free Agency, which he never alters or interrupts. Then these Conclusions will follow; He must either utterly hide him self from the Works of his Hands, and take no Notice at all of their Proceedings natural or moral; or he must be as undoubtedly he is, a Spectator of every thing; for there can be no Reason or Ground to suppose the first\u2014I say there can be no Reason to imagine he would make so glorious a Universe meerly to abandon it. In this Case imagine the Deity looking on and beholding the Ways of his Creatures; some Hero\u2019s in Virtue he sees are incessantly indeavouring the Good of others, they labour thro vast difficulties, they suffer incredible Hardships and Miseries to accomplish this End, in hopes to please a Good God, and obtain his Favour, which they earnestly Pray for; what Answer can he make them within himself but this; take the Reward Chance may give you, I do not intermeddle in these Affairs; he sees others continually doing all manner of Evil, and bringing by their Actions Misery and Destruction among Mankind: What can he say here but this, if Chance rewards you I shall not punish you, I am not to be concerned. He sees the just, the innocent and the Beneficent in the Hands of the wicked and violent Oppressor; and when the good are at the Brink of Destruction they pray to him, thou, O God, art mighty and powerful to save; help us we beseech thee: He answers, I cannot help you, \u2019tis none of my Business nor do I at all regard these things. How is it possible to believe a wise and an infinitely Good Being can be delighted in this Circumstance; and be utterly unconcern\u2019d what becomes of the Beings and Things he has created; for thus, we must believe him idle and unactive, and that his glorious Attributes of Power, Wisdom and Goodness are no more to be made use of.\nIn the Third Place. If you say he has decreed some things and left others to the Events of Nature and Free Agency, Which he never alters or interrupts; Still you unGod him, if I may be allow\u2019d the Expression; he has nothing to do; he can cause us neither Good nor Harm; he is no more to be regarded than a lifeless Image, than Dagon, or Baall, or Bell and the Dragon; and as in both the other Suppositions foregoing, that Being which from its Power is most able to Act, from its Wisdom knows best how to act, and from its Goodness would always certainly act best, is in this Opinion supposed to become the most unactive of all Beings and remain everlastingly Idle; an Absurdity, which when considered or but barely seen, cannot be swallowed without doing the greatest Violence to common Reason, and all the Faculties of the Understanding.\nWe are then necessarily driven into the fourth Supposition, That the Deity sometimes interferes by his particular Providence, and sets aside the Events which would otherwise have been produc\u2019d in the Course of Nature, or by the Free Agency of Men; and this is perfectly agreeable with what we can know of his Attributes and Perfections: But as some may doubt whether \u2019tis possible there should be such a Thing as free Agency in Creatures; I shall just offer one Short Argument on that Account and proceed to shew how the Duties of Religion necessary follow the Belief of a Providence. You acknowledge that God is infinitely Powerful, Wise and Good, and also a free Agent; and you will not deny that he has communicated to us part of his Wisdom, Power and Goodness; i.e. he has made us in some Degree Wise, potent and good; and is it then impossible for him to communicate any Part of his Freedom, and make us also in some Degree Free? Is not even his infinite Power sufficient for this? I should be glad to hear what Reason any Man can give for thinking in that Manner; \u2019tis sufficient for me to shew tis not impossible, and no Man I think can shew \u2019tis improbable, but much more might be offer\u2019d to demonstrate clearly that Men are in some Degree free Agents, and accountable for their Actions; however, this I may possibly reserve for another separate Discourse hereafter if I find Occasion.\nLastly If God does not sometimes interfere by his Providence tis either because he cannot, or because he will not; which of these Positions will you chuse? There is a righteous Nation grievously oppress\u2019d by a cruel Tyrant, they earnestly intreat God to deliver them; If you say he cannot, you deny his infinite Power, which [you] at first acknowledg\u2019d; if you say he will not, you must directly deny his infinite Goodness. You are then of necessity oblig\u2019d to allow, that \u2019tis highly reasonable to believe a Providence because tis highly absurd to believe otherwise.\nNow if tis unreasonable to suppose it out of the Power of the Deity to help and favour us particularly or that we are out of his Hearing or Notice or that Good Actions do not procure more of his Favour than ill Ones. Then I conclude, that believing a Providence we have the Foundation of all true Religion; for we should love and revere that Deity for his Goodness and thank him for his Benefits; we should adore him for his Wisdom, fear him for his Power, and pray to him for his Favour and Protection; and this Religion will be a Powerful Regulater of our Actions, give us Peace and Tranquility within our own Minds, and render us Benevolent, Useful and Beneficial to others.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0091", "content": "Title: Miscellaneous Observations, 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nMiscellaneous Observations\n   Draft: Historical Society of Pennsylvania\nThe great Secret of succeeding in Conversation, is, To admire little, to hear much; allways to distrust our own Reason, and sometimes that of our Friends; never to pretend to Wit, but to make that of others appear as much as possibly we can: to hearken to what is said, and to answer to the purpose.\nUt jam nunc dicat jam nunc debentia dici.\nIn vain are musty Morals taught in Schools\nBy rigid Teachers, and as rigid Rules,\nWhere Virtue with a Frowning Aspect Stands,\nAnd frights the pupil with her rough Commands.\nBut Woman \u2014\u2014\nCharming Woman can true Converts make,\nWe love the Precepts for the Teacher\u2019s Sake;\nVirtue in them appears so bright and gay\nWe hear with Transport, and with Pride obey.\nYou may first write a Letter that may carry good Sense, to your Friend, but let the Lines be wide asunder: Then between these Lines write your Secret Letter with Gall Water only, wherein the Galls have been infused but a little while. Dissolve Copperas in fair Water, dip a pensil in the Water and moisten the Paper in the Interlining.\nPennyworth of Spirit of Vitriol in a Thumb-bottle [and] half as much Spring Water\u2014Write\u2014Fire.\nI am about Courting a Girl I have had but little Acquaintance with; how shall I come to a Knowledge of her Fawlts? and whether she has the Virtues I imagine she has?\nAnsw. Commend her among her Female Acquaintance.\nIf a sound Body and a sound Mind, which is as much as to say Health and Virtue are to be preferred before all other Considerations; Ought not Men in choosing of a Business either for themselves or Children to refuse such as are unwholesome for the Body; and such as make a Man too dependent, too much oblig\u2019d to please others, and too much subjected to their Humours in order to be recommended and get a Livelihood.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "01-04-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-01-02-0092", "content": "Title: Extracts from the Gazette, 1732\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \n\t\u2042 We have no Entries this Week, the River being full of Ice. [January 4]\n\tLost last Saturday Night, in Market Street, about 40 or 50s. If the Finder will bring it to the Printer hereof, who will describe the Marks, he shall have 10s. Reward. [March 30]\n\t  [Advertisement] Choice Flour of Mustard-Seed, in Bottles, very convenient for such as go to Sea; to a little of which if you put hot Water, and stop it up close, you will have strong Mustard, fit to use, in 15 minutes. Sold at the New Printing-Office near the Market, at 1s. per Bot. [April 6]\n\t  The Subscribers towards a Library in this City, are hereby advertis\u2019d, That Monday the First of May ensuing, is the Day appointed for the Choice of the proper Officers of the Company, for the following Year; and that the Meeting for that Purpose will be at the House of Nicholas Scull in the Market Street, at Two in the Afternoon. Joseph Breintnall\nPhilad. April 20. 1732. [April 20]\n\tI do not love to have the Gazette filled with these Controversies about Religion, yet I cannot refuse to insert the following Piece, as it appears to be written in his own Vindication, by a Gentleman who has not been very tenderly used in my Papers. [May 4]\n\t  Sunday last during Afternoon Service, a Fire broke out in the Brewhouse of Mr. Badcock. All the Congregations broke up in great Surprize; and there was immediately abundance of People present at the Place, yet they could not save the Building. Had it happen\u2019d in the Night time, or had not the Tide been up in the Dock, \u2019tis thought much more Damage would have been done; for several Houses catch\u2019d at a considerable Distance. The Engines did great Service, and the People were very active: They saved the Dwelling House, but not without damaging the Roof. Some Persons were hurt, tho\u2019 none mortally. [May 4]\n\t[Advertisement] A likely young Negro Fellow, about 19 or 20 Years of Age, to be disposed of: He is very fit for Labour, being us\u2019d to Plantation Work, and has had the Small-Pox. Enquire of the Printer hereof. [May 11]\n\t  On Sunday the 28th past, about three Miles from this City, a Clap of Thunder fell upon the House of the Widow Mifflin, struck down part of the Top of the Chimney, and split it down several Feet; tore and shattered the Roof, split a Rafter, and broke it off in two Places: and struck off the Plaistering with part of the Brick Wall in the inside of a lower Room, broke the Window Glass and melted the Lead; another Story lower several Splinters of the Window Frame were broke off, some of the Glass broke, and Lead melted; and a Lad who stood in a Porch near the Window, was struck down, and burnt badly in a Streak about the Breadth of one\u2019s Hand, from the Side of his Face down to the Calf of his Leg; but it no way hurt any part of his Clothes: He is also much hurt by a Fall he received down four or five Steps with his Head on a Pavement. There were four or five Children sitting within the House, near the Place where the Lad stood, that were very much surprized and stunn\u2019d with the Thunder, and almost suffocated with the Smoke and sulphurous Smell that fill\u2019d the Room. [June 1]\n[Advertisement] There is now in the Press, and for the universal Benefit of Mankind will speedily be published, a most curious Collection of ESSAYS, to wit,\n1. An Essay upon High Nonsense, and Low Nonsense.\n2. An Essay upon the Nonsense of the Pulpit; under which Title is included, A Dissertation upon mysterious and incomprehensible Nonsense, with some Allusions to the Fathers; the whole supported by the most modern Authorities, taken from the venerable Dean Swift, and other Reverend Divines of the Age.\n3. An Essay upon the Nonsense of the Bar; under which Title is included, by way of Digression, a most learned Dissertation upon the following Words in Dyer, fol. 218. Un de l\u2019 Jury a mange un Pere, & boir un haust de Cervois; proving beyond Contradiction, that whereas it is vulgarly rendered into English, One of the Jury had eat a Pear, and drunk a Draught of Ale; it ought to be rendered, One of the Jury had eat up a Father, and drank a Draught of Hartshorn. Together with some little Animadversions upon Matter dehors, and the inimitable Beauties of an &c. Dedicated to the most incomprehensible Alexander Conundrum, Esq; Barrister at Law.\nFor Thee I dim these Eyes, and stuff this Head,\nWith all such Reading as was never read;\nFor Thee explain a Thing till all Men doubt it,\n  And write about it, Goddess, and about it.Dunciad.\nBy Timothy Scrubb, Gent. who formerly lived in the Cupola of St. Paul\u2019s. [June 1]\n[Advertisement] Whereas I am credibly informed, that Alexander Conundrum, Esq; in several Companies both public and private, hath been pleased to give himself strange Airs, in regard to my Character; Now this is to inform the said Alexander, that I intend to be my self personally present in propria persona at the next Court of Common Pleas, to be held for the City and County of Philadelphia, where if he happens, as is customary with him, to behave himself any ways impertinently, viz. by standing up and making any of his surprizing Motions, in a Cause wherein he is altogether unconcerned; or if he pop off any of his unaccountable Speeches, such as to the great Astonishment of his Hearers he uttered in Kent County Court; Then, and in such Case, I say, with the same Freedom he hath used me, I shall take the Liberty of making a few Observations on his Conduct.\nBut if the said Alexander let me alone, and behave himself modestly, I do assure him I shall carry my self towards him with all the Respect due to a Brother of the Quill.\nTimothy Scrubb\n[June 1]\nThe Gazette will come out again on Monday next, and continue to be published on Mondays.\nAnd on the Saturday following will be published Philadelphische Zeitung, or Newspaper in High-Dutch, which will continue to be published on Saturdays once a Fortnight, ready to be delivered at Ten a Clock, to Country Subscribers. Advertisements are taken in by the Printer hereof, or by Mr. Louis Timothee, Language Master, who translates them. [June 15]\n\t  From New-York, we hear, that on Saturday se\u2019nnight, in the Afternoon, they had there most terrible Thunder and Lightning, but no great Damage done. The same Day we had some very hard Claps in these Parts; and \u2019tis said, that in Bucks County, one Flash came so near a Lad, as, without hurting him, to melt the Pewter Button off the Wasteband of his Breeches. \u2019Tis well nothing else thereabouts, was made of Pewter. [June 19]\n\t  Saturday last, being St. John\u2019s Day, a Grand Lodge of the ancient and honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, was held at the Sun Tavern in Water-street, when, after a handsom Entertainment, the worshipful W. Allen, Esq; was unanimously chosen Grand Master of this Province, for the Year ensuing; who was pleased to appoint Mr. William Pringle Deputy Master. Wardens chosen for the ensuing Year, were Thomas Boude and Benj. Franklin. [June 26]\n\t  We hear from Allenstown, that on Tuesday last the House of Mr. James Rogers was struck by Lightning. It split down Part of the Chimney, went through the Room where he was sitting with his Children, but without hurting any of them; and entring into the Cellar, fir\u2019d a full Hogshead of Rum which stood under an Arch, and bursting out the Head, the whole Cellar was instantly fill\u2019d with Flames which pour\u2019d out at the Windows. There was several hundred weight of Butter in Tubs, which melted and took fire also; but by the timely Assistance of abundance of People, and the Help of a large Quantity of Water just gathered from the Rain in a Hollow near by, the House was happily preserved. The Loss however was very considerable; for besides what was consum\u2019d by Fire, all the Goods in his Shop or Store were thrown out in Confusion into the Rain and Dirt. \u2019Tis said that tho\u2019 they fill\u2019d the Cellar with so much Water as to be near a Foot deep, yet, after the Fire was out, it was so hot as not to be tolerable to the Feet and Legs of those who would have gone in. [July 10]\n\t  To the Surprize of all the Inhabitants on Delaware, who live above Philadelphia, the Water about a Fortnight since, chang\u2019d to a dark dirty Red, so thick that \u2019tis said the Fish could scarce see to get out of the Way of Boats, and were frequently struck by the Oars. Those who have lived here above these forty Years, say they never saw or heard of the like before. It was accompanied with a Fresh, \u2019tis true, but not very considerable when compar\u2019d with such as come down almost every Year without such Change of Colour; and \u2019tis advis\u2019d from Places 40 Mile above the Falls, that they have had no great Rains there. Those who have caused some of the Water to settle, find a Sort of fine brown Earth at the Bottom; but it must be a prodigious Quantity to colour this vast River in such a Manner. The Conjectures of People are various concerning the Cause of it; some imagine an upper Creek, dam\u2019d by Logs, has chang\u2019d its Course and dug a new Bed; others, (hearing from New York, that about the same Time a Flood came down that River from the Mountains, though they had had no Rain, and overflow\u2019d the low Lands, doing great Damage) conceive, that an Earthquake near the Head of both Rivers, has forced out a Quantity of subterraneous Water into them. These however are only Conjectures, Time may possibly make us wiser. In the Interim, we have the Satisfaction to observe, that the River clears sensibly, and we hope will soon recover its wonted purity. [July 10]\n\t  Thomas Butwell from England, maketh in the newest Fashion, Womens Stays, and Childrens Coats, and maketh crooked Bodies look strait; at the Shop under the New-Printing-Office, where also Men\u2019s Work is done reasonably. [July 17]\n\t  [Advertisement] Good Live-Geese FEATHERS sold at the Printer\u2019s hereof. [July 31]\n\t  We hear that one James Hill, has for some Weeks past travell\u2019d about the Country on foot, pretending to be dumb, and made great Profit of the Charity and Credulity of the People. He has with him a Counterfeit Brief, setting forth, that being taken and kept in Slavery seven Years in Turky, he once attempted to make his Escape, for which they barbarously cut out his Tongue, and burnt him in each Arm; and accordingly he shows two grievous Sores in his Arms, which however are artificial; for at Goshen in Chester County, some People suspecting Fraud, threatned him, &c. so much, that they oblig\u2019d him to speak very well, and confess his Roguery, showing them his Trick of shrinking his Tongue into the back of his Mouth, so as to appear as if it was cut away. They, it seems, were too busy to carry him to a Magistrate, it being Harvest Time, and so they gave him his Liberty; and he continues the same Practice, going from House to House; and having pass\u2019d back of Philadelphia, and through North Wales, \u2019tis suppos\u2019d he intends to make his Progress in the Jerseys. He came from Annapolis, but avoided Newcastle and Chester as well as this City. \u2019Tis hop\u2019d this publick Notice may put a Stop to his Proceedings, and prevent good-natur\u2019d People from being further impos\u2019d on by him. [August 7]\n\t  [Advertisement] Richard Clements supposed to live in some Part of Maryland, by applying to the Printer hereof may hear of something to his Advantage. [August 28]\n\t  Some of the Chiefs of the Five (now Six) Nations, as Ambassadors from their Great Council, having been in Town since a few Days after our Honourable Proprietor\u2019s Arrival, a Treaty was entred into with them, in order to renew the ancient Chain of Friendship between them and us; and on Thursday last, at the Great Meeting-House, large Presents were made them on Behalf of our Government, consisting of Blankets, Strouds, Kettles, Guns, Powder, Shot, &c. and in particular, the Proprietor presented six Guns, curiously wrought, and the Stocks japan\u2019d with Gold, the finest that have ever been seen here, to be delivered as a Mark of his Affection, one to the King of each Nation. The oldest Man stood up and made a Speech of Thanks, in behalf of the rest, and they all express\u2019d their Approbation of each Article of the wholesome Advice that was given them, to live in Peace and Unity with their Neighbour Nations, &c. On Saturday they had their last Audience, and took Leave in order to return home. At present they are in Peace with the French, but it seems have sent to forbid their going on with their new Settlement at the Crown Point, and advis\u2019d them to remove thence, least their Proceedings occasion a Rupture. [September 7]\n\t  [Advertisement] Very good Sealing-Wax sold by the Printer hereof, at Wholesale or Retale. [September 12]\n\t  On Tuesday the 5th Instant, a small Shock of an Earthquake was felt in this City, about Noon. It was also felt at New-Castle. [September 18]\n\t  [Advertisement] Whereas some Silver Spoons, about five, much batter\u2019d and bruis\u2019d up together, have been lately offer\u2019d to Sale, and stop\u2019d, as suspected to have been stolen; The Person who has lost them, by applying to the Printer hereof, may hear where they are to be had again. [October 26]\n\t  It has been so very cold for this Week past, that our River is full of driving Ice, and no Vessels can go up or down, a Thing rarely happening so early in the Year. Many People are ill with violent Colds, and Wood is risen to an excessive Price. [November 23]\n\t  Last Monday Morning a Woman who had been long given to excessive Drinking, was found dead in a Room by her self, upon the Floor. She could not be persuaded to go to Bed the Night before, but would sit up alone, as was her frequent Custom. The Coroners Inquest ascribe her Death to the too great Quantity of Liquor she took at one Time. Her former Husband had many Times put several Sorts of odious Physick into her Drink, in order to give her an Aversion to it, but in vain; for who ever heard of a Sot reclaim\u2019d? If there are any such they are Miracles. People cannot be too cautious of the first Steps that may lead them to be engaged in a Habit the most invincible and the most pernicious of all others. [December 7]\n\t  Last Monday se\u2019nnight in the Evening, three Men went into the Indian Prince Tavern, and having call\u2019d for some Liquor, one of them offer\u2019d a new Twenty Shilling Bill to be chang\u2019d for the Reckoning; Mr. R. Brockden, Master of the House, suspecting it to be a Counterfeit, went with it immediately to A. Hamilton, Esq; (under Pretence of going out to get Change) who caused them presently to be apprehended. Upon Examination, two of them appeared innocent, and were discharged; the third, who offer\u2019d to pass the Bill, being ask\u2019d how he came by it, answer\u2019d that he brought Hogs to Town to sell, and had taken it of a Woman unknown in the Market: Upon searching him, two more of the same sort were found in his Pocket-book, all which he said he had taken for Pork. From the Indian Prince he was carried over to another Tavern, where he had put up his Horse, in order to see if he had any Bags wherein more Bills might be found: While the Examination was continuing there, a Woman Stranger in the outer Room was observed to appear somewhat concern\u2019d; upon which she was call\u2019d in, and ask\u2019d, if she knew that Man? she answer\u2019d Yes, he was her Brother; being ask\u2019d if she had any Money about her, the Man was seen to wink at her, and she answer\u2019d, No; but attempting to slide her Hand into her Pocket, they prevented her, and brought the Woman of the House to search her, who found in her Pocket twenty-three 20s. Bills of the same Sort. The Fellow finding the Story of the Hogs would not answer, nor any other Shuffles avail him any thing, betook himself at last to make an ingenuous Confession. He said that one Grindal who arrived this Summer in Capt. Blair from Ireland, got 600 20s. Bills printed there from a Pattern he carried home last Year; that when he came here, he admitted one Watt into the Secret, and gave him a Number of the Bills to pass and exchange in Pennsylvania, while he went into the Jersies on the same Account, altering his Name to Thomson lest a Wife he had married at New-Garden should hear of him; and that they were to meet next Christmass at Philadelphia, and divide the Profits: That Watt had communicated the Thing to him, and given him Twenty-seven Bills to pass, of which he was to have a Share for himself; telling him, to persuade him to it, that it was no Sin, for it would make Money plentier among poor People. He said he had as yet pass\u2019d but one, of which the Change 19s. was found in his Pocket. He could not tell where Grindal might be at this Time in the Jersies, but he inform\u2019d that Watt was at Eastown in Chester County. Officers were immediately dispatch\u2019d in quest of him, who rid all Night, surpriz\u2019d him in his Bed about Day-break, and guarded him to Town. After Examination he was committed to Prison, to keep company with his Friend the Pork-seller, who it seems has brought his Hogs to a fine Market. Tis hoped that by Christmass we shall see Grindal here also, that he may (according to Agreement) share the Profits with \u2019em. The Bills they have attempted to counterfeit are of the last Impression; the Counterfeits might pass with many People who do not take much Notice, but they have imitated the Paper very ill, that of the new Bills being thick and stiff, and the Counterfeits soft and flimsy. What is most surprizing is, that the Counterfeiters, with all their care and exactness, have entirely omitted numbering their Bills; at least none of those are number\u2019d which are seiz\u2019d. Was this Infatuation, or were they afraid they should not number them right? [December 19]\n\t  Tuesday last about Noon, a Fire broke out in Chesnut Street, which had like to have done much Damage; but by a timely and vigorous Assistance was extinguished. The Engines did abundance of Service. [December 28]\n\t  Just Published, FOR 1733: Poor Richard: An Almanack containing the Lunations, Eclipses, Planets Motions and Aspects, Weather, Sun and Moon\u2019s rising and setting, Highwater, &c. besides many pleasant and witty Verses, Jests and Sayings, Author\u2019s Motive of Writing, Prediction of the Death of his friend Mr. Titan Leeds, Moon no Cuckold, Batchelor\u2019s Folly, Parson\u2019s Wine and Baker\u2019s Pudding, Short Visits, Kings and Bears, New Fashions, Game for Kisses, Katherine\u2019s Love, Different Sentiments, Signs of a Tempest, Death a Fisherman, Conjugal Debate, Men and Melons, H. the Prodigal, Breakfast in Bed, Oyster Lawsuit, &c. by Richard Saunders, Philomat. Printed and sold by B. Franklin, Price 3s. 6d. per Dozen. Of whom also may be had Sheet Almanacks at 2s. 6d. [December 28]\nPhiladelphia: Printed by B. FRANKLIN, at the New Printing-Office near the Market. Price 10s. a Year. Where Advertisements are taken in, and BOOK-BINDING is done reasonably, in the best Manner.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732},
{"created_timestamp": "06-01-1732", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Franklin/01-29-02-0608", "content": "Title: \u201cThe Morals of Chess\u201d, [before 28 June 1779]\nFrom: Franklin, Benjamin\nTo: \nFranklin and chess have long been associated in the popular mind largely because of this bagatelle, which was the most widely reprinted product of his Passy press. Made public for the first time in 1786, it would be reprinted at least a dozen times by the end of the century, and translated into French, German, and Russian.\nFranklin played chess with a single-mindedness that threatened to exclude all else. The story has already been told in these volumes of Mme. Brillon\u2019s being detained in her tub while he, oblivious, played chess in her bathing room well into the night. Tales of Franklin\u2019s chess games became magnified over time. Le Ray de Chaumont\u2019s grandson Vincent maintained that the Doctor\u2019s tireless passion for late-night games was checked only by his supply of candles, and that once, at the home of a French minister, Franklin refused to receive an important dispatch from Congress until after a match had finished.\n\u201cThe Morals of Chess\u201d poses certain infuriating problems for the textual editor. No manuscript copy has survived, and although we know that Franklin printed the bagatelle on his Passy press, not a single imprint has surfaced. Because he sent the essay to Barbeu-Dubourg in June, 1779, its composition has commonly been dated circa that time. However, we believe that the essay was originally formulated as early as 1732, and that Franklin in the spring of 1779 was once again recalling material from his earlier life for the amusement of his circle at Passy.\nOur evidence comes from the commonplace book that Franklin kept from 1730\u201338. He used it primarily for two purposes: composing pieces which would find their way into the Pennsylvania Gazette, and drafting rules, procedures, and papers which he would present to his secret society, the Junto. A sketchy outline of \u201cThe Morals of Chess\u201d appears in the commonplace book between a fictitious letter for the Gazette and a set of private proposals and queries to be asked the Junto, dating from June, 1732. Based on Franklin\u2019s mandates that every Junto member \u201cproduce Queries on any Point of Morals, Politics or Natural Philosophy\u201d at each meeting, and four times per year address the group on a subject of his own choosing, we suspect that Franklin originally drafted this essay for presentation to his club of leather apron men.\nWhat might have brought the essay to mind in 1779? Franklin was certainly playing chess with his Passy neighbors and friends (Dubourg, Le Veillard, Mme. Brillon and the duchesse de Deux-Ponts, among others) but even more important was his recent sifting through the early papers he had with him, looking for previously unpublished material to add to Benjamin Vaughan\u2019s edition of his writings. One of the pieces Franklin sent to London, probably in the spring of 1779, was a list of standing queries for the Junto. This suggests that Franklin either had his commonplace book with him in Passy, or that he had copies of early papers relating to the club. One of those may well have been his \u201cMorals of Chess.\u201d\nIn the absence of the original manuscript or Passy imprint, we publish the text of \u201cMorals\u201d as it appeared in the 1786 Columbian Magazine because we believe that the magazine reproduced most closely the essay as it was issued from Franklin\u2019s press. One of the magazine\u2019s editors, Mathew Carey, had worked for a short time as Franklin\u2019s printer in Passy, in 1779. Years later, when Carey and his fellow editors were soliciting contributions for the first issues of The Columbian Magazine, they naturally turned to their famous Philadelphia neighbor. Carey may have either procured a copy of \u201cMorals\u201d from the author in 1786, or else have published the essay from an imprint he had kept since his days in the Passy shop. Either way, Carey\u2019s text is certainly authoritative.\nWhat little else we know about \u201cThe Morals of Chess\u201d is from Franklin\u2019s own hand. He ought to dedicate the piece to Mme. Brillon, he told her, because its best advice was based on his observations of her generous and magnanimous way of playing. He, on the other hand, was not famous in Passy for the courtesy and fairness advocated in this bagatelle. According to Chaumont family legend, he grew impatient at the slowness of his partners, was prone to rearranging the board when his opponent left the room, and, as Chaumont once pointedly remarked, often drummed his fingers on the table.\nSir,\n[before June 28, 1779]\nPlaying at Chess, is the most ancient and the most universal game known among men; for its original is beyond the memory of history, and it has, for numberless ages, been the amusement of all the civilized nations of Asia, the Persians, the Indians, and the Chinese. Europe has had it above 1000 years; the Spaniards have spread it over their part of America, and it begins lately to make its appearance in these northern states. It is so interesting in itself, as not to need the view of gain to induce engaging in it; and thence it is never played for money. Those, therefore, who have leisure for such diversions, cannot find one that is more innocent; and the following piece, written with a view to correct (among a few young friends) some little improprieties in the practice of it, shows at the same time, that it may, in its effects on the mind, be not merely innocent, but advantageous, to the vanquished as well as to the victor.\nThe MORALS OF CHESS.\nThe game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all occasions. For life is a kind of chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effects of prudence or the want of it. By playing at chess, then, we may learn:\n1. Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action: for it is continually occurring to the player, \u201cIf I move this piece, what will be the advantages of my new situation? What use can my adversary make of it to annoy me? What other moves can I make to support it, and to defend myself from his attacks?\n2. Circumspection, which surveys the whole chess-board, or scene of action, the relations of the several pieces and situations, the dangers they are respectively exposed to, the several possibilities of their aiding each other; the probabilities that the adversary may make this or that move, and attack this or the other piece; and what different means can be used to avoid his stroke, or turn its consequences against him.\n3. Caution, not to make our moves too hastily. This habit is best acquired by observing strictly the laws of the game, such as, if you touch a piece, you must move it somewhere; if you set it down, you must let it stand. And it is therefore best that these rules should be observed, as the game thereby becomes more the image of human life, and particularly of war; in which, if you have incautiously put yourself into a bad and dangerous position, you cannot obtain your enemy\u2019s leave to withdraw your troops, and place them more securely; but you must abide all the consequences of your rashness.\nAnd, lastly, we learn by chess the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearences in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping for a favourable change, and that of persevering in the search of resources. The game is so full of events, there is such a variety of turns in it, the fortune of it is so subject to sudden vicissitudes, and one so frequently, after long contemplation, discovers the means of extricating one\u2019s self from a supposed insurmountable difficulty, that one is encouraged to continue the contest to the last, in hopes of victory by our own skill, or, at least, of giving a stale mate, by the negligence of our adversary. And whoever considers, what in chess he often sees instances of, that particular pieces of success are apt to produce presumption, and its consequent, inattention, by which more is afterwards lost than was gained by the preceding advantage; while misfortunes produce more care and attention, by which the loss may be recovered, will learn not to be too much discouraged by the present success of his adversary, nor to despair of final good fortune, upon every little check he receives in the pursuit of it.\nThat we may, therefore, be induced more frequently to chuse this beneficial amusement, in preference to others which are not attended with the same advantages, every circumstance, that may increase the pleasure of it, should be regarded; and every action or word that is unfair, disrespectful, or that in any way may give uneasiness, should be avoided, as contrary to the immediate intention of both the players, which is to pass the time agreeably.\nTherefore, 1st. If it is agreed to play according to the strict rules, then those rules are to be exactly observed by both parties; and should not be insisted on for one side, while deviated from by the other: for this is not equitable.\n2. If it is agreed not to observe the rules exactly, but one party demands indulgencies, he should then be as willing to allow them to the other.\n3. No false move should ever be made to extricate yourself out of a difficulty, or to gain an advantage. There can be no pleasure in playing with a person once detected in such unfair practice.\n4. If your adversary is long in playing, you ought not to hurry him, or express any uneasiness at his delay. You should not sing, nor whistle, nor look at your watch, nor take up a book to read, nor make a tapping with your feet on the floor, or with your fingers on the table, nor do anything that may disturb his attention. For all these things displease. And they do not show your skill in playing, but your craftiness or your rudeness.\n5. You ought not to endeavour to amuse and deceive your adversary, by pretending to have made bad moves, and saying you have now lost the game, in order to make him secure and careless, and inattentive to your schemes; for this is fraud, and deceit, not skill in the game.\n6. You must not, when you have gained a victory, use any triumphing or insulting expression, nor show too much pleasure; but endeavour to console your adversary, and make him less dissatisfied with himself by every kind and civil expression, that may be used with truth, such as, You understand the game better than I, but you are a little inattentive; or, You play too fast; or, You had the best of the game but something happened to divert your thoughts, and that turned it in my favour.\n7. If you are a spectator, while others play, observe the most perfect silence. For if you give advice, you offend both parties; him, against whom you give it, because it may cause the loss of his game; him, in whose favour you give it, because, though it be good, and he follows it, he loses the pleasure he might have had, if you had permitted him to think till it occurred to himself. Even after a move or moves, you must not, by replacing the pieces, shew how it might have been played better: for that displeases, and may occasion disputes or doubts about their true situation. All talking to the players, lessens or diverts their attention, and is therefore unpleasing; nor should you give the least hint to either party, by any kind of noise or motion.\u2014 If you do, you are unworthy to be a spectator.\u2014 If you have a mind to exercise or show your judgments, do it in playing your own game when you have an opportunity, not in criticising or meddling with, or counselling, the play of others.\nLastly. If the game is not to be played rigorously, according to the rules above mentioned, then moderate your desire of victory over your adversary, and be pleased with one over yourself. Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by his unskilfulness or inattention; but point out to him kindly that by such a move he places or leaves a piece in danger and unsupported; that by another he will put his king in a dangerous situation, &c. By this generous civility (so opposite to the unfairness above forbidden) you may indeed happen to lose the game to your opponent, but you will win what is better, his esteem, his respect, and his affection; together with the silent approbation and good will of impartial spectators.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1732}
]