that direction, contributed to render him a better and happier man, than he would have been, had he not made those endeavors. To his own account of his efforts at self-improvement, and of the somewhat artificial plan upon which he pursued his object, he has annexed the following impressive remarks:

"It may be well," says he, "that my posterity should be informed that to this little artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor owed the constant felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, in which this is written. What reverses may attend the remainder, is in the hand of Providence; but if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoyed, ought to help him bear them with resignation. To Temperance he ascribes his long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his country and the honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and cheerfulness in conversation, which make his company still sought for, and agreeable even to his young acquaintance. I hope that some of my descendants may follow the example, and reap the benefit."

It was Franklin's original design to extend the little tabular book described, by adding a commentary on each of the virtues in the list, more fully to explain its positive advantages, as well as the certain disadvantages of the correlative vices; and thus to furnish, for the use of others, especially the young, a manual, which, inasmuch as it was to point out the practical methods of

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forming habits of virtue, and not be simply preceptive, or speculative, was to be entitled "The Art of Virtue." With this purpose in view he collected a considerable mass of materials in the form of hints and remarks, made from time to time, in the course of his reading and observation; but the increase of business, and his accumulating engagements in the most important public af fairs, prevented the execution of the intended commentary.

The contemplated manual was, moreover, connected, in Franklin's mind, with another and far more comprehensive plan he had conceived for carrying into wider effect his views of moral culture, through the instrumentality of an association, to be regularly organized and to act on society at large. But as this chapter has already exceeded the usual limit, we must defer to the next, the account, which it is deemed necessary to give of what he styles the "great and extensive project" referred to.

CHAPTER XVII.

PROJECT FOR PROMOTING VIRTUE- ALMANAC OF RICHARD SAUNDERS.

FROM what has already been said it is plain that Franklin's mind, at this period of his life, had become deeply impressed with the duty and advantage of selfdiscipline; of directing his thoughts and efforts to worthy ends; and of training his faculties, both intellectual and moral, to the attainment of those ends by just and beneficent means; such means as should reconcile and harmonize his own interests with the interests of his fellow-men, and present a genuine exemplification of the doctrine that "true self love and social, are the same;" or, as the same doctrine had long before been announced, on the very highest authority, in the golden rule requiring every one of us to "do unto others as we would have others to do unto us." He believed this to be the only

way to secure any real happiness, and that no qualities are so likely to advance a poor man's fortune in the world, as veracity and integrity.

That he strove, with unfeigned earnestness, to correct his faults and train himself to the habitual practice of virtue, is evident, not only from the general tenor of his life and the personal respect in which he was held, but is particularly and beautifully evinced by his candor and docility in receiving admonition, of which the following anecdote presents a good example. His list of virtues, as he relates, contained at first but twelve. A Quaker

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friend of his frankly told him one day, that he was generally considered proud, and in conversation sometimes overbearing and insolent, several instances of which were called to Franklin's remembrance. He acknowledged the justice of the admonition, and added Humility to the list of virtues, to be particularly cultivated. He confesses that unremitting watchfulness was at first necessary, to break the offending habit, especially when engaged in animated discussion; yet perseverance was at length crowned with success; and then he found “the advantage of this change in his manners." It not only made intercourse at all times more agreeable, but it procured "a readier reception of his opinions, when right, and less mortification, when wrong."

There is, indeed, no one point in manners and general deportment, which he has so frequently urged, as the language and tone of unassuming deference, in conversation, and in reasoning with others for the purpose of changing their opinions, or procuring their co-operation. To this deferential manner, connected with the prevalent confidence in his integrity, he expressly ascribes his influence with his fellow-citizens, and in deliberative assemblies; for he was, as he declares, but a "bad speaker, hesitating in his choice of words, and never eloquent;" and yet he "generally carried his point."

The good sense of these remarks is obvious; but his modesty, nevertheless, has suppressed one reason quite as efficient as any, in procuring him influence, and a ready adoption of his views; and that reason was to be found in the sound judgment and sagacious forethought by which his views were usually distinguished.

But Franklin's desires, on the great subject of moral improvement, were not limited to his own personal benefit and that of the individuals immediately connected with him, or of the single community in which his lot

was cast. He felt an honest zeal to see the spread of such improvement in all communities, until its purifying and elevating iufluences should be everywhere manifest; and he believed that much might be done toward the actual attainment of so great an end, by a thorough and persevering application of the principle of voluntary co-operation, in the form of an association organized on the basis of a few comprehensive elementary truths, in which all soberminded and earnest men could agree, and which could be everywhere received for the regulation of social action as well as individual conduct.

The organization of such an association was the "great and extensive project" already alluded to. The original conception of this scheme is traced to a paper containing some observations, suggested to his mind by his historical reading, and dated at the library, May 9th, 1731. These observations were stated in the form of general inferences, and their purport was, that the af fairs of all nations, including wars and revolutions, were conducted by parties, acting for their own supposed interests, and that all confusion in those affairs resulted from the opposing views of such parties; that under cover of their general objects, individual members were aiming at their own particular interests, and that when a party collectively had attained its ends, it was soon broken into factions by the clashing of those personal interests; that only a few public men have acted with a single eye to the public good, and that when their acts have, in fact, promoted that end, it has generally been because that good has happened to harmonize with their own personal objects, not because their motives were disinterested and benevolent; that still fewer public men have acted with dis tinct views to the common welfare of mankind; and that, as a general conclusion from the whole of these