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English III – American Literature
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The Autobiography
The
Power of the Self
from The Autobiography
Benjamin Franklin
At
length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me, I took upon me to
assert my freedom, presuming that he would not venture to produce the new indentures[1].
It was not fair in me to take this advantage, and this I therefore reckon one
of the first errata[2]
of my life; but the unfairness of it weighed little with me, when under the
impressions of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged him to
bestow upon me, though he was otherwise not an ill-natur'd
man: perhaps I was too saucy and provoking.
When
he found I would leave him, he took care to prevent my getting employment in
any other printing-house of the town, by going round and speaking to every
master, who accordingly refus'd to give me work. I
then thought of going to New York, as the nearest place where there was a
printer; and I was rather inclin'd to leave Boston
when I reflected that I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the
governing party, and, from the arbitrary proceedings of the assembly in my
brother's case, it was likely I might, if I stay'd,
soon bring myself into scrapes[3];
and farther, that my indiscrete[4]
disputations[5]
about religion began to make me pointed at with horror by good people as an
infidel or atheist. I determin'd on the point, but my
father now siding with my brother, I was sensible that, if I attempted to go
openly, means would be used to prevent me. My friend Collins, therefore,
undertook to manage a little for me. He agreed with the captain of a
My inclinations
for the sea were by this time worne out, or I might
now have gratify'd them. But, having a trade, and
supposing myself a pretty good workman, I offer'd my
service to the printer in the place, old Mr. William Bradford, who had been the
first printer in Pennsylvania, but removed from thence upon the quarrel of
George Keith. He could give me no employment, having little to do, and help
enough already; but says he, "My son at Philadelphia has lately lost his
principal hand, Aquila Rose, by death; if you go thither, I believe he may
employ you."
In crossing the Bay, we met with a Squall[6] that tore our rotten Sails
to pieces, prevented our getting into the kill and drove us upon Long Island.
In our way, a drunken Dutchman, who was a Passenger too, fell overboard; when
he was sinking, I reached through the water to his shock pate[7], and drew him up, so that we
got him in again. His ducking sobered him a little, and he went to sleep,
taking first out of his Pocket a Book, which he desir'd
I would dry for him. It proved to be my old favourite Author, Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress in Dutch, finely printed on good paper, with copper cuts, a dress
better than I had ever seen it wear in its own Language. I have since found
that it has been translated into most of the Languages of Europe, and suppose
it has been more generally read than any other book, except perhaps the Bible.
Honest John was the first that I know of who mix'd
narration and dialogue; a method of writing very engaging to the Reader, who in
the most interesting parts finds himself, as it were, brought into the company
and present at the discourse...
When we drew near the
Island, we found it was at a place where there could be no landing, there being
a great surf on the stony beach. So we dropped anchor,
and swung round towards the Shore. Some people came down to the water edge and hallow'd[8] to us, as we did to them;
but the wind was so high, and the surf so loud, that we could not hear so as to
understand each other. There were canoes on the shore, and we made signs, and hallow'd that they should fetch us; but they either did not
understand us, or thought it impracticable, so they went away, and night coming
on, we had no Remedy but to wait till the wind should abate[9];
and, in the meantime, the boatman and I concluded to sleep, if we could; and so
crowded into the scuttle, with the Dutchman, who was still wet, and the spray
beating over the head of our boat, leak'd thro' to
us, so that we were soon almost as wet as he. In this manner we lay all night,
with very little rest; but, the wind abating the next day, we made a shift to
reach Amboy before night, having been thirty hours on the water, without victuals[10], or any drink but a
bottle of filthy rum, and the water we sail'd on
being salt.
It
rained very hard all the day; I was thoroughly soak'd,
and by noon a good deal tired; so I stopped at a poor Inn, where I staid all
Night, beginning now to wish that I had never left home. I cut so miserable a Figure[11], too, that I found, by
the questions ask'd me, I was suspected to be some
runaway servant, and in danger of being taken up on that suspicion. However, I
proceeded the next day, and got in the evening to an inn, within eight or ten
miles of
He entered into
Conversation with me while I took some Refreshment, and, finding I had read a
little, became very sociable and friendly. Our Acquaintance continu'd
as long as he liv'd. He had been, I imagine, an itinerant[12]
Doctor, for there was no town in England, or country in Europe, of which he
could not give a very particular account. He had some letters, and was
ingenious, but much of an unbeliever, and wickedly undertook, some years after,
to travesty the Bible in doggerel[13] verse, as Cotton had done
Virgil. By this means he set many of the facts in a very ridiculous light, and
might have hurt weak minds if his work had been published; but it never was.
At his house I lay that
night, and the next morning reach'd Burlington, but
had the mortification[14] to find that the regular
boats were gone a little before my coming, and no other expected to go before
Tuesday, this being Saturday; wherefore I returned to an old woman in the town,
of whom I had bought gingerbread to eat on the Water, and ask'd
her advice. She invited me to lodge at her house till a passage by water should
offer; and being tired with my foot travelling, I accepted the invitation. She
understanding I was a printer, would have had me stay
at that town and follow my business, being ignorant of the stock[15] necessary to begin with.
She was very hospitable, gave me a dinner of ox-cheek with great goodwill,
accepting only a pot of ale in return; and I thought myself fixed till Tuesday
should come. However, walking in the evening by the side of the river, a boat
came by, which I found was going towards Philadelphia, with several people in
her. They took me in, and, as there was no wind, we row'd
all the way; and about midnight, not having yet seen the city, some of the
company were confident we must have passed it, and would row no farther; the
others knew not where we were; so we put toward the shore, got into a creek,
landed near an old fence, with the rails of which we made a fire, the night
being cold, in October, and there we remained till daylight. Then one of the
company knew the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above Philadelphia, which
we saw as soon as we got out of the Creek, and arriv'd
there about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday Morning, and landed at the
Market Street Wharf.
Arrival in
I have been the more particular in
this description of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that
city, that you may in your mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the
figure I have since made there. I was in my working dress, my best clothes
being to come round by Sea. I was dirty from my journey; my pockets were stuff'd out with Shirts and Stockings, and I knew no Soul nor where to look for lodging. I was fatigued with
travelling, rowing, and want of rest, I was very hungry; and my whole stock of
cash consisted of a Dutch dollar, and about a shilling
in copper. The latter I gave the people of the boat for my passage, who at first refus'd it, on
account of my rowing; but I insisted on their taking it. A man being sometimes
more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps
thro' Fear of being thought to have but little.
Then I walked up the Street, gazing
about till near the Market-house I met a boy with bread. I had made many a meal
on bread, and, inquiring where he got it, I went immediately to the baker's he
directed me to, in Second Street, and ask'd for
biscuit, intending such as we had in Boston; but they, it seems, were not made
in Philadelphia. Then I asked for a three-penny loaf, and was told they had
none such. So not considering or knowing the difference of money, and the
greater cheapness nor the names of his bread, I made him give me three
pennyworth of any sort. He gave me, accordingly, three great puffy rolls. I was
surpris'd at the quantity, but took it, and, having
no room in my pockets, walk'd off with a roll under
each arm, and eating the other. Thus I went up Market Street as far as Fourth
Street, passing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she,
standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most
awkward, ridiculous appearance. Then I turned and went down Chestnut Street and
part of Walnut Street, eating my roll all the way, and, coming round found
myself again at Market Street Wharf, near the boat I came in, to which I went
for a draught[16] of the river water; and,
being filled with one of my rolls, gave the other two to a woman and her child
that came down the river in the boat with us, and were waiting to go farther.
Thus refreshed, I walked again up
the street, which by this time had many clean-dressed people in it, who were
all walking the same way. I joined them, and thereby was led into the great
Meeting House of the Quakers near the market. I sat down among them, and, after
looking round awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy thro' labor and want of Rest the preceding night, I fell fast
asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke up, when one was kind enough to
rouse me. This was, therefore, the first house I was in, or slept in, in
Philadelphia...
Arriving at Moral Perfection
It was about this time I conceiv'd
the bold and arduous[17]
Project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to
live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either
natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or
thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always
do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of
more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employ'd
in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the
advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I
concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our
interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient
to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good
ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady,
uniform Rectitude of Conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the
following method.
In the various enumerations[18]
of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more
or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the
same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and
drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other
pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice[19]
and ambition. I propos'd to myself, for the sake of
clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed[20]
to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under Thirteen Names
of Virtues all that at that time occurr'd to me as
necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I gave to its Meaning.
These Names of Virtues were:
1. Temperance
Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.
2. Silence
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoiding trifling Conversation.
3. Order.
Let all your Things have their Places. Let each part of your
Business have its Time.
4. Resolution.
Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what
you resolve.
5. Frugality.
Make no Expense but to do good to
others or yourself: i.e., waste nothing.
6. Industry.
Lose no Time. Be always employ´d
in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions.
7. Sincerity.
Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if
you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice.
Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the
Benefits that are your Duty.
9. Moderation.
Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting
Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness.
Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.
11. Tranquillity.
Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or
unavoidable.
12. Chastity.
Rarely use Venery[21]
but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your
own or another´s Peace or Reputation.
13. Humility.
Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
My intention being to acquire the Habitude
of all these Virtues, I judg’d it would be well not
to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one
of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to
another, and so on, till I should have gone thro’ the
thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition
of certain others, I arrang’d them with that view, as
they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness
and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be
kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient
habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir’d
and establish’d, Silence would be more easy;
and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improv’d in Virtue, and considering that in conversation it
was obtain’d rather by the use of the ears than of
the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of
prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling[22]
company, I gave Silence the second place. This and the next, Order,
I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies.
Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavours to
obtain all the subsequent Virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing
me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence[23]
and independence, would make more easy the Practice of Sincerity and Justice,
etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses[24],
daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the following method for
conducting that examination.
I made a little book, in which I allotted a Page
for each of the Virtues. I rul’d each page with red
ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each
column with a letter for the day. I cross’d these
columns with thirteen red Lines, marking the beginning of each line with the
first letter of one of the Virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I
might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to
have been committed respecting that Virtue upon that day.
I determined to give a
week's strict Attention to each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first
week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offence against temperance,
leaving the other Virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening
the Faults of the Day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first Line,
marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit of
that Virtue so much strengthen'd and its opposite weaken'd, that I might venture extending my attention to
include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots.
Proceeding thus to the last, I could go thro' a
course complete in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him who,
having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at
once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of the
beds at a time, and, having accomplish'd the first,
proceeds to a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of
seeing on my pages the progress I made in Virtue, by clearing successively my
lines of their spots, till in the End, by a number of courses, I should he
happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination.
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TEMPERANCE Eat not to Dulness Drink not to
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Copyright thiesmeyer.net 2014
[1] Indentures – N. Contractual (legally binding) obligation
[2] Errata – N. Errors; mistakes (used usually in the printing
profession)
[3] Bring myself into scrapes – Get into a fight
[4] Indiscrete – Adj. Thoughtless; inconsiderate
[5] Disputations – N. Debate; argument
[6] Squall – N. A sudden and violent
storm
[7] Shock pate – Hair of the head
[8] Hallow'd – V. Called; yelled
[9] Abate – V. To cause to become less; diminish
[10] Victuals – N. Food
[11] I cut so miserable a figure – he looked ragged and starved
[12] Itinerant – Adj. Traveling from place to place
[13] Doggerel – Adj. Crude and/or irregular verse (poetry) usually used
for humor, satire, or ridicule
[14] Mortification – N. A feeling of
shame, humiliation, or wounded pride
[15] Stock – N. Money; resources
[16] Draught – N. (draft) A
drink
[17] Arduous – Adj. Very difficult
[18] Enumerations – N. Numbered lists
[19] Avarice – N. Extreme greed
[20] Annexed – V. The adding of
something extra
[21] Venery – N. Sexual indulgence
[22] Trifling – Adj. Unimportant or trivial
[23] Affluence – N. Abundant wealth
[24] Pythagoras…Golden Verses – Greek mathematician & philosopher
(580-520) taught a method of self-examination to achieve mental, spiritual,
and/or emotional fulfillment