could there be brought against him, the same guards took him to Poland, set him at liberty, and told him that if he ever entered Russia again it would be at the cost of his life. While on the journey, he thus writes on the

BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY.

Though born in the freest of the civilized countries, yet, in the present state of privation, I have a more exquisite sense of the amiable, the immortal nature of liberty than I ever had before. It would be excellently qualifying if every man, who is called to preside over the liberties of a people, should once it would be enough-actually be deprived of his liberty unjustly. He would be avaricious of it more than of any other earthly possession. I could love a country and its inhabitants if it were a country of freedom. There are two kinds of people I could anathematize with a better weapon than St. Peter's; those who dare deprive others of their liberty, and those who suffer others to do it.

Here he was, in a destitute situation, without friends or means, all his hopes blasted, and his health enfeebled. He, however, disposed of a draft for five guineas, on Sir Joseph Banks, and by this expedient was enabled to purchase his journey to London, where he was received with great cordiality by this munificent patron of letters and science. He had not been in London a day before a plan was proposed to him to explore Central Africa, and when asked when he would be ready to set out, "To-morrow morning," was his prompt answer; which, considering his recent bitter disappointments, is one of the most extraordinary instances of decision of character to be found on record.

All the preparations for his journey having been made, he left London on the 30th of June, under the patronage of the "African Association." He went first to Paris, thence to Marseilles, thence sailed to Alexandria, and arrived at Cairo on the 19th of August. Here, after having spent three months in making every inquiry and preparation for his hazardous journey, just as he was about starting, he was attacked by a bilious fever. The best medical skill of Cairo was called to his aid without effect, and he closed his life of vicissitude and toil at the moment when he imagined his severest cares were over, and when the prospects before him were more flattering than they had been at any former period.'

1 He died towards the end of November, 1788, in the thirty-eighth year of his age.

Such was the end of one of the most remarkable of men, in whom the spirit of romantic adventure was ever conspicuous. That he accomplished but little compared with the magnitude of his designs, seems to have been his misfortune, not his fault. "The acts of his life demand notice less on account of their results than of the spirit with which they were performed, and the uncommon traits of character which prompted to their execution. Such instances of decision, energy, perseverance, fortitude, and enterprise have rarely been witnessed in the same individual, and, in the exercise of these high attributes of mind, his example cannot be too much admired or imitated."

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1706-1790.

THIS distinguished philosopher and statesman was born in Boston, on the 17th of January, 1706. His father, who was a tallow-chandler, was too poor to give him the advantages of a collegiate education, and at ten years of age he was taken from the grammar school to aid in cutting wicks for the candles, filling the moulds, and attending the shop. When he was twelve years of age, having a strong passion for reading, and thinking that a printer's business would give him the best opportunity to indulge it, he was bound to his brother, who had recently returned from England with a press and type. He soon made himself master of the business, while he employed all his leisure time and his evenings to the improvement of his English style, by reading the best books he could find, among which, happily, was Addison's "Spectator," to which he labored to make his own style conform. In 1721 his brother started a weekly newspaper called "The New England Courant," for which Benjamin, though so young, wrote with great acceptance. Soon, however, from jealousy or other cause, the elder brother quarrelled with the younger, who thereupon, at the age of seventeen, started alone for Philadelphia. The following is his own account of his

The reader will not fail to make himself acquainted with Sparks' Life of Ledyard, one of the most interesting pieces of biography extant.

FIRST ENTRANCE INTO PHILADELPHIA.

I have entered into the particulars of my voyage, and shall, in like manner, describe my first entrance into this city, that you may be able to compare beginnings so little auspicious with the figure I have since made.

On my arrival at Philadelphia, I was in my working dress, my best clothes being to come by sea. I was covered with dirt; my pockets were filled with shirts and stockings; I was unacquainted with a single soul in the place, and knew not where to seek a lodging. Fatigued with walking, rowing, and having passed the night without sleep, I was extremely hungry, and all my money consisted of a Dutch dollar, and about a shilling's worth of coppers, which I gave to the boatmen for my passage. As I had assisted them in rowing, they refused it at first; but I insisted on their taking it. A man is sometimes more generous when he has little, than when he has much money; probably because, in the first case, he is desirous of concealing his poverty.

I

I walked towards the top of the street, looking eagerly on both sides, till I came to Market Street, where I met with a child with a loaf of bread. Often had I made my dinner on dry bread. I inquired where he had bought it, and went straight to the baker's shop, which he pointed out to me. asked for some biscuits, expecting to find such as we had at Boston; but they made, it seems, none of that sort at Philadelphia. I then asked for a threepenny loaf. They made no loaves of that price. Finding myself ignorant of the prices, as well as of the different kinds of bread, I desired him to let me have threepenny-worth of bread of some kind or other. He gave me three large rolls. I was surprised at receiving so much: I took them, however, and, having no room in my pockets, I walked on with a roll under each arm, eating a third. In this manner I went through Market Street to Fourth Street, and passed the house of Mr. Read, the father of my future wife. She was standing at the door, observed me, and thought, with reason, that I made a very singular and grotesque appearance.

I then turned the corner, and went through Chestnut Street, eating my roll all the way; and, having made this round, I found myself again on Market Street wharf, near the boat in which I arrived. I stepped into it to take a draught

of the river water; and, finding myself satisfied with my first roll, I gave the other two to a woman and her child, who had come down with us in the boat, and was waiting to continue her journey. Thus refreshed, I regained the street, which was now full of well-dressed people, all going the same way. 1 joined them, and was thus led to a large Quakers' meetinghouse near the market place. I sat down with the rest, and, after looking round me for some time, hearing nothing said, and being drowsy from my last night's labor and want of rest, I fell into a sound sleep. In this state I continued till the assembly dispersed, when one of the congregation had the goodness to wake me. This was consequently the first house I entered, or in which I slept, at Philadelphia.

In a day or two he engaged to work with a printer by the name of Keimer, and soon by his industry and frugality accumulated a little money. A letter which Franklin had written to a friend having fallen under the notice of Sir William Keith, the Governor of the Province, he invited the young printer to his house, and finally persuaded him to go to London to better his fortunes, promising to give him letters of recommendation. Franklin set sail from Philadelphia, the governor promising to send the letters to him when the ship should reach Newcastle; but he was faithless to his promise, and Franklin landed in London, of course, a perfect stranger. But a gentleman, a fellow-passenger by the name of Denham, was interested in him, and very soon he obtained a situation in a printing house in Bartholomew Close, where he worked a year. He soon gained a high character for temperance and industry among his fellow-workmen, and began to be favorably noticed, when he was persuaded by his friend Denham, who was about to return home with a large quantity of goods which he had purchased, to accompany him and aid him in his store. He landed at Philadelphia on the 11th of October; but soon after the store was opened with every prospect of success, Denham died, and Franklin was left once more to the wide world. He therefore returned to his old business, and was soon so successful in it that, in conjunction with a Mr. Hugh Meredith, he bought out the "Pennsylvania Gazette," which had but recently been established,' and which in a few years proved very profitable to him. In connection with the paper, he soon opened a stationer's shop, and so prospered that in September,

Franklin and Meredith began the paper with No. 40, September 25th, 1729, but in a year the partnership was dissolved, and Franklin had the sole management of it.

1730, he married Miss Read, with whom he had been acquainted before he went to London.

Feeling the want of good books, he started the plan of a subscription library-obtained fifty subscribers, "mostly young tradesmen," who paid forty shillings each-imported the books, and thus laid the foundation of the present "Library Company of Philadelphia," now the third in size in the United States.

At this time, when about twenty-six years of age, he drew up a series of resolutions by which he might regulate his conduct, govern his temper, and improve his whole moral man, and it is but justice to say that in the main he conformed to them; that the result was a character that, for evenness of temper, solidity of judgment, honesty of purpose, and prudence in the regulation of all temporal affairs, has rarely been equalled. In 1732 he first published his celebrated Almanac (commonly known as "Poor Richard's Almanac"), under the assumed name of Richard Saunders. Besides the usual tables and calendar, it contained a vast fund of useful information, and "proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality." It had great success, and was continued for about twentyfive years. In 1736 he was chosen clerk of the General Assembly, and the next year post-master at Philadelphia. He now interested himself in all public matters, founded the American Philosophical Society, and the University of Pennsylvania, and was foremost in all enterprises calculated to promote good morals, sound learning, and the public weal.

At the age of forty-three he was elected a member of the Assembly, and the next year was appointed a commissioner for making a treaty with the Indians. About this time he began to be interested in those philosophical experiments which have made his name so celebrated throughout the scientific world. But he was soon diverted from them by the demands made upon his time by the public, who seemed to think that no project for the public good deserved to be supported, unless Franklin was interested in it. Accordingly, he felt it his duty to aid, by his influence, the plan of founding a Hospital, which had been started by his friend, Dr. Thomas Bond, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing the subscriptions completed, and a grant of £2,000 made by the Assembly for the establishment of the same.

In 1757 he was appointed postmaster-general for America, and the same year received from Harvard and Yale Colleges the honorary degree of Master of Arts. Previous to this, in 1755, at the breaking out of the French war, he had been of great service in procuring supplies for Braddock's army, and had warned him against the enemy he