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ton. Upon his reception in the French Academy, d'Alembert welcomed him with that well-known line which revived the boldnefs and the fublimity of Lucan :

racy of definition which he had acquired from mathematical ftudy. Speaking of the late Comte de Vergennes, the French minifter, and having accidentally faid that he was a man of honour, he immediately ad

• Eripuit cœlo fulmen, fceptrumque tyranded, " I call him a man of honour,

nis.'

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In February 1777, he had the regular appointment of plenipotentiary from the Congrefs to the French Court, but obtained leave of difmiffion in 1780. In 1783 he caufed a medal to be ftruck to commemorate the independence of America. July 24. 1785, he embarked at Havre, and on the fame day landed at Southampton; whence, after a flight refreshment, he failed for Cowes, where a veffel was ready to convey him to Philadelphia. He was received there September 15. with univerfal acclamation.

The memories of the aged are not fuppofed to be retentive. The truth,, however, feems to be, that the tablet of the memory becomes callous at a certain period; nor is it fufceptible of new impreffions, and particularly of verbal knowledge. Franklin was an exception to this rule; he acquired French after feventy; he fpoke fluent ly, and even fcientifically, in that language. In his French embaffy Dr Franklin became the ton, the fahionable topic of modifh converfa tion; the ladies had hats a-la Franklin; and crowds of belles and beaux often fluttered after him in the garden of the Thuilleries. His converfation was rendered valuable, not only by a love of truth, but by an accuVOL. XII. No. 67.

с

because he never made me a promife, nor even gave me a hope, that he did not amply fulfill." In fociety he was fententious, but not fluent; a liftener rather than a talker; an informing, rather than a pleafing companion: impatient of interruption, he often mentioned the custom of the Indians, who always remain filent fome time before they give an anfwer to a queftion, which they have heard attentively; unlike fome of the politeft focieties in Europe, where a fentence can fcarcely be finished without interruption.

The ftone, with which Dr Franklin had been afflicted for feveral years, had for the last 12 months confined him chiefly to his bed; and during the extreme painful paroxyfms he was obliged to take laudanum, to mitigate his tortures; ftill, in the intervals of pain, he not only amufed himself with reading, and converfing chearfully with his family, and a few friends who visited him, but was often employed in doing bufinefs of a public as well as private nature; and in every inftance difplayed, not only a readinefs and difpofition of doing good, but the fulleft and clearest poffeffion of his mental abilities; and not unfrequently indulged in jeux d'efprit and entertaining anecdotes. About fixteen days before his death, he was feized with a feverish indifpofition, without any particular fymptoms attending it til the third or fourth day, when he complained of a pain in his left breast, which increafed until it became extremely acute, with a cough, and laborious breathing. During this ftate, when the feverity of his pain fometimes drew forth a groan of complaint, he would

obferve,

lic bodies, and individuals; and has requested that the following epitaph, which he compofed for himself fome years ago, may be infcribed on his tombstone:

"The body of

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer, (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and ftript of its lettering and gilding,) lies here food for worms:

yet the work itself fhall not be loft,
but will (as he believed,) appear
once more, in a new

and more beautiful edition,
corrected and amended
by

obferve, that " he was afraid he did not bear them as he ought: acknowledged his grateful fenfe of the many bleffings he had received from that Supreme Being who had raised him, from fmall and low beginnings, to fuch high rank and confideration among men; and made no doubt his prefent afflictions were kindly intended to wean him from a world in which he was no longer fit to act the part affigned him." In this frame of body and mind he continued till five days before his death, when his pain and difficulty of breathing entirely left him, and his family were flattering themselves with the hopes of his recovery, but an impofthumation, THE AUTHOR." which had formed itfelt in his lungs, Philadelphia never difplayed a scene fuddenly burft, and discharged a great of greater grandeur than was exhibiquantity of matter, which he conti- ted at his funeral. His remains were nued to throw up while he had fuffi- interred on the 21ft; and the concient ftrength to do it, but as that courfe of people affembled on the ocfailed, the organs of refpiration be- cafion was immenfe. The body was came gradually oppreffed, a calm le- attended to the grave by thirty clerthargic ftate fucceeded, and on the, gymén, and men of all ranks and pro17th of April, about eleven o'clock feffions, arranged in the greatest orat night, he quietly closed a long and der. All the bells in the city were ufeful life. Three days before he tolled muffled, and there was a difdied, he begged that his bed might charge of artillery. Nothing was obe made, that he might die in a de- mitted that could fhew the respect cent manner. His daughter told him, and veneration of his fellow-citizens fhe hoped he would recover, and live for fo exalted a character. The Conmany years longer; he replied, "I grefs have ordered a general mournhope not.". He has left iffue one fon, ing for one month throughout the Governor William Franklin, who was United States; and the National Af a zealous and active Loyalift during fembly of France have alfo decreed the late Revolution, and now refides a in London; and a daughter, married to Mr Richard Bache, a merchant in Philadelphia. To the two latter he has bequeathed the chief part of his eftate, during their refpective lives, and afterwards to be divided equally among their children. To his grandfon, William Temple Franklin, Efq; he leaves a grant of fome lands in the ftate of Georgia, the greatest part of his library, and all his papers, befides fomething additional in cafe of his marriage. He has also made various bequefts and donations to cities, pub

general mourning of three days. "The auguft fpectacle of the reprefentatives of the first free people on earth in mourning for the father of the liberty of two worlds (fays a correfpondent at Paris, June 14,) added peculiar intereft and folemnity to the feffion of this day. So memorable a victory of philofophy over prejudice is not recorded in the annals of the human race."

Science hall hereafter record the name of Franklin in the truelt regifters of fame; that fame which is ever juft to the dead, however unjust it

may

may be to the living, from caprice, from the malevolence of party, or from the fulfome adulations of fervility.

The principles and qualities of electricity were scarcely known in the laft age. The electric fluid was barely mentioned at the end of Newton's Óptics. It was referved for Franklin to investigate its properties; and of that branch of fcience he may be confidered as the father. Theory was advanced to practice and utility by the invention of the conductor. Nor were his obfervations confined to this fcience. There were few fubjects of common utility upon which

he did not comment, none which he did not improve and illuftrate; of which, his Advice to Servants-to Tradefmen-to Settlers in America -on the Cure of Smoky ChimniesRules for Clubs and for Converfation

Maxims to convert a great into a fmail Empire, written with the cauftic fpirit of Swift, abundantly prove. To be generally ufeful, that he might be univerfally celebrated, feemed to be his ruling principle.

A portrait of him is engraved by Heath, from a medallion in the poffeffion of Dr Lettfom, in his Memoirs of Fothergill, p. 164.

A remarkable and extraordinary Narrative of the revivification of young Jofeph Taylor, who was supposed to have been hanged to death, (in company with that notorious Highwayman, Pickpocket, and Houf-breaker, Archibald Taylor) on Boston Neck, on Thursday the 8th of May, 1788, for a violent Affault and Robbery on the Highway, committed on the Perfon and Property of Mr Nathaniel Cunningham, Butcher, in October, 1787-In a Letter front faid Jofeph Taylor, to his Friend and Countryman, Mr Phelim Donance, in Bofton*.

My Dear Friend,

YOU

Egg-Harbour, Mouth of the Delaware, May 12. 1788.

YOU will, no doubt, be greatly astonished at receiving a letter from one whom you fo lately faw, to all appearance numbered with the dead, with all the ignominy of a public and fhameful execution. But though strange as it may appear, it is no lefs ftrange than true, that, bleffed be God for his infinite goodness, I am now among the living to praise him. It was my fervent defire that you should have been made acquaintted with the steps which were taken to recover me to life immediately after my being hanged. But the doctor who managed the affair would not admit of more than five perfons in the fecret, as he feared a difcovery, and faid a crowd around me would be fatal, and prevent the air getting

into my lungs, and O'Donnell and Tector had been told of it before I faw you; and they, with the doctor, his young man, and a perfon he brought with him, made the five. I therefore take this early opportunity to let you know of my being alive. and in health, bleffed be God! as I hope thefe lines will find you; as also the circumftances which attended my execution and recovery to life; as alfo my prefent frame of mind and refolution, through the grace of God, to fin no more, but endeavour after new obedience.

You remember that you, among other friends, had great hopes of my being pardoned on account of my youth; but when their Honours fat, 1 foon found I must be made an exC 2 From the Vermont Journal. An American Paper.

ample

ample of, as they were determined never to pardon highwaymen. I then began to prepare for death; but must needs fay, though I had many affecting conferences with the reverend parfons who vifited me in goal, I never, even after my condemnation, realized that I was fuddenly to die in fo awful a manner, until a gentleman, who I afterwards found was a doctor, came and talked privately with the late unhappy fufferer, and fellow convict, Archihald Taylor, who, when the gentleman was gone, came to me with money in his hand, and fo fmiling a countenance, that I thought he had received it in charity. But he foon undeceived me, telling me with an air of gaiety, that it was the price of his body; and then added a fhocking fpeech which I fincerely hope is blotted out of the book of God's remembrance against his poor foul.

my

This was the first time fince my condemnation that I thought what it was to die. The flock was terrible, and Taylor increafed it, faying that the doctor had defired him to bargain with me for my body alfo, The thoughts of my bones not being permitted to remain in the grave in peace, and my body, which my poor mother had fo often careffed and dandled on her knee, and which had been fo pampered by my friends in my better days, being flashed and mangled by the doctors, was too much for me. I had been deaf to the pious exhortations of the priests; but now my confcience was awakened, and hell. feemed indeed to yawn for

me.

What a night of horror, was the next night!-When the doctor came in the morning to bargain for my body, I was in a cold fweat; my knees fmote together, and my tongue feemed to cleave to the roof of my mouth. He perceived the agony of my foul, and asked me fome queftions of the fate of my mind. I

found utterance and poured out my heart to him. He feemed affected with my diftrefs, efpecially as my conduct was fo different from that of A. Taylor's; and after paufing, he' left me without mentioning the fale of my body, and faid he would call again the next day. He came and afked me privately whether I had two or three friends I could depend upon to affift in any thing for my benefit. He communicated his defign of attempting to recover me to life, if my body could be carried, immediately after I was cut down, to fome convenient place, out of the reach of the people; affuring me by all that was facred, that if he failed in his attempt, he would give my body a Chriftian burial. I clofed with it without hesitating. The doctor then: left me, and foon after Tector and O'Donnel came to fee me, to whom I communicated the plan in confidence. The doctor came back to charge me not to truft more perfons than were fufficient to carry my body from the gallows to the place provided. I told him who the perfons with me were; and upon O'Donnell's engaging to procure a number of his countrymen to remove my body to a private place, who were not to be let into the fecret, but fuppofe it was to fecure my body from the doctors, he feemed pleafed with the plan, and made us promife to admit no more perfons into the fecret, upon pain of his not having to do in the affair fo foon as it leaked out. He gave them money to hire a fmall boat to be in readinefs at the wharf nearest to the place of execution, which was accordingly done. The two-maft boat, in which was the doctor, his friend, and apprentice, with their doctor's inftruments, was moored up the bay, near the gallows, the morning of the execution day, but fell down with the tide, about two hours before the execution, towards Dorchesterpoint, for fear of being grounded.

The

The ftate of my mind after my converfation with the doctor, until the day of execution, it is impoffible for me to defcribe. This glimpse of hope, this mere chance of efcaping the jaws of death, and of avoiding the eyes of an offended Judge, at whofe bar I was no ways prepared to appear, feemed to render my mind but more diftracted. I fometimes indulged my felf with the thoughts of being recovered to life; and as I had fortunately concealed my real name, that I might return, like the Prodigal, to my parents, and live a life devoted to God and their comfort. But I oftener feared the means might fail to bring me to life: and then I wished that this scheme had never been men tioned, as the hopes of life feemed to prevent my converfion; and then, to be furprifed into another world, totally unprepared, how terrible! Thus diftracted, the time flew and the awful day arrived. In the morning the Reverend Parfons vifited me. I was much foftened by their converfation: and really, at that time, wifhed I had never seen the doctor, but by the near and certain approach of death, had been prepared to live in thofe blifsful manfions which are prepared in the world of glory for the truly peaitent.

Soon after they left us, the doctor's young man came (under pretence of a meffage from Mrs Ranger, who had shown me much kindness in goal, the Lord reward her for it) to renew the doctor's directions how to conduct my body fo as not to fuffer the leaft fhock, and bid me keep up my fpirits.

My hopes were now raised, and my former terror did not return upon me; which I doubt not was obferved by the reverend Parfon who attended me, by the officers of justice, and the multitude, who doubtlefs compared my behaviour with that of my fellow fufferer. It is true, when I mounted the stage, I dreaded the pain

of hanging as I fhould any other bodily pain equally fevere; but the far greater diftrefs of meeting an offended, inexorable Judge, and being configned to endless mifery, was done a way: for the nearer the time of exe~ cution approached, the more my reliance on the doctor increafed.

You was prefent at the folemn parting with, and warning which was given to the people at the excellent prayer of the Reverend Mr Stillman, and the dropping of the traps, which to all appearance launched me and my poor unhappy fellow prifoner, Archibald Taylor, into a boundless eternity.

1

I cannot take a better opportunity than to declare here, folemnly (as a man who, though he has once providentially efcaped death, knows het muft foon die, and come to judgment) that neither his honour the High Sheriff, whofe tenderness and humanity otherwife I fhall ever acknow ledge, nor Mr Otis, nor Mr Millish, the Deputy Sheriff, who were the three officers with us on the stage, or any other officer of juftice, had any knowledge of my escape from death.

But to return to my particular feelings-I preferved my prefence of mind; and when the halter was fastened, remembered the doctor's directions, and while the prayer was making I kept gently turning my head fo as to bring the knot on the back of my neck, nearly, as O'Donnel afterwards informed, and as you and o thers obferved. When the trap fell I had all my fenfes about me; and though I have no remembrance of bearing any founds among the people, yet I believe I did not lofe my fenfes until fome minutes after. My first feelings after the shock of falling was a violent ftrangling and oppreffion for want of breath: this foon gave way to a pain in my eyes, which feemed to be burned by two balls of fire which appeared before them, which. feemed to dart on and off like light

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