Life And Times Of Benjamin Franklin

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1864. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... zeal of a Bostonian, Dr. Jared Sparks. The libraries, the public records, and the private collections of England, Franee, and the United States, were so diligently searched by Dr. Sparks, that, though seven previous editions of the works of Franklin had appeared, he was able to add to his publication the astonishing number of six hundred and fifty pieces of Dr. Franklin's composition never before collected, of which four hundred and fifty had never before appeared in print. To unwearied diligence in collecting, Dr. Sparks added an admirable tact in elucidating. His notes are always such as an intelligent reader would naturally desire; and they usually contain all the information needed for a perfect understanding of the matter in hand. Dr. Sparks's edition is a monument, at once, to the memory of Benjamin Franklin, and to his own diligence, tact, and faithfulness. In forming village libraries, those ten fascinating volumes should be among the very first selected. They contain more wit, humor, knowledge, and good sense, and these presented in a more engaging and popular style, than any other set of equal extent yet published in America. CHAPTER Vm. REFLECTIONS. A Life like Franklin's solves the problem stated in the Faust of Goethe; which is, How shall a man become satisfied with his life? Neither self-culture, nor any less worthy kind of self-indulgence satisfies. Franklin would have said to the ennuied scholar, that which his life says to all cultivated men: Communicate! The Public "Weal--it is an object great enough for the greatest intellect, difficult enough for the most eager spirit, interesting enough for the most ennuied soul. One of the most surprising things ever said by Franklin occurs at the beginning of his Autobiography, where he declares, that if i...