at present; and indeed, in what we have already said, we have so far exceeded the limits to which we always wish to confine ourselves, that we do not very well know what apology to make to our readers-except merely, that we are not without hope, that the miscellaneous nature of the subject, by which we have been insensibly drawn into this great prolixity, may have carried them also along, with as moderate a share of fatigue as we have ourselves experienced. If it be otherwise we must have the candour and the gallantry to say, that we are persuaded the fault is to be imputed to us, and not to

the ingenious author upon whose work we have been employed; and that, if we had confined ourselves to a mere abstract of her lucubrations, or interspersed fewer of our own remarks with the account we have attempted to give of their substance, we might have extended this article to a still greater length, without provoking the impatience even of the more fastidious of our readers. As it is, we feel that we have done but scanty justice, either to our author or her subject-though we can now make no other amends, than by earnestly entreating our readers to study both of them for themselves.

(July, 1806.)

The Complete Works, in Philosophy, Politics, and Morals, of the late DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Now first collected and arranged. With Memoirs of his Early Life, written by himself.— 3 vols. 8vo. pp. 1450. Johnson, London: 1806.

NOTHING, we think, can show more clearly the singular want of literary enterprise or activity, in the United States of America, than that no one has yet been found in that flourishing republic, to collect and publish the works of their only philosopher. It is not even very creditable to the liberal curiosity of the English public, that there should have been no complete edition of the writings of Dr. Franklin, till the year 1806 and we should have been altogether unable to account for the imperfect and unsatisfactory manner in which the task has now been performed, if it had not been for a statement in the prefatory advertisement, which removes all blame from the editor, to attach it to a higher quarter. It is there stated, that recently after the death of the author, his grandson, to whom the whole of his papers had been bequeathed, made a voyage to London, for the purpose of preparing and disposing of a complete collection of all his published and unpublished writings, with memoirs of his life, brought down by himself to the year 1757, and continued to his death by his descendant. It was settled, that the work should be published in three quarto volumes, in England, Germany, and France; and a negotiation was commenced with the Imperfect as the work now before us necbooksellers, as to the terms of the purchase essarily is, we think the public is very much and publication. At this stage of the busi- indebted to its editor. It is presented in a ness, however, the proposals were suddenly cheap and unostentatious form; and though withdrawn; and nothing more has been heard it contains little that has not been already of the work, in this its fair and natural mar- printed as the composition of the author, and ket. "The proprietor, it seems, had found a does not often settle any point of disputed bidder of a different description, in some emis- authenticity in a satisfactory manner, it seems, sary of Government, whose object was to on the whole, to have been compiled with withhold the manuscripts from the world, sufficient diligence, and arranged with connot to benefit it by their publication; and siderable judgment. Few writings, indeed, they thus either passed into other hands, or require the aid of a commentator less than the person to whom they were bequeathed, re- those of Dr. Franklin; and though this editor ceived a remuneration for suppressing them." is rather too sparing of his presence, we are If this statement be correct, we have no infinitely better satisfied to be left now and hesitation in saying, that no emissary of Gov- then to our conjectures, than to be incumberernment was ever employed on a more miser-ed with the explanations, and overpowered

able and unworthy service. It is ludicrous to talk of the danger of disclosing in 1795, any secrets of state, with regard to the war of American independence; and as to any anecdotes or observations that might give offence to individuals, we think it should always be remembered, that public functionaries are the property of the public; that their character belongs to history and to posterity; and that it is equally absurd and discreditable to think of suppressing any part of the evidence by which their merits must be ultimately determined. But the whole of the works that have been suppressed, certainly did not relate to republican politics. The history of the author's life, down to 1757, could not well contain any matter of offence; and a variety of general remarks and speculations which he is understood to have left behind him, might have been permitted to see the light, though his diplomatic revelations had been forbidden. The emissary of Government, however, probably took no care of those things. He was resolved, we suppose, "to leave no rubs nor botches in his work ;" and, to stifle the dreaded revelation, he thought the best way was to strangle all the innocents in the vicinage.

with the loquacity, of a more officious at- | tendant.

We do not propose to give any thing like a regular account of the papers contained in these volumes. The best of them have long been familiar to the public; and there are many which it was proper to preserve, that cannot now be made interesting to the general reader. Dr. Franklin, however, is too great a man to be allowed to walk past, without some observation; and our readers, we are persuaded, will easily forgive us, if we yield to the temptation of making a few remarks on his character.

This self-taught American is the most rational, perhaps, of all philosophers. He never loses sight of common sense in any of his speculations; and when his philosophy does not consist entirely in its fair and vigorous application, it is always regulated and controlled by it in its application and result. No individual, perhaps, ever possessed a juster understanding; or was so seldom obstructed in the use of it, by indolence, enthusiasm, or authority.

pendent of the maxims of tutors, and the oracles of literary patrons.

The consequences of living in a refined and literary community, are nearly of the same kind with those of a regular education. There are so many critics to be satisfied--so many qualifications to be established-so many rivals to encounter, and so much derision to be hazarded, that a young man is apt to be deterred from so perilous an enterprise, and led to seek for distinction in some safer line of exertion. He is discouraged by the fame and the perfection of certain models and favourites, who are always in the mouths of his judges, and, “under them, his genius is rebuked," and his originality repressed, till he sinks into a paltry copyist, or aims at distinction, by extravagance and affectation. In such a state of society, he feels that mediocrity has no chance of distinction: and what beginner can expect to rise at once into excellence? He imagines that mere good sense will attract no attention; and that the manner is of much more importance than the matter, in a candidate for public admiration. In his attention Dr. Franklin received no regular education; to the manner, the matter is apt to be neand he spent the greater part of his life in a glected; and, in his solicitude to please those society where there was no relish and no en- who require elegance of diction, brilliancy of couragement for literature. On an ordinary wit, or harmony of periods, he is in some danmind, these circumstances would have pro- ger of forgetting that strength of reason, and duced their usual effects, of repressing all accuracy of observation, by which he first prosorts of intellectual ambition or activity, and posed to recommend himself. His attention, perpetuating a generation of incurious me- when extended to so many collateral objects, chanics: but to an understanding like Frank-is no longer vigorous or collected;-the stream, lin's, we cannot help considering them as peculiarly propitious; and imagine that we can trace back to them, distinctly, almost all the peculianties of his intellectual charac

ter.

Regular education, we think, is unfavourable to vigour or originality of understanding. Like civilization, it makes society more intelligent and agreeable; but it levels the distinctions of nature. It strengthens and assists the feeble; but it deprives the strong of his triumph, and casts down the hopes of the aspiring. It accomplishes this, not only by training up the mind in an habitual veneration for authorities, but, by leading us to bestow a disproportionate degree of attention upon studies that are only valuable as keys or instruments for the understanding, they come at last to be regarded as ultimate objects of pursuit; and the means of education are absurdly mistaken for its end. How many powerful understandings have been lost in the Dialectics of Aristotle ! And of how much good philosophy are we daily defrauded, by the preposterous error of taking a knowledge of prosody for useful learning! The mind of a man, who has escaped this training, will at least have fair play. Whatever other errors he may fall into, he will be safe at least from these infatuations: And if he thinks proper, after he grows up, to study Greek, it will probably be for some better purpose than to become critically acquainted with its dialects. His prejudices will be those of a man, and not of a schoolboy; and his speculations and conclusions will be inde

divided into so many channels, ceases to flow either deep or strong;-he becomes an unsuccessful pretender to fine writing, or is satisfied with the frivolous praise of elegance or vivacity.

We are disposed to ascribe so much power to these obstructions to intellectual originality, that we cannot help fancying, that if Franklin had been bred in a college, he would have contented himself with expounding the metres of Pindar, and mixing argument with his port in the common room; and that if Boston had abounded with men of letters, he would never have ventured to come forth from his printing-house; or been driven back to it, at any rate, by the sneers of the critics, after the first publication of his Essays in the Busy Body.

This will probably be thought exaggerated; but it cannot be denied, we think, that the contrary circumstances in his history had a powerful effect in determining the character of his understanding, and in producing those peculiar habits of reasoning and investigation by which his writings are distinguished. He was encouraged to publish, because there was scarcely any one around him whom he could not easily excel. He wrote with great brevi ty, because he had not leisure for more voluminious compositions, and because he knew that the readers to whom he addressed himself were, for the most part, as busy as himself. For the same reason, he studied great perspicuity and simplicity of statement. His countrymen had then no relish for fine writing, and could not easily be made to underF

stand a deduction depending on a long or elaborate process of reasoning. He was forced, therefore, to concentrate what he had to say; and since he had no chance of being admired for the beauty of his composition, it was natural for him to aim at making an impression by the force and the clearness of his

Of his labours in the department of Physics, we do not propose to say much. They were almost all suggested by views of utility in the beginning, and were, without exception, applied, we believe, to promote such views in the end. His letters upon Electricity have been more extensively circulated than any of his other writings of this kind; and are entitled to more praise and popularity than they seem ever to have met with in this country. Nothing can be more admirable than the luminous and graphical precision with which the experiments are narrated; the ingenuity with which they are projected; and the sagacity with which the conclusion is inferred, limited, and confirmed.

he began the investigation rather to determine a particular case, than to establish a general maxim, so he probably desisted as soon as he had relieved himself of the present difficulty. There are not many among the thoroughbred scholars and philosophers of Europe, who can lay claim to distinction in more than one statements. or two departments of science or literature. His conclusions were often rash and inaccu-The uneducated tradesman of America has rate, from the same circumstances which ren-left writings that call for our respectful attendered his productions concise. Philosophy tion, in natural philosophy,-in politics,-in and speculation did not form the business of political economy,-and in general literature his life; nor did he dedicate himself to any and morality. particular study, with a view to exhaust and complete the investigation of it in all its parts, and under all its relations. He engaged in every interesting inquiry that suggested itself to him, rather as the necessary exercise of a powerful and active mind, than as a task which he had bound himself to perform. He cast a quick and penetrating glance over the facts and the data that were presented to him; and drew his conclusions with a rapidity and precision that have not often been equalled. But he did not generally stop to examine the completeness of the data upon which he proceeded, nor to consider the ultimate effect or application of the principles to which he had been conducted. În all questions, therefore, where the facts upon which he was to deter- The most remarkable thing, however, in mine, and the materials from which his judg- these, and indeed in the whole of his physical ment was to be formed, were either few in speculations, is the unparalleled simplicity number, or of such a nature as not to be over-and facility with which the reader is conlooked, his reasonings are, for the most part, ducted from one stage of the inquiry to anperfectly just and conclusive, and his decisions other. The author never appears for a mounexceptionably sound; but where the element to labour or to be at a loss. The most ments of the calculation were more numerous and widely scattered, it appears to us that he has often been precipitate, and that he has either been misled by a partial apprehension of the conditions of the problem, or has discovered only a portion of the truth which lay before him. In all physical inquiries; in almost all questions of particular and immediate policy; and in much of what relates to the practical wisdom and happiness of private life, his views will be found to be admirable, and the reasoning by which they are supported most masterly and convincing. But upon subjects of general politics, of abstract morality, and political economy, his notions appear to be more unsatisfactory and incomplete. He seems to have wanted leisure, and perhaps inclination also, to spread out before him the whole vast premises of those extensive sciences, and scarcely to have had patience to hunt for his conclusions through so wide and intricate a region as that upon which they invited him to enter. He has been satisfied, therefore, on many occasions, with reasoning from a very limited view of the facts, and often from a particular instance; and he has done all that sagacity and sound sense could do with such materials: but it cannot excite wonder, if he has sometimes overlooked an essential part of the argument, and often advanced a particular truth into the place of a general principle. He seldom reasoned upon those subjects at all, we believe, without having some practical application of them immediately in view; and as

ingenious and profound explanations are suggested, as if they were the most natural and obvious way of accounting for the phenomena; and the author seems to value himself so little on his most important discoveries, that it is necessary to compare him with others, before we can form a just notion of his merits. As he seems to be conscious of no exertion, he feels no partiality for any part of his speculations, and never seeks to raise the reader's idea of their importance, by any arts of declamation or eloquence. Indeed, the habitual precision of his conceptions, and his invariable practice of referring to specific facts and observations, secured him, in a great measure, both from those extravagant conjectures in which so many naturalists have indulged, and from the zeal and enthusiasm which seems so naturally to be engendered in their defence. He was by no means averse to give scope to his imagination, in suggesting a variety of explanations of obscure and unmanageable phenomena; but he never allowed himself to confound these vague and conjectural theories with the solid results of experi ence and observation. In his Meteorological papers, and in his Observations upon Heat and Light, there is a great deal of such bold and original suggestions: but he evidently sets but little value upon them; and has no sooner disburdened his mind of the impressions from which they proceeded, than he seems to dismiss them entirely from his consideration, and turns to the legitimate philosophy of ex

After remarking, that there are manifold indications of some of the highest parts of the land having been formerly covered by sea, Dr. Franklin observes

"Such changes in the superficial parts of the globe, seemed to me unlikely to happen, if the earth were solid in the centre. I therefore imagined, that the internal parts might be a fluid more dense, and of greater specific gravity than any of the solids we are acquainted with, which therefore might swim in or upon that fluid. Thus the surface of the globe would be a shell, capable of being broken and disordered by the violent movements of the fluid on which it rested. And as air has been compressed by art so as to be twice as dense as water, and as we know not yet the degree of density to which air may be compressed, and M. Amontons calculated that its density increasing as it approached the centre in the same proportion as above the surface, it would, at the depth of leagues, be heavier than gold, and possibly the dense fluid occupying the internal parts of the globe might therefore be air compressed. And as the force of expansion in dense air, when heated, is in proportion to its density, this central air might afford another agent to move the surface, as well as be of use in keeping alive the subterraneous fires; though, as you observe, the sudden rarefaction of water coming into contact with those fires, may also be an agent sufficiently strong for that purpose, when acting between the incumbent earth and the fluid on which it rests.

very wild speculation upon magnetism; and, notwithstanding the additional temptation of this new piece of ingenuity, he abandons it in the end with as much unconcern, as if he had had no share in the making of it. We shall add the whole passage.

periment with unabated diligence and humility. As an instance of this disposition, we may quote part of a letter to the Abbé Soulaive, upon a new Theory of the Earth, which he proposes and dismisses, without concern or anxiety, in the course of a few sentences; though, if the idea had fallen upon the brain "It has long been a supposition of mine, that the of an European philosopher, it might have ger-iron contained in the surface of the globe has made minated into a volume of eloquence, like it capable of becoming, as it is, a great magnet; Buffon's, or an infinite array of paragraphs and that the fluid of magnetism perhaps exists in all observations, like those of Parkinson and Dr. space; so that there is a magnetical north and Hutton. south of the Universe, as well as of this globe, so star, he might govern his course by the compass; that if it were possible for a man to fly from star to that it was by the power of this general magnetism this globe became a particular magnet. In soft or hot iron the fluid of magnetisna is naturally diffused equally: But when within the influence of the magnet, it is drawn to one end of the iron; made denser there, and rarer at the other. While the iron continues soft and hot, it is only a temporary magnet: if it cools or grows hard in that situation, it becomes a permanent one, the magnetic fluid not easily resuming its equilibrium. Perhaps it may be owing to the permanent magnetism of this globe, which it had not at first, that its axis is at present kept parallel to itself and not liable to the changes it formerly suffered, which occasioned the rupture of its shell, the submersions and emersions of its lands, and the confusion of its seasons. The present polar and equatorial diameters differing from each other near ten leagues, it is easy to conceive, in case some power should shift the axis gradually, and place it in the present equator, and make the new equator pass through the present poles, what a sinking of the waters would happen in the present equatorial regions, and what a rising in the present polar regions; so that vast tracts would be discovered, that now are under water, and others covered, that are now dry, the water rising and sinking in the different extremes near five leagues. Such an operation as this possibly occasioned much of Europe, and among the rest this Mountain of Passy on which I live, and which is composed of limestone rock and sea-shells, to be abandoned by "If one might indulge imagination in supposing the sea, and to change its ancient climate, which how such a globe was formed, I should conceive, seems to have been a hot one. The globe being that all the elements in separate particles being now become a perfect magnet, we are, perhaps, originally mixed in confusion, and occupying a great safe from any change of its axis. But we are still space, they would (as soon as the Almighty fiat or subject to the accidents on the surface, which are dained gravity, or the mutual attraction of certain occasioned by a wave in the internal ponderous parts, and the mutual repulsion of others to exist) fluid; and such a wave is producible by the sudden all move to their common centre: that the air being violent explosion you mention, happening from the a fluid whose parts repel each other, though drawn junction of water and fire under the earth, which to the common centre by their gravity, would be not only lifts the incumbent earth that is over the densest towards the centre, and rarer as more re-explosion, but impressing with the same force the mote; consequently, all matters lighter than the central parts of that air, and immersed in it, would recede from the centre, and rise till they arrived at that region of the air which was of the same specific gravity with themselves, where they would rest; while other matter, mixed with the lighter air, would descend, and the two, meeting, would form the shell of the first earth, leaving the upper atmos. phere nearly clear. The original movement of the parts towards their common centre, would naturally form a whirl there; which would continue, upon the turning of the new-formed globe upon its axis: and the greatest diameter of the shell would be in its equator. If, by any accident afterwards, the axis should be changed, the dense internal fluid, by altering its form, must burst the shell, and throw all its substance into the confusion in which we find it. I will not trouble you at present with my fancies concerning the manner of forming the rest of our system. Superior beings smile at our theories, and at our presumption in making them."-vol. ii. pp. 117-119.

He afterwards makes his theory much finer and more extravagant, by combining with it a

fluid under it, creates a wave, that may run a thousand leagues, lifting, and thereby shaking, successively, all the countries under which it passes. I know not whether I have expressed myself so clearly, as not to get out of your sight in these reveries. If they occasion any new inquiries, and produce a better hypothesis, they will not be quite useless. You see I have given a loose to imagination; but I approve much more your method of philosophizing, which proceeds upon actual observation, makes a collection of facts, and concludes no further than those facts will warrant. In my present circumstances, that mode of studying the nature of the globe is out of my power, and therefore I have permitted myself to wander a little in the wilds of fancy."-vol. ii. p. 119–121.

Our limits will not permit us to make any analysis of the other physical papers contained in this collection. They are all admirable for the clearness of the description, the felicity and familiarity of the illustrations, and the singular sagacity of the remarks with which they are interspersed. The theory of whirl

winds and waterspouts, as well as the obser- increase our regret, that the talents of the vations on the course of the winds and on cold, author should have been wasted on such seem to be excellent. The paper called Mari-perishable materials. time Observations is full of ingenuity and practical good sense; and the remarks on Evaporation, and on the Tides, most of which are contained in a series of letters to a young lady, are admirable, not merely for their perspicuity, but for the interest and amusement they are calculated to communicate to every description of readers. The remarks on Fireplaces and Smoky chimnies are infinitely more original, concise, and scientific, than those of Count Rumford; and the observations on the Gulph-stream afford, we believe, the first example of just theory, and accurate investigation, applied to that phenomenon.

Dr. Franklin, we think, has never made use of the mathematics, in his investigation of the phenomena of nature; and though this may render it surprising that he has fallen into so few errors of importance, we conceive that it helps in some measure to explain the unequalled perspicuity and vivacity of his expositions. An algebraist, who can work wonders with letters, seldom condescends to be much indebted to words; and thinks himself entitled to make his sentences obscure, provided his calculations be distinct. A writer who has nothing but words to make use of, must make all the use he can of them: he cannot afford to neglect the only chance he has of being understood.

There is not much written on the subject of the dispute with the colonies; and most of Dr. Franklin's papers on that subject are already well known to the public. His examination before the House of Commons in 1766 affords a striking proof of the extent of his information, the clearness and force of his extempore composition, and the steadiness and self-possession which enabled him to display these qualities with so much effect upon such an occasion. His letters before the commencement of hostilities are full of grief and anxiety; but, no sooner did matters come to extremities, than he appears to have assumed a certain keen and confident cheerfulness, not unmixed with a seasoning of asperity, and more vindictiveness of spirit than perhaps became a philosopher. In a letter written in October 1775, he expresses himself in this manner:—

"Tell our dear good friend * **, who sometimes has his doubts and despondencies about our firmness, that America is determined and unanimous ; a very few Tories and placemen excepted, who will probably soon export themselves. Britain, at dred and fifty Yankies this campaign, which is the expense of three millions, has killed one hun20,000l. a head; and, at Bunker's Hill, she gained a mile of ground, half of which she lost again by our taking post on Ploughed Hill. During the same time, sixty thousand children have been born in America. From these data, his mathematical

essary to kill us all, and conquer our whole terri-
tory.'
."-vol. iii, p. 357, 358.

The following letters, which passed between Dr. Franklin and Lord Howe, when his Lordship arrived off the American coast with what were called the pacificatory proposals in 1776, show not only the consideration in which the former was held by the Noble Commissioner, but contain a very striking and prophetic statement of the consequences to be apprehended from the perseverance of Great Britain in her schemes of compulsion. His Lordship writes, in June 1776,—

"I cannot, my worthy friend, permit the letters and parcels, which I have sent (in the state I received them,) to be landed, without adding a word upon the subject of the injurious extremities in which our unhappy disputes have engaged us.

We should now say something of the politi-head will easily calculate the time and expense neccal writings of Dr. Franklin,-the productions which first raised him into public office and eminence, and which will be least read or attended to by posterity. They may be divided into two parts; those which relate to the internal affairs and provincial differences of the American colonies, before their quarrel with the mother country; and those which relate to that quarrel and its consequences. The former are no longer in any degree interesting: and the editor has done wisely, we think, in presenting his readers with an abstract only of the longest of them. This was published in 1759, under the title of an Historical Review of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, and consisted of upwards of 500 pages, composed for the purpose of showing that the political privileges reserved to the founder of "You will learn the nature of my mission, from the colony had been illegally and oppressively the official despatches which I have recommended used. The Canada pamphlet, written in 1760, to be forwarded by the same conveyance. Retainfor the purpose of pointing out the importance ing all the earnestness I ever expressed, to see our differences accommodated; I shall conceive, if I of retaining that colony at the is given meet with the disposition in the colonies which I entire; and appears to be composed with great was once taught to expect, the most flattering hopes force of reason, and in a style of extraordinary of proving serviceable in the objects of the King's perspicuity. The same may be said of what paternal solicitude, by promoting the establishment are called the Albany Papers, or the plan for of lasting peace and union with the Colonies. But, a general political union of the colonies in if the deep-rooted prejudices of America, and the 1754; and a variety of other tracts on the necessity of preventing her trade from passing into foreign channels, must keep us still a divided people, provincial politics of that day. All these are I shall, from every private as well as public motive, worth preserving, both as monuments of Dr. most heartily lament, that this is not the moment, Franklin's talents and activity, and as afford-wherein those great objects of my ambition are to ing, in many places, very excellent models of strong reasoning and popular eloquence: but the interest of the subjects is now completely gone by; and the few specimens of general reasoning which we meet with, serve only to

peace,

be attained, and that I am to be longer deprived of an opportunity to assure you, personally, of the regard with which I am, &c."-vol. iii. p. 365–367. Dr. Franklin answered,—

"I received safe the letters your Lordship so