Under her guidance and instruction, young Francis soon evinced talents that promised well for him and his country. She used every exertion to improve his education, depriving herself of all the luxuries, and many of the comforts of life, to advance the interests of her children. Being a devoted Christian, she took peculiar care and delight in planting deep the purest principles of virtue, guarding their minds against all the avenues of vice and sin. She taught them the design of their creation, the duty they owed to their God and fellow men, and that to be truly _happy_, they must be truly _good_. The foundation being thus firmly laid, she placed her favourite son, the future hope of her family, at the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his studies and graduated. He then commenced a successful study of law under Benjamin Chew, Esq., and became a close and thorough student, making great proficiency in his judicial acquirements. He possessed a brilliant and flowing fancy, a lively imagination, a captivating manner, and was partial to polite literature as well as the more solid sciences. He was fond of poetry, music, and painting. He excelled in humorous satire, keen as that of his prototype Swift. Fortunately, these talents were made to subserve, pre-eminently, the cause of patriotism, science and philanthropy—the consequent result of deep-rooted morality. In 1765, he visited London, where he continued two years, making himself acquainted with the feelings and designs of the British parliament towards the Colonies, who had already began to feel oppression. On his return he married the amiable Miss Ann Borden, of Bordentown, N. J.; and soon found himself surrounded by all the accumulating cares of a rising family. In rearing his children, his mind was often carried back to the manner his venerable and esteemed mother had instructed him during his childhood. He could adopt no better plan or find no brighter example to follow. But the comforts of “sweet home” were soon to be interrupted. His country needed his services, which were cheerfully and promptly rendered. He was among its warmest and most zealous patriots. It was for him to do much in opening the eyes of the great mass of the people to a just sense of the injuries inflicted by the mother country. This he did by various publications, written in a style so fascinating and humorous as to be universally read; painting, in true and glowing colours, the injustice of the crown and the rights of the colonists. His Pretty Story—his Letters to James Rivington—his Epistle to Lord Howe—his two Letters by a Tory—his translation of a Letter written by a Foreigner—his Political Catechism—and the New Roof, were all productions of taste and merit, and were of vast importance in rousing the people to a vindication of their rights and the achievement of their liberties.