REFERENCES Sir David Brewster, _Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton_. E. Conradi, Learned Societies and Academies in Early Times, _Pedagogical Seminary_, vol. XII (1905), pp. 384-426. Abraham Cowley, _A Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy_. D. Masson, _Life of Milton_. Vol. III, chap. II. Thomas Sprat, _The History of the Royal Society of London_. _The Record of the Royal Society_ (third edition, 1912). CHAPTER IX SCIENCE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY--BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Of the Fellows of the Royal Society, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is the most representative of that age of enlightenment which had its origin in Newton's _Principia_. Franklin represents the eighteenth century in his steadfast pursuit of intellectual, social, and political emancipation. And in his long fight, calmly waged, against the forces of want, superstition, and intolerance, such as still hamper the development of aspiring youth in America, England, and elsewhere, he found science no mean ally. There is some reason for believing that the Franklins (_francus_--free) were of a free line, free from that vassalage to an overlord, which in the different countries of Europe did not cease to exist with the Middle Ages. For hundreds of years they had lived obscurely near Northampton. They had early joined the revolt against the papal authority. For generations they were blacksmiths and husbandmen. Franklin's great-grandfather had been imprisoned for writing satirical verses about some provincial magnate. Of the grandfather's four sons the eldest became a smith, but having some ingenuity and scholarly ability turned conveyancer, and was recognized as able and public-spirited. The other three were dyers. Franklin's father Josiah and his Uncle Benjamin were nonconformists, and conceived the plan of emigrating to America in order to enjoy their way of religion with freedom. Benjamin, born at Boston, twenty-one years after his father's emigration, was the youngest of ten sons, all of whom were eventually apprenticed to trades. The father was a man of sound judgment who encouraged sensible conversation in his home. Uncle Benjamin, who did not emigrate till much later, showed interest in his precocious namesake. Both he and the maternal grandfather expressed in verse dislike of war and intolerance, the one with considerable literary skill, the other with a good deal of decent plainness and manly freedom, as his grandson said.