[Footnote i-150: Fully aware "that I am no _Poet born_" (Bruce, _op. cit._, II, 498), apparently agreeing with his father that poets "were generally beggars" (_Writings_ I, 240), Franklin allowed only that writing poetry may improve one's language. Yet _Dogood Paper_ No. VII and his estimate of Cowper (characterized by easiness in manner, correctness in language, clarity of expression, perspicuity, and justness of the sentiments) (_ibid._, VIII, 448-9), and the "Tears of Pleasure" he shed over Thomson, all suggest that he was not wholly blind to poetry. He hoped to see Philadelphia "become the Seat of the _American_ Muses" (_ibid._, II, 245, 110; IV, 181, 184; VI, 437).] [Footnote i-151: A. Bosker, _Literary Criticism in the Age of Johnson_, 34. For important qualifications see the thorough study by Donald F. Bond, "'Distrust' of Imagination in English Neo-Classicism," _Philological Quarterly_, XIV, 54-69 (Jan., 1935). Those interested in considering Franklin with reference to contemporary literary theory will find full materials in J. W. Draper's _Eighteenth-Century English Aesthetics: A Bibliography_, and additions to it by R. S. Crane, _Modern Philology_, XXIX, 25 ff. (1931); W. D. Templeman, _ibid._, XXX, 309-16; R. D. Havens, _Modern Language Notes_, XLVII, 118-20 (1932).] [Footnote i-152: _Writings_, II, 24.] [Footnote i-153: _Ibid._, V, 182; also II, 43, and VIII, 128, 163, 604.] [Footnote i-154: See G. S. Eddy, "Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Library," _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. XXXIV, 206-26 (Oct., 1924).] [Footnote i-155: See C. E. Jorgenson, "Benjamin Franklin and Rabelais," _Classical Journal_, XXIX, 538-40 (April, 1934).] [Footnote i-156: _The Travels of Cyrus._] [Footnote i-157: _Independent Whig_ and _Cato's Letters_.] [Footnote i-158: For an interesting summary of Franklin's references to the classics, see R. M. Gummere, _op. cit._] [Footnote i-159: Add to this, Franklin's use of the Swiftian hoax and complex irony. After writing _Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One_ (1773) he explained to a friend: "These odd ways of presenting Matters to the publick View sometimes occasion them to be more read, talk'd of, and more attended to" (_Writings_, VI, 137). Parton observes that the _Edict of the King of Prussia_ "was the nine-days' talk of the kingdom." Raynal unsuspectingly used Franklin's _Polly Baker_, as an authentic document in his _Histoire ..._. Franklin's _Exporting of Felons to the Colonies_, _The Sale of Hessians_, and _A Dialogue between Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Saxony, and America_ illustrate these trenchant devices used to achieve a political purpose.] [Footnote i-160: _Writings_, I, 49.] [Footnote i-161: _The True Benjamin Franklin_, 158.] [Footnote i-162: _Writings_, I, 239.] [Footnote i-163: Smyth's note, _Writings_, VIII, 336.] [Footnote i-164: _Writings_, I, 238.] [Footnote i-165: _Writings_, X, 4 (to Mrs. Catherine Greene, March 2, 1789).]