[Footnote i-144: See L. Richardson, _A History of Early American Magazines, 1741-1789_, index, for the vogue of Swift. In the library of the _New England Courant_, as early as 1722, there was a copy of _The Tale of a Tub_ (T. G. Wright, _Literary Culture in Early New England, 1620-1730_, 187-8). Franklin was probably indebted to the Dean for his prophecies of the death of Titan Leeds (although he could have learned the use of this device from Defoe). In _Idea of the English School_ Franklin recommends Swift for use in the sixth class (_Writings_, III, 28). His _Meditation on a Quart Mugg_ is undoubtedly derived from Swift's _Meditation upon a Broomstick_, each forced to undergo the indignities of a "dirty wench." In 1757 he made the acquaintance of Dr. John Hawksworth, who in 1755 had edited Swift's works. It is likely that this friendly union may have helped to produce Franklin's 1773 masterpieces of caustic irony and the disarmingly effective hoaxes. Variously he quotes (acknowledged and otherwise) bits from Swift's poetry and prose. See Herbert Davis's "Swift's View of Poetry," in _Studies In English by Members of University College, Toronto_ (1931), collected by M. W. Wallace.] [Footnote i-145: _Writings_, III, 26.] [Footnote i-146: To suggest that Franklin knew his Horace, see _ibid._, VI, 150; VIII, 148.] [Footnote i-147: It seems unnecessary to extend a discussion of the didacticism inherent in Franklin's writing. Addison, and the ethical bent of neoclassicism in general, impinging on a mind no small part of which was motivated by its Puritan heritage, help to account for Franklin's ethicism, a lifelong quality. References illustrating his assumed role as _Censor Morum_ are: _Writings_, I, 37, 243; II, 4, 50, 101, 110-1, 117, 175. Franklin proposes not only to delight, but also, in the Jonsonian and Meredithian sense, to instruct through a mild catharsis brought about by holding up man's excesses and vagaries for ridicule. He is firm in distinguishing good writing by its "tendency to benefit the reader, by improving his virtue or his knowledge." Consonant with Horace's "To teach--to please--comprise the poet's views, Or else at once to profit and amuse," and with Sidney's "to teach delightfully," Franklin's literary purpose included a basic ethical motivation.] [Footnote i-148: _Writings_, I, 226.] [Footnote i-149: _Ibid._, I, 42-3.]