In the low grounds the Carolina gentlemen shewed us another plant, which they said was used in their country to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. It put forth several leaves, in figure like a heart, and was clouded so like the common Assarabacca, that I conceived it to be of that family. [Footnote 4: A native of Virginia:--was sent to England for his education, where he became intimate with the wits of Queen Anne's time. On his return to Virginia, he became a prominent official. He has left very pleasing accounts of his explorations.] * * * * * =_Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790._= (Manual, pp. 478, 486.) Extract from his Autobiography. =_13._= GOOD RESOLUTIONS.--THE CROAKER. I grew convinced, that _truth, sincerity_, and _integrity_, in dealings between man and man, were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life, and I formed written resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertained an opinion, that, though certain actions might not be bad, _because_ they were forbidden by it, or good _because_ it commended them; yet probably those actions might be forbidden _because_ they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the circumstances of things considered. And this persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or accidental favorable circumstances or situations, or all together, preserved me, through this dangerous time of youth, and the hazardous situations I was sometimes in among strangers, remote from the eye and advice of my father, free from any _wilful_ gross immorality or injustice, that might have been expected from my want of religion. I say wilful because the instances I have mentioned had something of _necessity_ in them, from my youth, inexperience, and the knavery of others. I had therefore a tolerable character to begin the world with; I valued it properly, and determined to preserve it.