Harper’s New Monthly Magazine No. XXI.—February, 1852.—Vol. IV. CONTENTS Public Life Of Benjamin Franklin. By Jacob Abbott. Napoleon Bonaparte. The Syrian Expedition. By John S. C. Abbott. Great Objects Attained By Little Things. The Sublime Porte. The Curse Of Gold. A Dream. Maurice Tiernay, The Soldier Of Fortune. Anecdotes And Aphorisms. A Curious Page Of Family History. The Ass Of La Marca. The Legend Of The Weeping Chamber. An Old Maid’s First Love. The Poison-Eaters. A Child’s History Of King John’s Reign. By Charles Dickens. My Novel; Or, Varieties In English Life. The Orphan’s Dream Of Christmas. What Christmas Is In The Company Of John Doe. By Charles Dickens. What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older. By Charles Dickens. Helen Corrie.—Leaves From The Note-Book Of A Curate. The Good Old Times In Paris. Vision Of Charles XI. Street-Scenes Of The French Usurpation. What Becomes Of The Rind? Mazzini, The Italian Liberal. Chewing The Buyo. A Sketch Of The Philippines. Sketch Of Suwarow. Monthly Record of Current Events. United States. South America. Europe. Editor’s Table. Editor’s Easy Chair. Editor’s Drawer. Literary Notices A Leaf from Punch Fashions for February. Footnotes PUBLIC LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.(1) BY JACOB ABBOTT. [Illustration: Benjamin Franklin.] Benjamin Franklin entered upon his career as a public man when very near the middle of the active portion of his life. His history, therefore, naturally divides itself into two equal portions, each entirely distinct from the other. Until the age of about thirty-five he was simply a Philadelphia mechanic, discharging his duties, however, in that capacity so gracefully and with such brilliant success, as to invest industry, and frugality, and all the other plain and unpretending virtues of humble life with a sort of poetic charm which has been the means of commending them in the most effectual manner, to millions of his countrymen. At length, having accomplished in this field a work equal to the labor of any ordinary life-time, he was by a sudden shifting of the scene in the drama of his life, as it were, withdrawn from it, at once and entirely, and ushered into a wholly different sphere. During all the latter half of his life he was almost exclusively a public man. He was brought forward by a peculiar combination of circumstances into a most conspicuous position; a position, which not only made him the object of interest and attention to the whole civilized world, but which also invested him with a controlling power in respect to some of the most important events and transactions of modern times. Thus there lived, as it were, two Benjamin Franklins, Benjamin Franklin the honest Philadelphia printer, who quietly prosecuted his trade during the first part of the eighteenth century, setting an example of industry and thrift which was destined afterward to exert an