Produced by Steven Gibbs, Richard J. Shiffer and the Distributed Proofreading volunteers at http://www.pgdp.net for Project Gutenberg. [Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. Also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original.] [Illustration: Benjamin Franklin I am, Yours, B Franklin New-York, Harper & Brothers.] MEMOIRS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN; WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. WITH HIS MOST INTERESTING ESSAYS, LETTERS, AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS; FAMILIAR, MORAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMICAL, AND PHILOSOPHICAL. SELECTED WITH CARE FROM ALL HIS PUBLISHED PRODUCTIONS, AND COMPRISING WHATEVER IS MOST ENTERTAINING AND VALUABLE TO THE GENERAL READER. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT. It would be difficult, and perhaps impossible, to gather from the history and labours of any individual mind, a summary of practical wisdom as rich in varied instruction as the memoirs and writings presented in these volumes will be found to afford. If, on account of the most distinguished public services, the name of Franklin has become inseparably associated with his country's glory, the works which he has left behind him no less justly entitle him to be considered as the benefactor not only of his own country, but of mankind for all coming time. So admirable, indeed, are these productions, that they can only cease being read when the love of beauty and of simplicity, of moral power and of truth, has no longer a place in the hearts of men.