Possessed of many lucrative Offices Procured to him by the Interest of Men Whom he infamously treated And receiving enormous sums from the Province For Services He never performed After betraying it to Party and Contention He lived, as to the Appearance of Wealth In moderate circumstances; His principal Estate, seeming to consist In his Hand Maid Barbara A most valuable Slave The Foster Mother of his last offspring Who did his dirty Work And in two Angelic Females Whom Barbara also served As Kitchen Wench and Gold Finder But alas the Loss! Providence for wise tho’ secret ends Lately deprived him of the Mother of Excellency. His Fortune was not however impaired For he piously withheld from her Manes The pitiful stipend of Ten pounds per Annum On which he had cruelly suffered her To starve Then stole her to the Grave in Silence Without a Pall, the covering due to her dignity Without a tomb or even A Monumental Inscription.” Franklin was a more skilful “lapidary” than his enemies, and his pamphlets were expressed in better language, but there is now very little doubt that he and the majority of the people were in the wrong. The colony had valuable liberties and privileges which had been built up by the Assembly through the efforts of nearly a hundred years. In spite of all the aggressions of the proprietors these liberties remained unimpaired and were even stronger than ever. The appeal to the king to take the colony under his direct control might lead to disastrous results; for if the people once surrendered themselves to the crown and the proprietorship was abolished, the king and Parliament might also abolish the charter and destroy every popular right.[24] In fact, the ministry were at that very time contemplating the Stamp Act and other measures which brought on the Revolution. Franklin seemed incapable of appreciating this, and retained for ten years, and in the face of the most obvious facts, his strange confidence in the king.