Benjamin Franklin Part 21

Malone, Kemp. "Benjamin Franklin on Spelling Reform," _American Speech_, I, 96-100 (Nov., 1925). (Franklin was the "first American to tackle English phonetics scientifically.")

Mason, W. S. "Franklin and Galloway: Some Unpublished Letters,"

_Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, N. S. x.x.xIV, 227-58 (Oct., 1924). (Significant sidelights cast on "the problems of Pennsylvania colonial history from 1757 to 1760." Excellent summary of Franklin's and Galloway's victory over the Proprietors. Mr. Mason's collection includes many valuable letters [Franklin-Galloway] between 1757 and 1772, not published in Smyth.)

Mathews, Mrs. L. K. "Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union, 1750-1775," _American Political Science Review_, VIII, 393-412 (Aug., 1914).

Melville, Herman. _Israel Potter._ London: 1923. (Graphic intuitive portrait of Franklin: he lives as a "household Plato," "a practical Magian in linsey-woolsey," a "didactically waggish," prudent courtier who "was everything but a poet.")

_Memoires de l'Abbe Morellet, de l'Academie Francaise, sur le dixhuitieme siecle et sur la Revolution._ 2 vols. Paris: 1821.

(Especially II, 286-311. Franklin viewed as very emblem of Liberty.)

Montgomery, T. H. _A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Foundation to A. D. 1770._ Philadelphia: 1900.

_Monthly Review; or Literary Journal: By Several Hands._ London: 1770.

XLII, 199-210, 298-308. ("The experiments and observations of Dr.

Franklin const.i.tute the _principia_ of electricity, and form the basis of a system equally simple and profound.")

*More, P. E. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Shelburne Essays_, Fourth Series.

New York: 1906, pp. 129-55. (Provocative appraisal: stresses Franklin's "contemporaneity," his tendency to be oblivious to the past--a suggestive, if a moot point.)

Morgan, W. _Memoirs of the Life of Rev. Richard Price._ London: 1815.

(Notes on Franklin's relations with Price during early 1760's; meetings at Royal Society and London Coffee-house.)

Mottay, F. _Benjamin Franklin et la philosophie pratique._ Paris: 1886.

(Good model for citizens of a free nation and "le veritable catechisme de l'homme vertueux." Also several just remarks on his style which possesses "les mots epiques d'un Corneille et les elegantes periphrases d'un Racine.")

Moulton, C. W., ed. _Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors_. Buffalo, N. Y.: 1901. IV, 79-106. (Stimulating a.s.sembly of extracts which aids student in discovering the history of Franklin's reputation.)

Mustard, W. P. "Poor Richard's Poetry," _Nation_, Lx.x.xII, 239, 279 (March 22, April 5, 1906). (Indicates Franklin's borrowings from Dryden, Pope, Prior, Gay, Swift, and others.)

Nichols, E. L. "Franklin as a Man of Science," _Independent_, LX, 79-84 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Franklin's mind "turned ever by preference to the utilitarian and away from the theoretical and speculative aspects of things.")

"Notice sur Benjamin Franklin," in _uvres posthumes de Cabanis_.

Paris: 1825, pp. 219-74. (Representative in its rapturous eulogy.)

Oberholtzer, E. P. _The Literary History of Philadelphia._ Philadelphia: 1906. (Chap. II, "The Age of Franklin," written with conservative bias, belabors Franklin who as a statesman "was almost as wrong as Paine and Mirabeau." What Voltaire was to France, Franklin was to his native city and state.)

Oswald, J. C. _Benjamin Franklin in Oil and Bronze._ New York: 1926.

("Probably the features and form of no man who ever lived were delineated so frequently and in such a variety of ways as were those of Benjamin Franklin." Best survey of its kind, including many excellent reproductions.)

Oswald, J. C. _Benjamin Franklin, Printer._ Garden City, N. Y.: 1917.

(Fullest and ablest account of this phase of Franklin's life.)

Owen, E. D. "Where Did Benjamin Franklin Get the Idea for His Academy?"

_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LVIII, 86-94 (Jan., 1934). (Inconclusive evidence attributing it to Dr. Philip Doddridge.)

*Parker, Theodore. "Benjamin Franklin," in _Historic Americans_. Ed.

with notes by S. A. Eliot. Boston: 1908 [written in 1858]. (Franklin "thinks, investigates, theorizes, invents, but never does he dream."

Although Parker, an idealist and reformer, exalts "the sharp outline of his [Franklin's] exact idea," his humanitarianism, his combining the "rare excellence of Socrates and Bacon" in making things "easy for all to handle and comprehend," he concludes that Franklin is "a saint devoted to the almighty dollar." There are few more readable estimates.)

*Parrington, V. L. "Benjamin Franklin," in _The Colonial Mind, 1620-1800_. New York: 1927, pp. 164-78. (Emphasizes Franklin's tendencies toward agrarian democracy; Parrington's indifference to the genetic approach and his chronic economic determinism lead him to slight the primary importance of Franklin's religious and philosophic views in conditioning his other activities.)

Pennington, E. L. "The Work of the Bray a.s.sociates in Pennsylvania,"

_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LVIII, 1-25 (Jan., 1934). (Franklin's humanitarian interest in negro education. In 1758 he writes from London urging school for instructing young Negroes in Philadelphia.)

_Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XXV, 307-22, 516-26 (1901), XXVI, 81-90, 255-64 (1902). (Reprints one of Dean Tucker's pamphlets with Franklin's annotations. Casts light on Franklin's loyalty to the Crown, while rebellious against Parliament.)

Potamian, Brother, and Walsh, J. J. _Makers of Electricity._ New York: 1909. ("Franklin and Some Contemporaries," chapter II, pp. 68-132, by Brother Potamian, is an excellent survey of Franklin's contributions to the science of electricity.)

Powell, E. P. "A Study of Benjamin Franklin," _Arena_, VIII, 477-91 (Sept., 1893). (Fair survey of Franklin as a diplomatist.)

Priestley, J. _The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments._ London: 1767. (Many notes observing Franklin's "truly philosophical greatness of mind." Preface contains suggestive generalizations concerning function of the natural philosopher: especially, he who experiments in electricity discerns laws of nature, "that is, of the G.o.d of nature himself.")

Rava, Luigi. "La fortuna di Beniamino Franklin in Italia," Prefazione al volume _Beniamino Franklin_ di Lawrence Shaw Mayo. Firenze: n.d.

Repplier, Emma. "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor," _Lippincott's Magazine_, LXXVII, 63-70 (Jan., 1906). (Concerning those who during the Revolution wrote Franklin for favors and places.)

Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Money," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, LIV, 52-64 (Jan., 1930).

Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin's Mission to Canada and the Causes of Its Failure," _Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography_, XLVIII, 111-58 (April, 1924).

*Riley, I. W. _American Philosophy: The Early Schools._ New York: 1907, pp. 229-65. (Conventional view of Franklin's deism; with C. M. Walsh [see below], Riley overemphasizes influence of Plato on Franklin's thought.)

Riley, I. W. _American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism and Beyond._ New York: 1915, pp. 68-77. (Graphic glimpses of "most precocious of the American skeptics.")

Rosengarten, J. G. "The American Philosophical Society," reprinted from _Founders' Week Memorial Volume_. Philadelphia: 1908.

Ross, E. D. "Benjamin Franklin as an Eighteenth-Century Agriculture Leader," _Journal of Political Economy_, x.x.xVII, 52-72 (Feb., 1929).

(No "rural sentimentalist," Franklin experimented in agriculture, particularly during 1747-1755, as a utilitarian idealist. Quotes one who suggests Franklin was "half physiocratic before the rise of the physiocratic school." Excellent and well-doc.u.mented survey.)

Sachse, J. F. _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason._ Philadelphia: 1906.

("To write the history of Franklin as a Freemason is virtually to chronicle the early Masonic history of America." Soundly doc.u.mented survey. Includes useful chronological table of Franklin's Masonic activities.)

*Sainte-Beuve, C. A. _Portraits of the Eighteenth Century._ Tr. by K.

P. Wormeley, with a critical introduction by E. Scherer. New York: 1905. I, 311-75. (The two essays on Franklin in _Causeries du lundi_ are "here put together," though with no important omissions from either. Brilliant portrait of the "most gracious, smiling, and persuasive utilitarian," one who a.s.signed "no part to human imagination.")

Seipp, Erika. _Benjamin Franklins Religion und Ethik._ Darmstadt: 1932.

(Suggestive, though brief, view of Franklin's deism and utilitarianism. Attempts to see his thought in reference to various representative deists. This is not, however, a "source" study.)

Shepherd, W. R. _History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania._ New York: 1896. (Franklin emerges as "a sort of tribune to the people," a "mighty Goliath," a "plague" in the eyes of the feudalistic rulers of Pennsylvania, "a huge fief." Author relatively unsympathetic to Franklin.)

*Sherman, S. P. "Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment," in _Americans_.

New York: 1922, pp. 28-62. (Penetrating survey and estimate.)

Smith, William, D.D. _Eulogium on Benjamin Franklin._ Philadelphia: 1792. (One agrees with P. L. Ford, that this work "forms a somewhat amusing contrast to the savageness of the Doctor's earlier writings against Franklin." Bombastic in its rhetoric and eulogy.)

Smythe, J. H., Jr., comp. _The Amazing Benjamin Franklin._ New York: 1929. (Anthology of brief, popular estimates. If individual notes are trivial, the collection ill.u.s.trates Franklin's many-mindedness, a Renaissance versatility.)