American Antiquarian So iety, of Worcester, Massachusetts: 1734, 1736, 1737.

Lenox Library, of New York: 1736, 1737, 1738, 1740, 1745, 1746, 1747, 1748, 1749, 1751, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758.

Library Company of Philadelphia: 1738, 1739 (imperfect), 1740, 1742, 1746, 1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1756, 1758.

Society of Antiquity, of Worcester, Massachusetts: 1739. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.: 1740, 1741, 1742, 1743, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758.

Public Library of Boston: 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1758.

Bishop John F. Hurst, of Washington, D.C.: 1739, 1744, 1748 (imperfect), 1751, 1753, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758 (imperfect).

William L. Andrews, Esq., of New York: 1752, 1753, 1756.

Marshall C. Lefferts, Esq., of New York: 1748, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1757 (imperfect).

In the summer of 1757 Franklin was sent to London as agent of the colonies. This mission terminated his career as a maker of almanacs. His issue for that year is the one to which Poor Richard owes his world-wide celebrity, for in it he gathered all the wise saws and modern instances, verses, aphorisms, and proverbs of the entire series together, and formed them into a connected discourse as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an auction. This compilation, which is commonly entitled "The Way to Wealth," may be found in nearly every written language under the sun, and is republished, we

venture to say, more frequently still than any other publication of the century in which it appeared.

It seems worth noting here that in 1785, the year that Franklin retired from his mission to France, an edition of "The Way to Wealth" was published in Gaelic at Edinburgh, at the instance, and presumably at the expense, of the Earl of Buchan.* It was subjoined to a collection of Gaelic proverbs at the request of the Earl of Buchan, with an address from his lordship in Gaelic, which, as it has hitherto escaped the notice of Franklin's biographers, I give in a translation, for which I am indebted to Mr. D. MacGregor Creerar, of New York City.†

* A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar Phrases, accompanied with an English Translation, intended to facilitate the Study of the Language. Illustrated with Notes. To which is added the "Way to Wealth," by Dr. Franklin, translated into Gaelic by Donald Macintosh. Edinburgh, printed for the author and sold by Messrs. Donaldson Creech, Elliott & Sabbald, booksellers, Edinburgh; John Gillie, Perth, James Gillie, Glasgow, and by all the booksellers in town and country. MDCCLXXXV.

† Letter of David, Earl of Buchan, to the Heroic Highlanders of Alban, or Scotland.

Noble race of my native land, I am as proud of your prowess as of the fact that your blood courses through my veins; and it shall ever be my wish to testify my high admiration. I was the first man to don your manly dress in the Lowlands after the prohibition of it was revoked, and that in time of snow and storm. When I can discern opportunities where I can render assistance in stimulating professional, fishing, or other employment throughout the country, it will be my pleasure to do so. Meantime, I place within your reach, embodied with the Proverbs, old sayings rich in thought, written by the wise and venerable Franklin, of America. These will be fruitful to you in wisdom in the world's ways; and if you will add these to your faith in Jesus Christ, knowledge of God, His love and obedience in your hearts, in your daily walk and conversation, you will be esteemed by all, and will enjoy peace and happiness within.

I will premise that it was to the Earl of Buchan that Burns sent his famous lines entitled "Bruce to his Men at Bannockburn," beginning, "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled,” and with it a note in which he speaks of those verses

as

a small tribute of gratitude for the acquaintance with which you have been pleased to honor me."

Preface to Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, by Wm. Temple Franklin. Edition of 1817.

"AN apology for presenting to the republic of letters the authentic memorials of Benjamin Franklin, illustrative of his life and times, written almost entirely with his own hands, would be at once superfluous and disrespectful. If any observation be at all requisite in the shape of explanations, it must be in answer to the inquiry, why such interesting documents have been so long withheld from public view? To this the editor has no hesitation in replying, that were he conscious of having neglected a solemn trust, by disobeying a positive injunction; or could he be convinced that the world has sustained any real injury by the delay of the publication, he certainly should take shame to himself for not having sooner committed to the press what at an earlier period would have been much more to his pecuniary advantage; but aware as he is, of the deference due to the general feeling of admiration for the illustrious dead, he is not less sensible that there are times and seasons when prudence imposes the restriction of silence in the gratification even of the most laudable curiosity. It was the lot of this distinguished character, above most men, to move, in the prominent parts of his active life, within a sphere agitated to no ordinary degree of heat by the inflammatory passions of political fury; and he had scarcely seated himself in the shade of repose from the turmoil of public employment, when another revolution burst forth with