and took pleasure in aiding and directing her studies. In the spring of 1760, she resided for some time with a relative, at a little distance from London, and during that separation she and her distinguished friend exchanged several letters, relating chiefly to her course of reading. One of those letters contains suggestions on that topic, which most readers, particularly youthful ones, would find it advantageous to observe. He advises

her to read "with a pen in hand," and to "enter in a book," suitably prepared for the purpose, "short hints," or abstracts, of whatever she might find striking, whether "curious or useful," as the best method of fixing them in her mind, either for subsequent use, if practically valuable, or, if relating to things rare and curious, "to adorn and improve her conversation ;" and, moreover, always to have good dictionaries at hand, for the instant explanation of words not perfectly understood, particularly terms of science and art, so that no part of the author's meaning may be lost, or knowledge rendered defective, and the mental perceptions impaired, by any confusion of ideas.

This advice is believed to be sound; and the method of making "short hints," or condensed abstracts, in the reader's own language, much better than that of the usual common-place book, to which passages are transferred in the very words of the author. The former practice may be rendered an efficient mode of mental discipline, promoting the habit of discriminative and accurate thinking, and so strengthening the memory as well as the understanding; while the latter method, though occasionally well for the convenient preservation of passages remarkable for some felicity of expression, or other quality of mere form, seems unsuited for any purpose of mental training; and though sometimes recommended as a mode of cultivating the memory, it seems less fitted

PERSONAL ABUSE -INDEMNITY-MONEY.

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to aid that faculty, than to injure it by accustoming it to rely on the common-place book rather than its own power of retention.

Franklin's zeal in behalf of the claims of Pennsylvania, and the ability with which he maintained them, excited a rancorous hostility on the part of the Proprietaries and their retainers; and to this was added on the part of others, the high tory advocates of royal prerogative and adversaries of colonial privileges, another confluent current of bitter feeling against him, for the ability and effect with which he maintained those privileges and the general cause of the colonies. From these two sources proceeded not a few political pamphlets and newspaper articles, in which, from time to time, he was assailed with gross personal abuse, and his motives, purposes, and habits, calumniously misrepresented. These things, however, gave little disturbance to his equanimity. He was content with the approval of his own conscience and the respect and friendship of the men most eminent in either South or North Britain for worth and abilities, and regarded this personal obloquy with cool indifference or silent scorn. Writing from London to his wife, in June, 1760, he says: "I am concerned that so much trouble should be given you by idle reports concerning me. Be satisfied, my dear wife, that while I have my senses, and God vouchsafes me his protection, I shall do nothing unworthy the character of an honest man, and one that loves his family." In another letter he says: 'Let no one make you uneasy with their idle or malicious scribblings, but enjoy yourself and friends, and the comforts of life that God has bestowed on you, with a cheerful heart. I am glad their pamphlets give you so little concern. I make no other answer to them at present, than what appears on the seal of this letter."

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That answer was, a dove above a snake coiled and darting forth its tongue, with a motto in French, signifying that-Innocence surmounts everything.

In the autumn of this year, (1760,) Franklin received a letter from Isaac Norris, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, accompanied by an act authorizing and directing him, as provincial agent, to receive and invest, on behalf of the province, its share of the moneys recently granted by parliament as some indemnity to the American colonies for the charges they had incurred in 1758, beyond what that body admitted to be their fair proportion, in support of the war. In the act making this grant, the Lower Counties (as they were then usually called, now the state of Delaware) were joined with Pennsylvania, though they were under separate governThe number of men kept in the field by the two governments was 2,727, the quota of Pennsylvania being 2,446, and that of Delaware 281. The whole sum apportioned to the two colonies, was twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-three pounds sterling, of which Pennsylvania's share was nearly twenty-seven thousand pounds, and that of Delaware a little over three thousand.

ments.

On receiving this money, Franklin placed it in the bank of England, till he could invest it in stocks, as he soon did, pursuant to the law under which he acted. The investment was well made; but the Assembly, moved by some premature rumors of peace, indiscreetly ordered the stocks to be sold when so low as to occasion considerable loss; and yet the Penn party, in their rancor toward Franklin, charged the loss to his misconduct, and claimed that he should make it up.

NATURAL HISTORY
HOLLAND

ART OF VIRTUE LATENT HEAT-WATER VAPORIZED BY ELECTRICITY POINTS AND KNOBS

ARMONICA-LITERARY HONORS RETURN HOME.

BEFORE the close of 1759, the conquest of Canada had been achieved, and the island of Guadaloupe been taken, by the British. These events in America, with the success of the British arms in East India, and the overwhelming superiority of the British navy, were followed by indications of approaching peace; and the terms on which that peace should be concluded began to occupy the thoughts of leading men both in and out of the British cabinet.

In this condition of public affairs, a pamphlet appeared, addressed in fact to the duke of Newcastle, then premier, and Mr. Pitt, one of the secretaries of state, but published under the title of a Letter to Two Great Men, and written by the earl of Bath, better known as Mr. Pultney, in which he urged that, whatever concessions might be made in other quarters, on the conclusion of peace, Canada should be retained by Great Britain. A reply to this letter soon after came out, anonymously, entitled Remarks on the Letter to Two Great Men, in which the writer maintained that Guadaloupe would be the more valuable acquisition, and should be retained, while Canada should be restored to France.

The Remarker was supposed by many to be the celebrated Edmund Burke; and whether the supposition was correct or not, it was good evidence that his performance was deemed an able one. Having, from a desire not to seem obtrusive, waited a suitable time for a reply from the author of the Letter, Franklin took up the subject. In one respect, if no more, he was better qualified to discuss it than either of the other writers, or, indeed, any man in England; and that was, his more precise and thorough knowledge of all the material facts pertaining to the state of things in America; of the resources, wants, progress, and prospects of the colonies; their relations to Canada and to the Indian tribes; the features of the country already occupied by the colonial settlements, as well as the regions which would invite occupancy as soon as new settlements could be made with a reasonable expectation of security; the extent of the Indian trade, and its value, together with that of the colonies, to the mother-country; and, in short, all the peculiarly American topics bearing on the question. In reference, also, to the more general topics, whether drawn from history or from the relations of Great Britain to the other countries of Europe, or to the Indies East and West, wherever the commercial interests of the British empire were involved, he showed himself to be at least as well informed as any man, whether in or out of the public councils, who undertook to discuss the question, in either its commercial or its diplomatic bearings; and he handled it with an ability and pungency, and at the same time with a courtesy and fairness, which drew from an opponent, in another anonymous pamphlet, written doubtless, though not avowedly, by the remarker, a declaration that he considered the author of the Canada Pamphlet, as being of all the advocates of the retention of Canada, “clearly the ablest, the most ingenious, the