COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1905. Reprinted PREFATORY NOTE EVERYTHING of literary interest or historic value written by Franklin between 1722 and 1750 is included in this volume. I have omitted a few essays which have appeared in previous editions; some because they were not written by Franklin, and others because they are quite worthless. Thus the two papers "On Government" (Bigelow, I: 425) were written by George Webbe, who acknowledged the authorship in the columns of The Pennsylvania Gazette. The essays on "Public Men," "Self Denial," "The Usefulness of Mathematics," "True Happiness," "On Discoveries," "The Waste of Life," "The Causes of Earthquakes," 'The Drinker's Dictionary," "A Case of Casuistry," have been ascribed to Franklin on insufficient evidence, and are at any rate dull and trivial. Their place has been taken in this volume by certain highly characteristic contributions made by Franklin to The Pennsylvania Gazette-"A Witch Trial at Mount Holly," "An Apology for Printers," "How to protect Towns from Fire," "Shavers and Trimmers," and "A Meditation on a Quart Mugg." I have reprinted "The Dialogues on Virtue and Pleasure" because Franklin refers to them with satisfaction in his Autobiography. I have omitted his letter to Cadwallader Colden containing his conjecture as to the cause why ships in crossing the Atlantic have longer |