It is well, and may be not unprofitable, to reflect that many of the great qualities which excite our admiration in the career of this great philosopher may be. imitated by those who cannot hope to vie with him in the splendour of his genius, or add, in the slightest degree, to his unparalleled discoveries.

The life of Franklin presents to youth a model most worthy of respect and imitation. Born in a humble sphere, and enjoying no advantage save that of a powerful intellect, we find him, by the exercise of invincible perseverance, ere long as the repre-sentative of his native land, in whose affairs he acted so conspicuous a part, receiving the homage of the most polished court in Europe, and defying the wrath of the most powerful country in the world. How he attained so prominent a position is a question which may well occupy the attention of any boy who aims at distinction. Fortunately, he himself has told the story of his early life in a letter to his son, which leaves no doubt as to the means of his success. Perseverance and self-denial have raised many to eminence, but never were they more signally triumphant than in the case of the remarkable man who "grasped the lightning's fiery wing."

Franklin did not, like the mighty English philosopher, bring to his experiments an intellect disciplined from youth in scientific investigations. Indeed, it was not until he had reached mature manhood that, with a mind schooled by severe experience, he turned his attention to the subjects on which he made those invaluable discoveries which are the most honourable monuments of his high abilities and his strong determination.

His father was a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler in Boston, North America, who, in 1682, had emigrated from England with his wife, three children, and several of his friends, on account of their being denied that freedom of worship which they deemed essential to their welfare and happiness. His mother was a daughter of a person of whom honourable mention is made as one of the earliest New England settlers. Of his father's seventeen children Franklin was the youngest, with the exception of two daughters. He was a surprisingly quick child, and, having learned to read, was sent to a grammar-school, with the intention of his being educated as a clergyman. This plan was, for a short time, resolutely pursued by his father, and encouraged by his relations, especially an uncle, who offered to give him, as his contribution, several volumes of sermons, which he had taken down in short-hand from the different preachers whom he had been in the habit of hearing. This individual, by trade a silk-dyer, had read much, and had convinced himself of his poetic powers by filling two volumes with manuscript verse. But to make the tallow-chandler's means sufficient to defray the cost of his son's education for the Church defied his ingenuity, and Franklin was forced to abandon the prospect of clerical honours.

He was now put to learn writing and arithmetic, and speedily wrote a good hand, but the mysteries of arithmetic baffled his comprehension. Removed from school at the age of ten, he was placed in the establishment of his father, who, having apprenticed his other sons to various trades, probably looked forward to the youngest succeeding him in his own In this, however, he was deceived; for the lad being employed, as he himself relates, in cutting the wicks for candles, filling moulds, going errands, and similar drudgery, conceived so strong a disgust at the business, that he made up his mind rather to go to sea than remain at it. One of his brothers had freed himself from restraint in this way before, and the chandler not relishing a second catastrophe of the kind in his family, considered it prudent to find some congenial occupation for his youngest son. He, therefore, carried him round to see a great many different tradesmen at their work, and the result was an agreement that he should be apprenticed to a cousin who had just set up as a cutler in Boston; but, after having been several days at work, his father, thinking the required fee too much, resolved to withdraw him. Upon this he was, somewhat against his will, indentured to his elder brother; who, having been bred a printer, had just returned from England, and commenced business for himself in his native city.

This was, in one respect, an advantageous situation for Franklin, as it tended to encourage him in that system of reading which, almost from infancy, he had manifested a strong inclination to pursue. His father's limited library consisted chiefly of books on controversial divinity—a subject not extremely interesting to so young a reader; but among them was a copy of Plutarch's "Lives," read over and over again by him with profit and pleasure. Another was Defoe's "Essay on Projects," which he perused eagerly. Besides, he applied such small sums as came into his possession to the purchase of Bunyan's works, subsequently bartered for Briton's "Historical Collections."

In after years he often expressed his regret that, at the time when his thirst for knowledge was so great, the works embodying it were not within his reach; though possibly it was from reading much, and not many books, that his mind acquired its peculiar energy, and the rare faculty of making small means work out mighty ends. But when placed in his brother's printing-office, he was enabled considerably to extend his knowledge by borrowing volumes from booksellers' apprentices. On such occasions he would sit up all night reading, so that they might be restored in the morning to their place on the shelf. His studious habits attracted the attention, and engaged the interest, of a merchant who was frequently about the printing-office, and who, desirous of facilitating his pursuit of knowledge, kindly invited him to avail himself of a tolerably well-stocked library. The offer thus made was, of course, gladly accepted and much profited by.

At length Franklin felt ambitions of trying his skill at composition, and, disdaining humble prose, attempted some pieces of poetry. These so pleased his brother that he induced the author to write two ballads, which, on being printed, he sent him to hawk about the streets. One of them being on a subject that had created a deep sensation, they sold prodigiously, and so far all was well; but his father, who, though by no means blessed with much literary culture, appears to have been gifted -with a large share of common sense, convinced him that they were in reality wretched productions, and that he should write no more of them. Moreover, he brought forward the argument that verse-makers had always been beggars, from Homer downwards; which appeared so conclusive to the philosophic Benjamin, that he thereupon resolved to be anything rather "than one of these same metre balladmongers.

However, his attention was shortly turned into new pastures. An intimate friend being, like himself, fond of books, was in the habit of arguing with him on such subjects as struck them in the course of their reading. Happening one day to raise the question of the abilities of women, and the propriety of giving them a learned education, Franklin warmly maintained their fitness for the severer studies. But whether or not it was, that he had entered the lists rather in the spirit of contradiction than in that of chivalry, it is certain that he was worsted in the con-flict. Attributing this to his antagonist's greater flow of words, and believing his own reasoning to be the stronger, he drew up his case on paper, and, making a careful copy, sent it for the other's perusal. This occasioned a correspondence, which fortunately fell into the hands of his father, who, with true Saxon acuteness and sagacity, pointed out the faults in the composition.