The life of Benjamin Franklin (1848) (14577841468)

The story of the whistle
Identifier: lifeofbenjaminfr00holl (find matches)
Title: The life of Benjamin Franklin
Year: 1848 (1840s)
Authors: Holley, O. L. (Orville Luther), 1791-1861 Anderson, Alexander, 1775-1870 Benjamin Franklin Collection (Library of Congress) DLC
Subjects: Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 Statesmen
Publisher: New York : G.F. Cooledge & Brother
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation



Text Appearing Before Image:
er plenipotentiary, he issued,to protect from American cruisers the vessels annuallysent from England, with food and other supplies for theMoravian settlements on the coast of Labrador; and indoing the same thing for the vessels under the celebratednavigator Captain James Cook, who had, before the war,been sent on a voyage of discovery, and was supposedto be now on his way home. No man ever possessed inlarger measure than Franklin the desire to encourageevery enterprise to advance knowledge, diffuse the spiritof benevolence, and liberalize the policy of governments ;and the last-named act of magnanimous humanity drewfrom the English board of trade a vote of acknowledgment,together with an elegant copy of Cooks Voyages, andthe splendid collection of plates belonging to it, accom-panied by a courteous letter from Lord Howe, statingthat the gift was made with the kings approbation. A few days after reaching Paris, Franklin took up hisresidence at Passy, some two or three miles out of the
Text Appearing After Image:
HIS RESIDENCE AT PASSY. ^ 465 city, and overlooking the river Seine. There, as hewrote to an old friend, in a fine house, in a neat vil-lage, on high ground, with a large garden to walk in,he dwelt during the whole of his mission to France. Itwas a pleasant situation, and among his neighbors wereseveral families of great respectability and worth, wherehe soon became a cherished and honored inmate, andwhere he enjoyed habitual intercourse with a large circlecomprising many of the most cultivated, distinguished,and agreeable people of both sexes, that French societycould furnish. At Passy he wrote several of his besttracts on political topics, besides several valuable papeison philosophical subjects, particularly one, which wasread before the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, onthe aurora horealis, stating his reasons for supposing thatsplendid phenomenon to be a result of electrical action.At Passy, too, he wrote, for the entertainment of the cir-cle of friends just mentioned, some o