386 ANNUAL liJEGISTER, 1817. 



it relates to my.'telf, will not be 

 quite unihterestirig tb yoii. When 

 I was a boy, I met with a bbok 

 entitled Essays to do Good, which 

 I think was written by your father. 

 It had been so little regarded by a 

 former possessor, that several 

 leaves of it were toi'n out : but the 

 remainder gave me such a hull of 

 thinking as to have an influence 

 oil my cbndnct thniugh life ; for I 

 have always set a greater value on 

 the chafacter of a dbef of good, 

 than on any bther kind of rejnita- 

 tion ; and if I have been, as you 

 seem to think, a useful citizeh, the 

 public owes the iVdyantage of it to 

 that book. You mention ybur 

 being in your 78th 3-ear; 1 am in 

 my 79th ; we arc gi-own old to- 

 gfether. It is now more than sixty 

 years since I left Boston, but I 

 remeniber well both your father 

 arid grandfather, having heard 

 them botli in the pulpit, and seen 

 them in their houses. The last 

 tiiiie I saw your ftlther \Vas in thfe 

 beginning of M^li, when I visited 

 him after my first trip to l\nn- 

 sylvania. He received me in his 

 library, and on my taking leave 

 shewed me a shorter way out of 

 the house through a narrow pas- 

 sage, which was crossed by a beam 

 over lieail. We were still talking 

 as I witluircw, he accompanying 

 me iiiihind, and 1 turning paitly 

 towards him, when he said hastily, 

 stoop, stooj) ! I did not midei - 

 stand him till I felt my head hit 

 against the beam. HewAs a man 

 that never liiissed any occasion of 

 giving instruction, and upon this 

 lie said to me, yriu fire yoari'g, cind 

 /ifti'c ihe world before yoa ; stoop 

 as you go through it, and yoa u-ill 

 miss ))iuvy tiard thuinpi. This advice 

 (Uu5 beat into my head has fre,- 



quently been of use to me, and I 

 often think of it, when I See pride 

 nibrtified, and misfortunes brought 

 upon people by their cariying their 

 heads too high. 



B. Fraxklin. 



To William Strahan, Esa. 

 (King's Vrinter, London.) 



Invites hiin to Passy. — AnnihiT ation 

 of profitable Places. — American 

 Congrcssand British Parliament.— 

 The late U"ar.—Gen. Clarke, S^c. 



Dkaii FniENP, passy, Aug. 19, 1784. 



1 received your kind letter of 

 April 17. You will have the good- 

 ness to place my delay in answer- 

 ing, to tiie afccbunt of indisposition 

 and business, and excuse it. I 

 have now that letter before me ; 

 and my graiid-on, whom you may 

 foi"merly remember a little schohir 

 at Mr. Elphiuston's, purposing to 

 set out in a day or two on a visit 

 to his fdth'er ih London, 1 Sit 

 down to scribble a little to you, 

 first recommehding him as a 

 worthy young liian to your civili- 

 ties and counsels. 



^'ou press me mUch tb come to 

 England. I am riot without strong 

 inducements to do so ; the fund of 

 knowledge you promise to com- 

 municate tb me is an addition to 

 them, and no small onC. At pre- 

 sent it is iiupracticablo. BiSt when 

 my gl'andson retui ns, come with 

 him. We Will talk the matter 

 over, and perhaps you may take 

 nie back with you. 1 have a bed 

 at youV service, and will try to 

 make yout- residence, while you 

 can stay viith us, as agreeable to 

 j'ou, if possible, as 1 am sule it 

 will bfe to mc. 



You do not " approve the an- 

 nihilatidu 



