CHARACTERS. 



389 



r 



copy well, nor perfectly undeistand 

 imposing : their forms too are 

 continually pestered by the outs, 

 and doubles, that are not easy to 

 be corrected. And 1 think they 

 were wrong in laying aside some 

 faces, and particularly certain 

 head-pieces, that woidd have been 

 both useful and ornamental. But, 

 courage ! The business may still 

 flourish with good management ; 

 and the master become as ricli as 

 any of the company. 



By the way, the rapid growth 

 and extension of tiie English lan- 

 guage in Ameiica, must become 

 greatly advantageous to the book- 

 sellers, and holders of copy-rights 

 in England. A vast audience is 

 assembling there for English au- 

 thors, ancient, present, and fu- 

 ture, our people doubling every 

 twenty years ; and this will de- 

 mand large and of course profit- 

 able impressions of your most 

 valuable books. I would, theie- 

 fore, if I possessed such rights, 

 entail them, if such a thing be 

 practicable, upon my posterity; 

 for their worth will be continually 

 augmenting. This may look a 

 little like advice, and yet I have 

 drank no madeira these six months. 

 The subject, however, leads me to 

 another thought, which is, that 

 you do wrong to discourage tlie 

 emigration of Englislunen to Ame- 

 rica. In my piece on population, 

 I have proved, I think, that emi- 

 gration does not diminish but 

 multiplies a nation. You will 

 not have fewer at home for those 

 that go abroad ; and as every man 

 who conies among us, and takes 

 up a i)iece of land, becomes a 

 a citizen, and by our constitution 

 has a voice in elections, and a 

 share in the government of the 



country, why should you be against 

 acquiring by this fair means a re- 

 possession of it, and leave it to be 

 taken by foreigners of all nations 

 and languages, who by their num- 

 bers may drown and stifle the 

 English, which otherwise would 

 probably become in the course of 

 two centuries the most extensive 

 language in the world, the Spanish 

 only excepted ? It is a fact, that 

 the Irish emigrants and their chil- 

 dren are now in possession of the 

 government of Pennsylvania, by 

 their majority in the assembly, as 

 well as of a great part of the ter- 

 ritory ; and I remember well the 

 first ship that brought any of them 

 over. 1 am ever, my dear friend, 

 yours most affectionately, 



B. Franklin. 



LETTER FROM DR. STILES, PRE • 

 SIDENT or YALE COLLEGE, &C. 

 TO DR. FR.\NKLIN. 



Requesting his Portrait for Yale 

 College, and wishing to be made 

 acquainted with his religious Sen- 

 timents. 

 Sir, Yale College, Jan. "S, 1790. 



We have lately received Gover- 

 nor Vale's portrait from his family 

 in London, and deposited it in the 

 College Library, wheie is also de- 

 ])osited one of Governor Salton- 

 stall's. I have long wished that 

 we might be honoured also with 

 that of Dr. Franklin. In the 

 course of your long life, you may 

 j)robably have become possessed 

 of several portraits of youi>ielf. 

 Shall I take too great a liberty, in 

 humbly asking a donation of one 

 of them to "i'ale College ? You 

 obliged me with a mezzotinto 

 picture of yourself many years 



ago, 



