1790] REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 325 



Mr. Willing, not to be outdone by Dr. Smith, immediately wrote 

 the following : 



What means that flash, the thunder's awful roar — 

 The blazing sky — unseen, unheard before ? 

 Sage .Smith replies, "Our Franklin is no more." 

 The clouds, long subject to his magic chain. 

 Exulting now their liberty regain. 



On Wednesday, the 21st of April, Dr. Franklin's remains were 

 interred in Christ Church burying-ground, at the corner of Arch 

 and Fifth streets. The funeral procession was large, and the 

 streets through which it passed were crowded with a concourse of 

 spectators, the number of whom were computed at twenty thou- 

 sand. The mourners were preceded by all the clergy of the city, 

 including the readers of the Hebrew congregation. The corpse 

 was carried by citizens. The pall was borne by Governor Thomas 

 Mifflin, Chief-Justice McKean, Thomas Willing, president of the 

 Bank of North America, Samuel Powell, the mayor of the city, 

 William Bingham and David Rittenhouse. Bells were tolled and 

 minute guns were fired during the time that the procession was 

 passing. In the line of the procession were the Supreme Execu- 

 tive Council, the General Assembly of the State, the Judges of 

 the Supreme Court, members of the bar, the corporation of the 

 city, the printers of the city, with their journeymen and appren- 

 tices, the Philosophical Society, the College of Physicians, the 

 Faculty and students of the College of Philadelphia, and various 

 other societies, besides a numerous and respectable body of 

 citizens.* 



*The following bills for the funeral charges of Franklin's burial, which have been 

 preserved by his family, may interest the reader. Dolby was the sexton ( f " the United 

 Churches" — Christ Church and St. Peter's. 



April 2ist, 1790. 



The estate of Mr. Benjamin Franklin to Jos. Dolby, for his burial : 



To ground £0 15 o 



To pall I o o 



To minister's attendance o 6 o 



To clerk's ditto o 4 o 



To muffling the bells 4 10 o 



To invitations 3 7 ^ 



To grave o 10 o 



^10 12 6 



