J?ISEN BY PERSEVERANCE. 



said, *0h, this is from Riddlesdon (an attorney in Phila- 

 delphia, whom Franklin knew to be a thorough knave) ; I 

 have lately found him to be a complete rascal ;' and giving 

 back the letter, turned on his heel, and proceeded to serve 

 his customers. Upon this, Franklin's confidence in his patron 

 began to be a little shaken; and, after reviewing the whole 

 affair in his own mind, he resolved to lay it before a very 

 intelligent mercantile gentleman, who had come over from 

 America with them, and with whom he had contracted an 

 intimacy on the passage. His friend very soon put an end 

 to his doubts. 'He let me,' says Franklin, 'into Keith's 

 character ; told me there was not the least probability that 

 he had written any letters for me ; that no one who knew 

 him had the smallest dependence on him ; and he laughed at 

 the idea of the Governor's giving me a letter of credit, having, 

 as he said, no credit to give.' 



Thus thrown once more on his own means, our young 

 adventurer found there was no resource for him but to 

 endeavour to procure some employment at his trade in 

 London. Accordingly, having applied to a Mr. Palmer, a 

 printer of eminence in Bartholomew Close, his services were 

 accepted, and he remained there for nearly a year. During 

 this time, although he was led into a good deal of idleness 

 by the example of a friend, somewhat older than himself, he 

 by no means forgot his old habits of reading and study. 

 Having been employed in printing a second edition ol 

 Wollaston's Religion of Nature, his perusal of the work 

 induced him to compose and publish a small pamphlet in 

 refutation of some of the author's positions, v/hich, he tells us, 

 he did not afterwards look back upon as altogether a wise 

 proceeding. He employed the greater part of his leisure more 



