51 
intended for them alone; but afterward it took a wider scope, and 
was then evidently meant for publication. He did not resume 
work upon it until 1784; but in the meantime the incomplete 
sketch had been shown to some of his friends, who urged him 
strongly to go on with it. The second part of these memoirs, 
written while Franklin was living at Passy, near Paris, is short and 
made up largely of his ideas on life rather than by the recital of 
events. When he began this portion of the narrative, he did not 
have the former part with him, which accounts for a break in the 
thread of the story. The third part was begun in August, 1788, 
while Franklin was in Philadelphia, and is brought down to the 
year 1757. This portion ended the Autobiography, as formerly 
printed in English. About a year after Franklin’s death there was 
published in Paris a French translation of the first part of the 
memoirs. It is a little singular that the principal portion of the 
Autobiography, which was destined to have so great a popularity, 
should have been printed first in a foreign land and in a foreign 
tongue; and it has never been satisfactorily explained why this was 
so, nor is it known with certainty who made the translation from 
the English into the French. 
In 1793, two years after the appearance of the Paris edition, two 
separate and distinct translations were made from it and published 
in London,—the one by the Messrs. Robinson, and the other by 
Mr. J. Parsons. Both editions appeared about the same time ; and 
probably some rivalry between two publishing firms was at the 
bottom of it. They were English translations from a French 
translation of the original English; and yet, with the drawback 
of all these changes, the book has proved to be as charming as a 
novel. 
In 1818 William Temple Franklin, while editing his grand- 
father’s works, brought out another edition of the Autobiography, 
which seemed to have the mark of genuineness; and for half a 
century this version was the accepted one. But in 1868 even 
this edition had to yield to a fourth version, which gave the zszs- 
sima verba of the great philosopher. During that year another 
edition was published from Franklin’s original manuscript, which 
a short time previously had fallen into the hands of the Hon. 
John Bigelow, while he was United States Minister at the French 
Court ; and by him it was carefully and critically annotated. This 
version now forms the standard edition of the Autobiography, and 
