56 Eliot: Franklin 



his own eyes and hands, long before he was of age, 

 everything which the printer's art was then equal to. 

 When the faithless Governor Keith caused Franklin to 

 land in London without any resources whatever except 

 his skill at his trade, the youth was fully capable of sup- 

 porting himself in the great city as a printer. Franklin 

 had been induced by the Governor to go to England, 

 where he was to buy a complete outfit for a good print- 

 ing office to be set up in Philadelphia. He had already 

 presented the Governor with an inventory of all the 

 materials needed in a small printing office, and was com- 

 petent to make a critical selection of all these materials; 

 but when he arrived in London on this errand he was 

 only eighteen years old. Thrown completely on his own 

 resources in the great city, he immediately got work at 

 a famous printing house in Bartholomew Close, but 

 soon moved to a still larger printing house, in which he 

 remained during the rest of his stay in London. Here 

 he worked as a pressman at first, but was soon trans- 

 ferred to the composing room, evidently excelling his 

 comrades in both branches of the art. The customary 

 drink money was demanded of him, first by the press- 

 men with whom he was associated, and afterwards by 

 the compositors. Franklin undertook to resist the second 

 demand; and it is interesting to observe that after a 

 resistance of three weeks he was forced to yield to the 

 demands of the men by just such measures as are now 



