AND The University of Pennsylvania 173 



gether." "Yes," said Franklin, "or we will hang sepa- 

 rately." In fact, it is asserted that the reason why 

 Jefferson and not Franklin was chosen to write the 

 Declaration of Independence was because solemn John 

 Adams dreaded that he would put in a joke. 



It was his scientific reputation and his invention of 

 the lightning rod, together with his well-known per- 

 sistency of purpose, that converted the following inci- 

 dent into an epigram. An English philosopher insisted 

 that blunt conductors were the only safe ones. King 

 George the Third, as though disdaining to owe his 

 safety to the invention of an enemy, during the war put 

 balls upon the rods on the palace, and persisted in this, 

 notwithstanding the protest of the Royal Society. A 

 wag then wrote: 



" While you, King George, for safety hunt. 

 And sharp conductors change for blunt, 



The nation's out of joint ; 

 Franklin a wiser course pursues ; 

 And all your thunder fearless views 



By sticking to the point." 



He was arithmetical in his demonstration to Dr. 

 Priestley that the colonies could not be subdued, by 

 writing after the action at Bunker Hill, "Britain at the 

 expense of three millions, has killed one hundred and 

 fifty Yankees, this campaign. During the same time 



