1717
(rev. 8/2/97)

Personal: BF tried the cutler's trade briefly with older cousin Samuel (A 10); but returned to his father's shop for another year, though he still wanted "to break away and get to Sea" (A 9-10). About 1717 BF devoured his father's library, especially recalling Plutarch's Lives, Defoe's Essay on Projects, and Cotton Mather's Bonifacius or, Essays to do Good. His brother James, now a printer, returned to Boston in March.

Two undated summer anecdotes of approximately 1717 occur in Franklin's later writings: 1. He made swimming fins for his hands and feet when a boy. P 20:141-43; English translation in S 5:543. 2. He used a kite to pull himself through water. P 20:141-43; English translation in S 5:545. Dubourg 2:310; Tourtellot 161; VD, Auto 3­4; cf. A 7 & 49, where BF revealed he had already read Thevenot's Art of Swimming.

Background: The General Court of 1716-1717 met for its fourth session from 10 to 12 April. Gov. Samuel Shute realized that he had made an error in approving the paper money bill and condemned the inflation, 10 April. Cotton Mather made a sycophantic speech on behalf of the ministers to Gov. Shute on 30 May. The General Court of 1717-1718 met on 29 May to 22 June; 23 Oct to 22 Nov, 1717; and 5 to 14 Feb, 1717/8. John Clarke, Nathaniel Byfield, and Elisha Cooke were among the elected Councillors. On 22 June 1717, the General Court again passed essentially the same act of impost and tunnage, taxing English goods imported into Massachusetts. The Board of Trade issued instructions to Gov. Shute (18 and 27 Sept) against passing any act which might affect British trade unless it contained a clause suspending it until approved by the Board. The General Court paid Shute L1,200 for 1717 (21 June, 19 Nov, and 14 Feb (b) 1717/8).

Parliament passed the act of 1717, 4 George I, cap. 11, on transporting felons to the colonies. The preamble stated: "in many of his Majesties Colonies and Plantations in America there is great Want of Servants, who by their Labour and Industry might be the Means of improving and making the said Colonies and Plantations useful to this Nation." Many colonists (especially Thomas Bordley of Maryland and later BF) objected to the act. See 14 Feb 1721; 10 Dec 1731; 26 June and 3 July 1732; 5 Dec 1746; 9 May 1751; and 5 May 1774.

Chronology:

Early 1717? BF briefly indentured as a cutler: "My Uncle Benjamin's Son Samuel who was bred to that Business in London being about that time establish'd in Boston, I was sent to be with him some time on liking." Evidently he lived with Samuel Franklin for a short time in 1717, age eleven. Tradesmen supposedly kept the "secrets" of the craft from public knowledge, and often demanded a premium, usually £10, from the apprentice (or his parents) to learn the craft. Samuel wanted the premium, but Josiah did not expect his nephew to demand the charge. "But his Expectations of a Fee with me displeasing my Father, I was taken home again" (A 10).

6 Jan, Sunday. BF became 11.

8 Jan, Tuesday. Inauguration of New South Church (which had started on 14 July 1716) with a "Great Assembly." BF recalled the building of the New North and the New South Church in a letter of 23 August 1750. P 4:42. Sewall, Diary 2:843, recorded the pasquinade on the doors of the new meeting house:

"To all True-Hearted Christians.
Good people, within this House, this very day,
A Canting Crew will meet to fast, and pray.
Just as the miser fasts with greedy mind, to spare;
So the glutton fasts, to eat a greater share.
But the sower-headed Presbyterians fast to seem more holy,
And their Canting Ministers to punish sinfull foley."

13 Feb, Wednesday. Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton died, "about 3/4 past 3 after noon." Samuel Sewall, Diary 2:845.

18 Feb, Monday. Pemberton buried between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. Sewall recorded that there was a "Great Storm of Snow; yet good going under foot" and that "a broad path" had been made for the funeral procession. Diary 2:846. No doubt Josiah Franklin and his family attended their minister's funeral.

March. Isaiah Thomas: "I have been informed that James Franklin served an apprenticeship with a printer in England, where his father was born, and had connections. In March, 1716/7, J. Franklin came from London with a press and types, and began business in Boston." History of Printing in America 105.

Thomas may well reflect Franklin's Autobiography: James "return'd from England with a Press and Letters to set up his Business in Boston."

James evidently did not serve his apprenticeship in London, for he does not appear in D. F. McKenzie, Stationers' Company Apprentices, 1701-1800 (Oxford: Bibliographical Society, 1978). There are no JF imprints from 1717, so if he printed anything that year, it does not survive. Lawrence C. Wroth suggested that "he could well have been employed by Benjamin Eliot, the publisher, to make cuts for the books printed for Eliot by Bartholomew Green in 1717 and 1718, and later for those printed for Eliot by Franklin himself in 1719" (Wroth and Adams, 42). But an employment making cuts for a bookseller would hardly have supplied a living.

Instead, it seems likely that when James Franklin (hereafter JF) came back from England, he worked first as a journeyman printer, probably for Bartholomew Green (1666-1732), then Boston's most prolific printer and a member of the Old South Church. JF had known Green all his life. A cancelled reference in the Autobiography suggests that JF borrowed money from his father to start his Boston press (GT30), probably indicating that he borrowed the money after returning to Boston. JF made the relief woodcut of Hugh Peter for A Dying Father's Last Legacy to an Only Child: or, Mr. Hugh Peter's Advice to his Daughter (Boston: B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1717), Evans 1923; also (Boston: B. Green for S. Gerrrish, 1717), Evans 39669. References: Wroth and Adams, American Woodcuts and Engravings, no. 6 and pp. 41-44; Shadwell 18, and no. 7; Reilly no. 1559.

Wroth and Adams, 13, wrote: "the Franklin cuts were made on metal with a graver and not on the long grain, or plank surface, of wood with a knife. Because of the difficulty of being absolutely sure of this fact, we have felt that whatever our own conviction might be, it was better to admit the uncertainty and describe productions of this sort entered in the Catalogue as 'relief cuts' rather than be dogmatic and call them 'metal cuts.'"

But in the imprint for A Catalogue of curious and valuable books . . . Reverend Mr. George Curwin (Boston: J. Franklin for S. Gerrish, 1718) [Evans 1953; Winans 3], James Franklin specifically advertised that he did "engraving on wood."

Lawrence C. Wroth also pointed out that the undated broadside Divine Examples of God's Severe Judgments upon Sabbath Breakers. . . Collected out of several Divine Subjects, Mr. H.B. Mr. Beard, and the Practice of Piety...Boston in New England: Re-Printed [by B. Green] and Sold in Newbury-Street, which Samuel Abbott Green dated 1708 because that was the when Newbury Street received that name, could have been printed any time after 1708. (Bartholomew Green, printer, was located after 1708 in Newbury Street.) Wroth suggested that James Franklin made the relief cuts and that the broadside should be dated "about 1718." Since James Franklin probably worked for Green for about nine months in 1717 and about five months in 1718, I suspect the date is more probably 1717. But James Franklin could have made the woodcuts after he set up printing for himself. References: Green 13-14; Bristol 314; Evans mp. 39462; Ford, Massachusetts Broadsides, no. 311; Reilly xxii-xxiii and nos. 1169 and 1170; and Wroth and Adams, 42-43.

10 April, Wednesday. Gov. Shute warned the General Court against "the Intolerable Discount upon your Paper Money ... All rents must fall of consequence, and what will your Ministers do, who are highly Worthy of their Salaries, how heavy will it fall upon them and their families, when what they are paid in grows Low in Value; and their necessaries for Life are daily advancing?" Journals 1:169.

12 April, Friday. The House voted an extra £300 be paid to Governor Shute. Journals 1:172. Cf. 4 Dec. 1716, and 21 June 1717. Growing less enchanted with Shute, the House voted him an extra allowance of £200 in 1718 and 1719.

28 May, Tuesday, "Boston, Tuesday last [May 28] being the Anniversary Day of the Birth of our Sovereign Lord King GEORGE, The Castle, Batteries and Ships in our Harbour had out all their Colours in Honour of the Day, and at Noon they all fired their great Guns; And in the Evening His Excellency our Governour, the Honourable the Lieutenant Governour of this Province, and His Majesty's Council of the same, Attended by the Civil and Military Officers, Gentlemen and Merchants, &c. met at the Council Chamber, the Troop of Guards being under Arms before the Town-House, Discharging several Volleys, where his Majesty's, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and all the Royal Families Healths were Drank, His Excellency's Governour SHUTE's, with Prosperity to this Government. All Persons expressing their great Joy and Satisfaction of His Majesty's good Government, wishing He and His Royal Family may long Live to enjoy the same, Remain the Guardians of their Sacred and Civil Liberties, and the Just Avengers of their Unnatural Subjects and Enemies, which concluded with fine Illuminations." BNL Monday, 3 June.

29 May, Wednesday. Nathaniel Byfield, John Clarke, and Elisha Cooke were among the elected Councillors. Journals 1:179-80.

30 May, Thursday. To rally support for the governor, Cotton Mather praised him at the first ministerial convention following his arrival: A Speech Made unto His Excellency Samuel Shute...May 30, 1717 (Boston: B. Green, 1717). Evans 1906. Holmes, Cotton Mather 372. Diary 2:457-58. By 1720, Shute was unpopular, and to embarass Mather, the Old Charter party reprinted it with his Letter to John Shute Barrington (cf. 1720, year-end).

31 May, Friday. Lt. Gov. Sir William Keith arrived in Philadelphia. For an overview of his administration, see Horle 2:59-60.

21 June, Friday. House voted £500 for Gov. Shute. Journals 1:216. Cf. 12 April 1717.

21 June--3 July: Uncle BF wrote "Short Account of the Family of Thomas Franklin." Ms at Yale: Mason 4004.

22 June. The General Court again passed essentially the same act of impost and tunnage, taxing English goods imported into Massachusetts and doubling the tax if the ship were not owned by a Massachusetts citizen. Acts, Ma. 2:76.

5 Aug, Monday: BNL "On Thursday last the 1st Currant being His Majesty's King GEORGE's Accession to the Throne of Great Britain, &c. At noon the Artillery of the Fort at Castle William, of His Majesty's Ships of War the Rose and Squirrel, and other Ships in the Harbour were discharged.

"In the Afternoon His Excellency our Governour accompany'd by several Gentlemen of his Majesty's Council and several others, Embarked on board His Majesty's Ship Squirrel, Capt. Smart Commander, and a Tender, in order to meet and renew a Friendship with the Indians at the Eastward; who Sail'd that Evening; as likewise did His Majesty's Ship Rose Capt. Cayley Commander, for Great Britain."

"At Night in the Town House the Honourable Lientenant Governour Dummer, Attended by several Gentlemen of his Majesty's Council, and others, Drank His Majesty's and several other Loyal Healths."

28 Aug, Wednesday. Sewall: "Read an Excellent Sermon at Mr. Franklin's about Communion with God; Sung the 4th part of the 73rd Psal. Pray'd." Sewall, Diary 859. See 8 Sept 1708.

18 Sept, Wednesday. Additional Instructions to the Governors of Plantations. "You are required not to pass any law ... whereby our Prerogative or the property of our subjects may be prejudiced without having ... a clause inserted therein suspending and deferring the execution thereof untill our pleasure be known concerning the said Act, etc. It is our further will and pleasure, that you do not for the future pass any Act which may any ways affect the Trade or Shipping of this our Kingdom, without a clause expressly declaring that the said Act shall not be in force untill it be approved and confirmed by us." CSP 1717-1718 33. See 27 Sept. This instruction partially resulted from the Masssachusetts impost bills of 1716, 1717, and 1718. Acts, Ma. 2:127. See the introduction to 1719.

27 Sept, Friday. Board of Trade. Further instruction of 18 Sept had been sent to Gov. Shute. CSP 1717-1718 48.

19 Oct, Saturday. Mrs. Hannah Sewall, wife of the diarist, died.

20 Oct, Sunday. Samuel Sewall: "My Son has much adoe to read the Note I put up, being overwhelm'd with tears." Diary 2:864.

27 Oct, Sunday. Cotton Mather preached the funeral sermon for Hannah (Hull) Sewall, wife of the diarist, at the Old South Church. Cotton Mather, The Valley of Baca (Boston: B. Green, 1717). Holmes, C. Mather 420.

7 Nov, Thursday. Samuel Sewall: "Last night died the Excellent Waitstill Winthrop esqr., for Parentage, Piety, Prudence, Philosophy, Love to New England Ways and people very Eminent." Diary 2:866-67.

14 Nov, Thursday. Samuel Sewall: "Attend the Funeral of Majr. General Winthrop. ... The Regiment attended in Arms. ... The Streets were crowded with people." Diary 2:867.

18 Nov, Monday. BNL: "Boston, On Thursday the 7th Current died here the Honourable Major General WAIT WINTHROP Esq; Aged 76 Years, Justly Dear to his Country for his Honourable Descent (being the Son of the Honourable JOHN WINTHROP Esq; first Governour of Connecticut, and Grand-Son of the Honourable JOHN WINTHROP Esq; the first Governour of New-England; in their Day the Glory and Support of their Country) but dearer yet for his personal Character and Vertues."

19 Nov, Tuesday. House voted £500 for Governor Shute's salary. Journals 1:254. Cf. 12 April 1717; 14 Feb. 1717/8; 23 July 1720.

17 Dec, Tuesday. Samuel Sewall: "At the privat Meeting at Brother Manly's I was so hoarse with my Cold, that I got Brother Franklin to set the Tune, which he did very well." Diary 2:874. Cf. 8 Sept 1708.

23 Dec, Monday. The Rev. Thomas Prince invited to be a minister of the Old South. Sewall, Diary 875.