1718
(rev. 7/22/98)

Personal: BF became apprenticed to his brother JF, a printer. His first book collection was of John Bunyan's works which he sold to buy the series of Nathaniel Crouch's chapbooks (A 10-11). BF wrote a broadside ballad, The Lighthouse Tragedy which is not extant (3 Nov).

Background: The General Court of 1717-1718 met for its third session from 5 to 14 Feb 1717/8. Bad personal relations had developed between Elisha Cooke, Jr., and Gov. Shute. On 29 Jan, Cooke insulted the governor (who was not present but who heard about it). The Council investigated on 5 Feb and voted that "Mr. Cook's words were rude, injurious, and Reflecting on the Governor." Gov. Shute again spoke out against paper currency on 6 Feb. On 14 Feb (c), Elisha Cooke charged that Thomas Bridger, surveyor-general of the woods, took bribes to allow people to cut restricted timber. On 4 Dec, the General Court censured Bridger. The General Court of 1718-1719 met from 28 May to 5 July and from 29 Oct to 4 Dec. On 28 May, John Burrill, of Lynn, was again elected Speaker. Nathaniel Byfield, John Clarke, and Elisha Cooke were among those elected to the Council. On 29 May, Gov. Shute negatived Elisha Cooke, Jr., leader of the paper money cause and ostensible defender of the people against Thomas Bridger. On 28 June, the Massachusetts General Court passed essentially the same impost and tunnage act, taxing English imports and English tunnage, as in the previous years. The General Court paid Shute L1,200 in 1718 (3 July and 3 Dec).

Business: JF, whom I suspect had been working as a journeyman printer for Bartholomew Green, made at least three woodcut engravings during 1718. The title page of Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety (Boston: B. Green, 1718) may have been cut while he still worked for Green. The four woodcut engravings of a bull, a horse, a ram, and a hog made for John Allen, the printer of [John Smith], The Husbandman's Magazine (Boston: Allen for Boone, 1718) cannot be dated more specifically than 1718. The woodcut on the broadside poem Words of Consolation to Mr. Robert Stetson & Mrs. Mary Stetson, his Wife, On the Death of their Son Isaac Stetson, Who Perished in the Mighty Waters, Nov 7th, 1718 was made post 7 Nov; JF may have printed it.

JF must have set up his own shop before the late summer. Campbell credited him with two imprints for the year, but did not know A Catalogue of Curious and Valuable Books (see ante 28 Aug). Thomas Prince, Sermon delivered on Wednesday, Oct 1, 1718 ... [with] Ebenezer Pemberton, A Discourse of the Validity of Ordination by the Hands of Presbyters is the second 1718 Franklin imprint that can be approximately dated. Shortly after 3 Nov, he printed Benjamin Franklin's first publication, The Lighthouse Tragedy (Campbell listed this under 1719). And sometime during 1718, JF printed Theophilus Dorrington, A Familiar Guide to the Right and Profitable receiving of the Lord's Supper (imprints that cannot be more precisely dated are listed at the end of the year). If JF had his press in operation by early June, he may have printed the anonymous broadside poem, A Satyrical Description of Commencement.

Chronology:

1 Jan, Wednesday. Josiah Franklin probably attended the private prayer meeting at Judge Sewall's. Diary 2:877.

6 Jan, Monday. BF became 12.

22 Jan, Wednesday. Josiah Franklin attended a "Family Sacrifice" at Judge Sewall's. Though he invited a number of ministers and distinguished guests, Sewall also invited the regular members of his private prayer meetings: "Our Fast was held though a cold day. Mr. Prince began with Prayer, Mr. Sewall, Blessed are they that Mourn. Mr. Colman pray'd. Dr. Cotton Mather preach'd, Psal. 79.8. Let thy tender Mercyes speedily prevent us. Mr. Wadsworth Concluded." Diary 2:880. Sewall recorded that the printer Bartholomew Green invited the guests (I presume Green printed invitations and had them delivered by messenger): "Bro Manly and wife, Mr. Samuel Adams, Widow Tully, Capt. Hill, Mr. John Walley, Madam Pemberton, Lt. Governor, Edward Bromfield esqr., Mr. Willoughby, Master Williams, Mr. Samuel Phillips, Mr. Jonathan Belcher, wifes Mother. Col. Fitch, Capt. Ephraim Savage, Madam Winthrop, Jeffries, Mr. Secretary Willard, Widow Belknap, Mr. Samuel Gerrish, Widow Hubbart, Simeon Stoddard esqr., Cousin Samuel Sewall, &c. Madam Eunice Willard, widow of Capt. Nathaniel Williams, Brother Cole, Franklin, Col. Checkley, Mr. John Coney, Major Hab. Savage, wido Thornton, Dr. John Clark, Thomas Hutchinson esqr., Edward Hutchinson esqr, Madam Usher." Diary 2:879-80.

Of these guests, the following were regular members of Sewall's private prayer group: The "Widow" Belknap (see Sewall's Diary for 9 Nov 1720), was probably Mary, the widow of Joseph Belknap. Mary (Gedney) and Joseph Belknap made the baptismal covenant at the Old South Church on 30 April 1680 (Hill, Catalogue 105, 194). Evidently it was a different Mary and Joseph Belknap who became full members on 16 Nov 1735 (Hill, Catalogue 38, 141). Brother and Mrs. Cole were John and Mary Cole who joined the Old South Church as full members on 24 June 1694 (Hill, Catalogue 18, 194). According to Hill, they "Joined by letter of dismission from the church in Stonington, Conn. John Cole married Mary, "daughter of the brave John Gallop, killed in the decisive battle of Philip's War" (306-307). (For Brother Cole, see Sewall's Diary for 6 Aug 1712, 5 June 1716, and 5 March 1718, and for Mrs. Cole, 6 Jan 1720.)

A mainstay of the Sewall's private prayer group was Captain James Hill (15 Dec 1708, 5 March 1718, 12 Oct 1720). He became a full member of the Old South Church on 12 June 1670 (Hill, Catalogue 6, 162) and a deacon on 24 Nov 1693. He had been recruited into the Boston military company in 1677, became 4th Sergeant of the company in 1678, and a lieutenant in 1685. Roberts' History 248 guessed that he was probably, "a cooper by trade, as the selectmen appointed him a culler of staves in 1669, 1670, and 1671." A highway surveyor in 1680-81, he was captain of the military company in Boston from 1684 to 1692 inclusive, and a selectman of Boston 1688-1690 and 1693. He died 26 Feb 1720-21. Another regular attendee was William Manly (7 Feb 1711, 17 Dec 1717, 3 Feb 1720, 12 Oct 1720). He had become a full member of the Old South Church on 9 March 1689 (Hill, Catalogue 15, 168).

Regular members of the private prayer meeting who did not attend this ceremony included Henry Bridgham (Sewall's Diary 2 March 1713, 3 June 1711), who joined the Old South Church as a full member on 3 Oct 1703 (Hill 22, 137). A member of Boston's militia, he was recruited in 1699. A Boston tanner, he was a tithing-man in 1703; clerk of the market in 1704; and constable in 1706. He became third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1704; first sergeant in 1709; and clerk of the Company from 1707-1709. He died 10 April 1720 (Roberts, History 316-21). Also not in attendence was Grace Tilley Clark (Sewall, 3 June 1716), the wife of Jonas Clark, brazier, and daughter of William Tilly and his first wife. She joined the Old South Church as a full member on 3 June 1711 (Hill 25, 147). She had been baptized on 6 Nov 1692, but apparently not at the Old South Church. Her stepmother was Abigail Tilly (1704), Samuel Sewall's second wife (Hill 321).

Also absent was Mary Dafforne, wife of John Dafforne. She made her Baptismal Covenant at the Old South Church in 1677 (no specific dates are given for that year) (Hill, Catalogue 103, 198) and became a full member 15 Feb 1684 (Hill, Catalogue 13, 150). Sewall, on 20 June 1716, mentioned inviting the meeting to her house. Nor was Dorothy Weld Denison (24 Oct 1718) (wife of William Denison, H.C. 1681) present, though she outlived William Denison and married Samuel Williams in 1720.

Of course, by 1718 a few former faithful members of the group had died. They included Mary Emmons (Sewall 14 Oct 1719, 12 Oct 1720, 29 March 1721), the wife of Benjamin Emmons. On 20 Jan 1713/14, Sewall mentioned that because of her illness the meeting had been postponed.

Mary Frost (3 Feb 1720), the wife of John Frost, was absent. She had become a full Old South Church member on 19 Dec 1708 (Hill, Catalogue 24, 156). Samuel Phillips, a Boston bookseller, was also absent. He became a member of the Old South on 26 Oct 1707 and a deacon in 1714 (Hill 24, 175, 330). He was recruited for the Artillery company in 1693 and made first sergeant in 1699. He kept his shop "At the Brick-shop at the West end of the Town House." He was baptized 2 Nov 1662 and died Oct 1720, age 58 (Roberts 299-300). Not in attendance was Martha Ruggles (Sewall 24 Oct 1718), widow of Captain Samuel Ruggles, who made her baptismal covenant at the Old South 7 Feb 1696 and became a full member 15 June 1701 (Hill 21, 178). Peter Sergeant (Sewall 11 April 1712), "a prominent merchant and citizen" (Hill 288), became a full member of the Old South on 28 July 1689 (15, 179). He was a freeman in 1690 and an overseer of seats in 1699 (288-89).

Also missing was Captain Ephraim Savage (17 Sept 1709, 6 Feb 1712, 4 Feb 1713, 29 March 1721), born 20 July 1645, who graduated Harvard College in 1662 and became a full member of the Old South Church on 3 May 1672 (Hill 8, 179). In 1674, he was recruited to the Artillery Company and in 1677 was made an ensign of his father's company, succeeding his father (Thomas) as captain of that company 17 March 1681. Meanwhile, he had made fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1677, ensign in 1678, and Lieutenant in 1680. He was a selectman of Boston 1693-96 inclusive, 1709 and 1710, and a representative 1703-08 inclusive and 1710. The great fire of 1711 started in one of his outhouses. Ephraim's third wife, Elizabeth Norton Symmes, had apparently attended meetings with her husband until her death 13 April 1710, for Sewall mentioned on the day of her death that she had come to a meeting at Captain Hill's. Elizabeth Brown Butler Savage, Ephraim's fourth wife, attended meetings (4 Feb 1713) with her husband. He died Feb 1730/1 (Roberts 230-31).

Habijah Savage (Sewall 1 July 1715), "prominent in both civil and military affairs," was also a member of Sewall's private meeting group (Hill 333). He joined as a full member of the Old South on 16 Jan 1708 (Hill 24, 179). Recruited for the Artillery Company in 1699, he was third sergeant in 1701, Lieutenant in 1709, and Captain in 1711, 1721, and 1727. He was major of a Boston regiment in 1717 and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1727. A Boston selectman 1715-18, he was a representative to the General Court in 1717, 1718, and 1732; a special justice to the Court of Common pleas 15 Dec 1732; and a Justice of the Peace on 19 Dec 1728, reappointed 6 July 1732. He died 16 Sept 1746 (Roberts 322).

Stephens (or Stevens) (Sewall 17 Feb 1709, 20 Jan 1714) was possibly Thomas, who made his Baptismal Covenant on 5 June 1698 (Hill 117, 211). Another regular not at the ceremony was Simeon Stoddard (Sewall 17 Feb 1709, 11 April 1712, 8 April 1715), who joined the Old South Church as a full member on 25 Jan 1701/2 (Hill 22, 183). He was recruited to the Artillery Company in 1675, made ensign of Captain Penn Townsend's foot company on 11 May 1681, became ensign of the Artillery Company in 1702, and died 15 Oct 1730 (Roberts 239).

Brother Thornton (Sewall 5 Oct 1709, 2 Feb 1715) and Sister Thornton (5 March 1718) may have been Thomas (joined the Old South South on 31 Oct 1725; Hill 31, 185) and Mary Greenwood Thornton, (joined on 16 Dec, 1670; Hill 7, 185, see also bio. note 233). There is also a Sarah Thornton who made the Baptismal Covenant on 1 March 1702 (119, 211), so perhaps the correct combination is Thomas and Sarah. Abigail Melyen Woodmansee Tilley (5 June 1717, 1 Jan 1717/18), wife of William Tilley, was Sewall's second wife. She joined the Old South Church on 3 Sept 1704. She married Sewall on 29 Oct 1719, but died only seven months later on 26 May 1720 (Hill 23, 184, 333). William Tilley (4 Feb 1713, 19 Aug 1713, 5 June 1716, 20 June 1716), Abigail's second husband, joined the Old South Church in 1674.

Colonel Jonathan Tyng (27 Aug 1714) occasionally attended Sewall's meetings. A member of the Royal Council in 1686 and 1687, he opposed Governor Andros. He was magistrate and representative in 1692. Recruited to the Boston Militia in 1670, he became a major in 1697, a Lieutenant Colonel in 1702, and a Colonel of the Upper Middlesex regiment in 1703. Tyng was born 15 Dec 1642 and died 19 Jan 1724 (Roberts 216). Madam Bridget Lisle Hoar Usher (5 June 1716) was another Sewall regular. Wife of Hezekiah Usher, she was the daughter of Lady Alice Lisle, "one of the victims of the infamous Judge Jeffreys, after the battle of Sedgmoor" (Hill 216).

Eunice Tyng Willard (23 Oct 1713, 27 Aug 1714), second wife of Samuel Willard (HC 1659), also attended Sewall's group. Katherine Brattle Eyre Winthrop (15 April, 1709), second wife of Wait Still Winthrop, was a regular attendee. She joined the Old South Church as a full member on 23 March 1683 (Hill 13, 191). Sewall wooed her unsuccessfully. She died 2 August 1725 (Hill 273).

Since the group met at different members' houses, these members of Sewall's private prayer group must occasionally have met for their services at Josiah Franklin's home. BF, like the other Franklin children, must have known them.

29 Jan, Wednesday. Elisha Cooke insulted the governor who brought up his behavior before the Council, 5 Feb.

5 Feb, Wednesday. Sewall recorded the Council's action: "They voted, that Mr. Cook's words were rude, injurious, and Reflecting on the Govr." Diary 2:916. Shipton 4:351-52.

6 Feb, Thursday. Governor Shute in an address to the assembly said: "I am glad to find the Trading part as well as the Gentlemen of the Country begin generally to be convinced, that as it was only the Necessity, and great Emergency of our Affairs, that brought us into a Paper Credit; so we shall never be upon a firm and lasting Foundation, till we Recover and Return to Silver and Gold, the only true Species of Money." Journals 1:262.

14 Feb, Friday, 1717/8. Josiah Franklin: Receipt to Madam Shrimpton. APS.

14 Feb (b). House voted £200 to Gov. Shute, "in consideration of the extraordinary dearness of all necessaries for House keeping." Journals 1:272. This brought his salary for 1717 to £1200. Cf. 12 April, 21 June, and 19 Nov, 1717.

14 Feb (c). Elisha Cooke presented a memorial to the House of Representatives complaining that John Bridger, Surveyor-General, "is strenuously endeavouring by wrong Insinuations and Threats, to compel the Inhabitants of Kittery and Berwick, and the neighbouring Townns, to Pay him Forty Shillings per Team for each Team they send to Log, and get Timber." Journals 1:272. Cf. 14 and 25 June, 14 July, and 4 Dec 1718 and 17 July 1719. Hutchinson, History 2: 167, called the dispute between Cooke and Bridger "the beginning of the public controversy which continued until the end of Col. Shute's administration." Both the impost act and the paper money controversies, however, preceded the pine tree debate. Cf. 14 and 25 June, 14 July, and 3 and 4 December.

23 Feb, Sunday, Samuel Sewall suggested that either John White or Josiah Franklin should take his place as praecentor for the congregation. "The Return of the Gallery where Mr. Franklin sat was a place very Convenient for it." Diary 2:886. (John White, Harvard 1685, succeeded Sewall as praecentor on Sunday, 2 March.)

5 March, Wednesday. Private prayer meeting at Captain Hill's. Sewall, Diary 2: 888.

28 May, Wednesday. At the request of the Governor and Council, Benjamin Colman preached the election sermon: The Religious Regards We Owe to our Country (Boston: B. Green, 1718). Evans 1949. Colman added a preface "To the Honourable Sir William Ashurst, Kt. and John Barrington Shute, Esq." dated 4 June. Colman revealed the moderate principles of a new Charter man: "He that estimates not our Charter Privileges must be either very Ignorant of the Interests of this People, or very unfriendly to them" (37). Showing that the New Englanders had adopted the English celebrations of the birthdays of the ruling king, Colman remarked: "Moreover, This day of our yearly solemnity happily falling on the Anniversary of the Birth of the Kings most Excellent Majesty, as it must needs add to the Public Joy, so let it make us Pray the more fervently for the long life and happy Reign of the King" (46).

28 May (b). John Burrill, of Lynn, was again elected Speaker of the House; Nathaniel Byfield and Elisha Cooke were among those elected to the Council. Journals 2:2-3.

29 May, Thursday. Governor Samuel Shute negatived Elisha Cooke's election to the Council. Journals 2:3.

31 May, Saturday. In Philadelphia, Andrew Bradford petitioned the Pennsylvania assembly: "that he has been at a considerable Expence in finding out the right Method of making Lamp-black, and having compleated the same, desires Leave to bring in a Bill to prohibit all others from making Lamp-black for twenty years." Votes 2:1270. He repeated his request on 16 Jan 1721/2, but the assembly took no action on his petition. Votes 2:1399. Cf. 26 Dec 1732; 21 March 1733.

Ante summer? JF made the allegorical relief cut for the title page of Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety (Boston: B. Green for Benj. Eliot and Daniel Henchman, 1718). Evans 1944; Reilly 1022; Wroth and Adams, no. 7.

Late spring or early summer? JF opened his shop at the corner of Queen (now Court) Street and Dassett Alley (now Franklin Avenue). BF was probably apprenticed to his brother James about the time James opened the shop, "when I was yet but 12 years old" (A11).

Early June. [Anon.] A Satyrical Description of Commencement, Calculated to thge meridian of Cambridge in New England. Broadside poem: W. C. Ford no. 439; not extant; reprinted in 1740: Evans 40209; W. C. Ford no. 739. Possibly printed by JF. The 1740 edition was reprinted in the Magazine of History with Notes & Queries, Extra no. 69. Note: since the Harvard commencement was the first Wednesday in June, publication of the broadside would have been especially appropriate then.

14 June, Saturday. Sewall recorded: "Mr. [Elisha] Cooke is sent for into Council to explain his Memorial, and he asserts his Meaning to be, that the Province of Main[e] being Granted by the King to Sir Ferdinand Gorges, and the Title and Right of the said Gorges being derived to the Massachusetts Colony, the Timber therein belongs to them; and King George may not take it away." Diary 2:896. Cf. 14 Feb (c).

25 June, Wednesday. At Elisha Cooke's instigation, the Maine representatives presented a memorial against John Bridger, Surveyor-General. Journals 2:43. (On 30 June, it was called "the Memorial of Elisha Cooke.") Cf. 14 Feb (c).

28 June, Saturday. The Massachusetts General Court passed essentially the same impost and tunnage act, taxing English imports and English tunnage, as in the previous years (22 June 1717). Journals 2:50; Acts, Ma. 2:108.

3 July, Thursday. House paid Gov. Shute £600. Journals 2:55.

14 July, Monday. John Bridger wrote the Council of Trade and Plantations: "Elisha Cooke ... asserts vindicates, and maintaines, that his Majestie nor officers has anything to doe with the woods in the Province of Main.... Upon my Memorial, the Governour at the next election of Councilors was pleased to put a negative on sd. Cooke. ... But the majority are for him and [h]is rebelious assertions. ... When the dispute of H.M. just rights and proragative of the woods was debating in the lower house, I gave one of the Members two Acts of Parliament pass'd in the 4 and 11 years of the late Queen for the preservation of H.M. woods here in America, he was very smartly answered, that Acts of Parliament were of no force with them, they had a Charter." CSP 1717-1718 307. Cf. 14 Feb 1718.

ante 28 Aug, Thursday. JF printed: A Catalogue of Curious and Valuable Books, (which mostly belonged to the Reverend Mr. George Curwin) ... To be sold by auction ... on Tuesday the second day of Sept, 1718 ... The books will be shewn by Samuel Gerrish bookseller, near the Old Meeting House in Boston, from Thursday the 28th day of Aug (Boston: Printed by J. Franklin, at his printing-house in Queen Street, over against Mr. Sheaf's school; where all sorts of printing work and engraving on wood, is done at reasonable prices). No Campbell; Evans 1953; Winans 3. JF's earliest dated imprint (cf. end of year) is attractively printed, decorated on p. 1 with a rectangular headband consisting of putti (Reilly no. 44); a factotem (Reilly no. 396); and, at the end, a tailpiece consisting of putti with flowers (Reilly no. 179).

14 Sept, Sunday. Sewall: "Mr. [Josiah] Dwight pray'd and preach'd very well. Dan. 3, 16. Shadrach--Doct[rine]. When the Authority over us require that which is unlawfull of us, we must be Noncompliers and Dissenters. Mention'd the Cross in Baptism. They are to be commended who stoood out in 1662. Is it not something to have our Names put into a Book of Martyrs in addition to the 11th Hebr." Diary 2:902.

1 Oct, Wednesday. Thomas Prince ordained assistant minister at the Old South Church. Sewall recorded: "Mr. Wadsworth began with Prayer, very well, about 1/2 past Ten. Mr. Prince preached from Hebr 13-17. Mr. Sewall pray'd. Dr. Incr. Mather ask'd if any had to object: ask'd the Church Vote who were in the Gallery fronting the Pulpit. Ask'd Mr. Prince's Acceptance of the Call. Dr. Increase Mather, Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Wadsworth, Colman, Sewall lay their Hands on his head. Dr. Increase Mather Prays; Gives the Charge, Prays agen. Dr. Cotton Mather Gives the Right Hand of Fellowship. Dr. Incr. Mather, when he declared whom the elders and Messengers had appointed to do it, [said] that it was a good Practice. Sung Psal. 68. 17-20. Mr. Prince gave the Blessing. Govr. Dudley and his Lady came in about the beginning of Sermon. Entertainment was at Mr. Sewall's, which was very plentifull and splendid." Diary 2:904.

JF printed the sermon: Thomas Prince, Sermon delivered on Wednesday, Oct 1, 1718 . . . [with] Ebenezer Pemberton, A Discourse of the Validity of Ordination by the Hands of Presbyters (Boston: J. Franklin, for S. Gerrish, 1718). Campbell X2; Evans 1996; Holmes, C. Mather, 332; Holmes, I. Mather, 23. This is the second earliest JF datable imprint (cf. end of year).

3 Nov, Monday: "On Monday last the 3d Currant an awful and Lamentable Providence fell out here, Mr. George Worthylake, (Master of the Light-House upon the Great Brewster [called Beacon-Island] at the Entrance of the Harbour of Boston) Anne his Wife, Ruth their Daughter, George Cutler, a Servant, Shadwell their Negro Slave, and Mr. John Edge a Passenger; being on the Lord's Day here at Sermon, and going home in a Sloop, dropt Anchor near the Landing place, and all got into a little Boat or Cannoo, designing to go on Shoar, but by Accident it overwhelmed, so that they were Drowned, and all found and Interred except George Cutler." BNL 10 Nov.

BF wrote a broadside ballad on the event entitled The Lighthouse Tragedy (A 10). Campbell X7; P. L. Ford, Franklin Bibliography, 1; W. C. Ford, Massachusetts Broadsides, 440. No copy known.

The poem sometimes attributed to BF on the drowning, beginning, "Oh! George, This wild November" is either a forgery or an imitation of what Franklin might have written. It contains numerous passages of typical nineteenth-century sentimentality. First printed in the Boston Post for 7 Aug 1940, the poem was shown by Zoltan Harasti to be written in a nineteenth-century hand (P 1:6). Since 1940 it has been reprinted numerous times, usually with the claim that Franklin wrote it: e.g., Edward Rowe Snow, Amazing Sea Stories (Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1954) 42-48.

Worthington C. Ford's suggestion (Mather, Diary, 2:566) that BF's ballad was translated into French and sold overseas misreads an English retranslation of a French translation of the Autobiography. See P 1:6, n.7.

post 7 Nov 1718. [Broadside poem] [Nathaniel Pitcher.] Words of Consolation to Mr. Robert Stetson & Mrs. Mary Stetson, his Wife, On the Death of their Son Isaac Stetson, Who Perished in the Mighty Waters, Nov 7th, 1718 [Boston: [J. Franklin?], 1718]. Bristol 548; Evans mp. 39689; Ford 438; New York Public 100; Reilly (cut of a ship) 1125. The woodcut was by JF, though he may have made it for another printer. Pitcher wrote the first poem on the broadside.

10 Nov, Monday. Cotton Mather recorded: "I entertained the Flock, with as pungent and useful a Discourse, as I can, on the Occasion given in the tragical Spectacle of a Number in our Neighbourhood, (among which were the Master of the Light-house, and his Wife) who were drowned the last Week, and carried all together to the Grave, with a very solemn Funeral. ... Having done this yesterday [9 Nov, Sunday] ... my Sermon goes to the Press ... It is entituled Providence Asserted and Adored. In a Sermon occasioned by the Tragical Death of several, who were unhappily drowned, near the Light-House, at the Entrance of Boston-Harbour. With a Relation of the unhappy Accident." Like Franklin's broadside, Mather's sermon, Providence Asserted and Adored, has not survived. Evans 1979; Holmes, C. Mather, 313. Mather, Diary, 2:566-67.

14 Nov, Friday. "There being a necessity to supply Mr. Worthylakes place to keep up the Lights on that Island, Capt. Robert Saunders with Two others, viz. John Chamberlin and one Braduck, were appointed to go down, who accordingly went on Fryday last, to the Light House about Three a Clock, and a Ship coming in from Sea put out a waffe; and Capt. Saunders with the other two went on board her, and Capt. Saunders Inquired, If they wanted a Pilot, seeing they made a Sign for them. The Master said, No, he only wanted to know what News; whereupon Capt. Saunders told him, That if he had known so much he would not have ventur'd aboard in such Stormy Weather, so returning to their Boat to come on Shore; a flaw of Wind over-set her, Capt. Saunders & Bradduck both drowned, Mr. Chamberlin Swam directly to the Shore, where he was laid before the fire and begun to revive, and is now lying Sick in Boston." BNL 17 Nov.

17 Nov, Monday. Cotton Mather noted: "Another Master of the Light-house [Robert Saunders], is (with another Person) already drowned. So surprising a Dispensation gives me an Opportunity to lett fall such Passages on the Sea-faring part of my Flock, as may have a mighty Tendency to excite the Motions of Piety in them. God prosper these Endeavours." Diary 2:568.

18 Nov, Tuesday, BNL reported drowning of George Worthylake. See 3 Nov.

22 Nov, Saturday. Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard the pirate, killed. See 2 March 1719 for the BNL detailed account of the fight and for BF's possible ballad.

24 Nov, BNL: "Whereas is our last [see 14 Nov] we gave you an Account that Capt. Saunders with Messierrs Bradduck and Chamberlin went to the Light-House on the Friday before, and espying a Ship coming in from Sea, with a Waffe, they concluded to go on Board, which accordingly they did, and in their return (as we then related) they were overset by a Flaw of Wind and drowned except Chamberlin."

"Capt Thomas Burrington Master of the abovesaid Ship, relates, that he made no Waffe for the Light-House to send a Boat on board, only for a Boat that was coming down he made the Waffe, and seeing the said Boat go on Shoar at the Light-House, he took down his Waffe, which he and his company are ready to Attest, and that Capt. Saunders never askt him if he wanted a Pilot, as was related by the said Chamberlin."

3 Dec, Wednesday. House voted £600 salary for Gov. Shute. Journals 2:107. Thus Shute's salary for 1718 was £1200 (cf. 3 July).

3 Dec (b). House of Representatives chose John Wise "to Preach before His Excellency and the General Assembly in the Publicke Audience, at the next Day of Election of Councellors." Journals 2:108. Wise refused. Cf. 11 March 1719.

3 Dec (c). Council "Voted That His Excellency be Desired to Issue out a Proclamation for the Securing His Majesty's Rights in the Woods, according to the Reservation in the Royall Charter, and the Protection of His Majesty's good Subjects in their just Rights and Privileges, of Logging, Masting and Timber." Journals 2:109. Cf. 14 Feb (c).

4 Dec, Thursday. A committee of the Council and the House found that "the Allegations made against ... Elisha Cooke by John Bridger, Surveyor-General of His Majesty's Woods, are not Supported by the Papers laid before us.

"That the said Bridger hath obstructed the Inhabitants of this Province in their just Rights and Privileges of Logging by his Arbitrary and Unwarrantable Demanding Money of them." Journals 2:109. Cf. 14 Feb (c).

25 Dec, Thursday. Cotton Mather: "The Country is brought into dreadful Distresses. ... Our excellent Governour converses with me upon that Head, and I am with his Assistances, projecting several Things, that may have a Tendency to rescue us from the impending Destruction." Diary 2: 578.

No specific date is known for the two following 1718 JF imprints:

1. Theophilus Dorrington, A Familiar Guide to the Right and Profitable receiving of the Lord's Supper (Boston: JF For Eleazer Phillips, 1718). Campbell X1; Evans 1954. This imprint may possibly be earlier than the auction catalogue for Samuel Gerrish (ante 28 Aug) or the Prince ordination sermon (1 Oct).

2. Sometime during the year, JF made woodcut engravings of a bull, a horse, a ram, and a hog for John Allen, the printer of [John Smith], The Husbandman's Magazine (Boston: Allen for Boone, 1718). Bristol 551; Evans mp. 39692; Reilly nos. 1072-75; Wroth and Adams, American Woodcuts and Engravings, 1670-1800, 3. See also [Lawrence C. Wroth], The Colonial Scene PAAS, 60 (1950) 82-83; and Charles B. Wood, "American Scientific Illustrations, 1675-1775," in Boston Prints and Printmakers, 1670-1775 (Boston: Col. Soc. of Mass, 1973), 228, who notes that the four prints are stylized copies from other artists, "as indicated especially by the elegant upswept tail of the bull," rather than original drawings from nature. JF probably possessed a small collection of books containing woodcuts and engravings. Cf. 22 Sept 1719 and the list of books in the Courant office, 2 July 1722. For an essay on art that BF reprinted, see 4 June 1730.