1719
(rev. 8/22/98)

Personal: BF's broadside ballad on the taking of Teach or Blackbeard the Pirate must have reflected the 2 March Boston News Letter account. A surviving broadside on the subject, The Downfall of Piracy, echoes the news report and is probably Franklin's ballad. If so, it is his earliest extant writing. Sometime during the year, BF argued with John Collins over "the Propriety of educating the Female Sex," which he favored, if only "a little for Dispute sake" (A 12-13).

BF kept pigeons at one time, probably while living with his parents. He associated the pigeon house with building new churches (cf. 15 April): "I had for several years nailed against the wall of my house a pigeon box that would hold six pair; and though they bred as fast as my neighbours' pigeons, I never had more than six pair, the old and strong driving out the young and weak, and obliging them to seek new habitations. At length I put up an additional box with apartments for entertaining twelve pair more; and it was soon filled with inhabitants, by the overflowing of my first box, and of others in the neighborhood. This I take to be a parallel case with the building a new church here." BF to Dr. Samuel Johnson; 23 Aug 1750; P 4:42.

Massachusetts Politics: The General Court of Massachusetts for 1719-1720 met from 27 May to 30 June and from 4 November to 10 December 1719. About 1719 Elisha Cook, Jr., and a group of Boston Old Charter politicians formed the Boston Caucus, which proposed slates of candidates for selectmen and General Court elections and tried to see that those candidates were elected (4 May). On 27 May, the House chose John Burril as Speaker. Nathaniel Byfield and Dr. John Clarke were elected Councillors. A major political battle occurred when the House of Representatives tried to continue the tax (initially passed in 1715 and reenacted the next three years) on English goods and the tonnage of English ships coming into Massachusetts. The impost bill reversed the British mercantile theory, demonstrating the Massachusetts legislature's resentment of the Acts of Trade and Navigation. The previous year, 1718, Governor Shute had approved an impost bill "which laid a duty not only upon West-India goods, wines, &c., but also upon English manufactures and a duty of tonnage upon English ships." But later that year, the governor had received "an instruction from the king to give all encouragement to the manufactures of Great Britain" (Hutchinson 2:170). Shute read the instruction to the House of Representatives on 10 June 1718. The Board of Trade recommended rejecting the 1718 impost act on 24 April 1719. On 6 June 1719, the House of Representatives nevertheless sent up "An Act for Granting to His Majesty, several Rates and Duties of Impost, and Tonnage of Shipping," which included a tax on English goods imported into the colony. The Council asked the House to reconsider it on 9 June, but the House refused to do so. On 12 June, the Council returned the bill, with an amendment leaving out the duty upon English vessels and goods. The House and Council fruitlessly conferred on 16 June. Governor Samuel Shute made a conciliatory speech on the 26th. That afternoon the House passed the tax bill without the clause relating to English goods, but with a preface claiming that the government was being deprived of "their just rights, powers and privileges granted by the royal charter." In reply, the Council defended its position, 29 June. The revised act of impost and tunnage, passed 30 June, exempted the "commodities, goods or merchandize" of Great Britain. On 4 November, Gov. Shute read a message from the Lords Justices of England threatening Massachusetts with the loss of its charter for the former impost act. Shute recorded that Elisha Cooke, Jr., and Dr. John Clarke led the fight to pass and to retain the impost bill (1 and 11 June 1720). The General Court paid Shute L1,200 for 1719 (30 June (b) and 5 Dec).

Earlier, 4 May, the Boston election probably revealed the influence of the Boston Caucus.

Business: In 1719, JF's business increased fourfold. Campbell credited him with eleven imprints (including The Lighthouse Tragedy, which I date 1718). Of those items that can be approximately dated, he printed first Joseph Jenks [sic], A Reply to [William Wilkinson, showing] both Water Baptism and the Lord's Supper Plainly Proved to be the Commands of Jesus Christ, a small octavo of 76 pages. Dated "Providence, the 17th of February, 1718,19," the book opposed Quakers. Considering the subject matter, the lack of Franklin's name on the title page, and also the economic position of the Honourable Joseph Jenckes, I believe that Jenckes paid for the printing. Shortly after 2 March, BF wrote his broadside ballad on the taking of Teach or Blackbeard the pirate. Post 15 March, JF brought out a short sermon by Cotton Mather, Vigilius, a sixteen-page diatribe against sleeping in church. The young printer may have published it at his own risk, perhaps hoping Mather might offer him more profitable titles. After 2 July, bookseller Daniel Henchman hired JF to publish Solomon Stoddard's A Treatise Concerning the Nature of Saving Conversion . . . Added, A Lecture-Sermon at Boston, July 2, 1719, a duodecimo of 146 pages. Before 26 October, JF printed for Samuel Gerrish, A Catalogue of Curious and Valuable Books ... To be Sold by Auction.

Sometime during the year, JF printed a book for which he made woodcuts. Bookseller Benjamin Eliot commissioned him to reprint an old best-seller by an English puritan, Richard Bernard's The Isle of Man. The 142-page duodecimo was a religious allegory that anticipated Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. JF probably charged additionally for its elaborate frontispiece woodcut of "Sin brought before the Judge, and his Enemies pleading against him" and for the two small woodcuts in the volume. Wroth and Adams and other recent scholars also credited him with the frontispiece engraving of James Hodder for the first separate mathematical textbook published in the colonies. Keith Arbour, however, recently discovered the same engraving in an earlier English book. Perhaps JF brought the engraving back with him from England. Though the 228 pages of Hodder's Arithmetic were small (a 16 mo.), the book was a major undertaking. JF printed it for seven Boston booksellers: Samuel Phillips, Nicholas Buttolph, Benjamin Elliot, Daniel Henchman, George Phillips, John Elliot, and Edmund Negus.

The ingenious JF also made a woodcut engraving of a frontispiece for Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, which Samuel Kneeland printed. Though dated 1719, two tracts printed by JF, Benjamin Colman's Several Reasons and Arguments and Thomas Robie's A Letter to a Certain Gentleman, came out early in 1719/20.

Reacting to criticisms of John Campbell as Boston postmaster, John Hamilton (Deputy Postmaster General for North America) appointed William Brooker as Boston's new postmaster. The change took place on 13 September. Since the postmaster was in the best position to learn the news, Brooker probably expected John Campbell to turn over the Boston News Letter to him. Campbell would not. So Brooker started the Boston Gazette, 21 Dec, and hired JF to print it.

Chronology:

2 Jan, Friday. Cotton Mather: "Our excellent Governour presses me to form a significant Society of our superiour and principal Gentlemen who may project Methods for the Deliverance of the Countrey from the dreadful Distresses, which it is running into." Diary 2:580.

6 January, Tuesday, became 13.

post 17 February, Tuesday. Joseph Jenks [Jenckes], A Reply to [William Wilkinson, showing] both Water Baptism and the Lord's Supper Plainly Proved to be the Commands of Jesus Christ [Boston: JF], 1719. Campbell X10; Evans 2027.

23 February, Monday. BNL: "By Letters of the 17th of December last from North Carolina, we are informed, That Lieutenant Robert Maynard of His Majesty's Ship Pearl (Commanded by Capt Gordon) being fitted out at Virginia, with two Sloops, mann'd with Fifty Men and small Arms, but no great Guns in quest of Capt Teach the Pirate, called Blackbeard, who made his Escape from thence, was overtaken at North Carolina, and had ten great Guns and Twenty-one Men on board his Sloop. Teach when he began the Dispute Drank Damnation to Lieutenant Maynard if he gave Quarters, whereupon he boarded the Pirate and fought it out, hand to hand, with Pistol and Sword; the Engagement was very desperate and bloody on both sides, wherein Lieutenant Maynard had Thirty-five of his Men killed and wounded in the Action, himself slightly wounded, Teach and most of his Men were killed, the rest carryed Prisoners to Virginia, by Lieut. Maynard to be tryed there, who also carrys with him Teach's Head which he cut off, in order to get the Reward granted by the said Colony." See 2 March.

25 February, Wednesday. Sewall: "The Judges meet p.m. in the Council-Chamber, before the Meeting of the Council; and after some arguing, Sewall, Lynde, Dudley, Quincey, gave their Opinion, that all things Considered, twas convenient to dismiss Mr. Cooke from being Clerk of the Super. Court." Diary 2:917.

2 March, Monday. BNL: "Governour Spotswood of Virginia fitted out two Sloops, well mann'd with Fifty pickt Men of His Majesty's Men of War lying there, and small Arms, but no great Guns, under the Command of Lieutenant Robert Maynard of his Majesty's Ship Pearl, in pursuit of that Notorious and Arch Pirate Capt. Teach who made his Escape from Virginia, when some of his Men were taken there; which Pirate Lieutenant Maynard came up with at North Carolina, and when they came in hearing of each other, Teach called to Lieutenant Maynard and told him he was for King GEORGE, desiring him to hoist out his Boat and come aboard, Maynard replyed that he designed to come aboard with his Sloop as soon as he could, and Teach understanding his design, told him that if he would let him alone he would not meddle with him; Maynard answered that it was him he wanted, and that he would have him dead or alive, else it should cost him his life; whereupon Teach called for a Glass of Wine, and swore Damnation to himself; if he either took or gave Quarters: Then Lieut Maynard told his Men, that now they knew what they had to trust to, and could not escape the Pirates hands if they had a mind; but must either fight and kill or be killed: Teach begun and fired several Great Guns at Maynard's Sloop, which did but little damage, but Maynard rowing nearer Teach's Sloop of Ten Guns, Teach fired some small guns loaded with Swan shot, spick Nails and pieces of old Iron in upon Maynard; which killed six of his Men and wounded ten; upon which Lieutenant Maynard, ordered all the rest of his men to go down in the Hold, himself, Abraham Demelt of New York, and a third at the Helm stayed above Deck. Teach seeing so few on the Deck, said to his Men, the Rogues were all killed except two or three, and he would go on board and kill them himself, so drawing nearer, went on board, took hold of the fore sheet and made fast the Sloops; Maynard and Teach themselves two begun the Fight with their Swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his Sword went against Teach's Cartridge Box, and bended it to the Hilt, Teach broke the Guard of it, and wounded Maynard's Fingers but did not disable him, whereupon he Jumpt back, threw away his Sword and fired his Pistol, which wounded Teach. Demelt struck in between them with his Sword and cut Teach's Face pretty much; in the Interim both Companies ingaged in Maynard's Sloop, one of Maynard's Men being a Highlander, ingaged Teach with his broad Sword, who gave Teach a cut on the Neck, Teach saying, well done Lad, the Highlander reply'd, if it be not well done, I'll do it better, with that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his Head, laying it flat on his Shoulder, Teach's Men being about 20, and three or four Blacks, were all killed in the Ingagement, excepting two carried to Virginia: Teach's body was thrown overboard, and his Head put on the top of the Bowsprit.

The Boston News Letter appended a note to the article: "(How many of Lieut. Maynard's Men were killed in the Action besides the first six, we know not, only his Letter to his Sister in Boston, mentions 35 killed and wounded.)

Then, in the last column of the back page, appeared an addition: "Besides what we gave you in our Last and this, of the taking and killing of Teach the Pirate by Lieut. Maynard, we have this further account of it by a Letter from North Carolina of December 17th to New-York, viz. That on the 17th of November last, Lieut, Maynard of the Pearl Man of War Sail'd from Virginia with two Sloops, and 54 Men under his Command, no Guns, only small Arms, Sword and Pistols, Mr. Hyde Commanded the Little Sloop with 22 Men, and Maynard had 32 in his Sloop, and on the 22d Maynard Engaged Teach at Obercock in North Carolina, he had 21 Men, Nine Guns Mounted, Mr. Hyde was killed, and one more, and Five wounded in the Little Sloop, and having no body aboard to Command them they fell a Stern and did not come up to Assist Lieut. Maynard till the Action was almost over, Maynard shot away Teach's Gibb and Fore-halliards, and put him ashore, then run him aboard, and had 20 Men killed and wounded, Teach Entered Maynards Sloop with Ten Men, and he had 10 Stout Men Left, so that they fought it out Sword in hand. Maynard's Men behaved like Hero's, and kill'd all Teach's Men that Entered without any of Maynards dropping, but most of them Cut and Mangled, in the whole he had Eight killed, and Eighteen wounded, Teach fell with Five Shot, and 20 dismal cuts, and 12 of his Men killed, and Nine made Prisoners, most of them Negro's, all wounded, Teach would never be taken had he not been in such a hole that he could not get away.

post 2 March, Based upon the BNL account of 2 March, BF wrote a broadside ballad, "a sailor song on the Taking of Teach or Blackbeard the Pirate." A 10. Campbell X8; P. L. Ford, Franklin Bibliography, 2; W. C. Ford, Mass. Broadsides, 441.

Three different songs have been advanced as Benjamin Franklin's ballad on Blackbeard. Mason Locke Weems, in his biography of Franklin, said that he recalled one stanza (the first) of the song:

Come all you jolly sailors,
You all so stout and brave;
Come hearken and I'll tell you
What happen'd on the wave.
Oh! 'tis of that bloody Blackbeard
I'm going for to tell;
And as how by gallant Maynard
He soon was sent to hell.
With a down, down, down, derry down.

James Parton commented that "Even if the ingenious Weems borrowed from another author the stanza which he attributed to Franklin, it is a perfect specimen of the ancient ballad style" (56). In fact, it imitates two old ballad tunes. The "Come all you" opening is a standard identification of a series of song tunes (William Chappell, Ballad Literature and Popular Music [2v, 1859; rpt. NY: Dover, 1965] 524.) and the "Derry Down" refrain is standard for another (Claude M. Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music [Nw Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ Press, 1966] 172-76). But the inconsistent meter doesn't fit either song well. In the above eight lines, the odd-numbered lines usually only have seven syllables--one less than the meter calls for. I believe it is like Weems's story of George Washington and the cherry tree--he made it up. (The ballad may be found in the fourth and later editions of Weems's Life of Franklin, 21; the first three editions are only versions of the Autobiography with Weems's continuation.) P. L. Ford, Franklin Bibliography 2, said of the ballad lines in Weems: "we know them to be by another hand," but did not identify the author.

Justin Winsor, Memorial History 2:174, recorded from the memory of Dr. George Hayward eight lines of another claimant:

Then each man to his gun,
For the work must be done,
With cutlass, sword, or pistol:
And when we no longer can strike a blow,
Then fire the magazine, boys, and up we go.
It is better to swim in the sea below
Then to hang in the air, and to feed the crow.
Said jolly Ned Teach of Bristol.

But with its romantic suggestion of suicide and its "jolly" pirate, the poem is evidently a nineteenth-century creation. It is not "in the Grubstreet Ballad Stile" (A 12). P. L. Ford, Franklin Bibliography 2, also cast doubt on its authenticity.

In 1898 Edward Everett Hale found an eighteenth-century ballad which he thought probably descended from Franklin's original. I agree. "The Downfall of Piracy," which appeared in a small songbook, the Worcestershire Garland (Newcastle, [1765?]), roughly follows the information published in the Boston News Letter. For Hale, see Buxbaum 1898.13-15. John Ashton reprinted it in Real Sailor Songs (London: Leadenhall Press, 1891; rpt. New York: Benjamin Bloom, 1972), 232-33. C[harles] H. Firth, Naval Songs and Ballads (London: 1908), xxxv, 167-69, reprinted the song. Carleton Sprague Smith, reprinted the Worcestershire Garland text in facsimile in "Broadsides and Their Music," 172. The compiler of the Worcestershire Garland evidently had no idea that the song might be connected with Benjamin Franklin. Neither did John Ashton when he reprinted it (evidently from the Worcestershire Garland) in 1891. The tune, according to the Worcestershire Garland, was "What is greater Joy and Pleasure." Carleton Sprague Smith printed the tune, which he identified from Chappell's Ballad Literature 2: 597. Ellen Cohn, "Benjamin Franklin and Traditional Music," 297-99, noted that the melody remained popular into the nineteenth century.

According to the title-page of The Worcestershire Garland, the title was: "The Downfal of Piracy; being a full and true Account of a desperate and bloody Sea-fight between Lieutenant Maynard, and that noted Pirate Captain Teach, commonly call'd by the Name of Blackbeard; Maynard had fifty Men, thirty five of which were kill'd and wounded in the Action: Teach had twenty one, most of which were kill'd, and the rest carried to Virginia, in order to take their Tryal." The ballad itself begins on p. 6:

"The Downfal of Pyracy. Tune of, What is greater Joy and Pleasure."

Will you hear of a bloody Battle,
Lately fought upon the Seas,
It will make your Ears to rattle,
And your Admiration cease;
Have you heard of Teach the Rover,
And his Knavery on the Main;
How of Gold he was a Lover,
How he lov'd all ill got Gain.
When the Act of Grace appeared,
Captain Teach with all his Men,
Unto Carolina steered,
Where they kindly us'd him then;
There he marry'd to a Lady,
And gave her five hundred Pound,
But to her he prov'd unsteady,
For he soon march'd of[f] the Ground.
And returned, as I tell you,
To his Robbery as before,
Burning, sinking Ships of value,
Filling them with Purple Gore;
When he was at Carolina,
There the Governor did send,
To the Governor of Virginia,
That he might assistance lend.
Then the Man of War's Commander,
` Two small Sloops he fitted out,
Fifty Men he put on board, Sir,
Who resolv'd to stand it out:
The Lieutenant he commanded
both the Sloops, and you shall hear,
How before he landed,
He suppress'd them without Fear.
Valiant Maynard as he sailed,*
Soon the Pirate did espy,
With his Trumpet he then hailed,
And to him they did reply:
Captain Teach is our Commander,
Maynard said, he is the Man,
Whom I am resolv'd to hang Sir,
Let him do the best he can.
Teach reply'd unto Maynard,
You no Quarters here shall see,
But be hang'd on the Main-yard,
You and all your Company;
Maynard said, I none desire,
Of such Knaves as thee and thine,
None I'll give, Teach then replyed,
My Boys, give me a Glass of Wine.
He took the Glass, and drank Damnation,
Unto Maynard and his Crew;
To himself and Generation,
Then the Glass away he threw;
Brave Maynard was resolv'd to have him,
Tho' he'd Cannons nine or ten:
Teach a broadside quickly gave him,
Killing sixteen valiant Men.
Maynard boarded him, and to it
They fell with Sword and Pistol too;
They had Courage, and did show it,
Killing the Pirate's Crew.
Teach and Maynard on the Quarter,
Fought it out most manfully,
Maynard's Sword did cut him shorter,
Losing his Head, he there did die.
Every Sailor fought while he Sir,
Power had to weild [sic] the Sword,
Not a Coward could you see Sir,
Fear was driven from aboard:
Wounded Men on both Sides fell Sir,
'Twas a doleful Sight to see,
Nothing could their Courage quell Sir,
O, they fought courageously.
When the bloody Fight was over,
We're inform'd by a Letter writ,
Teach's Head was made a Cover,
To the Jack Staff of the Ship:
Thus they sailed to Virginia,
And when they the Story told,
How they kill'd the Pirates many,
They'd Applause from young and old.

* "As he sailed" echoes the refrain of the famous ballad on Captain Kidd. Oxford Book of Sea Songs 75-80.

9 March, Monday. The Boston Town meeting elected Elisha Cooke, Jr., moderator; Isaiah Tay, John Marion, Thomas Cushing, John Baker, Elisha Cook, Esq, William Clark & John Frizzel, selectmen. RRC 8:134. When John Baker and John Frizzel refused to serve, Oliver Noyes, Esqr, and Ebenezer Clough were chosen. RRC 8:137.

11 March, Wednesday. Sewall: "The General Court meets. Send in a Message that Mr. [John] Wise declin'd preaching the Election Sermon, and they had chosen Mr. [William] Williams of Hatfield to preach it." Diary 2:918. Cf. 27 May.

12 March, Thursday. Sewall: "Dr. Cotton Mather prays again. Preaches the Lecture from Prov. 29.18. no Vision. The Governor, Lt. Governor, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Belcher press'd hard that there might be an order of the Governor and Council to print it. Col. Tailer, Clark, Davenport, Sewall and others opposed it. For my part, the Dr. spake so much of his visions of Convulsion and Mutiny, mentioning our being a dependent Government, and the danger of Parliamentary Resentments: that I was afraid the printing of it might be an Invitation to the Parliament, to take away our Charter. Governor would have it put to the vote; but when he saw how hardly it went, caused the Secretary to break off in the midst." Cotton Mather's sermon supporting Samuel Shute was printed anyway: Concia ad Populum. A Distressed People Entertained with Proposals for the Relief of their Distresses (Boston: B. Green, 1719). Evans 2036; Holmes, C. Mather 70.

14 March, Saturday. Thomas Lechmere to John Winthrop: "Wee had this weeke likewise a towne meeting, wherein, to the great surprize of all the great ones, Doctor Elisha [Cooke] was, nemine contradicte, chosen Mr. Moderator. They according to custome proceeded to the choice of Towne officers. He was likewise chosen with great majority a Select Man (I think they call them) & the Mobility are so disgusted at the ill treatment he has had by being turned out of all that they will have him a Deputy this turn: they are sett upon it very resolutely." CMHS 55 (1892): 388n.

post 15 March, Sunday. Cotton Mather, Vigilius (Boston: J. Franklin, 1719), dated 15 March. Campbell 11; Evans 2048; Holmes, C. Mather 429. Perhaps JF was trying to curry favor with Cotton Mather, thinking if he printed Mather's sermon on this boring subject (sleeping in church), Mather might favor him with a popular occasional sermon.

15 April, Wednesday. Samuel Checkley (Harvard 1715) was ordained as minister of the New South Church by Increase and Cotton Mather, Benjamin Wadsworth, Benjamin Colman, and Joseph Sewall. Josiah Franklin and his family may have attended. Cf. 14 July 1716 (for the church's beginning) and 8 Jan 1716/7 (for the building's completion).

17 April, Friday. Sewall: "South Church meeting p.m. Choose two Deacons; Mr. Barthol. Green, Mr. Daniel Henchman. Voters 41. Mr. Green had 37. Mr. Henchman 19. Mr. Franklin, 10." Diary 2:921. The election marked Josiah Franklin's nearest approach to leadership in Puritan Boston, though he fulfilled numerous minor public offices. No doubt Josiah Franklin wanted to be a deacon. Thirteen-year-old Franklin must have felt his father's disappointment.

24 April, Friday. Board of Trade to the King. Recommended disapproving the Mass. impost act of May 1718, which "allows the importation of all sorts of wines and commodities directly from the place of their growth, and charges them with a double duty, if imported from this Kingdom etc. It lays a duty of 1 p.c. on all English merchandizes, and not half that on any other goods; and as a further discouragement to the British Trade and Navigation lays a duty of tonnage on all shipping, except that of the Massachusets Bay and of some few of its neighbouring Colonies." CSP 1719-20 75.

29 April, Wednesday. Boston Town meeting chose Elisha Cook, Oliver Noyes, Isaiah Tay, and William Clark representatives. RRC 8:138. Hutchinson, 2:168-69, commented that opposition to Gov. Shute had been increasing, especially in Boston, and that in the election of 1719, the town of Boston sent "all new members and a change was made in many other towns, unfavorable to the governor's interest."

4 May, Monday. Thomas Lechmere to John Winthrop: "At the Election this week for Deputys they have chosen Dr. Cooke, Dr. Noyes, W. Clarke, Deacon Joy, all by a considerable majority, notwithstanding all endeavours used to the contrary." CMHS 55 [or sixth ser., vol. 5] (1892) 388n. Cooke, Noyes, and Clarke were among the new Boston selectmen elected 9 March. G. B. Warden, Boston 94 observed: "Previously Boston's voters had rarely elected the same men to the two most important offices in the town, but after 1719 it became more the rule than the exception." Warden convincingly speculated that the 1719 elections revealed the influence of the Boston Caucus.

27 May, Wednesday. John Clarke and Nathaniel Byfield were elected councillors. Journals 2:111-13.

6 June, Saturday. The House of Representatives sent up An Act for Granting to His Majesty, several Rates and Duties of Impost, and Tonnage of Shipping, which contained a one percent duty "on European Merchandize." Journals of the House of Representatives 2:129, 164.

9 June, Tuesday. The Council asked the House to reconsider its tax on English goods in view of the King's instruction which had been read 10 June 1718, but the House refused. Journals 2:132.

12 June, Friday. The Council sent down the "Bill for Granting several Duties of Impost" with amendments, but the House insisted that the original bill be passed. Journals 2:139-40.

13 June, Saturday. The Council asked for a meeting with the House on Tuesday. Journals 2:142.

16 June, Tuesday. The House considered "An Act for Granting unto His Majesty several Rates & Duties of Impost and Tunnage of Shipping ... and Ordered, That all the British Vessels be Exempted from the Duty of Tunnage in the said Bill." The Council "proposed to the House, That the Duty of one per Cent. laid therein upon the value of Sterl. of English Goods may be Abated." Journals 2:144, 145. At a conference, the House merely proposed to alter the word "English" to "European." Hutchinson 2:170.

17 June, Wednesday. Elisha Cooke presented to the House a narrative of the proceedings of the General Court on his memorial against John Bridger, Surveyor-General of His Majesty's Woods, in order that it be sent to agent Jeremiah Dummer for the Commissioners of Trade and Plantation. Journals, 2:148-49.

17 June (b). The Council concurred with the impost bill, except for "the Duty of one per Cent on English Goods." The Council found that "the said Article Interfer'd with His Majesty's late Instruction [18 September 1717] to his Excellency the Governour." The House, however, insisted upon the bill as last sent up. Journals 2:149.

24 June, Wednesday. The House revoted the impost bill, "saving that a clause be inserted in the Bill to exempt all British Vessels from the Duties of Tonnage," but the House kept the tax on English goods. Journals 2:160.

26 June, Friday. Governor Shute made a conciliatory speech to the House concerning the impost bill. Journals 2:163. In the afternoon, the House conceded and prepared another impost bill, but prefaced the vote with the statement that the Council's refusal to concur "tends to the Depriving this Government of their just Rights, Powers and Privileges, Granted by the Royal Charter." Journals, 2:164. Cf. 29 June.

29 June, Monday. Saying that the impost bill had "already been made too Publick," the Council asked the House, "Whether it may not be better wholly to suppress the Publishing any thing which may carry, or bear a Reflection on any part of the Court." But the House voted, "Nemine contradicente" to publish its preface to the impost bill. Journals 2:166. Cf. 26 June.

30 June, Tuesday. The House voted the bill with the objectionable prefatory language. Journals 2:167. In the afternoon, the Council defended its position. "That the Council apprehended the Duty of one per Cent. on English Goods affected the Trade of Great Britain, and so within the meaning of His Majesty's late Additional Instruction is certain. And being of that opinion, it would have been inconsistent for the Board to Concur the Bill of Impost as first sent up, however they can boldly and truly say, That in the whole of their proceedings on this occasion they have acted from a Principle of Duty to His Majesty, Love and Fidelty to their Country, and have nothing more at heart than the just, wise and careful preservation of those unvaluable Rights, Powers and Privileges Granted by the Royal Charter, which God long continue." Journals 2:169. Also Hutchinson 2:172-73. The revised act of impost and tunnage, passed 30 June, exempted the "commodities, goods or merchandize" of Great Britain from the tax. Acts and Resolves 2:138. (Clyde Duniway, Freedom of the Press 84n, noted that a similar incident occurred in New York in 1711.) Cf. 4 Nov.

30 June (b). House voted £600 salary for Gov. Shute. Journals 2:170.

post 2 July, Solomon Stoddard. A Treatise Concerning the Nature of Saving Conversion To which is added a lecture-sermon had at Boston, July 2, 1719. (Boston: J Franklin, for D. Henchman, 1719). Campbell X12; Evans 2072.

13 July, Monday. Sewall: "As i was at Dinner, Mr. Cooke sent me Dr. Cotton Mather's high praises of the Governour, printed from the Flying Post, May, 16." Diary 2: 925. Mather's sycophantic letter to Shute's brother-in-law, John Shute Barrington, was reprinted in Boston together with Mather's speech of 30 May 1717 (see 1720, year-end).

16 July, Thursday. Mr. J. Craggs, Secretary of State for the Southern Department, to Gov. Shute: "their Excellencys are extreamly dissatisfied with your conduct in consenting to the passing an Act [the impost bill] so contrary to your Instructions, and to the laws and interest of England." CSP 1719-20 160.

17 July, Friday. John Bridger to William Popple, Secretary to Council of Trade and Plantations: "The King's right was never called in question till Mr. Cooke (that Incendiary) with unparalled insolence, h[ad] endeavoured, to poyson the minds of his countreymen, with his republican notions, in order to assert the independency of New England, and claim greater privileges than ever were designed for it." CSP 1719-20 162.

10 August, Monday. BNL: John Campbell said that he had been printing a sheet every other week in order to make his news more current. A year ago, he had been thirteen months behind but now he was only five months behind and by this coming January he hoped, by publishing a full sheet every other week, to be caught up with the news as it came into Boston. "The undertaker had not suitable encouragement, even to Print half a Sheet Weekly, seeing that he cannot vend 300 at an Impression, tho' some ignorantly concludes he Sells upwards of a Thousand: far less is he able to Print a Sheet every other week, without an Addition of 4, 6 or 8 Shillings a Year, as every one thinks fit to give payable Quarterly, which will only help to pay for Press and Paper, giving his Labour for nothing." Quoted in Isaiah Thomas, History of Printing 219.

13 September, Saturday. In the 15 September BNL, William Brooker announced that "On Saturday last [13 September] the Post-Office in Boston was removed to the fifth Door Southward of the old Office." Deputy Postmaster General John Hamilton had appointed William Brooker as Boston postmaster, replacing John Campbell.

22 September, Tuesday. JF purchased from Daniel Henchman: "To 1 Book ... 40 Copper Cutts, £1; To 7 Large Pictures, 8sh." Wroth and Adams, American Woodcuts and Engravings, 1670-1800, p. 44. Cf. entry for [John Smith], The Husbandman's Magazine at the end of 1718; and the books in the Courant office, 2 July 1722. For an essay on art that BF reprinted, see 4 June 1730.

ante 26 October, Monday, A Catalogue of Curious and Valuable Books. ...To be Sold by Auction on Monday the twenty sixth day of this instant October, 1719 ... by Samuel Gerrish ([Boston] Printed by J. Franklin, 1719). Bristol 561; Campbell X5; Evans mp. 39701; Winans 5.

4 Nov, Wednesday. Gov. Shute's Speech to the General Court: "Their Excellency's the Lords Justices are pleased to signifie to Me, their great displeasure at the Act of Assembly that was passed at the Sessions in May, 1718. Entituled, An Act for granting unto His Majesty several Rates and Duties of Impost and Tunnage of Shipping: Wherein a Duty was laid both on English Goods and English built Shipping, as being contrary to His Majesty's Instructions [18 and 27 September 1717] ... I am very glad we were so sensible of the Mistake, as at our Sessions in May last, we took off the Duty on English Goods and Shipping, and the more Effectually to prevent our being Guilty of so fatal an Error for the future, I am Expressly Commanded ... to Represent both to the Council & Assembly in the Words following, viz. 'That as the power of making Laws, which was granted to this Government by the Charter from their late Majesty's King William and Queen Mary, is restrained to the Condition, that such Laws shall not be Repugnant to the Laws of Great Britain, they will do well to consider how far the breaking this Condition, and the laying any Discouragement on the Shipping and Manufactures of Great Britain may endanger their Charter.'"

"I have also a very strict Charge from their Lordships, to take the Utmost care in the preservation of His Majesty's Woods, Mast Trees. ... Complaint has been also made to their Lordships, as if great Quantities of Timber had been carried from New-England to Spain." Journals 2:173-74. Also printed in BNL 9 Nov. On the charge that the Massachusetts government had hindered John Bridger in his office, see 28 November and the assembly's reply, 9 Dec.

18 November, Wednesday. House answered Shute's charge that John Bridger had been hindered in his office. See 9 December below and Journals 2:219.

28 November, Friday. Sewall: "Is sharp debate in the Council about the Deputies further Answer to the Governour's Speech. At last the Council votes persons to join in drawing up an Address, and to desire the Deputies not to print Their Answer. Sewall, Townsend, Partridge, Otis carry it in." Diary 2:934. For the answer, see 9 December. Another "Answer," of 20 March 1720/1, appeared in both BNL and BG.

5 December, Saturday. House voted £600 salary for Gov. Shute. Journals 2:215. Thus his salary for 1719 was again £1200 (cf. 30 June).

9 Dec, Wednesday. House of Representatives voted to print its "further answer" (written by Elisha Cooke and his committee and sent up from the House on the eighteenth) to Gov. Shute's speech of 4 Nov. Cooke replied: "And if any waste has been committed, the Surveyor General has been the chief, if not only Instrument thereof, by Selling and indulging divers People for considerable Sums of Money, to go into the Woods to Cut Trees for Loggs, and other Uses, by which indirect means many very valuable Pines have been Sold and Converted to Private Men, which hath been evidently to appear by the Affidavits of sundry persons of known Credit and Reputation, and produced and laid before the Assembly, at their last Sessions, as well as some other Sessions before." The House also denied that any timber had been shipped to Spain. Journals 2:220.

10 December, Thursday. Gov. Shute said that the House's reply was not "a proper Answer to His Speech ... and thinks it will not be for the Honour and Service of this Government, to have it made Publick, and therefore desires the same may not be Printed." The House insisted in printing the speech. Shute said no. The House again said it would print the speech. Then Shute said, "His Majesty had given him the Power of the Press, and he would not suffer it to be Printed." Journals 2:224-25. The threat of censorship was a mistake. See 17 February 1719/20. The representatives remembered it when Shute asked for a censorship law on 15 March 1721 (cf. 21 March 1721). When Bartholomew Green honored the governor's request and refused to print the House journals containing the House's reply, the House changed printers (14 December).

11 December, Friday evening, a supposed meteor (but really a display of the aurora borealis) appeared over New England, the subject of Thomas Robie's Letter, advertised on 4 January 1720.

14 December, Monday. The Journals of the House of Representatives for 3 to 10 December were published with the following imprint: "Boston, Printed by N. Boone, at the Request and Appointment of the Representatives of Boston; Mr. Bartholomew Green, the former Printer to the House, Refusing to Print the same. December 14. 1729." Journals 2:226. For the former imprint, see Journals 2:210.

21 December, Monday. JF began printing The Boston Gazette, the third American newspaper, for William Brooker, the new Boston postmaster. Campbell X4; E2013. The former postmaster, John Campbell, owned the Boston News Letter, but the postmaster was in the best position to gather the news and distribute a paper. Newspapers were delivered free by the post (until BF, as Postmaster-General for North America, started charging for them in 1758). Of course, the postmaster could forbid the post riders to carry a rival's newspaper, as Andrew Bradford did to BF in Philadelphia in 1733 or 1734 (see 23 Jan 1735). Isaiah Thomas observed: "Postmasters established the first two newspapers published in Boston; and succeeding postmasters seemed to claim a right to such publication, or at least to think that a newspaper was an appendage to their office." (Thomas, History of Printing, ed. McCorison, 249.)

The opening editorial for the Boston Gazette announced: "The publishing of this Paper has been in Compliance with the desires of several of the Merchants and others of this Town, as also at the repeated Instances of those People that live remote from hence, who have been prevented from having the News Paper sent them by the Post, ever since Mr. Campbell was removed from being Post-Master." Brooker thus confessed that as soon as he became postmaster, he refused to allow the postriders to carry the Boston News Letter.

"To make this Paper the more Acceptable to the Trading Part of this Town, and other Parts of America, every other Week will be published an Account of the Prices of all Merchandize, how they govern at this Place, in the Nature of a Price Current." But the merchants complained (4 Jan 1720), and Brooker dropped the feature.

"The greatest Care will be taken that this Paper shall always contain the latest News that can be met with from the publick Prints; And as for the other Occurrences of the adjacent Provinces, the several Post-Masters communicate all Matters of that kind to this Office every Post: And it is hoped the Method that will be observed in carrying on this Paper, will be such as to render it agreeable. Those therefore that are willing to promote it, are desired to signify their Intentions at the Post Office accordingly.

The imprint read: "Boston: Printed by J. Franklin, and may be had at the Post Office, where Advertisements are taken in."

21 Dec (b). BG advertisement: "A Servant Boy's time for 4 years (who is strong, laborious, and very fit for Country Work) to be disposed of; Enquire of Mr. Josiah Franklin at the Blue Ball in Union Street, and know further."

22 December, Tuesday. In Philadelphia, Andrew Bradford printed the first issue of the American Weekly Mercury (hereafter AWM), the third American newspaper and the first outside Boston.

For the following three James Franklin 1719 imprints, no specific date has been ascertained:

Richard Bernard. The Isle of Man (Boston: Reprinted by J. Franklin, for B. Eliot, 1719). Campbell X3; E2012; Sinclair Hamilton 4; Wroth and Adams, 9; Reilly 1021, 1070, 1071. The frontispiece (Reilly 1021) and two small relief cuts (of a monkey [Reilly 1071] and of a bird [Reilly 1070]) on sig. Al1 are the work of JF.

James Hodder. Hodder's Arithmetic (Boston: J. Franklin, 1719). Woodcut portrait of Hodder not by JF. Campbell X9; E2026; Wroth and Adams 8; Reilly 1558. [Lawrence C. Wroth], "The Colonial Scene," PAAS 60 (1950): 132.

Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the Jews. Fourth Edition (Boston: Samuel Kneeland for B. Eliot, 1719). Bristol 565; STE 39706; Reilly 1159; Wroth and Adams, p. 7. JF carved the woodcut frontispiece for Kneeland.