1729
(rev. 4/13/98)

Personal: Throughout 1729, BF continued to live at the site of the present 139 Market Street, together with Hugh Meredith and the Thomas Godfreys. During the latter part of 1729, Mrs. Godfrey projected a match for BF with a daughter of her relations (A69-70) who evidently encouraged the courtship (cf. 1730). For the birth of William Franklin, see 1728.

Activities: The Junto regularly met on Friday nights (see above, 1727).

Intellectual Interests: BF experimented with sample squares of cloth and found that the amount of heat absorbed from the sun was a function of the color. He suggested pursuing such experiments to Joseph Breintnall (and perhaps to other members of the Junto; c. Jan). For BF's interest in population statistics, see 20 Nov. The series of articles on jail conditions demonstrated both Franklin's concern with basic human nature and his attempts to use his newspaper to do good (24 Nov). During the year, he was evidently studying German (see 15 Feb 1732).

Business: The young partners petitioned the assembly on 18 Feb, "praying to print for the Province," but they did not have enough support to bring their request to a vote. The comparatively few surviving accounts for 1729 show that the printed forms were the mainstay of Franklin and Meredith's business. Other than bonds, summonses, bills of lading, and "blanks of several sorts," the partners sold paper, almanacs, advertisements (separate and, beginning in October, in the PG), and, on 15 Dec, one pint of oil. The partners managed to survive and make money by accepting whatever the customers could pay: William Hutchins paid his bill in dried venison (accounts, 7 May); both Stephen Barton and Andrew Hannah paid with topsails (accounts, end of 1729); William Jones paid by doing some work for the firm (accounts, end of 1729); the merchant William Mogridge was given credit for a piece of linen (accounts, end of 1729); and the partners took some of the shopkeeper Evan Morgan's private 8 pence bills in payment for printing them (accounts, June). Franklin's and Meredith's business dramatically changed on 2 Oct when they purchased the failing Pennsylvania Gazette from Samuel Keimer. Franklin had kept himself and Meredith busy producing the best possible legal forms (see below, ante August), but beginning in Oct, the partners had a newspaper to publish every week--and the constant necessity to fill it with news or entertaining material. Including the PG, C. W. Miller recorded eleven imprints for the firm in 1729 (Miller nos. 2-12), but one (24 April) was actually printed by Keimer who tried to pass it off as from the "New Printing Office." The earliest surviving example of Franklin and Meredith's job printing, a mortgage bond on Pennsylvania's General Loan Office (15 Oct), testifies to their expert production of such forms. Their first government printing was also the first paper money they printed, Delaware's paper currency of 1729 (c. 1 Dec).

Franklin and Meredith printed three pamphlets for others during the year. The most significant was the anti-slavery pamphlet for the Quaker Ralph Sandiford, A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times (Sandiford dated it 1 Jan 1728/9). The Quakers probably paid for the printing of John Meredith, A Short Discourse Proving the Sabbath is Repealed (17 Nov), and Charles Woolverton paid for his The Spirit's Teaching Man's Sure Guide (27 Nov).

Franklin and Meredith brought out five pieces at their own risk during 1729. BF no doubt suggested and must himself have carefully set in type the governor's address of 29 March after Andrew Bradford had printed it sloppily on worn-out type. Their best-seller was BF's The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency (3 and 10 April, even though it was still selling the following year). Godfrey's first almanac, "Beautifully printed in Red and Black" (2 Oct), was probably the year's most attractive pamphlet, but unfortunately no copy survives. The major printing venture of 1729, an edition of Isaac Watts, Psalms of David (2 Oct), disappointed the partners and sold slowly. Puzzingly, the book says on the title page that it was printed for Thomas Godfrey, but he was not a book-seller or a merchant and could hardly have disposed of many copies. I suspect that the statement was a private joke.

Pennsylvania Politics: Andrew Hamilton, William Allen, and others petitioned that a state house be erected (20 Feb 1729), leading to the erection of Independence Hall. Gov. Patrick Gordon, 4 April, presented T. Penn's demand that Pennsylvanians pay their quit rents in sterling, rather than in Pennsylvania currency. This became a major subject of controversy in the future. The government finally gave in to popular pressure and threats and passed a paper currency act to emit £30,000 on 10 May 1729, thus resolving the Keithian faction's main issue. Isaac Norris, Sr., had been and continued to be the major single opponent of the paper currency (Horle, "Isaac Norris," 2:777-80). The following peaceful elections of 1729 and 1730 signaled that the Keithian disturbances had ended. At the time of the 1729 paper currency bill, members of the Provincial Council agreed with the assembly that the Proprietor's quitrents could be paid in paper currency (Tully, "Proprietary Affairs," 120). On 8 May 1729, the Quaker party finally voted into existence a fourth county, Lancaster, to be created, thus giving the Scots-Irish on the frontier some voice in an election, but they were allowed only four representatives, whereas Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester counties each had eight assemblymen, and Philadelphia city had two. Since the Quakers were concentrated in the older counties, they thereby ensured the dominance of the Quaker party. No more counties were created until 1749, when York County was given just two assemblymen.

The election of Andrew Hamilton, Franklin's friend and patron, as Speaker of the House on 14 October, opened the way for BF to become the official printer. Hamilton remained Speaker for four years, until he lost the 1733 election, but he was elected to a vacancy later that year and reelected Speaker in 1734, retaining that office until his resignation in 1739.

Indian Affairs: Conrad Weiser, who had learned the Indian language as a boy when living with the Mohawks in New York, moved to a farm at the headwaters of Tulpehocken, a creek that flows into the Schuylkill River. Because the Iroquois knew and trusted Weiser, he was to play a key role with Shickellamy in allying the Five Nations with Pennsylvania and, consequently, with the English.

Writings: BF wrote as "Martha Careful" and "Caelia Shortface," protesting Samuel Keimer's articles on abortion (28 Jan); the "Busy-Body" essay series (4 Feb to 27 March); The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency (3 April); and an editorial on Governor Burnet's request for a fixed salary (9 Oct), followed up by various miscellaneous newspaper notes on Massachusetts politics. I attribute two new 1729 pieces to BF: On 1 Dec, he reported the trial of Captain Mercer at a Court of Admiralty in Philadelphia, and on 9 Dec, he prefaced a reprinted essay on conditions in English jails with an editorial on human nature. The humanitarian interest prefigures his crusade against excessively severe criminal laws late in his life (14 March 1785).

Chronology:

post 1 Jan 1728/9. Ralph Sandiford's dedication to A Brief Examination of the Practice of the Times (Philadelphia: [Franklin and Meredith], 1729) was dated 1 Jan 1728/9. Miller 11.

6 Jan, Monday, BF became 23.

3 Jan, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

10 Jan, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

17 Jan, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

21 Jan, Tuesday. Keimer prints article on "Abortion" from Chambers' Cyclopaedia.

24 Jan, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

28 Jan, Tuesday, AWM: "Martha Careful" and "Caelia Shortface" protested Keimer's article on abortion. P 1:111-13. Discussed by Granger, 41; Sappenfield 48-49.

31 Jan, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

c. Jan, 1729] BF experimented with sample squares of cloth and discovered that the amount of heat absorbed from the sun's rays and conducted by the cloth varied according to color. Later, 25 Jan 1736/7, he encouraged Breintnall to make such experiments. The experiments, however, differed little from Boyle's, Newton's, and especially Boerhaave's. I. B. Cohen, BF's Science 166. Franklin first wrote about the experiments c. Nov, 1760. P 9:247-52; W 779-81.

4 Feb, Tuesday, BF began the "Busybody" essay series in AWM to popularize Bradford's paper and to ensure Keimer's failure (A 50; P, 1:113­39; Canon, no. 11). BF composed Busy-bodies nos. 1-5 and no. 8. Breintnall carried on the series through 25 Sept, when Keimer announced he had sold the AWM to BF and Hugh Meredith. In Busy-Body #1: Franklin introduced the idea of writing weekly letters to relieve the boredom of ordinary news. P 1:113-16. For discussions, see E. C. Cook 57-85; DeArmond 194-97 (and 16-19); Granger, American 42-51; Sappenfield 49-58; and Van Doren 96-98.

7 Feb, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

11 Feb Tuesday. AWM: Busy-Body #2: The Busy-Body censured Ridentius, who made jokes at the expense of his fellows, and praised Eugenius, whose wit comes from discourse with his friends and not at their expense. P 1:117-18.

14 Feb, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

18 Feb. Tuesday. AWM: Busy-Body #3: Using Cato as an example, the Busy-Body urged virtue as the only true way to greatness. BF also satirized the minor character "Cretico," a "sowre Philosopher." P 1:118-21.

18 Feb. (b). Pa. Assembly: "The Petition of Hugh Meredith, and Benjamin Franklin, praying to print for the Province, was read, and ordered to lie on the Table." Votes 1928. Their request did not come to a vote; cf. 22 Feb.

20 Feb, Thursday. Andrew Hamilton, William Allen, and others petitioned that a state house be built "in High Street, near the Prison." Votes 3:1929.

21 Feb, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

22 Feb., Saturday. Pa. Assembly: "Ordered, That Andrew Bradford print the said Minutes." Votes 1932. Cf. 18 Feb.

25 Feb. Tuesday. AWM: Busy-Body #4: In answer to a letter from "Patience," the Busy-Body informed readers of the "Turkish manner" of receiving and entertaining guests, which included the perfuming of beards. P 1:122-26.

25 Feb (b). AWM: Mock advertisement asked for materials on the history of "the renowned Tiff-Club," Sir William Keith's club for "Leather-Apron" men.

25 Feb (c). PG: Samuel Keimer, thinking himself pointed at as "Cretico" in "Busy-Body # 3," warned against writing "characters." (The lead AWM essay, "The Casuist," seems to be by a different author.)

28 Feb, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

4 March, Tuesday. AWM: Busy-Body #5: Having declared amnesty for all evil-doers who acted wrongly before the printing of his first letter, the Busy-Body introduced an individual who could "tell" the extent of others' virtue or ill-deeds through second sight. He also defended himself against Keimer's charge of defamation of character. P 1:127-133. E. C. Cook 66, suggested that in his ridicule of superstition, BF may echo The Censor, a literary periodical of 1715, but he knew Defoe's and Swift's satires, and I find no special debt to The Censor.

4 March (b). AWM: J. Logan advertised on behalf of Proprietaries that they were taking legal measures to recover any due quit-rents. Repeated 13 March.

5 March, Wednesday. The assembly, responding to popular demand, passed an act for emitting £50,000 and sent it to the Council. Colonial Records 3: 346. Cf. 15 Oct and 16 Dec 1728; 25, 28 and 31 March; 24 April; 2 and 10 May 1729.

7 March, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

13 March, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #6 (by Joseph Breintnall): The Busy-Body exhorted his readers not to be too easily partisan, either politically or religiously, and a Quaker persona complained of those who abused his hospitality. For discussions of Breintnall's contributions, see E. C. Cook 74-85; and Bruce Granger, American 43-51. In my opinion, Breintnall's best pieces are the mock-illiterate essay by a rambling narrator (no. 16; 5 June 1729) and a tall-tale by a liar (no. 27; 14 August 1729)--both excellent mock oral humor, anticipating genres popular in nineteenth-century American literature.

13 March (b). PG: Samuel Keimer replied to "Busy-Body #5" with a poem, "An Answer to the Busy-Body." Calendar # 105. He also wrote "Hue and Cry after the Busy-body," weakly satirizing Breintnall and BF. Keimer probably reflected BF's apparel when he wrote that his "Merits" were "as threadbare as his Great Coat, and Skull as thick as his Shoe-Soles."

14 March, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

20 March, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #7 (by Breintnall): The Busy-Body discussed methods of avoiding libel, including the Turkish solution of printing nothing.

21 March, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

25 March, Tuesday, Gov. Gordon recommended a currency bill of only £25,000. Colonial Records 3:346, 348-50. Cf. 5 March.

27 March, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #8 (by BF): After complaining of efforts to discover his identity and to manipulate his prose to have meanings other than those originally intended, the Busy-Body related a letter from a would-be astrologer, Titan Pleiades (playing upon the name of the almanac-maker Titan Leeds) who wished to make acquaintance with the author and his "Second-sighted Correspondent" in order to find buried treasure. BF then wrote the first American spoof of treasure hunters. P 1:134-39.

At the last minute, BF added a letter in favor of paper money. Andrew Bradford came back to town and suppressed the additional letter before the issue was distributed, adding filler in its place. A few printed copies, however, got out, and numerous manuscript copies of the printed ones were made. The revised AWM did not appear till Friday morning, 28 March, for it added on p. 4: "N.B. The New York, nor Maryland Posts are not come in at 11 a-Clock, Friday Morning." Lemay, "Franklin's Suppressed 'Busy-Body"; Canon no. 11; W 116-18. This was BF's last Busy-Body. Breintnall wrote the rest.

28 March, Friday, assembly again complained that "Divers Persons have presumed to insult and menace the Members of this House." Votes 3:1939. Cf. 16 Oct 1728; 5 and 31 March. The people wanted a new paper money bill passed.

28 March (b), probably attended Junto meeting.

29 March, Saturday, Bradford printed the address of the House of Delegates to the Governor "in a coarse blundering manner." Franklin and Meredith reprinted it "elegantly and correctly and sent [a copy] ... to every Member" (A 64). Though Bradford's broadside (Evans 3203) contained no spelling errors (he does spell "Pennsylvania," "Pennsilvania" and omitted an apostrophe in "The Governour's Answer"), the design or layout of Bradford's broadside was unattractive, and the type itself was worn-out and broken, so that many whole letters and numerous parts of letters did not quite print. Unfortunately, Franklin's reprinted broadside is not extant (Campbell 7; Miller 9).

The address complained that "some dissatisfied Persons among ourselves, have of late taken the Liberty to menace and threaten, not only many private Persons within this Province, but likewise some of the Members of this House." The representatives asked that the governor issue a proclamation against "riotous and unlawful Assemblies." Votes 3:1939-40; Colonial Records 3:351.

31 March (b). Gov. Gordon issued a proclamation on riots and disorders. Colonial Records 3:351-52.

2 April, Wednesday. Gov. Gordon addressed the House of Representatives, speaking against the paper money bill. Printed in the AWM 17 April. Colonial Records 3:352-53; Votes 3:1942.

3 April, Thursday, BF, A Modest Enquiry into the Nature & Necessity of a Paper Currency, dated 3 April, advertised on Thursday, April 10. Campbell 2; Evans 3165; Miller 4; P, 1: 139­57. The pamphlet was "well receiv'd by the common People in general; but the Rich Men dislik'd it" (A67). See below, 20 Nov, for BF's interest in statistics concerning trade and population. Kern 123-31 discussed the popular pressure (and threats on the assemblymen) to pass the currency bill. It was reprinted in the NYG 2, 9 and 16 June; and in the MdG 22 July. For discussions, see Anderson 171-73; Carey 7-15; Hornberger 19-20; Mott and Zinke; Parton 1:186-88; Van Doren, 102; Wetzel 18-32.

3 April (b). House replied to Gov. Patrick Gordon urging a paper money bill. Printed in the AWM 17 April. Colonial Records 3:353-54; Votes 3:1944.

4 April. Gov. Patrick Gordon presented T. Penn's demand that the quitrents be paid in sterling rather than in Pennsylvania currency. Cf. 9 May 1739. Hutson, Pa Politics 63-65.

4 April, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

10 April, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #9: The Busy-Body briefly discussed the furor over the suppressed letter in no. 8, then discoursed upon the nature and characteristics of the "Political Lion."

10 April (b). AWM: "Just Published: And Sold at the New PRINTING-OFFICE near the Market. A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency. See 3 April.

10 April (c). PG: Keimer celebrated the death of the "Busy-Body" (i.e., BF's withdrawal from writing the series). "Epitaph for Busy-Body." Calendar 109.

11 April, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

17 April AWM: Busy-Body #10: An extract from Cato's Letters urged that not material wealth but "Love of God, of Virtue, and of his Country" will make men happy.

18 April, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

24 April, Thursday: BF advertised in AWM: "This may inform those that have been induc'd to think otherwise, That the silly Paper, call'd A Touch of the Times, &c., was wrote, Printed and Published by Mr. Keimer: and that his putting the Words NEW PRINTING OFFICE at the Bottom, and instructing the Hawkers to say it was done there is an Abuse." A Touch of the Times, Evans 3174, is not extant.

24 April (b). PG: Keimer began publishing serially Defoe's Religious Courtship.

24 April (c). James Logan to Thomas Penn. "Trade failing every where, and great numbers of indigent People perpetually crowding in upon us, this Province grows daily poorer." "Those who seek our Confusion in horor to Sir W. K. have infused such notinos into the Populace, that we have been in all appearance in real danger of an Insurrection." Logan reported that the followers of William Keith had fired up the passions of the common people: "about 200 Countrymen had agreed to come to this town with Clubs, and such of the place as would join them of whom they might have had a large number, to apply first to the Assembly and then Storm the Governor, but with the Council, at least some of them it was to have been the hardest ... There are those who would be well content to see some scores knock'd on the Head, their estates plundered and their Houses in ashes." The Thomas Penn Papers, roll 4, frame 304. Quoted by Kearn, 126 who cites PPOC 2:55. Cf. 2 May. PPOC 2:55. See Kern 140, n. 44. Cf. 16 Dec 1728;

25 April, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

1 May Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #11: The Busy-Body discussed the history of colonies from classical times to the present, and then considered the commercial state of Great Britain's colonies.

2 May, Friday, Patrick Gordon reported to Springett and John Penn that "unthinking People ... had mett together a few miles from this City and intended to come in a Body to terrify the Opposers of the [paper currency] Bill." Kern 126, citing PPOC 2: 57. Cf. 31 March.

2 May (b), probably attended Junto meeting.

8 May, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #12 instructed the rich and the poor in behavior becoming their respective social stations.

8 May (b). Lancaster County created. Votes 3:1059. The assembly allotted it only four representatives; the original counties (Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks) each had eight. Signed into law, 10 May.

9 May, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

10 May, Saturday, Gov. Patrick Gordon signed the Pennsylvania paper currency bill for £30,000, all to be reclaimed by 15 Sept 1745. In his message concerning the bill, Gov. Gordon complained that "so great & so undecent a Noise has been made in some parts of this Province" for the bill that he had been obliged to issue a proclamation "to prevent the Insults intended by some misled People spirited up to Mischief." In effect, he confessed that he had been forced to pass the bill because he feared the popular violence that might result if he did not. Colonial Records 3: 360. Votes 3: 1949-64. Newman, Early 328. Cf. 15 Oct and 16 Dec 1728; 5, 25, 28 and 31 March; 24 April; and 2 May 1729.

Though BF's pamphlet Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency was partly responsible for the passage of the bill, and though he mistakenly recalled that he was rewarded for his pamphlet by being employed to print the paper currency (A67), Andrew Bradford was paid £80 "for printing the last Thirty Thousand Pounds" (Votes 3:2025, 2043). But in the fall (see post Nov), BF and Meredith probably printed the corresponding Delaware issue. They did print the additional £40,000 Pennsylvania money, voted 6 Feb 1730/1.

15 May, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #13 contained a letter on "Romantick Hope" and a poem, composed entirely of monosyllables, from "Philomusus." Calendar no. 111.

16 May, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

22 May, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #14: "Matilda" wrote a war-of-sexes letter. Another feminine persona, using lively colloquial language, amusingly censured the Busy-Body for his ineffectual meddling.

23 May, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

29 May, Thursday. AWM: In Busy-Body #15, tradesmen complained of the high pretensions of ladies (which prevented their courtship), while a gentleman complained of some men who corrupted daughters and sisters. Finally, a casuist asked that the public monument intended for the formerly sickly Busy Body be given to him.

30 May, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

5 June, Thursday. AWM: Breintnall's Busy-Body #16 contained several letters: Florio replied to "Matilda" (22 May) defending himself; a country persona wrote a mock-illiterate letter; a rambling, mock-oral narrator wrote about an "idle young fellow" who told long-winded, disjointed tall tales; and a man warned his friend about taking on airs. All four letters reflected important traditions in colonial and later American humor.

6 June, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

12 June, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #17 explained why a doctor of physic and he, a censor, must unite in order to be successful in their respective trades.

13 June, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

16 June, Monday. Ann(e) (Franklin) Harris (half-sister of BF) died in Ipswich, MA. P 1:lvii.

19 June, Thursday. After an epigram from Pope's "Essay on Criticism," Busy-Body #18 relates a conversation concerning art and nature and the ancient and modern author. The letter is followed by a poem in heroic couplet and a letter from another poet, defending himself from the attack of the first poet and offering a sample of his own verse. Calendar no. 117.

20 June, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

26 June, Thursday. Busy-Body #19 opened with an exhortation by a virtuous (probably religious) man for the people not to forget religion and then launched into a debate concerning restrictions placed upon the fair sex in Philadelphia.

27 June, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

circa June. Franklin and Meredith printed private bills for Philadelphia shopkeeper Evan Morgan and accepted some in payment for their work. Accounts, June 1729; Newman, Early 327.

3 July, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #20 printed two letters, one from a mock-illiterate correspondent continuing (from 5 June) his discourse on the manners of country youth, and the other from a group of wives complaining of their husbands' drunken revelries.

3 July (b) PG: Keimer printed a self-pitying account of his financial troubles, together with an apology for missing last week's paper.

4 July, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

10 July, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #21: A correspondent asserted the existence of God and the truth of the Scriptures.

11 July, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

17 July, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #22: A representative of the Meridian Society of Punch-drinkers answered the letter in #20 (3 July) from a group of wives. He claimed that tea, not rum, was harmful, and that husbands suffer abuse at the tongues of their wives rather than vice versa. The Busy-Body gave his solution to the punch-drinking dilemma, with an anecdote about the dangers of rum, lime juice, and nutmeg.

18 July, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

24 July, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #23 rebuked employers who take advantage of their employees with deceit, fear, and temptations.

25 July, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

31 July, Thursday. AWM: Having consulted again with his second-sighted correspondent, Busy-Body # 24 provided a catalogue of vices which the seer discovered in the local community and asked that other vices be reported.

Summer or fall of 1729

Franklin opened "a little Stationer's Shop," carrying "Blanks of all Sorts the correctest that ever appear'd among us, being assisted in that by my Friend Breintnall" (A68). When he purchased the Pennsylvania Gazette from Keimer, he advertised, 2 Oct, Thursday, that at the New Printing­Office near the Market, "Bibles, Testaments, Psalters, Psalm­Books, Accompt­Books, Bills of Lading bound and unbound, Common Blank Bonds for Money, Bonds with Judgment, Counterbounds, Arbitration Bonds, Arbitration Bonds with Umpirage, Bail Bonds, Counterbounds to save Bail harmless, Bills of Sale, Powers of Attorney, Writs, Summons, Apprentices Indentures, Servants Indentures, Penal Bills, Promisory Notes, &c. all the Blanks in the most authentick Forms, and correctly printed; may be had at the Publishers of this Paper; who perform all other Sorts of Printing at reasonable Rates" (PG, 2 Oct, p. 4; P 1:164-65). With the best legal forms in Philadelphia, Franklin's job printing soon became the heart of his daily activity. In 1997, a handsome bound volume of folio land office mortgage bonds printed by Franklin and Meredith turned up, and through the courtesy of Jay Snider, the owner, and Keith Armour, I saw the volume at the American Philosophical Society.

1 August, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

7 August, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #25 discussed the differing natures of individuals. The author then lamented the few examples he had received in response to a query (31 July) for discourse upon vices.

8 August, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

14 August, Thursday. AWM: In Busy-Body #26, a lover of freedom asked about the tenets of free-thinking. He followed with an advertisement from the Busy-Body to the "Correspondent who subscribes himself Brutus or Cassius, or both" asking the correspondent about the originality of his text.

15 August, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

21 August, Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #27 contained a letter condemning tellers of tall tales and lies. Next came a note from "a constant Churchman" complaining of ladies who in church worshipped one another instead of God.

22 August, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

28 August Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #28 published a letter on the abuses of Christianity at the hands of "great pretenders to Wit and Learning," and one from a wife lamenting the change in her husband's attitude toward her since their marriage.

29 August, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

1 Sept, Monday, Denham's executors recorded that in an oral addition to his will, Denham forgave BF's debt of £10 passage money. Denham account book, PHi. Cf. 19 Dec 1726.

3 Sept, Wednesday, Deed to Sarah Read. 4p. APS Bache. BFPAPERS file no. 21089. "Deed to Sarah Read, administratrix of the late John Read, for the property situated in Philadelphia between High and Chestnut Streets and Third and Fourth Streets, purchased at public auction and formerly owned by said John Read but taken at his death in payment of debt incurred by him with the General Loan Office; dated Sept. 3, 1729." Also contains earlier document: "June 7, 1729. John "Read ... carpenter ... for securing payment of Fifty-six pounds five shillings in bills of credit ... to the Trustees of the General Loan Office ... did on 18 Feb 1723/4 . . .."

4 Sept. Thursday. AWM: The correspondent of Busy-Body #29 complained of the country youths' lack of education and the related growth in the numbers of "Riddle-Pedants" who pretend to be professors but do more harm than good.

5 Sept, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

11 Sept. Thursday. AWM: Busy-Body #30 advised his readership on how youth and Age should behave to best co-exist in the world.

12 Sept, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

18 Sept, Thursday, AWM, Busy-Body no. 31 contained a letter from "Brutus, or Cassius, or both," largely copied from issues of Trenchard and Gordon's Cato's Letters, recommended that to preserve liberty and escape tyranny, the government must be kept in rotation so that no individual gains too much power. The impassioned last paragraph said: "To be the Friends of Liberty, Firmness of Mind and Publick Spirit is absolutely requisite, and this Quality so Essential and Necessary to a noble Mind, proceeds from a Just Way of thinking that we are not born for our Selves alone, Nor our own private Advantage alone, but Likewise and Principally for the good of others, and Service of Civil Society." Like BF's suppressed supplement to Busy-Body no. 8 and like his pamphlet on paper money, Breintnall's letter was anti-proprietary. Cf. 20 and 25 Sept.

18 Sept, Thursday, Keimer announced in the Universal Instructor that he had "made over his Business, to David Harry, with a Design to leave this Province as soon as he can get in his Debts." He also said that "Titan Leed's Almanack will be published next Week, and sold by the said David Harry at my late Dwelling-House, in Second-street." Harry also published John Jerman's almanac for 1730, Evans 3173. Since Harry was publishing the best two Philadelphia almanacs, his future appeared bright. It was probably in late September (and before they were named official printers for Pennsylvania on 30 January 1729/20) that Franklin and Meredith proposed a partnership with David Harry which he "rejected with Scorn" (A68).

19 Sept, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

20 Sept, Saturday, Governor Patrick Gordon called a special meeting of the Council to consider the letter in the last week's "Busy-Body" signed "Brutus or Cassius, or both." It was read and judged "a wicked & seditious Libell, tending to introduce Confusion under the Notion of Liberty, and to lessen the just Regard to Persons in Authority." Bradford was ordered to be taken into custody and examined by the Mayor and Recorder of Philadelphia, and his home and printing shop searched for the original copy of the libel, "that the Author may be discovered, and that the Attorney General commence a Prosecution against the Said Bradford." The order was promptly carried out. The author was discovered to be the Rev. Alexander Campbell, who had recently moved from Middletown, DE, to Long Island. Bradford was judged to have printed it "without considering or knowing its Tendency," but he was nevertheless "committed, & then Bound over to the Court." Colonial Records 3: 369-70.

25 Sept, Thursday, AWM: In #32, the last Busy Body essay, Breintnall said that the former essay was not intended to give offence, but that the printer was arrested and the sheriff ordered to confine him. Breintnall then mentioned the forthcoming election, urged the voters to examine each candidate's record, and (since the sheriff who arrested Bradford seemed to be condemned) advocated reelecting the sheriff.

25 Sept (b). Keimer announced in his last Universal Instructor that he had sold the paper to B. Franklin and H. Meredith (P 1:157). Keimer repeated last week's declaration that he intended to leave the province in the spring or sooner.

26 Sept, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

1 Oct, Wednesday, Andrew Hamilton was elected a representative from Bucks County for the third consecutive year (he had first been elected on 2 Oct 1727). Cf. 14 Oct.

2 Oct, Thursday, PG number 40 carried BF's and Meredith's names as publishers (P 1:157). It gradually became the most widely read newspaper in the colonies. Published by BF and Meredith to 1730, then by BF to 1748, and then by BF and Hall to 1766, it was thereafter continued by Hall and his successors. Isaiah Thomas wrote in 1810 that it was the "oldest newspaper in the United States" (Thomas, ed. McCorison, 433). Franklin's opening editorial, on the duties of a newspaper editor, reflected John Dunton's Athenian Gazette, a collected edition of which had been in the library of the New England Courant. Franklin wrote that under Keimer, the newspaper had at most only 90 subscribers and that he bought it "for a Trifle" (A64).

On 5 March 1785, BF estimated that the circulation of the paper was eight to ten thousand copies (cf. P 13:100-01). Lawrence C. Wroth argued that BF's figure represents the 1785 circulation, rather than the number of persons who took the paper in 1748. Based on James Parker's figures of the funds paid BF by Hall during the course of the partnership, Wroth estimated that Franklin and Hall had about 1,500 paid subscriptions a year and another one to two hundred copies that he gave as exchanges and advertising copies. But Wroth, 111, overlooked approximately £100 of Franklin's income from the newspaper (P 12:180, n.4). BF actually earned about £860 a year from the PG, rather than Wroth's £750. At 10s a year per customer, the Gazette must have had about 1,720 paying customers. In addition, Franklin (and later Hall) would have given away another 100 copies of the papers in exchanges and another fifty to one hundred to advertisers. So the average printing during the partnership was approximately 1,870 papers. No doubt it increased during the partnership years with the increasing population of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas, but I estimate that the newspaper had a distribution of over 1,000 when Franklin turned it over to Hall in 1748. L. C. Wroth, "BF: The Printer at Work" in Typographic Heritage.

2 Oct (b). PG advertised Isaac Watts, tr., The Psalms of David (Philadelphia: Franklin and Hall, 1729) as "lately printed." Miller 2. The largest book Franklin printed in 1729, it sold slowly. In his "Apology for Printers" (10 June 1731), BF reported, "I have known a very numerous Impression of Robin Hood's Songs go off in this Province at 2s. per Book, in less than Twelvemonth; when a small Quantity of David's Psalms (an excellent Version) have lain on my Hands above twice the Time."

2 Oct (c). PG announced that Thomas Godfrey's Almanack "will speedily be published." Franklin & Meredith advertised that it was "Beautifully Printed in Red and Black, on One Side of a large Demi Sheet of Paper, after the London Manner." Miller 5. No copy extant.

2 Oct (d). For PG advertisement of stationery goods, see above, post July.

3 Oct, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

9 Oct, Thursday, wrote Whiggish editorial in the PG on Governor William Burnet's quarrel with the Massachusetts assembly over a fixed salary, thereby bringing his paper notoriety (A64). BF ironically alluded to the theory of the degeneration of men and animals in America. P 1: . Cf. P 8:356; 21:185. R. Clark, BF 38-39.

10 Oct, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

14 Oct, Tuesday: Franklin noted in the PG for 16 Oct that on the fourteenth, "The Honourable House of Representatives met, and chose Andrew Hamilton, Esq; Speaker" (cf. 1 Oct).

15 Oct, Wednesday, Pennsylvania General Loan Office Bond and Warrant by attorney, filled out on 15 Oct. Printed by Franklin and Meredith (Miller no. 10).

16 Oct, Thursday, PG news-note jeu d'esprit on "One Piles a Fidler." W 137.

17 Oct, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

21 Oct, Tuesday: In his address to the Delaware assembly at New Castle on 21 Oct, Gov. Patrick Gordon said that he hoped the Pennsylvania currency would circulate in "all Parts on this River," that he was "anxious" to hear if the Pennsylvania act would be struck down in England, and that he wanted a full inquiry into the Delaware "Loan Offices." Printed in PG 27 Oct. Hamilton replied, 23 Oct.

23 Oct, Thursday, Franklin announced that henceforth the PG (in 1/2 sheet) would be published twice weekly. This first attempt to publish an American newspaper regularly twice a week failed, and with the 9 Dec issue BF returned to printing a whole sheet weekly.

23 Oct (b). BF accounted for the different reporting of four English newspapers on the subject of peace with Spain by explaining their different political positions. Cf. "Exaggerating Body Counts in Battle Reports," 19 December 1734.

23 Oct (c). Andrew Hamilton, Speaker of the three lower counties, replied to the Governor Gordon. What the governor had heard of the scarcity of currency "cannot possibly come up to a lively and just Description of the present Distress of the Good People of this Government: Their Cry is loud and general, their Necessities great and pressing, and call for the most speedy and effectual Relief" (PG 30 Oct; AWM 6 Nov). The legislators demanded that the Governor pass a measure for them as he had for Pennsylvania. The paper money bill probably passed on 26 Oct. Franklin and Meredith probably printed this Delaware currency. Cf. 21 Oct and post Nov.

24 Oct, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

26 Oct, Saturday. Probably the last day of the Delaware session of Assembly, and probably the day on which the Assembly passed a paper money act. See 30 Oct.

27 Oct, Monday, BF announced in PG that he had recruited correspondents to keep him appraised of news in the countryside. Cf. James Franklin in the NEC, 25 Dec 1721, pretending to have a correspondent in New Hampshire.

30 Oct, Thursday. AWM: "On Tuesday the 28th, His Honour our Governour returned from meeting the Assembly of the Three Lower Counties, and they have passed an Act for the striking Twelve Thousand Pounds more of a Paper-Currency." Cf. 23 and 26 Oct.

31 Oct, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

7 Nov, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

13 Nov, Thursday, PG printed first substantial news report--the case of a trial for rape before the New Jersey Supreme Court in Burlington, Friday, 7 Nov. BF may not have written the report.

14 Nov, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

17 Nov, Monday, in PG, BF commented on a letter by King George I to the King of Spain concerning Gibraltar, defending the King for writing the letter and criticizing the "unfair Dealing" of the Spanish in deliberately misinterpreting it.

17 Nov (b) Gazette advertised John Meredith, A Short Discourse proving the Jewish Sabbath is Repealed (Philadelphia: Franklin and Meredith, 1729). Miller 7.

20 Nov, Thursday, BF began publishing weekly lists of burials in the city and the totals at the year's end. See 5 Jan 1731. Franklin's interest in such statistical demographics had been anticipated by his Modest Inquiry (3 April) and later found its fulfillment in his "Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind" (1751).

20 Nov (b). In the PG, Franklin editorialized on emigration from Ireland (P 1: 162).

21 Nov, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

24 Nov, Monday, BF began printing a series of articles on the condition of English jails. He continued these on 27 Nov; 1, 4, 9 and 16 Dec. On 9 Dec, he added an editorial: "Indeed, what can more nearly affect the Hearts of those that have any the least Share of Humanity and Compassion, than to see the Numbers of honest but unhappy Men, guilty of no Crime, unless being unfortunate may be call'd a Crime; yet dragg'd into noisome Dungeons, tortured with cruel Irons, and even unmercifully starv'd to Death, in the Heart of a Plentiful City, in the midst of a Country fam'd for Justice and Liberty, and at the Pleasure of one wretched petty Tyrant, a vile, mean-spirited, pitiless Villain, only distinguished from others by his unparallel'd Wickedness and Barbarity: I say, what can be more affecting than such a Prospect as this; if perhaps the Joy be not more affecting, when we see such uncommon Wrongs and Injuries enquir'd into and redress'd, and the infamous Actors brought to condign Punishment." The reprinted essay series and BF's editorial marked an early attempt to espouse a humanitarian cause.

BF knew and echoed a passage in Addison's "Letter from Italy": "The poor inhabitant beholds in vain / The red'ning Orange and the swelling grain: / Joyless he sees the growing Oils and Wines, / And in the Myrtle's fragrant shade repines: / Starves, in the midst of nature's bounty curst, / And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst" (ll. 113-18).

27 Nov, Thursday, PG advertised as "Just Published," Charles Woolverton, The Spirit Teaching Man's Sure Guide, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Franklin and Meredith, 1729). No copy known; Miller 12.

27 Nov (b). AWM: "Richard Meyrick Engraver, remov'd from the Lock and Key in Chesnut-street, to the Widow Walker's in Front-street, Philadelphia." If Myrick was competent, BF must have occasionally employed him.

28 Nov, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

post Nov. BF and Hall evidently printed the Delaware currency in early December. BF recalled that he obtained "thro' my Friend Hamilton the Printing of the NewCastle Paper Money, another profitable Jobb, as I then thought it" (A67; Miller no. 3). Newman Early 96, thought the money was "Probably printed by Andrew Bradford." Cf. 21 and 23 Oct. For the earlier issue of the Pennsylvania currency, see 10 May.

1 Dec, Monday, BF reported the trial of Captain Mercer at a Court of Admiralty in Philadelphia, Friday, 28 Nov and Saturday, 29 Nov, for the murder of his passenger, Thomas Flory. Expertly done, the report makes the reader at first sympathize with the passenger Thomas Flory and then, as the evidence is presented, with the Captain, who was declared innocent, "to the general Satisfaction of the People, who before had been greatly exasperated against him." Reprinted in AWM 4 Dec.

5 Dec, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

9 Dec, Tuesday, After printing a local news notice, BF questioned the justice of the case, answering his own query the following week, 16 Dec, as "The Casuist."

9 Dec (b). BF wrote a humanitarian preface to an essay on prison reform. See 27 Nov. Cf. BF to B. Vaughan, 14 March 1785: "On the Criminal Laws and the Practice of Privateering." S 9:291-99. Printed by Sir Samuel Romilly, Observations (1786).

9 Dec (c). PG returned to four-page format, issued once a week. BF had begun issuing the PG twice a week on 23 Oct.

12 Dec, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

16 Dec, Tuesday, In PG, BF wrote editorial comment on "something unaccountable in the Nature of Horses" in a fire. P 1:168; W 137-38.

19 Dec, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.

23 Dec, Tuesday, BF reported the trial of James Prouse and James Mitchel, with further reports on 13 and 20 Jan, 1729/30. Canon 40-41; W 138-42.

26 Dec, Friday, probably attended Junto meeting.