IV | Biographical and Critical Studies
Abbe, C. "Benjamin Franklin as Meteorologist," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XLV, 117-28 (1906). ("Worthy co-laborer" with Newton, Huygens, Descartes, Boyle, and Gay-Lussac. He is "the first meteorologist of America," "pioneer of the rational long-range forecasters.")
Abbot, G. M. A Short History of the Library Company of Philadelphia: Compiled from the Minutes, together with some personal reminiscences. Philadelphia: 1913.
Amiable, L. Une loge maçonnique d'avant 1789. La R.·. L.·. Les Neuf Sœurs. Paris: 1897. (Fullest account of Franklin's activities in French Freemasonry.)
Analectic Magazine, XI, 449-84 (June, 1818). (Review of W. T. Franklin's edition of Franklin's works. Complexion of this eulogy suggested by: "His name is now exalted in Europe above any others of the eighteenth century.")
Angoff, Charles. A Literary History of the American People. New York: 1931. II, 295-310. (It would be difficult to match the debonair ignorance of this violently hostile essay.)
"A Poem on the Death of Franklin," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, XV, 109 (Jan., 1930). (A typical elegy based on theme suggested by Turgot's epigram on Franklin.)
Bache, R. M. "Smoky Torches in Franklin's Honor," Critic, XLVIII, 561-6 (June, 1906). (Charming in its caustic though just view that "articles on Franklin have verged on superfluity.")
Bache, R. M. "The So-Called 'Franklin Prayer-Book,'" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXI, 225-34 (1897). (See Rev. John Wright's account of the same in Early Prayer Books of America [St. Paul: 1896], pp. 386-99.)
Biddison, P. "The Magazine Franklin Failed to Remember," American Literature, IV, 177-80 (May, 1932). (Survey of the Franklin-Webbe altercation concerning the inauguration of Franklin's General Magazine, and Historical Chronicle..., 1741.)
Bigelow, John. "Franklin as the Man," Independent, LX, 69-72 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Stresses his tolerance, common sense, and "constitutional unwillingness to dogmatize.")
Bleyer, W. G. Main Currents in the History of American Journalism. Boston: 1927. (Chapters I-II contain excellent survey of the New England Courant, and the Pennsylvania Gazette during its formative years. Bibliography, pp. 431-41.)
Bloore, Stephen. "Joseph Breintnall, First Secretary of the Library Company," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LIX, 42-56 (Jan., 1935). (Valuable notes on Franklin's collaborator in Busy-Body series.)
Bloore, Stephen. "Samuel Keimer. A Foot-note to the Life of Franklin," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LIV, 255-87 (July, 1930). (Readers of the Autobiography will appreciate this excellent study of one who figures prominently in its pages.)
Brett-James, N. G. The Life of Peter Collinson. London: [1917]. (Many notes on Franklin-Collinson friendship. Collinson, it is remembered, "started Franklin on his career as a researcher in electricity.")
Buckingham, J. T. Specimens of Newspaper Literature; with Personal Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Reminiscences. 2 vols. Boston: 1850. (Vol. I, 49-88, discusses New England Courant. Identifies Dogood Papers as Franklin's.)
Bullen, H. L. "Benjamin Franklin and What Printing Did for Him," American Collector, II, 284-91 (May, 1926).
Butler, Ruth L. Doctor Franklin, Postmaster General. Garden City, N. Y.: 1928. (A sturdily documented study illustrating that Franklin "furnished the most highly efficient administration to the postal system during the colonial period.")
Canby, H. S. "Benjamin Franklin," in Classic Americans. New York: 1931, pp. 34-45. (Spirited estimate partly vitiated by excessive emphasis on influence of Quakerism; Canby observes that Franklin's mind represents "Quakerism conventionalized, stylized, and Deicized.")
*Carey, Lewis J. Franklin's Economic Views. Garden City, N. Y.: 1928. (Excellent survey.)
Cestre, Charles. "Franklin, homme représentatif," Revue Anglo-Américaine, 409-23, 505-22 (June, August, 1928).
Choate, J. H. "Benjamin Franklin," in Abraham Lincoln, and Other Addresses in England. New York: 1910, pp. 47-94. (Sanely eulogistic biographical survey.)
Condorcet, Marquis de. Éloge de M. Franklin, lu à la séance publique de l'Académie des Sciences, le 13 Nov., 1790... Paris: 1791. (Both a eulogy, and an interpretation of why France, as representative of the Enlightenment, eulogized the Philadelphia tradesman. By the most sublime of the philosophes.)
Cook, E. C. Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750. New York: 1912. (Trenchant analysis of Franklin's indebtedness to Addison and Steele—especially in the Dogood Papers—the character of the New England Courant, advertisements of books in Pennsylvania Gazette, etc. "Benjamin Franklin was the only prominent man of the period who deliberately attempted to spread the knowledge and love of literature among his countrymen.")
Crane, V. W. "Certain Writings of Benjamin Franklin on the British Empire and the American Colonies," Papers of the Bibliographical Society, XXVIII, Pt. 1, 1-27 (1934). (Newly identified Franklin papers more than double existing canon. He becomes "the chief agent of the American propaganda in England, especially between 1765 and 1770." New canon promises to "illuminate the development of Franklin's political ideas." Very significant.)
Cumston, C. G. "Benjamin Franklin from the Medical Viewpoint," New York Medical Journal, LXXXIX, 3-12 (Jan. 2, 1909). (Useful survey.)
Cutler, W. P., and Cutler, J. P. Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler. 2 vols. Cincinnati: 1888. (Portrait of patriarchal Franklin at age of eighty-four.)
Dickinson, A. D. "Benjamin Franklin, Bookman," Bookman, LIII, 197-205 (May, 1921). (Brief account of Franklin imprints.)
Discours du Comte de Mirabeau. Dans la séance du 11 Juin, sur la mort de Benjamin Francklin [sic]. Imprimé par ordre de l'Assemblée National. Paris: 1790.
Draper, J. W. "Franklin's Place in the Science of the Last Century," Harper's Magazine, LXI, 265-75 (July, 1880). (Franklin's discoveries "were only embellishments of his life." Superficial.)
Duniway, C. A. The Development of Freedom of the Press in Massachusetts. Cambridge, Mass.: 1906. (Chapter VI includes account of James Franklin and the New England Courant.)
Eddy, G. S. "Dr. Benjamin Franklin's Library," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N. S. XXXIV, 206-26 (Oct., 1924). (This indefatigable scholar has ascertained the titles of 1350 volumes in Franklin's library. This survey article does not list the titles.)
*Eiselen, M. R. Franklin's Political Theories. Garden City, N. Y.: 1928. (Thoughtful survey.)
Eiselen, M. R. The Rise of Pennsylvania Protectionism. Philadelphia: 1932. (University of Pennsylvania dissertation. Chapter I describes Franklin's holding to laissez faire in a state dominantly protectionist.)
Eliot, T. D. "The Relations Between Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin before 1776," Political Science Quarterly, XXXIX, 67-96 (March, 1924). (Exhaustive documentary data which fails to establish specific and incontrovertible Franklin influence on Smith.)
"Excerpts from the Papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXIX, 15-30 (Jan., 1905). (Includes "Conversations with Franklin," pp. 23-8: Franklin terms Latin and Greek the "quackery of literature"; is alleged to have reprobated the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, in that it placed "the Supreme power of the State in the hands of a Single legislature." Other interesting sidelights.)
Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. 3 vols. New Haven: 1911. (Records show Franklin as a sober moderator: when rival factions tended to render the convention impotent, he said, "When a broad table is to be made, and the edges <of planks do not fit> the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint.")
Fauchet, Claude. Éloge civique de Benjamin Franklin, prononcé, le 21 Juillet 1790, dans la Rotonde, au nom de la Commune de Paris. Paris: 1790.
Faÿ, Bernard. "Franklin et Mirabeau collaborateurs," Revue de Littérature Comparée, VIII, 5-28 (1928). (Franklin furnished materials for Mirabeau's Considerations on the Order of Cincinnatus.)
Faÿ, Bernard. "Learned Societies in Europe and America in the Eighteenth Century," American Historical Review, XXXVII, 255-66 (Jan., 1932). (Urges that like all learned societies in the eighteenth century, Franklin's Junto and American Philosophical Society "had Masonic leanings.")
Faÿ, Bernard. "Le credo de Franklin," Correspondant, 570-8 (Feb. 25, 1930).
Faÿ, Bernard. "Les débuts de Franklin en France," Revue de Paris, 577-605 (Feb. 1, 1931).
Faÿ, Bernard. "Les dernières amours d'un philosophe," Correspondant, 381-96 (May 10, 1930).
Faÿ, Bernard. "Le triomphe de Franklin en France," Revue de Paris, 872-96 (Feb. 15, 1931).
Ford, P. L. "Franklin as Printer and Publisher," Century Magazine, LVII, 803-17 (April, 1899).
Ford, W. C. "Franklin and Chatham," Independent, LX, 94-7 (Jan. 11, 1906).
Ford, W. C. "Franklin's New England Courant," Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, LVII, 336-53 (April, 1924).
Ford, W. C. "One of Franklin's Friendships. From Hitherto Unpublished Correspondence between Madame de Brillon and Benjamin Franklin, 1776-1789," Harper's Magazine, CXIII, 626-33 (Sept., 1906).
Foster, J. W. "Franklin as a Diplomat," Independent, LX, 84-9 (Jan. 11, 1906).
Fox, R. H. Dr. John Fothergill and His Friends; Chapters in Eighteenth Century Life. London: 1919. (Franklin and Fothergill, "lovers of nature and keen students of physical science," met in 1757. See also J. C. Lettsom, Memoirs of John Fothergill, 4th ed., London: 1786.)
Garrison, F. W. "Franklin and the Physiocrats," Freeman, VIII, 154-6 (Oct. 24, 1923). (Transcended by Carey's chapter in Franklin's Economic Views, but has quotation from Dupont de Nemours [1769]: "Who does not know that the English have today their Benjamin Franklin, who has adopted the principles and the doctrines of our French economists?")
Goggio, E. "Benjamin Franklin and Italy," Romanic Review, XIX, 302-8 (Oct., 1928). (Largely through the efforts of G. Beccaria, "Benjamin Franklin was one of the first Americans to gain eminence and popularity among the people of Italy.")
Goode, G. B. "The Literary Labors of Benjamin Franklin," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXVIII, 177-97 (1890).
Grandgent, C. H. "Benjamin Franklin the Reformer," in Prunes and Prisms, with Other Odds and Ends. Cambridge, Mass.: 1928, pp. 86-97. ("The principles advocated in his unfinished exposition [on spelling reform] are those which phoneticians now advocate.")
Greene, S. A. "The Story of a Famous Book," Atlantic Monthly, XXVII, 207-12 (Feb., 1871). (A kind of précis of Bigelow's Introduction to Autobiography.)
Griswold, A. W. "Three Puritans on Prosperity," New England Quarterly, VII, 475-93 (Sept., 1934). (Cotton Mather, Timothy Dwight, and Franklin. One wonders by what right Franklin is dubbed the "soul of Puritanism.")
Guedalla, Philip. "Dr. Franklin," in Fathers of the Revolution. New York: 1926, pp. 215-34. (Chatty popular review of "the first high-priest of the religion of efficiency.")
Guillois, Antoine. Le salon de Madame Helvétius. Paris: 1894.
Gummere, R. M. "Socrates at the Printing Press. Benjamin Franklin and the Classics," Classical Weekly, XXVI, 57-9 (Dec. 5, 1932). (Survey of his references to the classics, with occasional estimates of impact on his mind.)
Hale, E. E. "Ben Franklin's Ballads," New England Magazine, N. S. XVIII, 505-7 (1898). (Thinks "The Downfall of Piracy," found in Ashton's Real Sea-Songs, is "one of the two lost ballads" Franklin mentions in Autobiography.)
Hale, E. E. "Franklin as Philosopher and Moralist," Independent, LX, 89-93 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Does not go beyond terming Franklin's philosophy common sense.)
Harrison, Frederic. "Benjamin Franklin," in Memories and Thoughts. New York: 1906, pp. 119-23. (Keen appraisal.)
Hart, C. H. "Benjamin Franklin in Allegory," Century Magazine, XLI (N. S. XIX), 197-204 (Dec., 1890). (The French sanctify Franklin in allegory.)
Hart, C. H. "Who Was the Mother of Franklin's Son? An Inquiry Demonstrating that She Was Deborah Read, Wife of Benjamin Franklin," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXXV, 308-14 (July, 1911). (Plausible circumstantial evidence is offered.)
Hays, I. M. The Chronology of Benjamin Franklin, Founder of the American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia: 1904.
Hill, D. J. "A Missing Chapter of Franco-American History," American Historical Review, XXI, 709-19 (July, 1916). (Political interests of Masonic "Lodge of the Nine Sisters," Paris, of which Franklin was an active member. Franklin described as "creator of constitutionalism in Europe.")
Houston, E. J. "Franklin as a Man of Science and an Inventor," Journal of the Franklin Institute, CLXI, Nos. 4-5, 241-383 (April-May, 1906).
Hulbert, C. Biographical Sketches of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, General Washington, and Thomas Paine; with an Essay on Atheism and Infidelity. London: 1820. (Franklin and Washington made almost saintly to contrast with Paine, "a notorious Unbeliever." Quotes one who sees Franklin as "the patriot of the world, the playmate of the lightning, the philosopher of liberty.")
Jackson, M. K. Outlines of the Literary History of Colonial Pennsylvania. Lancaster, Pa.: 1906. (Especially chapter III, which surveys Franklin as man of letters.)
Jernegan, M. W. "Benjamin Franklin's 'Electrical Kite' and Lightning Rod," New England Quarterly, I, 180-96 (April, 1928). ("The question still remains however whether Franklin flew his kite before he heard of the French experiments, and thus discovered the identity of lightning and electricity independently." Summarizes and supersedes: McAdie, A., "The Date of Franklin's Kite Experiment," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N. S. XXXIV, 188-205; Rotch, A. L., "Did Benjamin Franklin Fly His Electrical Kite before He Invented the Lightning Rod?" Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N. S. XVIII, 115-23.)
Jordan, J. W. "Franklin as a Genealogist," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXIII, 1-22 (April, 1899).
Jorgenson, C. E. "A Brand Flung at Colonial Orthodoxy. Samuel Keimer's 'Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences,'" Journalism Quarterly, XII, 272-7 (Sept., 1935). (Shows deistic tendencies.)
Jorgenson, C. E. "The New Science in the Almanacs of Ames and Franklin," New England Quarterly, VIII, 555-61 (Dec., 1935). (Newtonianism and scientific deism diffused through these popular almanacs.)
Jorgenson, C. E. "Sidelights on Benjamin Franklin's Principles of Rhetoric," Revue Anglo-Américaine, 208-22 (Feb., 1934). (Franklin's principles in general are consonant with the eighteenth-century neoclassic ideals.)
Jorgenson, C. E. "The Source of Benjamin Franklin's Dialogues between Philocles and Horatio (1730)," American Literature, VI, 337-9 (Nov., 1934). (The source is Shaftesbury's "The Moralists," in the Characteristics.)
*Jusserand, J. J. "Franklin in France," in Essays Offered to Herbert Putnam... Ed. by W. W. Bishop and A. Keogh. New Haven: 1929, pp. 226-47. (Delightful summary.)
Kane, Hope F. "James Franklin Senior, Printer of Boston and Newport," American Collector, III, 17-26 (Oct., 1926). (A study of his New England Courant and his place in the development of freedom of the press.)
King, M. R. "One Link in the First Newspaper Chain, The South Carolina Gazette," Journalism Quarterly, IX, 257-68 (Sept., 1932). (Franklin's partnership with Thomas Whitemarsh in 1731 is here alleged to have begun the first American newspaper "chain.")
Kite, Elizabeth S. "Benjamin Franklin—Diplomat," Catholic World, CXLII, 28-37 (Oct., 1935). (An intelligent and appreciative brief survey of the subject, with a considerable preface showing the extent to which Franklin's worldly success grew out of his religious views.)
Lees, F. "The Parisian Suburb of Passy: Its Architecture in the Days of Franklin," Architectural Record, XII, 669-83 (Dec., 1902). (Several good illustrations included.)
Livingston, L. S. Franklin and His Press at Passy; An Account of the Books, Pamphlets, and Leaflets Printed There, including the Long-Lost Bagatelles. The Grolier Club, New York: 1914. (For additions to this work begun by L. S. Livingston, see R. G. Adams, "The 'Passy-ports' and Their Press," American Collector, IV, 177-80 [Aug., 1927], which includes bibliography useful to study of the Passy imprints.)
MacDonald, William. "The Fame of Franklin," Atlantic Monthly, XCVI. 450-62 (Oct., 1905).
Mackay, Constance D'A. Franklin. A Play. New York: 1922.
MacLaurin, Lois M. Franklin's Vocabulary. Garden City, N. Y.: 1928. (His "conservative ideas about linguistic innovations" are to a notable degree achieved in his practices. For example, of a vocabulary of 4062 words used in his writings between 1722 and 1751, "only 19 were discovered to be pure 'Americanisms.'")
McMaster, J. B. "Franklin in France," Atlantic Monthly, LX, 318-26 (Sept., 1887). (Good survey, based on Hale and Hale, Franklin in France.)
Malone, Kemp. "Benjamin Franklin on Spelling Reform," American Speech, I, 96-100 (Nov., 1925). (Franklin was the "first American to tackle English phonetics scientifically.")
Mason, W. S. "Franklin and Galloway: Some Unpublished Letters," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N. S. XXXIV, 227-58 (Oct., 1924). (Significant sidelights cast on "the problems of Pennsylvania colonial history from 1757 to 1760." Excellent summary of Franklin's and Galloway's victory over the Proprietors. Mr. Mason's collection includes many valuable letters [Franklin-Galloway] between 1757 and 1772, not published in Smyth.)
Mathews, Mrs. L. K. "Benjamin Franklin's Plans for a Colonial Union, 1750-1775," American Political Science Review, VIII, 393-412 (Aug., 1914).
Melville, Herman. Israel Potter. London: 1923. (Graphic intuitive portrait of Franklin: he lives as a "household Plato," "a practical Magian in linsey-woolsey," a "didactically waggish," prudent courtier who "was everything but a poet.")
Mémoires de l'Abbé Morellet, de l'Académie Française, sur le dixhuitième siècle et sur la Révolution. 2 vols. Paris: 1821. (Especially II, 286-311. Franklin viewed as very emblem of Liberty.)
Montgomery, T. H. A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Foundation to A. D. 1770. Philadelphia: 1900.
Monthly Review; or Literary Journal: By Several Hands. London: 1770. XLII, 199-210, 298-308. ("The experiments and observations of Dr. Franklin constitute the principia of electricity, and form the basis of a system equally simple and profound.")
*More, P. E. "Benjamin Franklin," in Shelburne Essays, Fourth Series. New York: 1906, pp. 129-55. (Provocative appraisal: stresses Franklin's "contemporaneity," his tendency to be oblivious to the past—a suggestive, if a moot point.)
Morgan, W. Memoirs of the Life of Rev. Richard Price. London: 1815. (Notes on Franklin's relations with Price during early 1760's; meetings at Royal Society and London Coffee-house.)
Mottay, F. Benjamin Franklin et la philosophie pratique. Paris: 1886. (Good model for citizens of a free nation and "le véritable catechisme de l'homme vertueux." Also several just remarks on his style which possesses "les mots épiques d'un Corneille et les élégantes périphrases d'un Racine.")
Moulton, C. W., ed. Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Buffalo, N. Y.: 1901. IV, 79-106. (Stimulating assembly of extracts which aids student in discovering the history of Franklin's reputation.)
Mustard, W. P. "Poor Richard's Poetry," Nation, LXXXII, 239, 279 (March 22, April 5, 1906). (Indicates Franklin's borrowings from Dryden, Pope, Prior, Gay, Swift, and others.)
Nichols, E. L. "Franklin as a Man of Science," Independent, LX, 79-84 (Jan. 11, 1906). (Franklin's mind "turned ever by preference to the utilitarian and away from the theoretical and speculative aspects of things.")
"Notice sur Benjamin Franklin," in Œuvres posthumes de Cabanis. Paris: 1825, pp. 219-74. (Representative in its rapturous eulogy.)
Oberholtzer, E. P. The Literary History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: 1906. (Chap. II, "The Age of Franklin," written with conservative bias, belabors Franklin who as a statesman "was almost as wrong as Paine and Mirabeau." What Voltaire was to France, Franklin was to his native city and state.)
Oswald, J. C. Benjamin Franklin in Oil and Bronze. New York: 1926. ("Probably the features and form of no man who ever lived were delineated so frequently and in such a variety of ways as were those of Benjamin Franklin." Best survey of its kind, including many excellent reproductions.)
Oswald, J. C. Benjamin Franklin, Printer. Garden City, N. Y.: 1917. (Fullest and ablest account of this phase of Franklin's life.)
Owen, E. D. "Where Did Benjamin Franklin Get the Idea for His Academy?" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LVIII, 86-94 (Jan., 1934). (Inconclusive evidence attributing it to Dr. Philip Doddridge.)
*Parker, Theodore. "Benjamin Franklin," in Historic Americans. Ed. with notes by S. A. Eliot. Boston: 1908 [written in 1858]. (Franklin "thinks, investigates, theorizes, invents, but never does he dream." Although Parker, an idealist and reformer, exalts "the sharp outline of his [Franklin's] exact idea," his humanitarianism, his combining the "rare excellence of Socrates and Bacon" in making things "easy for all to handle and comprehend," he concludes that Franklin is "a saint devoted to the almighty dollar." There are few more readable estimates.)
*Parrington, V. L. "Benjamin Franklin," in The Colonial Mind, 1620-1800. New York: 1927, pp. 164-78. (Emphasizes Franklin's tendencies toward agrarian democracy; Parrington's indifference to the genetic approach and his chronic economic determinism lead him to slight the primary importance of Franklin's religious and philosophic views in conditioning his other activities.)
Pennington, E. L. "The Work of the Bray Associates in Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LVIII, 1-25 (Jan., 1934). (Franklin's humanitarian interest in negro education. In 1758 he writes from London urging school for instructing young Negroes in Philadelphia.)
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXV, 307-22, 516-26 (1901), XXVI, 81-90, 255-64 (1902). (Reprints one of Dean Tucker's pamphlets with Franklin's annotations. Casts light on Franklin's loyalty to the Crown, while rebellious against Parliament.)
Potamian, Brother, and Walsh, J. J. Makers of Electricity. New York: 1909. ("Franklin and Some Contemporaries," chapter II, pp. 68-132, by Brother Potamian, is an excellent survey of Franklin's contributions to the science of electricity.)
Powell, E. P. "A Study of Benjamin Franklin," Arena, VIII, 477-91 (Sept., 1893). (Fair survey of Franklin as a diplomatist.)
Priestley, J. The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments. London: 1767. (Many notes observing Franklin's "truly philosophical greatness of mind." Preface contains suggestive generalizations concerning function of the natural philosopher: especially, he who experiments in electricity discerns laws of nature, "that is, of the God of nature himself.")
Rava, Luigi. "La fortuna di Beniamino Franklin in Italia," Prefazione al volume Beniamino Franklin di Lawrence Shaw Mayo. Firenze: n.d.
Repplier, Emma. "Franklin's Trials as a Benefactor," Lippincott's Magazine, LXXVII, 63-70 (Jan., 1906). (Concerning those who during the Revolution wrote Franklin for favors and places.)
Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin and Colonial Money," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LIV, 52-64 (Jan., 1930).
Riddell, W. R. "Benjamin Franklin's Mission to Canada and the Causes of Its Failure," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVIII, 111-58 (April, 1924).
*Riley, I. W. American Philosophy: The Early Schools. New York: 1907, pp. 229-65. (Conventional view of Franklin's deism; with C. M. Walsh [see below], Riley overemphasizes influence of Plato on Franklin's thought.)
Riley, I. W. American Thought from Puritanism to Pragmatism and Beyond. New York: 1915, pp. 68-77. (Graphic glimpses of "most precocious of the American skeptics.")
Rosengarten, J. G. "The American Philosophical Society," reprinted from Founders' Week Memorial Volume. Philadelphia: 1908.
Ross, E. D. "Benjamin Franklin as an Eighteenth-Century Agriculture Leader," Journal of Political Economy, XXXVII, 52-72 (Feb., 1929). (No "rural sentimentalist," Franklin experimented in agriculture, particularly during 1747-1755, as a utilitarian idealist. Quotes one who suggests Franklin was "half physiocratic before the rise of the physiocratic school." Excellent and well-documented survey.)
Sachse, J. F. Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason. Philadelphia: 1906. ("To write the history of Franklin as a Freemason is virtually to chronicle the early Masonic history of America." Soundly documented survey. Includes useful chronological table of Franklin's Masonic activities.)
*Sainte-Beuve, C. A. Portraits of the Eighteenth Century. Tr. by K. P. Wormeley, with a critical introduction by E. Scherer. New York: 1905. I, 311-75. (The two essays on Franklin in Causeries du lundi are "here put together," though with no important omissions from either. Brilliant portrait of the "most gracious, smiling, and persuasive utilitarian," one who assigned "no part to human imagination.")
Seipp, Erika. Benjamin Franklins Religion und Ethik. Darmstadt: 1932. (Suggestive, though brief, view of Franklin's deism and utilitarianism. Attempts to see his thought in reference to various representative deists. This is not, however, a "source" study.)
Shepherd, W. R. History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania. New York: 1896. (Franklin emerges as "a sort of tribune to the people," a "mighty Goliath," a "plague" in the eyes of the feudalistic rulers of Pennsylvania, "a huge fief." Author relatively unsympathetic to Franklin.)
*Sherman, S. P. "Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment," in Americans. New York: 1922, pp. 28-62. (Penetrating survey and estimate.)
Smith, William, D.D. Eulogium on Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: 1792. (One agrees with P. L. Ford, that this work "forms a somewhat amusing contrast to the savageness of the Doctor's earlier writings against Franklin." Bombastic in its rhetoric and eulogy.)
Smythe, J. H., Jr., comp. The Amazing Benjamin Franklin. New York: 1929. (Anthology of brief, popular estimates. If individual notes are trivial, the collection illustrates Franklin's many-mindedness, a Renaissance versatility.)
Sonneck, O. G. "Benjamin Franklin's Relation to Music," Music, XIX, 1-14 (Nov., 1900).
Steell, Willis. Benjamin Franklin of Paris, 1776-1785. New York: 1928. (An undocumented, partly imaginative, popular account.)
Stifler, J. M. The Religion of Benjamin Franklin. New York: 1925. (Popular survey. Warm appreciation of Franklin's penchant for projects of a humanitarian sort.)
Stuber, Henry. "Life of Franklin" [a biography meant as a continuation of Franklin's Autobiography], in Columbian Magazine and Universal Asylum, May, July, September, October, November, 1790, and February, March, May, June, 1791.
*Thorpe, F. N., ed. Benjamin Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania. U. S. Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 2 (1892). Washington: 1893. (See especially chapters I, II, written by Thorpe, which deal particularly with Franklin's ideas of self and formal education.)
Titus, Rev. Anson. "Boston When Ben Franklin Was a Boy," Proceedings of the Bostonian Society, pp. 55-72 (1906). (Brief suggestive view of the climate of opinion with regard to inoculation, Newtonianism, and Lockian sensationalism.)
Trent, W. P. "Benjamin Franklin," McClure's Magazine, VIII, 273-7 (Jan., 1897). ("The most complete representative of his century that any nation can point to." Franklin "thoroughly represents his age in its practicality, in its devotion to science, in its intellectual curiosity, in its humanitarianism, in its lack of spirituality, in its calm self-content—in short, in its exaltation of prose and reason over poetry and faith." An enthusiastic and wise account.)
Trowbridge, John. "Franklin as a Scientist," Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, XVIII (1917). (Excellent appreciation of Franklin's capacity for inductive reasoning.)
Tuckerman, H. T. "Character of Franklin," North American Review, LXXXIII, 402-22 (Oct., 1856). (Praises disinterestedness of Franklin as a scientist, as "one whom Bacon would have hailed as a disciple," although he "is not adapted to beguile us 'along the line of infinite desires.'")
Tudury, M. "Poor Richard," Bookman, LXIV, 581-4 (Jan., 1927). (Popular glance at "cynical patriarch of American letters.")
Typothetae Bulletin, XXII, No. 15 (Jan. 11, 1926). (Issue devoted to the printer Franklin.)
Vicq d'Azyr, Félix. Éloge de Franklin. N.p.: 1791.
Victory, Beatrice M. Benjamin Franklin and Germany. Americana Germanica series, No. 21. Press of the University of Pennsylvania: 1915. (Sources reflecting Franklin's reputation in Germany of particular interest.)
Walsh, C. M. "Franklin and Plato," Open Court, XX, 129-33 (March, 1906). (An attempt to interpret his Articles of Belief, 1728, in terms of the Timaeus, Protagoras, Republic, and Euthyphro.)
Webster, Noah. Dissertations on the English Language: With Notes, Historical and Critical. To which is added, By Way of Appendix, an Essay on a Reformed Mode of Spelling, with Dr. Franklins Arguments on that Subject. Boston: 1789. (Notable remarks on Franklin's perspicuous and correct style which is "plain and elegantly neat": he "writes for the child as well as the philosopher.")
Wendell, Barrett. A Literary History of America. New York: 1900. (Franklin estimate, pp. 92-103.)
Wetzel, W. A. Benjamin Franklin as an Economist. Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Thirteenth Series, IX, 421-76. Baltimore: 1895. (Useful summary, but superseded by Carey's Franklin's Economic Views.)
Wharton, A. H. "The American Philosophical Society," Atlantic Monthly, LXI, 611-24 (May, 1888).
Bibliographical suggestions relating to Franklin's American friends and contemporaries will be found following the brief but scholarly studies in the Dictionary of American Biography. Of these see especially John Adams (also G. Chinard, Honest John Adams, Boston, 1933); Samuel Adams; Ethan Allen; Nathaniel Ames; Joel Barlow (also V. C. Miller, Joel Barlow: Revolutionist, London, 1791-92, Hamburg, 1932, and T. A. Zunder, Early Days of Joel Barlow, New Haven, 1934); John Bartram; William Bartram (also N. Fagin, William Bartram, Baltimore, 1933); Hugh H. Brackenridge (also C. Newlin, Brackenridge, Princeton, 1933); Cadwallader Colden; John Dickinson; Philip Freneau; Francis Hopkinson; T. Jefferson; Cotton Mather; Jonathan Mayhew; Thomas Paine; David Rittenhouse; Dr. Benjamin Rush (also N. Goodman, Rush, Philadelphia, 1934); Rev. William Smith; Ezra Stiles; John Trumbull; Noah Webster.