LIFE
OF
DOCTOR BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, &c.
MY DEAR SON,
I HAVE amuſed myſelf with collecting ſome little anecdotes of my family. You may remember the enquiries I made, when you were with me in England, among ſuch of my relations as were then living; and the journey I undertook for that purpoſe. To be acquainted with the particulars of my parentage and life, many of which are unknown to you, I flatter myſelf, will afford the ſame pleaſure to you as to me. I ſhall relate them upon paper: it will be an agreeable employment of a week's uninterrupted leiſure, which I promiſe myſelf during my preſent retirement in the country. There are alſo other motives which induce me to the undertaking. From the boſom of poverty and obſcurity, in which I drew my firſt breath and ſpent my earlieſt years, I have raiſed myſelf to a ſtate of opulence and to ſome degree of celebrity in
