Illustrations
| Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI | Frontispiece |
"He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force, they very generally played together. Happening once to put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,' said the Doctor."—Thomas Jefferson
| Page | ||
| Portrait of Franklin | vii | |
| Pages 1 and 4 of The Pennsylvania Gazette, Number XL, the first number after Franklin took control | xxi | |
| First page of The New England Courant of December 4-11, 1721 | 33 | |
| "I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets to the customers" | 36 | |
| "She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance" | 48 | |
| "I took to working at press" | 88 | |
| "I see him still at work when I go home from club" | 120 | |
| Two pages from Poor Richard's Almanac for 1736 | 171 | |
| "I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common soldier" | 204 | |
| "In the evening, hearing a great noise among them, the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the matter" | 224 | |
| "Our axes ... were immediately set to work to cut down trees" | 278 | |
| "We now appeared very wide, and so far from each other in our opinions as to discourage all hope of agreement" | 318 | |
| "You will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle" | 328 | |
| Father Abraham in his study | 330 | |
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The end papers show, at the front, the Franklin arms and the Franklin seal; at the back, the medal given by the Boston public schools from the fund left by Franklin for that purpose as provided in the following extract from his will:
"I was born in Boston, New England, and owe my first instructions in literature to the free grammar-schools established there. I therefore give one hundred pounds sterling to my executors, to be by them ... paid over to the managers or directors of the free schools in my native town of Boston, to be by them ... put out to interest, and so continued at interest forever, which interest annually shall be laid out in silver medals, and given as honorary rewards annually by the directors of the said free schools belonging to the said town, in such manner as to the discretion of the selectmen of the said town shall seem meet." |
From an engraving by J. Thomson from the original picture by J. A. Duplessis.
