scientific and historical works. He invented a method of stereotyping about which he wrote a long description to Franklin, but which did not come into general use.

Other literary friends in England were Edmund Burke, author of an "Essay on the Sublime and the Beautiful," who later became better known through his oratory and statesmanship; David Hume, the historian, and Adam Smith, author of a "Theory of Mild Sentiments" and "The Wealth of Nations."

America at the time was not abundantly supplied with literary men, but Franklin was friend and confidante to two young men whose names were later to become well known. One of them was Thomas Paine, to whom he wrote advising him not to publish his attacks upon the prevailing religious beliefs, and the other was Noah Webster, compiler of the dictionary that bore his name.

Franklin's greatest friendship, however, one which has become historic, does not properly come under the designation of "literary" in the sense of authorship. It is that which existed between him and William Strahan (now pronounced as if spelled Strawn, but in his lifetime pronounced Stray-han), the celebrated London printer and publisher. Strahan was nine years younger than Franklin, having been born in 1715. He built up a successful business, became printer to the king and

Mr Strahan,

You on

Philad July 5. 175

as Member of Parliament,

and one of that Majority which has Woomed my Country to Destruction_ -You have begun to burnour Towns, and murder our Peoples — Look upon Your Hands ! - They Blood of Relations ! - You and I were Cony Friends : — You are now my Ene

my, - and

your

Jam,

are stained with the

Yours,
Brankle

The famous "you are now my enemy" letter.
Original in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C,

was the publisher of David Hume's "History of England" and the works of Edward Gibbon, author of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

Strahan and Franklin spent much time in each other's company when Franklin was resident in England, and later he was Franklin's representative in London in his business negotiations. Their correspondence was voluminous and it was to Strahan that the famous "you are now my enemy" letter was addressed. Paul Leicester Ford makes the statement, on what authority is not known, that the letter was never sent. What may be the original, but what would seem to be a copy, is preserved in the collection of Franklin manuscripts in the Library of Congress at Washington, and it is the one usually used for illustration in works relating to Franklin. In the private library of J. Pierpont Morgan, in New York, is another copy in Franklin's handwriting, which fact affords material for interesting speculation.

Franklin's letters to Strahan were, with one exception, decorous and dignified, save that some of them, instead of bearing a formal superscription, were addressed "Dear Straney." What must have been Strahan's astonishment when he received the exception, which was dated Burlington, October 4, 1763, and which begins:

"In the name of God what I have faid or done to you, that so many Months should elapfe, fo many

Vessels arrive without my having the Pleasure of a fingle Line from you fince my Arrival in America. I can't help imagining that you must have Wrote, and the letter miscarried, but Mrs. F. fays fhe thinks you have quite forgot us, now we have left England, and that you will not trouble yourself about us any more. I hope fhe is mistaken and that you will enable me to prove her so."

The original is in Mr. Morgan's collection. William Strahan put himself on record as to his friendship for Franklin in a letter to Mrs. Franklin, unsuccessfully urging her to overcome her dislike for the sea and to make a voyage to London. “For my own part," he said to her about her husband, "I never faw a man who was in every respect so perfectly agreeable to me. Some are amiable in one view, fome in another, he in all."

CHAP. XXI.

The Love of Books.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S early love of books

is revealed in the incident related in the first chapter of this volume of his arrangement with the brother to whom he was apprenticed to spend less upon his board and clothing in order to provide him with money for the purchase of books. One of his earliest friends in Boston was a Matthew Adams,

who had a collection of books and who invited the boy to his home and placed the books at his disposal.

It is related in the "Autobiography" that when he arrived in New York from Boston the second time, the governor of the province (Burnet) hearing from the Captain of the ship that one of his passengers had a great many books, invited the young man to call upon him. "The Governor treated me with great Civility, showed me his Library, which was a very large one, and we had a good deal of conversation about books and authors." In the "Autobiography" Franklin relates how he once changed an enemy into a friend by borrowing a book: "Having heard that he had in his Library a certain very scarce and curious Book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my defire of perufing that Book, and requesting he would do me the favor of lending it to me for a few days. He fent it immediately, and I return'd it in about a week with another note expreffing strongly my fense of the favor. When we next met in the House he spoke to me (which he had never done before) and with great civility, and he ever after manifeft'd a readiness to serve me on all occafions, fo that we became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death."

Before young Benjamin made the arrangement with his brother James by which he hoped to acquire a library of his own he became acquainted