popular vicarious method of moral improvement. If every man would make self-education in morals a matter of business, we might be able to trace an influence of Franklin's "Art of Virtue" in our country as great as his influence in founding public libraries. Again and again through his life Franklin mentions his intention of writing and publishing "a great and extensive project that required the whole man to execute," and this was a treatise on the "Art of Virtue."

It was in the consideration of this "great and extensive project," whose treatment he could not find in the books of the world, that he made some observations on one of his readings in the library, May 19, 1731:

That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and affected by parties.

That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such.

That the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion.

That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view.

That as soon as a party has gain'd its general point each member becomes intent upon his particular interest, which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occasions much confusion.

That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their country, whatever they may pretend; and, tho' their actings bring real good to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and their country's interest was united, and did not act from a principle of benevolence.

That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of mankind. There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a United Party for Virtne, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be govern'd by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to, than common people are to common laws. I at present think that whoever attempts this aright, and is well qualified, can not fail of pleasing God, and of meeting with success.

If I understand these observations correctly, they signify that Franklin conceived of a moral order, and proceeding on that principle he made scientific deductions, which were that the moral order would obtain if men understood the principles of the moral world, and therefore, he would encourage all men to make self-improvement the basis for such moral investigation and from the mass of these moral experiments deduce the ruling principles of the moral world.

In this mental process which is illustrated in Franklin again and again we see the man of science.

• When in 1757 Franklin had engaged passage to England in a New York packet ship, had embarked stores for himself and his son, and was waiting the tedious orders of Lord Louden, who delayed the sailing of the fleet more than three months, he had occasion to practice his "art of virtue" and illustrate all his capacity for patience and happiness. It was upon this voyage that he remarked:

How imperfect is the art of ship building, that it can never be known till she is tried whether a new ship will or will not be a good sailer, for that the model of a good sailing ship has been exactly followed in a new one, which has proved on the

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contrary, remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly be occasioned by the different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship; each has its system, and the same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders of one captain, shall sail better or worse than when by the orders of another. Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is formed, fitted for the sea, and sailed by the same person. Yet I think a set of experiments might be instituted, first, to determine the most proper form of the hull for swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for the masts; then the form and quantity of sails, and their position, as the wind may be; and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combined would be of great use. I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish success.

His observations on the sailing of ships illustrate his ideas in education: by frequent experiment rules for the conduct of life should be deduced and the dominant idea in all experimentation should be utility.

The idea of experimentation and the deduction of principles from it is the chief idea in Franklin's philosophy of education; he would have natural and mechanic history taught because deductions might be made from such instruction that would improve agriculture and mechanics.

He would have composition taught to the fourth class in his English school because

Writing one's own language well is the next necessary accomplishment after good speaking. It is the writing master's business to take care that the boys make fair characters, and place them straight and even in the line; but to form their style and even to take care that the stops and capitals are properly disposed is the part of the English master. The boys should be put on writing letters to each other on any common occurrences, and on various subjects, imaginary business, etc., containing little stories, accounts of their late reading, what parts of authors please them, and why; letters of congratulation, of compliment, of request, of thanks, of recommendation, of admonition, of consolation, of expostulation, excuse, etc. In these they should be taught to express themselves clearly, concisely, and naturally, without affected words or high-flown phrases; all their letters to pass through the master's hand, who is to point out the faults, advise the corrections, and commend what he finds right. Some of the best letters published in our own language, as Sir William Temple's, those of Pope and his friends, and some others, might be set before the youth as models, their beauties pointed out and explained by the master, the letters themselves transcribed by the scholar.

Dr. Johnson's Ethices Elementa, or First Principles of Morality, may now be read by the scholars, and explained by the master, to lay a solid foundation of virtue and piety in their minds. And as this class continues the reading of history, let them now, at proper hours, receive some further instruction in chronology, and in that part of geography (from the mathematical master) which is necessary to understand the maps and globes. They should also be acquainted with the modern names of the places they find mentioned in ancient writers. The exercises of good reading and proper speaking still continued at suitable times.

His fifth class for further improvement in composition were to continue writing letters, and in addition to begin writing

Little essays in prose, and sometimes in verse; not to make them poets, but for this reason, that nothing acquaints a lad so speedily with variety of exercises as the necessity of finding such words and phrases as will suit the measure, sound, and

rhyme of verse, and at the same time will express the sentiment. These essays should all pass under the master's eye, who will point out their faults and put the writer on correcting them. Where the judgment is not ripe enough for forming new essays, let the sentiment of a Spectator be given, and required to be clothed in the scholar's own words; or the circumstances of some good story, the scholar to find expression. Let them be put sometimes on abridging a paragraph of a diffuse author; sometimes on dilating or amplifying what is wrote more closely. And now let Dr. Johnson's Noetica, or First Principles of Human Knowledge, containing a logic, or art of reasoning, etc., be read by the youth, and the difficulties that may occur to them be explained by the master. The reading of history and the exercise of good reading and just speaking still continued.

This formula is the epitome of Franklin's own experience; he had written little essays in prose and sometimes in verse as a boy and had learned the art from his uncle who was a prodigious maker of verses. Franklin, while apprenticed to his brother in Boston, had written some doggerel verses and some street ballads which sold so well that he was persuaded of their value, but his passing inclination to become a poet was smothered by his father's sage remark, characteristic of the whole Franklin family, that "poets were usually very poor people and died beggars."1

His plan for clothing the sentiments of the Spectator in the scholar's own words was based entirely on his own boyish acquaintance with the Spectator.

In his 16th year he had experienced the exquisite pleasure, of which he spoke more than half a century later, of seeing his first piece in print in the Boston Courant, and though it was not signed Benjamin Franklin, it was his own, that is, as much his own as a paraphrase of a popular author could be. Under the signature of "Silence Dogood," he wrote a number of articles in which he criticises colleges and graduates of colleges, discusses childhood, marriage, and widowhood, and in the language of "affected words and high-flown phrases delivered himself of his thought." These articles in the old Boston Courant were doubtless in Franklin's mind when he prescribed the kind of composition useful for the classes in the English school. He had educated himself in that way.

His scientific mind recognized the value of correct deductions, and therefore logic took a primary place in his system of education. His first class should be taught the English grammar rules; his second class should construe the parts of speech and sentences, and recur to the rules of grammar; his third class should learn the elements of rhetoric, and his fifth class should study the art of reasoning in Dr. Johnson's First Principles of Human Knowledge, because without practice in the art of reasoning correct deductions in life could not be made. Franklin's introduction of logic into the studies of the English school was due not only to the tendency of his own mind, but also to the results of his own experience. At 15, soon after awakening to

See a specimen of Franklin's verses, p. 118,

his ignorance of figures, he read Locke's Human Understanding and the Art of Thinking, by Messrs. du Port Royal, which evidently greatly aided him in the orderly examination of phenomena and in making correct deductions from his experiments. He says in drawing up his Art of Virtue that he found himself "incorrigible with respect to order." He was deficient in what might now be called system, and one of the serious criticisms made upon him while minister to France was the confusion of the affairs in his office. Self-study had revealed to him this defect, and doubtless one of the reasons for the introduction of logic and rules of grammar and rhetoric into the studies of childhood was to remedy in others the defect from which he had suffered himself.

It should be said of Franklin that his scheme for self-education in morality was the source of his own regeneration, and after the formulation of the scheme of his Art of Virtue was clearly before his mind, he was probably as free from faults as any man of his times. The utility of his ideas in morals was proven in his own life.

It was at this time that he prepared for his own use his "Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion," a creed, a prayer book, and a litany, which, he tells us, he continued to use for twenty years. His practice of the "art of virtue," confirmed his opinion that, as the object of religion was to promote virtue, religion was useful to mankind, and that the various religious sects of his times contributed on the whole to the happiness and virtue of their members. It should be said that Franklin lived during one of the great religious revivals of history under the preaching of Whitefield. It would be interesting to trace the influence of the revival of religion under Wesley and Whitefield upon the education of Americans.1

Whitefield was better known to Franklin than to any other American. The great preacher came to Philadelphia in 1739 and threw the whole city into a ferment. He was as unlike Franklin as Franklin was unlike Dr. Johnson. He found in Franklin a true friend, a genial host, and a publisher. Philadelphia was tolerant and Whitefield had no difficulty in gathering an audience without the interference of the authorities. Tradition tells us of the multitudes who thronged to hear the great preacher. Franklin was greatly moved by his preaching, but not persuaded to adopt the preacher's doctrines. It having been found inconvenient to assemble in the open air the crowds who came to hear Whitefield, it was proposed to erect a huilding 100 feet long and 70. broad, which should be for the accommodation of the iahabitants of the town who might care to hear any preacher on any subject.

Whitefield had changed the manners of Philadelphia. Franklin records how, under the influence of Whitefield's preaching, "from being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seems as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town

The spread of Methodism in America and the founding of seminaries and colleges by that denomination present a pleasing subject for historical investigation,

in the evening without hearing psalms sung in different families in every street." The eloquence of Whitefield and the multitudinous demand of the people for accommodations to hear him were the occasion for the building of a suitable meeting house, which also became a few years later the first building used by the Academy of Philadelphia, later the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin's love of natural philosophy prompted him to use Whitefield's voice as the means of an experiment in acoustics.

He preached [says Franklin] one evening from the top of the court-house steps, which are in the middle of Market street, and on the west side of Second street, which crosses it at right angles. Both streets were filled with hearers to a considerable distance. Being among the hindmost in Market street, I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by retiring backwards down the street towards the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front street, when some noise in that street obscured it. Imagining, then, a semicircle, of which my distance would be the radius, and that it were filled with auditors, to each of whom I allowed 2 square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand. This reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached to 25,000 people in the fields, and to the ancient histories of generals haran guing whole armies, of which I had sometimes doubted.'

This comment on Whitefield admits us into a closer knowledge of Franklin's self-education. In his provision for the lessons of the second class in the English schools he advises lessons made up of a piece of a sermon, a general's speech to his soldiers, and in the wonderful voice of Whitefield he had experimentally proved that the great speeches made by generals to their soldiers, such as he had read in Plutarch's Lives, could be heard by the soldiery. I suppose that Whitefield was the more interesting to Franklin because he demonstrated that the speeches of Cyrus might have been heard by his troops, and so illustrated some of the properties of sound.

For the sixth class Franklin prescribed a continuation of the preceding studies in

History, rhetoric, logic, moral and natural philosophy; the best English authors, as Tillotson, Milton, Locke, Addison, Pope, Swift; the higher papers in the Spectator and Guardian; the best translations of Homer, Virgil, and Horace, of Telemachus; Travels of Cyrus, etc.

The hours of the day were to be divided and disposed in such a manner that some classes might be "with the writing master, improving their hands; others with the mathematical master, learning arithmetic, accounts, geography, use of the globes, drawing, mechanics, etc., while the rest are in the English school under the English master's care." Here is the substance of the working programme familiar in its development to all teachers at the present time.

It will be noticed that Franklin mentions drawing as a study for the sixth class, in which he anticipates one of the most important elements of modern education, and, by alternation in the disposition of the

It is said that some words uttered by Whitefield were distinctly heard by people across the Delaware.