In Religious Biography, numerous scattered memoirs may be found besides those of Roger Williams and Cotton Mather, which have been collectively noticed; but few biographical writings of general interest were produced in the colonial period.

Among all the memoirs and other writings of the Friends (otherwise called Quakers) in America, one of the most noticeable books, though it has no literary pretensions, is the Journal of JOHN WOOLMAN-the book of which Charles Lamb said: 'Get the writings of John Woolman by heart.'

Woolman was born in the year 1720, at Northampton, in Burlington County, West Jersey. He was educated according to the principles of George Fox, and at a very early period began to 'bear his testimony,' in a meek and inoffensive manner, against the evils of slavery. In the course of a journey in Virginia (1746), he writes in his diary: Two things were remarkable to me in this journey—first, in regard to my entertainment; when I ate, drank, and lodged, free-cost, with people who lived in ease on the hard labour of their slaves, I felt uneasy. . . . . Where the masters bore a good share of the burden, and lived frugally, so that their servants were well provided for, and their labour moderate, I felt more easy; but where they lived in a costly way, and laid heavy burdens on their slaves, my exercise was often great, and I frequently had conversation with them in private concerning it. Secondly, this trade of importing slaves from their native country being much encouraged amongst them [the Virginians], and the white people and their children living much without labour, was frequently the subject of my serious thoughts. I saw, in these southern provinces, so many vices and corruptions increased by this trade and this way of life, that it appeared to me as a dark gloominess hanging over the land; and though now many willingly run into it, yet in future the consequence will be grievous to posterity. I express it as it hath appeared to me, not once, nor twice, but as a matter fixed on my mind.' After all that has been written on the subject of slavery, we find nothing better than the sober and charitable Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, written by John Woolman, and first printed in the year 1762.

The religious principles held by this benevolent man, have been censured as tending to that 'introversion of thought and feeling,' or self-contemplation, which is certainly unwholesome; but in his case, as in others, a meditative, and, as it is commonly called, a mystical piety, was accompanied by a constant and active care for the welfare of mankind. Kindness marked every step of his course. We may smile at some of his peculiarities; but it is with a feeling quite compatible with respect for both the understanding and the heart of the man whose greatest eccentricity was

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in wearing a hat of undyed fur.' This led to a ludicrous mistake. 'The thoughts of wearing hats and garments dyed with a dye hurtful to them,' had excited some doubts in his mind: he concluded that it was a custom not founded in pure wisdom,' and determined to wear out the garments heretofore made; but, as soon as he wanted a new covering for his head, to buy a hat the natural colour of the fur.' Unluckily, at the time when he adopted this change, white hats became fashionable, and were symbols of dandyism; so John Woolman, bearing thus his simple testimony against 'dyed hats,' appeared in the height of fashion, and seemed to have been carried away by the vanities of the world. Even among the Friends, many were scandalised by his singularity; but he was able to defend himself. The fact was, that Woolman, in the middle of the eighteenth century, was a sanitary reformer, and in some respects far in advance of the doctrines held by advocates of cleanliness at the present time. He even went so far as to recommend the general use of light-coloured clothes, because they would not hide dirt.' In his Journal of a Tour in England, he says:

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'Having of late travelled in wet weather through narrow streets in towns and villages, where dirtiness underfoot, and the scent arising from that filth which more or less infects the air of all thicklysettled towns, were disagreeable; and being but weakly, I have felt distress both in body and mind with that which is impure. In these journeys, I have been where much cloth hath been dyed, and have at sundry times walked over ground where much of their dye-stuffs has drained away. This hath produced a longing in my mind that people might come into cleanness of spirit, cleanness of person, and cleanness about their houses and garments. Some of the great carry delicacy to a great height themselves, and yet real cleanliness is not generally promoted. . . . . Hiding that which is not clean, by colouring our garments, seems contrary to the sweetness of sincerity. Through some sorts of dyes, cloth is rendered less useful; and if the value of dye-stuffs, the expense of dyeing, and the damage done to cloth, were all added together, and that cost applied to keeping all sweet and clean, how much more would real cleanliness prevail.

Most probably, John Woolman fell a victim to the unsanitary state of his lodgings, against which he had 'borne his testimony;' for he died of small-pox, at York, October 5, 1772.

The journal of this benevolent man deserves notice, because it illustrates the principles of a class of religionists who exercised a considerable influence on the early progress of intellectual freedom in America. They passed through a period of suffering from persecution; for the Puritans, who ruled in the several colonies, by no means professed toleration of religious differences.

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ultimately the disciples of George Fox established themselves in the New World, and under the guidance of William Penn, opened there an asylum for all who were oppressed in every nation. Emigrants from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany, hastened to their new home; and Philadelphia—a mere cluster of three or four cottages in 1683-in the course of two years, contained 600 houses, a school-room, and a printing-office. A new state was founded in the midst of the wild Indians, but without warfare and bloodshed, such as attended the settling of New England, Maryland, and other colonies. Penn, trusting in the power of love, treated the aborigines as brethren; and his confidence was well repaid, for no Indian ever pointed an arrow or raised a tomahawk against a Quaker.

It seems hardly probable that Cotton Mather and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN could have lived in one century; but, in fact, Mather was preaching and writing in Boston, while Franklin was there working on his brother's newspaper-the New England Courant. The old Puritan divine sometimes saw the active boy-Benjamin was then about sixteen years old-carrying about the bad, 'free-thinking paper;' and painful recollections arose of the good strict times when such a libel would have been put down by the assembled ministers. It is probable that some of the libels which grieved the old man were written by Franklin; for he was then described 'as a youth that had a turn for libelling and satire;' and during his brother's imprisonment, he took charge of the paper, and, as he says, 'made bold to give our rulers some rubs in it.'

Benjamin Franklin, born at Boston, January 17, 1706, advanced from a humble origin, and through the details of a mechanical business, to a position of great distinction in his native country. He spent a few of his early years in London, but settled as a printer in Philadelphia, where, by means of his natural ingenuity, his industry, and prudence, he quickly rose in the world. In 1732, he first published his celebrated popular calendar, commonly known as Poor Richard's Almanac, which he continued during about twenty-five years. As it was designed to spread useful information among the poor, all the spaces left between the remarkable days in the calendar were filled with homely

proverbs, condensing the practical wisdom, the life-lore of many ages and nations. In the almanac for the year 1757, all these proverbs were collectively given as the advice of a wise old man, and in this form they obtained a very wide circulation, were copied in all the American newspapers, reprinted in sheets to be pasted on the walls of houses throughout Great Britain, and translated and widely distributed by the clergy and gentry in France.

Having secured a competency, Franklin retired from business, and hoped to find leisure for philosophical studies; but numerous public cares were imposed upon him by his fellow-citizens. He, however, found time to make those experiments in electricity which have made his name as illustrious in the records of science as in the history of his country. In his autobiography, he mentions his experiments in a merely cursory style, and seems at all times to have been indifferent with regard to the honour of discovery. As early as the year 1749, he had suggested the theory that lightning was identical with electricity, and conceived the bold idea of testing the theory by raising an iron rod to a considerable elevation, so as to conduct the electric fluid from a passing cloud. At the same time, or soon afterwards, he concluded that such a rod might be used as a conductor to protect ships and houses from the effects of lightning. The experiment was delayed, because there was no spire in Philadelphia to which the rod might be fixed; and years passed away before Franklin thought of a common plaything-a school-boy's kite-as a substitute for the proposed iron rod. In the summer of 1752, he made his kite, using a silk handkerchief stretched over two sticks, and fixing an iron point on the upright stick. A cord of silk was tied at the lower end of the hempen-string, and to this a key was fastened. With this simple apparatus, he proceeded to ask the great question of which he had already guessed the answer. avoid vulgar ridicule, he went out on the common, while a thunder-storm was gathering, and told his intention only to his son, who accompanied him. The kite was raised: a dark cloud passed over it. Franklin gazed for some moments in anxious suspense until he observed that the loose fibres of the string were moved. He applied his knuckle to the key, and the emitted spark immediately confirmed his theory. That power in nature which had appeared a mystery beyond the reach of man's intelligence, was now identified with a power having properties already partly understood.

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This grand success cast into the shade Franklin's services in other branches of science. His generosity in caring little for his own fame, and imparting freely to others a knowledge of his

discoveries, was remarkable. A patent for making a stove which Franklin had invented was taken out by a London ironmonger, who only made some slight changes in its form; but the inventor, observing that this was not the only instance of the kind, refused to claim any benefit for himself. The same liberality characterised his sanitarian scheme for cleansing the streets of Philadelphia, and made him condescend to write of fireplaces and smoky chimneys. His papers on these topics are remarkably clear, concise, and practical. Other scientific papers treat of a theory of winds and water-spouts-in which he seems to have indicated some more recent theories of improvements in navigation-the causes of the Gulf-stream in the Atlantic-the production of cold by evaporation-the causes of earthquakes-the structure of musical-instruments-and several other topics.

The latter part of Franklin's life-from 1757 to 1790-was devoted to the welfare of his country, and forms a prominent part of American history. In 1757 he went to England, and, as the agent for Pennsylvania, employed every effort to secure the liberties of the colonists, and to prevent the outbreak of war. After a second visit to the mother-country, he again crossed the Atlantic, and in his eightieth year returned to Philadelphia, landing on the spot where, sixty-three years before, he had arrived, as a runaway apprentice, with a single dollar in his pocket. The few remaining years of his life were quiet and happy. He retained his mental faculties unimpaired, fulfilled his duties as president of the state, and found leisure to pursue his favourite study of natural history. His last public act was to sign a petition praying the House of Representatives to oppose the traffic in slaves. He died April 17, 1790.

The writings of Franklin include his Autobiography, Miscellaneous Essays, the Way to Wealth, several historical and political tracts, scientific papers, and his official and private correspondence. The Historical Review, a work of considerable influence in the beginning of the Revolution, was generally ascribed to Franklin, and is included in the last edition of his works; but in a private letter to David Hume, the supposed author states that the greater part of the volume was written by another hand. The political letters of Franklin are marked by a clear and easy style, and give expression to manly and earnest feelings; while his private correspondence is full of cheerfulness and playful humour, and shews that he was capable of warm affections. The familiar essays supply models of a style of homely exposition and exhortation addressed to the masses of the people.

Franklin's character, though it may be found defective when tried by higher standards than his own, was in itself consistent