he has given minute details, in the curious and instructive autobiography which he has left behind him. It is well known, that in early life he "conceived the bold and arduous project," as he well calls it, of arriving at moral perfection; he wished “to live without committing any fault at any time, and to conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead him into." He did not exclude religion from his scheme, (in truth, it acknowledges "God as the fountain of wisdom," and contains his religious creed, and a form of prayer for the divine assistance and guidance,) but it contained no distinguishing tenets of any particular sect; as he was persuaded, he says, that it might be serviceable to people of all religions, and he was unwilling to have it contain any thing which might prejudice any one of any sect against it. He gives a very full and candid account of the means and effects which he used to attain his end. He admits, that he was not entirely successful, but says, it contributed very much to the improvement of his morals.* As one of the means of attaining his end, he made a list of the virtues which he wished perfectly to acquire, on which he carefully and frequently examined himself. Under the circumstances, his list and arrangement of the virtues is, in some respects, instructive. The plan is commendable and worthy of imitation, and, on the basis of sound views of Christianity, and a deep sense of personal religion, could not fail to be generally and very highly useful.

Many of the virtues respect others chiefly, rather than ourselves; these are not personal virtues, as I make use of the phrase. Justice, for instance, respects the rights of others chiefly. Of the virtues, more especially personal, Dr. Franklin enumerates temperance, order, frugality, industry, moderation, cleanliness, tranquillity, chastity, and humility. This enumeration is very incomplete; it admits of many additions, among which independence of mind, dignity, self-respect, firmness, consistency, evenness, cheerfulness, and sociability of temper, must, upon the slightest reflection, occur to every one.

Temperance, as Dr. Franklin well observes, tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which are so necessary,

* Franklin's Works, Vol. I. PP. 88-98.

where constant vigilance is to be kept up, and a guard maintained against the unremitting "attraction of ancient habits," and the force of perpetual temptations. To this he ascribed his longcontinued health and his good constitution. To frugality and industry, he ascribed "the early easiness" and independence of his circumstances, the acquisition of fortune and affluence, with all that knowledge which enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him the high reputation which he enjoyed among the learned. He was extremely sensible of the value of a habit of order and method, by which "all his things might have their places, and each part of his business might have its time," and he used the greatest exertions to acquire it. He was better satisfied with the fruit of his endeavours to acquire the other virtues, than with the result of those which he made to acquire this, to which he says he had not been accustomed from the outset of life, and with his progress in which he always seems to have been very much dissatisfied. He set himself to acquire humility, in consequence of being kindly informed by a friend, that his pride showed itself frequently in his conversation; that he was not content with being in the right, when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather given to insolence. To the joint influence of the virtues, even in the imperfect state in which, he says, he was able to acquire them, he was accustomed to ascribe all that evenness of temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which made his company sought for, at a very advanced age, and agreeable even to his young acquaintances.* In respect to moderation, discipline of temper, and love of peace, he does not seem to have failed much of that perfection at which he aimed. His moral practice seems to have been more perfect, than his list of virtues is complete. The cardinal virtues, which he so assiduously cultivated, drew within their influence and attraction those, which are kindred to them, and which his enumeration does not contain. On various trying occasions, and under all becoming circumstances, he showed himself not wanting in firmness, selfrespect, dignity, and independence of mind.

Few men, too, have been more popular; but he used no un

* Franklin's Works, Vol. I. pp. 90, 94-96.

worthy arts to acquire popularity. It is scarcely going too far, in this particular, to apply to him, all that Lord Mansfield claimed for himself. "I wish for popularity;" said that great jurist, "but it is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after. It is that popularity, which sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by noble means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong upon this occasion, to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press. I will not avoid doing that which I think is right, though it should draw on me the whole artillery of libels, all that falsehood and malice can invent, or the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow. I can say," continues he, "with another great magistrate, upon an occasion and under circumstances not unlike, Ego hoc animo semper fui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam, non invidiam, putarem." In thus adverting to the life of Dr. Franklin, to illustrate the duty of cultivating the personal virtues, I am justified, if not so much by the practice of modern writers, yet by the great writers of antiquity, with whom this was a favorite mode of illustration. It is in this way, that Cicero and Seneca have illustrated the moral doctrines and principles which they taught, by availing themselves of the acts, habits, traits of character, and example, not only of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, but of Cato, Fabius, Lælius, Scipio, and a host of other patriots and statesmen whose names adorn the Roman history. †

#

Quoted in Story's "Miscellaneous Writings," p. 415.

† Dr. Franklin had it in mind, during many years, to write and publish a work on practical morals; and he was only prevented from executing his intention by the pressure of his private business, in the earlier part of his life, and, later in life, by public business. He proposed to entitle it," The Art of Virtue, because," says he, "it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct and indicate the means." It was his design to explain and enforce this doctrine, "that vicious actions are not hurtful, because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature of man alone considered; that it was, therefore, the interest of every one to be virtuous, who wished to be happy, even in this world; " and, from this circumstance, it was further his intention to "endeavour to convince young persons, that no qualities are so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity." (Franklin's Works, Vol. I. pp. 96, 97.) It must be admitted, that Dr. Franklin's morals were by far too exclusively utilitarian in their character, and his intend

In cultivating the personal virtues, no one thing is more indispensable to success, than the government of the temper and passions; among which jealousy, envy, anger, and its offspring, resentment, hatred, malice, and revenge, are the most dangerous. These passions are accustomed to disturb society enough; but still more will they disturb and harass, if they do not destroy, the unfortunate individual, who gives way to them.

There are

The malignant affection, with which some ill-constituted minds are ever disposed to view those whom they consider as competitors, is called jealousy, when the competitor is one who has not yet attained the height on which themselves stand, and when it is the future advancement of a competitor that is dreaded. It is denominated envy, when it regards some actual attainment of another. But the passion, varying with this mere difference of the present and the future, is the same in every other respect. In both cases, the wish is a wish of evil, a wish of evil to excellence of whatever kind. "Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy ? "* minds, to which no scene of torture is half so dreadful, no pain half so exquisite, no sight half so disgusting, as superior virtue, excellence, and happiness. The envious man will wish all mankind to remain in ignorance of important truths, if the most important truths, that can be revealed to them, are to be the discovery of any other genius than his own. He will sigh over the relief which multitudes are to receive from the institutions of a wise benevolence, which he was not the first to prompt. He will sicken at the prosperity of his country, if this prosperity is made to enhance the glory of a rival. He will rejoice at the severest calamities which can afflict his country, if they can be turned to the disgrace, and much more to the ruin of a rival.

One change, however, would, in a moment, dissipate all the malevolence of this gloomy and selfish spirit. It would only be necessary to drive from the earth, every thing worthy of love and ed work would have been, no doubt, strongly characteristic of his peculiar way of thinking on this subject. This work, too, is mentioned more than once in his correspondence with Lord Kames, in which he explains it further; but his explanation is too long to permit me to quote it. (Life of Lord Kames, by Lord Woodhouselee, Vol. I. p. 372; Vol. II. p. 28.)

Proverbs xxvii. 4.

approbation, to make wisdom folly, kindness cruelty, heroic generosity sordid selfishness, and all the qualities, which raise admiration, the execration and disgust of mankind. The hatred of the envious might cease, where the hatred of the virtuous might begin. But the wishes of evil, which flow from such a breast, are still more evil to the breast which feels them, than to the excellence and happiness they are so willing to destroy. Hence it has been said of envy, paradoxically, that "it is at once the justest of passions, and the most unjust," the most unjust, in the wrongs which it is ever conceiving or perpetrating against him who is its object; the justest, in the punishment with which it is ever avenging on the envious man, the wrongs of which he has been guilty. This self-consuming misery of envy, is what happens to every envious man. He may, perhaps, overthrow his rival's glory, but he will be crushed, like the rival of Theagenes, beneath the glory which he overturns.*

Nor do the more impulsive and vindictive passions of anger, and its kindred, malice and revenge, less impair personal excellence and happiness, than the malevolent passions, of which jealousy and envy are the chief. Anger," says Bishop Jeremy Taylor, hath in it the trouble of sorrow, and the heats of lust, and the disease of revenge, and the boilings of a fever, and the rashness of precipitancy, and the disturbance of persecution."† "There is such a resemblance," says Seneca, "betwixt the transports of anger and those of madness, that it is not easy to know the one from the other. A bold, fierce, and threatening countenance, as pale as ashes, and in the same moment as red as blood; a glaring eye, a wrinkled brow, violent motions, the hands restless and perpetually in action, wringing and menacing, snapping of the joints, stamping with the feet, the hair standing, trembling lips, a forced and squeaking voice, the speech false and broken, deep and frequent sighs, and ghastly looks; the veins swell, the heart pants, the knees knock, with a hundred dismal accidents that are common to both distempers." +

"Make no friendship," says a sacred writer, "with an angry

* Brown's Philosophy of the Mind, Vol. III. pp. 112 – 115.

Works, Vol. I. p. 89.

Morals, p. 269.