The

became the father of an illegitimate son. name of the mother most happily is not known; but as the law of bastardy was then rigidly enforced against the woman and not against the man, she was, in all likelihood, one of that throng who received their lashes in the marketplace and filled the records of council with prayers for the remission of fines.

With Keimer, Franklin stayed but a little while. The two quarreled, parted, made up, and again separated, this time amicably, Keimer to go to destruction, Franklin to found a new printing-house and begin his great career. One of the three apprentices who stitched pamphlets and inked type was Hugh Meredith. This lad was country-bred, idle, cursed, with an incurable longing for drink, and blessed with a father who for that day was more than well-to-do. Over the son, Franklin had great influence, had persuaded him to keep sober and be industrious, and the reward for these good deeds was now at hand. In one of the darkest hours of his life, when he had left Keimer in a passion, when Bradford could give him no work, when he thought seriously of wandering back to his father's house, Meredith visited him and proposed a partnership. The proposition was gladly accepted, the father of Meredith found the money, an order was sent to London for

types and a press, and in the spring of 1728 the firm of Franklin & Meredith began business at "The New Printing-Office in High Street, near the Market."

Their first job was a hand-bill for a countryman. Their next was forty sheets of "The History of the Rise, Increase, and Progress of the Christian People called Quakers; Intermixed with Several Remarkable Occurrences. Written originally in Low Dutch and also translated into English, by William Sewel." A few copies having found their way to America, the Philadelphia meeting asked Bradford to reprint the book. Bradford cunningly asked time to consider, arranged with his aunt Tacy Sowle, the English publisher, for seven hundred copies, and then declined the proposition. The Friends thereupon turned to Keimer, who began the printing in 1725. But so great was the undertaking, and so ill was he equipped, that 1728 came and the history was not published. Nor would it have been in that year had not the last forty sheets and the index been sent to Franklin. We are told in the "Autobiography that Breintnal procured them from the Quakers, but this is a mistake. They were sent by Keimer at the very time Franklin was roundly abusing him in the "Weekly Mercury."

Franklin next turned his attention to Brad

ford, to whom he had once been indebted for food and a home. Bradford was printer to the province, and in the gains of this post the new firm determined to share. When, therefore, the address of the governor issued, Franklin obtained a copy, printed it in much better form, laid a copy on the seat of each member of the Assembly, and thenceforth the public printing was his. Bradford was also printer of the "Weekly Mercury."

The "Mercury" was the only newspaper then published out of New England; was dull, but circulated from New York to Virginia, and paid well. As the new printing - office had little to do, Franklin determined to start a newspaper of his own, make it instructive and amusing, and share some of the profit Bradford alone enjoyed.

In an evil moment, however, he told his plan to George Webb, a foolish youth who had lately been an indentured servant of Keimer. The wretch hurried with the news to his former master, who took the hint, forestalled Franklin, and on December 28, 1728, issued number one of "The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette." To have made a duller journal than Bradford's would have been impossible. It is small praise, therefore, to say that Keimer's "Universal In

structor was by far the better of the two. No one who reads the "Mercury " will ever accuse Bradford of attempting anything but moneymaking with the least possible exertion. Keimer undoubtedly was just as eager to make money; but, to do him justice, he strove at the same time to amuse and instruct, and, clumsy as his efforts were, they were laudable. To afford instruction, he began the republication of Chambers's "Universal Dictionary of all the Arts and Sciences," and started boldly with the letter A. To afford amusement, a like use was made of "The Religious Courtship" of De Foe, and of some sketches of English life furnished by Webb. Did Keimer expect to finish this task, he must have looked forward to a long life for the newspaper and himself. If so, he was doomed to disappointment, for, when the fortieth number issued, the "Universal Instructor" had passed into Franklin's hands.

The means taken to get the newspaper are characteristic of his patience and his cunning. Enraged at the duplicity of Keimer, he determined that the town should give this new venture no support. Having passed his apprenticeship in the midst of one newspaper controversy, he knew that nothing lasting is ever gained by calling hard names and indulging in vile abuse; that if men came to the tavern to read

the "Instructor," or cancelled their subscriptions at the sign of the Bible, it was because they liked the "Instructor" better than the Mercury;" and that the way to bring back both readers and subscribers to the "Mercury" was not to abuse what they liked, but to give them something they were sure to like better. Reasoning thus, Franklin began in the "Mercury" a long series of essays subscribed “The Busybody."

The first paper is taken up with some account of "The Busybody" and his purpose. He is simply Mrs. Dogood in man's clothes. He has seen with concern the growing vices and follies of his countryfolk. Reformation of

these evils ought to be the concern of everybody; but what is everybody's business is nobody's business, and the business is done accordingly. The Busybody has therefore seen fit to take this nobody's business wholly into his own hands, and become a kind of censuror morum. Sometimes he will deliver lectures on morality or philosophy; sometimes talk on politics; sometimes, when he has nothing of his own of consequence to say, he will make use of a wellknown extract from a good book, for it is the lack of good books that has made good conversation so scarce.

The second paper is against the tribe of