laughers,-gentlemen who will give themselves an hour's diversion with the cock of a man's hat, or the heels of his shoes, or some word dropped unguardedly in talk; who write satires to carry about in their pockets, and read in all company they happen to be in; who think a pun is wit, and judge of the strength of arguments by the strength of the lungs. In the third was a portrait of Cretico, which Keimer mistook for himself, and sought revenge in ridiculing the Busybody, and printing a small tract called "A Touch of the Times. printed at the New Printing-Office."

Phila.:

Jibes Franklin could stand, but that such a piece of typography should be thought to come from his press was too much for him, and in the "Mercury" of April 24, 1729, denied the imprint. "This," said he, "may inform those that have been induc'd to think otherwise, that the silly paper call'd A Touch of the Times,' &c., was wrote, printed and published by Mr. Keimer; and that his putting the words 'New Printing-Office' at the bottom, and instructing the hawkers to say it was done there, is an abuse." The new printing-office, however, did put forth a pamphlet entitled "A Short Discourse, Proving that the Jewish or SeventhDay Sabbath Is Abrogated and Repealed." And this pamphlet, there is reason to believe,

was prepared by Franklin in ridicule of Keimer, who wore the long beard, and kept the Jewish Sabbath with great strictness.

In the fourth Busybody he pretends to have had a letter begging him to pass some strictures on making long and frequent visits. The fifth he designed to be a terror to evil-doers. He has made a league with a person having the power of second sight, and is ready to show up those little crimes and vices for which the law has neither remedy nor regard, as well as those great pieces of sacred villainy so craftily done and circumspectly guarded that the law cannot take hold.

This in turn brings a letter from Titan Pleiades, astrologer. Titan has read Michael Scott, Albertus Magnus, and Cornelius Agrippa above three hundred times, in search of that wisdom which will lay before him the chests of gold and sacks of money the pirates have hidden underground. He has searched in vain, but doubts not that if the "Busybody," the secondsighted correspondent, and himself were joined, they would soon be three of the richest men in the province.

Titan was no imaginary character. One hundred and sixty years ago the belief in the existence of hidden treasure was common, and the belief unquestionably was well founded.

Some had been buried by misers, some by thieves, and not a little by men who, having neither stocks in which to invest nor banks in which to deposit, hid their savings in the earth, and dying, their secret died with them. Even now, pots of such treasure are at times turned up by the plow. But in Franklin's time men were confident they could be detected by the divining-rod and the stars. In every colony were sharpers who for a few shillings would furnish charms to lay the guardian spirit and name the auspicious night, and dupes ever ready to give the shillings and make the attempt. Day after day they would wander through the woods watching the flight of birds, scrutinizing the tracks of animals, turning over bowlders, and examining the roots of trees. The spot discovered, they would, when the proper planets were in conjunction and the moon was dark, hurry away with spade and pick, toads and black-cats' fur, and, muttering charms, panting with fatigue and trembling with fear, dig for hours. If the east grew light before a chest crammed with pistoles or a pot heavy with pieces-of-eight lay before them, they would creep home dejected but not cured. The circle perhaps had not been truly drawn, the charm had not been correctly said, a cloud maybe had cut off the light of some auspicious

star.

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“This odd humor of digging for money, through a belief that much has been hid by pirates," the Busybody himself declared, was mighty prevalent, insomuch that you can hardly walk half a mile out of town on any side without observing several pits dug with that design, and perhaps some lately opened."

After this essay Franklin contributed no more to the series. Of the thirty-two papers comprising "The Busybody," six are commonly ascribed to him, and the majority of the twentysix to Joseph Breintnal. When the latter stopped writing, the purpose for which they were begun had been accomplished. Keimer, overwhelmed by disaster, was on his way to the Barbadoes. His printing-house was in the hands of David Harry; his newspaper was the property of Franklin. The whole town was reading the "Mercury," and forgetting that the "Instructor" existed. Much the same fate has overtaken "The Busybody." Franklin's six contributions are reprinted, and occasionally read. Breintnal's essays have never been collected, nor is there now living more than one man who has ever read them through.

To liken the essays of Franklin at this period of his life to those of Addison would be absurd; yet it cannot be denied that they possess merits of a rare and high order. He makes no dis

play of ornamentation; he indulges in no silly flights of imagination; he assumes no air of learning; he uses no figures of speech save those the most ignorant of mankind are constantly using unconsciously; he is free from everything that commonly defaces the writings of young men. Dealing with nothing but the most homely matters, he says what he has to say easily, simply, and in a pure English idiom. No man ever read a sentence of Franklin's essays and doubted what it meant. It is this simplicity and homeliness, joined to hard common sense and wit, that gave his later writings a popularity and influence beyond those of any American author since his day. If he has a bad habit or a silly custom or a small vice to condemn, he begins by presenting us with a picture of it which we recognize at once. Then, with the picture full before us, he draws just the moral or passes the very censure we would do if left to ourselves. Not a tavern-keeper but had seen Ridentius and his followers round the fireplace many a time. Not a merchant but knew a Cato and a Cretico. Not a shopkeeper but had suffered just such annoyances as Patience.

With "Busybody" number eight, Franklin abandoned essay-writing to his friend, and all his time and ability were given to persuading the people on a serious question in which they and