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extremely disagreeable
attentive to my manner of writing, and
was extremely ambitious.
had the rest of the time till their return for study, in which I made the
quick apprehension which generally attends temperance in eating and drinking.
rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a dispute
when I advanced anything that might possibly be disputed, the word certainly, undoubtedly, or any other that gave the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather said, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to me, or I should not think it is so, for such and such reasons; or I imagine
Men must be taught as if you taught them not,And things unknown proposed as things forgot." He also recommends it to us, "To speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence." And he might have joined with this line that which he has coupled with another, I think, less properly. "For want of modesty is want of sense."
New-England Courant.
Boston News-Letter. I remember his
But my brother was passionate, and had often beaten me, which I took extremely amiss; and thinking my apprenticeship
under the impression of resentment for the blows his passion too often urged him to bestow upon me; though he was otherwise not an ill-natured man: perhaps I was too saucy and provoking. When he found I would
three days found myself at New-York, near three hundred miles
Philadelphia.
was in my working dress, my best clothes coming round by sea. I was dirty, from my being so long in the boat; my pockets were stuffed out with shirts and stockings, and I knew no one, nor where to look for lodging. Fatigued with walking, rowing, and the want of sleep, I was very hungry; and my whole stock of cash consisted in a single dollar, and about a shilling in copper coin, which I gave
he has little money than when he has plenty; perhaps to prevent his being thought to have but little. I
Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance.
fell fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke up, when some one was kind
There I got a dinner; and, while I was eating, several questions were asked me, as from my youth and appearance I was suspected of being a runaway. After dinner, my host
Bradford, "I have brought to see you a young man of your business; perhaps you may want such a one." He asked me a few questions, put a composing stick in my hand to see how I worked, and then said he would employ me soon,
printers I found poorly qualified for their business. Bradford had been bred to it, and was very illiterate; and Keimer, though something of a scholar, was a mere compositor, knowing
Read's, before mentioned, who was the owner of his house; and my chest of clothes being come by this time, I made rather a more respectable appearance in the eyes of Miss Read than I had done when she first happened to see me eating my roll in the street.
Sir William Keith, governor of the province, was then at Newcastle, and Captain Holmes happening to be in company with him when my letter came to hand, spoke to him of me,
Keimer and
setting up my business.
The governor
This visit of mine offended him extremely. For when my mother some
Collins, who was a clerk in the postoffice, pleased with the account I gave him of my new country, determined to go thither also; and while I waited
visited my brother John,
This business afterward occasioned me a good deal of uneasiness. At Newport we
Collins, who had arrived there some time before me. We had
studying, and a wonderful genius for mathematical learning, in which he far outstripped me. While I lived in Boston, most of my hours of leisure for conversation
boarding at the same house with me and at myexpense. Knowing that I had that money of Vernon's,
We hardly exchanged a civil word after this adventure. At length a West India captain, who had a commission
You shall repay me when you are able; I am resolved to have a good printer here, and I am sure you must succeed." This was spoken with such an appearance of cordiality, that I had not the least doubt of his meaning what he said. I had hitherto kept the proposition of my setting up a secret in Philadelphia, and I still kept it. Had
"Then," said he, "get yourself ready to go with the Annis;" which was the annual ship, and the only one at that time usually passing between London and Philadelphia. But as it would be some months
had made some courtship during this time to Miss Read; I had a great respect and affection for her, and had some reasons to believe she had the same for me; but as I was about to take a long voyage, and we were both very young (only a little above eighteen), it was thought most prudent by her mother
approved, for my part, the amusing one's self with poetry now and then, so far as to improve one's language, but no farther.
He let me into Keith's character; told me there was not the least probability that he had written any letters for me; that no one who knew him had the smallest dependance on him; and he
Denham, who was a friend of Hamilton's, thought he ought to be acquainted with it; so, when he arrived in England, which was soon after, partly from resentment and ill will to Keith and Riddlesden, and partly from good will to him, I waited on him and gave him the letter. He thanked me cordially, the information being of importance to him; and from that time he became my friend, greatly to my advantage afterward on many occasions.
expenses I was constantly kept unable to pay my
passage.
Lyons, a surgeon,
Dr. Mandeville,
Sir Isaac Newton, of which I was extremely desirous; but this never happened.
quart of beer. He drank on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay out of his wages every Saturday night for that vile liquor: an expense I was free from; and thus these poor devils keep themselves always under.
I’m not a drinker…probably saved me a lot of money.
found myself obliged to comply and pay the money, convinced of the folly of being on ill terms with
was about to return to Philadelphia, and should carry over a great quantity of goods in order to open a store there. He proposed to take me over as his clerk, to keep his books (in which he would
Miss Read, had not her friends, despairing with reason of my return after the receipt of my letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a potter, which
1727, when I had just passed my twenty-first year, we both were taken ill. My distemper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off; I suffered a good
