"Were the finest young princess with millions in purse,
To be had in exchange for my Joan,
I could not get better wife, might get a worse,
So I'll stick to my dearest old Joan."
[107] Franklin's Memorandum.—Thus far was written with the intention expressed in the beginning, and therefore contains several little family anecdotes of no importance to others. What follows was written many years after in compliance with the advice contained in these letters (see p. [192]), and accordingly intended for the public. The affairs of the Revolution occasioned the interruption.
[108] See Note 1.
[109] The Philadelphia Library was incorporated in 1742. In its building is a tablet which reads as follows:
Be it remembered,
in honor of the Philadelphia youth
(then chiefly artificers),
that in MDCCXXXI.
they cheerfully,
at the instance of Benjamin Franklin,
one of their number,
instituted the Philadelphia Library,
which, though small at first,
is become highly valuable and extensively useful,
and which the walls of this edifice
are now destined to contain and preserve;
the first stone of whose foundation
was here placed
the thirty-first day of August, 1789.
The inscription, save the mention of himself, was prepared by Franklin.
[110] See Prov. xxii. 29.
§ 5. CONTINUED SELF-EDUCATION.
It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded at length that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method.