[145] A street in London in which Franklin had apartments.
[146] Little channel or gutter.
[147] Now a part of London, but formerly a separate corporation.
[148] "From the manuscript journal of Mr. Andrew Ellicott," says Mr. John Bigelow in one of his editions of the Autobiography, "I have been kindly favored by Mr. J. C. G. Kennedy, of Washington, one of his descendants, with the following extract, which was written three years before the preceding paragraph in the Autobiography:
"'I found him [Franklin] in his little room among his papers. He received me very politely, and immediately entered into conversation about the western country. His room makes a singular appearance, being filled with old philosophical instruments, papers, boxes, tables, and stools. About ten o'clock he placed some water on the fire, but not being expert through his great age, I desired him to give me the pleasure of assisting him. He thanked me, and replied that he ever made it a point to wait upon himself, and, although he began to find himself infirm, he was determined not to increase his infirmities by giving way to them. After the water was hot, I observed his object was to shave himself, which operation he performed without a glass and with great expedition. I asked him if he ever employed a barber; he answered: "No; I think happiness does not consist so much in particular pieces of good fortune, which perhaps occasionally fall to a man's lot, as to be able in his old age to do those little things which, being unable to perform himself, would be done by others with a sparing hand."'"
[149] That is, he examined the accounts and managed the financial affairs.
[150] The ministers of the Crown in London.
[151] The college in Cambridge, Harvard College.
[152] The commissioners of trade, who lived in England, and to whom the colonial governors made their reports and returns. Their duty was "to put things into a form and order of government that should always preserve these countries in obedience to the Crown."
[153] A union of six of the more considerable Indian tribes.