clxli. xiiijs. xd.
"For several Bottles, Corkes, and Glasses, bought by Mr. Butler, late Steward, from January, 1661, to January, 1662, vjli. xiijs. jd., and for two Saddles and furniture for the Caterer and Slaughterman, xxvjs. viijd. In both
vijli. xixs. ixd."
I was at Ludlow Castle last autumn, and thought (of course) of Comus and Hudibras. I bought at the same time the three parts of my friend Mr. Wright's excellent History of Ludlow Castle, and paid in advance for the concluding part. Pray let me ask Mr. Wright (through "N. & Q.") by what time (I am a hungry antiquary) we may hope the concluding part will be published? I will gladly show Mr. Wright Lord Carbery's Account.
PETER CUNNINGHAM.
DR. FRANKLIN'S TRACT ON LIBERTY AND NECESSITY.
In Dr. Franklin's Autobiography, he mentions as his first work a pamphlet printed in London in 1725 on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. It was written by him when he was eighteen years of age, and partly in answer to Wollaston's Religion of Nature. The object was to prove, from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power, that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world; and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existing. He printed, he says, only a hundred copies, of which he gave a few to his friends; and afterwards disliking the piece, as conceiving it might have an ill tendency, he burnt the rest except one copy. This tract, most curious as the first publication of this extraordinary man, seems to have eluded hitherto every search. In Jared Sparks's elaborate edition of Dr. Franklin's Works in 10 vols., it is of course not to be found. In a note (vol. viii., p. 405.), the editor observes, "No copy of this tract is now known to be in existence." Nor do I find that any writer on the subject of Franklin, or the history of metaphysics, or moral philosophy, appears to have seen it. Sir Jas. Mackintosh was long in search of it, but was compelled ultimately to give it up in despair.
I am happy to inform those who may take an interest in Dr. Franklin's first performance—and what is there in literary history more attractive than to compare the earliest works of great men with their maturer efforts?—that I fortunately possess a copy of this tract. It is bound up in a volume of tracts, and came from the library of the Rev. S. Harper. The title is, "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, in a Letter to a Friend:
'Whatever is, is in its causes just,
Since all things are by fate; but purblind man