Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/13

Rh generality of men hate vanity in others, however ſtrongly they may be tinctured with it themſelves: for myſelf, I pay obeiſance to it whereever I meet with it, perſuaded that it is advantageous, as well to the individual whom it governs, as to thoſe who are within the ſphere of its influence. Of conſequence, it would in many caſes, not be wholly abſurd, that a man ſhould count his vanity among the other ſweets of life, and give thanks to Providence for the bleſſing.

And here let me with all humility acknowledge, that to Divine Providence I am indebted for the felicity I have hitherto enjoyed. It is that Power alone which has furniſhed me with the means I have employed, and that has crowned them with ſucceſs. My faith in this reſpect leads me to hope, though I cannot count upon it, that the divine goodneſs will ſtill be exerciſed towards me, either by prolonging the duration of my happineſs to the cloſe of life, or by giving me fortitude to ſupport any melancholy reverſe, which may happen to me, as to ſo many others. My future fortune is unknown but to him in whoſe hand is our deſtiny, and who can make our very afflictions ſubſervient to our benefit.

One of my uncles, deſirous, like myſelf, of collecting anecdotes of our family, gave me ſome notes, from which I have derived many particulars reſpecting our anceſtors. From theſe I learn, that they had lived in the fame village (Eaton in Northamptonſhire), upon a freehold of about thirty acres, for the ſpace at leaſt of three hundred years. How long they had reſided there prior to that period, my uncle had been unable to diſcover; probably ever ſince the inſtitution of ſurnames, when they took the appellation of