Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/40

30 town in England, or indeed in Europe, of which he could not give a particular account. He was neither deficient in underſtanding or literature, but he was a fad infidel; and, ſome years after, wickedly undertook to traveſty the Bible in burleſque verſe; as Cotton has traveſtied Virgil. He exhibited, by this means, many facts in a very ludicrous point of view, which would have given umbrage to weak minds, had his work been publiſhed, which it never was.

I ſpent the night at his houſe, and reached Burlington the next morning. On my arrival, I had the mortification to learn that the ordinary paſſage-boats had ſailed a little before. This was on a Saturday, and there would be no other boat till the Tueſday following. I returned to the houſe of an old woman in the town who had ſold me ſome ginger-bread to eat on my paſſage, and I aſked her advice. She invited me to take up my abode with her till an opportunity offered for me to embark. Fatigued with having travelled ſo far on foot, I accepted her invitation. When ſhe underſtood that I was a printer, ſhe would have perſuaded me to ſtay at Burlington, and ſet up my trade: but ſhe was little aware of the capital that would be neceſſary for ſuch a purpoſe! I was treated while at her houſe with true hoſpitality. She gave me, with the utmoſt good-will, a dinner of beef-ſteaks, and would accept of nothing in return but a pint of ale. Here I imagined myſelf to be fixed till the Tueſday in the enſuing week; but walking out in the evening by the river ſide, I ſaw a boat with a number of perſons in it approach. It was going to Philadelphia, and the company took me in. As there was no wind, we could only make way with our oars. About midnight, not perceiving the town, ſome of the company were of