Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/50

40 conduct of ſo important an enterpriſe, and which would require ſo conſiderable a ſum of money.

My old comrade Collins, who was a clerk in the poſt-office, charmed with the account I gave of my new reſidence, expreſſed a deſire of going thither; and while I waited my father's determination, he ſet off before me, by land, for Rhode Iſland, leaving his books, which formed a handſome collection in mathematics and natural philoſophy, to be conveyed with mine to New-York, where he purpoſed to wait for me.

My father, though he could not approve Sir William's propoſal, was yet pleaſed that I had obtained ſo advantageous a recommendation as that of a perſon of his rank, and that my induſtry and œconomy had enabled me to equip myſelf ſo handſomely in ſo ſhort a period. Seeing no appearance of accommodating matters between my brother and me, he conſented to my return to Philadelphia, adviſed me to be civil to every body, to endeavour to obtain general eſteem, and avoid ſatire and ſarcaſm, to which he thought I was too much inclined; adding, that, with perſeverance and prudent œconomy, I might, by the time I became of age, ſave enough to eſtabliſh myſelf in buſineſs; and that if a ſmall ſum ſhould then be wanting, he would undertake to ſupply it.

This was all I could obtain from him, except ſome trifling prefects, in token of friendſhip from him and my mother. I embarked once more for New-York, furniſhed at this time with their approbation and bleſſing. The ſloop having touched at Newport in Rhode Iſland, I paid a viſit to my brother John, who had for ſome years been ſettled there, and was married. He had always been attached to me, and he received me with great affection. One of his friends, whoſe