Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/52

42 ſearch warrant, found the ſtolen goods them, and had them puniſhed. And thus, after having been ſaved from one rock concealed under water, upon which the veſſel ſtruck during our paſſage, I eſcaped another of a ſtill more dangerous nature.

At New-York I found my friend Collins, who had arrived ſome time before. We had been intimate from our infancy, and had read the ſame books together; but he had the advantage of being able to devote more time to reading and ſtudy, and an aſtoniſhing diſpoſition for mathematics, in which he left me far behind him. When at Boſton, I had been accuſtomed to paſs with him almoſt all my leiſure hours. He was then a ſober and induſtrious lad; his knowledge had gained him a very general eſteem, and he ſeemed to promiſe to make an advantageous figure in ſociety. But, during my abſence, he had unfortunately addicted himſelf to brandy, and I learned, as well from himſelf as from the report of others, that every day ſince his arrival at New-York he had been intoxicated, and had acted in a very extravagant manner. He had alſo played and loſt all his money; ſo that I was obliged to pay his expences at the inn, and to maintain him during the reſt of his journey; a burthen that was very inconvenient to me.

The governor of New-York, whoſe name was Burnet, hearing the captain ſay that a young man who was a paſſenger in his ſhip had a great number of books, begged him to bring me to his houſe. I accordingly went, and ſhould have taken Collins with me, had he been ſober. The governor treated me with great civility, ſhewed me his library, which was a very conſiderable one, and we talked ſome time upon books and authors. This was the ſecond governor who had