Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/6

iv The ſtyle of these memoirs is uncommonly pleaſing. The ſtory is told with the most unreſerved ſincerity, and without any falſe colouring or ornament. We ſee, in every page, that the author examined his ſubject with the eye of a maſter, and related no incidents, the ſprings and origin of which he did not perfectly underſtand. It is this that gives such exquiſite and uncommon perſpicuity to the detail and delight in the review. The translator has endeavoured, as he went along, to conceive the probable manner in which Dr. Franklin expreſſed his ideas in his English manuscript, and he hopes to be forgiven if this enquiry ſhall occasionally have ſubjected him to the charge of a ſtyle in any reſpect bald or low: to imitate the admirable ſimplicity of the author, is no eaſy taſk.

The Eſſays, which are now, for the firſt time, brought together from various reſources, will be found to be more miſcellaneous than any of Dr. Franklin’s that have formerly been collected, and will therefore be more generally amuſing. Dr. Franklin tells us, in his Life, that he was an aſſiduous imitator of Addiſon, and from ſome of these papers it will be admitted that he was not an unhappy one. The public will be amuſed with following a great philoſopher in his relaxations, and observing in what reſpects philoſophy tends to elucidate and improve the most common ſubjects. The editor has purpoſely avoided ſuch papers as, by their ſcientifical nature, were leſs adapted for general peruſal. Theſe he may probably hereafter publiſh in a volume by themſelves.