Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/68

58 Sir Hans Sloane hearing of it, called upon me, and invited me to his houſe in Bloomſbury-ſquare, where, after ſhowing me every thing that was curious, he prevailed on me to add this piece to his collection; for which he paid me very handſomely.

There lodged in the fame houſe with us a young woman, a milliner, who had a ſhop by the ſide of the Exchange. Lively and ſenſible, and having received an education ſomewhat above her rank, her converſation was very agreeable. Ralph read plays to her every evening. They became intimate. She took another lodging, and he followed her. They lived for ſome time together; but Ralph being without employment, ſhe having a child, and the profits of her buſineſs not ſuſſicing for the maintenance of three, he reſolved to quit London, and try a country ſchool. This was a plan in which he thought himſelf likely to ſucceed, as he wrote a fine hand, and was verſed in arithmetic and accounts. But conſidering the office as beneath him, and expecting ſome day to make a better figure in the world, when he ſhould be aſhamed of its being known that he had exerciſed a profeſſion ſo little honourable, he changed his name, and did me the honour of aſſuming mine. He wrote to me ſoon after his departure, informing me that he was ſettled at a ſmall village in Berkſhire. In his letter he recommended Mrs. T***, the milliner, to my care, and requeſted an anſwer, directed to Mr. Franklin, ſchool-mafter at N***.

He continued to write to me frequently, ſending me large fragments of an epic poem he was compoſing, and which he requeſted me to criticiſe and correct. I did ſo, but not without endeavouring to prevail on him to renounce this purſuit. Young had juſt publiſhed one of his