1、 第第 1 卷卷 富兰克林自传富兰克林自传 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 2/426 总总目目录录 第第 1 卷卷 富兰克林自传富兰克林自传 第第 2 卷卷 柏拉图对话录：辩解篇、菲多柏拉图对话录：辩解篇、菲多篇、克利多篇篇、克利多篇 第第 3 卷卷 培根论说文集及新阿特兰蒂斯培根论说文集及新阿特兰蒂斯 第第 4 卷卷 约翰米尔顿英文诗全集约翰米尔顿英文诗全集 第第 5 卷卷 爱默生文集爱默生文集 第第 6 卷卷 伯恩斯诗歌集伯恩斯诗歌集 第第 7 卷卷 圣奥古斯丁忏悔录圣奥古斯丁忏悔录 第第 8 卷卷 希腊戏剧希腊戏剧 第第 9 卷卷
2、 论友谊、论老年及书信集论友谊、论老年及书信集 第第 10 卷卷 国富论国富论 第第 11 卷卷 物种起源论物种起源论 第第 12 卷卷 普卢塔克比较列传普卢塔克比较列传 第第 13 卷卷 伊尼亚德伊尼亚德 第第 14 卷卷 唐吉坷德唐吉坷德 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 3/426 第第 15 卷卷 天路历程天路历程 第第 16 卷卷 天方夜谭天方夜谭 第第 17 卷卷 民间传说与预言民间传说与预言 第第 18 卷卷 英国现代戏剧英国现代戏剧 第第 19 卷卷 浮士德浮士德 第第 20 卷卷 神曲神曲 第第 21 卷卷 许婚的爱人许婚
3、的爱人 第第 22 卷卷 奥德赛奥德赛 第第 23 卷卷 两年水手生涯两年水手生涯 第第 24 卷卷 伯克文集伯克文集 第第 25 卷卷 穆勒文集穆勒文集 第第 26 卷卷 欧洲大陆戏剧欧洲大陆戏剧 第第 27 卷卷 英国名家随笔英国名家随笔 第第 28 卷卷 英国与美国名家随笔英国与美国名家随笔 第第 29 卷卷 比格尔号上的旅行比格尔号上的旅行 第第 30 卷卷 科学论文集：物理学、化学、科学论文集：物理学、化学、天文学、地质学天文学、地质学 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 4/426 第第 31 卷卷 切利尼自传切利尼自传 第第 3
4、2 卷卷 文学和哲学名家随笔文学和哲学名家随笔 第第33卷卷 古代与现代著名航海与旅行记古代与现代著名航海与旅行记 第第 34 卷卷 法国和英国著名哲学家法国和英国著名哲学家 第第 35 卷卷 见闻与传奇见闻与传奇 第第 36 卷卷 君王论君王论 第第 37 卷卷 17、18 世纪英国著名哲学家世纪英国著名哲学家 第第 38 卷卷 物理学、医学、外科学和地质物理学、医学、外科学和地质学学 第第 39 卷卷 著名之前言和序言著名之前言和序言 第第 40 卷卷 英文诗集（卷）从乔叟到格英文诗集（卷）从乔叟到格雷雷 第第 41 卷卷 英文诗集（卷）从科林斯到英文诗集（卷）从科林斯到费兹杰拉德费兹杰拉
5、德 第第 42 卷卷 英文诗集（卷）从丁尼生到英文诗集（卷）从丁尼生到惠特曼惠特曼 第第 43 卷卷 10001904 第第 44 卷卷 圣书圣书(卷一卷一):孔子孔子 希伯来书希伯来书 基基百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 5/426 督圣经督圣经()第第 45 卷卷 圣书圣书(卷二卷二)基督圣经基督圣经()第第 46 卷卷 伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）第第 47 卷卷 伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）伊丽莎白时期戏剧（卷）第第 48 卷卷 帕斯卡文集帕斯卡文集 第第 49 卷卷 史诗与传说史诗与传说 第第 50 卷卷 哈佛经典讲座
6、哈佛经典讲座 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 6/426 第第 1 卷卷 富兰克林自传富兰克林自传 INTRODUCTORY NOTE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was born in Milk Street,Boston,on January 6(January 17,new style),1706.His father,Josiah Franklin,was a tallow chandler who married twice,and of his seventeen children Benjamin was the y
7、oungest son.His schooling ended at ten,and at twelve he was bound apprentice to his brother James,a printer,who published the New England Courant.To this journal he became a contributor,and later was for a time its nominal editor.But the brothers quarreled,and Benjamin ran away,going first to New Yo
8、rk,and thence to Philadelphia,where he arrived in October,1723.He soon obtained work as a printer,but after a few months he was induced by Governor Keith to go to London,where,finding Keiths promises empty,he again worked as a compositor till he was brought back to Philadelphia by a merchant named D
9、enman,who gave him a position in his business.On Denmans death he returned to his former trade,and shortly set up a printing house of his own from which he published The Pennsylvania Gazette,to which he contributed many essays,and which he made a medium for agitating a variety of local reforms.In 17
10、32 he began to issue his famous Poor Richards Almanac for the enrichment of which he borrowed or composed those pithy utterances of worldly wisdom which are the basis of a large part of his popular reputation.In 1758,the year in which he ceases writing for the Almanac,he printed in it“Father Abraham
11、s Sermon,”now regarded as the most famous piece of literature produced in Colonial America.Meantime Franklin was concerning himself more and more with public affairs.He set forth a scheme for an Academy,which was taken up later and finally developed into the University of Pennsylvania;and he founded
12、 an“American Philosophical Society”for the purpose of 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 7/426 enabling scientific men to communicate their discoveries to one another.He himself had already begun his electrical researches,which,with other scientific inquiries,he called on in the intervals o
13、f money-making and politics to the end of his life.In 1748 he sold his business in order to get leisure for study,having now acquired comparative wealth;and in a few years he had made discoveries that gave him a reputation with the learned throughout Europe.In politics he proved very able both as an
14、 administrator and as a controversialist;but his record as an office-holder is stained by the use he made of his position to advance his relatives.His most notable service in home politics was his reform of the postal system;but his fame as a statesman rests chiefly on his services in connection wit
15、h the relations of the Colonies with Great Britain,and later with France.In 1757 he was sent to England to protest against the influence of the Penns in the government of the colony,and for five years he remained there,striving to enlighten the people and the ministry of England as to Colonial condi
16、tions.On his return to America he played an honorable part in the Paxton affair,through which he lost his seat in the Assembly;but in 1764 he was again despatched to England as agent for the colony,this time to petition the King to resume the government from the hands of the proprietors.In London he
17、 actively opposed the proposed Stamp Act,but lost the credit for this and much of his popularity through his securing for a friend the office of stamp agent in America.Even his effective work in helping to obtain the repeal of the act left him still a suspect;but he continued his efforts to present
18、the case for the Colonies as the troubles thickened toward the crisis of the Revolution.In 1767 he crossed to France,where he was received with honor;but before his return home in 1775 he lost his position as postmaster through his share in divulging to Massachusetts the famous letter of Hutchinson
19、and Oliver.On his arrival in Philadelphia he was chosen a member of the Continental Congress and in 1777 he was despatched to France as commissioner for the United 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 8/426 States.Here he remained till 1785,the favorite of French society;and with such success
20、 did he conduct the affairs of his country that when he finally returned he received a place only second to that of Washington as the champion of American independence.He died on April 17,1790.The first five chapters of the Autobiography were composed in England in 1771,continued in 1784-5,and again
21、 in 1788,at which date he brought it down to 1757.After a most extraordinary series of adventures,the original form of the manuscript was finally printed by Mr.John Bigelow,and is here reproduced in recognition of its value as a picture of one of the most notable personalities of Colonial times,and
22、of its acknowledged rank as one of the great autobiographies of the world.BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1706-1757 TWYFORD,at the Bishop of St.Asaphs,注 11771.DEAR SON:I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors.You may remember the inquiries I made among the remai
23、ns of my relations when you were with me in England,and the journey I undertook for that purpose.Imagining it may be equally agreeable to注 2you to know the circumstances of my life,many of which you are yet unacquainted with,and expecting the enjoyment of a weeks uninterrupted leisure in my present
24、country retirement,I sit down to write them for you.To which I have besides some other inducements.Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred,to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world,and having gone so far through life with a considerable sha
25、re of felicity,the conducing means I made use of,which with the blessing of God so well succeeded,my posterity may like to know,as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations,and therefore fit to be imitated.That felicity,when I reflected on it,has induced me sometimes to say,that we
26、re it offered to my choice,I should have no objection to a 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 9/426 repetition of the same life from its beginning,only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first.So I might,besides correcting the faults,change
27、some sinister accidents and events of it for others more favorable.But though this were denied,I should still accept the offer.Since such a repetition is not to be expected,the next thing most like living ones life over again seems to be a recollection of that life,and to make that recollection as d
28、urable as possible by putting it down in writing.Hereby,too,I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men,to be talking of themselves and their own past actions;and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to others,who,through respect to age,might conceive themselves obliged to give me a h
29、earing,since this may be read or not as any one pleases.And,lastly(I may as well confess it,since my denial of it will be believed by nobody),perhaps I shall a good deal gratify my own vanity.Indeed,I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words,“Without vanity I may say,”&c.,but some vain thing
30、immediately followed.Most people dislike vanity in others,whatever share they have of it themselves;but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it,being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor,and to others that are within his sphere of action;and therefore,in many cases,i
31、t would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.And now I speak of thanking God,I desire with all humility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His kind providence,which lead me to the means I used and gave t
32、hem success.My belief of this induces me to hope,though I must not presume,that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me,in continuing that happiness,or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse,which I may experience as others have done:the complexion of my future fortune being known to Him on
33、ly in whose power it is to bless to us even our 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 10/426 afflictions.The notes one of my uncles(who had the same kind of curiosity in collecting family anecdotes)once put into my hands,furnished me with several particulars relating to our ancestors.From thes
34、e notes I learned that the family had lived in the same village,Ecton,in Northamptonshire,for three hundred years,and how much longer he knew not(perhaps from the time when the name of Franklin,that before was the name of an order of people,was assumed by them as a surname when others took surnames
35、all over the kingdom),on a freehold of about thirty acres,aided by the smiths business,which had continued in the family till his time,the eldest son being always bred to that business;a custom which he and my father followed as to their eldest sons.When I searched the registers at Ecton,I found an
36、account of their births,marriages and burials from the year 1555 only,there being no registers kept in that parish at any time preceding.By that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back.My grandfather Thomas,who was born in 1598,lived at Ecton ti
37、ll he grew too old to follow business longer,when he went to live with his son John,a dyer at Banbury,in Oxfordshire,with whom my father served an apprenticeship.There my grandfather died and lies buried.We saw his gravestone in 1758.His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton,and left it with
38、 the land to his only child,a daughter,who,with her husband,one Fisher,of Wellingborough,sold it to Mr.Isted,now lord of the manor there.My grandfather had four sons that grew up,viz.:Thomas,John,Benjamin and Josiah.I will give you what account I can of them,at this distance from my papers,and if th
39、ese are not lost in my absence,you will among them find many more particulars.Thomas was bred a smith under his father;but,being ingenious,and encouraged in learning(as all my brothess were)by an Esquire Palmer,then the principal gentleman in that parish,he qualified himself for the 百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版
40、Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 11/426 business of scrivener;became a considerable man in the county;was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county or town of Northampton,and his own village,of which many instances were related of him;and much taken notice of and patronized by the
41、then Lord Halifax.He died in 1702,January 6,old style,just four years to a day before I was born.The account we received of his life and character from some old people at Ecton,I remember,struck you as something extraordinary,from its similarity to what you knew of mine.“Had he died on the same day,
42、”you said,“one might have supposed a transmigration.”John was bred a dyer,I believe of woolens.Benjamin was bred a silk dyer,serving an apprenticeship at London.He was an ingenious man.I remember him well,for when I was a boy he came over to my father in Boston,and lived in the house with us some ye
43、ars.He lived to a great age.His grandson,Samuel Franklin,now lives in Boston.He left behind him two quarto volumes,MS.,of his own poetry,consisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and relations,of which the following,sent to me,is a specimen.注 3He had formed a short-hand of his
44、own,which he taught me,but,never practising it,I have now forgot it.I was named after this uncle,there being a particular affection between him and my father.He was very pious,a great attender of sermons of the best preachers,which he took down in his short-hand,and had with him many volumes of them
45、.He was also much of a politician;too much,perhaps,for his station.There fell lately into my hands,in London,a collection he had made of all the principal pamphlets,relating to public affairs,from 1641 to 1717;many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering,but there still remain eight v
46、olumes in folio,and twenty-four in quarto and in octavo.A dealer in old books met with them,and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him,he brought them to me.It seems my uncle must have left them here,when he went to America,which was about fifty years since.There are many of his notes in the margi
47、ns.百年哈佛 50 部经典 英文版 Harvard Classics 第一卷 富兰克林自传 12/426 This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation,and continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary,when they were sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal against popery.They had got an English Bible,and to conceal
48、and secure it,it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a joint-stool.When my great-great-grandfather read it to his family,he turned up the joint-stool upon his knees,turning over the leaves then under the tapes.One of the children stood at the door to give notice if he saw the
49、apparitor coming,who was an officer of the spiritual court.In that case the stool was turned down again upon its feet,when the Bible remained concealed under it as before.This anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin.The family continued all of the Church of England till about the end of Charles the Se
50、conds reign,when some of the ministers that had been outed for nonconformity holding conventicles in Northamptonshire,Benjamin and Josiah adhered to them,and so continued all their lives:the rest of the family remained with the Episcopal Church.Josiah,my father,married young,and carried his wife wit
个人主页
