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The Character of Poor Richard: Its Source and Alteration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

John F. Ross
John F. Ross*
Affiliation:
University of California at Los Angeles
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Extract

Despite the considerable and valuable critical discussion of Franklin's Poor Richard, certain important points have been too briefly considered, or have been wholly overlooked. In particular, it has not been recognized (1) how extensively Franklin was indebted to Jonathan Swift in his hoaxing of Titan Leeds, the rival almanac-maker; (2) that the source for the characters Richard and Bridget Saunders was almost certainly Swift's Bickerstaff papers; and (3) that there are two Poor Richards—the original comic philomath of 1733 and the final American archetype, the fountain-head of shrewd prudential wisdom. Thus the student of Anglo-American literary relations has been unaware of Swift's part in making a great American figure; and the students of Poor Richard, on the whole regarding him as a static rather than changing character, have been led to make misleading, conflicting, or confused statements concerning him.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , September 1940 , pp. 785 - 794
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1940

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References

1 Early students of Franklin devoted considerable attention to Franklin's hoax without even mentioning Swift—some even praising Franklin for the originality of the idea Cf. James Parton, Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (New York, 1864), i, 227 ff.; J. B. McMaster, Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters (Boston, 1882), chap, iv; John Bigelow, Life of Benjamin Franklin, 4th ed. (Phila., 1902), pt. ii, chap, vii; P. L. Ford, Many-Sided Franklin (New York, 1889), chap, x; P. L. Ford, Introduction to Sayings of Poor Richard (New York, 1889). In “Was Benjamin Franklin a Plagiarist?” (Bookman, iv, 24–30, Kate Stephen raises the question of Franklin's debt, quotes at length but without analysis, and concludes that Frankling “might not have known of'Squire Bickerstaff's jocularity” and that his hoax has the “vraisemblance of an original conception.” Paul Elmer More asserted the connection between Swift and Franklin, but left the point undeveloped, in Shelburne Essays (New York, 1906) p. 143. Bernard Faÿ is quoted in the note immediately following, and Carl Van Doren, in his recent Benjamin Franklin (New York, 1938) mentions the connection in a sentence (p. 107).

2 Franklin … amused himself in his first almanac by continuing a witticism Swift had employed in his “Predictions for 1708 by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire,” who had violently and quaintly denounced the makers of almanacs by predicting the death of one of them, a man named Partridge … [This] did not escape Franklin's notice. So he announced boldly and with suavity (the element he added to Swift, who was more rough-shod in his attack) the death of his friend and colleague, Titan Leeds. The stars had made it known to him beyond a doubt, and Titan Leeds knew it very well too. This was the reason why Richard, who was not rich and had to make his living, had taken up the pen. Leeds was furious at this gruesome maneuver. He answered, stirring up a fine battle, to the great joy of Franklin, who needed just this advertisement to launch his book successfully. The quarrel lasted eight years, and ended by the clear triumph of Poor Richard, as Titan Leeds really died.—Bernard Faÿ, Franklin, the Apostle of Modern Times (Boston, 1929), pp. 161–162.

3 All quotations from Franklin, except where otherwise noted, are from Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 10 vols., A. H. Smyth, ed. (New York, 1905–07). All quotations from Swift are from Satires and Personal Writings, W. A. Eddy, ed. (London, 1932).—Temple Scott's edition of Swift's Prose Works lacks “Squire Bickerstaff Detected” and “An Account of the Proceedings of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.”

4 Franklin, Writings, ii, 202.

5 Swift, Satires, pp. 190–191.

6 Ibid., p. 185.

7 Franklin, Writings, ii, 203–204.

8 Swift, Satires, p. 189.

9 Franklin, Writings, ii, 204–205.

10 Swift, Satires, p. 188.

11 Franklin, Writings, ii, 204.

12 Swift, Satires, p. 188.

13 Franklin, Writings, ii, 205.

14 Thus Franklin reverted to the old hoax in 1739, when Leeds really did die. Poor Richard for 1740 prints a complimentary letter to Richard from the ghost of Leeds, who, for good measure, adds three prophecies, one of which forecasts that “J. J—n, Philomat, shall be openly reconciled to the church of Rome” (Writings, ii, 223). Here is another prophecy at the expense of a brother philomath, and here again an echo from Swift, who enlivened his account of Partridge's death by saying that the astrologer “declar'd himself a Nonconformist, and had a Fanatick Preacher” (Swift, Satires, p. 174). The religion had to be changed to suit the Philadelphia climate, but the basic libel was the same.

15 J. B. McMaster, Benjamin Franklin, p. 101; Ford's Introduction to Sayings, p. 9; Carl Van Doren's Introduction to Franklin and Edwards (New York, 1920), p. xx.

16 W. B. Cairns, American Literature, rev. ed. (New York, 1930), p. 95.

17 Van Doren, op. cit., p. xx.

18 Faÿ, op. cit., pp. 160, 168.

19 Swift, Satires, pp. 161, 171.

20 Ibid., p. 174.

21 Franklin, Writings, ii, 196.

22 Ibid., I, 342.

23 Ibid., ii, 213.

24 Ibid., i, 342.

25 Cf. “Prefaces” for 1733, 1737, 1739, 1750.

26 In the body of the almanac for the first six years, I find only one touch suggestive of Richard, the character: the verses for December, 1734, are said to be “by Mrs. Bridget Saunders, my Dutchess, in answer to the December verses of last year.” But both sets of verses (Ford, Sayings of Poor Richard, pp. 31–32, 43) are impersonal: six lines each on a bad wife and a bad husband, neither identifiable as Richard or Bridget. The name Richard, or Dick, occurs in such impersonal lines as

Take this remark from Richard, poor and lame,
Whate'er's begun in anger, ends in shame. [Sayings, p. 38]

wherein lame is scarcely to be regarded as additional information about Richard Saunders, but as a rhyme-word. More than this, the names, even, appear rarely in the body of the almanac (for these six years)—Bridget's once, and Richard's four or five times.

27 Franklin, Writings, ii, 217.

28 See also the preface for 1743 (impersonal directions for making wine) and that for 1748 (largely made up of extracts concerning the winter season in the Hudson's Bay country).

Thanks to kind Readers and a careful Wife
With plenty bless'd, I lead an easy Life;
My business Writing; less to drain the Mead,
Or crown the barren Hill with useful Shade; …
Some Books we read, tho' few there are that hit
The happy Point where Wisdom joins with Wit;. …
The Friend sincere, and honest Man, with Joy
Treating or treated oft our Time employ.
Our Table next, Meals temperate; and our Door
Op'ning spontaneous to the bashful Poor … [Writings, ii, pp. 294–295]

30 Walter Blair, Native American Humor (New York, 1937), pp. 113–115.

31 Ibid., p. 18.

32 Cairns, op. cit., p. 95.

33 Faÿ, op. cit., p. 162.