Harvard Classics Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Harvard Classics Vol. 1<br><br>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 hearing 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 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 it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.<br><br>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 them 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 com plexion of my future fortune being known to Him only in whose power it is to bless to us even our af?ictions.<br><br>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 these 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 all over the kingdom) on a freehold of about thirty acres aided by the smith''s business which had continued in the family till his time.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.