proposal for a new version of the Bible, however, which Matthew
Arnold solemnly held up to reprobation, was only a joke which
Matthew Arnold did not see-the new version of Job being, in fact,
a clever bit of political satire against party leadership in
England. Even more brilliant examples of his skill in political
satire are his imaginary "Edict of the King of Prussia against
England," and his famous "Rules for Reducing a Great Empire to a
Small One."But I must not try to call the roll of all the good
things in Franklin's ten volumes. I will simply say that those
who know Franklin only in his "Autobiography," charming as that
classic production is, have made but an imperfect acquaintance
with the range, the vitality, the vigor of this admirable
craftsman who chose a style "smooth, clear, and short," and made
it serve every purpose of his versatile and beneficent mind.

When the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 startled the American
colonies out of their provincial sense of security and made them
aware of their real attitude toward the mother country, Franklin
was in London. Eleven years earlier, in 1754, he had offered a
plan for the "Union of the Colonies," but this had not
contemplated separation from England. It was rather what we
should call a scheme for imperial federation under the British
Crown. We may use his word union, however, in a different field
from that of politics. How much union of sentiment, of mental and
moral life, of literary, educational, and scientific endeavor,
was there in the colonies when the hour of self-examination came?
Only the briefest summary may be attempted here. As to race,
these men of the third and fourth generation since the planting
of the colonies were by no means so purely English as the first
settlers. The 1,600,000 colonists in 1760 were mingled of many