The Papers of Benjamin Franklin by Willaim B. WillcoxReview by: J. A. Leo LemayThe American Historical Review, Vol. 81, No. 5 (Dec., 1976), pp. 1223-1224Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1853126 .

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United States 1223

is essentially that of the secular European Enlight- enment with some qualifications. It may be argued instead that the American Enlightenment was in- fused with powerful religious and millennial ideas, and that secular-minded, twentieth-century histo- rians should account much more for the influence of Puritanism, reformed Protestantism, and Pie- tism in the post-Revolutionary period than they have done in the past.

GEORGE ATHAN BILLIAS

Clark tLniversity

CLAUDE-ANNE LOPEZ and EUGENIA W. HERBERT. The Private Franklin: The Man and Ilis Family. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. I975. Pp. xv, 361. $1 1.95.

The authors of this interesting, readable book do a good job; they write in a lighthearted style. Short chapters often center on one focal theme and are written as vignettes capable of standing alone. The -danger of such an approach, however, is that the finished book may be disjointed. Herbert and Lo- pez avoid this pitfall, and the reader comes back to the book again and again. All those who belong to the "family" may be found here somewhere: Deb- bie, William, Sally, Francis Folger, Temple, Benny, Richard Bache, Polly and Margaret Ste- venson, Jonathan Williams, Jr., Aunt Jane Me- com-even Theophile. Through and over the story towers the person of Benjamin Franklin.

NMore successfully than anyone else, the two au- thors have made those in Franklin's circle real people. The description of Sally Franklin is ex- cellent, and the portrayal of Jane Mecom's tragic life is perhaps the best thing in the book. Through- out their story, Lopez and Herbert make plain the ordeal of death that so repeatedly ravaged most colonial families and the stoicism survivors had to adopt in order to endure.

For the first time, we can read of Franklin's long-suffering wife as a person in her own right. Usually depicted as slow, dumb, and dowdy (the better to explain why Franklin's eyes were usually on someone else!), Deborah is described in The Private Franklin as self-possessed, self-reliant, tough-minded, calm under pressure, and with de- sires and ambitions of her own (which makes Franklin's treatment of her less understandable). A remarkable lady, Debbie is worth every word the authors have spent on her.

There are some shortcomings in this work. Chapters wander, covering too much and saying too little; directionless, as if the authors were un- sure whether to focus on people or to follow the usual biographical path of recounting Franklin's achievements and interests. Other recent writers,

such as Buxbaum, Newcomb, and others, do a much better job of analyzing many of Franklin's motives and seem to have more insight into his relationships with politicians, comrades, partners. Some of the authors' interpretations are in- adequate, and some neglected sources would have been helpful to them. Intricacies of land specula- tion, for example, are summarized to the point of inaccuracy.

The Franklin who emerges from these pages is often petulant, occasionally tyrannical with a ter- rible temper. The writers show the pettiness he demonstrated for years toward his only daughter, Sally, because of her desire to marry Richard Bache. His egocentricity shines through all his activities. We glimpse his idle regrets that he was so much and so long absent from Debbie and Sally, but we realize also that he had no strong feelings toward them. The dust jacket sums up much that the authors discuss inside: that Franklin ignored pleas from his wife of nearly forty years that he return to her when she was dying, renouncing William, using Temple, neglecting Benny; reserving affection from those to whom he was father, husband, or family while pouring it out upon others who better suited him; and that he was "extraordinarily insensitive to his immediate family." The authors' depiction, in spite of their obvious liking for Franklin, is not a pretty one. It does add to our understanding of this pivotal fig- ure.

CECIL B. CURREY

University of South Florida

WILLIAM B. WILLCOX, editor. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Volume i8, January i through December 3!, I77I. New Haven: Yale University Press, spon- sored by the American Philosophical Society. I974. Pp. XXiX, 302. $20.00.

This volume contains important political letters and documents (such as Franklin's interview with Lord Hillsborough), charming letters (like those to "Polly" [Stevenson] Hewson), scientific observa- tions and speculations (such as a discussion of raindrops, with notes on what constitutes "a thor- oughly satisfactory [scientific] hypothesis"), and moral philosophy (for example, on the nature of "the Love of Money"). It is surprising that it omits part i of the autobiography, which Franklin wrote between July 3 1 and August I 3, I 77 1. The editors do not explain the omission. Perhaps they believe that the 1964 edition by Leonard W. Labaree et al. precludes the necessity for the autobiography's being included in the Papers. But in the i964 edition we read that "the editors will present a more de- tailed discussion of the autobiography's biblio- graphical history and of their views on some of the

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1224 Reviews of Books

conflicting points of evidence at the appropriate place in a future volume of The Papers of Benjamin kranklin (p. 27). Where, if not in the appropriate chronological volumes, can one expect to find such a discussion? And where can one expect to find the text of the Autobiography? The only possibility now seems to be a separate volume, published after the appearance of the chronological series, but what I really suspect is that William B. Willcox does not intend to print Franklin's master- piece in this monumental edition.

The headnotes, annotations, ano index are gen- erally excellent. The classical quotations, however, should be translated in the footnotes, and the iden- tification should be sDecific, not simply "Ter- ence" (cf. p. 217). io be usetul, the long index entry under "Franklin, Benjamin" should be sub- divided topically. But these are quibbles. I find four drastic methodological faults with the edition.

First, the reader is told, time and again, that another authoritative copy of a piece exists and that the editors are noting any "important varia- tions." The standard procedure, not followed in this edition, is to list all substantive differences and to omit all accidentals, unless the accidentals affect meaning. Second, Willcox sometimes prints from secondary sources when the original exists and is available. Thus he perpetuates any errors that have been introduced into his copy. Third, Willcox inaugurated the practice of printing resumes of letters to Franklin and even of letters by Franklin. That means that Willcox has deliberately chosen to publish an incomplete edition of the writings of Franklin. And fourth, Willcox frequently advo- cates interpretations of Franklin's character, poli- tics, and even of his literary ability. He does this not only in the introduction, but also in headnotes and even in the footnotes. In this volume he grat- uitously comments about Franklin's lack of sym- pathy for the financial shenanigans of Deborah Franklin. When Willcox hindsightedly calls her "old and failing" (p. go), one might almost sup- pose that he was speaking of Franklin's mother! As in the preceding volumes, Willcox represents Franklin as a trimmer in politics, and he ignores the many ways in which Franklin had been and was more radical than almost any of his contempo- raries. When Willcox encounters contrary evi- dence, he even suggests that Franklin may have falsified it to gain favor with the American radicals (pp. I 1- 12). Although Willcox refutes the absurd- ities of Cecil B. Currey (p. 88), he is, in some ways, even more reprehensible than the obviously dis- torted Currey, for he insidiously surrounds the facts and documents that he presents with his own interpretation. My point is not simply that his interpretations are wrong, although they often are;

it is that interpretations do not belong in a stand- ard edition.

With the exception of the first fault, these errors are Willcox's innovations. It is, I hope, not too late to redeem the edition. Even under Willcox, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin is usually a great edi- tion; at its worst. it is a deliberately selected edi- tion, rather than a complete one, of unsound texts, full of officious editorializing.

J. A. LEO LEMAY

University of California, Los Angeles

RICHARD B. MORRIS, editor. J7ohn Jay: The Making of a Revolutionary. Volume i, Unpublished Papers, I745-I780. New York: Harper and Row. i975. Pp. x, 866. $27.50.

This is a magnificent book edited by Richard B. Morris, his associate Floyd M. Shumway, and their assistants Ene Sirvet and Elaine G. Brown. It has always been difficult for me to like John Jay, the conservative or, at best, fence-sitter, so unlike Christopher Gadsden, the hotheaded ad- vocate of besieging Boston and declaring in- dependence. But a careful examination of Jay in this documentary biography indicates a judicious man who moved slowly toward right conviction. He hated Catholics; yet he contributed mightily toward separation of church and state and then performed effectively under the most trying condi- tions as American minister to the Catholic court of Spain. He learned quickly, as did the other min- isters abroad, that to trust no one was the chief virtue of the good diplomat.

In Spain his correspondence with friends and associates indicates what great suffering the proud John Jay endured. Not only did his country em- barrass him with its indebtedness, but Congress enthusiastically pursued expansionist goals and often imposed unrealistic demands on its min- isters. This was especially true in regard to Spain.

Jay's personal sacrifices were legion. In his trav- els he was forced to stay in Spanish inns where lice, vermin, and avaricious inn-keepers were not uncommon. The Jays' delight at the birth of their child and then the pain of the baby's death, within a month, are fully recorded. Sarah Jay is revealed in these letters as one of the great eighteenth- century ladies, ranking with Abigail Adams and Mrs. Pinckney.

The methodology enhances the documents. Ev- ery item is well researched, and the headnotes make this a readable documentary biography, a feat not easily accomplished in such a work. I am puzzled, however, by the exclusion of a table of contents listing the documents.

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