THE SO-CALLED "FRANKLIN PRAYER-BOOK."

BY RICHARD MEADE BACHE.

The New York Times published, under date of December 3, 1896, some interesting statements connected with the sale in Boston of a copy of the so-called "Franklin PrayerBook." These the present paper supplements with authentic data that add to the completeness of the record by confirming the Times's view of the share that Dr. Franklin had in the preparation of the volume, and of its rarity, and additionally showing the interest which certain prominent persons long subsequently to the publication took in the work. The Times said in part, under the heading, "Rare Franklin Volume,"—

"Dodd, Mead & Co., of this city, purchased in Boston yesterday a rare old volume known as Franklin's Prayer-Book. The purchase was made at the auction sale of the library of the late Prof. Henry Reed, of the University of Pennsylvania. [The sale was of books of the late Judge Henry Reed, a son of Professor Henry Reed's.] The bidding for this old book was spirited, and the price paid by Dodd, Mead & Co. was $1,250. Joseph Sabin was the underbidder. The volume is bound in old red morocco, stamped with gilt, and has gilt edges."

Here follows a copy of the title-page and a quotation from a letter of Franklin's, which matter will appear more appropriately in another place in this account, the article in the Times concluding with the following passage:

"In a letter written by Jared Sparks to Prof. Reed, dated Cambridge, Mass., May 30th, 1837, he says: 'Among Franklin's papers I have lately found a fragment of the Preface of the said Abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer, in his handwriting, and have been puzzling myself in vain to find any clue to the book. A learned clergyman could give me no light on the subject. It is a very curious affair, as coming from Franklin. I doubt if there is another copy in America.'"

A copy of the original and only edition of this work, which lies before me, is in a state of perfect preservation. It is printed on substantial paper, as was the fashion of the last century, in large type, and, of course, with the quaint

old, long "s" of the period. The binding is of Turkey-red morocco, with a stamped gilt vignette around the margins of both front and back covers, with corresponding gilt ornamentation on the back, and with gilt-edged leaves. It is evidently a copy of the edition lately represented in Boston by the exemplar there sold. The particular copy of the edition which lies before me has attached to it a special interest in the fact that at the top of the inside of the front cover appears in faint ink manuscript the words, "Once the property of the Immortal Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., etc." [Unsigned.] It came into possession of Dr. Thomas Hewson Bache, who is still its owner, by gift from Dr. John Redmond Coxe, a prominent physician of Philadelphia, who had bought it at the sale of Dr. Stuart's library in the same city, and on June 5, 1855, insisted upon Dr. Bache's accepting it, despite his representing to Dr. Coxe that it was on every account too valuable a present for him to receive. The title-page reads:

ABRIDGEMENT

OF

THE BOOK OF

Common Prayer,

And Administration of the

SACRAMENTS,

AND OTHER

Rites and Ceremonies

OF THE

CHURCH,

According to the use of

The Church of England:

TOGETHER WITH THE

PSALTER, or PSALMS

OF

DAVID,

Printed as they are to be sung or said in Churches.

LONDON:

Printed in the year MDCCLXXIII.

Growing out of his coming into possession of this copy of the so-called "Franklin Prayer-Book," or out of common knowledge that he was somewhat versed in antiquarian lore relating to Franklin, probably from both causes, Dr. Bache was, not long after he received the book, applied to for information regarding the work by the Right Reverend William Bacon Stevens, Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, in the following letter:

"MY DEAR SIR:

"913 CLINTON ST., Thursday. [Without date, but the reply indicates it.]

"I have been so fortunate as to secure a copy of the Franklin Pr. Bk., which I received in my last invoice of English books. In nearly all respects, except the binding, it is as good as the one I saw at your house. On the title-page is written the following note: "This abridgement, together with the preface, was drawn up by Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., Baron Le Dispencer, [Despencer] and given by him to Lord Mount Stuart, in 1775. The book was printed in a private press of his own at West Wycombe, Bucks.'

"I showed the book to Mr. McAllister, who has, as you know, a large collection of Prayer Books, but he had never seen or heard of it. My object in writing to you is, first, to thank you for your note, and secondly, to ask that you will do me the favor to give me the true history of the book so far as it may be in your power, as the facts connected with it must be particularly interesting."

Under date of July 7, 1859, and in Philadelphia, Dr. Bache answered this letter of Bishop Stevens's, as follows:

"I have much pleasure in giving you all the particulars I know concerning the 'Abridgement of the Book of Common Prayer,' but, whether they form its true history, it is impossible for me to tell.

"The first copy I ever saw is in the possession of Mrs. Henry Reed, and formerly in that of her grandfather, Bishop White. [Mrs. Henry Reed was the wife of Professor Reed, mentioned in the preceding quotation from the New York Times, and Bishop White was the well-known Bishop William White of colonial and later times.] It is in all respects, even in binding, like my own. On the fly-leaf of it you will find the following:

"This book was presented to me in ye year 1785, while ye Liturgy was under revision, by Mrs. Sarah Bache, by direction of her father, Dr. Benj. Franklin; who, with Lord Le Despenser, [Despencer] she said, were the framers of it.

"W. W. [WILLIAM WHITE].

"This copy was seen by Mr. Sparks when writing 'The Works of Franklin' (ed. 1840). In Sparks, Vol. I., p. 352, you will find this notice of the Abridgment: 'During his [Franklin's] absence from London in the summer of 1773, he passed a few weeks at the country residence of Lord Le Despencer, and employed himself whilst there in abridging some parts of the Book of Common Prayer. A handsome edition of this abridgment was printed by Wilkie, in St. Paul's Church Yard; but it seems never to have been adopted in any Church, nor to have gained much notice.'

"Sparks then gives a quotation from the last part of the Preface of the Abridgment, which does not exactly correspond with that in the printed copy; for the words, 'remove animosity' are used by Sparks, instead of 'increase unanimity.' I have heard that Mr. Sparks first found the MS. of the Preface in Franklin's handwriting, which led to his discovering Mrs. Reed's copy. The slight change in phraseology above mentioned may have been made in the proof by Franklin.

"In Vol. X., pp. 206-7, of Sparks, you will find a letter of Franklin to Granville Sharp, dated Passy, 5th July, 1785, which contains the following: The Liturgy you mention was an abridgment of that made by a noble Lord of my acquaintance, who requested me to assist him by taking the rest of the book; viz., the Catechism and the reading and singing Psalms. These I abridged by retaining of the Catechism only the two questions, What is your duty to God? What is your duty to your neighbour? with answers. The Psalms were much contracted by leaving out the repetitions (of which I found more than I could have imagined) and the imprecations, which appeared not to suit well with the Christian doctrine of forgiveness of injuries and doing good to enemies. The book was printed for Wilkie, in St. Paul's Churchyard, but never much noticed. Some were given away, very few sold, and I suppose the bulk became waste-paper. In the prayers so much was retrenched that approbation could hardly be expected; but I think with you, a moderate abridgment might not only be useful, but generally acceptable.'

"The editor then introduces, in a note, a portion of Mr. Sharp's letter which called forth Franklin's account of the book, as also the Preface of the Abridgment, in full.

There can be no doubt that Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., Lord Le Despencer, had a hand in compiling the work, and probably paid the expense of the undertaking, for it is not likely Franklin did.

"I doubt whether the book was printed by a private press at West Wycombe, Bucks; for Franklin's letter [to Granville Sharp] contradicts this statement, and if Sir Francis had a private press, we should have had other works, in all probability, emanating from it, and of such I have never heard.

"In Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual, Vol. III., p. 1494, under the

head of Prayer, you will find the following notice of the book: 'An abridgment of The Book of Common Prayer, West Wycombe, 1773, 8vo. The performance of Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart., privately printed at the expense of Lord Le Despencer.' In the above no mention is made of a private press; hence another reason for not believing Sir Francis had one.

"Lowndes gives the impression [that] Sir Francis Dashwood and Lord Le Despencer were different individuals. This is a mistake, however, for Sir Francis Dashwood was Lord Le Despencer from 1763 to 1781 (Burke's Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, sixteenth ed., p. 597), and the Abridgment was printed in 1773.

"I have heard that a copy was sold in London some years ago; and the following manuscript note in Mrs. Henry Reed's copy I conclude refers to the sale: 'J. Miller's Catalogue II, March 16th, 1850, No. 68.'

"It may be interesting to mention: The statue of William Penn, which now stands on the Pine Street front of the Pennsylvania Hospital, was originally the property of Sir Francis Dashwood, and stood in West Wycombe Park. His successor did not admire Penn, and sold the statue for its value as lead, and it was found in a London junk-shop by a descendant of the founder of Pennsylvania, who bought it and presented it to the Hospital."

The statue of William Penn referred to in the concluding lines of the preceding letter still stands in Philadelphia on its pedestal before the Pennsylvania Hospital, on the broad lawn in front of the institution, facing Pine Street. And, by way of imparting an additional touch of local color to some of the facts mentioned here, it is added that Edward Duffield was a very intimate friend of Dr. Franklin's (a clock of his own make, a gift of his to Franklin, is now in my possession), and he was one of Franklin's executors; and that a son of Dr. John Redmond Coxe, Dr. Edward Jenner Coxe, was, as an infant, the first person vaccinated in the United States, and with lymph which his father had received directly from Dr. Jenner.

The editor of the Preface to the edition of the so-called "Franklin Prayer-Book" "professes himself," to use his own words, "to be a Protestant of the Church of England," and begins his duties as such with a few deprecatory remarks as to laymen presuming to make suggestions of alteration in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England.