3206. FRANKLIN (Benjamin), Longevity.—
His death was an affliction which
was to happen to us at some time or other. We
have reason to be thankful he was so long
spared; that the most useful life should be the
longest also; that it was protracted so far beyond
the ordinary span allotted to man, as
to avail us of his wisdom in the establishment
of our own freedom, and to bless him with a
view of its dawn in the East, where they
seemed, till now, to have learned everything,
but how to be free.—
To Rev. William Smith. Washington ed. iii, 213.
Ford ed., v, 292.
(Pa.,
1791)
