rt-wine were given them at Bordeaux. These, as
the law required, were seized by the custom-house officers, as they
entered Paris by the Porte St. Denis; but as soon as it was
ascertained that they were strangers, the wine was remitted.

There was a magnificent illumination of the Church of Notre Dame, in
honor of the deceased Dauphiness. Thousands could not obtain
admission. An officer, learning merely that they were strangers, took
them in charge, conducted them through the vast edifice, and showed
them every thing.

Franklin and his companion had the honor of a presentation to the
king, Louis XV., at Versailles. This monarch was as vile a man as ever
occupied a throne. But he had the virtue of courtesy, which Franklin
placed at the head of religious principle. The philosopher simply
records,

"The king spoke to both of us very graciously and very
cheerfully. He is a handsome man, has a very lively look,
and appears younger than he is."

In 1772, Franklin visited Ireland. He was treated there with great
honor; but the poverty of the Irish peasantry overwhelmed his
benevolent heart with astonishment and dismay. He writes,

"I thought often of the happiness of New England, where
every man is a free-holder, has a vote in public affairs,
lives in a tidy, warm house, has plenty of good food and
fuel, with whole clothes from head to foot, the manufacture
perhaps of his own family. Long may they continue in this
situation."

In the year 1773, Franklin spent several weeks in the beautiful
mansion of his friend, Lord Despencer. We read with astonishment,
that Franklin, who openly renounced all belief in the divine origin of
Christianity, should have undertaken, with Lord Despencer, an
abbreviation of the prayer-book of the Church of England. It is
surprising, that he could have thought it possible, that the eminent
Christians, clergy and laity of that church, would accept at the hands
of a deist, their form of worship. But Franklin was faithful in the
abbreviation, not to make the slightest change in the evangelical
character of that admirable work, which through ages has guided the
devotion of millions. The abbreviated service, cut down one-half,
attracted no attention, and scarcely a copy was sold.

At this time, Franklin's reputation was in its meridian altitude.
There was scarcely a man in Europe or America, more prominent. Every
learned body in Europe, of any importanc