, it was not the production of D'Alembert,
while it will be found in the Works of Turgot,[14] published after his
death, in the following form:--

"Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis."

There is no explanation by the editor of the circumstances under which
the verse was written; but it is given among poetical miscellanies of
the author, immediately after a translation into French of Pope's "Essay
on Man," and is entitled "Inscription for a Portrait of Benjamin
Franklin." It appears that Turgot also tried his hand in these French
verses, having the same idea:--

"Le voila ce mortel dont l'heureuse industrie
Sut enchainer la Foudre et lui donner des loix,
Dont la sagesse active et l'eloquente voix
D'un pouvoir oppresseur affranchit sa Patrie,
Qui desarma les Dieux, qui reprime les Rois."

The single Latin verse is a marvellous substitute for these diffuse and
feeble lines.

If there were any doubt upon its authorship, it would be removed by the
positive statement of Condorcet, who, in his Life of Turgot, written
shortly after the death of this great man, says, "There is known from
Turgot but one Latin verse, designed for a portrait of Franklin";[15]
and he gives the verse in this form:--

"Eripuit coelo fulmen, mox sceptra tyrannis."

But Sparks and Mignet, in their biographies,[16] and so also both the
biographical dictionaries of France,--that of Michaud and that of
Didot,--while ascribing the verse to Turgot, concur in the form already
quoted from Turgot's Works, which was likewise adopted by Ginguene, the
scholar who has done so much to illustrate Italian literature, on the
title-page of his "Science du Bon-Homme Richard," with an abridged Life
of Franklin, in 1794, and by Cabanis, who lived in such intimacy with
Franklin.[17] It cannot be doubted that it was the final form which this
verse assumed,--as it is unquestionably the best.

To appreciate the importance of this verse, as marking and helping a
great epoch, there are certain dates which must not be forgotten.
Franklin reached Paris on his mission towards the close of 1776. He had
already signed the Declaration of Independence, and his present duty was
to obtain the recognition of France for the new power. The very clever
Madame Du Deffant, in her amusing correspondence with Horace Walpole,
describes him in a visit to her "with his fur cap on his head and his
spectacles on his nose," in the same small circle with Ma