n this world; and I should ... have endeavored to
convince young persons that no qualities were so likely to make a
poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity."

Long years afterward, in 1760, he wrote about it to Lord Kames:--

"Many people lead bad lives that would gladly lead good ones, but
do not know _how_ to make the change.... To expect people to be
good, to be just, to be temperate, etc., without _showing_ them
_how_ they should _become_ so seems like the ineffectual charity
mentioned by the apostle, which consists in saying to the hungry,
the cold, and the naked, 'Be ye fed, be ye warmed, be ye clothed,'
without showing them how they should get food, fire, or
clothing.... To acquire those [virtues] that are wanting, and
secure what we acquire, as well as those we have naturally, is the
subject of _an art_. It is as properly an art as painting,
navigation, or architecture. If a man would become a painter,
navigator, or architect, it is not enough that he is _advised_ to
be one, that he is _convinced_ by the arguments of his adviser that
it would be for his advantage to be one, and that he resolves to be
one; but he must also be taught the principles of the art, be shown
all the methods of working, and how to acquire the habit of using
properly all the instruments.... My 'Art of Virtue' has also its
instruments, and teaches the manner of using them."

He was then full of zeal to give this instruction. A year later he said:
"You will not doubt my being serious in the intention of finishing my
'Art of Virtue.' It is not a mere ideal work. I planned it first in
1732.... The materials have been growing ever since. The form only is
now to be given." He even says that "experiments" had been made "with
success;" one wonders how; but he gives no explanation. Apparently
Franklin never definitely abandoned this pet design; one catches
glimpses of it as still alive in his mind, until it seems to fade away
in the dim obscurity of extreme old age. He said of it that it was only
part of "a great and extensive project that required the whole man to
execute," and his countrymen never allowed Franklin such uninterrupted
possession of himself.

A matter more easy of accomplishment was the drawing up a creed which he
thought to contain "the essentials of every known religion," and to be
"free of everything that might sho