pamphlets that were printed in that city before the Revolution."—Wharton's Prov. Lit. of Pa.
Thomas Godfrey. — (Tyler, 244-251, with extract.) Most of these early writers have been forgotten though some have found immortality in The Autobiography. Only one, Thomas Godfrey, son of the Thomas Godfrey mentioned by Franklin, deserves consideration here. Born in Philadelphia in 1736, he became a watchmaker and a writer of verses, dying at the early age of twenty=eight. Two years after his death there appeared in Philadelphia his collected verses entitled Juvenile Poems on Various Subjects; with the Prince of Parthia, a Tragedy. The poems possess little merit, but the drama is a strong production. It being the first dramatic composition produced in America, its young author enjoys the distinction of being the father of the American drama.
Life of Franklin. (Biographies of Franklin in English, French, and German, and studies of his life-work and character, by many eminent writers, are numerous. Any one wishing the complete list should consult The Franklin Bibliography of all the works written by or relating to Franklin, by Paul L. Ford, Brooklyn, 1889. The most helpful Lives for school use are by Jared Sparks, 1844; by James Parton, 1864; by John T. Morse, Jr., 1890. See also Everett's Boyhood and Youth of Franklin, and Hale's Franklin in France, 1877. The most useful books, however, to the student of American Literature are The Autobiography, completed by Bigelow, and Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, by
