Note i-150 — INTRODUCTION

Fully aware "that I am no Poet born" (Bruce, op. cit., II, 498), apparently agreeing with his father that poets "were generally beggars" (Writings I, 240), Franklin allowed only that writing poetry may improve one's language. Yet Dogood Paper No. VII and his estimate of Cowper (characterized by easiness in manner, correctness in language, clarity of expression, perspicuity, and justness of the sentiments) (ibid., VIII, 448-9), and the "Tears of Pleasure" he shed over Thomson, all suggest that he was not wholly blind to poetry. He hoped to see Philadelphia "become the Seat of the American Muses" (ibid., II, 245, 110; IV, 181, 184; VI, 437).