Note 34 — IX. Philadelphia Post-Office—Posts, etc.

A manuscript note in the file of the American Mercury, preserved in the City Library, says that Franklin wrote the first five numbers and part of the eighth of this series. The rest were written by J. B., probably Joseph Breintnail, a member of the junto, whom Franklin describes as a “good-natured, friendly, middle-aged man, a great lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some that was tolerable; very ingenious in making little nicknackeries, and of sensible conversation.”