Obadiah Plainman to Tom Trueman

To TOM TRUEMAN. Dear Tommy, Tho’ there are two Letters addressed to me, one in the Gazette, and the other in theMercury; yet, from the near Conformity they bear to one another in Sentiment, Reasoning, and Similes, I am apt to conclude they were wrote by the same Hand, Or, if by different Persons, that they…

Obadiah Plainman Defends the Meaner Sort

To the Author of the Letter in the last Pennsylvania Gazette. SIR, On my first hearing of the Outcry that was raised against the Paragraph, that related to the shutting up of the Concert Room, &c. I immediately called for the Gazette; but, tho’ I read the Article over and over with the greatest Attention, I was not able…

The Passion of Captain Croak

On the 3d Inst. arrived here the Rose, of London, Capt. Croak Commander, from whom we have the following Relation, viz. That on the 17th of June last, being on his Voyage from Newfoundland to this Port, and in the Latitude of 41 Deg. N. and 48 Deg. of Longitude, he espied a Sail that made Signals of Distress;…

Opinions Should Be Judged of by Their Influences

To Josiah and Abiah Franklin Honour’d Father and Mother April 13. 1738 I have your Favour of the 21st of March in which you both seem concern’d lest I have imbib’d some erroneous Opinions. Doubtless I have my Share, and when the natural Weakness and Imperfection of Human Understanding is considered, with the unavoidable Influences…