started to work on the paper five years before. Hall, to quote Franklin's words, "took off my hands all care of the printingoffice, paying me punctually my share of the profits." This second partnership lasted eighteen years, during which time the paper became possibly the most influential and certainly the most successful financially of any of the colonial newspapers. By way of illustration of the latter, the profits from 1748 to 1766, when Hall became the sole proprietor, amounted to over twelve thousand pounds for subscriptions and over four thousand for advertising.
When the Stamp Act went into effect on November 1, 1765, The Pennsylvania Gazette appeared not only without a title, but also without an imprint so that the publisher might not be known to the authorities. When the paper resumed its old title, Franklin's name was omitted in the imprint. He doubtless sold out to Hall at that time, but he did not dissolve the partnership formally until February 1, 1766. In May of that year Hall took in William Sellers as partner and together they continued The Pennsylvania Gazette.
After Franklin ceased to be connected actively with The Pennsylvania Gazette, he achieved fame in so many lines that he has often been spoken of as the many-sided Franklin. To the last, however, the diplomat and scientist thought of himself first as a printer. This epitaph, composed by and for himself, before his death on April 19, 1790, showed this fact:—
The Body of
Benjamin Franklin, Printer,
(Like the cover of an old Book,
Its contents worn out,
And stript of its lettering and gilding)
Lies here, food for worms!
Yet the work itself shall not be lost,
For it will, as he believed, appear once more
In a new
And more beautiful edition,
Corrected and amended
By its Author.
The demise of The Pennsylvania Gazette occurred on October 11, 1815. An advertisement on that date reprinted a notice
