of books, wrote to a friend in 1686 that Ben Harris—tired, like so many of those who were emigrating, of trying to make a living and battling for liberty in England—was contemplating coming to America. Dunton viewed the project dubiously, for while he admitted that Harris "had many good thoughts," he had "wanted the art of improving 'em and could he fix his Mercury a little, and not be so volatile, he would do well enough." He gives us our only idea of Harris' age by declaring that he is advanced in years and at best can only hope to "scuffle through this world."
Harris had little intention of "scuffling through," for that very year he appeared in Boston and opened up a "Coffee, Tea and Chucaletto" shop.
A year later he was printing books and employing printers at what he called the London Printing House.[1] In the diary of Samuel Sewall, the return of Harris from London is noted on January 25, 1688, and in the fall of the same year, when Sewall himself sailed for England, Harris was again on board.
Sewall states that the day after they sailed "the wind came out at North East to our great discomfort," and Harris read the twenty-first chapter of Proverbs, "which is the first chapter I heard read on ship-board. ... I must heed that voice—he that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead."
The picture of Harris in America compares well with the Harris we have seen in England; he arrives in the country and is speedily in touch with its most distinguished judge; he has hardly been here two years when, with an energy unusual in those days, he embarks on a fourth winter ocean voyage in company with the judge, who
- ↑ Ford, New England Primer, 31.
