The following epitaph on himſelf, was written by him many years previous to his death:
THE BODY
of
Benjamin Franklin, Printer,
(Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn 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
The Author.
Extracts from the laſt Will and Teſtament of Dr. Franklin.
WITH regard to my books, thoſe I had in France, and thoſe I left in Philadelphia, being now aſſembled together here, and a catalogue made of them, it is my intention to diſpoſe of the ſame as follows:
My hiſtory of the Academy of Sciences, in ſixty or ſeventy volumes quarto, I give to the philoſophical ſociety of Philadelphia, of which I have the honour to be preſident. My collection in folio of Les Arts & les Metiers, I give to the American philoſophical ſociety, eſtabliſhed in New England, of which I am a member. My quarto edition of the ſame Arts & Metiers, I give to the library company of Philadelphia. Such and ſo many of my books as I ſhall mark, in the ſaid catalogue, with the name of my grandſon Benjamin Franklin Bache, I do hereby give to him: and ſuch and ſo many of my books, as I ſhall
