PART TWO

(Memo. Thus far was written with the intention express'd in the beginning and therefore contains several little family anecdotes of no importance to others. What follows was written many years after in compliance with the advice contain'd in these letters, and accordingly intended for the public. The affairs of the Revolution occasion'd the interruption.)

Letter from Mr. Abel James, with Notes of my Life (received in Paris).

"MY DEAR AND HONORED FRIEND:

I have often been desirous of writing to thee, but could not be reconciled to the thought that the letter might fall into the hands of the British, lest some printer or busy-body should publish some part of the contents, and give our friend pain, and myself censure.

"Some time since there fell into my hands, to my great joy, about twenty-three sheets in thy own handwriting, containing an account of the parentage and life of thyself, directed to thy son, ending in the year 1730, with which there were notes, likewise in thy writing; a copy of which I inclose, in hopes it may be a means, if thou continued it up to a later period, that the first and latter part may be put together; and if it is not yet continued, I hope thee will not delay it. Life is uncertain, as the preacher tells us; and what will the world say if kind, humane, and benevolent Ben. Franklin should leave his friends and the world deprived of so pleasing and profitable a work; a work which would be useful and entertaining not only to a few, but to millions? The influence writings under that class have on the minds of youth is very great, and has nowhere appeared to me so plain, as in our public friend's journals. It almost insensibly leads the youth into the resolution of endeavoring to become as good and eminent as the journalist. Should thine, for instance, when published (and I think it could not fail of it), lead the youth to equal the industry and temperance of thy early youth, what a blessing with that class would such a work be! I know of no character living, nor many of them put together, who has so much in his power as thyself to promote a greater spirit of industry and early attention to business, frugality, and temperance with the American youth. Not that I think the work would have no other merit and use in the world, far from it; but the first is of such vast importance that I know nothing that can equal it."

第二部分

(备忘：写了这么多，写作目的在开头已经交代，因此文中包含一些对他人无足轻重的家庭轶事。接下来是多年以后根据他人信中的建议所写，是写给公众看的。革命的爆发曾使写作中断。)

这是埃布尔·詹姆斯先生的一封来信，信中附有我的生活记录（信是在巴黎收到的）。

“我亲爱而尊敬的朋友：

我常想给您写信，但想到信件可能会落入英国佬手中又只好作罢，免得某些印刷商或好事者将信的部分内容发表出来，给我的朋友带来伤害，让我自己受到责难。

一段时间前我得到了您的23张手稿，非常高兴，其中讲述了您的出身和生平，是写给您儿子的，一直写到了1730年，还有一些注释，也是您的笔迹。我把它抄录了一份，随信附上，如果您能继续写下去，延续到后来的时期，希望这抄本可以用来把前后两个时期连接起来。如果您还没有动笔，我希望您不要再拖延了。牧师告诫我们，人生变幻无常，如果善良仁慈的本·富兰克林离开人世，这世界就会失去一部令人愉悦又很有价值的作品，一部不只局限于少数人，而是对数百万人而言都有用有趣的作品，到时人们该说什么呢？这类作品对年轻人思想的影响非常深远，在我看来，像您这样一位公众人物的日志所起的作用更是显而易见。它几乎在不知不觉中使年轻人下定决心，要努力成为日志记录者这样优秀、杰出的人。打比方说，如果您的作品得以发表（我想这是没有问题的），它将引导年轻人效仿您早年时候的勤奋和节制，这样一部作品对于他们来说是何等的幸事啊！据我所知，现今在世的人里没有谁能够像您一样有能力帮助美洲青年培养勤奋、潜心事业、节俭生活以及自我克制的品质，即使许多人的合力也起不到您这样的作用。我并非说除此以外您的作品别无其他优点和作用，远非如此，但它的首要作用如此重要，我认为没有什么可与之匹敌。

The foregoing letter and the minutes accompanying it being shown to a friend, I received from him the following:

Letter from Mr. Benjamin Vaughan. "PARIS, January 31, 1783.

"My DEAREST SIR: When I had read over your sheets of minutes of the principal incidents of your life, recovered for you by your Quaker acquaintance, I told you I would send you a letter expressing my reasons why I thought it would be useful to complete and publish it as he desired. Various concerns have for some time past prevented this letter being written, and I do not know whether it was worth any expectation; happening to be at leisure, however, at present, I shall by writing, at least interest and instruct myself; but as the terms I am inclined to use may tend to offend a person of your manners, I shall only tell you how I would address any other person, who was as good and as great as yourself, but less diffident. I would say to him, Sir, I solicit the history of your life from the following motives: Your history is so remarkable, that if you do not give it, somebody else will certainly give it; and perhaps so as nearly to do as much harm, as your own management of the thing might do good. It will moreover present a table of the internal circumstances of your country, which will very much tend to invite to it settlers of virtuous and manly minds. And considering the eagerness with which such information is sought by them, and the extent of your reputation, I do not know of a more efficacious advertisement than your biography would give. All that has happened to you is also connected with the detail of the manners and situation of a rising people; and in this respect I do not think that the writings of Caesar^[1] and Tacitus^[2] can be more interesting to a true judge of human nature and society. But these, sir, are small reasons, in my opinion, compared with the chance which your life will give for the forming of future great men; and in conjunction with your Art of Virtue (which you design to publish) of improving the features of private character, and consequently of aiding all happiness, both public and domestic. The two works I allude to, sir, will in particular give a noble rule and example of self-education. School and other education constantly proceed upon false principles, and show a clumsy apparatus pointed at a false mark; but your apparatus is simple, and the mark a true one; and while parents and young persons are left destitute of other just means of estimating and becoming prepared for a reasonable course in life, your discovery that the thing is in many a man's private power, will be invaluable! Influence upon the private character, late in life, is not only an influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we take our party as to profession, pursuits and matrimony. In youth, therefore, the turn is given; in youth the education even of the next generation is given; in youth the private and public character is determined; and the term of life extending but from youth to age, life ought to begin well from youth, and more especially before we take our party as to our principal objects. But your biography will not merely teach self-education, but the education of a wise man; and the wisest man will receive lights and improve his progress, by seeing detailed the conduct of another wise man. And why are weaker men to be deprived of such helps, when we see our race has been blundering on in the dark, almost without a guide in this particular, from the farthest trace of time? Show then, sir, how much is to be done, both to sons and fathers; and invite all wise men to become like yourself, and other men to become wise. When we see how cruel statesmen and warriors can be to the human race, and how absurd distinguished men can be to their acquaintance, it will be instructive to observe the instances multiply of pacific, acquiescing manners; and to find how compatible it is to be great and domestic, enviable and yet good-humored.

"The little private incidents which you will also have to relate, will have considerable use, as we want, above all things, rules of prudence in ordinary affairs; and it will be curious to see how you have acted in these. It will be so far a sort of key to life, and explain many things that all men ought to have once explained to them, to give, them a chance of becoming wise by foresight. The nearest thing to having experience of one's own, is to have other people's affairs brought before us in a shape that is interesting; this is sure to happen from your pen; your affairs and management will have an air of simplicity or importance that will not fail to strike; and I am convinced you have conducted them with as much originality as if you had been conducting discussions in politics or philosophy; and what more worthy of experiments and system (its importance and its errors considered) than human life?

"Some men have been virtuous blindly, others have speculated fantastically, and others have been shrewd to bad purposes; but you, sir, I am sure, will give under your hand, nothing but what is at the same moment, wise, practical and good, your account of yourself (for I suppose the parallel I am drawing for Dr. Franklin, will hold not only in point of character, but of private history) will show that you are ashamed of no origin; a thing the more important, as you prove how little necessary all origin is to happiness, virtue, or greatness. As no end likewise happens without a means, so we shall find, sir, that even you yourself framed a plan by which you became considerable; but at the same time we may see that though the event is flattering, the means are as simple as wisdom could make them; that is, depending upon nature, virtue, thought and habit. Another thing demonstrated will be the propriety of everyman's waiting for his time for appearing upon the stage of the world. Our sensations being very much fixed to the moment, we are apt to forget that more moments are to follow the first, and consequently that man should arrange his conduct so as to suit the whole of a life. Your attribution appears to have been applied to your life, and the passing moments of it have been enlivened with content and enjoyment instead of being tormented with foolish impatience or regrets. Such a conduct is easy for those who make virtue and themselves in countenance by examples of other truly great men, of whom patience is so often the characteristic. Your Quaker correspondent, sir (for here again I will suppose the subject of my letter resembling Dr. Franklin), praised your frugality, diligence and temperance, which he considered as a pattern for all youth; but it is singular that he should have forgotten your modesty and your disinterestedness, without which you never could have waited for your advancement, or found your situation in the mean time comfortable; which is a strong lesson to show the poverty of glory and the importance of regulating our minds. If this correspondent had known the nature of your reputation as well as I do, he would have said, Your former writings and measures would secure attention to your Biography, and Art of Virtue; and your Biography and Art of Virtue, in return, would secure attention to them. This is an advantage attendant upon a various character, and which brings all that belongs to it into greater play; and it is the more useful, as perhaps more persons are at a loss for the means of improving their minds and characters, than they are for the time or the inclination to do it. But there is one concluding reflection, sir, that will shew the use of your life as a mere piece of biography. This style of writing seems a little gone out of vogue, and yet it is a very useful one; and your specimen of it may be particularly serviceable, as it will make a subject of comparison with the lives of various public cutthroats and intriguers, and with absurd monastic self-tormentors or vain literary triflers. If it encourages more writings of the same kind with your own, and induces more men to spend lives fit to be written, it will be worth all Plutarch's Lives put together. But being tired of figuring to myself a character of which every feature suits only one man in the world, without giving him the praise of it, I shall end my letter, my dear Dr. Franklin, with a personal application to your proper self. I am earnestly desirous, then, my dear sir, that you should let the world into the traits of your genuine character, as civil broils nay otherwise tend to disguise or traduce it. Considering your great age, the caution of your character, and your peculiar style of thinking, it is not likely that any one besides yourself can be sufficiently master of the facts of your life, or the intentions of your mind. Besides all this, the immense revolution of the present period, will necessarily turn our attention towards the author of it, and when virtuous principles have been pretended in it, it will be highly important to shew that such have really influenced; and, as your own character will be the principal one to receive a scrutiny, it is proper (even for its effects upon your vast and rising country, as well as upon England and upon Europe) that it should stand respectable and eternal. For the furtherance of human happiness, I have always maintained that it is necessary to prove that man is not even at present a vicious and detestable animal; and still more to prove that good management may greatly amend him; and it is for much the same reason, that I am anxious to see the opinion established, that there are fair characters existing among the individuals of the race; for the moment that all men, without exception, shall be conceived abandoned, good people will cease efforts deemed to be hopeless, and perhaps think of taking their share in the scramble of life, or at least of making it comfortable principally for themselves. Take then, my dear sir, this work most speedily into hand: shew yourself good as you are good; temperate as you are temperate; and above all things, prove yourself as one, who from your infancy have loved justice, liberty and concord, in a way that has made it natural and consistent for you to have acted, as we have seen you act in the last seventeen years of your life. Let Englishmen be made not only to respect, but even to love you. When they think well of individuals in your native country, they will go nearer to thinking well of your country; and when your countrymen see themselves well thought of by Englishmen, they will go nearer to thinking well of England. Extend your views even further; do not stop at those who speak the English tongue, but after having settled so many points in nature and politics, think of bettering the whole race of men. As I have not read any part of the life in question, but know only the character that lived it, I write somewhat at hazard. I am sure, however, that the life and the treatise I allude to (on the Art of Virtue) will necessarily fulfil the chief of my expectations; and still more so if you take up the measure of suiting these performances to the several views above stated. Should they even prove unsuccessful in all that a sanguine admirer of yours hopes from them, you will at least have framed pieces to interest the human mind; and whoever gives a feeling of pleasure that is innocent to man, has added so much to the fair side of a life otherwise too much darkened by anxiety and too much injured by pain. In the hope, therefore, that you will listen to the prayer addressed to you in this letter, I beg to subscribe myself, my dearest sir, etc., etc.,

"Signed, BENJ. VAUGHAN."

Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near Paris, 1784.

我把前面这封信和附在信中的记录交给一个朋友看，后来收到他下面这封回信：

本杰明·沃恩先生的来信：

“亲爱的先生：

我读完了您贵格会的朋友寄还给您的关于您人生重大事件的记录后，曾说过要给您写一封信，陈述为什么我认为您如他所盼写完并发表您的自传将非常有益。以前种种琐事让我没能提笔，我也不知这封信是否值得您对它的期望，但我最近恰好有空，所以决定提起笔来，至少这是我自己感兴趣并将使自身受益的。也许我的措词会引起您这样人物的不悦，但我只想告诉您，如果是给另一位像您这样善良伟大、但不如您谦逊的人写信，我会怎样述说。我会和他说，先生，基于以下几个原因，我请您将自己的人生历程记录下来：您的过去如此非同寻常，如果您自己不记录下来，一定会有人为您记录，这样或许会带来许多危害，而由您亲自记述则要好得多；此外，您还可以借此对贵国的内部情形详加描述，这很可能会吸引善良勇敢的人移民于此，考虑到他们正热切地搜寻这类信息，而您又是如此美名远扬，我想，再也没有比您的自传更有效的广告了。您的所有经历也是与一个崛起民族的风俗和处境相关联的，从此种角度来看，我认为对于研究人性和人类社会的真正行家来说，您的自传可与恺撒和塔西佗的作品相媲美。但先生，在我看来这些理由并不重要，因为您的人生传记还可能对未来伟人的塑造产生影响，并与您所著的《道德的艺术》一起（您打算发表的）对改善个人性格，从而增进社会和家庭幸福起到重要作用。先生，我提到的这两部作品将为自我教育提供崇高的法则和范例。学校教育和其他教育形式常常根据错误的原理进行，它们使用笨拙的方法，指向错误的目标；您的方法则十分简单，目标也非常正确。当父母和孩子缺乏正确的途径，无法作出评估并为合理的人生道路做好准备时，您却发现，这方法就存在于许多人的个人力量中，这是多么宝贵啊！对个人性格的影响，如果发生在人生后期，不仅为时太晚，而且影响微弱。我们主要习惯的培养、主要见解的形成，是在青年时期；我们选择职业、确定追求、步入婚姻，是在青年时期。因此，我们人生转折点的形成，也在青年时期；青年时期我们甚至确定了对下一代的教育；青年时期我们形成了为人所知的性格，和唯己所察的内心。人生的长度唯青年到老年而已，因此青年时，人生就当有个善始，尤其是在我们确定人生的主要目标之前。但您的自传绝不仅仅讲授自我教育，而是论述进行教育从而成为一位智者的方法；大智之人将从其他智者的行为细节中得到启示，并取得进步。当我们回头看到远古以来人类一直在黑暗中摸索，跌跌撞撞，无人指引，我们为什么还要剥夺弱者获得帮助的机会呢？所以先生啊，告诉父亲们和儿子们该做些什么吧，让智者都能成为像您一样的人物，让其他人都能成为智者。当我们看到政治家和好战者对待人类同胞是如何残酷，看到所谓杰出人士对待朋友是如何荒唐时，如果能见平和顺从的风气渐长，发现伟大与擅长理家，令人称羡与平易近人的诸多品格是如何协调地集于一身，人们将受益无穷。

您在自传中必然讲述的琐碎私事也会很有帮助，因为我们最需培养日常生活中审慎的原则，所以想看您是怎样处理这些事情的。您的自传将会成为生活的一把钥匙，向人们解释早该有人解释过的许多问题，并给他们一个因深谋远虑而变得睿智的机会。与自己亲身经历最为接近的，是阅读他人那描写得饶有趣味的类似经历，而您的文笔一定不会让我们失望。您的为人处世将会给人平易朴实的感觉，或令人深深意识到这种处世态度的重要性。我确信您在处理这些事务时充满了独到之处，如同您在政治学或哲学讨论中表现的一样；考虑到人生的重要性及种种过失，又有什么比人生更值得尝试，更值得进行系统总结规划的呢？

有些人盲目地死守道德，有人胡乱猜想、天马行空，还有人心怀不轨、精于算计，但先生，我相信您所写的一定是睿智、实用而又良善的。您在自述中表明（我想我所描述的与富兰克林博士类似的这个人，不仅在品行方面与您相近，在个人经历上也是如此），您不以出身卑微为耻，这一点非常重要，因为您证明了对于幸福、美德和伟大而言，出身是多么无关紧要。没有哪个目标无需通过一定的方法就能实现，所以，先生，我们发现甚至连您都制定了使自己出类拔萃的计划，但同时我们也看到，尽管计划的最终结果让人欢喜，而其方法也是人类智慧所能想到的最为简单的办法，那就是依靠人的本性、美德、思想和习惯。自传中体现的另外一点就是每个人都应等待合适的时机，登上世界的舞台。我们常常过于关注当下，忘了来日方长，因此人应当合理安排自己的行为，以与整个人生相契合。您的这种品质似乎就贯穿于您的整个人生中，使得人生的每个短暂瞬间都因知足和愉悦之心而充满生气，不为愚蠢的急躁或懊悔而备受折磨。对于那些以真正的伟人为榜样，恪守道德修身养性的人来说，这样的举止并不困难，因为伟人们通常具备耐心。先生，给您写信的那位贵格会朋友（这里我要再次假设我的信是写给一个类似富兰克林博士的人）赞扬您的节俭、勤奋和节制，他认为这是所有年轻人应当效仿的典范，但奇怪的是，他却忘了您的谦虚谨慎、公正无私，没有这两点，您不会耐心等待人生道路上的前进，也不会舒心坦然地面对自己的遭遇。这是有力的一课，表明荣耀和名誉是多么空洞，而调节自己的心智又是多么重要。如果给您写信的人如我一样了解您名声的实质，他会说，您以前的文章和行为将使人们注意到您的《自传》和《道德的艺术》，而反过来，您的《自传》和《道德的艺术》又将使人们注意到您以前的文章和行为。这是拥有丰满人格的人所拥有的优势，它能使自身拥有的一切品质更加充分地发挥出来，这也更有用，因为也许更多的人是不知到底如何提升心智、磨炼性格，而非没有时间或意愿去实现。但我最后还有一个想法，先生，那就是说明把您的生平作为一部纯粹的传记的用处。写传记似乎有些不太时兴了，但它还是非常有用的，尤其是您写的自传，一定更为有用，因为我们可以将传记中您的人生与各类凶残者和阴谋家的人生相比较，与荒诞的修道院苦行僧或目空一切、游手好闲的文人相比较。如果您的传记能鼓舞更多人写出这样的作品，激励更多人过上充满意义、值得提笔记载的生活，那么它的价值将相当于普卢塔克的所有传记价值之和。但我已厌倦了在自己脑海中勾勒这样一个人物——他的每种特征只契合于这世上的唯一一人——而不给他应有的赞颂。亲爱的富兰克林博士，在我结束这封信前，我想向您提个私人请求。我热忱盼望，亲爱的先生，您能让世人了解您真实的性格特征，否则它可能被争吵斗争所掩盖甚至损害。考虑到您年事已高，性格谨慎，思维方式又十分独特，恐怕除了您自己，再无他人能对您的人生历程和思想意图有充分的了解了。除此之外，现阶段革命形势如火如荼，人们必将注意到这场革命的发起者；既然革命宣称以某些道德原则为基础，那么告诉世人这些道德原则真正影响了革命就显得至关重要，而您的人格，必将成为公众瞩目的焦点，因此，它应当是值得尊敬并将流芳百世的（即使考虑到它对您幅员辽阔、正在崛起的国家的影响，以及对英国、对欧洲的影响也是如此）。为了促进人类的幸福，我一直认为很有必要证实，即使现在人类也不是生性卑劣、可憎的动物，而证明人性能够通过良好的管理大为改进则更为必要；出于同样原因，我极希望看到，人们相信人世间仍有高尚的灵魂存在，因为一旦人们认为所有人都无一例外地寡廉鲜耻、自甘堕落，那么善良的人们会放弃认为注定无望的努力，可能也会想在人生的无情争夺中分得一杯羹，或至少为自己谋得个安逸舒适的所在。所以啊，我亲爱的先生，尽快着手这项工作吧：您是善良的，就写出您的善良；您是节制的，就写出您的节制；尤为重要的是，证明您自幼就热爱正义、自由和和谐，这种热爱出于自然，一以贯之，正如过去17年里我们眼见您的为人处世一般。让英国人不仅尊敬您，更爱戴您吧。当他们对贵国的个别国民产生敬意时，他们会进一步对贵国产生敬意；而当您的同胞知道英国人对他们心怀敬意时，他们也会进一步对英国产生敬意。把您的眼光再放长远些，不要仅仅关注讲英语的国家，在解决了自然和政治上如此多的问题后，考虑为全人类的进步而努力吧。由于我没有读过这部自传的任何部分，只是认识自传的主人公，所以我的信可能写得有失妥当。但我相信，您的自传和我提到的您的论文（见《道德的艺术》）必将满足我的主要期望，如果您写作时还能想着上面提到的几点想法，那就再好不过了。即使这些作品没有使您热忱的仰慕者的期望得到满足，您至少可以创作几篇愉悦心智的作品。如果能给人带来单纯的快乐，那么也为人生增添了许多美好，否则这人生会因焦虑而黯然失色，会因痛苦而备受折磨。因此，希望您能听从我这封信里对您的祈求，最亲爱的先生，我请求您同意。

本杰明·沃恩

1783年1月31日，巴黎”

（自传续，1784年写于巴黎附近的帕西）

It is some time since I receiv'd the above letters, but I have been too busy till now to think of complying with the request they contain. It might, too, be much better done if I were at home among my papers, which would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates; but my return being uncertain and having just now a little leisure, I will endeavor to recollect and write what I can; if I live to get home, it may there be corrected and improv'd.

Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not whether an account is given of the means I used to establish the Philadelphia public library, which, from a small beginning, is now become so considerable, though I remember to have come down to near the time of that transaction (1730). I will therefore begin here with an account of it, which may be struck out if found to have been already given.

At the time I establish'd myself in Pennsylvania, there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philad'a the printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who lov'd reading were oblig'd to send for their books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in. I propos'd that we should all of us bring our books to that room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences, but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wish'd to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.

我收到上面两封信有些时日了，但我一直太忙，直到现在才想起满足信里提出的要求。若我能在家里写作，手边有我以前写的文章帮助回忆，让我确定某些事件的时间，也许我能写得更好。但我还不知何时回去，现在又有些空闲，所以我尽量回忆，把我所能记得的事情写下来；若我有生之年能够回去，再来更正错误、修改文章吧。

我手头没有已经写完的手稿，所以不知道是否已经讲述过费城公共图书馆是怎么建立的，图书馆起步时很小，而现在已有相当规模了。我记得已经写到建立图书馆这件事情前后了（1730年），所以我就接着从这儿开始吧，如果以后发现这部分已经写过，那就再把它删掉吧。

我在宾夕法尼亚立业时，在波士顿以南的任何一片殖民地都找不到一家好书店。在纽约和费城，印刷所实际上就是文具店，只出售纸张等物品，还有年历、民歌和一些普通的学校课本，热爱读书的人只好请人从英国代为买书。互助学习社的成员每人都有些藏书，我们当时已经离开了最初见面的酒馆，租了间房子用于俱乐部聚会。我提议大家把各自的藏书都带到那间房子里来，这样不但我们聚会时能随时参阅相关书籍，还能使大家都受益，每个人都能把他想读的书借回家去阅读。于是我们就这样做了，这让我们好一段时间里都非常满意。

Finding the advantage of this little collection, I propos'd to render the benefit from books more common, by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed, by which each subscriber engag'd to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry, to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library wag opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns, and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading became fashionable; and our people, having no publick amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observ'd by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries.

When we were about to sign the above-mentioned articles, which were to be binding upon us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden, the scrivener, said to us, "You are young men, but it is scarcely probable that any of you will live to see the expiration of the term fix'd in the instrument." A number of us, however, are yet living; but the instrument was after a few years rendered null by a charter that incorporated and gave perpetuity to the company.

发现这个小型藏书库的好处后，我又提议开办一个公共会员图书馆，让读书的好处惠及更多人。我草拟了一份必要的开办计划和规章，请经验丰富的代办人查尔斯·布罗克登先生把它整理为订阅协议条款。根据协议，每位会员要先交一笔钱作为首次购书的费用，以后每年还要再支付一定金额使图书馆可以添置书籍。当时费城的读书人少之又少，我们大多数人又非常贫穷，因此尽管我四处奔波，最终也只能找到50位会员而已。大多数都是年轻工匠，每人愿意为此先掏40先令，以后每年再出10先令。我们的图书馆就以这笔小小的资金启动了。书是在国外购买的，图书馆每周开放一天，可让会员借阅书籍，借阅时需要出一份承诺书，承诺如未按期归还，将缴纳书价两倍的罚金。图书馆很快显示了它的用处，其他各州的城镇也纷纷效仿。后来有了捐款，图书馆的规模日益扩大，读书的风气渐渐培养起来。我们的人民没有别的公共消遣可以转移注意力，就愈加热爱读书。几年之后，外国人就发现，我们的人民比他国同一阶层的民众文化水平更高，更有智慧。

我们要签署上面提过的对我们自己和后代拥有50年约束力的合同时，代办人布罗克登先生对我们说：“你们虽是年轻人，但你们不太可能会有人活到协议期满的那一天。”但是，我们中间很多人至今仍然在世，而那份协议却在几年以后失效了，将图书馆改组成了一家永久性公司。

The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be suppos'd to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's neighbors, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that project. I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, who had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after practis'd it on such occasions; and, from my frequent successes, can heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs, some one more vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you justice by plucking those assumed feathers, and restoring them to their right owner.

This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repair'd in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me. Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in my business continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was indebted for my printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers, who were established in the place before me. My circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My original habits of frugality continuing, and my father having, among his instructions to me when a boy, frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon^[3], "Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men," I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encourag'd me, tho' I did not think that I should ever literally stand before kings, which, however, has since happened; for I have stood before five, and even had the honor of sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.

我在征集会员时遭遇的种种回绝和不情愿使我很快意识到，以个人名义提出任何有用的公共计划并不妥当，当你需要邻居们的帮助来完成这项计划时，人们可能认为你是借机为自己扬名，以超过他们。因此我尽量避免以个人身份出现，而把建立图书馆说成是许多朋友的共同计划，他们委托我来办理，并请他们心目中热爱读书的人来参加。这样事情就办得顺利些了，后来在类似情况下我还是这么办，屡获成功，因此，我诚心向大家推荐这个方法。这样，尽管你的虚荣心一时得不到满足，但你以后将得到巨大回报。如果一时不能确定功劳该归谁，有些比你更爱虚荣的人会宣称应归功于他们，但不用担心失了公道，这时定有别人对他们心生嫉妒，揭穿他们，把这称誉还给那应得之人。

图书馆使我通过持之以恒地学习取得进步，我每天都花一两个小时学习，这在一定程度上弥补了我未接受过高等教育的遗憾，那是我父亲曾经希望我能获得的。阅读是我允许自己拥有的唯一乐趣，我从不流连于酒馆，从不醉心于赌博或是其他娱乐，我依然勤恳地工作着，不知疲倦，这在当时也是必要的。印刷所的债没有还清，我的孩子们即将上学了，我还得与当地另两家先于我成立的印刷所竞争。但是，境况却在日益好转。我还是保留着原先节俭的习惯，父亲在我儿时对我的诸多教诲中，常常引用所罗门的一句谚语：“凡勤奋工作的人，他将立于君王面前，而非与下等人为伍。”从那时起，我便认为勤奋是获得财富和名望之道，尽管我并没想过自己当真要立于君王面前，但这激励了我。不过，这事倒真的发生了，因为我曾立于五位君王面前，甚至还荣幸地与丹麦国王同席共进晚餐。

We have an English proverb that says, "He that would thrive, must ask his wife." It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully in my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for the papermakers, etc., etc. We kept no idle servants, our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long time bread and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families, and make a progress, in spite of principle: being call'd one morning to breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon of silver! They had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought her husband deserv'd a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China in our house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increas'd, augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.

I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and tho' some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation, etc., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho' with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us, and make us unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an opinion that the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid all discourse that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his own religion; and as our province increas'd in people, and new places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary contributions, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect, was never refused.

有句英国谚语这样说：“要想取得成功，必要请教妻子。”我很幸运，因为我有一位和我一样克勤克俭的妻子。她愉快地在事业上帮助我，帮我折叠和装订那些小册子，照管店铺，为造纸商收购破布等等。我们不雇无事可做的仆人，所吃的饭菜简单朴素，家具总是最便宜的。比如，很长一段时间，我的早餐只是面包和牛奶而已（没有茶），餐具是一个只值两便士的陶制小碗和一只锡制汤匙。但请注意，奢侈的习惯是怎样进入家庭，且不管原则如何还是日渐得势的：一天早上我吃早饭时，竟发现餐具换成了瓷碗和银匙！它们是我妻子在我不知情的情况下买来的，花了高达23先令的巨款！她对此没找托词，也没有道歉，只说她认为她的丈夫应当拥有一把银匙和一个瓷碗，如同任何一位邻居一样。这是金属器皿和瓷器第一次在我们家出现，在后来许多年里，随着我们财富的增加，金属器皿和瓷器也逐渐增加到价值几百镑了。

我以前受过长老会的熏陶，尽管它们有些教条在我看来有些难以理解，比如上帝的永恒谕令、上帝的选拔和摈弃等等，还有一些值得怀疑，我也早已不参加他们的公众集会，因为星期天我都用来学习，但我绝不是毫无宗教原则的。比如，我从不怀疑上帝的存在，是上帝创造了世界并按他的意旨管理世界，我不怀疑上帝最广为接受的作用是为人类造福，不怀疑我们的灵魂不灭，不怀疑所有罪恶都将受到惩处，美德都将得到回报，只是时间早晚不同。我认为这是每一宗教的要旨，因为它们在我国现存的所有宗教里都能找到，所以我对所有宗教都非常尊敬，只不过程度有所差别，因为我发现它们之中或多或少都混杂有别的东西，这些杂质不能鼓舞、促进或是巩固道德观念，而主要使我们分裂，让我们对他人不友好。我对所有宗教都心存敬意，认为即使最坏的教派也有积极作用，这一态度使我避免了一切可能损害他人对其所信宗教的良好印象的言论。随着本州人口增多，不断需要建造新的礼拜场所，其资金一般来自民众自愿捐款，所以不管哪个教派，只要需要，我从来不会拒绝献出我的一份力量。

Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonish me to attend his administrations, and I was now and then prevail'd on to do so, once for five Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might have continued, notwithstanding the occasion I had for the Sunday's leisure in my course of study; but his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens.

At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth chapter of Philippians, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any virtue, or any praise, think on these things." And I imagin'd, in a sermon on such a text, we could not miss of having some morality. But he confin'd himself to five points only, as meant by the apostle, viz.: 1. Keeping holy the Sabbath day. 2. Being diligent in reading the holy Scriptures. 3. Attending duly the publick worship. 4. Partaking of the Sacrament. 5. Paying a due respect to God's ministers. These might be all good things; but, as they were not the kind of good things that I expected from that text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from any other, was disgusted, and attended his preaching no more. I had some years before compos'd a little Liturgy, or form of prayer, for my own private use (viz., in 1728), entitled, Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion. I return'd to the use of this, and went no more to the public assemblies. My conduct might be blameable, but I leave it, without attempting further to excuse it; my present purpose being to relate facts, and not to make apologies for them.

尽管我很少参加公共礼拜，我仍然认为，如果能恰当地举行，宗教礼拜是适宜且有用的，而且我还定期缴纳年费，供养费城唯一的长老会牧师，维持长老会教堂的开支。以前牧师有时会以朋友的身份拜访我，劝我参加他主持的礼拜，我有时也会依从他的建议，有一次还连续五个星期日都参加了。如果在我看来他是位好牧师，也许我会继续参加下去，尽管星期天的空闲时间我原本是要用于学习的。但他的布道要么是谈各派的神学争论，要么是就长老会的特定教义作出解释，在我看来都枯燥无味，毫无启发，他从未宣扬或强调过哪怕是一条道德准则，与其说其目的是希望我们成为好公民，不如说是希望我们成为长老会教徒。

后来，牧师以《腓立比书》第四章中的一节作为讲道的内容：“弟兄们，我还有未尽的话：凡是真实的、可敬的、正义的、纯洁的、可爱的、有美名的，若有什么德行，若有什么称赞，这些事你们都要思念。”我想，就这样的内容布道，一定是会谈到道德的。但他却把使徒的意图仅局限于五点：1.虔诚地遵守安息日；2.勤读《圣经》；3.按时参加公共礼拜；4.参加圣礼；5.尊敬牧师。这些道理都是好的，但并不是我期望从这段经文中得出的好道理，于是我知道要从其他经文中得出什么好的道理也是不可能的，对此心生厌烦，就再也不去听他布道了。几年以前（1728年）我曾编过一本小小的祈祷书，或是祈祷文，供自己使用，名叫《信仰和宗教行为条例》。我又重新使用此书，再也不去教堂集会了。我的行为也许有些不当，但我不去理会，也不想寻找借口为自己开脱，我现在的目的只是叙述事实，而非为过去的事情进行辩解。

It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method.

In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice and ambition. I propos'd to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annex'd to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr'd to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I gave to its meaning.

These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

大约这个时期，我构想出一个大胆而艰巨的道德完善计划。我希望永远不犯任何错误，要克服一切可能使我失足的因素，不管这是天生的喜好也好，习惯也好，抑或是交友不慎。既然我能明辨是非，或自以为拥有这种能力，那我为什么不选择是而规避非呢？但过了不久，我就发现，这个任务比想象的要更艰难。当我小心翼翼地防范某个错误时，经常一不留神就犯了另一个错误。习惯总趁人一时疏忽时得逞，而面对个人爱好，理智有时又不够强大。后来我得出了结论，仅仅凭空相信拥有所有美德对我们很有好处，还不足以避免自己失足犯错；我们首先应改掉错误的习惯，养成正确的习惯，然后才能相信自己会始终如一地保持正确的言行。为实现这一目的，我设计了如下方法。

我曾读过关于道德品质的种种列举，发现其分类名目多种多样，不同的作者会对同一名词作或广义或狭义的诠释。例如节制，有人仅仅将其限于饮食，而有人却将它推而广之，涵盖对其他各种娱乐、欲望、爱好、肉体或精神冲动的节制，甚至将对贪欲和野心的控制也包含在内。为了清晰起见，我宁可使用更多的名词，各词只涵盖较少的义项，这比用较少的名词来指代很多意思要好。我将当时所有自认为必要或合意的品质归于13项美德名下，并对每一项都附上简短的解释，以充分说明我认为该项美德应包含哪些内容。

这些美德和它们的具体解释分别是：

1. 节制。食不过饱，饮不过量。

2. 沉默。不说对人对己毫无益处的话，不参与闲谈。

3. 有序。一切物品都应规整有序，每件事情都应安排时间完成。

4. 意志坚定。下决心去完成该做的事，下决心之后就定要完成。

5. 节俭。所费钱财必须于人或于己有利，不浪费一分一厘。

6. 勤奋。不浪费时间，每一分钟都做有用的事，摒弃一切不必要的行为。

7. 真诚。不欺骗伤害他人，思想要纯洁公正，说话要实事求是。

8. 正直。不冤枉伤害他人，不忽略自己能造福他人的责任。

9. 中庸。避免趋于极端。如果受到应得伤害，不要恼怒。

10. 清洁。保持身体、衣服和住所始终干净整洁。

11. 平静。不受琐事及普通或难以避免的事故纷扰。

12. 贞洁。少行房事，除非为了健康或生养后代起见，以免使大脑迟钝，使身体虚弱，或是破坏自己或他人的安宁和名声。

13. 谦逊。效仿基督和苏格拉底。

My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone thro' the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang'd them with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place. This and the next, Order, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies. Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras^[4] in his Golden Verses, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the following method for conducting that examination.

我希望拥有上述所有美德并能养成相应习惯，但我认为最好不要试图毕其功于一役，以免分散注意力，而应循序渐进，每次以培养一种美德为目标，待完成之后再继续前进，直到拥有所有这13项美德。考虑到先拥有某些美德将使后来者的培养更容易，我将它们的顺序作了适当安排，如上面排序所示。节制是首当其冲的，因为它能使头脑冷静清晰，这对于时刻保持警醒来说十分必要，以防止旧习惯的不断引诱，抵御那些无穷无尽的诱惑。在养成“节制”这一美德后，“沉默”就要容易些了。因为我在培养品德的同时也希望获得知识，而谈话时，知识的获得需要侧耳倾听，而非不停地动嘴皮子，于是我希望自己改掉喜欢闲聊、说话爱玩文字游戏、爱开玩笑的习惯，这些习惯只让我结交些浅薄之人，所以我把“沉默”列在第二位。养成“沉默”和下一位“有序”的美德后，我希望我能花更多时间用于自己的计划和学习。等坚定的意志成为习惯后，能让我在培养随后美德的努力中坚定不动摇。“节俭”和“勤奋”能使我尽快还清剩下的债务，为我创造财富，真正独立，并使“真诚”和“正直”更易践行，如此等等。然后我又想到，根据毕达哥拉斯在《金色诗篇》里提出的建议，每日自省是必要的，于是我又设计了以下方法用于自省。

I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.

Form of the pages.

我制作了一个小册子，册子上每种德行各占一页。我用红色墨水在每页纸上画上直线，形成7列，用于记录一周7天，并在列头标上一个字母代表那一天。在这7列上我再画上13条红线，在每一行的开头标上13项美德的首字母，如果通过自省发现那天犯了违反该项美德的错误，便在竖线和横线形成的小方格中标记一个小黑点。

表格如下：

I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offence against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit of that virtue so much strengthen'd and its opposite weaken'd, that I might venture extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots. Proceeding thus to the last, I could go thro' a course compleat in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year. And like him who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplish'd the first, proceeds to a second, so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination.

This my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's^[5] Cato:

"Here will I hold. If there's a power above us

(And that there is all nature cries aloud Thro' all her works), He must delight in virtue;

And that which he delights in must be happy."

Another from Cicero^[6],

"O vitae Philosophia dux! O virtutum indagatrix

expultrixque vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis

tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus."

我决定每周严格遵守一种美德。因此，第一周内，我要全力避免违反“节制”原则的任何小失误，而对其他美德暂时不管，只在每晚标记当天做了哪些违反这些美德的事情。这样，如果第一周内我能保持注明为“节制”的第一行没有小黑点，我想这种良好习惯将大为巩固，而与此相反的不良习惯则大为削弱，这样我就可以大胆地将注意力扩展到包括下一美德的培养上。第二周，我要保持第二页的头两行没有小黑点。这样依次进行，直至最后一项，从而在13周之内完成全部过程，每年循环四次。这就像一个人为花坛除草，他不会企图一次除尽所有杂草，这将超出他的能力与体力；他应一次只为一个花床除草，除完第一个之后再开始第二个。因此我希望，我能依次消除每一行的小黑点，从这本小册子上看到自己在德行方面的进步，从中获得鼓舞，获得快乐，直到最后，通过多个循环周期，在13周的日检之后，我能高兴地看到一本干净没有黑点的小册子。

我从艾迪生的《卡托》中摘录了下面几句话作为这本小册子的题词：

“我坚信如果有种力量在我们之上

（自然万物大声宣告，

　此种力量确实存在），

　他必定因美德而愉快；

　而让他愉快的人必定幸福。”

还有西塞罗的格言：

“啊，哲学，生命的导师！啊，美德的探寻者，

罪恶的清除者！按您的敕令认真活一天，

也好过带着满身罪恶长生不死。”

Another from the Proverbs of Solomon, speaking of wisdom or virtue:

"Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." iii. 16, 17.

And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefix'd to my tables of examination, for daily use.

"O powerful Goodness! Bountiful Father! Merciful Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me."

I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thomson's Poems, viz.:

"Father of light and life, thou Good Supreme!

O teach me what is good; teach me Thyself!

Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,

From every low pursuit; and fill my soul

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure;

Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!"

The precept of Order requiring that every part of my business should have its allotted time, one page in my little book contain'd the following scheme of employment for the twenty-four hours of a natural day:

另外还有所罗门的格言，是谈智慧和道德的：

“她右手有长寿，左手有富贵，她的道是安乐，她的路全是平安。” （《箴言》第三章第16、17节）

我认为上帝是智慧的源泉，因此我觉得恳求他助我得到智慧是既正确又必要的。为了实现这一目标，我写了下面这篇短小的祈祷文，并把它放在自省表格之前，每日诵读：

“噢，全能的上帝！慷慨的天父！仁慈的向导！增加我的智慧，让我发现自己真正的兴趣吧；坚定我的决心，让我完成智慧赋予的任务吧。接受我为您其他子民的诚心服务吧，以此作为我对您不断给我恩惠的唯一报答。”

我有时也引用汤姆逊的诗歌作为简短的祈祷文：

“光明与生命的父亲，您至高无上的主啊！

　啊，教导我什么是善吧，您亲自教导我吧！

　挽救我，使我脱离愚昧、虚荣和罪恶吧！

　让我摒弃低劣的追求，让我的灵魂

　拥有知识、内心的宁静和纯洁的品德吧；

　请给我神圣、充足和永无止境的福佑！”

“有序”的准则要求我分配固定的时间完成每件事情，在我那本小册子中，有一页将一天24小时的时间分配作了如下安排：

I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish. To avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little book, which, by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new course, became full of holes, I transferr'd my tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn with red ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines I mark'd my faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After a while I went thro' one course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being employ'd in voyages and business abroad^[7], with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I always carried my little book with me.

My scheme of ORDER gave me the most trouble; and I found that, tho' it might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who must mix with the world, and often receive people of business at their own hours. Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect, like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor, desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he turn'd, while the smith press'd the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without farther grinding. "No," said the smith, "turn on, turn on; we shall have it bright by-and-by; as yet, it is only speckled." "Yes," said the man, "but I think I like a speckled ax best." And I believe this may have been the case with many, who, having, for want of some such means as I employ'd, found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle, and concluded that "a speckled ax was best" ; for something, that pretended to be reason, was every now and then suggesting to me that such extream nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind of foppery in morals, which, if it were known, would make me ridiculous; that a perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.

我开始执行这个每日自省的计划，除了偶尔间断之外，一直坚持进行了一段时间。我很惊讶地发现，自己的过失比想象的要多得多，但后来又看到它们日渐减少，我很满足。为了避免不时需要使用新的小册子带来麻烦，我把纸上代表以前过失的小黑点擦掉，为新一轮循环的记载腾出地方，可这样小册子的很多地方都被擦破了，于是我把表格和准则移至一本备忘录的象牙书页上，在上面用红色墨水画上直线，这就能经久耐用，在格子里我用黑色铅笔标记自己的过失，这些标记可以用湿海绵轻易擦去。过了一段时间，我一年只完成一个循环，后来几年才完成一个，直到最后，我常常因旅行或公事在外，被各类事务缠身，只好完全停止了这个计划，但我一直随身携带着这本小册子。

“有序”原则的践行给我带来的麻烦是最大的，我发现，如果一个人的工作可以让他自己支配时间，比如像印刷工人，这条原则是可行的，但对于店老板来说，他得同别人打交道，得随时接待自由来访的客户，所以他没法严格遵守这条原则。还有，我发现使物品、纸张等摆放有序也极其困难。我一开始对此不太习惯，因为我记忆力极佳，并未觉得物品摆放缺乏方法会带来什么不便。因此，这条原则让我花了许多心血，这方面的过失让我倍感烦恼，而我对此取得的进步微乎其微，常常故态复萌，几乎要使我放弃努力，接受自己的性格在这方面有所缺陷了。这就像有人从我的铁匠邻居那儿买斧头，希望整把斧头都磨得像斧刃一样锋利。铁匠说，如果他能帮忙转动砂轮的话，可以帮他把斧头磨利，于是此人就去转轮子了，而铁匠就把斧头的阔刃面使劲儿压在磨石上，使得转动砂轮变得非常吃力。于是这个买斧头的人不时过来瞧斧子磨得怎样了，后来，他终于让铁匠停止磨斧，决定就这样了。“不，”铁匠说，“继续转吧，继续转吧，慢慢地斧头就会磨光了，但现在它还有些斑点。”这人说：“是啊，但我想我还是更喜欢带斑点的斧头。”我相信许多人可能都有这样的情况，他们缺乏我所使用的这些方法，在其他方面发现要改掉坏习惯，养成好习惯非常困难，于是放弃了挣扎，还得出结论说“带斑点的斧头就是最好的斧头”，因为有些自以为理性之物会不时暗示我，对自己如此这般要求严格也许是种道德上的愚蠢行为，如果为人所知，我会被人取笑的；且完美无缺的人格也许反遭人嫉恨，而善良的人应允许自己有些不足，这样他的朋友才会自在。

In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies, tho' they never reach the wish'd-for excellence of those copies, their hand is mended by the endeavor, and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible.

It may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little artifice, with the blessing of God, their ancestor ow'd the constant felicity of his life, down to his 79th year, in which this is written. What reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand of Providence; but, if they arrive, the reflection on past happiness enjoy'd ought to help his bearing them with more resignation. To Temperance he ascribes his long-continued health, and what is still left to him of a good constitution; to Industry and Frugality, the early easiness of his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune, with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen, and obtained for him some degree of reputation among the learned; to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his country, and the honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of temper, and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance. I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit.

It will be remark'd that, tho' my scheme was not wholly without religion, there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing tenets of any particular sect. I had purposely avoided them; for, being fully persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method, and that it might be serviceable to people in all religions, and intending some time or other to publish it, I would not have any thing in it that should prejudice any one, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a little comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the advantages of possessing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice; and I should have called my book THE ART OF VIRTUE (Nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as virtue.), because it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good, that does not instruct and indicate the means, but is like the apostle's man of verbal charity, who only without showing to the naked and hungry how or where they might get clothes or victuals, exhorted them to be fed and clothed.—James ii. 15, 16.

事实上，我发现自己在“有序”方面的毛病难以改正，现在我年纪大了，记忆力也衰退了，真切地感受到这种好习惯的缺失。但总体来说，尽管我从未如自己所期能做到尽善尽美，且我距目标还十分遥远，但通过努力，我成为了一个比原来更优秀、更快乐的人；如果我不曾尝试这个计划，我是无法达到这一点的。这就像通过临摹字帖来练习书法一样，尽管练习的人没能像字帖写得那么好，但通过练习他们的字体也有所改进，如果能继续练习下去，也能变得美观清晰。

后人们应当清楚地知道他们的祖先之所以能一生幸福，直至79岁撰写自传，除了拥有上帝的祝福外，还应归功于这个小小的计划。余生会遭遇什么不幸，全由上帝决定；但如果真遭遇不幸，想到过去经历的种种幸福，对于厄运他也将更加坦然地接受。因为“节制”，他身体一直很好，直到现在还很硬朗；因为“勤奋”、“节俭”，他得以早年境遇平顺，积累了财富，获得了知识，使自己成为有用之才，也在有识之士中赢得了一些名声；因为“真诚”和“正直”，他的祖国赋予了他信任和光荣的使命；而尽管他还未在培养这些美德方面臻于至善，但因为它们的综合影响，加上他脾气平和，言语风趣，使得他人愿意与他为伴，即使比他年轻的朋友也乐于与他交往。因此我希望，我的子孙后代中能有人效仿我，从中受益。

这里要说明一下，尽管我的计划并非完全没有涉及宗教，但它却没提到任何教派的主要教条。我有意避免提及它们，因为我充分相信自己的方法实用而卓越，它对信仰所有宗教的人们来说都是有用的，我还打算找个时间将它出版，所以不希望其中有什么内容会使任何教派的任何人产生偏见。我打算就每项美德写些评论，指出拥有此项美德的好处，以及与其背道而驰的坏处，我把这本书起名为《道德的艺术》（没有什么能像道德一样使人获得财富），因为我会在这本书里说明养成美德的方法和方式，这与单纯地劝人从善大为不同，后者没有指出具体方法，就像使徒口头行善一般，他们劝告那些衣不蔽体、饥肠辘辘的人们要穿衣吃饭，却不告诉他们能在何处通过怎样的方法获得衣食。——《雅各书》第2章第15、16节。

But it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this comment was never fulfilled. I did, indeed, from time to time, put down short hints of the sentiments, reasonings, etc., to be made use of in it, some of which I have still by me; but the necessary close attention to private business in the earlier part of thy life, and public business since, have occasioned my postponing it; for, it being connected in my mind with a great and extensive project, that required the whole man to execute, and which an unforeseen succession of employs prevented my attending to, it has hitherto remain'd unfinish'd.

In this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this doctrine, that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden, but forbidden because they are hurtful, the nature of man alone considered; that it was, therefore, every one's interest to be virtuous who wish'd to be happy even in this world; and I should, from this circumstance (there being always in the world a number of rich merchants, nobility, states, and princes, who have need of honest instruments for the management of their affairs, and such being so rare), have endeavored to convince young persons that no qualities were so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity.

My list of virtues contain'd at first but twelve; but a Quaker friend having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several instances; I determined endeavoring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or folly among the rest, and I added Humility to my list, giving an extensive meaning to the word.

但是，我写作并发表这些评论的愿望未能实现。我的确会不时写些感想、推论之类的短小文章，以便日后在书中使用，有些文章我至今仍然保存着，但我早年需要认真打理私人事务，后来又有公共事务需要操心，于是只得把写作计划推迟，因为在我看来，这是个宏大的工程，需要投入全部精力来进行，而后来种种未预料到的事务使我无法专注于此，这个计划也就搁置了下来。

在这部作品中，我想解释并强调这样一种说法，即如果仅考虑人的本性，那么恶行不因其遭到禁止所以带来伤害，而是因带来伤害才遭到禁止，因此，只要他希望在此世界获得快乐，那么谨守道德对于每个人都是有利的。由此可见（世界上总有许多富商、贵族和王公需要诚实的人为他们管理自己的事务，而这又并不常见），我本应努力使年轻人相信，没有什么品质能像正直诚实一样使穷人获得财富。

我所列出的美德起初只包含12项，但一位贵格会的朋友好心地告诉我，我平常看来有些自大，我的这种傲气常常在谈话中流露出来；在讨论问题时，我并不满足于自己拥有正确的观点，而是表现出专断、无礼，他还举了些例子为证。于是我决定，如果能够的话，要努力改掉这个毛病或说是愚蠢的习惯，因此我把“谦逊”一项加到我的列表中，并对这个词作了广义的解释。

I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing to be so or so; or it so appears to me at present. When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to me some difference, etc. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right.

And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length so easy, and so habitual to me, that perhaps for these fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit (after my character of integrity) I think it principally owing that I had early so much weight with my fellow-citizens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils when I became a member; for I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my points.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.

(Thus far written at Passy, 1741.)

我不敢自夸从实质上养成了这种品德，但表面看起来，我确是谦虚了不少。我规定自己不能对他人意见直接反驳，也不发表任何独断的观点。我甚至按照我们互助学习社以前的规定，不允许自己在言辞中使用表达武断意见的词或说法，比如“当然”、“无疑”等等，转而使用“我猜想”、“我认为”、“我想这件事是如此”、“现在在我看来”等语句。如果别人作出某个肯定判断，而我认为他犯了错误时，我也不再沾沾自喜地直接反驳他，立即指出其论断中的荒谬之处，而是回答说在某些例子中或某些情况下他的意见是正确的，但在当前情形下，在我看来或者我以为好像有些不同等等。我很快发现这一态度的改变是有好处的，这使我参与的谈话进行得更愉快了。这种谦虚的态度还使我的见解更易于被人接受，持反对意见的人少了，我要是犯了什么谬误，也不再觉得那么羞耻，要是恰好讲对了，别人也更容易听我劝告抛弃他们的错误观点，采纳我的意见。

我起初认为这种方法违背自己的自然习惯，有些难以执行，后来就觉得非常容易、非常习惯了，可能过去50年里没有人再听我说过什么武断的话。我想也是因为这种习惯（还有我正直的品格），早年在我提出建立新制度或是改革旧制度时，民众总是对我的意见非常重视，后来成为各公共事务委员会的成员后也颇有影响力。尽管我不擅长演讲，也不能言善辩，还措词模糊，语言也不尽准确，但人们一般都会接受我的意见。

事实上，我们各种习性中可能没有什么像傲慢这么难以克服了。尽管我们将它极力掩藏，与之斗争，使劲消灭，它却依然存在，不时还会出来显露一番。也许你在这本自传里还常常见到它，因为尽管我认为自己已完全克服了傲慢的习气，但我很可能又为自己的谦逊而感到骄傲了。

（1741年写于帕西）

[1] 尤里乌斯·恺撒（公元前100 —前44），罗马统帅、政治家，与庞培、克拉苏结成“前三头同盟”，后击败庞培，成为罗马独裁者，被共和派贵族刺杀，订定儒略历，著有《高卢战记》等。

[2] 塔西佗(约56—约120), 古罗马元老院议员、历史学家，曾任行政长官、执政官、亚细亚行省总督，主要著作有《历史》、《编年史》。

[3] 所罗门（约公元前970—约前930），以色列国王，大卫与拔示巴之子，以智慧著称，加强国防，发展贸易，以武力维持统治，使犹太王国达到鼎盛。

[4] 毕达哥拉斯（公元前约580—前500）,古希腊哲学家、数学家、毕达哥拉斯教团创始人，提倡禁欲主义，认为数为万物的本原，促进了数学和西方理性哲学的发展。

[5] 约瑟夫·艾迪生（1672—1719），英国散文家、剧作家、诗人，曾与R·斯梯尔合办 《旁观者》杂志，著有悲剧《卡托》等。

[6] 西塞罗（公元前106—前43），古罗马政治家、演说家和哲学家，著有《论法律》、《论国家》等。

[7] 古用法，在这里abroad表示在户外，而非在国外。