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  • The Freemasons' Magazine
  • Aug. 1, 1797
  • Page 16
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Aug. 1, 1797: Page 16

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    Article THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES or PETER PORCUPINE; ← Page 3 of 4 →
Page 16

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Life And Adventures Or Peter Porcupine;

close of the day , to reach home was a task of infinite difficulty . My next employment wa ; wee iing wheat , and leading a single horse at harrowing barley . Hoeing peas followed , and hence I arrived at the honour of joining the reapers in harvest , driving the team , and holding the plough . We were all of us strong and laboruus , and my father used to boast , that he had four boys , the eldest of whom was but fifteen years old , who did as much work as any three men in the

pa rish of Farnharn . Honest pride , and happy days ! I have some faint recollection of going to school to an old woman , who , I believe , did not succeed in teaching me my letters . In the winter evenings my father taught us all to read and write , and gave us a pretty tolerable knowledge of arithmetic . Grammar he did not perfectly understand himself , and therefore his endeavours to teach

us that necessarily failed ; for though he thought he understood it , and though he made us get the rules by heart , we learnt nothing at all of the principles . Our religion was that of the Church of England , to which I have ever remained attached ; the more so , perhaps , as it bears the name of my country . As my ancestors were ever persecuted for their

religious opinions , they never had an opportunity of giving such a singular proof of their faith as Dr . Franklin ' s grandfather did , when he kept his Bible under the lid of a close-stool . ( What a book-case !) If I had been in the place of Dr . Franklin , I never would have related this ridiculous circumstance , especially as it must be construed

into a boast of his grandfather ' s having an extraordinary degree of veneration for a book , which , it is well-known , he himself durst not believe in . As to politics , we were like the rest of the country people in England ; that is to say , we neither knew nor thought any thing aboutthe matter . The shouts of victory , or the murmurs at a defeat , would

now and then break in upon our tranquillity for a moment ; but I do not remember ever having seen a newspaper in the house , and most certainly that privation did not render us less free , happy , or industrious . After , however , the American war had continued for some time , and the cause and nature of it began to beumderstood , or rather

misunderstood , by the lower classes of the people of England , we became a little better acquainted with subjects of this kind . It is well known , that the people were , as to numbers , nearly equally divided jn their opinions concerning that war , and their wishes respecting the result of it . My father was a partizan of the Americans : he used frequently to dispute on the subject with the gardener of a nobleman

who lived near us . This was generally done with good humour , over a pot of our best ale ; yet the disputants sometimes grew warm , and gave way to language that could not fail to attract our attention . Mv father " was worsted without doubt , as he had for antagonist a shrewd and sensible old Scotchman , far his superior in political knowledge ; but he pleaded before a partial audience : we thought there was but one wise mat > in the world , and that that one was our father . He wh »

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1797-08-01, Page 16” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 9 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01081797/page/16/.
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
LONDON: Article 2
TO CORRESPONDENTS, &c. Article 3
MEMOIR OF MR. HULL. Article 4
AN APOLOGY FOR THE CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF SHYLOCK. Article 5
OBSERVATIONS ON THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB'S ARMY. Article 9
HISTORY OF THE THE ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR 1797. Article 12
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES or PETER PORCUPINE; Article 14
MEMOIRS OF CHARLES MACKLIN, Article 18
A BRIEF SYSTEM OF CONCHOLOGY. Article 26
THE COLLECTOR. Article 30
HUMOROUS ACCOUNT OF VENICE. Article 33
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Article 34
WHAT IS THE ORDER OF FREEMASONRY? Article 38
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Article 42
POETRY. Article 50
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 54
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH PARLLAMENT. Article 56
HOUSE OF COMMONS. Article 59
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 62
INTELLIGENCE FRONT THE LONDON GAZETTES . Article 67
OBIUARY. Article 70
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Life And Adventures Or Peter Porcupine;

close of the day , to reach home was a task of infinite difficulty . My next employment wa ; wee iing wheat , and leading a single horse at harrowing barley . Hoeing peas followed , and hence I arrived at the honour of joining the reapers in harvest , driving the team , and holding the plough . We were all of us strong and laboruus , and my father used to boast , that he had four boys , the eldest of whom was but fifteen years old , who did as much work as any three men in the

pa rish of Farnharn . Honest pride , and happy days ! I have some faint recollection of going to school to an old woman , who , I believe , did not succeed in teaching me my letters . In the winter evenings my father taught us all to read and write , and gave us a pretty tolerable knowledge of arithmetic . Grammar he did not perfectly understand himself , and therefore his endeavours to teach

us that necessarily failed ; for though he thought he understood it , and though he made us get the rules by heart , we learnt nothing at all of the principles . Our religion was that of the Church of England , to which I have ever remained attached ; the more so , perhaps , as it bears the name of my country . As my ancestors were ever persecuted for their

religious opinions , they never had an opportunity of giving such a singular proof of their faith as Dr . Franklin ' s grandfather did , when he kept his Bible under the lid of a close-stool . ( What a book-case !) If I had been in the place of Dr . Franklin , I never would have related this ridiculous circumstance , especially as it must be construed

into a boast of his grandfather ' s having an extraordinary degree of veneration for a book , which , it is well-known , he himself durst not believe in . As to politics , we were like the rest of the country people in England ; that is to say , we neither knew nor thought any thing aboutthe matter . The shouts of victory , or the murmurs at a defeat , would

now and then break in upon our tranquillity for a moment ; but I do not remember ever having seen a newspaper in the house , and most certainly that privation did not render us less free , happy , or industrious . After , however , the American war had continued for some time , and the cause and nature of it began to beumderstood , or rather

misunderstood , by the lower classes of the people of England , we became a little better acquainted with subjects of this kind . It is well known , that the people were , as to numbers , nearly equally divided jn their opinions concerning that war , and their wishes respecting the result of it . My father was a partizan of the Americans : he used frequently to dispute on the subject with the gardener of a nobleman

who lived near us . This was generally done with good humour , over a pot of our best ale ; yet the disputants sometimes grew warm , and gave way to language that could not fail to attract our attention . Mv father " was worsted without doubt , as he had for antagonist a shrewd and sensible old Scotchman , far his superior in political knowledge ; but he pleaded before a partial audience : we thought there was but one wise mat > in the world , and that that one was our father . He wh »

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