Authors: Jill Lepore
Book of Ages (49 page)
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The
Editorial Hand of Jared Sparks
Jared Sparks’s ideas about editing came from the world of magazines, where he had a very heavy hand.
1
One of his
North American Review
writers, the historian
George Bancroft, was forever warning him, “You must not make any alterations or omissions without consulting me,” and Sparks was forever ignoring him.
2
“Make no
omissions,
nor alterations, except grammar and good sense require it,” Bancroft wrote his editor. “I have written with great care, will be personally responsible for every word of the article, and also for the selections.”
3
Sending in a review of a book by the lexicographer
Joseph Worcester, Bancroft made abundantly clear that he wanted to read the proofs before anything went to press. “Pray remember my desire to have the sheets sent me before they appear,” Bancroft wrote. “I repeat: reject that on Worcester if you will, & write yourself a short general one of praise without vituperation. Or print what I have been compelled to say.”
4
Sparks wrote back, without apology, that he had not only edited the review but already sent it to the printer: “Worcester I have cut off a good deal, and made a short review for the miscellaneous head. I have added a word or two of praise, just to take off the edge of your sharp criticism.”
5
Notably, while Sparks was preparing Franklin’s and Washington’s papers, more than one person urged him not to change their words, requesting that if he must make omissions, he mark them with an asterisk. In 1833, Supreme Court justice
Joseph Story wrote Sparks, “To correct the grammatical errors (it seems to me) will be deemed by every person an appropriate duty of the editor. But the change of words merely to express the thought more appropriately, or the change of the form of the sentence merely to make it read more clearly, or, in a literary sense, more correctly, will perhaps be deemed a liberty not required, and very unfair, in the opinion of some, to the
veritable
character of the documents themselves.” Story continued, “I am not sure that, on this account, it might not be well to mark with an asterisk every place where any alteration whatsoever occurs in printing the future volumes. This would obviate every possible objection.”
6
Sparks did not take Story’s advice.
At least one reader complained. “I wish you had printed Franklin’s letter to me without altering an iota of it,”
Benjamin Waterhouse wrote to Sparks, after a
letter Franklin had sent him appeared in
Familiar Letters
.
7
But what really troubled Sparks was that Franklin could be filthy. In editing Franklin’s letters, Sparks redacted his prose, possibly even more severely than he bowdlerized Washington’s; although, since so many of the originals have been lost, it’s hard to tell. Sparks did not approve of earthiness, and he struck it out. In making extracts from Jane’s letters, Sparks chose only what reflected well on Franklin.
Here I have supplied examples. In the following two letters, Sparks’s additions are in boldface; his deletions are struck through.
1. Franklin wrote to Jane from London on September 16, 1758. The original of this letter is in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Sparks published it in
The Works of Benjamin Franklin,
volume 7, pp. 182–85.
London Sept 16 1758
Dear Sister
I received your
F
f
avour of June 17
th
. I wonder you have had no
L
l
etter from me since my being in England. I have wrote you at least two and I think a third before this
; A
, a
nd, what was next to waiting on you in
P
p
erson, sent you my
P
p
icture. In June last I sent Benny a
T
t
runk of
B
b
ooks and wrote to him. I hope they are come to hand, and that he meets with
I
e
ncouragement in his
B
b
usiness. I congratulate you on the
C
c
onquest of Cape Breton, and hope as your
P
p
eople took it by
P
p
raying the first
T
t
ime, you will now pray that it may never be given up again, which you then forgot. Billy is well, but in the Country. I left him at Tunbridge
Wells
, where we spent a fortnight, and he is now gone with some
C
c
ompany to see Portsmouth.
We have been together over a great part of England this
S
s
ummer
;
, and among other places visited the
T
t
own our
F
f
ather was born in and found some
R
r
elations in that part of the
C
c
ountry
S
s
till living. Our
C
c
ousin Jane Franklin, daughter of our
U
u
n
c
kl
e John, died but about a
Y
y
ear ago. We saw her
H
h
usband, Robert Page, who gave us some old
L
l
etters to his
W
w
ife from unk
c
le Benjamin. In one of them, dated Boston July 4
.
th,
1723 he writes
“Y
that y
our
U
u
n
k
c
le Josiah has a
D
d
aughter Jane about
12
twelve
years
O
o
ld, a good-humour
’
e
d
C
c
hild
”
. So
Jenny
keep up
to
your
C
c
haracter, and don’t be angry when you have no
L
l
etters.
In a little
B
b
ook he sent her, call
’
e
d
“
None but Christ,
”
he wrote an
A
a
crostick on her
N
n
ame, which for
N
n
amesakes’
S
s
ake, as well as the good
A
a
dvice it contains, I transcribe and send you
, viz.
“Illuminated from on
H
h
igh,
And shining brightly in your
S
s
phere,
Nere faint, but keep a steady
E
e
ye,
Expecting endless
P
p
leasures there.
“Flee
V
v
ice, as you’d a
S
s
erpent flee
,
;
Raise
Faith
faith
and
hope
Hope
three
S
s
tories higher
And let Christ’s endless
L
l
ove to thee
N-ere cease to make thy
L
l
ove
A
a
spire.
Kindness of
H
h
eart by
W
w
ords express,
Let your
O
o
bedience be sincere,
In
P
p
rayer and
P
p
raise your God
A
a
ddress,
Nere cease’ till he can cease to hear.”
After professing truly that I have a great
E
e
steem and
V
v
eneration for the pious
A
a
uthor, permit me a little to play the
C
c
ommentator and
C
c
ritic on these
L
l
ines. The
M
m
eaning of
T
t
hree
S
s
tories higher
seems somewhat obscure.
, y
Y
ou are to understand, then, that
F
f
aith,
H
h
ope
and
C
c
harity
have been called the three
S
s
teps of Jacob’s
L
l
adder, reaching from
E
e
arth to
H
h
eaven
. O
; o
ur
A
a
uthor calls them
S
s
tories,
likening
R
r
eligion to a
B
b
uilding, and those the three
S
s
tories of the Christian
E
e
difice
;
. Thus
I
i
mprovement in
R
r
eligion, is called
B
b
uilding
U
u
p,
and
E
e
dification
.
Faith
is then the
G
g
round-floor,
H
h
ope
is up one
P
p
air of
S
s
tairs. My dear
ly
beloved Jenny, don’t delight so much to dwell in these lower
R
r
ooms, but get as fast as you can into the
G
g
arret
;
, for in truth the best
R
r
oom in the
H
h
ouse is
C
c
harity
. For my part, I wish the
H
h
ouse was turn’d upside down; ’tis so difficult (when one is fat) to get up
S
s
tairs; and not only so, but I imagine
H
h
ope
and
F
f
aith
may be more firmly built on
C
c
harity,
than
C
c
harity
upon
F
f
aith
and
H
h
ope
. However that be, I think it a better reading to say
“
Raise
F
f
aith and
H
h
ope
one
S
s
tory
higher
.” C
c
orrect it boldly, and I’ll support the
A
a
lteration;
.
F
f
or when you are up two
S
s
tories already, if you raise your
B
b
uilding three
S
s
tories higher, you will make five in all, which is two more than there should be, you expose your upper
R
r
ooms more to the
W
w
inds and
S
s
torms;
,
and, besides, I am afraid the
F
f
oundation will hardly bear them, unless indeed you build with such light
S
s
tuff as
S
s
traw and
S
s
tubble, and that you know won’t stand
F
f
ire.
Again, where the
A
a
uthor
S
s
ays
, “
Kindness of
H
h
eart by
W
w
ords express,
”
S
s
tri
c
ke out
W
w
ords
and put in
D
d
eeds
. The world is too full of
C
c
ompliments already.
;
T
they are the rank
G
g
rowth of every
S
s
oil, and
C
c
hoak the good
P
p
lants of
B
b
enevolence and
B
b
enificence;
,
N
n
or do I pretend to be the first in this comparison of
W
w
ords and
A
a
ctions to
P
p
lants; you may remember an
A
a
ncient
P
p
oet, whose
W
w
ords we have all
S
s
tudied and Ccopy’
ie
d at
S
s
chool
, said long ago,.
“
A
M
m
an of
W
w
ords and not of
D
d
eeds,
Is like a
G
g
arden full of
W
w
eeds.
”
‘T
It
is pity that
G
g
ood
W
w
orks,
among some sorts of
P
p
eople are so little
V
v
alued, and
G
g
ood
W
w
ords
admired in their
S
s
tead; I mean seemingly
pious
D
d
iscourses
instead of
H
h
umane
B
b
enevolent
A
a
ctions
. These they
almost put out of countenance, by calling
M
m
orality
rotten
M
m
orality,
R
r
ighteousness,
ragged
R
r
ighteousness
and even
filthy
R
r
ags
;
and when you mention
Virtue,
they pucker up their Noses as if they smelt a Stink; at the same time that they eagerly snuff up an empty canting Harangue, as if it was a Posie of the Choicest Flowers. So they have inverted the good old Verse, and say now
A Man of Deeds and not of Words
Is like a Garden full of——
I have forgot the Rhime, but remember ’tis something the very Reverse of a Perfume. So much by Way of Commentary.
My
W
w
ife will let you see my
L
l
etter containing an
A
a
ccount of our
T
t
ravels, which I would have you read to
S
s
ister Do
u
w
se, and give my
L
l
ove to her. I have no thoughts of returning ’till next year, and then may possibly have the
P
p
leasure of seeing you and yours;, takeing Boston in my
W
w
ay home. My
L
l
ove to
B
b
rother and all your
C
c
hildren, concludes at this time from,
D
d
ear Jenny, your affectionate
B
b
rother,