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64-618: The New-England Courant made its first appearance on Monday, August 7, 1721, printed and published by James Franklin and was the third newspaper established in Boston. James was the elder brother of the renowned Benjamin Franklin , and began his printing career in Boston in March 1716 at the age of twenty-five. He owned his own printing press and type brought over from London where he had served as an apprentice. He printed pamphlets for various booksellers, and

128-444: A General warrant (possibly set up by Sandwich, who wanted to get rid of Wilkes), a version of The Essay on Woman was discovered set up on the press of a printer whom Wilkes had almost certainly used. The work was almost certainly principally written by Thomas Potter, and from internal evidence can be dated to around 1755. It was scurrilous, blasphemous, libellous, and bawdy, though not pornographic – still unquestionably illegal under

192-768: A Puritan family, in 1723, on his 26th birthday. The wedding , in Boston, was performed by the Rev. John Webb of the New North Church. James Franklin was married to Ann Franklin and together that had a son, James Franklin Jr. who took over his father's newspaper, The Rhode-Island Gazette when his father died. James Franklin learned the printer's trade in England, thereafter returning to the American colonies in March 1717, bringing with him his own printing Ramage press and printer's type. to start in

256-414: A Boston preacher, countered by writing a scathing piece entitled, "The Anti- Courant". James, however, saw this as an opportunity to further promote his newspaper and published Walter's editorial piece, with a note that his Courant would ascribe to a neutral editorial policy. Franklin, by means of his New-England Courant , boldly criticized Boston's religious orthodoxy on two fronts. First, he introduced

320-481: A bold-anti-establishment journal, the "first open effort to defy the norm", and the first newspaper that promoted the ideal of Freedom of Speech. The only known remaining copies of The New-England Courant are housed in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society . They are all bound together in one volume, and are far from being in perfect condition. The April 2, 1722 issue (pictured below)

384-498: A breach of security, resulting in James' incarceration for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Benjamin took over operations of the Courant . However, upon the publication January issue 1723, James got into serious trouble when he published an account, which Benjamin later referred to as an "Essay against Hypocrites”. Against the advice of his father and various friends Franklin, regardless, published

448-484: A number of different locations around London. The Greyhound Tavern was one of the meeting places used regularly, but because women were not to be seen in taverns, the meetings were also held at members' houses and at Wharton's riding club. According to at least one source, their activities included mock religious ceremonies and partaking of meals featuring such dishes as "Holy Ghost Pie", "Breast of Venus", and "Devil's Loin", while drinking "Hell Fire Punch". Members of

512-769: A philosophy of life associated with François Rabelais 's fictional abbey at Thélème and later used by Aleister Crowley . Francis Dashwood was well known for his pranks: for example, while in the Royal Court in St Petersburg , he dressed up as the King of Sweden, a great enemy of Russia. The membership of Sir Francis's club was initially limited to twelve but soon increased. Of the original twelve, some are regularly identified: Dashwood, Robert Vansittart , Thomas Potter , Francis Duffield, Edward Thompson, Paul Whitehead and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich . The list of supposed members

576-496: A post in the government." Not long after his release from prison, in January 1723, James subsequently held a secret meeting with his brother, now seventeen years old, in his shop. There they decided that the best way to get around the government's prohibitive order was to publish the Courant without James as the official publisher. Beginning on Monday, February 11, 1723, the inscription, "Printed and sold by Benjamin Franklin" appeared in

640-422: A printing license from provincial government, The New-England Courant became the first truly independent American newspaper to use literary content, critical and often humorous essays. It debuted at a time when there was much political and social controversy over the cause of poverty in Boston, which was compounded by the smallpox epidemic, its controversy over the proposed inoculation, and the severe censorship on

704-399: A sexual nature. Records indicate that the members performed "obscene parodies of religious rites" according to one source. According to Horace Walpole , the members' "practice was rigorously pagan: Bacchus and Venus were the deities to whom they almost publicly sacrificed; and the nymphs and the hogsheads that were laid in against the festivals of this new church, sufficiently informed

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768-472: A success, and rescued James's struggling printing business. In 1721, just before The New-England Courant made its first appearance, HMS Seahorse arrived at Boston harbor from the West Indies carrying many passengers infected with smallpox. The highly contagious disease quickly spread and within months approximately nine hundred of Boston's ten thousand residents had died. The smallpox epidemic naturally

832-563: Is immense; among the more probable candidates are Benjamin Bates II , George Bubb Dodington , a fabulously corpulent man in his 60s; William Hogarth , although hardly a gentleman, has been associated with the club after painting Dashwood as a Franciscan Friar and John Wilkes , though much later, under the pseudonym John of Aylesbury. As there are no records left (these having been burned in 1774), many of these members are just assumed or linked by letters sent to each other. Sir Francis's club

896-617: Is the only surviving issue of The New-England Courant that published Benjamin Franklin's earliest known writing. James Franklin (printer) James Franklin (February 4, 1697 in Boston – February 4, 1735 in Newport, Rhode Island ) was an early American printer, publisher and author of newspapers and almanacs in the American colonies . Franklin published the New England Courant , one of

960-407: The Courant was playing a major role, beginning with its first issue of August 7. Reverend Cotton Mather , a prominent and respected Puritan who trained as a physician before becoming a preacher, sent out letters to various doctors in Boston, urging their support for inoculation, but nearly all of them were highly skeptical of the practice. Franklin was bitterly opposed to the prospect and through

1024-560: The Earl of Hillsborough , cousin; the Earl of Lichfield; and Sir Ed. O'Brien. Aside from these names, other members are not revealed. At the time of the London gentlemen's club , when there was a meeting place for every interest, including poetry, philosophy and politics, Wharton's Hellfire Club was, according to Blackett-Ord, a satirical "gentleman's club" which was known to ridicule religion, catching onto

1088-486: The New-England Courant is remembered in history chiefly because it contained the first words of Benjamin to be published for the general public, which launched Benjamin's printing career. James Franklin came to be known as the strict and jealous master which Benjamin described in his famous autobiography. Isaacson further states that The New-England Courant was America's first independent newspaper that proved to be

1152-458: The New-England Courant he rushed into the fray on the anti-inoculation side. In the Courant he characterized Mather as the "arch-hypocrite of New-England" who had abandoned his religious principles by his support for the smallpox inoculation. At this time the editors of The Boston News-Letter and the Boston Gazette had refused to print any accounts opposing inoculation. Subsequently, one of

1216-417: The New-England Courant reached the peak of its fame. Benjamin would later recall that this "demanded too much of me", and was now anxious to move out on his own and in 1723, he left for Philadelphia. Benjamin assumed correctly that his brother would not seek legal recourse for breaking his apprenticeship with James, as it would reveal that James had signed over the New-England Courant in his name, undermining

1280-520: The pen name of Silence Dogood , disguising his hand-writing, and submitted them to the Courant by slipping them under the door of the printing shop. His brother had no knowledge about who had actually written them. Impressed with the writing, James shared the Dogood letters with his newspaper colleagues who regarded them with equal approval. After his editorials began appearing in the Courant Benjamin

1344-532: The 18th Century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood 's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe . Such clubs, rumour had it, served as the meeting places of "persons of quality" who wished to take part in what were socially perceived as immoral acts, and the members were often involved in politics. Neither the activities nor membership of the clubs are easy to ascertain. The clubs allegedly had distant ties to an elite society known only as "The Order of

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1408-467: The 18th century. Most of these arose in Ireland after Wharton's had been dissolved. Lord Wharton was made a duke by George I and was a prominent politician with two separate lives: the first as a "man of letters" and the second as "a drunkard, a rioter, an infidel and a rake ". The members of Wharton's club are largely unknown. Mark Blackett-Ord assumes that members included Wharton's immediate friends:

1472-492: The 18th-century Gothic revival . At this time, the motto Fais ce que tu voudras was placed above a doorway in stained glass. It is thought that William Hogarth may have executed murals for this building; none, however, survive. Eventually, the meetings were moved out of the abbey into a series of tunnels and caves in West Wycombe Hill . They were decorated again with mythological themes, phallic symbols and other items of

1536-504: The Friars met are now a tourist site known as the "Hell Fire Caves". In Anstruther , Scotland , a likeminded sex and drinking club called The Beggar's Benison was formed in the 1730s, which survived for a century and spawned additional branches in Glasgow and Edinburgh . Honorary membership was extended to the Prince of Wales in 1783. 39 years later, while the Prince (by now King George IV )

1600-598: The Hellfire Club. By this time, many of the Friars were either dead or too far away for the club to continue as it did before. Medmenham was finished by 1766. Paul Whitehead had been the Secretary and Steward of the Order at Medmenham. When he died in 1774, as his will specified, his heart was placed in an urn at West Wycombe. It was sometimes taken out to show to visitors, but was stolen in 1829. The West Wycombe Caves in which

1664-781: The Massachusetts provincial government and the Clergy. On June 11, 1722, he printed what appeared to be an innocent enough account about the particular affairs of the Massachusetts government when he published that, "We are advised from Boston that the government of Massachusetts are fitting out a ship [the Flying Horse ], to go after the pirates, to be commanded by Captain Peter Papillon, and ’tis thought he will sail some time this month, wind and weather permitting.” The magisterial Council for their own reasons took this to be an insult, and perhaps

1728-491: The Right of another." One such article led to James Franklin's imprisonment from June 12 until July 7, 1722, after he declined to reveal the identity of its author. Benjamin Franklin continued to publish the Courant while James was serving his term in prison. Upon his release Franklin was ordered by the Massachusetts provincial government to cease publishing The New-England Courant , without first submitting its contents for review by

1792-592: The Second Circle". The first official Hellfire Club was founded in London in 1718, by Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton and a handful of other high-society friends. The most notorious club associated with the name was established in England by Francis Dashwood, and met irregularly from around 1749 to around 1760, and possibly up until 1766. The term was closely associated with Brooks's , established in 1764. Other groups described as Hellfire Clubs were set up throughout

1856-481: The arrangement James had with Benjamin. The New-England Courant continued to be published under Benjamin's name until the final release of its 255th issue, dated June 25, 1726. The Courant thereafter slowly failed in the face of the constant conflicts with Mathers and Puritanical Boston and wore James down, where he subsequently folded the paper and removed to Rhode Island where he eventually died in 1735. Benjamin Franklin biographer, Walter Isaacson , maintains that

1920-511: The club supposedly came to meetings dressed as characters from the Bible. Wharton's club came to an end in 1721 when George I, under the influence of Wharton's political enemies (in particular, Robert Walpole ) put forward a Bill "against 'horrid impieties'" (or immorality), aimed at the Hellfire Club. Wharton's political opposition used his membership as a way to pit him against his political allies, thus removing him from Parliament. After his Club

1984-580: The club, beginning in the late Nineteenth Century. Rumours saw female "guests" (a euphemism for prostitutes) referred to as "Nuns". Dashwood's Club meetings often included mock rituals, items of a pornographic nature, much drinking, wenching and banqueting. The downfall of Dashwood's Club was more drawn-out and complicated. In 1762, the Earl of Bute appointed Dashwood his Chancellor of the Exchequer, despite Dashwood being widely held to be incapable of understanding "a bar bill of five figures". (Dashwood resigned

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2048-475: The contemporary trend in England of blasphemy. The club was more a joke, meant to shock the outside world, than a serious attack on religion or morality. The supposed president of this club was the Devil, although the members themselves did not apparently worship demons or the Devil, but called themselves devils. Wharton's club admitted men and women as equals, unlike other clubs of the time. The club met on Sundays at

2112-535: The fashions of English literary journalism, commonly referred to as "yellow journalism", to American journalism. To this end he printed humorous and provocative essays with the intention of reforming the towns social mannerisms . This marked the first time Boston was subjected to a competing moral voice that challenged that of the pulpit. Among them was the publication of essays by "Silence Dogood", which, unbeknownst to James, were actually authored by his younger brother, Benjamin Franklin. Secondly, he openly criticized what

2176-452: The folly of titles of nobility, which was consistent with his lifelong aversion to titles based on heredity and aristocracy. A few weeks passed and James, considered a man of jealous and tyrannical disposition, returned to the Courant and resumed treating Benjamin as an apprentice, and subjected his teenage brother to beatings, rather than as a fellow writer and brother. Eventually the relationship between James and Benjamin Franklin suffered as

2240-489: The general public, which was published in the January 29, 1721 issue of The Boston Gazette . From that point on Franklin and his newspaper were incessantly challenged in this manner for their criticisms about inoculation and the clergy. At various times during his six-year term as printer and publisher of the New-England Courant James Franklin found himself at odds and in the middle of controversy with

2304-446: The heading of the Courant . Benjamin conducted its publication more cautiously than did his brother. His first issue contained an editorial which denounced publishing anything " hateful" and "malicious". It declared that from now on the Courant would be "designed purely for the diversion and merriment of the reader" and also to "entertain the town with the most comical and diverting incidents of human life." The editorial also stated that

2368-625: The laws of the time, and the Government subsequently used it to drive Wilkes into exile. Between 1760 and 1765 Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea by the Irish author Charles Johnstone was published. It contained stories easily identified with Medmenham, one in which Lord Sandwich was ridiculed as having mistaken a monkey for the Devil. This book sparked the association between the Medmenham Monks and

2432-502: The master of The New-England Courant would be the Roman god Janus , who could look in opposite directions at the same time. Subsequent issues, however, did not live up to declaration put forward in Benjamin's editorial. Most of the articles consisted of dated dispatches rehashing foreign news and old speeches. Only one of these essays was clearly written by Benjamin which were an essay about

2496-503: The most deeply cherished opinions without reservation. In a public address James criticized The Boston News-Letter for being overly modest and compliant with governmental authority, referring to it as "a dull vehicle of intelligence". At 4 pence a copy, the New-England Courant was the most expensive newspaper of its time. It consisted of one single sheet printed on both sides, focusing mostly on shipping reports, snippets of information from neighboring towns, and letters from Europe. From

2560-613: The neighbourhood of the complexion of those hermits." Dashwood's garden at West Wycombe contained numerous statues and shrines to different gods; Daphne and Flora , Priapus and the previously mentioned Venus and Dionysus . A Parish history from 1925 stated that members included " Frederick, Prince of Wales , the Duke of Queensberry, the Earl of Bute, Lord Melcombe, Sir William Stanhope, K.B, Sir John Dashwood-King, bart., Sir Francis Delaval, K.B., Sir John Vanluttan, kt., Henry Vansittart, afterwards Governor of Bengal, (fn. 13) and Paul Whitehead

2624-679: The oldest and the first truly independent American newspapers, and the short lived Rhode Island Gazette . James was an older brother of Benjamin Franklin and the son of Josiah Franklin , a chandler and businessman from Ecton, Northamptonshire, England , and Abiah Folger , who came from a family of Nantucket Puritans . In addition to James, their children included: John (1690–1756), Peter (1692–1766), Mary (1694–ca. 1730), Sarah (1699–1731), Ebenezer (1701–1702), Thomas (1703–1706), Benjamin (1706–1790), Lydia (1708–1758), and Jane (1712–1794). James had seven other siblings from his father's earlier marriage. James married Ann Smith , who came from

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2688-452: The paper's first issue. In 1718 Franklin's younger brother, Benjamin Franklin , was pressed into service as his apprentice at the age of twelve, while he was printer for The Boston Gazette - three years before he established the Courant . The apprenticeship included a variety of odd jobs, including typesetting issuing pamphlets, linens and silks. Beginning at age sixteen, Benjamin would later write some fifteen controversial editorials under

2752-412: The part of the provincial government and clergy towards individual opinions and conduct. James announced the birth of the Courant with a scathing attack on Cotton Mather, a major supporter of inoculation, and in its outspoken and candid capacity his newspaper gave the signal for rebellion against such established authority. Not satisfied with voicing simple protest, it assailed the most honored names and

2816-488: The poet". Meetings occurred twice a month, with an AGM lasting a week or more in June or September. The members addressed each other as "Brothers" and the leader, which changed regularly, as "Abbot". During meetings members supposedly wore ritual clothing: white trousers, jacket and cap, while the "Abbot" wore a red ensemble of the same style. Legends of Black Masses and Satan or demon worship have subsequently become attached to

2880-450: The post the next year, having raised a tax on cider which caused near-riots). Dashwood now sat in the House of Lords after taking up the title of Baron Le Despencer after the previous holder died. Then there was the attempted arrest of John Wilkes for seditious libel against the King in the notorious issue No. 45 of his The North Briton in early 1763. During a search authorised by

2944-472: The printing trade, and younger brother, Benjamin, became indentured to him. Soon he began publishing in 1719 while working for The Boston Gazette . After being replaced by Samuel Kneeland as its printer he established The New-England Courant in Boston in 1721 with wife, Ann, and brother, Benjamin, working alongside him. While at the Courant , James gathered a group, referred to by some as "The Hell-Fire Club", for assistance. In response, Thomas Walter,

3008-548: The reasons Franklin started the Courant was to give Doctor William Douglass and others who opposed inoculation a voice to make their opposition public. Although no actual names were used it was very apparent that the Courant was attacking the Reverend Mather by mocking and mimicking his sermons. On January 14 a committee of the House ordered James Franklin from further publication of the New-England Courant as they felt that it

3072-528: The same year. At the invitation of James's brother, John, a tallow chandler , James and Ann moved to Newport. Here, they had five children, including Mary, Elizabeth, and James Jr. Here, too, James and Ann established the first printing press in the colony of Rhode Island . Starting in 1727, James printed and published eight editions of the Rhode-Island Almanack , sometimes under the pseudonym " Poor Robin ". They were printed in James' shop near

3136-437: The secretary of the Massachusetts province. However, Franklin, regardless, continued publishing the Courant , which went unpunished, and which marked the beginning of the end of restrictive censorship by the government. Deeply galled over the cause of his brother's imprisonment, Benjamin "unleashed a piercing attack" at colonial authorities after James' release from jail, through another Silence Dogood editorial (essay 9), which

3200-486: The start, Franklin's New England Courant , was more enthusiastic and outspoken in its treatment of Boston's public affairs than the existing newspapers. Its real substance was in letters to the editor from Boston's intellectuals who were highly critical of the British government viz the Massachusetts province. As such it often found itself in the middle of political or social controversy. The New England Courant , however, proved

3264-549: The town schoolhouse, or at his printing-house on Tillinghast's Wharf, near the Union-Flag Tavern. With the assistance of Thomas Fleet, the almanacs were sold as far away as Pudding-Lane in Boston. On September 27, 1732, James published the first issue of the Rhode Island Gazette , 12 inches (30 cm) by 8.5 inches (22 cm) in size. Its run lasted only until May 24, 1733, and its issues were irregular. James

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3328-401: Was a cause for great alarm, while the city's publishing and other intellectual pursuits had declined considerably. A highly questionable method of inoculation was being proposed, but the greater Boston populace feared that this would only serve to accelerate the spread of the disease. Strong differences in opinion over the ethics of inoculation sparked a bitter newspaper and pamphlet war, of which

3392-420: Was assumed to be the dangerous procedure of smallpox inoculation , while some prominent ministers, like Cotton Mather , supported the measure, while most of the citizenry of Boston were fearful of the practice. As such the Courant was considered very controversial, and James was imprisoned for four weeks in 1722 for writing "scandalous libel". The paper was suppressed in 1727 and James and Ann left Boston in

3456-511: Was being used to mock religion and held the holy scriptures in contempt, while the "faithful Ministers of the Gospel" were being routinely slandered. In response to Franklin's derogatory statements Mather declared that The New-England Courant was "carried on by a Hell-Fire Club , with a Non-Juror at the head of them." Mather openly condemned and denounced the "vile Courant ", for "wicked Libel" and for "Wicked Comments" made against him in an address to

3520-480: Was carried by the July 16–23, 1722 issue of Courant , considered the "most biting of his entire career". In the opening passage of the editorial the question was put forward: "Whether a commonwealth suffers more by hypocritical pretenders to religion or by the openly profane. But some late thoughts of this nature have inclined me to think that the hypocrite is the most dangerous person of the two, especially if he sustains

3584-647: Was disbanded, Wharton became a Freemason , and in 1722 he became the Grand Master of England. Sir Francis Dashwood and the Earl of Sandwich are alleged to have been members of a Hellfire Club that met at the George and Vulture Inn throughout the 1730s. Dashwood founded the Order of the Knights of St Francis in 1746, originally meeting at the George & Vulture. The club motto was Fais ce que tu voudras ( Do what thou wilt ),

3648-418: Was established in honour of Sir Francis, who died in 1781, as a symbolic rising from the ashes of Dashwood's earlier institution. To this day, the dining society abides by many of its predecessor's tenets. Its motto uno avulso non deficit alter 'when one is torn away another succeeds' is from the sixth book of Virgil's Aeneid and refers to the practice of establishing the continuity of the society through

3712-447: Was held on Walpurgis Night , 1752; a much larger meeting, it was something of a failure and no large-scale meetings were held there again. In 1751, Dashwood , leased Medmenham Abbey on the Thames from a friend, Francis Duffield. On moving into Medmenham Abbey, Dashwood had numerous expensive works done on the building. It was rebuilt by the architect Nicholas Revett in the style of

3776-559: Was ill while living in Newport, but before his death, his brother Benjamin Franklin came for a visit. When Benjamin left for Philadelphia , he had with him his nephew, James Jr., and provided him with a printing apprenticeship thereafter. After a long illness, James died in Newport in 1735, on his 38th birthday and 12th wedding anniversary. James Franklin was buried in the Newport Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery . He

3840-598: Was never originally known as a Hellfire Club; it was given this name much later. His club in fact used a number of other names, such as the Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wy , Order of Knights of West Wycombe , The Order of the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe , and later, after moving their meetings to Medmenham Abbey , they became the Monks or Friars of Medmenham . The first meeting at Sir Francis's family home in West Wycombe

3904-520: Was paying a royal visit to Scotland, he bequeathed the club a snuff box filled with his mistresses' pubic hair. In 1781, Dashwood's nephew Joseph Alderson (an undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford ) founded the Phoenix Society (later known as the Phoenix Common Room), but it was only in 1786 that the small gathering of friends asserted themselves as a recognised institution. The Phoenix

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3968-555: Was survived by Ann, leaving her with four young children to support alone, one child having preceded James in death. Ann Smith Franklin continued to operate the printing business until her death in 1763, publishing under the imprint of "The Widow Franklin", and producing books, almanacs, pamphlets, and legal announcements. Hellfire Club Hellfire Club was a term used to describe several exclusive clubs for high-society rakes established in Great Britain and Ireland in

4032-547: Was the first printer for The Boston Gazette . When Samuel Kneeland and his partner took over publication of the Gazette James was replaced as its printer. Offended by the loss of that position, and encouraged by a number of respectable friends who wanted to see a newspaper that presented a more critical and candid view than other newspapers, he established and began to print The New-England Courant , and without official review and approval, at his own risk. Operating without

4096-462: Was thrilled that his writing was being published for the public to read. When he finally informed his brother that he was the author James became angry. One of the letters was about the virtues of freedom of speech, and contained the following passage: "WITHOUT Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the right of every man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or control

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