For most of his life Francklin wrote for the press and for the stage. Two of his plays were successful through good acting. He brought out in 1757 a periodical paper of his own composition entitled
The Centinel, and he was one of the contributors to
Tobias Smollett's
Critical Review.
Samuel Johnson and
Sir Joshua Reynolds were among his friends, and through their influence he became chaplain to the
Royal Academy on its foundation, and on
Oliver Goldsmith's death in 1774 succeeded to the professorship of ancient history. With other literary men he was unpopular. One of his victims in the
Critical Review was
Arthur Murphy, who solaced his feelings of indignation in "A Poetical Epistle to Samuel Johnson, A.M."
Charles Churchill, in the
Rosciad, sneeringly says that 'he sicken'd at all triumphs but his own.' Francklin's most solid works consisted of translations and tragedies. His first was an anonymous rendering of
Cicero's treatise,
Of the Nature of the Gods; it appeared in 1741, was reissued in 1775, and, after revision by
Charles Duke Yonge, formed a part of one of the volumes in
Bohn's Classical Library. In 1749 he published a translation of the
letters of Phalaris,
The Epistles of Phalaris translated from the Greek; to which are added some select epistles of the most eminent Greek writers. His translation of the tragedies of
Sophocles was long considered the best in the English language. It came out in 1759, and was reprinted in 1809 and 1832; large selections from it were included in Ezekiel Sanford's
British Poets, vol. l., and it was included in
Henry Morley's
Universal Library (vol. xliv.), while a separate impression of the
Œdipus Tyrannus was made in 1806. His version of
The Works of Lucian from the Greek, which was produced in 1780 in two volumes, and appeared in a second edition in 1781. The whole work was dedicated to
Richard Rigby, and parts were inscribed to other eminent men. His translation of
Lucian's
Trips to the Moon formed vol. LXXI of ''
Cassell's National Library'', edited by Henry Morley. Francklin's plays are: •
The Earl of Warwick, which was produced at Drury Lane Theatre on 13 December 1766, and was often represented. On its first appearance
Mary Ann Yates created a great impression in the part of Margaret of Anjou, and
Sarah Siddons in later years made that character equally successful. The whole play, which is said to have been taken without acknowledgement from the French of
Jean-François de La Harpe, was printed in 1766 and 1767, and was included in the collections of Bell,
Elizabeth Inchbald, Dibdin, and many others. •
Matilda, first presented at Drury Lane on 21 January 1775, was also profitable to the author. It appeared in print in 1775, and was also included in theatrical collections. •
The Contract, brought out at the Haymarket on 12 June 1776, and printed in the same year, was a failure. The chief characters were two persons who had made a contract of marriage, parted, and on meeting again after many years, wished the engagement broken off. •
Mary Queen of Scots, which was several times announced but was never acted, and remained in manuscript until 1837, when it was edited by the author's eldest son, Lieutenant-colonel
William Francklin. Francklin's other literary productions were numerous. Their titles were: • 'Translation,' a poem, 1753, which condemned many previous attempts at translation, and appealed to abler men to undertake the task, ending with the preliminary puff of his proposal to print by subscription a version of Sophocles. • 'Enquiry into the Astronomy and Anatomy of the Ancients,' 1749, and said to have been reprinted in 1775. • 'Truth and Falsehood, a Tale,' 1755, issued anonymously, and panegyrising the then Duchess of Bedford. • 'The Centinel,' 1757 fol., 1758 12mo, a periodical paper, one of the imitations of the 'Tatler' and 'Spectator.' • 'A Dissertation on Ancient Tragedy,' 1760, given gratis to the subscribers to his translation of Sophocles. • 'A Letter to a Bishop concerning Lectureships,' humour on the manner of election to such posts, and the miserable pay attaching thereto. Between 1748 and 1779 Francklin printed nine single sermons preached on special occasions, including that delivered at
St George's, Bloomsbury, in May 1756, on the death of the Rev. John Sturges, from which it seems that he had hoped to succeed him. A volume of his sermons on
The Relative Duties was published in 1765, and passed to a fourth edition in 1788. He died without leaving much provision for his family, and in 1785 there appeared for his widow's benefit two volumes of
Sermons on Various Subjects, followed by a third in 1787. Francklin lent his name, in conjunction with Smollett, to a translation of
Voltaire's works and letters, but the
Orestes (produced at Covent Garden Theatre 13 March 1769 for the benefit of Mrs. Yates) and the
Electra (brought out at Drury Lane 15 October 1774) are believed to have been his sole share in the publication. Some of his fugitive pieces were embodied in the
Miscellaneous Pieces brought together by
Tom Davies, and there are many of his letters in the
Garrick Correspondence. ==Notes==