John, Alice Morse Earle addresses the question of Franklin's inspiration for the motto this way:
"It will be recalled that Franklin had known much of the postal service of Great Britain before he became postmaster-general for the American colonies under the crown. And he had lived long in London, where on the general post-office was a sun-dial with the motto, BE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. I have never doubted that it was entirely Franklin's taste which supplied to our new nation the sun-dial design and the motto, MIND YOUR BUSINESS. In this form, and the one on the London post-office, and in the form, BEGONE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, it was found on several English sun-dials." Fred On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 3:07 AM, JOHN DAVIS <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi John C et al, > > Here in England, 'Mind your business' (or 'Go about your business') is a not > uncommon sundial motto - there is one on a vertical church dial from the > 1700s not far from where I live. I wonder if Franklin saw one of them? > > Regards, > > John D > ------------------------------------------------------ > > Dr J Davis > Flowton Dials > > --- On Tue, 12/4/11, John Carmichael <[email protected]> wrote: > --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
