ABSTRACT
Biographical memoirs of persons, famous for the great good or the great mischief they have done, are so sure to meet with a favourable reception in print, that it has long been subject of astonishment, that none of the disciples of Paine should ever have thought of obliging the world with an account of his life. The reader must observe that this account of Paine’s Life, is an abstract of his life, a larger work, written by Francis Oldys , A.M. of the University of Pennsylvania. ‘At the free-school of Thetford, under Mr. Knowles, young Paine was instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. ‘By a certain boldness and bustle of character, although without the recommendation of honesty, he had become a sort of chief among the Excisemen. The English Clergy, too, and the tithes they receive, have been considerable objects of Thomas’s out-cry.
