Answer:
"By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd to write more methodically. But one does not dress for private company as for a public ball" (11) (Metaphor)
This metaphor shows us Franklin's understanding that one's style of writing differs based on if the audience is private or if it is public. Franklin knows that he is more apt to be florid when writing privately.
Explanation:
"It is true that, if you can clamber and get to the top of a staircase without using the steps, you will more easily gain them in descending; but certainly, if you begin with the lowest you will with more ease ascend to the top; and I would therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the education of our youth, whether, since many of those who begin with the Latin quit the same after spending some years without having made any great proficiency, and what they have learnt becomes almost useless, so that their time has been lost, it would not have been better to have begun with the French, proceeding to the Italian, etc.; for, tho', after spending the same time, they should quit the study of languages and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have acquired another tongue or two, that, being in modern use, might be serviceable to them in common life" (100) (Metaphor)
In order to explain how he learned the more difficult language of Latin after having mastered French, Italian, and Spanish, Franklin uses a metaphor of slowly ascending a staircase from the bottom. Reaching Latin by way of learning other foreign languages provides students with a solid foundation of languages that will be useful later in life, like a steady ascension of stairs.
