<P> Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes . </P> <P> However, Franklin's letter is not the origin of the phrase, which appeared earlier in Daniel Defoe's The Political History of the Devil . </P> <P> Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believ'd . </P> <P> And in The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock (1716) </P>

Who said the only thing promised in life is death